Unfortunately we ran out of room in today’s 7-Day Menu Planner for the nutritional info for the pineapple-black-bean enchiladas, but I’ve got the details here for anyone interested.

Per enchilada: 365 calories, 20 grams protein, 11 grams fat (26 percent calories from fat), 5.8 grams saturated fat, 49 grams carbohydrate, 30 milligrams cholesterol, 1,270 milligrams sodium, 7 grams fiber

Hey there, Michelle Skeen filling in for Lindsey here.

Halloween is fast approaching, and my sweet tooth is kicking in. I’ve already dipped into lollipops and mini chocolate bars this October, so now I’m turning to another one of my favorite treats- caramel apples.

My favorite caramel apples are the ones from the Maryland State Fair, sour Granny Smiths dipped in a layer of caramel and then coated in M&Ms, marshmallows, or peanuts. My favorite was called the “apple pie,” a sticky mixture of caramel, cinnamon and sugar.

But the Maryland State Fair is about 5 hours away, plus it ended the first week of September. It occurred to me that if I wanted a caramel apple, I could probably make it on my own, and what a better time than Halloween?

So I’m on a search for the perfect caramel apple recipe. I found this one on foodnetwork.com, and it’s something I’m planning to try:

• Mix 2 cups sugar, 1/4 cup light corn syrup and 1/2 cup water in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring just until the sugar dissolves. Cook, swirling the pan (do not stir), until the mixture is light amber and a candy thermometer registers 320 degrees, 8 to 10 minutes.

• Remove from the heat; slowly whisk in 1/2 cup heavy cream, then 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and a pinch of salt.

• Return to low heat and whisk until smooth. Let cool until the caramel is thick enough to coat a spoon. Insert sticks into the stem ends of 6 apples and dip the apples into the caramel, letting the excess drip off. Roll in toppings if desired, then let cool on a parchment-lined baking sheet coated with cooking spray.

Some added advice — if you wash the apples off, make sure they are dry. Water will prevent the caramel from sticking. If the caramel is too hot, it also may not stick.

And if you are looking for creative toppings (my favorite part) here are some more photos from the same website that might give you ideas.

Does anyone out there have a favorite caramel apple recipe?

Hi, this is Kathy, Lindsey’s editor. Lindsey is taking a day off today, so I’m filling in for her a bit.

Just wanted to alert you to a story about Robert Cooper, a senior in Pulaski County High School’s culinary arts program. He is one of six students statewide who has been chosen to work in the kitchen of Guy Fieri, who hosts three programs on the Food Network. Cooper will spend more than eight hours behind the scenes building on the lessons he’s picked up in class. It’ll be interesting to hear what he learns.

The story ran in today’s New River Valley Current. Read it here.

Saturday is Valentine’s Day, which means many couples will be making a beeline for their favorite restaurants. Other couples will be staying as far away from their favorite restaurants as possible in an effort to avoid the crazy crowds.

If you’re staying home to make a romantic dinner, I’d love to hear what you’ll be cooking. I think I’ll stick with that plan this year, but I’m still trying to decide what to make. It might be a good night for a big hunk of red meat right off the grill.

For those of you still looking for a night on the town with your sweetie, here are a few options I’ve heard about:

* Metro! in Roanoke: Valentine’s Day specials in addition to the regular menu
* 202 Market has a new City Bar lounge menu that is not Valentine’s Day related. They will also have a fixed price tasting option on Saturday in addition to the regular menu.
* Tony Pope Bistro & Wine Bar: A 4-course tasting dinner, with wine, for $65 per person. Pope recently overhauled the menu and is now featuring all French bistro foods at lower prices.
* Local Roots Cafe is offering two tasting menus featuring local food. The 5-course menu is $69 per person; the 10-course option is $159 per person. Wine costs extra.
* The Isaacs Restaurant will have several appetizer and entree specials, as well as a chocolate-banana cheesecake, in addition to their regular menu options.
* Hotel Roanoke and its sister hotel, the Inn at Virginia Tech, are offering tasting menus, live music and lodging packages with sweet extras like champagne and strawberries.
* Blue 5 is offering a limited menu at $50 per person, which includes a complimentary dessert and champagne toast. Entertainment by Valerie McQueen and Friends.
* Bread Craft bakery is selling a treat box consisting of homemade marshmallows dipped in chocolate, chocolate-covered strawberries, chocolate-covered apricots and chocolate nut clusters for $10.95. Order as soon as possible.

