CHICAGO, Jan. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- As friends and
families settle in for the winter hibernation season, ConAgra
Foods, Inc. (NYSE: CAG) is helping them enjoy the colder months
with crowd-pleasing comfort dishes from celebrity cook favorites.
Chef and food "vlogger" Billy Parisi
is putting a creative twist on comfort foods using pantry staples
and popular food trends. And popular YouTube culinary channel Feast
of Fiction hosts Jimmy Wong and
Ashley Adams, known for their iconic
TV-inspired recipes, are creating a group-watching menu for fans of
medieval, horror and sci-fi shows.
"By partnering with Chef Billy and Feast of Fiction, we're
creating an out-of-the-box winter menu that will be a hit with
families and freshen up the usual go-to dinner meals," said
Dan Skinner, communications manager,
ConAgra Foods. "And with rising usage of TV and movie streaming
services, people are finding additional ways to bond over the
things they love, and we're helping to elevate these experiences to
create even more memorable watch parties."
Comfort Food with Chef Billy:
According to
Google Trends, recipe searches peak at the start of the year for
dishes that have a "use it all" approach, avoiding food waste. So,
Chef Billy created Banana Oatmeal Muffins using blended banana
peels, and for coffee drinkers, Leftover Coffee Chocolate Brownies.
Chef Billy is also using items commonly found in kitchen pantries,
such as ConAgra Foods brands' Hunt's®, RO*TEL® and PAM®, to give
typical comfort food dishes a creative twist. Mexican Meatloaf with
Chorizo Queso is anything but your grandmother's go-to meatloaf
recipe, and instead of traditional sweets, Olive Oil Cupcakes with
Lemon Butter Cream give a savory twist on a popular dessert.
"Comfort food is synonymous with the winter, and your taste buds
crave something to take your mind off of the cold weather. That's
why I created a mix of hearty recipes that are not only easy and
fun to make, but offer a unique fusion of flavors to jazz up your
seasonal favorites," said Chef Billy.
TV-Inspired Meals with Feast of Fiction:
Feast
of Fiction has a weekly cooking show on YouTube where hosts
Jimmy Wong and Ashley Adams create fun dishes inspired by
popular TV shows, including hits from medieval, sci-fi, horror and
drama genres. Here are examples of new, TV-influenced meals:
- For fans of medieval shows:
- Castle Fortress Chili Con Queso – Break down the bread walls of
this fun chili castle and dig in! Feast of Fiction uses a long,
thin baguette to cut into two castle towers on opposite sides of a
bread bowl. The towers are partially sliced so the bread can be
split apart and dipped into the chili.
- Dragon Eggs – Get some help storming the castle by hatching
your own dragon eggs, filled with creamy tomato filling to share
and devour.
- For sci-fi fanatics:
- Open-faced Grilled Cheese Flying Saucer with Tomato and Avocado
– A UFO has crashed into the kitchen and it's time to investigate!
Feast of Fiction teaches at-home cooks how to use bowls to make
circular, open-faced sandwiches. The sandwiches are filled with
cheese, tomato and avocado, and decorated with little eyes and
antennas made out of chives.
- Glow in the Dark Rock Candy – Wong and Adams use Vitamin B2 and
tonic water to make rock candy that lights up when shown under
black light.
"We created an exciting mix of recipes that allow people to
celebrate their favorite shows in an unexpected way. These recipes
are not only easy to make, but they transform ordinary TV nights
into unforgettable parties," said Wong.
For these and other recipes from Chef Billy and Feast of
Fiction, visit www.forkful.com.
ABOUT CONAGRA FOODS
ConAgra Foods, Inc. (NYSE: CAG) is
one of North America's largest
packaged food companies with branded and private branded food found
in 99 percent of America's households, as well as a strong
commercial foods business serving restaurants and foodservice
operations globally. Consumers can find recognized brands such as
Banquet®, Chef Boyardee®, Egg Beaters®, Healthy Choice®, Hebrew
National®, Hunt's®, Marie
Callender's®, Orville
Redenbacher's®, PAM®, Peter Pan®, Reddi-wip®, Slim Jim®,
Snack Pack® and many other ConAgra Foods brands, along with food
sold by ConAgra Foods under private brand labels, in grocery,
convenience, mass merchandise, club and drug stores. Additionally,
ConAgra Foods supplies frozen potato and sweet potato products as
well as other vegetable, spice, bakery and grain products to
commercial and foodservice customers. ConAgra Foods operates
ReadySetEat.com, an interactive recipe website that provides
consumers with easy dinner recipes and more. For more information,
please visit us at www.conagrafoods.com.
ABOUT CHEF BILLY PARISI
Billy Parisi has the education and experience of
a seasoned chef. Parisi graduated from Arizona's Scottsdale
Culinary Institute and the University
of Missouri. He's also logged several years as line cook,
sous chef, and executive in some of the Midwest's finest
restaurants. Parisi has served as the face of fixmyrecipe.com,
Lowes Foods, Heinen's Grocery Stores and Sears Holdings
Corporation. Parisi has been featured on several national TV, radio
and print mediums, including the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago
Sun-Times, DIY network and Comcast On-Demand. For more information,
please visit Billy at http://www.billyparisi.com/.
ABOUT FEAST OF FICTION
Feast of Fiction is
one of YouTube's most popular cooking shows, with over 450,000
highly engaged and incredibly loyal subscribers. Every week
co-hosts Ashley Adams and
Jimmy Wong bring fictional dishes to
reality with original recipes inspired by food found in movies,
video games, books and TV shows. The channel has accrued 37 million
video views and has partnered with brands such as Walmart and
Google, as well as hosting celebrity guests including Rosanna Pansino, Grace
Helbig, Harley of EpicMealTime, and Nathan Kress from iCarly. Check out all the
culinary creativity at YouTube.com/FeastOfFiction.
MEDIA CONTACTS:
Morgan
Shelton, Edelman
Morgan.Shelton@edelman.com; (312) 297-7050
Dan Skinner, ConAgra Foods
Dan.Skinner@conagrafoods.com; (630) 857-1508
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SOURCE ConAgra Foods, Inc.