Information on preparing stuffings year ‘round, making elegant desserts and doing a variegated striping on walls will be the featured topics on “Creative Living” at noon Tuesday and at 2 p.m. Saturday.

Cookbook author and chef Marcie Rothman says “stuffings” are not just for the holiday season. She’ll demonstrate several recipes that will be big hits anytime of the year. Her company is Western Research Kitchens and she’s from San Diego, Calif.

Nancy Siler of Wilton Enterprises in Woodridge, Ill., will show how easy it is to make elegant desserts for any occasion. She even suggests buying store-bought cream puffs to save time when making Chocolate Ganache Croquemboche.

Barbara Wurden, owner of Faux Fun, Inc. in Long Beach, Calif., will demonstrate how to do variegated striping on walls with a latex water-base paint and three different sizes of paint rollers.

Information on cooking with peanuts, food safety and making your own lamps from kits will be the featured topics at 9:30 p.m. Tuesday and at noon Thursday.

Food communications specialist Gayle Stephenson says that three to five servings of peanuts per week reduce coronary heart disease by 50 percent. She'll show different ways to incorporate peanuts into the diet. She represents the Texas Peanut Producers Board.

Registered dietitian Christine Palumbo will talk about food safety IQ as she explains how to insure proper food care at home. Palumbo represents The American Plastics Council in Washington, D.C.

Cooperative Extension Service Home Economist Connie Moyers will show how  to use kits to make a lamp for every room in your home. Moyers lives in Clovis.

Chocolate Ganache Croquembouche

Use already made/frozen cream puffs to save time (leave them frozen to work with). Use ganache instead of straight chocolate to build the base as it does not pull apart as easily (allow ganache to thicken.)

1. Line a tray with wax paper and place on a turntable. Working with one cream puff at a time, pipe ganache onto puff and place on wax paper centering three, touching to form a triangle.

2. Form a ring of nine puffs around the triangle.

3. Center next group over middle of first three puffs.

4. Working with one puff at a time, build a second, slightly smaller ring on top of the first using eight puffs (if necessary adding an additional puff in center to stabilize ring), making sure each puff is “glued” with ganache to the one before it.

5. Build on top of first two rows four more rings of five puffs each in same manner, always building from inside out with an additional puff in center as support.

6. For top of croquembouche, build one layer of three cream puffs and top with one puff. Let ganache harden five minutes and loosen croquembouche from turntable with a spatula. Transfer croquembouche with hands to serving platter.

7. Slip 5-inch wide bands of wax paper under edges of croquembouche to protect from ganache drips. Remove ganache from heat. Pour into disposable decorating bag, cut tip and drizzle decoratively over croquembouche.

8. Croquembouoche is best served as soon as possible but may be made up to 12 hours ahead and chilled — but not covered.

“Creative Living" is produced and hosted by Sheryl Borden. The show is carried by more than 118 PBS stations in the United States, Canada, Guam and Puerto Rico and is distributed by Westlink of Albuquerque.