Not A Single Fork: Recent Episodes
Not A Single Fork
Do you remember when we started the podcast? Summer of 2019 and we’re still here. We’re still “not here” but never fear, we will be back with new episodes soon. It’s taking a bit longer than anticipated because we are changing things up. Don’t worry! It’s still Candace and Natalia and still irreverent as ever … Continue reading Beginning Again →
During our very first season, we spent the whole time talking about food and cooking. I mean, we were just getting started and hadn’t really figured this whole podcast thing out. Still working on that, by the way. In an effort to make things more fun and interesting, I had Natalia play a game with … Continue reading Let’s Play A Game (For The Second Time) →
Remember when we really wanted to talk to the people from the Holiday Hotlines? We’re so glad we got that out of our systems although when I listened back to this episode from Season 5, it was so funny and worth it, I guess. We’re still taking a break but will be back in the … Continue reading Ridiculous-ness Is Back! →
Since we’ve been playing a lot of your favorite episodes, I thought it would be fun to play one of our favorites from the archives. Season 4 from the Fall of 2020 was all about food stories and, in general, was one of our favorite seasons. We talked to a lot of different people from … Continue reading With A Side of Coors Banquet →
“To Market, To Market” aka Season 3 of Not A Single Fork was epic. Not because we were able to execute on our plans to visit some fun places to shop for food but because well…we couldn’t. We were trapped in the beginning of what would become the Pandemic Odyssey so we invented ways to … Continue reading We Never Made It To The Damn Market →
And, isn’t that a fun logo. It belongs to a butcher in Cape Town, South Africa of the same name and we’re borrowing it to emphasize our episode. But first…THIS! We’re taking a break. But we don’t want you to forget about us! We started this podcast back in 2019 with our opening season based … Continue reading The Greatest Hits (We’re Not Here) →
I really can’t say this enough but this week has been one helluva week! Yep, it exploded. We had the floor drains back up into our dishwashing area after Tuesday’s class. And, what we thought would be a simple “snaking” of the pipes turned into an all Wednesday afternoon, $$$$ investment. Could have been worse. … Continue reading We Made It! Finally! →
Weird title, right? Well…that’s because although we recorded the final episode for Season 9, we can’t air it. It kinda exploded. When that happens, we don’t want you to go without so we’re re-running one of the old favorites. And, that’s what this is. The Season 2 finale was one of the most popular episodes … Continue reading One Of The Popular Ones →
And, we’re back with more! More food and fun and kinda weird throwback recipes that frankly, no one can believe anyone would eat, back in the day. We’re pretty fascinated with throwback/retro recipes so we’re going to be sharing lots of them in our online classes. April’s lessons (dropping on the 15th, it’ll make Tax … Continue reading You Gotta Love A Good Throwback →
Happy to report that Natalia returned in the nick of time from NOLA and in this episode, shares (overshares?) their escapades in the great state of Louisiana. From St. Patrick’s Day parades and crawfish boils in Baton Rouge to restaurants off the beaten path in NOLA, you will hear it all because in true Natalia … Continue reading Adventures With Natalia →
This has been quite the journey and basically, shit show. Somehow we lost the Not A Single Fork website posts but they are still existing somewhere out in the podcasting universe. We are making every effort to not lose them but we’ve had no control over anything else so…who knows!? In this episode, Natalia has … Continue reading Evolution Of The Online Classes →
Ummm…well, I remember 1968 and in this episode, we take a walk down Memory Lane via a well-preserved magazine. We’re also talking Throwbacks because we’re going to be offering up some throwback recipes in our online classes. I know, I know, you guys like to call them “retro” and yes, they are that, too. But … Continue reading 1968? Who Remembers That? →
Wondering when you were going to get that notification that a new episode had dropped? Well, wait no longer. We have a take a little break between seasons so we can get some fresh ideas, take a little break and then come back with some more fun for you. Remember how we told you at … Continue reading Miss Us? Good Cuz We’re Back! →
Welcome to almost 2022! Let’s put 2021 in the rearview and move on! Let’s include 2020 in that rearview as well, in fact, way, way back.
So, we come to the last episode of Season 8 and this year. And, yes, several seasons ago, we talked about black eyed peas but since we seriously need some good juju, we thought, why not? Let’s go again and maybe throw in some additional tidbits…like a recipe!
Black eyed peas are an Old World plant first domesticated in West Africa. When Africans were abducted and brought to the US as slaves, they hid the seeds and were able to then grow and cultivate them, providing a rich source of nutrition in their otherwise meager diet. Then, during the Civil War, the Union troops left the pea fields (salt pork also) alone thinking they were inedible and only food for animals. This history gives rise to the Southern tradition of eating black eyed peas on New Year’s Day for good luck.
For you recipe hounds (I was going to write “whores” oh, I guess I just did!), this is a little different twist.
Black Eyed Pea Pineapple Salad
Serves 8
1 can black eyed peas, drained and rinsed well
1 cup whole kernel corn, canned, frozen or fresh
½ whole fresh pineapple, medium dice
¼ cup cilantro, finely chopped
1 small red onion, small dice
½ red bell pepper, small dice
1 small serrano pepper, seeded, deveined and minced
½ jalapeno pepper, seeded deveined and minced
2 tbsp brown sugar
¼ cup sherry wine vinegar
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Mix first 8 ingredients together in a large bowl. Set aside. In a jar with a tight-fitting lid, combine brown sugar, vinegar, salt and pepper and oil; replace lid and shake vigorously until an emulsion is created. Pour over salad ingredients and toss. Do not over-mix. Refrigerate and allow flavors to meld for at least an hour. Serve cool but not ice cold.
This is great as a side but we like to serve it with tortilla chips as a dip!
We also share our own cracked version of the tradition along with poke greens (listen to the episode).
Here are some highlights but still listen to the whole episode.
02:15 – Christmas dinners
04:15 – Natalia is very proud of her dried oranges
07:11 – Moving one
13:11 – Poke greens are poisonous?
