Our guest this week is bringing core insights into the kitchen so that everyone can:
a.) enjoy cooking and b.) turn it from a massive chore to a bright spot in your day. Author, blogger and “accidental cook” Bri McKoy is here, talking with Jen about the best practices and advice on how to become the kind of cook you want to be for your own life.
Drawn from her essential cookbook, “The Cooks Book: Recipes for Keeps and Essential Techniques to Master Everyday Cooking,” Bri wants to share what she’s learned in her kitchen so that everyone’s kitchen can become a place of confidence and joy.
Jen and Bri dish on:
Why it matters where you put things in your kitchen—and how small changes can make a big impact
The Forever Grocery list, is Bri’s tried and true list of things you should always have on hand in your kitchen so that you limit your time shopping and planning
Bri’s Kitchen Techniques – simple rules that help us make decisions in the kitchen
What you need to know about pairing the right wine with the right foods and how to stock your bar with the essentials
If there’s more cooking in your life this summer with kids at home, guests coming to visit, or budget-conscious cooking when traveling, this relatable episode will give you the tools you need to de-stress your kitchen and make it a place for great food and great fun!
We’re back with another installment of our Being Seen and Heard series, and we think this one is going to strike a nerve with many of you out there who are looking for a better, stronger, fairer, narrative when it comes to the balance of work in your home and toward raising children. Are you the one in your relationship who is handling the lion’s share of the care and feeding of your littles PLUS taking care of their pickups and dropoffs to school, daycare, sports, bathtimes, bedtimes, wiping noses, butts PLUS managing the domestic front of grocery shopping, cleaning, organizing, handling the social calendar, vacations, PLUS working a 40 hour a week job either inside or outside the home? We see you and are asking a question that maybe you ask every day; why are women still, in a day and age where we make up 55.9 percent of the workforce and where 40 percent are the main breadwinner in the home, still responsible for so much when it comes to child rearing and domestic workload? Our guest this week has created a national conversation about greater equality on the home front with a system she created through intense research that helps couples create balance, by understanding that women are doing what she calls almost all of the “invisible labor” in the home, with at least two thirds of them having a job outside the home as well. Eve Rodsky is a Harvard Law School grad with years of training in organizational management When she had her first child (and began to see her identity at her job being stripped away because of it) and then began the dance of balancing her job with all of her duties as a mother (for which she bore the lion’s share of the domestic and child rearing responsibilities, as so many women do) she started to wonder: what would it be like if couples could reimagine their relationships as to how it relates to rebalancing the work it takes to run a home? So began her “Fair Play” system, where she sets couples up for success in relationship and parenting by helping them change the way they think and talk about their home life.
Jen and Eve discuss:
The patriarchal history that has been around for centuries that informs why the imbalance of domestic workload still exists when so many other categories for women have been elevated
How important it is to invite men into their full power into the home, removing barriers and stereotypes as to what men’s and women’s strengths are there
Changing the notion that women’s time is somehow less important than men’s–and that the “invisible work” women do is toward guarding the time of men
How the overwhelming pace of work, child rearing and home management eventually ends up making us sick and damaging our relationships, and what we can do about it
BONUS: Eve puts Jen to the test with a question from her Fair Play card deck where we dive deep into Jen’s family values–a question that is illuminating to all of us in understanding each other in relationship.
Well, community, 2021 is about to close the curtain. So many of us had the highest of hopes after 2020. And for some, this year gave them exactly what they needed. For others, it was a year of sorrow and grief and hard days. But, here’s the thing, we all made it. We made it through the hard days and the tears and ups and downs. We lived. We learned. We grew closer to who we are meant to be in this life. And isn’t that something to celebrate? Join us this week as Jen divulges all that 2021 had in store for her. From guiding her kids through life after divorce, to rediscovering who she is and what dreams she has for herself. And here’s the thing. It wasn’t perfect, no year ever is. But, it allowed Jen and the rest of this community to find life. To find the knowledge that we deserve love and happiness and unrelenting joy. And after all of that, we have one wish for you going into 2022. We wish you happiness. Happiness that shines bright each day, and brighter when you find yourself at the bottom of the rope. So, as we say goodbye to this year, we wish you the happiest of New Years and cannot wait to serve you in 2022.
