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Lazy Day with Food in Jars, Hint of Vanilla, and Fork to Belly

March 14, 2015 by Gabriel Leave a Comment

Lazy Day with Marisa McClellan of Food in Jars, Megan Voigt of Hint of Vanilla, and Courtney Chun of Fork to Belly on The Dinner Special podcast talk about their favourite things.

Lazy Day with Marisa McClellan of Food in Jars, Megan Voigt of Hint of Vanilla, and Courtney Chun of Fork to Belly on The Dinner Special podcast talk about their favourite things.

What an amazing week it was having such a diverse trio of food hero guests!

Marisa McClellan of Food in Jars chatted about food preservation and canning, Megan Voigt from Hint of Vanilla shared her passion for baking and bread making, and Courtney Chun of Fork to Belly showed that the Internet is an amazing place for learning how to cook!

Below are some of the cool and interesting things they mentioned on their podcast episodes.

Marisa McClellan, Food in Jars

Marisa McClellan of Food in Jars on The Dinner Special podcast talking about how to make cooking more fun if home cooking feels like a chore.

If you’re into food preservation and canning, or just want to learn, Marisa’s podcast episode is a must (in my humble opinion), you can find it HERE.

You can also catch her World Ending, Last Meal on YouTube HERE.

Food Shows She Enjoys: Cutthroat Kitchen
Breville Food Thinkers
Some Food Blogs We Have to Know About:Punk Domestics
WellPreserved
Hip Girl's Guide to Homemaking
What I Weigh Today
Someone to Follow on Instagram:Teaspoons and Petals
Cookbooks That Make Her Life Better:The Joy of Cooking
So Easy to Preserve Cookbook
Whole Grains for a New Generation
A Song or Album That Makes Her Want to Cook:Rekooperation by Al Kooper

Megan Voigt, Hint of Vanilla

Megan Voigt of Hint of Vanilla on The Dinner Special podcast talking about how to make cooking more fun if home cooking feels like a chore.

If baking and bread making are your thing, catch Megan’s episode and show highlights HERE.

It’s all about comfort food with Megan’s World Ending, Last Meal, you can watch it on YouTube HERE.

Food Shows She Enjoys:Top Chef
Chopped
A Food Blog and Website We Have to Know About:Food52
My Name is Yeh
Someone to Follow on Instagram:A Cozy Kitchen
Cookbooks That Make Her Life Better:Bouchon Bakery
The Elements of Dessert
Albums That Make Her Want to Cook:Mylo Xyloto
Viva la Vida

Courtney Chun, Fork to Belly

Courtney Chun of Fork to Belly on The Dinner Special podcast talking about how to make cooking more fun if home cooking feels like a chore.

It’s amazing what you can learn online, Courtney shares how she learned everything about cooking from the Internet HERE.

She also shares her World Ending, Last Meal, and where we can get it on YouTube HERE.

TV Shows She Enjoys:Hell's Kitchen
Cupcake Wars
Ina Garten
Food Blogs We Have to Know About:Nerdy Nummies
Local Milk
I am a Food Blog
Two Red Bowls
A Kitchen Tool She Loves:Ninja Blender

Can’t believe it’s already been another week!

I get so excited when I see that you’re downloading and listening to the podcast. It’s such an amazing feeling.

Thank you, and I hope you’re having an awesome Lazy Day.

Gabriel

Filed Under: Lazy Day Tagged With: Cookbook Author, Courtney Chun, Food Blog, Food Bloggers, Food in Jars, Fork to Belly, Hint of Vanilla, Marisa McClellan, Megan Voigt

008: Megan Voigt: What She Learned In Pastry School Besides Pastries

March 4, 2015 by Gabriel Leave a Comment

Megan Voigt of Hint of Vanilla on The Dinner Special podcast talking about why she started her food blog.
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Megan Voigt of Hint of Vanilla on The Dinner Special podcast on What She Learned In Pastry School Besides Pastries

Hint of Vanilla

Megan is a pastry chef, and on Hint of Vanilla, she shares her kitchen experiments, trials and tribulations, and it’s also where she unwinds and relaxes after a long week.

I am so psyched to have Megan Voigt from Hint of Vanilla on the show today.

On Why She Started Her Blog:

Megan Voigt of Hint of Vanilla on The Dinner Special podcast talking about why she started her food blog.

It’s a bit of an odd story.

I was in university because I didn’t really know what else to do. That was just kind of what I expected. I thought I would find what I wanted to do while I was in university, but it never really ended up happening.

I was actually doing classical archeology, so that was very different from what I ended up doing now.

On one of my summers, I decided to go to South Africa to volunteer on a wildlife preserve for two months, and that was amazing, and I loved it. It was just a fun thing.