16:07 – Let’s talk about the recipe
19:45 – The lucky trifecta
We know you can’t get enough of us so ICYMI, we’re putting together a “for real” series of online cooking classes packed full of all that stuff you want to see (and not just hear about).
And, if you’re interested and want to be one of the cool kids…drop us a comment here on the website and we’ll add you to the mailing list. You’ll be the first to know when we bust it all out! The emails have already started so don’t wait to get on the list.
In the meantime, enjoy the episode and Happy New Year! We’ll be back in a few weeks with Season 9.
As per usual, right before Christmas, we do a short and sweet episode because we’re all busy, right?
This one happens to be a foreshadowing.
Sounds ominous, doesn’t it? No worries. This is a positive one so maybe consider it a teaser of sorts.
We’re going to tell you about one of our projects that will appear shortly after the first of the year…like the third week of January.
We know you can’t get enough of us so we’re putting together a “for real” series of online cooking classes packed full of all that stuff you want to see (and not just hear about).
There are no highlights for this show because it’s short and really, it’s all a highlight.
And, if you’re interested and want to be one of the cool kids…drop us a comment here on the website and we’ll add you to the mailing list. You’ll be the first to know when we bust it all out!
In the meantime, enjoy the episode and have a wonderful holiday!!
Candace and Natalia
This is one of those you love them or you hate them kind of things.
We happen to love them and this time we’re talking about Brussels sprouts.
Now before you go all postal about these little gems…give us just a few minutes and then you might want to give them a shot. I mean, that is if you think you hate them.
As with most foods people think they hate, you have to know how to treat these little buggers or you’re right, they are gross. You can’t boil them beyond recognition and expect them (or anything else) to taste good.
So listen to us (I’ve remembered the highlights this time) and then decide.
But first, a recipe. This combines things that you might actually like with the sprouts to create something new! And here it is. Thanks to Bon Appetit from years ago.
Brussels Sprouts, Bacon and Raisins
Serves 4
2 thick slices bacon, sliced into lardons about ¼” wide
4 cups Brussels sprouts (about 1 lb), trimmed and halved
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
¼ cup golden raisins (can substitute dried or fresh figs, use 4 – 6, cut into quarters)
1 medium shallot, finely sliced
1 tbsp unsalted butter
½ cup chicken broth
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
Heat a heavy sauté pan over medium heat. Add bacon and cook until crisp, about 5 minutes. Transfer bacon to paper towels to drain. Set aside pan with bacon fat.
Bring a large pot of water to boil. Add Brussels sprouts and blanch for 2 minutes until tender but still bright green. Drain. Add sliced shallot and Brussels sprouts to bacon fat. Season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring often, until well browned in spots and beginning to soften, 5-7 minutes. Add broth and raisins to pan and bring to a boil, scraping up browned bits. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until broth has almost evaporated. Stir in vinegar, butter and crumbled bacon. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Now let’s hit the highlights:
03:20 – Natalia is weird (but we already knew that)
05:30 – Why we think you don’t like them
07:05 – Please blanch them
11:05 – 20 Brussels Sprouts Recipes from The Kitchn
15:20 – Trader Joe’s wine and yes, we know this has nothing to do with vegetables
19:26 – The size of your sprouts
We’ve been having better luck with our podcast showing up when it’s supposed to so fingers crossed.
You should be able to find us all over the place.
Listen on your favorite podcatcher, we’re probably there, even on Alexa! We’re on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play and, of course, here, AND, you can take us on the road anytime you like!
We love and appreciate you guys. Keep listening, hang in there. And, hopefully, the publishing gods will provide.
Are you guys noticing a theme?
We are totally into ingredients this season. And, we’re trying to help you out with some of the more challenging ones. A suggestion here, a recipe there and then you have branched out without any pain or suffering!
Sweet potatoes are one of those ingredients that you hear about a lot especially if you’re into that whole healthy eating thing because let’s face it, they are really good for you. But the really good thing is that they also taste really good and, you can’t say that about a lot of food that’s good for you, right?
Sweet potatoes are also able to go savory or sweet with equal success. Now, as you listen to the episode, you’ll notice that Natalia (and me too, for that matter) does not get or like the whole candied yams with marshmallows and brown sugar thing. I know, I know, lots of you absolutely love that recipe but we’re pretty sure it’s just nostalgia…kinda like the cheese coneys from before. You don’t really think that tastes good, do you?
But we’re including a savory recipe for your next holiday (or just regular cold weather) dinner. These are the spicy ones that I adapted from Bobby Flay. It’s super easy and you can adjust the level of spice to suit yourself. The other cool thing? You can make them ahead of time! Final cool thing…4 ingredients! So here they are:
Chipotle Mashed Sweet Potatoes
Serves 8 – 10
5½ lbs sweet potatoes
1 tbsp minced chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
3 tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature and cut into chunks
1 tsp kosher salt
Preheat oven to 450°
Lightly grease a 2-quart baking dish, and set aside. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Pierce each sweet potato several times with a fork, and place on the prepared baking sheet.
Roast the sweet potatoes in preheated oven until easily pierced with a fork, 1 to 1½ hours. Remove from the oven, and cool about 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350°.
When sweet potatoes are cool enough to handle, cut in half, and scoop flesh into a mixing bowl. Discard potato skins. Beat the sweet potatoes with the chipotle peppers, butter, and salt; spread evenly in the prepared baking dish. This can baked now or refrigerated until the next day.
Bake until heated through, 20 to 25 minutes.
Don’t forget there’s another (cooler) recipe over on Patreon. Remember, it’s the place where you can watch fun videos, get fun recipes and become a fun member of our gang! Just click below to check it out:
Become a Patron!
If our podcast shows up when it’s supposed to and these days, that’s a big IF…
You should be able to find us all over the place.
Listen on your favorite podcatcher, we’re probably there, even on Alexa! We’re on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play and, of course, here, AND, you can take us on the road anytime you like!
