Giada de Laurentiis | The Dinner Special podcast

136: Yvette Marquez-Sharpnack: Passing On the Flavours of Mexico

August 17, 2016 by Gabriel Leave a Comment

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Muy Bueno

On her blog, Muy Bueno, Yvette shares her family stories and takes her readers on a journey through old-world northern Mexican cuisine, traditional south of the border home-style dishes, and Latin fusion recipes. Muy Bueno was a finalist in the Saveur Blog Awards in 2012 and 2014, and Yvette has published two cookbooks: Muy Bueno: Three Generations of Authentic Mexican Flavor and Latin Twist: Traditional and Modern Cocktails.

I am so thrilled to have Yvette Marquez-Sharpnack of Muy Bueno joining me here on the show today.

(*All photos below are Yvette’s.)

On The Role Food Played in Her Home:

I grew up in El Paso, Texas, which so many people think, “Oh, you have Tex-Mex food,” but if you’ve ever been to El Paso, it’s pretty much Mexico. Our home is literally a mile away from the Juarez Mexico border. My grandmother came from Chihuahua, Mexico, when she was 10 years old. She’s passed away. She passed away when she was 98 years old, but my mom was a single parent and we lived next door to my grandma. So it was basically my mom and my grandma who raised me, and it was food all the time. It was either see my mom in the kitchen all the time or my grandma in the kitchen. And that was why I named “Muy Bueno” what it is because my grandma would always be in the kitchen, and just anytime any visitors would come, she would always say, “Siéntate a comer, esta muy bueno,” which means, “Sit down, come and eat, it’s very good.” And so every time I thought about my grandma and trying to come up with a blog name, that name just kept coming to me.

My grandma was just always in the kitchen and I was always in there with her. I just loved to sit there and watch her make homemade flour tortillas. And I just couldn’t wait to get home from school and just sit there and just listen to her stories. She would just tell me, you know, growing up in the ranch in Chihuahua, Mexico, and during the Mexican revolution, and crossing over to Texas with her family when she was only 10 years old, and just how scary it was. And the things that she experienced, I just found it fascinating. I could just hear her stories over and over and over again. I just loved sitting there and just watching her cook. And that was what I fell in love with.

Although, growing up, what’s so funny is seeing her in the kitchen, my mom always in the kitchen, that was where I did not want to be. I just felt like they were under appreciated and just always there. But as I became a mom, I realized that’s just your gift to your family. And that’s your showing your love to your family, and that’s when I fell in love with cooking, once I had my own children. But in my teens and college, I was like anti the kitchen, anti-cooking.

On Rediscovering the Kitchen:

Everybody would tease me, my family would, especially my brother. He’s seven years older than me and he still teases me, thinking, “Oh, you still don’t cook. You just play one on the Internet.” Because he would be the biggest one. My grandma, too, would say I’m never gonna find a man because I didn’t like the kitchen. It was just like a running family joke. But it’s not that I didn’t know how to cook. I just chose not to cook. My love in the kitchen was when I would entertain. I would love to have friends and family over, and that’s when I would get creative and have fun, when I knew I could cook for a crowd.

It was until I had children, I was like, “Okay, now I kinda have to cook.” So that’s when I started calling my mom and asking, “Okay, How do I make some of these recipes?” She never had it written down. I never bothered to write them down. I would just make them as she was telling me over the phone. And so that’s how I would learn some of the traditional dishes that I grew up with.

Still to this day, when I make a dish that my grandma would make often, I just seriously feel her. I just know that she’s watching me and guiding me in the kitchen. So it’s really cool.

On Her Cookbook, Muy Bueno: Three Generations of Authentic Mexican Flavor:

That was really challenging when we tried to come up with our tagline or subheading. It’s like authentic could be very misleading, I guess. People could be very judgmental when it comes to any type of cuisine, whether it’s authentic or not authentic. Everybody’s definition of authenticity is very different. And when it comes to cooking, it depends on what region. I just came back from Oaxaca, Mexico, and there were so many dishes and ingredients that I have never heard of. So my chicken mole is completely different than a mole that’s made in Oaxaca, Mexico. That’s why we named it “authentic flavor.” We’re not claiming that it’s authentic Mexican, but that it’s authentic to us, and it’s the flavor of Mexico that we know and love.

I just posted a recipe not too long ago of this very authentic traditional dish called chiles en nogada. And it’s not a dish that we necessarily grew up with, but I researched it enough and learned how to make it to share it with my fans. And there’ll always be somebody who’s like, “No, this is not authentic, because an authentic chiles en nogada, you have to peel the walnuts.” And it’s like, sometimes, I skip steps to try and make it easy for the everyday cook. Who has a time to be peeling walnuts?

So just little things like that, I try to make dishes that are authentic in flavor, but are easier to make and maybe adding a spin where it’s a healthier dish or just making it more simple, but keeping those traditional and authentic flavors in there.

On Co-Writing a Second Cookbook, Latin Twist: Traditional & Modern Cocktails:

It was funny because you never know who you’re gonna meet. That’s what I love about blogging is it’s opened up so many new relationships that sitting in my old job in a cubicle, I would have never had the opportunity to meet. And Vianney is another Latina blogger who is from Texas. So we automatically had that connection, and I followed her blog, she followed my blog. And one event, we went with Nestle to go to California and be a part of a tamalada.

And that evening, we were both flying out and had a long delay at the LA airport. We’re like, “Let’s get some cocktails.” And so we started with one cocktail, and another cocktail. She has a great section in her blog that’s called Margarita Love. And so I kept telling her, “Vianney, you need to write a margarita cookbook, you know, margarita cocktail book.” She’s like, “Yeah, that’s my goal. I wanna do that.” I was like, “Well, let me know if you need help, and I can design it for you, or I can talk to the publisher that I worked with and see if they might be interested.” And she was like, “Okay, okay.”

And so then, after I was on the plane and we parted ways, I was thinking, “I need to do something with her. I don’t wanna steal her thunder with a margarita book, because I would love for her to still do that on her own, but we need to team up together and write a cocktail book, not only just of margaritas, and not only just of Mexican cocktails, but cocktails of Latin America and Spain. And so that’s how the idea started. I approached her saying, “How about we team up together and we write a cocktail book together and share both of our loves of these fun cocktails that usually end up being Latin-inspired.”

The Pressure Cooker:

Which food shows or cooking shows do you watch?

I love anything with Giada or Rick Bayless or Pati Jinich. It’s not so much of the show, but more about who’s cooking and who captivates my attention.

What are some food blogs or food websites we have to know about?

I would say White on Rice Couple. I’ve just always loved their photography style and just their whole life in general. They have this gorgeous garden and these orchards. It just looks fabulous. I also love Matt Bites, Matt Armendariz. I just love that he’s a Latino. He seems like he would be a fun friend. I love his photography and his styling. He works with his partner who has an amazing eye for food styling. And just together, they do some magic. For me, it’s all about visuals and photography, and capturing the story with it. And so those blogs have always kept my interest.

I also love Foodiecrush. She has an amazing, a completely different sense of style, where I think it’s more modern and clean, and she also has a background in graphic design. So I love her clean space when it comes to styling food.

Who do you follow on Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook or Snapchat that make you happy?

I follow a lot of yogis on Instagram. I just love yoga girl, and she just always has some inspirational messages. It’s just neat to see all these amazing yoga poses that she does in the middle of nowhere, or like super tropical, exotic amazing spaces. But I just love that she always has positive messages or inspiring quotes, always to her photos.

