In this episode we went over several different ways to really make your meals stand out on the plate:

1. When serving asparagus as your vegetable arrange the stalks in a criss-cross pattern on the plate and then arrange the meat atop the asparagus (be it a breast of chicken, a fillet of fish or a medallion of beef).

2. For added color to pasta dishes, finely dice some red and green sweet bell peppers. They even have yellow and orange varieties now. Sprinkle the diced peppers atop pasta for great color, a nice crunch and extra vitamin C.

3. When serving certain Mexican specialties like quesadillas or burritos, place some sour cream and pureed guacamole in two squeeze bottles and squirt your own design over the plate and/or food.

4. When serving beef, if you are confident in your cooking time and want to show it off, allow the beef to rest a few minutes and then slice the meat thin to show the excellent rare or medium rare color inside. Restaurants do this not only for show, but it also makes a 4-ounce filet mignon look like a lot more meat than it is.