We love and appreciate you guys. Keep listening, hang in there. And, hopefully, the publishing gods will provide.
True to form, we covered many topics on our way to pie but we did talk A LOT about pie and a lot of other stuff as well.
Natalia, being from England, did not grow up with pie as we know it. Pie was savory. Meat pies, for example, so she kinda doesn’t get how much people here obsess over pie and pie crust. She, of course, came along for the ride anyway.
In this episode, you’ll hear about Christmas pudding, fruitcake and a drunken cat, lighting food on fire and how much I hate meringue and then back to pie. My personal favorite is pumpkin. But my kids love my butterscotch cream pie so that is the recipe you’re going to find on Patreon. If you haven’t found our Patreon page yet, here you go. It says “become a member” but you won’t become one if you click on that widget.
Become a Patron!
You’ll find highlights below but stay for the entire ride…lots of information whether you want it or not.
02:51 – Natalia did not grow up with pie
04:25 – I used to bake a lot of cookies
09:55 – I am a pie crust Nazi
16:45 – What is mincemeat?
19:45 – White fruitcake that my cat really enjoyed
28:30 – I HATE meringue
31:29 – The thing about pie crust
38:23 – Cheddar cheese and apple pie
If our podcast shows up when it’s supposed to and these days, that’s a big IF…
You should be able to find us all over the place.
Listen on your favorite podcatcher, we’re probably there, even on Alexa! We’re on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play and, of course, here, AND, you can take us on the road anytime you like!
We love and appreciate you guys. Keep listening, hang in there. And, hopefully, the publishing gods will provide.
That is the question, for chili anyway.
In this episode, we travel far afield (as usual) but end up talking mostly about chili because it’s chilly outside, right? So chili when it’s chilly. Chili is a big deal in this part of the country and maybe it is where you live as well but we didn’t stop to find that out. Chili contests abound this time of year and sometimes other times of year, too.
The biggest discussion is around whether you put beans in it and if you do, is it still chili and if you don’t, is it still chili? Natalia has some pretty strong opinions about this…surprise!
We had to talk about one of our great landlords because he often texts me pictures (okay, get out of the gutter!) of his cooking. Last year, I got a pic of his chili fixins’ (that’s what we call mise en place in Oklahoma) and then a newspaper article from the ’70s (I think) about his family’s chili recipe. And, you lucky people, I’m going to share it with you later in this post.
Another chili topic centered around using something besides ground meat and tomatoes so I shared my recipe (adapted from America’s Test Kitchen, Cook’s Illustrated) for White Bean Chicken Chile Verde. I’m not sure what the Test Kitchen called it but I changed it up and renamed it to suit me and you will find that recipe on our Patreon page along with lots of other fun stuff so if you’re interested…click below and you’ll be over at our page in an instant.
Become a Patron!
Also, I want you to know that we have been on the cutting edge of food topics this season. Most recently, stuffed and baked pumpkin. It appeared on the cover of the Thanksgiving issue of Food and Wine magazine and then the website, The Kitchn featured it in their Thanksgiving Food Fest series with Dorie Greenspan. So, clearly, we are some of the cool kids.
So before we get into the highlights, for those who want them. Here is the Synar family’s chili recipe.
SYNAR CHILI
Makes 2½ gallons (enough for 12 – 16 servings)
2 cups chopped onion
2 cups chopped green bell pepper
3 – 4 stalks chopped celery
8 lb lean ground meat, chili grind
¼ cup Worchestershire sauce (up to ½ cup), ½ cup A-1 sauce, and 10 – 12 oz bottle of ketchup
1, 8 oz can tomato paste
2, 14.5 oz cans stewed tomatoes
2, 14.5 oz cans tomato sauce
3 – 4 large garlic cloves chopped (up to 10)
Gebhardt’s Eagle Brand chili powder seasoning, to taste
Seasoned salt, to taste
2 tbsp dried oregano
2 – 3 cups salsa
1 chile pepper, hot, 3” long
Garlic salt, to taste
Black pepper
Heat canola oil in large pot. Add Holy Trinity and cook until softened about 10 minutes.
Increase heat, add meat until pink is gone. Add worchestershire sauce, A-1 and ketchup and stir well.
Add remaining ingredients and 1 cup of water. Simmer uncovered for 1 – 2 hours. Add another cup of water after 30 minutes. Add another cup of water at end of cooking time.
If you are one of those people who is only interested in highlights, here you go but, of course, you’ll really want to listen to the entire episode so you can access it below. I mean, it’s only 30 minutes and it will occupy you during your commute or whatever you’re doing.
03:30 – Chili is serious business!
05:45 – Here goes Natalia, again
08:52 – All about the landlords
11:47 – Synar chili
15:30 – How many ways?
15:55 – Coneys. Really?!
19:19 – White bean chicken chili
28:00 – Winging it is hard
Don’t forget, you can find us all over the place now!
Listen on your favorite podcatcher, we’re probably there, even on Alexa! We’re on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play and, of course, here, AND, you can take us on the road anytime you like!
We love and appreciate you guys. Keep listening, hang in there.
Happy Halloween Everyone!
It’s my favorite and for fun, we decided to go a different route, kinda, and talk about a recipe for something that most people just buy at the store (and we can certainly understand why that is).
Caramel Apples!
Travel back in time as I describe how much fun I had trying to make caramel apples for the first time and then how Natalia tried making cake pops…once.
In spite of our inauspicious beginnings, we are breaking down how you can make caramel apples (if you really want to) and not lose your shit. The best recipe I found was from Sally’s Baking Addiction. Now we all know, I am no baker nor do I aspire to be but I really like Sally’s website. She always has good suggestions and has plenty of followers who make her recipes and comment on what worked and what didn’t. The bottom line is: you can’t use those pre-wrapped caramels, you gotta make your own and it’s not that hard. You can do it (again, if you really want to).
