__margaret Kramer Food

__TERESA HANNAN SMITH

Steps:

• Cooks tend to be a generous lot, and Teresa Hannan Smith makes a point of sharing the bounty of her life not just with guests at her table but with four-legged folk wherever she is. "I carry three kinds of dog and cat food in my car and feed strays everywhere I go." While she never gets the raves from her animal guests that she got from the Bake-Off® Contest judges, Teresa considers cats and dogs among the most gratifying of her diners.From "Pillsbury Best of the Bake-Off® Cookbook." Copyright 2004 General Mills. Used with permission of the publisher, Wiley Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

__MARGARET HATHEWAY

Steps:

• Part of Margaret Hatheway's prize in the eighth Bake-Off® was a Cook's Tour of Europe, with stops in Rome, Paris and London. She learned how to make steak and kidney pie in England, crepes in France and pasta in Italy. In return Margaret taught all the chefs she met how to make her prize-winning California Casserole. They inquired about the casseroles of the remaining forty-seven states, but Margaret replied that that was the work of future generations.From "Pillsbury Best of the Bake-Off Cookbook." Copyright 2004 General Mills. Used with permission of the publisher, Wiley Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

__MARGARET KRAMER

Steps:

• Cooking is largely a matter of addition. Margaret Kramer noticed an analogy at an early age. "My parents deserve a lot of credit for conveying to me their philosophy of life, which is you get out of life just what you put into it.'" Of course, that holds true whether you're talking about honey, raisins, salt or care.From "Pillsbury Best of the Bake-Off® Cookbook." Copyright 2004 General Mills. Used with permission of the publisher, Wiley Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

__KAREN DURRETT

Steps:

• I grew up in a large family--seven children--in a small town in Indiana," Karen Durret says. "It was great. My mother was the traditional homemaker, and my greatest memories growing up all relate to food. There was always a pot of something on the stove. My mom expressed love through food." The beuaty of American cooking is that a small-town Indiana girl can combine elements of Italian, Mexican and Midwestern cuisines to create a spectacular result that is pure American: Chicken and Black Bean Tostizzas.From "Pillsbury Best of the Bake-Off Cookbook." Copyright 2004 General Mills. Used with permission of the publisher, Wiley Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved.