It’s time to get into a topic for a brand new series that is near and dear to our hearts—food. We love to eat it, we love to take pictures of it, we love to cook it (well, some of us do). This brand new series, For the Love of Feeding These People, coincides with the release of Jen’s brand new cookbook; “Feed These People,” but lest you think this is one long discussion about Jen’s book, think again. We’re bringing in other food creators whose Instagrams we follow religiously for their culinary creations, we’re bringing in a wine guy (not a snooty one, but one that gives us affordable options and doesn’t shame us if we wonder out loud what wine pairs with corn dogs), and Jen’s own family (sisters, brother and mom) to talk about their family food moments and give up the secrets of their most loved and hated family meals. But for this episode, we’re going deep behind the scenes and uncovering the mystery of how the pictures of food we see in advertisements, websites, Instagram feeds, books and more look so darn good. There are people who specialize in photographing food to make it look as sumptuous as possible, and other folks who “style” the food so it appears in the most beautiful atmospheres, and the chefs who cook up every recipe to its ultimate best so the photog and stylist can enhance the magic around it. If you’ve ever been curious as to how that all happens, we have the actual team who put together Jen’s cookbook, and they’re here to dish about all the hours, details, and antics that go into this kind of work, and how they got to the mouth-watering final results. Mackenzie, Maite and Taylor are the dream team behind so many beautiful food shoots and you’ll love the triumphs and the fails they share (including a story about Jen’s Satay with Peanut Dipping Sauce recipe that somehow resembled something REALLY unappetizing) and other hilarious challenges and triumphs that happened while creating Jen’s beautiful new cookbook.
Podcast Category: Cooking/Food
Relax–It’s Just Food! Finding the Fun in Cooking with Teri Turner
As we come to the end of our Favorite Pastimes series, we hope you are filling your summer with your favorite activities —and maybe some new ones we’ve talked about here! Our series wouldn’t be complete without a conversation about one universal pastime that is approached with either love or loathing—cooking! Perhaps cooking has become nothing but drudgery for you and those ungrateful kids who eye your culinary masterpieces with disdain have made you turn to slinging out Lunchables and microwave mac and cheese. Or maybe you are single and cooking for one seems like a chore. Or maybe you *think* cooking could be your thing but you’re intimidated by the lingo and measurements and if you have the right appliances (Hot Pots! Air Fryers! Immersion Blenders! Oh my!). No matter where you fall on the cooking spectrum, easy and delicious summer cooking is within your reach and we have a guest who is here to help us claim our cooking identity. Teri Turner is an author, home cook, and podcast host who has turned her love of the kitchen into a whole career for herself. Her mantra is “It’s Just Food,” —takes the pressure off, right? She encourages us to find our “food thing” and how we can perfect that signature dish that will have even the most skeptical palates coming back for more. Teri’s tips include Whole30 options, gluten free dishes—she leaves nothing behind. Teri makes cooking seem accessible to us all—and promises our kitchens can be places of joy and magic-making.
Antoni Porowski [BONUS] “Antoni: Let’s Do Dinner” Cookbook Chat
Happy unscheduled podcast goodness day to you all—we’ve got a super fun bonus episode for you! This week we are welcoming the one and only Antoni Porowski to the show. You know and love him from the delightfully heartwarming Netflix show, Queer Eye, where he works as the food and wine expert, teaching people the power of caring for all bodies—inside and out. Not one to just have a day job, Antoni is also in the throes of releasing his most recent cookbook, Antoni: Let’s Do Dinner. This book features easy peasy recipes that will leave you feeling satisfied and ready to take on each day. Jen and Antoni chat about their favorite kitchen tools, the time it takes to put recipes together, and why sharing food is a form of self love for yourself and others.
Joanna Gaines on Gardening, Ramen, and Bringing Family to the Table
It’s the grand finale of our For the Love of Food series—and lucky for us, we’ve got someone on today who holds the very high honor of “Most Requested For the Love Podcast Guest of All Time”—Joanna Gaines! Jen and Jo are real-life buddies, and this week they dive into Joanna’s rich family heritage that introduced her to so many cuisines from around the world by the time she could crawl. They dish about how to get a big family to get to the table, let alone connect at the table, how Jo finds joy in her garden, and why the kitchen is her happy place (even as she’s learning to cook on camera for her new show on the Magnolia Network called Magnolia Table with Joanna Gaines). The two also get into very serious topics like the war between Ragú and Prego, and why ramen most certainly *cannot* have an egg in it. Through it all, Joanna shows that food has the power to bring life to any situation, and why getting folks around the table is far more important than how perfect the dish is that brought them there.
Jeff Mauro on the Come On Over Mentality and Proper Sandwich Protocol?