Here’s her recipe, if you don’t want to leave us. Lots of helpful hints included so read to the end.
Homemade Caramel Apples ★★★★★ 4.6 from 64 reviews
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour, 15 minutes
- Yield: 8-9 caramel apples
Learn how to make real homemade caramel apples with this from-scratch recipe. For best success, watch the video tutorial, read the post, and review the recipe before beginning.
Ingredients * 8–9 cold apples * 1 and 3/4 cups (420ml) heavy cream * 1 cup (240ml) light corn syrup * 2 cups (400g) packed light or dark brown sugar * 1/4 cup (4 Tablespoons; 60g) unsalted butter, at room temperature * 1/2 teaspoon salt * 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Instructions 1. Prep the apples: Rinse the apples with water, then wipe completely dry. Removing the slippery waxy coating will help the caramel seal to the apple. Remove the apple stem and insert a caramel apple stick about 3/4 down into the apple. 2. Line a large baking sheet with a silicone baking mat (preferred) or grease the pan with butter. Caramel usually sticks to parchment or wax paper. 3. Make the caramel: Combine the heavy cream, corn syrup, brown sugar, butter, and salt in a 3-quart heavy-duty saucepan over medium heat. Do not turn the temperature up or down– keep at medium the entire time the caramel cooks. Stir constantly with a wooden spoon until the butter is melted. Once melted, brush down the sides of the pan with a water-moistened pastry brush and attach a candy thermometer to the pan, making sure the bulb is not touching the bottom of the pan (as you’ll get an inaccurate reading). 4. Without stirring, let the mixture cook and bubble until it reaches 235°F (113°C). Some readers have been cooking to 240°F (116°C) and saying the caramel sticks much better to the apples that way. Stick with anywhere between 235°F – 240°F. Reaching this temperature should take about 15 – 20 minutes, though don’t use time as your guide because it depends on your stove. Don’t be alarmed if your caramel is taking longer, just use the candy thermometer as your guide. The temperature will heat up slowly, then move quickly, so keep your eye on the pot. Once at 235°F – 240°F, remove caramel from heat and stir in the vanilla. Avoid over-stirring which can create air bubbles in the caramel (and then on the apple). Allow caramel to cool for 10-15 minutes until slightly thickened. If caramel is too thin to coat apples, let it cool and thicken for 5-10 minutes longer. 5. Dip the apples: Holding the caramel apple stick, dip the apple into the warm caramel, tilting the pot as needed to coat all sides of the apple. Lift the apple up and swirl it around or gently tap it against the side of the pot to let excess caramel drip off. Place coated apple on prepared pan. Repeat with remaining apples. Enjoy immediately or allow caramel to set, about 45-60 minutes. If you want to wrap the caramel apples in cellophane treat bags for travel/gifting, wait until the caramel has completely set. 6. If desired, you can add toppings. Immediately after coating in caramel and before the caramel sets, roll the caramel dipped apples in finely chopped nuts, toffee pieces, mini M&Ms, sprinkles, or coconut. You can even drizzle with melted chocolate or white chocolate, too. 7. For displaying or serving, I recommend placing on wax paper or another nonstick surface. Even when the caramel has completely set, caramel apples may slightly stick to a serving dish. To eat a caramel apple, you can bite right into it or sit it upright on a cutting board and cut slices around the stick. (Or pull out the stick and slice.) These are great for sharing! 8. Loosely cover and store the leftover dipped apples in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Notes 1. How to clean a sticky saucepan: It’s not always easy or fun, but I have a helpful solution! When you’re finished making sticky caramel, simply fill the dirty saucepan with water until the water covers all of the candy residue. Place the saucepan on the stove over low heat. Let the warm water simmer and melt the sugar off the sides of the pan. Pour out the warm water, then let the tools sit until cool enough to handle. Rinse clean. 2. Special Tools: Heavy Duty 3 Quart Pot, Candy Thermometer (I suggest this one or this one), Wooden Spoon, Pastry Brush, Silicone Baking Mat, Caramel Apple Sticks 3. Caramel Candies: Follow step 3 in this recipe. Then without stirring, cook the mixture until it reaches 245°F (118°C). Immediately remove from heat, then stir in the vanilla. Then follow steps 5 and 6 in my soft sea salt vanilla caramels recipe. 4. Double Batch: I don’t recommend halving, doubling, or tripling candy recipes, especially this caramel. Increasing or decreasing the quantity may work for baking, but the extra or decreased volume could prevent the candy from cooking properly. Make separate batches instead.
So you’ll find the highlights below but this is a short and sweet episode so why not listen to all of it? Including our spooky music and sound effects…you’re intrigued, right?
01:08 – All those true crime podcasts and crazy people
03:23 – But back to the food
07:30 – Natalia really does love Martha Stewart
10:47 – Sally and her baking addiction
16:25 – Very important! Get the wax off!
18:38 – Dulce de leche
Don’t forget, you can find us all over the place now!
Listen on your favorite podcatcher, we’re probably there, even on Alexa! We’re on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play and, of course, here, AND, you can take us on the road anytime you like!
We love and appreciate you guys. Keep listening, hang in there.
Continuing on our journey to breakdown recipes and harvest fall, we now attack the pumpkin. Not really attack it but we are cutting it up in one way or another.
In this episode, we do spend some time sharing the pumpkin carving that I did with my kids but we’re mostly into the cooking of pumpkins. And, yes, a pumpkin is just another variation on winter squash that originated in northeastern Mexico and the southern United States. The oldest evidence – pumpkin fragments dated between 7,000 and 5,500 BC found in Mexico. So, actually, all kinds of winter squash (especially, pumpkins) have been around for a really long time.
Isn’t it interesting that, for the most part, we don’t know what to do with one besides make a jack o’lantern? Or buy the puree in a can?