I’m not intentionally leaving any restaurants off this list; this is just what I’ve heard about so far. If anyone wants to add a Valentine’s special to the list or recommend a favorite romantic spot for others, feel free!

October 11: “Healthy & Delicious Cooking for Food Sensitivities” with Chef/R.N. Laura Pole, from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Learn to create delicious meals without allergens such as gluten, dairy, soy or corn. Location is The Well, 114 North Bridge Street in Bedford. Pre-registration required. Call Linda Burger, 540-587-9000.
October is National Popcorn Popping Month and National Cookie Month. And unlike Election Day, those are much easier to observe. Eat a cookie!
Now through Nov. 8: Holy Trinity Holiday Greek Pastry Sale. Including Baklava, Tiropita and Kataifi. Orders will be available for pick-up at the Roanoke church on Nov. 22 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Nov. 23 from noon to 3 p.m. Call 540-362-3601 to request to receive an order form by email.

Are you about to dig into an eye-popping beauty of a meal or snack? Then, STOP! Before you do, take a photo first, and e-mail it to me at lindsey.nair@roanoke.com.
Your photo could be featured on the Fridge Magnet blog as the Photo of the Week.

Just a reminder: I’m still collecting your recommendations for a list of the sparkliest food gems in Southwest Virginia. Whether it’s a terrific chef, a specific dish you cannot stop craving or a great stop for fresh, unusual ingredients, I want to know.
I’m putting the final list together for next week’s column. Thanks to everyone who already commented. Your great ideas can be seen here.

Okay, I realize it’s not exactly the same, but if Saveur can find 100 extraordinary food finds around the world every year, we should be able to list at least 25 of our favorite dishes, restaurants, markets, chefs and more here in Southwest Virginia.
I’ll go first. Here are five picks. Give me yours!

1. Carlos Brazilian’s Artichoke-Brie Soup.
2. El Palenque desserts (which are still available, in case you didn’t know.)
3. Southwest Virginia Farmer’s Markets. The fingerling potatoes! The heirloom tomatoes and beans! The tiny cabbages! The fresh peaches! The possibilities are endless.
4. Floyd County. Face it, they rate high in fine local food producers.
5. Roanoke- and Blacksburg- area ethnic markets. Must explore more.

The folks over at Slashfood or the Amateur Gourmet might accuse me of making a milestone out of a mole hill here, but I don’t care. While I was away from the Fridge Magnet blog last week, someone left the 1,000th comment!
Since the FM blog was first launched in March, we have chewed on a whole smorgasbord of topics, from Buffalo wings and pound cakes to new restaurants and service pet peeves.
I promised before I left for the holiday that our 1,000th commentor would win a very special prize. I’d like to announce that the 1,000th comment was left on Dec. 21 by Sherry, who wrote in to talk up the tasty home cookin’ over at Thelma’s Chicken and Waffles at Orange Avenue and Williamson Road.
Sherry wins a $25 gift certificate to Provisions! All she has to do is get in touch with me at lindsey.nair@roanoke.com to claim her prize.
UPDATED: We never heard from Sherry, so the prize goes to the 1,001st person to comment, Flo. Flo needs to e-mail me to claim her prize.
Happy New Year!

Does anyone out there have a tried-and-true recipe for homemade jerky?
What ingredients and method have you found to be the best?
Whether you make turkey jerky, deer jerky or any other kind, I’d love to hear from you for a future Front Burner column.

Even if you didn’t act in time to reserve a pasture-fed or organic turkey from a local farm, it may not be too late for you to serve up an all-natural bird.
I just received word that the Roanoke Natural Foods Co-op is going to give away FIVE organic, all-natural Shelton’s turkeys this year.
All you have to do is drop by the store between now and next Monday, Nov. 19 and fill out an entry form. Only one entry is allowed per person, per day and no purchase is necessary.
The drawing will be held Tuesday, Nov. 20.
Even if you have already purchased a turkey for Thanksgiving, look at it this way: You’ll be prepared in advance for Christmas!

