When a friend of mine recently asked me to help throw her a baby shower, I had many questionable suggestions-- like making it race-car rather than baby themed (accepted) to making a baby-shaped red-velvet cake with gooey red filling, except the diaper part, which would have brown icing filling (rejected).

But one of the things she was most excited about was my suggestion that I make a meatcake. That is, a cake made of meat, an idea I had found (like so many nutty ideas) on the interwebs. I took the concept, but created my own recipes--two, since a non-red-meat eater needed turkey. It may sound peculiar but the result was delicious and even rather spectacular. If you want to try it yourself....

This might be interesting for those with foodies-in-training, as their options can be fairly limited when they're not really up to un-mushed foods yet. The Mercury News has a great guide with tips and tricks for cooking your own baby foods, all of which are useful in helping to select the most nutritious foods and prepare them safely. In general:

• Brightly colored produce, both fruits and vegetables usually pack more nutrients. They are more flavorful, so sugar should be unnecessary.
• Steaming is the quickest and easiest way to cook the vegetables quickly. Puree them in a food processor once they are tender; there is no need to cook them to death.
• Be vigilant about keeping surfaces clean while preparing the baby food, since babies are more sensitive to bacteria
• Refrigerate or freeze foods after cooking and cooling to room temperature without letting them sit out.
• Offer foods multiple times, but start with small batches in case it doesn't turn out to be a favorite.

One of the most interesting suggestions is to freeze the foods in ice cube trays for single-serving sizes after preparing them in large batches. Once frozen, you can defrost a cube or two as needed, and the cubes can be easily stored in a large plastic bag.

Do Paul McCartney fans sit around chatting about how Paul should have his own cooking show? Someone must have told him that that is what people want to see, because Paul is shown here, starring in his own cooking clip, preparing mashed potatoes. He even seems to have a professional set and a crew.  Paul keeps reiterating that he has no idea what he's doing as he peels, boils and mashes the potatoes with lots of margarine and some milk. He also demonstrates his "technique" for chopping onions - which should not be used unless you want to risk chopping off your own fingers - that are added as a "special" ingredient.

Paul opens by asking "How exciting is this on the internet?"

The answer is not very, Paul. But you might actually do well if the Food Network runs another season of The Next Food Network Star.

I just tried the Vanilla Sweet Potato Puree recipe from Heidi at 101 Cookbooks as a side to my holiday meal. After cooking the sweet potatoes until soft and tender, I placed them in a large bowl with cream, vanilla extract, a bit of orange zest and a bit of butter and whipped them with a hand mixer until they were smooth and fluffy.
You can see Heidi's batch in the photo above because her styling of this side is far more appealing than any of my attempts. Somehow, it seems that purees look much less glamorous than they taste. No matter, because this tasted fantastic. The vanilla flavor, though I used extract rather than infuse my cream with real vanilla beans, as Heidi did, came through very well. Its delicate flavor brought out the sweetness of the potatoes without having to add a lot of sugar. Whipping the whole mixture, combined with the cream, no doubt, makes it incredibly light and fluffy. This is a standout dish and is definitely worth a repeat. Or two.

If you want to surprise a cook, get them a kitchen gadget that they've never seen before. Remove all tags, making sure to include anything with the product name, wrap it up and make them guess what it is. This guessing game is something of a tradition in my house and we always have a lot of fun with it. This year's mystery gift was this tentacled ... well, it took a while to guess what it was. Want a hint? It is light and easy to grip. It can be used by pressing down the many-armed end or by rotating it.

Give up?