So…we are coming to the rescue! In case, you want to do more than carve it, watch it mold on your front door step, or better yet, have some errant teenager throw it as far as he/she/they can and watch it explode on the concrete. Those days are over, my friend. We are talking you through not only a Baked Stuffed Pumpkin but a soup and a risotto recipe. Since the risotto recipe is one we teach in class, it is widely available so you’re getting it below. Or, you can always go to our RECIPES page on the website to find even more recipes and then class info, pictures, etc., etc.
Here’s the recipe…you’re welcome.
``` Pumpkin Risotto with Goat Cheese and Dried Cranberries
Serves 4
4 cups vegetable stock 1 cup canned pumpkin puree
2 tablespoons unsalted butter 1 onion, minced 1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme 1 cup Arborio rice ¼ to ½ cup white wine ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
¼ cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley ½ cup crumbled goat cheese ½ cup dried cranberries or cherries
In a medium saucepan, whisk together the stock and pumpkin over medium heat. Bring to a simmer and reduce the heat to low. Cover and keep warm.
Melt 2 tbsp butter in a large heavy sauté pan. Add onion and cook over medium heat until the onion is soft. Add rice stirring to coat with butter until grains are almost translucent. Add wine, cook and stir until it is completely absorbed. Begin adding stock, about 1 cup at a time, stirring constantly until it is completely absorbed then add the next cup of stock. Continue this process until the rice is tender and creamy but still slightly al dente.
Remove rice from the heat, add Parmigiano, half of the parsley and dried cranberries. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Top with the remaining parsley and goat cheese. Serve immediately.
```
If you are one of those who like to hit the high points, I’ve listed some for your casual listening pleasure. Of course, what we really want you to do is invest about 30 minutes of your time in the entire episode to get the full effect.
And, by the way, we’re back in the “proper studio”.
06:55 – Eating pumpkins
08:30 – Baked Stuffed Pumpkin, the recipe breakdown
16:13 – The critical element of stuffing
20:17 – All in with @inquiringchef on Instagram
23:35 – Did you know Candace hates soup?
25:20 – Baking a pumpkin pie
26:25 – What is a silpat?
31:00 – Risotto variety
Don’t forget, you can find us all over the place now!
Listen on your favorite podcatcher, we’re probably there, even on Alexa! We’re on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play and, of course, here, AND, you can take us on the road anytime you like!
We love and appreciate you guys. Keep listening, hang in there.
How about those Winter Squash? Intimidating for some. They look weird or they skin is hard and basically, you have not idea what to do with them.
So…what do you do? Just buy the diced butternut squash in the produce section? NO! You can DO this! Listen to this episode and you will become a winter squash master…well, maybe not a master but you’ll be able to practice to become one, okay?!
We’re going to tell you about acorn, butternut and even spaghetti squash in this episode and yes, I’m going to hit the high points below. At least, I consider them high points. You will also get a recipe that I just made up on the spot, right here.
The fancy, schmancy recipe for Roasted Butternut Squash Soup is on the Patreon site for patrons-only so if you want this delicious soup (and I hate soup but I like it), you’ll have to become a patron, sorry! Membership has its privileges, right? I’ve included the Become A Patron button in case you’re interested. If you’re not, ok. You’ll have to be satisfied with this one I’m pulling out of you know where.
Become a Patron!
And, after this episode, we were able to move back into our “recording studio” because the pecans have finished falling from the neighbor’s tree that hangs over my bedroom. We apologize for the ups and downs of the sound quality and effects and who knows…you might enjoy them.
But first, a recipe:
Soy Glazed Acorn Squash Rings
Serves 2 – 4
1 large acorn squash
2 tbsp canola oil
3 tbsp soy sauce (I use Bragg aminos because I like the flavor better, not because I care about gluten)
3 tbsp maple syrup (doesn’t have to be expensive maple syrup)
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp freshly ground pepper
Preheat oven to 375°.
Cut both ends off the squash, clean out seeds and strings and discard. Cut squash into 1 –1 ½ inch wide rings. There should be at least four slices. Brush each squash slice on both sides with oil and place on cookie sheet. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake squash for 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, combine soy sauce and syrup. Baste squash rings with soy sauce mixture. Continue baking another 15 – 20 minutes basting with sauce every 5 -10 minutes until the squash is fork tender and glazed.
But wait, there’s more! Episode highlights but we hope you listen to the whole thing…it’s not even 30 minutes!
02:15 – Natalia explains what a bully stick is
04:49 – All the squashes
07:20 – General descriptions, storage, actually good information
10:45 – How to acorn squash
18:05 – The butternut
20:55 – Roasting, cutting, peeling
22:58 – Spaghetti squash and my opinion, again
25:54 – The problem with spaghetti squash, among other things
Don’t forget, you can find us all over the place now! Even though there was a bit of a glitch trying to publish the last episode, we are back!
Listen on your favorite podcatcher, we’re probably there, even on Alexa! We’re on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play and, of course, here, AND, you can take us on the road anytime you like!
We love and appreciate you guys. Keep listening, hang in there.
The Wursts and Wieners We’re so glad to be back! Sorry for the hiatus but we have a really good excuse or at least, explanation. We’ve got SO much going on!!
From social media to photos to online videos…we’ve got it all so STAY TUNED.
In fact, this season (Season 8, btw) is going to be a big tease for what’s to come in January. In the meantime, since we’re heading into the holidays and we’ve pretty much overdone talking to Turkey Hotlines and telling you what we like to do for the season, we thought you might like to hear some specific recipes and actually break them down for you.
Not everyone, in fact, probably no one, even a really good home cook, approaches a recipe the way a “professional” does. So we’re here to help you out. We’re hoping it helps you out!
Starting with October and all the fun fall foods that go with that month of harvest and beer and oh yeah, brats. Really any and all sausages. We’re going to give you a recipe here and then the other recipe, well, it’s going on our Patreon. So if you’re really dying to get that second recipe…click below and you can check it out. If you don’t want to do that, we still love you, just not as much. Just kidding!! We LOVE ALL you guys!!
Become a Patron!