What is the most unusual or treasured item in your kitchen?

That’s an easy one. It’s my grandmother’s rolling pin. After she passed away, my mom asked me what it was that I would love from my grandma, and I just wanted that rolling pin that she would make flour tortillas with every day. And so come to find out she had two rolling pins, and my sister asked for one too. So we each got a rolling pin. I think it’s kind of like a baton, like your turn. It’s time to continue that legacy and those traditions of food with your family.

Name one ingredient you used to dislike but now you love.

I would say nopales, which are cactus petals. It’s not even so much that I didn’t love it. It’s just we didn’t really grow up eating them very often. When I saw them, it was more in a jar and they just looked slimy and they just didn’t appeal to me. And so it was not, until recently, where it’s like you can honestly get them fresh. I put them in a smoothie every morning or mix some scrambled eggs or just in a fresh salad, it’s just such a fun ingredient that I think it’s underrated and it needs to be used more often.

What are a few cookbooks that make your life better?

I love Rick Bayless. I love Pati Jinich. I also love Marcela Valladolid. Anything Mexican, I just love to, not only read the recipes, but read their history or learn how they make the recipes. It’s just interesting, because you can have a tres leches cake in all the books, and they’ll all be completely different. I love seeing the variety of the same Mexican dish and how it’s made by different Mexican chefs.

What song or album just makes you want to cook?

I would say any old Mexican music. There’s Paloma Blanca, which is a white dove. And there’s another one called De Colores. So they’re just two old Mexican songs, and it’s like I’m flooded back with feelings of my grandma, racing to go pump up the volume and sing. Now I sing those songs and turn up the volume for those songs, and just know that grandma is there watching me cook, singing with me.

On Keeping Posted with Yvette:

I think Instagram’s definitely my new love. That’s where I post the latest and greatest, also on Facebook. I’m not on Snapchat yet. I do have an account, but I haven’t caught on to the Snapchat wagon, which I’m sure I will soon. But yeah, for now, definitely Instagram on Muy Bueno Cooking. And on Facebook, it’s under Muy Bueno Cookbook.

108: Emily Stoffel: How Cooking Changes with Parenthood

February 3, 2016 by Gabriel Leave a Comment

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The Pig & Quill

Emily started The Pig & Quill in 2012, and most recipes on her blog are heavy on the plants and low on refined sugars and starches though she is a firm believer in moderation. She is also a new mom.

I am so happy to have Emily Stoffel of The Pig & Quill joining me here on the show today.

(*All photos below are Emily’s.)

On Cooking as a New Parent:

It’s definitely driven a little bit more by convenience. I used to just cook whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted, and now, a lot of what we are doing in the house is meals, particularly dinners, where you can prep a lot of things in advance a little bit here and there throughout the day. I can prep a little bit during the first nap. I can prep a little bit during the second nap. And then by the time she goes to sleep, and we’re having dinner at night, there’s very little that’s required to bring it together, and we can still eat at a reasonable hour.

A lot of that is relying on things like a slow cooker, or, I use my rice cooker for everything. I’m cooking a lot of things in the broiler. I didn’t used to do that a bunch, but it’s such a fast way to cook protein. So that’s changed my game a little.

And my husband’s a great sport about the fact that we eat the same three or four meals in rotation, which we did not used to do. It used to be something different every night. We just have go-to’s that we know we can pull off in a moment’s notice. So there’s a lot of that, but still trying to keep things interesting.

I wasn’t such a really big proponent of the slow cooker actually before I had Lana. I know a lot of people are super hardcore slow cooker fans. I guess I just didn’t really give it a chance. I thought, “Oh, it’s for everything. Let it go…Whatever. I can do the same thing on my stove,” but it is really nice to be able to start something in the morning and then be able to leave the house and run errands or whatever and come back. I use my rice cooker for oatmeal which makes breakfast a no-brainer. So one of us can get up in the morning and start the oatmeal.

When we first had Lana, when she was a newborn, one of us would sneak out of bed before she would wake up in the morning, because she sleeps in our room, and put out all the oatmeal toppings and the ingredients and everything and set it. And then by the time she was up, it was ready to go. So we wouldn’t have to worry about making breakfast for ourselves. So yeah, I use that. I even hard-boil eggs in my rice cooker.

It’s pretty incredible. If you have a steamer insert, you just throw the eggs on top while you cook the rice. The time the rice is done, your eggs are done, and it’s perfect. If you want soft-boiled eggs, you can do it when you cook your white rice. And if you want hardboiled eggs, you do it when you cook your brown rice.

On Putting a Meal Together Quickly:

I mentioned that I like to use the broiler a lot. So I marinate a protein throughout the day. And then I can just pop it in the broiler when Lana’s napping or goes down for the night. And it usually just takes ten minutes to cook a protein that way.

I have a couple recipes on my blog. One is the shoyu chicken, and that’s super easy. It’s just chicken thighs that you marinate, and broil, and serve it with white rice or whatever side you want. And then the other one is a pumpkin curry which takes a little bit longer to do, but again, it’s something where I can do different elements throughout the day. And then it’s topped with a crispy, spice crusted tofu, and that is done completely under the broiler.

And even if you just look at the recipe for the tofu element, we put that tofu on salads. Sometimes, I just have it in a bowl with roasted veggies. So even if you’re not into curry or you’re not doing the pumpkin curry part of it, the tofu is super clutch. We do that all the time.

On How to Make Cooking Fun:

This is a cop out, but when we had Lana at first, we did a lot of the grocery meal delivery kits that are popular right now. I know that there’s Sun Basket, and there’s HelloFresh. And I know a lot of different ones that folks do. Some are organic, some are not. And that’s something that I probably never would have considered doing before I had kids. But it’s fun because they have the instructions written out so clearly step-by-step with those meal kits that it’s super easy for two people to tag team a recipe. You can just say, “Here’s where I started,” or “I left off at this step.”

Unlike some recipes, traditional recipes, including the ones that I write, a lot of times, the items that you have to prepare are called out in a different color or something like that, so you can see exactly what you need to do to this fruit or to this vegetable before it goes to the cooking stage. And you can break up the responsibilities that way.

We found those actually really helpful because it was a fast way to still be cooking together in the kitchen, something that was homemade. But A, you don’t have to go to the grocery store and B, just the way that the recipe is written, it’s really easy to do it on your own. But if you’re moving around the kitchen with multiple folks or something like that, it’s easy to make that come together.

The other thing that’s fun is we don’t go out a lot for dinner anymore. So when we’re feeling not super inspired, we’ll invite people over to just have hors d’ oeuvres here or something like that. And that’s a good way to get engaged about cooking again. You don’t feel like, “Oh my gosh, I’m just making dinner for myself to get by.” You feel like you’re entertaining which is a refreshing way to feel when you don’t get a lot of fun evening time. So that’s something that’s invigorated my time in the kitchen.

On Her Food Heroes:

Well, aside from my family, so my mom first and foremost, I learned so much from her just growing up in the kitchen, and her dad like I mentioned, just having exposure to that at a young age, and my dad as well.

In terms of people that inspired me, I guess if you think about the Nigella’s or Ina Garten, those types of folks even before Food Network was anywhere near where it is today, those were the types of folks where I just really admire. They’re cooking super un-fussy food that’s just delicious. It just tastes good. They don’t necessarily have a hook or a theme. They just make food that’s accessible and super tasty. And they deliver it in such a seductive and enticing way without really trying.