We’ve talked turkey and swapped recipes, so now it’s time to settle on the menu for Thanksgiving and head out to the grocery store. What will be on your table on Turkey day?

Here’s my menu:
Brined, roasted turkey with giblet gravy
Mom’s Thanksgiving stuffing
Mashed potatoes
Green bean casserole
Sweet potato casserole
Grandma’s Darn Good Salad
Cranberry sauce
Crescent rolls
Pumpkin pie
Apple-Cranberry pie

Pssst…hey, you adults who can’t trick or treat anymore! If you go to the front desk at Hotel Roanoke today (Halloween) ONLY, they’ll give you a free Doubletree chocolate chip cookie. No costume necessary.
I’m sure if you took your kids, they would also get a cookie. But since they’ll be having all the fun tonight, why not save the cookies for yourself?

Will you be watching the World Series?
If so, you might score yourself a free taco.
According to the Taco Bell Web site, they’re running a contest called “Steal a Base, Steal a Taco,” which is kind of a silly name considering that you don’t have to steal a taco at all so long as they’re handing them out for free.
Here’s how it works: If any player on either team in the Series steals a base, anyone can walk into a participating Taco Bell during a designated period of time and request a free beef taco.
More specifically, if a player steals a base during games 1 or 2 on October 24 or October 25, you can go to Taco Bell for a free taco on Tuesday, October 30 between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. If a base is stolen during games 3-7 on October 27, 28, 29, 31 or November 1, you can claim your free taco on Tuesday, November 6 between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m.
A little confusing, perhaps, but I think they’ll be explaining this again on television if a base is actually stolen.
So, just in case you needed another reason to plant yourself in front of the game, there you go. And even if you don’t think Taco Bell tacos are very good, well, at least they’re FREE!

Check it out! You all are just boiling over with fantastic kitchen tips.
Here’s what we’ve got so far:

* When baking brownies, line the pan with heavy aluminum foil and spray foil with Pam or other spray. When brownies are cooled, you can dump them on a plate to cut. Use a plastic serrated knife to cut them.

* For easier peeling hardboiled eggs, put them in the water, then bring to a boil.

* Put an onion in the fridge for at least 30 minutes before cutting it — this will help so you don’t cry as much when slicing.

* Like melted cheese on your sandwich but don’t want to ruin the sandwich by sticking the whole thing in the microwave to melt it? Put a slice of cheese of pile of shredded cheese on top of a baggie and cook it on medium for 10 seconds. Check it then, but it could take a few more seconds. Flop the whole thing on your sandwich and peel the baggie off.

To keep the juices flowing, here are a couple more from me:
* To prevent brown sugar from getting hard (or restore it to softness after it is already hard), add a slice of fresh bread to the container for a couple of days.
* To make mess-free deviled eggs, spoon filling into a clean plastic storage bag, cut off one corner and pipe it into the eggs.

Keep them coming!

Local Colors’ 2007 season of Taste of Cultures will kick off Friday, July 13 with a Caribbean celebration that will include Haitian and Jamaican food, dances and games. It’s a great opportunity for those who work close to downtown to try ethnic foods and have a little fun on their lunch breaks.
According to a news release, the first installment of the series will include Caribbean dance lessons, domino games and visits from Jamaican community dignitaries. I’m not really sure who that includes, but it sounds official, doesn’t it?
The lunchtime event, which is sponsored by SunTrust, takes place from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Century Plaza across from the old fire station on Church Avenue in downtown Roanoke. Admission is free, but there is a charge for foods and souvenirs.
Local Colors will be holding Taste of Cultures on the second Friday of every month through November. Featured cultures are: Latino in August, Korean in September, Chinese in October and Scandinavian in November.