I’m not giving away everything on this episode. You’ve got to listen and don’t you want to because you’ve missed us so much!?
Here are some highlight times and then after that, the recipe for Kielbasa (or any sausage) with Warm Potato Salad.
01:30 – Shoutouts to our Marketing Team
04:15 – What are we talking about?
07:30 – My “particular” way
10:55 – The recipes begin
11:46 – Kielbasa
18:30 – Let me tell you what I would do…
22:20 – It’s all about the water bath
26:05 – I’m creative!
The Recipe – Adding my comments below (if you’re interested) Kielbasa (Sausages) with Warm Potato Salad
Serves 4
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/2 pounds sweet Italian pork sausages
1 medium yellow onion, halved and thinly sliced
12 ounces pale ale beer
1 1/2 pounds small red potatoes, halved
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1 tablespoon red-wine vinegar
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
In a large Dutch oven or heavy pot, heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium-high. Add sausages and cook until brown on all sides, about 8 minutes. Add onion and cook until softened, about 7 minutes. Add beer, potatoes, and 2 cups water; season with salt and pepper and press to submerge potatoes in cooking liquid. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat to medium, and cook until potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes.
Transfer sausages to a serving platter and keep warm. In a large bowl, stir together 1 tablespoon oil, vinegar, and parsley. With a slotted spoon, transfer potato mixture to dressing (reserve cooking liquid) and toss to combine.
Return pot to high heat; boil cooking liquid until reduced to 1 cup, about 12 minutes. Return sausages to pot and cook until heated through, 2 minutes. Place sausages and dressed potatoes on serving platter; drizzle half the sauce over top. Serve sausages and potatoes with remaining sauce alongside.
Candace’s Comments (for what they’re worth) So, the original recipe was called “Beer Braised Sausages with Warm Potato Salad”. I apparently was fixated on kielbasa but I think kielbasa would be much better in this recipe than Italian sausage. I, of course, love Italian sausage so it definitely has its place, just not in this recipe. I would prep my kielbasa as I mention in the podcast episode (hot tub method) and then proceed with the recipe.
I would par-cook the potatoes so you don’t have to worry about how long you cook them. That way, you’re finishing the potatoes in with the olive oil, onions, and kielbasa. Beer becomes a bonus flavor. So my order would be: start sauteeing onions in olive oil. Cut par-cooked potatoes lengthwise and add them to onions (cut side down so they get golden and crispy) then add kielbasa and then beer last. If you want your potatoes to taste like beer (?!), then by all means, boil them in the beer. I prefer not. Also, not sure that I would boil the beer down because I think it gets bitter.
Make the simple vinaigrette. Remove kielbasa from pan. Drain liquid from pan leaving about 1/4 cup and then add vinaigrette to pan and toss with potatoes and onions. Serve with kielbasa.
TA-DAH!
A final word (or two) about this season of gadgets.
Natalia was being really nice and letting everyone off the hook. Not quite sure what's gotten into her but okay...she's not usually so nice. She's usually busting balls.
So, we provide you a little recap, let you have your gadgets and say a few things about our personal favorites and not so favorites.
Here comes the end of Season 7.
We, of course, will be back after a month or so. We're going to take some time to work on Season 8's topic and not just throw another holiday season at you. We really do put some thought into the info we provide...even though it doesn't always sound like it! We do have a good time talking to you guys (and each other).
In the meantime, Natalia celebrated her 40th birthday yesterday so please share your birthday wishes or condolences.
If you have a minute, please take a look at our Patreon page and consider becoming a member. You don’t have to sign up but it’s easy to check it out and see what we’re talking about. We’ve got a lot of fun offerings for members that you won’t get to see, experience or have anywhere else.
Become a Patron!
Don’t forget, you can find us all over the place now! Wherever your favorite podcast listening place is, we’re probably there, even on Alexa! We’re on Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play and, of course, here, but you can take us on the road anytime you like!
We love and appreciate you guys. Keep listening, hang in there.
"Tell Us A Food Story" was a highlight of our podcast seasons. We heard many moving and also very entertaining stories about what food means to people. One of those people interviewed was one of my dearest friends from high school who (at the time) has gone in his career to achieve great things. And, as if things couldn't get greater, I discover through the Facebook grapevine that he is a finalist for a PULITZER PRIZE! Well, we couldn't let that go so we wanted to reprise this very memorable interview with Roy S. Johnson who can now add Pulitzer Prize finalist to his credits. Please enjoy A Story Teller's Food Story from Season 4.
Food is friendship.
Interestingly enough, our next interviewee has been the only person to share this sentiment with us. It is a sentiment that we echo wholeheartedly and in fact, could go so far as to call it our “mantra”. In food we find a common place and Lord knows, we need a common place right now.
Roy Johnson is a storyteller who fashions words into vivid, “as if you were there” experiences. Experiences that neither you nor I will likely ever be a part of. An accomplished journalist whose credits include Sports Illustrated, the New York Times, Men’s Fitness and any number of TV appearances, most recently as part of the docu-series, The Last Dance that chronicled the rise of Michael Jordan, Roy has defied tradition.
After 30+ years in New York, Roy now lives and writes in Birmingham, Alabama. Our interview, as a consequence, was done via computer with us in the kitchen studio and Roy in his home kitchen (one of his favorite spots). He loves to cook and views it as another creative outlet for himself and likes to see that in others. When in a restaurant, he is comfortable asking the chef to simply create something for him. He has also ended up with things on his plate that he wasn’t quite sure that he ordered.
Roy Johnson has been my friend for 50 years. Yes, I said it, 50, count ‘em years. Until I did the math, it certainly didn’t seem like it could possibly be that long but there it is.