And I know that now, they’re these big brands, and they’ve got marketing up the wahoo. But back in the day of Yan Can Cook or The Frugal Gourmet, I used to watch those folks on PBS, and those were just people that cooked food that they knew they would enjoy. There wasn’t really any big spin to it.

Those are the types of folks that I think I learned the most from, just seeing their passion and seeing how that can translate into something that’s educational and entertaining. I also had a really unabashed girl crush on Giada when I was in college to the point where I would have dreams that we were best friends hanging out in Santa Monica. It was super creepy.

On Her Blog:

I had sat down with one of my good friends, and we were doing this life mapping of everything that we wanted to do in the next several years. And I told her that starting a blog was something that I really wanted to do, and I started The Pig & Quill without doing a lot of research, without coming up with a big plan for a brand or an image or even an idea of how the site would look.

It was just like I told her, “This is what I want to do.” We brainstormed a bunch of names. I bought the domain name, and then I sat on it for six months. And then it was bugging me that I had spent $13 to register this domain name and hadn’t done anything with it.

So Labor Day weekend of 2012, we actually stayed home that weekend, it was a stay-cation, and I was like, “Okay, this is the weekend that I’m going to start the blog,” and I launched it without a lot of research or anything. The images were awful, but it was exactly what I wanted it to be. It was just me talking about the food that I liked but also talking about how food fit into my life and adding a personal storyline to each post.

So yeah, it wasn’t really like, “Oh my gosh. I have this vision that I’m going to be a food blogger.” It was just something that I did spontaneously, and I’ve had to learn the ropes as I’ve gone along. Fortunately, there’s a ton of inspiration out there these days to help me grow, but it’s a crazy space, food blogging, because there’s so much opportunity and so many different angles and approaches that you can take with your blog. And I went into it with, like I said, with a really unclear vision. I was just like, “I’m going to get this up today.” And hindsight being 20-20, I would have mapped out my look and my voice a little more before I started, but finding my way has been part of the fun.

The Pressure Cooker:

Which food shows or cooking shows do you watch?

I watch Master Chef Jr. When I’m over at my in-laws or my mom’s house, I watch Chopped. That’s always fun. Sometimes, we pause it and say what we would do with the ingredients if we were given the basket. I don’t watch a lot food TV anymore these days.

What are some food blogs or food websites we have to know about?

Oh, wow. There are a lot. I really love i am a food blog. Everything that Stephanie makes I want to eat it immediately. Two Red Bowls, the photography is ridiculous, Fix Feast Flair, Kale & Caramel. I’ve only been reading Kale & Caramel in the last, probably, six months, but her voice is…I feel like I just want to be friends with Lily in real life. She cracks me up, and she does a really good job of doing what I really like doing in food blogs, which is pairing a little bit more of personal anecdotes with recipes. She does a lot of that.

Bev Cooks was one of the first food blogs that I read back in the day. She is hilarious. And she has two kiddos. They’re twins, and they’re the most adorable people ever. Her Instagram is just ridiculous. Wit & Vinegar, Billy’s really funny. I think his aesthetic is really different from anything that anyone else is doing.

I really like reading Dessert for Two because Christina’s got a little one that is Lana’s age. So it’s been fun reading her blog and seeing her daughter at the same stage that Lana’s at. We were pregnant at the same time. We’re not BFF’s or anything, but I stalked her throughout our pregnancies, and that was really fun.

Chocolate and Marrow, I really like Chocolate and Marrow. Brooke just does crazy, creative stuff, really, really delicious things, really indulgent and just beautiful stuff.

Who do you follow on Pinterest, Instagram, or Facebook or Snapchat that make you happy?

Snapchat, I just haven’t really gotten into yet. I would say of those things, I probably use Instagram the most. Violet Tinder, she’s really great. She has just a super rainbow-hued, really fun Instagram. And she does a lot of candy-colored things and water colors, and everything is just super poppy, neon bright. Miss New Foodie is really funny. She has some pretty funny captions for all of her indulgent eats.

What is the most unusual or treasured item in your kitchen?

The thing that’s most treasured in my current kitchen is not even mine because I rent, but it’s our stove. We have a vintage Wedgewood stove in this kitchen that’s incredible. It’s really petite. The oven portion is really petite, but it heats up super-fast and evenly. It’s got a legit broiler which I mentioned earlier that really gets the job done.

In terms of an appliance, I have a garlic press, the same garlic press that I mentioned earlier where I think it’s called the Garlic Twist. It’s like this big piece of acrylic. And rather than crushing garlic through it, you put the garlic in, and you twist it. And because it’s one piece of plastic, it rinses out super easily. I use it probably every day. It’s not like the garlic presses where there’s all the little holes that you have to get all the stuff out of.

Name one ingredient you used to dislike but now you love.

I don’t really love mustard or I didn’t really love mustard, particularly yellow mustard, but I didn’t really use any mustard. And now, maybe because my husband is a huge mustard aficionado, I’ve come around on mustard. I actually really like hot horseradish-y mustards more so than a yellow mustard. But I used to really not be a fan of yellow mustard. I can at least tolerate it now.

What are a few cookbooks that make your life better?

I’m an awful baker, so I have to rely on cookbooks for baking or at least for measurements that I can gain inspiration from, so The Williams-Sonoma baking cookbook is really great. It’s got tons of cool recipes. But it’s also just good for if I need a jumping off point for an idea that I have.

I mentioned i am a food blog earlier, and her book Easy Gourmet is great. I’ve given it to a bunch of people because it’s just exactly what it says, easy gourmet. It’s really accessible. Anything by America’s Test Kitchen is good for the same reason as the Williams-Sonoma baking book. You just know that everything is really thoroughly tested, and it’s a good jumping off point. I still have a subscription to Bon Appétit and Gourmet. I know that that’s not a book, but those are good for keeping me aware of food trends and things like that.

What song or album just makes you want to cook?

Well, I always have this vision that if I ever quit my day job and I got to just spend all day cooking in my kitchen, that I would do it listening to Carole King or Adele on the record player. So I guess I’d say both of those ladies. Then for something maybe a little more poppy, I’ll dance in the kitchen to Britney Spears or Nelly Furtado, early 2000’s Nelly Furtado. The Who, it’s really fun.

On Keeping Posted with Emily:

I’m probably the most active on Instagram, and that is @thepigandquill or Facebook, and then Pinterest. I love Pinterest.

103: Kaitlin Leung: Connecting with Family Through Cooking

December 30, 2015 by Gabriel Leave a Comment

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The Woks of Life

The Woks of Life is written by Bill, Judy, Sarah and Kaitlin a family that has been cooking and serving up meals for a combined 139 years. Their blog is for anyone looking to try their hand at grade A authentic Chinese cooking whatever their background may be. The Woks of Life were the 2015 Saveur Blog Awards winners in Readers’ Choice Best Special Interest Blog, as well as Editors’ Choice Best Special Interest Blog.

I’m so psyched to have Kaitlin Leung of The Woks of Life with me here today.

(*All photos are The Woks of Life’s.)

On Starting The Woks of Life:

Food blogs are not new obviously but there were a couple of big ones that we did follow, me and my sister mainly, which were The Pioneer Woman. So she kind of blew up and she has her own show and she is like a complete celebrity now and also Smitten Kitchen. So those were the two blogs mainly that we enjoyed looking at and that sparked the idea like, “Why can’t we start a food blog too?”