Blog reader Michelle gets the gold star this week for being a real sweetheart and thinking of other readers. After Debi wrote in about needing more healthy, low sugar recipes to control her diabetes, Michelle passed along this delicious blueberry cake recipe.
The recipe calls for a sweetener like Splenda, but you can substitute real sugar if you aren’t concerned about that. Anything with blueberries always gets my attention, and I love to see readers interacting with each other.
Here’s the recipe:

Read more »

Compiled from my own thoughts and those of blog readers:
1. Sandwiches dressed with sliced tomatoes without the green stem/core removed. Hard, chewy, nasty.
2. Mexican restaurants that pre-bag chips for to-go orders. Don’t they know how quickly those things go stale?
3. Drinks that aren’t filled up all the way. Especially high balls.
4. A restaurant that won’t serve lemons with water anymore because not everyone actually squeezes them into the water. You know who you are!
5. Waitresses who won’t bring you a new lemon with your refilled water.
6. Failing to remove dirty dishes from the table after guests have eaten but are still socializing.
7. Waitresses who carry fresh drinks with their fingers inside the rims. Hey, that’s where our lips go!
8. Servers who take empty glasses for refills from several tables at once. Kinda freaky to think about drinking from some stranger’s glass. Just bring fresh drinks!
9. Silverware with crud on it. Nothing can make me lose my appetite faster. Or make me use my fingers more readily.

Because I’m feeling trivial, I’ve decided to post a couple of my own personal food and restaurant pet peeves. If you’ve got any you’d like to add, shoot me a comment and I’ll add them to the list. What fun we will all have being picky complainers.
1. Sandwiches dressed with sliced tomatoes without the green stem/core removed. Hard, chewy, nasty.
2. Mexican restaurants that pre-bag chips for to-go orders. Don’t they know how quickly those things go stale?
3. Drinks that aren’t filled up all the way. Especially high balls.
4. A restaurant that won’t serve lemons with water anymore because not everyone actually squeezes them into the water. You know who you are!

If anyone wants to add to my list, feel free. If not, I’ll just find something else to complain about. I’m kidding, of course!

Roanoke County wine and gourmet shop Bel Pasto announced last week that it will be closing its doors.
In an e-mail to customers, co-owner Pam Martin wrote: “There comes a time when the dream that you’re trying to create comes face-to-face with the reality of trying to keep a business viable long-term. We cannot thank you enough for your support, your caring and your belief in what we tried to accomplish at Bel Pasto. When we began our journey, we were told that retail is a numbers game and unfortunately, that theory has been borne out.”
The store is open this morning for the beginning of its closing sale.
“Every time a local business ceases to be, a little part of what makes our town unique and liveable is lost,” Martin wrote. ” I still believe in supporting local businesses, I still believe in voting with your dollars, I still believe that our quality of life begins with what we put into our bodies and souls- I hope you do too.”

The following new cookbooks are either on shelves now or making their way to a bookstore near you:
“The Best of Gourmet: Sixty-Five Years, Sixty-Five Favorite Recipes,” Random House, $40.00.
“Pie: 300 Tried and True Recipes for Delicious Homemade Pie,” by Ken Haedrich, Harvard Common Press, $24.95.
“Betty Crocker Cookbook for Women,” by Dr. Rita F. Redberg, Wiley Publishing, Inc., $24.95.
“Cook the Perfect…” by Marcus Wareing, DK Publishing, $25.00.
“300 Best Stir-Fry Recipes,” by Nancie McDermott, Robert Rose Press, $24.95
“I Love Coffee! Over 100 Easy and Delicious Coffee Drinks,” by Susan Zimmer, Andrews McMeel Publishing, $16.95.
“The Greyston Bakery Cookbook: More than 80 Recipes to Inspire the Way You Cook and Live,” by Sara Kate Gillingham-Ryan, Rodale Books, $26.00.
“Barbecue Nation: 350 Hot-Off-the-Grill, Tried-and-True Recipes from America’s Backyard,” by Fred Thompson, The Taunton Press, $18.95.
“Short & Sweet: Sophisticated Desserts in 30 Minutes or Less,” by Melanie Barnard, Houghton Mifflin, $14.95.

In case you haven’t already heard, Twists and Turns on Campbell Avenue in downtown Roanoke is hosting an entire week of events this week to benefit Mill Mountain Theatre.
The events include cooking demonstrations, wine tastings, floral arranging and cake decorating classes! For an entire schedule, check out Larry Bly’s column here.