From: http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll.../703140316/1019

(There is a very nice picture on the website of Alison Sweeney in a blue shirt.)

March 14, 2007

'Days of Our Lives' star recalls the 'flour power' era

By Steve Austin

Special to The Clarion-Ledger

Since 1993 Alison Sweeney has portrayed Sami Brady, daughter of Dr. Marlena Evans (Deidre Hall) on NBC's top-rated daytime drama Days of Our Lives.

In the process of becoming Salem's resident bad girl, Sweeney has won The Soap Opera Digest Award four times and a Daytime Emmy for America's Favorite Villain. Most recently, Sweeney completed her autobiographical book All The Days of My Life (So Far) published by Kensington.

It was recently announced that she will be the host of The Biggest Loser when the fourth season airs this fall on NBC.

For more information, go to: www.alisonsweeney.com, and www.nbc. com.

Q: Readers always want to hear about a food/eating scene when something went wrong, required a bunch of takes or was funny. Please tell us.

A: When food is involved we always make sure to have extra rehearsals to prevent disasters. But one time, Bryan Dattilo, who plays Lucas Roberts, and I had a scene where I was supposed to throw flour in his face, and then he throws flour in my face.

Well, we didn't practice, because we had to keep our wardrobe clean, so we didn't really know how the flour was going to look. During the take I took a tiny bit of flour and threw it in Bryan's face as planned, but you could barely see it on him. So I dipped my hand in the bag, got more and threw it again.

Well, Bryan thought I was just covering him in flour because I threw twice, so he got a major handful and pegged me with it. And when I tried to speak my next line, a huge puff of flour came out of my mouth. It was hilarious. And the funniest part is we had to keep going.

Q: Do you really have time to cook at home? And what's your young son's favorite food right now?

A: I love to cook at home. I don't always have time, but when I do, I really enjoy it. The trick is to shop in advance, and to have fresh ingredients in the kitchen for when you have time to cook. I especially enjoy cooking for Ben because it's so important to me to make sure that he has a healthy and homemade diet. I want him to get used to eating fresh, organic, healthy foods. Right now he loves peas and broccoli.

Q: You've won the Soap Opera Digest award and daytime Emmy as "favorite villain." What foods/drinks are villains to you?

A: I actually like most food, which is a curse when we're talking sweets and carbs. I definitely think carbs are the villain, because sugar, you know is bad, and you have to know how to control how much sugar you eat. But carbs can sneak up on you, and they can seem innocuous, but really they can be as fattening as sugar. So if you're not aware of how many carbs are in your diet, you can be in big trouble.

ALISON'S CHICKEN TORTILLA SOUP

For chicken

4 chicken breasts, bone-in with skin

1 large onion chopped

4 chopped carrots

3 chopped celery stalks

4 cloves of garlic, halved

2 teaspoons salt

Fresh ground pepper

2 bay leaves

1 teaspoon crushed red pepper (if you like it spicy, otherwise leave out)

8 cups water

For soup

2 large corn tortillas

Vegetable oil (for frying)

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 onions, chopped

Salt and pepper

1 teaspoon dried oregano

3 cloves garlic, chopped

2 bay leaves

2 cups chopped fresh tomatoes

1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

1 avocado, diced

6 ounce shredded low-fat cheddar cheese

For chicken: This makes the chicken stock and cooks the chicken for the soup. Place all ingredients in a large stock pot and bring to a boil. Reduce to medium/low and simmer until the chicken is tender and fully cooked, about 2 hours. Remove from heat and let cool. Set the chicken aside. Strain the liquid and discard the remaining vegetables. This is now the chicken stock. Once the chicken is cool, you can remove the skin and bone, and dice the chicken meat into bite-sized pieces.

For soup: Cut tortillas in half and fry until golden brown. Drain on paper towel, season with salt and set aside. Pour olive oil into the bottom of a stock pot set over medium heat. Once hot, add the onions, salt, pepper and oregano. Saute for about 3 minutes or until softened. Add garlic and bay leaves. Saute for another minute. Add chopped tomatoes, season again with salt and pepper, stirring occasionally for another 2 minutes.

Crush the fried tortillas and add to the tomatoes. Stir in chicken stock and bring to a boil. Reduce to medium/low and simmer for 30 minutes. Taste and re-season. Add the diced chicken and fresh chopped cilantro, and simmer for another 5 minutes. Dish soup into individual bowls and top with avocado and cheese.

Note: "I craved this soup while I was pregnant, and had it cooking when I went into labor," Sweeney said."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Contact Steven Austin at www.favefoods.com.

Wow. what a long report....

Keith would love to look at this, I'm sure

Love Alison Sweeney

I saw when she won the Daytime Emmy for America's Favorite Villain.

But question: was that REALLY a "Daytime Emmy" or was it more of a fan award?

Because I'm pretty sure the academy didn't vote on this. "America" did.

so it can't really be called an Emmy, now can it?

Correct, JSF. The Emmys went through a period when they let fans vote on a few awards. I think there was also a "favorite supercouple" award won by Reckell and Alfonso.

They've stopped that now. Heaven forbid a DAYS actor get recognised in any capacity.

Edited March 25, 200718 yr by Ponz

The last fan award was two years ago when CBS hosted and they had the Simply Irresitble couple award. I wondered if CBS would do it again because I believe they didn't it the time before when DAYS won couple and villian. I don't think any of the other networks have done a fan award. I actually saw an advertisement a few years ago that had Alison Sweeney in it and it said Daytime Emmy winner, which I thought was weird because that was a fan voted award.

Gosh, I love Alison :)