After she (Sarah) graduated she wasn’t really sure what she wanted to do and she had the whole summer to think about that. So she came up with this idea of starting a food blog. My mom and I were pretty excited to help out and start cooking things and take photos. So it organically became this family thing. She had the idea we could call it The Woks of Life, and we could be the four people at the center of it, and it could be a family thing.

At the time my parents were sort of transitioning into that idea of living in Beijing and then I think four months after the blog was started they actually did move. I’m getting my timing a little bit wrong but she graduated and they were moving to Beijing and everything was kind of in flux.

It was a good way for us to gather our family recipes and have a way to connect with each other across spaces. We communicated mainly through iMessage, Skype and emails. I would email my sister from the library at midnight being like, “Hey, I’m really bored what did you eat today?” That kind of little small talk, chit chat that you would normally have but you don’t really have when you are at two different schools and your parents are living in Beijing. It was all sending pictures of food that we made and we were almost already in the mindset. So to actually make it official was not that big of a job. It became a great family thing and a way for us to stay connected.

On Growing Up in a Family Where Food Played a Big Role:

Growing up it was always gathering around a big table full of food, and everybody reaching across loading up their plates. It was just a really great atmosphere. My dad was very active in the kitchen and his sisters loved to cook too. So from a young age we were like sponges just soaking up all this cooking knowledge and the Food Network. Those were the glory days of the Food Network, classics like Emeril Lagasse and Rachael Ray was just starting and Giada De Laurentiis, she was unmarried and without her baby so that was when she was starting out too. It was a really great time to be interested in food.

We would always just be in the kitchen like, “What are you doing? Why are you doing that,” it’s a passive and an active thing. You’re just watching but at some point you kind of have to roll up your sleeves and when me and my sister were teenagers my parents would have dinner parties and we were like catering staff. We knew so much and we could handle so much. All of my parents friends would be like, “Oh my God your daughters, they are so effective in the kitchen.”

It was kind of always growing up with that mentality of food is important and food is at the center and that’s the big reason why we get together, extended family too, it’s let’s get together and have a barbecue or let’s go get dim sum. It’s just an integral part of not just our family specifically but I feel like the Asian experience in general. You have a big extended family and what’s the best thing to do when you have all these huge amounts of people in the room? You eat.

On Learning About Chinese Cooking:

When we were younger you’re seeing Emeril and you’re seeing Rachel Ray and they’re not making Chinese food. So it kind of got to a point where it was… my grandma always loved saying this to her friends. She brags about us like, “Anything you want, they can make it,” it doesn’t necessarily apply to Chinese food. So when my parents moved to Beijing it was tough because I never ate Chinese food anymore.

You can’t go home and have a home cooked meal. That was another big part of why we wanted to start the blog, is documenting these recipes, which for years was like, “a little this, a little that,” like, “eyeball it, just pour it until it feels right.” You can’t really make that. So Chinese cooking has definitely taken on a bigger part of our repertoire, I guess for me and Sarah, but it was always within the expertise of my parents.

On What Authentic Chinese Food is to Her:

For me personally authentic Chinese food is the food that I grew up eating. It’s the Cantonese spread of salt and pepper pork chops and the pork bone soup and the big plate of green veggies with garlic and the steamed fish. It’s all that but I think that today when you think about traditional Chinese food it’s almost like it’s more about who made it for you.

The food itself is anything that tastes good that’s pretty traditional. I guess authentic is traditional. But I think that it’s almost more important who made it for you. Going into Queens to visit my grandparents and going to the restaurants around there, a lot of those places are owned by people that are technically Chinese citizens but they opened a restaurant in Flushing, Queens. It’s almost in my mind this set of dishes that my family makes most often and eats most often. So you could watch A Bite of China which is this documentary and there’s tons and tons of variety and dishes that you could have that are traditional and authentic, but to me it doesn’t resonate as much because I didn’t grow up eating it.

On Who in the Family is More Traditional and Who Likes to Experiment:

I would say my mother is definitely the most traditional which makes sense because she grew up China and she came over to the U.S. when she was 16. So she definitely has the most knowledge so therefore the most respect for those traditional dishes. I think my dad has a similar level of traditionalism but he grew up more on the Americanized Cantonese side of things. So he has more of an expertise in take-out dishes. He is the king of General Tso’s chicken and the pork fried rices and the lo meins, he can churn out anything.

In terms of who’s the most experimental? I think it’s probably a tie between me and my sister. I think we sort of alternate in our bolts of lightning moments of culinary brilliance. There’s one dish that she made that was so good. It was kimchi french fries and it’s this delicious kimchi mixture and then you put over french fries and then you put cheese on top and it’s 10 times better than chili cheese fries. But chili cheese fries are also good.

And then I’ll make something like Sichuan peppercorn Cacio e Pepe. Which is just cheese and black peppercorns but I wanted to incorporate an Asian spin so I used Sichuan peppercorns and white peppercorns and black peppercorns. It can become hard honestly to come up with those interesting ideas. You can’t fully hang your hat on just traditional Chinese food because that’s good but sometimes you just want something more interesting. We’re definitely always watching and seeing what the food world is doing and trying to get ideas.

The Pressure Cooker:

Which food shows or cooking shows do you watch?

I do watch The Pioneer Woman just because it’s a wonderful escape from real life. She’s got this amazing ranch and she makes all this delicious, comforting, fatty food, it’s great. I love that show and Jamie at Home. That was a short lived show but that was a really good show by Jamie Oliver. He has a beautiful garden, he sits outside with a little cutting board and just cuts and reaches over and plucks fresh herbs, it’s great.

What are some food blogs or food websites we have to know about?

So the sense that we get in the food blog world is that there’s just so many blogs out there and I think a lot of them don’t get enough credit because everybody’s really passionate about food and just telling their story. A couple that we like, one of them would be, Omnivore’s Cookbook which is this girl named Maggie and she actually was living in Beijing at the same time as we were and my sister and her actually met up and talked about food. She has a great blog that has authentic recipes. She makes them a little bit easier and more approachable but they still have that good authentic taste of Chinese food. So we really like her blog.

Another blog would be Little Cooking Tips which is a really cute, really friendly couple in Greece named Panos and Mirella, and they are so nice. They have really good Greek recipes. I just was on their website today and they had a finger licking feta and sausage mac and cheese. That sounds really good. They have a lot of good fusion Greek recipes. So we definitely like them. Hummingbird High, I think she was one of your most recent podcast guest. Her photography is gorgeous and her cakes look so good. Every time I want cake I just go to her Instagram and then I visually eat it.

Who do you follow on Pinterest, Instagram, or Facebook or Snapchat that make you happy?

I’m not sure about Pinterest because that’s my mother’s domain. She is the Pinterest master but on Instagram we follow a bunch of people. But I would say a couple of really good accounts are…there’s one by Dennis The Prescott, his photography is gorgeous and all of his food just looks so freakin yummy. He’s just one of those people that I go to time and time again.

Another one that I really like is Symmetry Breakfast. I think it’s a couple and they just take pictures of breakfasts that they have together and it’s perfectly symmetrical. It’s just so perfect for somebody who’s a little OCD like me. It’s just beautiful, I love it. They’ve got really great stuff. They have like a bagette that’s cut open and baked with eggs inside. They know how to live. They eat good for breakfast. I just roll out of bed and I’m lucky if I have a piece of toast. So those are just a couple that I like but there are so many people on Instagram that have just amazing photography. It can be hard to keep up because so many people are just putting out amazing content but those are two that I love.

