Happy Birthday, Ina Garten! Today, the Food Network star and celebrity food personality turns another year older, ringing in her 64th.
The Barefoot Contessa, as her fans call her, is always cool and collected when it comes to elegant home entertaining. How much do you know about her interesting life and accomplishments? Find out when you take this quiz!
I was disappointed to hear that one of my favorite Food Network personalities, Ina Garten (or the Barefoot Contessa), has turned down the request to cook with a Make-A-Wish cancer patient. Apparently, a 6-year-old boy with leukemia asked to cook with Garten not once, but twice — and he was repeatedly told no. According to Garten's reps, the Hamptons chef is currently too busy to meet with the boy. For years, I've been a huge fan of Garten and her reliable, delicious recipes. However, this makes me wonder if it's just an act. How do you feel about her?
Update: It turns out that Garten wasn't aware of the boy's request and she has agreed to meet with him and his family!
The other day I caught a repeat of Barefoot Contessa where she made a scrumptious-looking lentil vegetable soup. Without thinking I printed the recipe and headed to the grocery store — before the episode was even over. The funny thing was later that night, my sister called and said, "did you see Barefoot Contessa? She made the most amazing soup!" I informed her that the very same soup was cooking on my stove and invited her over. 
I'm glad I did because the recipe serves a crowd. Like all Barefoot dishes, it's basic but full of flavor and wildly satisfying. The lentils provide a rich meatiness, and the chunky veggies are comforting and filling. To make it vegetarian-friendly, simply use vegetable broth instead of chicken stock. I highly recommend this enjoyable soup so get Ina's recipe after the break.
Lately, as part of an effort to increase our budget for Summer travel, my sweetheart and I have been forgoing restaurant breakfast and brunch on weekends in favor of making our own. Last Sunday, we made his favorite breakfast tart, but this week, I'll be taking advantage of the heaps of blueberries at the farmers market with home-baked berry muffins. I'll either make a traditional muffin recipe or mash blueberries up and include them in the batter for enhanced color and flavor. Get your mornings off to the right start when you read more
As part of our Best of 2007 coverage we asked you who your favorite female-celebrity chef was. Many of you had very strong feelings for or against Rachael Ray and Sandra Lee, but in the end Giada De Laurentiis was your favorite female chef.
While we have nothing but love for Giada, our favorite female-celebrity chef this year was Ina Garten, The Barefoot Contessa. Her recipes continue to be delicious, simple, and stunning. Her long-lasting love for her husband is inspirational. Plus, we got the chance to speak with her earlier this year. She gave us some wonderful tips and we learned first hand how fabulous she really is.
The other day I had the luxury of watching paint dry (literally, our backdoor was being replaced and painted and therefore I couldn't close it for several hours). Usually, watching paint dry is a terrible task, but in this case it meant I got to work from home! Whenever I work from home I try to keep myself at the desk and off the couch, but towards the end of the day, I couldn't help it. Around 5 (which means the work day could have been over, right?), I clicked on the TV and to my surprise Ina Garten (aka The Barefoot Contessa, who I had just been writing about) was pulling a scrumptious brownie tart out of the oven. Now, I probably should hold on to this recipe because a bunch of you might have seen this episode also, but a) it looked amazing and b) I think it would make a great Super Bowl dessert, so I have to share.
To check out the recipe for Ina Garten's delicious brownie tart, read more
What do you know? It's time for even more Fancy Foods coverage! This time we've got a nice treat for all of you. Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa herself, was there and she kindly took a few minutes out of her schedule to answer a few of our questions. PartySugar was pretty star struck, but who could blame her, I mean this wasn't just any celebrity chef this was the Contessa!