2021 is winding down. For some of us it flew by, for others it was the longest year of our lives. We might have experienced pure love, we might have learned new things and explored new places, and perhaps we grew closer to becoming the people we are meant to be. But some of us grieved. We lost loved ones, and dreams we once had. We dealt with suffering and sadness. But you know what we all did together? We made it. We lived. We found life and joy and hope and sadness and love. And in that, we have the power to spread that hope of “making it” to others who are walking alongside us in similarly complex journeys. As we link hands to face another year, we asked a close friend of the show and one of our most cherished leaders to bless us with a year-end benediction; Bishop Michael Curry. Bishop Curry beautifully wraps up the spirit of this tumultuous year and gives us something to hope for in the coming new year, while speaking a blessing of light and life over us all.
During the busyness of the holiday season, when does one find time for comfort and joy? Between planning all the parties, baking all the cookies, and wrapping all the gifts, has it been a minute since you’ve been able to enjoy the festivity of the season? Well, if you’re like us over here at For the Love, you might have to find the time to squeeze in a quick injection of the holiday spirit by sitting down for a Hallmark Holiday movie! In 90 tight minutes, you can cry over the heartwarming story of a firefighter and a vet who find nine kittens and try to find them homes for Christmas (and also find love in the process). Or maybe you need something a little more kooky like two wacky sisters who switch lives during Christmas only to find that maybe their lives aren’t so bad after all (yes, both real Hallmark Christmas movie plots!). Hallmark movies are a guilty pleasure for some, and a downright obsession for others (and if you can’t stand them, there’s something here for you too). Whatever category you’re in, you’ll love the return of our guests Bran, Dan & Panda from Deck the Hallmark! The boys are back and filled with important holiday advice like how to host the perfect holiday gathering for a Hallmark movie marathon and their recommended song list to make that gathering 5 star quality! Additionally, the trio and Jen storyboard the plot for a Hallmark Christmas movie loosely based on Jen’s summer trip to Maine, except set during Christmas with Candace Cameron Bure playing Jen and a lot of wild story embellishments involving lobsters and crusty sailors (we’re really hoping the Hallmark people are listening so we can get this one made).
It is the season of giving, friends, and what better gift could you get from us than a super special bonus episode of your favorite show? This cozy holiday bonus episode features TV host, model and actress, Vanessa Lachey! Vanessa just brought her first book to the world; Life From Scratch: Family Traditions That Start With You, and it’s chock full of fun and practical tips that we’re talking about on the show to make each season and the moments in them special and memorable. Jen and Vanessa discuss why it’s important (and fun!) to create and carry on traditions each year, why those traditions help strengthen our connections to the people we love, and how to give your girlfriends gifts they actually want.
Jingle those sleigh bells and break out the eggnog–Trisha Yearwood has arrived at the For the Love Podcast for our Comfort and Joy series!! If you’ve been here for any amount of time, you know that Jen Hatmaker is Trisha’s #1 fan. Women ruled the day for country music in the 90’s, and Trisha was among the queens. If you were coming of age in that era like Jen did (and even if you didn’t) it was hard to miss the great ladies of 90’s country (Shania, Martina, Wynonna, and more.) who exemplified the important seasons of our lives (falling in love, raising kids, finding our voices) and sang songs that were anthems of that decade. Trisha’s music lives on, and she has been bringing another facet of herself to the world via The Food Network with her own show about southern cooking. And what brings more comfort and joy than music and food? Not much! Trisha and Jen are talking about it all today: Trisha’s journey to country music fame, cooking and hosting on The Food Network (and a peek at her new cookbook!), and singing Christmas songs with her favorite people (including her hubby Garth Brooks).
Happy Holidays, friends! Welcome to the most magical time of year. It’s filled with fairy lights and Christmas cookies and good food and friends. It’s the epitome of comfort and joy—and that’s why we are thrilled to be kicking off our 2021 holiday series, For the Love of Comfort & Joy with you today. We have it all in this series, from cookbooks to Hallmark movies. We’re kicking it all off this week with conversation with a self taught expert in hosting and learning how to serve others well with Abby Turner. Abby wrote The Living Table where she offers readers and home cooks simple recipes that allow for more time spent with their people. And isn’t that what we are all looking for during the busy holiday season? Jen and Abby rediscover what the table actually means to a family, how to find God wherever you are this season, and why it’s so important to find time to love our people well.
Take a peek around
If you’re not sure where to begin, I got you, friend. I’m always bringing you something new to enjoy.
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