What is the most unusual or treasured item in your kitchen?

I would say unusual for a nonChinese audience that is actually very useful is a tong device for picking up plates. If you put a hot dish in a steamer you don’t want to grab it and it kind of goes like this and then you can grab the plate and lift it out. That’s a really amazing underrated and not that well known tool. So for anybody listening, you should go buy one.

Most treasured I would say is probably my grandfather’s cleavers from my dad’s side. He was a chef and they actually had a Chinese restaurant for a number of years. We have his old cleaver that actually has his initials carved in the side. Because there are a bunch of chefs in the kitchen and you want to differentiate which one’s yours. We don’t use that one often but it’s still very sharp. It’s interesting. It’s years and years old but it’s still really good.

Name one ingredient you used to dislike but now you love.

Cilantro. I didn’t hate it. There are some people out there that hate cilantro, I never hated it but I never really liked it maybe until I was 14. It adds so much flavor. If you have a guacamole that has no cilantro, I’m sorry, but that’s not real guacamole. You need it. When you’re putting it on steamed fish with soy sauce and scallions and ginger, you need the cilantro, it adds a little something.

What are a few cookbooks that make your life better?

Ina Garten has a cookbook that is… I don’t know exactly what it’s called but it’s the pink one so people that know Ina Garten’s cookbook, there’s a blue one and there’s an orange one. But the orange one is Barefoot in Paris and there’s a pink one which is her basics cookbook. There is a chocolate cake recipe in that cookbook called Beatty’s Chocolate Cake it changed my life. This chocolate cake recipe is the only one you will ever need. It’s so moist and the frosting is perfect. It’s kind of sad actually because if you flip through the whole book, almost every page is totally pristine, and then when you go to this chocolate cake recipe, there’s just schmutz all over it. There are stains and drips of buttermilk because that’s how often I make that cake. This is more of a PSA than an interview question I feel because that cake is truly the best. We make it for friends and they rave. They love it.

What song or album just makes you want to cook?

For my sister it would definitely be Nat King Cole. For me, I would say, if anybody’s ever seen the movie Something’s Gotta Give with Diane Keaton and Jack Nicholson, that soundtrack is our favorite for cooking. It’s all French bistro music and whets your appetite and you feel so jazzy walking around the kitchen.

On Keeping Posted with The Woks of Life:

The best way to keep posted is to follow us on Facebook or Instagram. If you use Twitter, definitely follow us on Twitter, and I would say subscribe to our email list because we send out an email noon everyday when we have a new recipe.

100: Ali Maffucci: Getting Inspiralized

December 16, 2015 by Gabriel Leave a Comment

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Inspiralized

Ali discovered the spiralizer in March 2013 and since has created Inspiralized, which is a blog, a community, a product, and a book. She lost 30 pounds by eating Inspiralized and she aims to inspire others to always feel their best, in part, by helping turn vegetables into healthy, creative, and satisfying meals. Ali wants to show that eating healthy is fun and doesn’t have to be boring.

I am so pumped to have Ali Maffucci of Inspiralized here on the show today.

*(All photos below are Ali’s.)

On What a Spiralizer Is:

A spiralizer is a small kitchen tool that turns vegetables and fruits into noodles. So, at its most basic level, that’s what it does. And then, what you decide to do with those noodles afterwards is where the fun begins. But it’s just a basic kitchen tool.

My mother is actually a type 1 diabetic. She had gestational diabetes with her pregnancy and it stuck. She was trying raw veganism as a way to help manage her blood sugars. And she discovered zucchini noodles in a restaurant, and then did her own research and discovered the spiralizer; and found out that the spiralizer can make zucchini noodles. She bought one on Amazon and she loved it. And it was really, really helping with her health. And her knowing that I love healthy cooking and I love pasta, she said, “Come over one night. I’ll make you dinner so you can test the spiralizer out.” I was like, “Mom, what is this veggie noodle stuff?” Months later, I went over. It was sort of like a light, Asian vinaigrette on it, just a total raw noodle dish. And I took one bite – and I still remember that bite, it was just like, “Wow, this tastes like pasta.”

I was blown away. I was like, “How have I not heard about this?” So, I asked her that night if I could take her spiralizer. My poor mother was so excited about hers and I took it. That was on a Sunday and the next night was a Monday. I made dinner for my husband and he had the exact same reaction. He was blown away. It was such an easy way to make dinner and I had never used it before, and it just came so naturally. So it’s definitely great for a basic chef. I was blown away, so that’s how I first discovered it. And then obviously, once I got my husband’s approval, that was the big moment.

On Starting Her Blog:

What happened was I found myself in my desk job, sitting there writing recipes on napkins at lunchtime, and typing on my phone things to test out. “So, oh, can I spiralize this?” I was finding that at work I was dreaming of spiralizing, which kind of sounds corny, but it was the truth. I just felt so creative. And I was looking online at night searching spiralizer recipes and resources for spiralizing and there was absolutely nothing. There was no community. There were a couple of recipes. One was a simple pesto recipe in the New York Times and very basic vegan, vegetarian, raw vegan sort of recipes. There was just no community.

I was looking at the hashtag for spiralizer and there was really nothing. So basically, overall, I was so blown away by spiralizing that I wanted to tell everyone about it. And now, it being 2015, the best way to get out there is to launch something online and be on social media. So, I basically walked into my boss’s office one day, after like, two months of trying to build up the courage to quit and start this dream. So I walked into my boss’s office and quit. The next day I went to a Starbucks near my apartment here in Jersey City, and I just started from scratch. I just wanted to build a community. That’s really what I wanted to do at first and build this buzz around spiralizing.

On Being Conscious of What She Eats:

It sounds bad to say, but like any other girl in her early to mid-20s, I was very conscious of my body and being healthy. I think I always grew up with, sort of, healthy intentions, because, as I mentioned, my mother was diabetic. So, a lot of the things we had in the household were diabetic-friendly whether it’s obviously, low sugar, low carb. We always ate whole wheat everything. We weren’t allowed soda. I was just very interested, but I never actually started cooking until my senior year of college when I decided to become a vegan. Veganism was starting to be trendy and I was, like, “You know what, I really need a reboot. Let me try this.”

I was vegan for about two years and ever since then, I would say, “I’m an omnivore now. I eat everything. But I’m an omnivore with a vegan mindset.” I think it really helps you balance everything.

On Her New York Times Best-Selling Book, Inspiralized:

It’s actually a funny story. I self-published the first year that I was starting Inspiralized. I was getting a lot of emails and notes about it and people were asking, “I want a little something to include with the spiralizer I’m gifting to my friend, because of you. Do you have anything, do you have a recipe card I can include, or something like that?” And I was emailing people, “Oh, just print this out.” And I wanted something to hold onto and so people could spread the word that way. So I self-published just a small little cookbook and it was really, really successful and people loved it. People were sharing it over the Holidays. I actually got approached by a publisher who made a publishing offer to me. And I was like, “Wow, this is real. Wow, this is real.” So, I got a literary agent and then she took me on that journey and I finally selected Random House.

That felt like I finally made it. I got a cookbook deal. It’s like every food blogger or foodie’s dream to really have a cookbook. It’s like your first big milestone. I was saving my best recipes I wanted to post my blog, I’m like, “I’m saving it for the book.” But that was just an incredible experience. I learned so much as a cook. I became a better cook. My recipes on my blog are now better because of it. I learned different things about the spiralizer that I incorporate in the book. New vegetables I discovered along the way of writing the book I included.