One night, one of the staff members was just kind of talking about what they would do if they could do anything in the world, and money was no object, and they’re asking us.

It came to me, and I said, “Well, you know, I like baking, so I’d probably just take some classes, maybe get a bit more into it,” because, at that point, I was just doing cookies or scones, nothing really fancy at all. She said, “Well, why don’t you do that now? You can still do that. You can do that!” I was like, “No, no way.”

That wasn’t even on my radar. It wasn’t even a possibility at the time, but after that, that kind of planted the seed for me, and then I started to think more about it. I did one more semester at university, and during that semester, all I could think about was pastry school and going to pastry school.

The problem was my parents were not very convinced because it was pretty sudden. They thought, “Mm, we don’t really want to just put you into a very expensive pastry school that might just be a phase.” So I decided to start a blog because I wasn’t living with my parents at the time. I had moved out. So if they could see that I was baking all the time, they could see the things that I was making, then they would kind of get behind my decision to go to pastry school.

That’s kind of how the blog started. It was just, “I want to show my parents what I’m making, and, you know, I might as well start a blog while I’m at it, I guess.”

They were like, “Do you even bake?” I’m like, “Yeah, yeah, I do sometimes.” But I didn’t really do it that often, and to be honest, I wasn’t 100% sure that I wanted to go to pastry school. It just was a kind of gut feeling.

But I started my blog in September of 2012, right at the beginning of that last semester of school, and the more I went with my blog, the more I convinced myself that this is what I wanted to do. I became so sure like, “Yeah, this is exactly what I want to do.” I love it, I love it.

It’s all I could think about was what am I going to make on the weekend for my blog, new ideas, getting books and everything. That January I enrolled in pastry school to start in July, and I stopped going to university, which my parents were not super happy about, but they kind of understood.

On Choosing Pastry School Over Culinary School:

Megan Voigt of Hint of Vanilla on The Dinner Special podcast talking about why she chose pastry school over culinary school.

I do like cooking at home, and I do like the fact that nothing’s measured, and it’s just all taste as you go. That’s really cool, but I would never want to do it as a career.

I’m not as passionate about it, and there is more of a demand for line cooks rather than pastry cooks because most places, restaurants or hotels, they’ll have a large savory team, but they might only have one or two people for pastry, or they might just buy in all the desserts.

So, if I had gotten a culinary degree as well as a pastry, I feel like people would have offered me culinary jobs, and then I would have kind of taken them hoping to get into pastry, but I never really would have.

I wanted to put all my effort into pastry and really just focus on that.

On What She Learned in Pastry School Besides Pastries:

Megan Voigt of Hint of Vanilla on The Dinner Special podcast talking about what she learned in pastry school besides pastries.

Working as a team was a big thing because obviously university it’s like everyone’s trying to get ahead. Everyone’s trying to beat the next person, and I’m a very independent person. I used to not like working as a team, but now I have no choice, and that was a big thing.

Even if you don’t necessarily get along with the people you work with, you have to work as a team, no matter what. You’ve got to leave all that drama at the door, and you’ve just got to work together really well. So that’s a good life skill for me as well.

On Her Love of Food:

Megan Voigt of Hint of Vanilla on The Dinner Special podcast talking about her love of food.

Growing up, my parents, they weren’t like super, super foodies. My parents got divorced when I was quite young, but they stayed friends. My dad all of a sudden had to cook for himself. We pretty much ate cereal for a lot of dinners, and we were fine with that, but then he’s like, “All right, I’ve really got to learn how to cook for my kids.” It went from him literally not even being able to make pizza . . . I remember he made this salty, salty pizza, one that was inedible, and now he’s an incredible, incredible cook.

Obviously, he’s still got his day job. He’s not a chef, but seeing him learn and teach himself how to cook and really, really loving it and seeing him in the kitchen all the time making these meals and not having prepackaged stuff, all of it was from scratch.

And that was just normal for me growing up. “Oh, yeah, I’ll make this from scratch or make that or fresh vegetables.” We had a garden as well, which has been a huge thing for me. I wish I had a backyard for a garden.

Just being exposed to that was a really big thing. I hadn’t really realized it until the past year or two that it really had a big impact on me, having that presence of home-cooked food and really taking the time and the effort to prepare a meal rather than getting takeout.

I bake for him all the time. He lives very close to me, so I go over for dinners all the time, and he’ll cook, and I’ll bring dessert, or I’ll bring bread, and he absolutely loves my bread. He just goes nuts, and my stepmom, she got into bread as well, so I’ve been kind of teaching her a little bit. It’s awesome.

It’s funny because my brother actually brews his own beer, and so he brings the beer, I bring the bread, Dad brings the food, and there we go! It works out great.