Roy and I went to school together. It was the end of the 60’s when we met and he was and still is one of the bravest people I know. An African-American in Tulsa, Oklahoma, he chose to attend a basically all-white school albeit a fairly progressive one (but not as progressive as I thought). At that time, Holland Hall was known as the “pink” school in the hills as in “pink-o” and if you’re too young to know that reference…its meaning today is: a person who holds advanced liberal or moderately radical political or economic views; back in the 60’s and early 70’s, it simply meant, communistic. I think if my mother had known that (maybe she did but I doubt it), she would have yanked me out of there so fast it would make your head explode. I include this as a way of saying, yes, at school, we tried our best to be progressive with open hearts, minds and opportunities but we were still immersed in the white privilege that exists today.
So I’m quite certain only those very close to Roy understood the challenges he faced at that time. I know I didn’t understand and he was my friend. But he never allowed the long hours and the hidden and not so hidden prejudice and racism to get in his way or hold him back. As soon as he graduated, he headed to Stanford University and never looked back.
Roy took the road less traveled by, and yes, that has made all the difference. The interview begins at 09:19.
Follow Roy on Facebook by clicking right here and who knows, maybe he'll make your head explode!?
And, you can read many of his recent articles here. I can promise you’ll be reading some of the best writing around.
We hope you enjoyed this interview with Roy S Johnson. we definitely did!
If you have a minute, please take a look at our Patreon page and consider becoming a member. You don’t have to sign up but it’s easy to check it out and see what we’re talking about.
And, we're back!
Me from the undisclosed, secret location and Natalia from Florida.
We couldn't think of a better way to "celebrate" our return than featuring one of our favorite fans, Tiffany Z.
Tiffany and her mom not only come to lots of our cooking classes but they have both been ardent followers of our podcast, including being members of the Patreon Club! And, if you're curious about joining Patreon just click here Become a Patron! and you'll be taken to that magical land.
Anywho, Tiffany took the time to send us a lengthy email/comment with links to her favorite gadgets. They range from a super special garlic "press", although I wouldn't really call it a press in the true sense of the word. It's actually a lot better, in my opinion...to a bench scraper which to me is a tool and not a gadget so I give it a big thumbs up!
As usual, we had a lot of fun in this episode sharing Tiffany's insights into her world of gadgets.
Hope you enjoy it, too!
We're still on Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Spotify and all your other favorite listening places. Please subscribe, rate, and review us.
Keep listening as we wind up this season with a tribute to one of our friends who has been recognized for his achievement and we were lucky enough to interview him for our Tell Me A Food Story season.
As always, thanks for listening! Love you guys!!
Hope you enjoyed our little stroll down Memory Lane in our last episode because we're doing it again.
This time we return to Natalia's pantry but still at my house. There are actually a lot of tips and tricks in this one mainly because Natalia really pulled out some weird food that was hiding in the back corners.
Remember we'll be back with more gadgets in July since I'm in an undisclosed location doing something very exciting that I can't tell you about, yet. Let's get this party started with What's In Your Pantry, Part Deux...
Still in the house; still foraging..
In this episode, Natalia brings interesting items from her pantry over to mine for another game of What’s In Your Pantry?!
Can’t begin to tell you how much I love game show music. I guess I am just a frustrated game show host! Music aside, we had a great time figuring out what to do with all of the crazy stuff that Natalia has in her pantry.
These days you need to be a little more creative than usual. Not just because you can’t run to the store at the drop of a hat but because it’s really more fun to be a bit adventurous with what’s on hand. If you’re extra brave, you could get your kids involved with “I wonder what we could do with this stuff?”. Their minds run much farther afield than ours so you might learn something, who knows? We even brought Alexa into the mix for this show.
Seriously though, don’t be intimidated by unusual items that could be outside your comfort zone.
Hello!, isn’t everything outside our comfort zones right now?
So, sit back, relax and enjoy!
We hope you are staying safe and healthy in these trying times. Change is hard but it’s the only constant if you stop and think about it. Life will never be the same after this but we’re discovering how resilient and resourceful we can all be.
We love you guys. Keep listening and hang in there!
If you have a minute, please take a look at our Patreon page and consider becoming a member. We’ve got a lot of fun offerings on there that you won’t get to see or experience or have anywhere else.
We're smack dab in the middle of our seventh season and guess what? I've got to go!And, by that, I mean I physically have to leave town for almost a month. What do you do? There's no time to record, edit and produce complete episodes so Natalia and I decided to run a couple of our greatest hits. We have all these episodes that are just waiting to be re-run so we're offering up a couple to remind you of where we were about this time last year. We think you'll get a kick out of them so in place of the next gadget episode (don't worry they'll be back in July), here comes What's In Your Pantry? Volume 1...Desperate times call for desperate measures and while we’re really not desperate (at least not yet), we certainly have to be a lot more creative.
So, if we can’t go to any of the grocery stores just for fun, we can hang out in my kitchen and forage through my pantry. True enough, I probably have things in my pantry that most people don’t. We could still get crazy with some of the odd and possibly even bizarre items that she dug out,
Like most people, I have flour and rice and some canned goods, as well as things I totally forgot about and don’t really know what they are. We did not do an exhaustive search but we went through any number of items and included ideas about what you can do with them.
We recorded this episode from my kitchen (truly just outside my pantry doors) so the sound is definitely “live” and is different from the other episodes so we hope you enjoy the difference. We had a great time doing it and I think you’ll be able to tell that, too. Of course, we kinda always have a great time!
So complete with sound effects…”What’s In Your Pantry?”
Hope you enjoyed our pantry adventure. There will be one more of these (a peek inside Natalia’s pantry…hope it’s not TOO scary!!) and then gadgets return in July so stay tuned.
We love you guys. Keep listening and hang in there!
And, if you have a minute take a look at our Patreon page and consider becoming a member. We’ve got a lot of fun offerings on there that you won’t get to see or experience or have anywhere else.
Never to be limited to the topic at hand, but not to worry, we talk a lot about gadgets. We found the episode careening out of control all over the place and topics. We don't want you to get bored now, do we?
So we start with some gadgets and then somehow end up talking tacos and tequila.