It was a big discovery and a big proud moment in my life to write that book, and I put everything into it. I wrote it during the summer, so I didn’t go to the beach that year. I just wrote the cookbook, but I’m so proud of it. It’s an amazing book.

On Her First Product, The Inspiralizer:

The Inspiralizer is obviously my own branded product. And I wanted to make something that people could use on a daily basis like I do. So if you really love spiralizing, you’re probably spiralizing like three to four times a week, if not more. I wanted to make something that people could display proudly on their countertops that sort of have that effectiveness where you could use it constantly. You wouldn’t have issues with it; make something more sturdy.

I was spiralizing every single day. The product that I was using, I was noticing, like, “Well, if this was just a little different, and this was that…” So I basically went to the drawing board and sketched my own design for what I imagined to be the perfect spiralizer. I got a business partner, obviously. He guided me through the process based on my design of what I wanted. And then when it came time to name what it was, obviously, Inspiralizer sounds pretty good.

The Pressure Cooker:

Which food shows or cooking shows do you watch?

I love Chopped. Chopped is great because I always learn about new ingredients and I find that I learn a lot just from the fast thinking that the chefs have to go through. And I love Giada.

What are some food blogs or food websites we have to know about?

I love Molly Yeh. She is out in North Dakota, I think. She’s sort of mostly recipes. Her photography is beautiful. Her cooking methods are really fun. I really love her. And then if we’re thinking about healthy blogs, I love Gina from Skinnytaste. She’s a friend of mine and she just has the most reliably, healthy, tasty recipes.

Who do you follow on Pinterest, Instagram, or Facebook or Snapchat that make you happy?

I follow a lot of people on Instagram. I like NomYourself. She is a vegan blogger. RobinNYC. She is a spin instructor and a running coach. She started an urban running community, and she has great Instagrams, super motivational, and my favorite way to exercise is spinning. I spin with Peloton Cycle and she’s a head instructor there. All of her images are just very raw and gritty, but she shows her hustle and she shows it out there for people. I’m really inspired by her, especially in a fitness element. She’s an entrepreneur as well, but the fitness element, she always gets me in the gym.

What is the most unusual or treasured item in your kitchen?

I actually have a good one for this. So, my first day of college, my father said, “Oh, you know one of the fun things you can do is have your friends over and watch movies and make popcorn.” And I was like, “Dad, I want to go to parties and have fun. I’m not just going to sit in my dorm and eat popcorn. But, of course, I did. I sat in my dorm room and ate popcorn, and he gave me this bowl. It’s like a ceramic bowl and it has the emblem of the college I went to, Wake Forest. I got it my freshman year of college and I’ve lived in five different apartments since then, and I still have it. And I still use it every single day. Not for popcorn…well, I do use it for popcorn, but I actually use it when I cook, as like a mixing bowl.

Name one ingredient you used to dislike but now you love.

Broccoli rabe. I used to think it was really bitter, but I learned how to cook it and now I love it.

What are a few cookbooks that make your life better?

I have to say, I don’t cook from cookbooks. A goal of mine is to cook more from cookbooks, but I don’t cook from any cookbooks.

Except for my own. I’m too busy developing recipes. When I was vegan, I definitely used…I liked The Kind Diet by Alicia Silverstone. I used to cook from her book, but other than that, I don’t really.

What song or album just makes you want to cook?

Well, I’ll say this. My husband is very good with curating music and he curates a playlist on Spotify. My name’s Ali. He named it Ali’s Mix, and he updates my music all the time. So, that’s what I put on every single day when I cook. And it just makes me happy.

On Keeping Posted with Ali:

Definitely Instagram or my mailing list.

085: Lauren Grier: Teaching Herself and Others How to Cook

October 14, 2015 by Gabriel 4 Comments

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Climbing Grier Mountain

Lauren is a foodie, recipe developer, adventure seeker, photography lover, and world traveler. She started her blog, Climbing Grier Mountain, in 2010 to stay connected with family and since then, it has become her passion. It’s where she shares her shenanigans and most authentic self.

I am so excited to have Lauren Grier of Climbing Grier Mountain joining me here on the show today.

(*All images below are Lauren’s.)

On Being Such an Open Book:

Starting off, I grew up in a small town in Kansas. My husband and I met in college and we graduated and went right to the big city of Chicago. So I think that’s where my adventurous side was born. Chicago is… they throw you right in and you just have to start swimming and figure it out. From there, I just really opened up and figured out, you know what? There’s more to me than I think. I started writing my own story, just really being curious about why are things the way they are when it comes to cooking or travel or whatever it is.

It was definitely a cultural awakening, coming from a small town in Kansas to me just being around people that were challenging you every day in terms of growth. It was a great experience. I miss that city. I don’t miss the weather but it was definitely a great city to start my adventure.

On Starting Her Blog in 2010:

In general, there were no manuals for blogging. Today, you’ll see ‘how to start a blog 101’. Back then, it was like the Wild West in terms of like you’re still using Blogger as a platform and it was just a very quiet space. People were trying to figure out photography and just how to share in general on the Internet because all these platforms were starting to pop up. So that was the biggest challenge. I had to do a lot more research, a lot more trial and errors. I feel like today, it’s a lot easier for bloggers to start up because there is a manual out there. There is ‘how to improve your photography’, ‘how to write recipes’ and those kind of things, and how to really actually start the blog from the ground up. Whereas, I feel like in 2010, it was not the case at all.

I mean, most people never say they dreamed about making money back in the day, but now, people literally start blogging to make money and it’s amazing to me. I think it’s fantastic, it’s just a different perspective now. I think this industry is growing and changing constantly. So it’ll be interesting to see where it’s at in two years.

On Her Interest Around Food:

I hated cooking and when I got married, I didn’t even know how to boil water. It was that bad. I took on the concept and when we moved from Chicago to Denver, I was working in the financial industry. I still am today but at the time, when the market crashed, I lost my job and between looking for jobs and interviews, I watched the Food Network during the day and I was like, “You know what, I’m a newlywed. I probably should learn how to brown meat or do something functional so we can eat and not eat out all the time.” So from there, I just literally, with the blog, I was like, “You know what? If I can teach myself how to cook, maybe I can teach others,” and it slowly progressed. So no, my love for cooking didn’t form probably until about 10 years ago. So it’s kind of funny.

It was actually kind of a funny story. So, it was a Giada recipe and it was for a swordfish bake sandwich with some arugula and lemon aioli, which was basically like Mandarin to me at the time because I had no idea what aioli was. I remember going to the store and getting all of the ingredients and I came home and you know, I put some oil in a pan. Well, I threw a solid chunk of swordfish into a frying pan. Can you imagine this? This is literally almost burning down the house. My husband walks in. He’s like, “What are you doing?” I’m like, “What? This is normal, right? You just throw in a frozen solid piece of fish into a hot skillet.” And he’s like, “No, you don’t.” I’m like, “Oh my God.” So it was a huge learning curve right there but we ended up saving the fish and it actually ended up being a really, really good sandwich and it was fantastic and I’ve been obsessed with lemon aioli and arugula and swordfish ever since.

It’s a funny story now. At the time, it was a little close to call in terms of almost burning down the house but yeah.

