Alex Guarnaschelli

The mother of all cooking holidays is fast approaching, but you don't have to let it stress you out. Thanks to technology, you can keep your kitchen in order and clutter-free. Take it from the Food Network's Iron Chef America star, Alex Guarnaschelli — she's partnered up with Microsoft to mix food and tech to help you move gracefully from Thanksgiving to Christmas and beyond, without burning your nerves.

• Ditch the Paper: I used to have a million scraps of paper for grocery lists and recipe ideas, but now I organize it all on my phone instead. There are a lot of apps out there for this, but I really like OneNote, available on Windows Phone 7 phones. OneNote also has an audio-notes feature that I can imagine my mom using to record some notes for me on our family recipes.
• Simplify Cooking: Cookies are always a holiday staple and can be made in advance to save time on the big day. I can make my favorite cookie recipes from memory — the ones my mom and I bake every year — but when I’m looking for something new, there are search tools that make recipe hunts a lot easier. For example, Bing has a recipe search tool that includes pictures and can narrow down results by cooking method and occasion.
• Keep It Clean: I always feel better when my counters are clean — and I’ve found the same is true for my PC. I like to keep recipes and notes off of my desktop and online. SkyDrive is an easy tool to use to store files for free, and I can access my SkyDrive from my PC or phone, and send photos or meal ideas to my family and friends.
• Get Out: As much as I enjoy creating a fulfilling meal for my family, sometimes you just have to let someone else do the work. One of my favorite Windows phone features is Local Scout — anywhere I go I can scroll to Bing on my phone, press the Scout button, and see what restaurants and bars are close by, including reviews.

Hear about the gadgets Alex hopes to find under the tree this year after the break.

Between Alex's Day Off, her two restaurants, and a column on Food Network, star chef and restaurateur Alex Guarnaschelli has her hands pretty full. Still, she's somehow made room to compete in the forthcoming star-studded season of Next Iron Chef, which premieres this Sunday, Oct. 30.

We caught up with her at the New York City Wine & Food Festival to get her thoughts on competing under pressure, making new celebrity chef friends, and the show's most emotional moments.

YumSugar: What was it like competing in Next Iron Chef: Super Chefs?
Alex Guarnaschelli: It was like going to sleep-away camp and being 18 again, in a way. You're removed from your normal life, in an abyss, with a knife and chunks of meat. It was an interesting experience. I made some friends that I didn't expect to make, like this one. [Michael Chiarello walks up].

Michael Chiarello: We had a love child on the series. [Winks.]
AG: I'd never met Michael Chiarello, as an example. I thought, "Wow, he's a tough cookie — I don't know about that one," but then we wound up in tears, laughing so hard, so many times. He would just give me that little look and a little flick of the eye, that little Clint Eastwood facial expression and it just kind of reboots you. It reminded me how alive we are. I don't know if that's good. It's kind of like being whipped with a thunderbolt.

Read on to hear more of Alex's takeaways from Next Iron Chef: Super Chefs.

Food Network's special season of Chopped All-Stars debuted last weekend, and Slashfood hit up host Ted Allen and judge Alex Guarnaschelli to get their insight on the limited five-episode run.

In between some homemade pizza baking, Alex, Ted, and a surprise guest talk about the star-studded lineup, the high-pressure stakes, and the serious beer drinking that goes on behind the scenes.

Find out more — and discover which chef makes a fun cameo! — when you watch the whole segment on Slashfood.

Source

One of our favorite demonstrations at the South Beach Wine and Food Festival was led by chef Alex Guarnaschelli. If you're not watching her wildly entertaining and informative show on the Food Network, Alex's Day Off, I highly recommend you check out a few of the episodes. Her passion and enthusiasm for food is infectious, and her recipes are creative and delicious-sounding. On Saturday afternoon, in the bright sunshine, Guarnaschelli made homemade pizza. While she whipped up tomato sauce and pizza dough, she provided the audience with tons of helpful hints for channeling your inner pizzioli. Read on for her suggestions.

Although I enjoyed Meatball Madness and the tasting tent, my favorite event at the New York City Wine and Food Festival was Saturday night's party, Tacos and Tequila, hosted by Bobby Flay. It could be that I much prefer tacos to meatballs, or the fact that hard liquor was served, but this shindig was fabulous.

I also had some fun celebrity chef sightings: I bumped into Anne Burrell at the bar, watched as Guy Fieri and his entourage arrived at the space and scoped out the scene, and met the lovely Claire Robinson in person. There were so many scrumptious tacos that it was hard to select one as a favorite, but I really enjoyed Sue Torres' taco, a smoked fish in a crunchy shell.

To get a better taste of the tacos, check out all my images after the break.