“Come on over.” Talk about three words that promise fun’s on the way! We’re daydreaming of getting back to game nights with our besties, and margaritas with the neighbors, and the great Jeff Mauro is no exception. You may know him as a cohost on Food Network’s The Kitchen, or maybe as a winner of The Next Food Network Star. After getting his start working in a deli when he was 15 and later opening his own, Jeff is the larger-than-life sandwich king who’s just published a cookbook and launched a podcast—and both are called Come On Over! Jeff and Jen dive into why you *must* establish proper sandwich making protocol, and why it’s wise to become friends with your local deli guy. Jeff shows us that food has the power to bring together people of all ages, and after the past year, the “Come On Over” mentality might look different, but we can still find the same spirit of love and connection through a shared meal.
Cookbooks, Country Music, and Creativity with Martina McBride
When you’re a kitchen newbie, it can feel a little intimidating—and even overwhelming—to figure out how to put a good meal together, especially if you’re just asking yourself questions like, “What the heck is oregano, anyway?” But we all start somewhere, even world-renowned country music artists. Martina McBride is a 14-time GRAMMY-nominated country singer, cookbook author, and self-taught home chef. Jen and Martina talk through what it’s really like to put a cookbook together, how these two Kansas girls learned the ins and outs of the kitchen in their adult years, and how a neighborhood golf cart can bring us a new verse to our all-time favorite Martina song “For the Girls!”
Chaat, Chopped, and Culinary Globe Trotting with Maneet Chauhan
We *know* we aren’t the only ones who spend hours on the couch binging episodes of Chopped or Iron Chef. Not only is it super satisfying watching other people cook— we feel like we become friends with the contestants and judges. And this week, we get to hear from one of our favorite Food Network chefs/judges/friends, Maneet Chauhan! Maneet and Jen take a walk through Maneet’s culinary history from her beginnings in India to the leap she took into the NYC culinary scene, and why she decided to begin her own restaurant empire in Nashville. Maneet has become known as the fun, kind, and bubbly judge on Chopped and now tells the full story of her path to culinary star in her latest book, Chaat. We’re so pleased to have Maneet’s perspective during our For the Love of Food series as she lifts up fellow female professional chefs and helps us understand the legacy of culturally driven foods.
Community Bonding over Anchovy Pasta with Alex Snodgrass
In the past year, many of us have looked at our kitchens and had to flip the Open sign to Closed. We put big holidays dinners on hold. We canceled game nights with our friends. We traded cutting boards for takeout containers because we just. couldn’t. cook. another. meal. But we still need to eat and nourish our bodies and souls, and for that, we turn to Alex Snodgrass of The Defined Dish. Alex shares her unlikely journey to creating a popular food brand and a New York Times bestselling cookbook (also called The Defined Dish), how to your get over your anchovy aversion (it’s worth it, we promise), and why healthy eating doesn’t mean a carrot stick on a bed of lettuce. Jen and Alex talk about how food can bond groups of people who may not come together otherwise, and why forming a community is super rewarding—even if you’re separated by a screen.
Thai Food, Traveling with Knives, and Connections at the Table: Bri McKoy
We hope all you foodies out there have been enjoying the Food 2.0 series. But we know some of you saw what this series was about and thought, I can’t cook, I’ve never cooked, I will never cook, and you can’t make me! Listen, we get it—cooking isn’t everyone’s bag. It wasn’t Bri McKoy’s either. Bri’s an accidental home cook turned cookbook author, and her foray into the culinary space started when her husband refused to build a home out of their collection of Thai takeout containers. Bri reluctantly learned what a pinch of salt was, how to literally toast bread, and that onion casseroles perhaps aren’t the best idea to serve, well, ever. Bri watched a lot of Food Network and honed her craft, and since then she’s found a love for traveling with knives, and as a military wife, she’s learned food can be an easy way to bring people to the table and build community. Jen and Bri share some of their most epic kitchen failures, divulge the biggest lessons we can learn from standing over a stove, and reveal their can’t-live-without-it kitchen gadgets. Bri shows that food fills our days with simple joy and helps us forge new relationships with people in ways we never thought possible—even over a Zoom cocktail.
Great British Bake Off’s Nadiya Hussain on Confidence & Mayo Mashed Potatoes
We’ve got a crush on this series and everyone in it—because FOOD! For the Love of Food, Part 2 is cooking up something new this week as we move into BAKING with a member of the royal family of baking itself—The Great British Bake Off’s Nadiya Hussain! Nadiya is not only the Mary Poppins of baking, she’s also hosting a brand-new show on Netflix that’ll be your brand-new happy place, and it’s called—what else?—Nadiya Bakes. Nadiya reveals why she never turned on an oven or baked anything until her 20s, why her husband sent in an application to Bake Off without her knowing (!), and how she learned to be confident in the kitchen and how to keep saying yes to new opportunities. Nadiya shows us that baking doesn’t have to be Bake Off-level perfect to bring people together, and promises our mashed potatoes would be better if we just added a bit of mayo to the mix (we’ll take her word for it!).