On Her Go-To Sources for Inspiration:

I have a couple. I mean, you have your standards like Food & Wine and Bon Appétit, they’re kind of always my go-to to make sure I’m staying with the industry and what’s going on and what’s relevant. I do look for other bloggers as inspiration. Jessica from How Sweet It Is is great. Joy the Baker is a nice kind of contrast because I’m not a baker so it’s nice to get like, “Oh, that’s what people do when they bake.” But I’m also inspired a lot by Heidi from FoodieCrush. She’s probably one of my favorite blogs to look at for inspiration because she does things so simple but they’re also creative as well.

On Deciding on What to Make for Dinner or Her Blog:

It’s interesting. I feel like it’s a simple process but it’s also like an easy process in terms of my cooking during the week is your basic chicken, potatoes, broccoli, rice. I just keep it simple because, to me, when I do stuff for the blog, it’s more adventurous. When I decide what I want to do for the blog, I always look at those simple meals that I make during the week and then I’m like, “How can we tweak this? How can we take a simple meal and then just take it to another level, like take a Middle Eastern twist on it or an Asian twist on it?” I think people get stuck in a rut, like I do, too. Just take the extra couple of minutes to figure out where else you can go with it.

On the Difference in Food Culture Between Denver and Chicago:

Denver is geared towards healthy lifestyle. Everything is outdoors, versus Chicago, I mean, Chicago is healthy, it’s just it’s more like heartier foods. So to me, when I moved here, my palette definitely changed. I still kind of keep things more towards a lighter side in cooking, whether it’s more fresh ingredients, local, those kinds of things just because Colorado has such a different dynamic. Like I was talking earlier, Colorado’s very centered around brunch. If you don’t have a good brunch at a restaurant, you can kiss your tuckus goodbye because you’re not going to be around. Or happy hour, those things. So my food is definitely geared around kind of those…you can eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner types of food versus like your three standard meals like in Chicago.

The Pressure Cooker:

Which food shows or cooking shows do you watch?

I watch Restaurant Impossible. I love Robert, probably because we own restaurants and so when people go in there, I’m like, “Oh my God, they have no idea.”

I love Top Chef. I mean, I watch that. Quickfire Challenge, you name it, I would love to do it.

I probably would cry crocodile tears while I’m doing it but it would be the most fun ever. Plus I would love to meet Tom Colicchio.

What are some food blogs or food websites we have to know about?

Definitely Real Food by Dad. Matt is amazing. He kind of is similar to the way I cook. His recipes are simple but also you’re like, “Damn, that is such a great idea.” And also, My Name is Yeh. She’s addicting. She has the best smile. Her recipes are just so fun. And also, Heidi at FoodieCrush. She’s a mentor. She’s good at what she does. She has a great editorial background and I think people could really learn a lot from her.

Who do you follow on Pinterest, Instagram, or Facebook or Snapchat that make you happy?

Instagram is probably my most go-to as most people probably say. Ashlae from Oh, Ladycakes, her Instagram is this beautiful portfolio. She travels and creates beautiful food and to me, she makes it just look effortless. So to me, I appreciate that even though I know there’s some background to it. She’s just a really nice person in general too.

What is the most unusual or treasured item in your kitchen?

My onion goggles, no joke. I hate cutting onions and my husband got a gag gift one year, like someone gave him a pair of onion goggles. I was like, “This is ridiculous.” I tried them on. I’m telling you, they are lifesavers and no more tears. I look like a total dork but I swear, they’re my most treasured thing in the kitchen.

Name one ingredient you used to dislike but now you love.

Tabasco, which is funny because I literally just this past week, I did a whole week series with Tabasco. My husband loves Tabasco and so till I married him, I learned to love Tabasco. I love it now more than anything. It’s the best condiment ever.

What are a few cookbooks that make your life better?

I always keep Jacques Pepin’s Essentials cookbook. The man is a genius and he’s been around forever and he knows so I pull that constantly just to remember how to make an aioli from scratch. To me, it’s a brilliant cookbook in terms of like, he’ll give you recipes but he’ll also break down what you need to know in a very simplified manner. It’s not over the top. It’s straightforward. I can’t recommend that book enough. It literally is a lifesaver.

What song or album just makes you want to cook?

Like I mentioned earlier, Jason Isbell, his album, Southeastern. Me and my husband actually saw him in New York City live. He is probably one of the best artists to listen to because he’s a great storyteller and I feel like that is a basic way of when you’re cooking and you’re photographing and sharing this, it’s the perfect way just to set the tone of what you’re doing. He’s extremely talented and a wonderful singer and I highly recommend you check him out. He’s great.

On Keeping Posted with Lauren:

Definitely Instagram, Snapchat, and just checking out the blog because I am out there and constantly just trying to create recipes. I’m always there if you need me. So always check out the blog.

053: Abby Thompson: Veganism and Vegan Baking

June 24, 2015 by Gabriel Leave a Comment

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The Frosted Vegan

On The Frosted Vegan Abby showcases recipes that show that even if you’re eating a plant-based diet, you can still enjoy delicious desserts, and that it doesn’t have to be a hassle.

I am so pumped to have Abby Thompson of The Frosted Vegan here on the show today.

(*All images below are Abby’s.)

On Growing Up in a Home Where Food Was Enjoyed and Shared:

It was obviously awesome and delicious. In our house my mom was either making brownies on the weekend or my dad was making cookies after school, stuff like that. It just became a part of how I grew up, and when I moved away and started on my own that kind of fell off because mom and dad weren’t making them for me.

I loved baking, but I didn’t keep up with it. And especially when I turned vegan it became a little bit harder. I didn’t know if I would be able to keep up with all the baking and stuff like that. So, I just integrated it into my life and realized it was something that was part of my childhood and part of who I was.

It shaped how I looked at food, and treats were always an everyday thing. For some people they didn’t grow up with that, but for me it was just always something that was there.

On Being in the Kitchen:

This is kind of a weird story to remember, like baking and cooking, but I remember in middle school I did not make show choir. And I was so sad, but I was like, “I just need to make a pie.” So, I made a pie and I remember from then on it was like baking kind of solves everything. It feels awesome, I do it, and then I get a slice of pie at the end. So, it was great! It just started evolving from that.

I discovered in high school, you know, boys really like when you bring them cookies, or everyone is your friend if you bring them cakes! So, when I figured that out and I enjoyed it at the same time, it just started, like I said, becoming part of my everyday life.

I’ve always had a huge sweet tooth, and for some reason cooking doesn’t come easily to me. I have to have a recipe, I’m not just improvising dinner or anything like that. When I do it turns out not so great, so my fiance prefers I don’t improvise. But, it’s always been baking, I can kind of make up a muffin recipe and it’s no problem. I know that’s a little bit harder because baking is a little more scientific and exact, but for me it has just always come naturally. I can feel when it’s right, when it’s going to come out okay. It doesn’t always work, but most of the time it works.

On Veganism:

A vegan diet generally means you’re not consuming any animal products. So, not only no meat, no fish, no dairy, so cheese, eggs, that kind of thing are out.

You can go from one extreme to the other.

Some people just stop at cheese and eggs. Others avoid all gelatin because gelatin has animal-dried products. Fish sauces and a lot of Thai dishes, stuff like that. Then, it expands into a vegan lifestyle so some people choose not to consume leather goods or have anything with animal-dried products. It’s a sliding scale of what extreme you want to go to. And then, on the other side of it, I kind of try to also approach it with a plant-based diet, so that’s also avoiding excessive oils, super-fatty products.