We’ve joked about opening a restaurant so many times, but I don’t know if it’ll ever happen.

Tips For Making Bread For the First Time:

Megan Voigt of Hint of Vanilla on The Dinner Special podcast giving tips about making bread for the first time.

First of all, you don’t need a bread maker. Your bread maker is your hands.

When you just get the right kind of bread, it’s so easy. You do it once, and you’re like, “Oh, my God! Why has it taken me this long to make bread this good by myself?”

I was also a little bit intimidated about yeast and stuff, because it’s not like, “Oh, wait thirty minutes and it’s ready to go.” You kind of have to feel it and look at it and see, and if you don’t know what you’re looking for, it can definitely be intimidating. But if you mess up, it’s just some flour and some water. It’s not like you’re wasting a lot of money on that, and the results are really amazing.

For me, it’s just find a good recipe, preferably one of those no-knead recipes like I’ve got on my blog. Almost all the breads on my blog are a long fermentation and very little work, just a lot of time.

Those are great breads to really start off with because they’re very forgiving. If you let it proof a little bit too less or too much, it’s all right, it still produces a pretty good bread. Once you make it for the first time, and you taste the bread, it’s an addiction. You can’t go back.

Once you know the basics of it, you can just kind of really do whatever you want. A lot of the recipes that I have on my blog… I have a few basic ones, and then I just added stuff to it, like, “Yeah, I’m going to put some olives in this one, sure, or I’m going to put this into it!” As long as you’re not adding too much moisture or too much inclusions.

The Pressure Cooker:

Which food shows or cooking shows do you watch?

Top Chef is my favorite. Chopped can be good and bad.

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

I follow so many. Food52 is great because they feature blogs from all over, and so it’s a great way to really get introduced to a lot of different kinds of blogs.

One of my favorite blogs is My Name is Yeh.

Although, she just got married, so I don’t know if the blog is going to be the same anymore. Her photography is really great. I really enjoy her photography, and the things she makes, it’s very fun. It’s very kind of just messing around and fun flavors and just fun things.

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

Oh, my gosh. Well, once again, I follow a lot of bloggers on Pinterest and on Instagram.

There’s this one blogger I follow on Instagram. I don’t like dogs very much. I’m very much a cat person, but her name’s Adrianna, and her blog is called A Cozy Kitchen. She has photos of her little corgi, and sometimes she’ll have photos of a nicely styled shoot with food, but then her dog is actually eating something in the corner, and it’s adorable, and it kinda makes me want a dog.

What is something all home cooks should have in their pantry?

A scale, a digital scale is 100% what you have to have.

I know it seems like “Ew, only professionals use scales or measurements like that,” but really, cups and things like that are just not cutting it anymore. It’s never going to be consistent. It’s never precise. You know, if you fill it a little bit more than a cup, you’re like, “Eh, whatever, it’ll be fine.”

For some recipes, yeah, it’s okay, but for some it’s not.

But with grams it’s so easy. You’re just like, “Okay, 76 grams.”  It’s a number.

If you want to half a recipe, or if you want to double a recipe, it’s just simple. I was always really terrible with fractions at school. So grams for me are just 100% the way to go and a kitchen scale.

I recommend every person who’s into baking… scale!  Get a scale!

Name one ingredient you cannot live without?

Vanilla beans. Absolutely vanilla beans or, I mean, vanilla paste.

It’s very similar, but to me, I love vanilla, I mean, my blog is called Hint of Vanilla.

I think real vanilla beans and real vanilla paste is just such an incredible ingredient. The smell and the taste, it’s so amazing! It’s so fragrant, so flavorful, and it’s such a classic flavor combination of… well, vanilla can go with anything.

I think vanilla extract is nice but the vanilla beans are really, really where you should be investing your money.

What are a few cookbooks that make your life better?

Bouchon Bakery by Thomas Keller. I have used so many recipes in that cookbook. It’s unbelievable.

I love the detail he puts into all the recipes and all the kind of reasoning behind it. It’s not just do this and do that and do this. It’s do this because, blah, blah, blah, and do that because, and so that gives a lot of knowledge as well as, “Oh, yeah, you’re learning the recipe,” but you’re learning the ins and outs of it as well as you’re doing it.

And Elements of Desserts by Frances J. Migoya is a really cool one. I’ve used less recipes just because there’s hundreds of them in there, and a lot of them can be difficult or they require really specialized ingredients or specialized tools, which obviously I don’t have.

I really love just getting inspiration from those books. I go look through it, and I’ll get ideas, and like, “Oh, I love those flavor combinations” or “I love that idea for that cake or something.” I really get a lot of inspiration just by looking through the pages.

