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Like a lot of celebrities these days, Valerie Bertinelli has a social media presence. Through her Facebook page, the 56-year-old actress and host of the Saturday Food Network series "Valerie's Home Cooking" posts news and clips from the show, communicates with fans and gauges reaction to the recipes she prepares on camera and posts on the show's page on the Food Network website. Not surprisingly, some are more popular than others, such as the Sicilian love cake, her pounded chicken and her chicken arugula. And she has a few more coming this season that she thinks will go over well, like the slow-cooker Sloppy Joes and her turkey chili. And, she says, they all have one thing in common. "I want to make sure my recipes are written really well so that people can follow them ...," she says. "As most of my recipes are. I want people to feel like if I can do this, you can totally do this, too. "I've been surrounded by women my whole life who know how to cook," she continues. "I've never gone to school but it's about being around people who love to cook and that's what I love about Food Network, because it feels like the way I grew up. You know, someone's always cooking so when you have the channel on like I have been doing since it first came on the air, I feel like I'm still surrounded by people who enjoy the same things I do." Toward that end, she names Network personalities Giada de Laurentiis, Ina Garten and Rachael Ray as chefs whose work she admires. Bertinelli originally considered "Home Cooking" a summer job she could do during hiatus for "Hot in Cleveland," but when TV Land ended that series in 2015, her Food Network gig moved front and center. "It's so different from what I'm used to doing and yet I'm used to doing this particular thing," she says of the show. "I mean, I've been cooking my whole life so it's just putting the two together – cooking on TV. It's just a different animal but I'm having a ball. I'm having so much fun. I feel like I'm where I'm supposed to be." BY GEORGE DICKIE What book are you currently reading? "I am currently reading 'The Nightingales.' Just started it so I can't really tell you much about it." What did you have for dinner last night? "You know what? I went to bed so early I had like half a watermelon. I actually did not make dinner because I'm home alone. My husband is in Cleveland visiting his mom and I'm about to go visit my dad so I don't have a lot of things in the house, so yeah, I just had half a watermelon (laughs). It was an odd night." What is your next project? "My next project is 'Kids Baking Championship.' I start that in August." When was the last vacation you took, where and why? "The last vacation was Park City, Utah, and that was over the Christmas holiday and we went with most of our kids and it was a lovely time. It was really a blast, and I cooked the whole time. I made gumbo, I made turkey chili, I made manicotti. I made all kinds of stuff. ... I did go skiing on Christmas Day because not a lot of people were out there. I've been skiing since I was 8 and I love it. But the rest of the time I was cooking for everybody." Valerie Bertinelli Bertinelli strives to communicate with clarity on 'Valerie's Home Cooking' Page 8 July 25 - 31, 2016 11:00 a.m. WNDU 0 2016 Women's Open Champi- onship Final Round. From Woburn Golf Club in Buck- inghamshire, England. (N) TNT 2016 PGA Cham- pionship Final Round. From Baltusrol Golf Club in Springfield, N.J. (N) 1:30 p.m. GOLF King's Cup, Final Round. From Black Mountain Golf Club in Hua Hin, Thailand. (N Same-day Tape) 2:00 p.m. WSBT 6 2016 PGA Championship Final Round. From Baltusrol Golf Club in Springfield, N.J. (N) MARtiAl ARts TUESDAY 8:00 p.m. ESPN2 Karate U.S. Open: ISKA World Championships. From Or- lando, Fla. WEDNESDAY 7:00 p.m. NBCSN World Series of Fighting 31 Blagoi Ivanov vs. Josh Copeland; Jason High vs. Mike Ricci. SATURDAY 10:30 p.m. NBCSN World Series of Fighting 32 Mo- raes vs. Hill. (N) olyMpics TUESDAY Noon NBCSN U.S. Olym- pic Trials Wrestling. 2:30 p.m. NBCSN U.S. Olympic Trials Wrestling. WEDNESDAY Noon NBCSN U.S. Olym- pic Trials Diving. Men's springboard final. 1:30 p.m. NBCSN U.S. Olympic Trials Diving. Women's platform final. From Indianapolis. 2:30 p.m. NBCSN U.S. Olympic Trials Diving. Women's springboard fi- nal. From Indianapolis. 4:00 p.m. NBCSN U.S. Olympic Trials Diving. Men's platform final. From Indianapolis. THURSDAY Noon NBCSN U.S. Olympic Trials Swimming Finals. Featuring: women's 200m breaststroke and 100m freestyle; men's 200m backstroke and 200m IM. 1:00 p.m. NBCSN U.S. Olympic Trials Swimming Finals. Featuring men's and women's events. From Omaha, Neb. 2:00 p.m. NBCSN U.S. Olympic Trials Swimming. Women's 50m freestyle; men's 1500m freestyle. 3:00 p.m. NBCSN U.S. Olympic Trials Swimming Finals. Featuring: women's 200m backstroke; men's 100m butterfly; women's 800m freestyle; men's 50m free.

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