Some of the vegan products out there are not necessarily healthy, they’re vegan, doesn’t mean they’re healthy. So, it really depends on what extreme you’re on or what part of the scale you’re on. It means something different for everyone.

On Becoming Vegan:

I went vegan about three years ago.

I always grew up in a household where cheese is on everything, we had chicken, fish, all that kind of stuff. But, I had never been a huge meat eater, I never really liked it.

I was starting to slowly phase out the meat in my diet just because it didn’t really matter to me. Then, my dad actually went cold turkey vegan about three years ago. He watched Forks Over Knives, which is a documentary, and he just decided that he wanted to make a change. He wasn’t really feeling great, wanted to feel a lot better, and eat a lot better. Nothing had ever really stuck for him. So, he did that and then I was still living at home at the time so it was kind of a natural thing to follow along with it.

When I moved away from home I just kept following it because I realized I felt a lot better. My body just felt better when I didn’t eat certain foods, and I’ve just slowly gone more vegan over the years.

The meat part wasn’t as hard, but the dairy is hard. A lot of stuff like grilled cheese or things with cheese in them, you have to figure out what works if you want to use vegan cheese or cheese at all, stuff like that. I’m still figuring it out.

I’m sure it will be a lifelong journey to figure out what works and what tastes the best, to me. That’s what I like about it though because it doesn’t feel very stagnant. I’m always finding something new. It’s awesome what people are doing with vegan food now.

On Baking Vegan and Her Blog:

I originally started it because when I moved away my dad was still wanting to make all the baked goods that I grew up making, but he didn’t want to necessarily include all the vegan butters, or oils, and extra stuff like that. He wasn’t really sure how to approach it, so I wanted to start figuring it out, not only for him but myself, too.

It just progressed from wanting to share those recipes and figuring out, “Hey, maybe other people are looking for these, so I’ll just start a blog!” I kind of just had to figure out what egg replacements work, or what kind of oil replacements, or can I get rid of the oil? Stuff like that.

It’s really relearning because up until I went vegan, I was making croissants from scratch, and things with a lot of eggs in them, and I loved it, but then trying to relearn what’s going to work in place of those things was a challenge.

On the Biggest Misconception of Baking Vegan:

I think the biggest one is that it’s going to be gross. I know some of the commercially made vegan, baked goods I’ve had have not been great. They’ve come out dry, or too oily, or it’s just not the same.

I really want to make it so that if you give someone a cookie and they eat it, they’re not like, “Oh, is this vegan? I can tell.” I want it to be, “Oh, this a cookie and it’s great. I had no idea.” So, I think it’s fighting that misconception that things are automatically going to be disgusting because they’re vegan.

Coconut oil, more people are becoming familiar with it, but that’s a big one that I use a lot, especially in place of butter or different oils. I know it’s more of an up and coming ingredient, but I use that quite a bit.

Ground flax seed, I had never used until I started baking vegan and that, when you combine it with water and let it sit for a little bit, it becomes sort of a gel and makes a really good egg substitute in a lot of things.

Those are two of the main ones that I hadn’t really heard of. I try avoid using weird things or things that are hard to find because I know not everyone lives super close to Whole Foods or anything like that. So, those are my two main ones that I use quite a bit.

Then, just using high quality flours or agave nectar and stuff like that just helps substitute for some of those common ingredients.

One of the first food blogs that I followed that helped a lot was, Oh She Glows. She’s really well known, she has everything from cooking to baking. She goes more in-depth into some of the things when she makes vegan baked goods and it has helped quite a bit.

Dairyfreebaking.com. Dairy free might still include a few eggs, but more milk substitute, stuff like that, she goes into that. I’ve had her site come up a lot when I’ve looked for different things.

The Pressure Cooker:

Which food shows or cooking shows do you watch?

I don’t watch a ton of cooking shows, but when she’s on, Giada De Laurentiis. I watch her, I think she’s pretty inspiring.

Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives, usually late at night it makes me really hungry so my fiance and I watch that quite a bit on a weekend night. Alton Brown shows when they were on, and I think those are the main ones.

I like Chopped too. It makes me think, “I can do anything in the kitchen!”

What are some food blogs or food websites we have to know about?

The First Mess, Laura writes that one and she’s awesome and totally inspiring. Vegan food that just, if you have it, again, you wouldn’t really know it’s vegan. She has an awesome writing style and I absolutely love it. I love her.

Cookie and Kate, she does amazing stuff with seasonal produce, and whenever I get my produce of the week, I know that she always has something that I can do anything with.

Cake Over Steak, Sara is awesome, I know she’s been on your podcast. And I love that she’s doing something different with using illustrations. I know she’s starting to do photography, but she does illustration and they’re awesome and amazing, so I love her things as well.

Then, let’s do one more, Joy the Baker, oh my gosh. She’s one of the first blogs I ever read. I would love to be the Joy the Baker of vegan baking.

Who do you follow on Pinterest, Instagram, or Facebook that make you happy?

Floating Kitchen, Liz over at Floating Kitchen, she lives on the east coast and she posts really awesome pictures. She lives by the beach and takes her dogs on walks and stuff like that. When it’s snowing here or really crappy, it’s cool to see her pictures of that.

Laura, again, of The First Mess, she does a lot of gardening and I love when she posts pictures of pulling radishes, or carrots, or anything like that. I think her dad does weekly deliveries to her, berries and things that he grows. So, I love seeing those things because it’s really cool. I think those are the ones I can think of off the top of my head.

What is the most unusual or treasured item in your kitchen?

My most treasured one at the moment is my Vitamix blender. I just got it about six months ago, and I use it almost every day, all the time. I’ve always wanted one so I’m glad I finally sprung for it.

Then another one is, it’s a measuring cup, which sounds weird, but it’s a tin measuring cup that my grandmother passed down to me. She grew up baking with it, I think it was her grandmother’s, and it’s really cool to use it. It’s super functional, and I love using it because I know it’s been passed down through baking generations in our family.

Name one ingredient you used to dislike but now you love.

Tomatoes. I use to not eat tomatoes in anything. I hated them. I hated chunks of them in anything, and I still wouldn’t like, eat one whole like some people do. But I’ve discovered that really good tomatoes, like fresh, summer tomatoes are amazing, and I love it now!

Then spinach too, I used to hate spinach. I grew my own spinach a couple years ago, and I loved it. So, I think the freshness really makes a difference.

What are a few cookbooks that make your life better?

The Bountiful cookbook which is by the White on Rice Couple, Todd and Diane, is awesome. Again, really focused on seasonal produce. They grow a lot of their own stuff, and it’s made it so much better because I’ll get something from the grocery store and think, “I don’t really know what to do with this. I’m going to look at this cookbook.” They have something amazing, very accessible, very easy, love their cookbook.

I have a baking cookbook from Williams Sonoma that I got several years ago that doesn’t have any vegan baking recipes in it, but it’s a super solid foundation for if I need a good jumping off point for a cake recipe or anything like that. I know that it’s going to be reliable, and even if I tinker with it with all my weird vegan stuff, it will probably come out or make a good foundation.

What song or album just makes you want to cook?

So, I’m a big fan of Pandora and I’ve really been into the song Uptown Funk by Bruno Mars. I think that song makes me say, “Okay, I can do this. Let’s get some cooking done. I am ready to go.”

On Keeping Posted with Abby:

I would say probably Instagram and Facebook. Those are the two biggest ones I am probably most active on.