What song or album just makes you want to cook?

That’s a tough one because I normally just put my phone on shuffle.

Coldplay’s one of my favorite bands. A lot of their stuff is pretty slow, but Viva la Vida and Mylo Xyloto, those are two albums that kind of are more upbeat.

Especially Mylo Xyloto, there are some songs in there that are really kinda dance-y songs. That’s probably one of my go-to ones is Mylo Xyloto by Coldplay.

Keep Posted on Megan:

Megan Voigt of Hint of Vanilla on The Dinner Special podcast talking about keeping posted on what she

I’ve got a Facebook page for my blog. It’s under the same name, A Hint of Vanilla. I also have an Instagram account, which is under my name, MeganLeeVoigt.

You could also follow me on bloglovin’, which is a great website for keeping up with all the blogs that you follow in one place, and you can actually find all of those social media websites on my blog. I’ve got a link to them, and, yeah, you can stay posted on all the wonderful things that I make.

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    Filed Under: Podcast Tagged With: A Cozy Kitchen, Baking, Bouchon Bakery, Bread, Chopped, Coldplay, Desserts, Elements of Desserts, Food Blog, Food Blogger, Food52, Frances J. Migoya, Hint of Vanilla, Making Bread, Megan Voigt, My Name is Yeh, Mylo Xyloto, Pastry Chef, Pastry School, Thomas Keller, Top Chef, Viva la VIda

    Has Cooking Become a Chore? 28 Food Heroes Share Ideas on How to Make Cooking Fun Again

    February 24, 2015 by Gabriel Leave a Comment

    The Dinner Special podcast 28 Food Heroes Share Ideas on How To Make Cooking Fun Again

    The Dinner Special podcast 28 Food Heroes Share Ideas on How To Make Cooking Fun Again

    I know exactly what I’m making for dinner, each and every night.

    Why is this a bad thing?

    Well, it’s not necessarily, but I’ve found that, for me, cooking has become more of a chore than something that’s fun and enjoyable.

    Especially after a long day, the last thing I want to do is have to think about what to make for dinner.

    Sure, I could:

    • search online for new recipes to try
    • or find inspiration in new food blogs to follow

    but most of the time, I just stick with the tried and true.

    The funny thing is, I love food and I love to cook.

    And yet, every Sunday, when I go to the grocery store, I pick up the same ingredients because on Mondays, it’s pasta, Tuesdays, pork and potatoes, Wednesdays, stir-fry with rice… and the weeks just pass by.

    I totally get that the routine is boring, but it’s so easy. I know exactly how long it will take to make and how it will taste.

    But, I want to break out of this cooking rut.

    I want to have fun in the kitchen again. I want to get excited about making dinner. Maybe not every night, maybe not even once a week, but every now and then, I want to try new herbs, spices and ingredients, and be an inspired home cook!

    This is one of the reasons I started The Dinner Special podcast.

    Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, I chat with my food hero guests about their fondest food memories, favorite things inside and out of the kitchen, and a dish that is special to them.

    I also ask them questions like, “For those of us where cooking has become a chore, how can we make it more fun.” Things that I truly want to get some answers and ideas on.

    From time to time, I’ll put together all their answers into a post like this. I hope this makes it easy for you to turn to.

    If you have any burning questions you’d like answered, please send them to me at: thedinnerspecial [at] gmail [dot] com.

    You’re a huge part of The Dinner Special and I’m sure lots of people have the same questions they want answered.

    (Sorry for getting sidetracked.)

    When I asked my food hero guests, “For those of us where cooking has become a chore, how can we make it more fun,”

    Here’s What 28 of Them Had to Say:

    Marisa McClellan of Food in Jars:

    Marisa McClellan of Food in Jars on The Dinner Special podcast talking about how to make cooking more fun if home cooking feels like a chore.

    For people who think it’s a chore, I simply say try something easy.

    Learn to scramble eggs really well.

    I don’t think everybody has to love cooking, but we all have to eat.

    I think the best advice I can say to someone is just to keep it simple. Your first meal doesn’t have to be a five-course extravaganza. Like I said, learn to make really good scrambled eggs, or pancakes, or French toast, and that will take you far.

    Amy Kritzer of What Jew Wanna Eat:

    Amy Kritzer of What Jew Wanna Eat on The Dinner Special podcast talking about how to make cooking more fun if home cooking feels like a chore.

    I think you have to start with some good music, pour yourself a glass of wine, make it like a whole experience.

    Then, start with something easy that is impossible to mess up and I think that will build your confidence and it’ll make it more fun for you.

    I’m not opposed to people who take things that are pre-made and tweaking them a little bit.

    If you bought some pre-made chicken to add to your matzo ball soup, instead of cooking your chicken, that’s fine.

