A few weeks ago, Wolfgang Puck announced several new animal welfare policies for his restaurants and businesses. At the time, I wondered if other chefs would follow suit and begin animal welfare policies of there own. I figured it would be the beginning of a new movement (or maybe just a trend). However, I never anticipated that a fast food joint would follow suit. Last week Burger King announced that it would phase in several new animal welfare policies of their own. After meeting with The Humane Society and PETA, Burger King has adopted the following policies:

• Began purchasing 2% of its eggs from producers that do not use battery cages, upping that to 5% by the end of the year and preferring to purchase cage-free when possible.
• Started purchasing 10% of its pork from producers that do not use gestation crates (20% by the end of the year). Again, with a preference for non-gestation crate using producers if possible.
• Implemented a preference for producers that use controlled atmosphere killing of chickens used for meat.

Two and ten percent doesn't sound like much, but considering how much Burger King actually uses, it could mean a large switch in industry practices. Especially if any of Burger King's competitors follow suit (McD's I'm talking to you!).

Source: PR Newswire

I don't know if you guys are as geeky as PartySugar and me, but we are seriously looking forward to the final Harry Potter book. The book comes out July 21, but fans everywhere are crazy for it now. In fact one fan (wish I knew the crafty gal's name) even went so far as to make a hand-painted cake of the final book! Have you, or your friends, ever made a fantastic cake creation before? Share your photos in our Savory Sights Group. We'll be selecting one lucky photo each month to receive a special prize!

Every baker needs a good flourless chocolate cake recipe in the repertoire and I found this delicious sounding dessert just in time for Passover. Flour is one of the ingredients that are strictly forbidden during the 8 days of Passover so creating a divine dessert for a Seder feast can seem a little daunting. However, flourless cakes have become very popular in the last few years and are easy to make. You won't even notice the flour is missing (when do you really notice the flour in a cake anyway?) when this cake is topped with a creamy chocolate frosting and fresh blackberry sauce. Want to wow your family with this cake? Well then read more

Some nights I stay up too late catching up on email, work and my shows. One of my shows is Gourmet's Diary of a Foodie on PBS. The other night I caught an episode entitled "Raising the Bar" where they featured Bartender extraordinaire Scott Beattie. As bartender of one of Sonoma County's finest restaurants, Cyrus, Beattie is constantly pushing the envelope for mixed drinks - he even visits local farms to pick his own herbs and produce. His drinks are amazing looking (I only wish I could say I've tasted one personally) and contain things like candied lemongrass, thai basil, simmered fruit purees and essential oils. They also have ridiculously whimsical (actually they're terribly punny, but I love them) like PomIranian, Olallie Go Lightly and Grapes of Roth. Since most of us won't be able to head out to Sonoma to have one for ourselves, I thought I'd hunt down one of his recipes. To check out the recipe for the PomIranian, read more

Last week we talked about all the kitchen aspects of a wedding registry. A full traditional wedding registry should contain dinnerware, drinkware, flatware, appliances, and cookware. Now that you know what to look for when adding the basics to your registry, I thought I'd go over a few general registry tips. For example, it's a good idea to register at least six months before the event, also, it's a good idea to register for items that suit every kind of budget. To check out our other tips, read more

I love cake and I love meat, so in theory I should love this meat cake. However something tells me it looks better than it actually tastes. What looks like a gorgeous traditional layer cake with a T-bone steak drawn on it is actually a cake made from meat. That's right, real meat. This three layer cake is made from ground beef, Worcestershire sauce with brown sugar & ketchup, and mashed potatoes. Pretty much, it's like a beautiful three-layer meatloaf. If you've ever fancied making one (and apparently there are enough people who have made meat cakes, that there's now an entire meat cake gallery), then you should definitely check out these step by step instructions for creating your own meat cake. Something tells me every single one of you knows someone who would go crazy for this cake.

Source: Make

At the end of April, I am heading down to Bakersfield for the Cattani family's annual Spring picnic. My girlfriend Laura and her family are people after my own heart, they know how to throw one fabulous party. Every April they invite all of their friends out to their ranch for some frolicking in the sun and every August they invite the same people to a reggae party at their beach house on the strip in Hermosa. Last August I spent the weekend at their house and had the most amazing time. So much so that I do not want to show up empty handed to their picnic. I want to get them a wonderful gift to thank them for inviting me to the parties and was thinking what could be more fitting than a picnic basket? I need you to help me find the most perfect picnic basket. Please save your finds in the Yum Market with the keyword tag Picnic Basket. I look forwarding to checking out what you find.

Read geeksugar's explanation to understand the Yum Market.

The best part about a roast chicken (or in our case a hen), is that the leftovers can be used in a trillion different ways: sandwiches, wraps, soups, fried rice, the list goes on and on. This past weekend I ended up eating too much meat and not enough vegetables, so I'm thinking that a salad sounds fantastic. One of my favorite things is a simple, light salad (or salad wrap) and right now I'm totally obsessed with Belgian endives. So when I stumbled across this recipe for Belgian Endive, Chicken and Citrus Salad, I knew I'd found the perfect recipe for the leftover cornish hen. To check out the recipe (and we're talking simple, low-cal and delicious), read more

Easter is this weekend and I know some of you have been asking me to help you plan your Easter dinners and brunches, so let's get started right away with making an invitation to an Easter themed meal. When I was deciding what kind of party to host this year, I was torn between Easter dinner and Easter brunch. I have recipes for both roasted marinated lamb and breakfast bread pudding that I've been wanting to try out... so I'm planning one fabulous party and offering you two menu choices. If you want to make a dinner use the dinner menu, and if you prefer to host a brunch follow my brunch menu suggestions. But before we can even think about the menu we must invite our friends and family. Come party with me, it's my favorite time of the week: invitation making time so, read more