    Whatever makes you happy and makes it work.

    Jordan Reid of Ramshackle Glam:

    Jordan Reid of Ramshackle Glam on The Dinner Special podcast talking about how to make cooking more fun if home cooking feels like a chore.

    I think just finding your basic technique.

    Like, with a slow cooker, it’s just meat and some liquid and vegetables. And so it’s like, once you get that basic thing down, you can have fun and you can say like, “Oh, I have some sriracha in my fridge. Let me throw that in. Let me try it with soy sauce on the side, let me try it with red wine instead of…”

    I tried Dr. Pepper in a pot roast and it was really good.

    And so I think that’s how you can have fun. Stick to the basics that you know in terms of technique and then you can improvise from there.

    Chef Tony Singh of The Incredible Spice Men:

    Get somebody to help you, because lots of people are time pressured and it is a chore if you’ve got a million and one things to do.

    If you can get your children involved, it’s a great family experience and you’re teaching them life skills. Get somebody to peel the onions or peel the carrots or stand there and start to wash up for you.

    Get people involved and that makes it much, much better.

    The Incredible Spice Men on The Dinner Special podcast talking about how to make cooking more fun if home cooking feels like a chore.

    Chef Cyrus Todiwala of The Incredible Spice Men:

    What I always tell people in my classes is, when they look at a recipe, let’s say they look at a recipe in our book and they find something which looks very daunting, I always tell them to read the recipe first as if they’re reading a novel.

    Then, shut the book and put it away and come back to it in a couple of hours. The recipe will automatically fall into place and will not look as dangerous.

    The most important thing is unclutter your mind. Just de-clutter it and become creative.

    Just become creative because all you will end up doing is creating something new.

    Elena Rosemond-Hoerr of Biscuits & Such:

    Elena Rosemond-Hoerr of Biscuits and Such on The Dinner Special podcast talking about how to make cooking more fun if home cooking feels like a chore.

    I think, especially during the weekdays, we totally get into a rut.

    One of the things that I like to do is try and dabble with new ingredients or new cuisines.

    So dabbling in things outside of your comfort zone is a good way to sort of bring the fun back into the kitchen.

    And starting really small.

    Trying to make something that you love to eat out, but that you hadn’t even thought that you could make at home, like a burrito bowl and then go from there.

    Jodi Moreno of What’s Cooking Good Looking:

    I think involving people always makes it more fun.

    If I don’t want to sit at home by myself, I’ll just invite a bunch of friends over, casually set the table, give them a job to do and this way we’re not going out to eat ’cause in New York that’s very easy to do.

    So, I think involving people, and if you have a spouse or children, that makes it even easier. My husband likes to cook too so the two of us will do it together and I think we kind of motivate each other to cook at home more often.

    Eva Kosmas Flores of Adventures in Cooking:

    Eva Kosmas Flores of Adventures in Cooking on The Dinner Special podcast talking about how to make cooking more fun if home cooking feels like a chore.

    Try to think of ways to make it more attuned to your personal taste. So, if you’re trying to just make something from a cookbook, know that you don’t always have to follow it to a T.

    You can always change it up and add something else that you really like.

    If you’re okay about onions but you love leeks, you can totally swap those two out. The same goes with most vegetables. If you hate cooked carrots, but you love brussel sprouts, switch those up, because roasted brussel sprouts get all caramelized and delicious.

    My main thing would be, don’t be afraid to change it up and make it more in tune with what you actually like to eat.

    It’ll be a lot more interesting to you if it’s something that you enjoy, rather than if you’re just almost following guidelines. That’s a lot more boring.

    Courtney Chun of Fork to Belly:

    Courtney Chun of Fork to Belly on The Dinner Special podcast talking about how to make cooking more fun if home cooking feels like a chore.

    It’s just about doing recipes that really inspire you, and that you really enjoy.

    Before I started the blog, I would try to make healthy dishes. It would get repetitive. I’m making the same chicken breast, the same salmon with broccoli, and brown rice in it. It’s not like I didn’t enjoy what I was making but the process gets repetitive. It’s just not really fun.

    I started doing cakes or making Japanese dishes because I really enjoy Japanese food. That just really helped to push me along and make me really enjoy what I was doing.

    I think just with anything, you need to find what you love to do.

    Megan Voigt of Hint of Vanilla:

    Megan Voigt of Hint of Vanilla on The Dinner Special podcast talking about how to make cooking more fun if home cooking feels like a chore.

    One of the things that I do whenever I bake or cook, or just when I’m in the kitchen ever, is I put on some music, and I kinda dance a little bit. I’m a terrible dancer, and I’m a terrible singer, but I will actually dance and sing as I’m cooking.

    It’s something that you see in movies and you’re like, “Oh, that’s so cheesy.” But you know what? I do it, and I really enjoy it.

    It’s just injecting a little bit of fun.

    Have a recipe that you’re comfortable with, that you know is pretty good for a weekday dinner, so you’re not stressed. Then, on the weekends, you can kind of do a bit more research and try something that you’ve never tried before and maybe do something that has a little bit more time and effort put into it.

    Jonathan Melendez of The Candid Appetite:

    Jonathan Melendez of The Candid Appetite on The Dinner Special podcast talking about how to make cooking more fun if home cooking feels like a chore.

    I would say turn on music while you’re cooking. That’s like the one thing I always do as I cook, always.

    Right before I start cooking, I will turn on music, I’ll have it on shuffle, and I’ll just listen to music the whole way. And then it feels like you don’t even think about it anymore, because you’re listening to these songs that you really enjoy, and you are in the kitchen.

    And it doesn’t become a chore anymore, because there is something there to distract you.

    Cristina Sciarra of The Roaming Kitchen:

    Cristina Sciarra of The Roaming Kitchen on The Dinner Special podcast talking about how to make cooking more fun if home cooking feels like a chore.

    I think the best thing is just to make it to the market, pick something that looks good to you and go home and search (for example) broccoli recipes. The websites I really rely on, if you type things into Food52, you will have great results with a recipe that will work for you.

    Karen Chan of HonestlyYUM:

    Karen Chan of HonestlyYUM on The Dinner Special podcast talking about how to make cooking more fun if home cooking feels like a chore.

    I would always say start by making sure you have just the basic correct tools, and I think at the very minimum you just need a really good knife. A really good or really sharp knife, because if you’ve got to sit and cut an onion with a crappy knife, I wouldn’t even want to do that.

    You just need the basics and you need really good basics.

    For example, a really good pot. Like a very good cast iron pot, for example, or for me I use a mortar and pestle all the time. Especially if you’re going to be doing a lot of ethnic cooking, those are just so handy to have.

    But aside from that, music. I almost always listen to music when I cook. It lets you settle into it more and kind of focus on the chopping. It’s a little meditative because you just kind of zone out there listening to music.

    A glass of wine doesn’t hurt. I always have a glass of wine and some music playing and just have fun with it.

    Start with manageable things, have equipment and tools that are good and that will help you. I always say, seriously, a good knife goes a really long way and alcohol…

    Skye McAlpine of From My Dining Table:

    Skye McAlpine of From My Dining Table on The Dinner Special podcast talking about how to make cooking more fun if home cooking feels like a chore.

    In my mind, what makes cooking a chore is the mess.

    I love cooking. If there are times when I don’t feel like cooking, it’s pretty much always because I cannot face cleaning up the kitchen.

    So, I would say, maybe try and choose dishes where you use fewer saucepans, just to get you started.

    Maybe dishes that don’t require a whole load of equipment. And clean up as you go along, because it’s really easy to wash up as you go along. But if you leave it all until the end, that sort of sets the trap.

    The other thing about cooking is it’s all kind of confidence and practice. The more you do it, the more you are going to enjoy doing it. Go out and buy a really inspiring cookbook full of easy dishes that don’t require lots of washing up and just jump in the deep-end.

    And also, I genuinely believe that cooking for people rather than just cooking for yourself or yourself plus one is so much more fun.

    Nicole Dula of Dula Notes:

    Nicole Dula of Dula Notes on The Dinner Special podcast talking about how to make cooking more fun if home cooking feels like a chore.

    My best advice for that is like what we were talking about before, to kind of put a piece of yourself in it because it becomes more personal and it’s more rewarding in the end.

    So if you like, say quinoa, just try to experiment with different things you can put on like a quick sauté of vegetables or vegetables and meat, put it over your favorite grain and just experiment with flavors until you find a dish that’s super easy to make, super adaptable, no matter what’s in your fridge.

    Just have a stand out dish that you can make at the drop of a hat whenever you’re hungry, and then it will just make you feel better about yourself.

    Cindy Ensley of Hungry Girl Por Vida:

    Cindy Ensley of Hungry Girl Por Vida on The Dinner Special podcast talking about how to make cooking more fun if home cooking feels like a chore.

    Some days you just have to get dinner on the table, so it’s more about what recipes you have in your arsenal. But if you can throw something new in there every week, maybe, or even every couple of weeks, I think that makes it fun.

    Or use a new ingredient. A couple of years ago, my husband and I weren’t really big fans of fennel, so we started implementing it into our meals and now we love it.

    So I think that trying a new ingredient or trying a new recipe, but not going overboard and trying to do it every night of the week. I think that gets daunting.

    There are lots of different ways you can use ingredients and just trying them out a couple of different ways, I think, is also key.

    Phi Tran of Princess Tofu:

    I think you should do it with someone who loves to cook.

    I like cooking with other people. I think if you cook with somebody who likes to share their food and also their skills, it’ll make it more fun.

    It’s nice to do it with someone else every once in a while. And if it gets charred then you have someone else to share pizza with.

    Alanna Taylor-Tobin of The Bojon Gourmet:

    Alanna Taylor-Tobin of The Bojon Gourmet on The Dinner Special podcast talking about how to make cooking more fun if home cooking feels like a chore.

    Wine or maybe a cocktail or something. Put on some fun music, pour yourself a drink, and just try to relax and make it a treat for yourself.

    Also having someone to cook for, I think, is really important. So invite someone over who super loves food and is really fun and encouraging.

    Ileana Morales of A Little Saffron:

    Ileana Morales of A Little Saffron on The Dinner Special podcast talking about how to make cooking more fun if home cooking feels like a chore.

    Try not to overthink it. It doesn’t have to be fancy.

    Our weeknight meals tend to be pretty simple. I use canned chick peas all the time and I just do that with some sautéed kale and some bacon. That’s it, that’s dinner. So I would say, don’t overthink it and don’t be so hard on yourself.

    I like to think of a recipe like a guideline, because if you’re out of something, it’s fine, it’s usually not essential. Just work with what you have.

    Katy Atlas of Sugarlaws:

    To make it more fun, two things.

    Don’t do it by yourself if you can avoid it.

    Lots of people think they always have to go out for dinner with friends but actually staying in and cooking is a fun activity to do with friends too. My husband will always keep me company. He’s not a great cook but he’ll help out and hand me cans and do little things to keep me company while I go.

    Put on some music.

    Cooking is sort of a wonderful activity because it’s a great way to just kind of be really active and engaged with it. Your mind isn’t wandering as much as our thoughts tend to wander. You can just focus on it and sort of enjoy the experience of it even if it’s not your favorite thing and can be a tough thing to find time to do everyday.

    We just focus on being present and try to have company for it.

    Renee Byrd of Will Frolic for Food:

    Renee Byrd of Will Frolic for Food on The Dinner Special podcast talking about how to make cooking more fun if home cooking feels like a chore.

    Trying new things is always fun.

    For me personally, I like trying new spices, new herbs or trying something that’s a little bit weird or that’s a little bit strange.

    I like to play with herbs in sweet things, like muffins, “I don’t really like muffins, muffins are boring,” put something in it that’s different, that has a new texture, that has a new flavor. Like cocoa nibs have the crunchy bitter thing going on and then you have sweet orange zest that is really aromatic.

    These things are very fun for me. I don’t know if it’s fun for everybody. That’s sort of how I have fun in the kitchen.

    Half of my time, I feel, is spent in the process of the mediation of chopping and looking out of my window and experiencing what I’m doing.

    I really am very tactile so I love to touch things and have it in my hands. That’s really pleasurable for me and being able to create something that in my mind is artful out of that is so much fun.

    Meike Peters of Eat in My Kitchen:

    Meike Peters of Eat in My Kitchen on The Dinner Special podcast talking about how to make cooking more fun if home cooking feels like a chore.

    It’s like with everything else, you have to go through this time where you fail, where it’s not always fun, and where the results can be quite frustrating.

    You just have to stick to it and cook and cook and cook.

    What I like to do is because we always cook in the evenings, just open a bottle of red wine, have some cheese, some nibbles, and put on some nice music.

    Because for me, what I love about food is, it doesn’t start when it’s on the table and when I eat, it starts already in the kitchen. I create a nice atmosphere in the kitchen and that definitely helps.

    One shouldn’t take everything so seriously. If it doesn’t work out it doesn’t work out, and you try it again.

    Phoebe Lapine of Feed Me Phoebe:

    Phoebe Lapine of Feed Me Phoebe on The Dinner Special podcast talking about how to make cooking more fun if home cooking feels like a chore.

    I really think that this strategy, cook on Sunday or Saturday, whichever afternoon you have free, and eat all week long, is a nice way to do it.

    You’re not rushed, and once you have those building blocks in your fridge, then ten to 15 minutes of cooking becomes less burdensome on a weeknight.

    I feel like dedicating your afternoon that way is a nice time to grab a buddy or your loved one to tag team and divide and conquer.

    Emily Hilliard of Nothing in the House:

    One of the things that has been nice for me is getting a CSA or farm share.

    That’s really nice because I’m not necessarily someone who can go to the store and have an idea. But, when I have a set framework of like onions, broccoli and potatoes, I think that adds a limiting factor, so you don’t have to start from scratch.

    Another thing I like, I really like cooking with other people. That’s always been present in my life with family and just having friends over and cooking together.

    I also like having music or the radio on while I cook.

    Kristan Raines of The Broken Bread:

    Kristan Raines of The Broken Bread on The Dinner Special podcast talking about how to make cooking more fun if home cooking feels like a chore.

    I would say just to not worry about a thing and to enjoy the process. I think whether you’re baking or you’re cooking, the process can be the most reviving thing in the world.

    My favorite thing is to just make it communal, grabbing whatever’s in the fridge and not worry if it’s going to come out great.

    For me it’s turning on the music, and if it’s dinner time having a little glass of wine, and taking it slow and making it more of an adventure than a chore.

    That shift in your perspective can aid you in like – “Okay, work day’s over, we can make food and enjoy the food because it’s nourishing and fun to do together”.

    Becky Rosenthal of Vintage Mixer:

    Becky Rosenthal of Vintage Mixer on The Dinner Special podcast talking about how to make cooking more fun if home cooking feels like a chore.

    Turn on some music, keep it relaxed. Don’t try anything too difficult at first, and cook things you know you’ll enjoy.

    If you’re trying something new, maybe just have a back up in the fridge just in case it doesn’t turn out.

    But, don’t be too hard on yourself and just stick to the things you know you’ll enjoy.

    Chef Adrian Richardson:

    Chef Adrian Richardson on The Dinner Special podcast talking about how to make cooking more fun if home cooking feels like a chore.

    I suppose if you can teach people some simple dishes they can do, and how to make the dishes they’re already cooking even more enjoyable with things like seasoning and herbs and switching things around, I think this can be monumental.

    Luisa Weiss of The Wednesday Chef:

    Luisa Weiss of The Wednesday Chef on The Dinner Special podcast talking about how to make cooking more fun if home cooking feels like a chore.

    I think a lot of people think cooking is no fun because they secretly don’t think they’re good at it.

    I’m as lazy as the next person, I will take a short cut if it’s offered to me, I never make my own pasta.

    There are many many really simple recipes out there that if you make them three times, you’ve memorized them by heart, but if you make them, you’re eating really good food.

    That’s what I try to instil in my blog and that’s what I would tell someone who says “I hate to cook”, I’d say, “you know what, I bet you don’t, you just think you’re not good at it, and that’s why you don’t like it.” But actually, if you had some successes in the kitchen, you’d start to like it.

    Awesome tips and advice.

    Thanks food heroes!

    I hope you enjoyed this post. I was actually thinking of only including ten or so responses to keep it short and sweet, but I honestly feel like we can get something from each food heroes’ thoughts.

    Whether it’s a tip, some advice, or simply knowing that they get stuck in cooking ruts too, I find it encouraging and inspiring to hear their thoughts. I hope you do too!

    Let’s get excited about cooking again!

    Check out The Dinner Special podcast here and subscribe to get food and cooking inspiration every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

    How do you keep it fun in the kitchen with a busy schedule?

    I’d love to hear your thoughts!

    Let me know in the comments below.

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    Let’s do this together!

    Gabriel

    Filed Under: Cooking Tagged With: A Little Saffron, Adventures in Cooking, Alanna Taylor-Tobin, Amy Kritzer, Becky Rosenthal, Biscuits and Such, Chef Adrian Richardson, Chef Cyrus Todiwala, Chef Tony Singh, chore, Cindy Ensley, cooking, cooking rut, Courtney Chun, Cristina Sciarra, Dula Notes, Eat in My Kitchen, Elena Rosemond-Hoerr, Emily Hilliard, Eva Kosmas Flores, Feed Me Phoebe, Food in Jars, Food52, Fork to Belly, From My Dining Table, fun, Hint of Vanilla, HonestlyYUM, Hungry Girl Por Vida, ideas, Ileana Morales, inspiration, Jodi Moreno, Jonathan Melendez, Jordan Reid, Karen Chan, Katy Atlas, Kristan Raines, Luisa Weiss, Marisa McClellan, Megan Voigt, Meike Peters, Nicole Dula, Nothing in the Houe, Phi Tran, Phoebe Lapine, Princess Tofu, Ramshackle Glam, Renee Byrd, routine, Skye McAlpine, Sugarlaws, The Bojon Gourmet, The Broken Bread, The Candid Appetite, The Incredible Spice Men, The Roaming Kitchen, The Wednesday Chef, Vintage Mixer, What Jew Wanna Eat, What's Cooking Good Looking, Will Frolic for Food

    Hello! I'm Gabriel Soh, home cook, food enthusiast and your host of The Dinner Special podcast.
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