The highlights are below but you're going to want to listen to the whole episode (as usual!)
01:31 - Jump right in and hear the back story
05:10 - Spiralizing pros and cons
07:35 - Not enough zoodles
12:47 - It's a multi purpose unitasker
16:53 - I like a good coffee bean grinder
21:35 - Here comes the street taco story and probably more than you want to know about tequila drinks
26:20 - How did we end up at the Sr. PGA?
Hope you enjoy Episode 4 of What the Gadget?
Do you have a favorite gadget that you can't live without? Tell us all about it!
Leave a comment on our website (that I am still constructing and changing and on and on) - www.notasinglefork.com and become a part of the conversation!
Better yet, find us on Patreon at patreon.com/notasinglefork!
We're still on Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Spotify and all your other favorite listening places. Please subscribe, rate, and review us.
Keep listening as we continue the deep dive into our personal favorite and not so favorite kitchen gadgets.
As always, thanks for listening! Love you guys!!
What’s the difference between a tool and a gadget? For me, it’s the mechanics and typically, the more complicated it is, the more gadget-y it becomes. I think that in order to replace or supplant a good tool, you have to get complicated. I mean, why use a simple knife when you could get a giant chopper, that slices, dices, juliennes, and more all in one stroke? And, you need an entire cabinet shelf just for it and all its parts.
Now, I’m not against a good, multi-tasking gadget that you can use for lots of different things. Heck, I talk about one of my favorites in this episode. What I hate are uni-taskers (thank you, Alton Brown) that take up space in your cabinets and drawers and that you only use for one maybe two things. Maybe just to avoid using a knife?
Now, I know, gadgets can be fun much more fun than a tool, oh, that gets the job done. So, borrow your friend’s gadget, use it until you’ve had all the fun you can handle and then give it back. You’re done, you’re over it and you can go back to, oh, I don’t know, your knife.
This episode is a short one but it definitely hits on all cylinders because why belabor the point when you can get in and out, no muss, no fuss and be done with it…kinda like a smart kitchen tool. See what I did there?
Here are a couple of highlights (because you should listen to all of a short episode anyway):
01:12 – People have a hard time with tongs
03:31 – Do you have a garlic press?
07:43 – I love my immersion blender
11:13 – More thoughts about Imperfect Foods
Do you have a favorite gadget that you can't live without? Tell us all about it!
Leave a comment on our website - www.notasinglefork.com and become a part of the conversation!
We're still on Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Spotify and all your other favorite listening places. Please subscribe, rate, and review us.
Keep listening as we continue the deep dive into our personal favorite and not so favorite kitchen gadgets.
As always, thanks for listening! Love you guys!!
You will find this season's episodes to be short and sweet, at least for the most part. No reason to belabor the point, right?
We decided that since we spent the first episode bashing all the stupid kitchen gadgets that we would change our tune a bit for the next go-round.
So in Episode 2, you will hear from us about a couple of things that I like and use, and then one gadget, in particular, that Natalia simply cannot wrap her head around.
We also share some information about a company that is doing A LOT to save the planet by decreasing food waste and our carbon food print.
This is a short one so no reason to not listen to the whole thing but in case you're looking for some highlights, here they are:
01:10 - I like a good mandoline
09:40 - Natalia does not get this
19:27 - Save the planet little by little
Do you have a favorite gadget that you can't live without? Tell us all about it!
Leave a comment on our website - www.notasinglefork.com and become a part of the conversation!
We're still on Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Spotify and all your other favorite listening places. Please subscribe, rate, and review us.
In the next episode, we start our deep dive into our personal favorite and not so favorite kitchen gadgets.
As always, thanks for listening! Love you guys!!
Do you rely on gadgets to get you through your kitchen routine? If the answer is, "yes", then this is the season for you!
Season 7 is all about the good,the bad and the ugly of the kitchen gadget world. And, yes, Natalia and I have some pretty strong opinions about the whole gadget thing.
We open this season with the most ridiculous ones so get ready for the worst of the worst. Courtesy of the website, Tastemade, these folks have found some beauts!
Without wasting any more time...here is Episode 1 and find some highlights below:
04:00 - Why we think people use gadgets
04:55 - Let the gadget bashing begin!
05:26 - How we're going to do this
08:02 - The tuna press
10:44 - This will turn your ice cream cone for you
16:29 - We've always wanted an egg cube
21:05 - But wait, what about a pickle picker?
24:27 - Big finish with asparagus
Do you have a favorite gadget that you can't live without? Tell us all about it!
Leave a comment on our website - www.notasinglefork.com and become a part of the conversation!
We're still on Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Spotify and all your other favorite listening places. Please subscribe, rate, and review us.
In the next episode, we start our deep dive into our personal favorite and not so favorite kitchen gadgets.
As always, thanks for listening! Love you guys!!
It's been another fun season of interviewing and with this episode, we wrap it all up and briefly revisit and review, hitting the high points. Or what we consider the high points.
The biggest takeaway? People realized that the food you put in your body really does make a difference. When you have a chance to slow down a bit and pay attention to what you're eating, you just feel better. Cooking at home more and eating fast food a lot less made a difference in so many people's lives. Mindful eating and cooking. That's all it takes. They think they're going to keep cooking more at home and a few people even thought this upheaval had good parts to it. They became better people. Interesting, right?
Of course, we want you to listen to the entire episode but if you like to jump around...here you go:
02:15 - All about Ginger
04:45 - Colton is still a really good guy
08:30 - Susan experimented
12:25 - Elizabeth became a baker and Dan watched
16:10 - We liked hanging out with KC
18:40 - Natalia has an opinion about exchange students in the country
20:21 - Sea of Thieves has a great rum drink
21:05 - Take a Walk with KC and Luna
22:54 - Cook at home
24:33 - We're going to be guests on a podcast
If you're interested, here are the questions we asked everyone in some shape or form or other...
Did you ever feel excited about being able to stay home and cook more and explore foods you'd always wanted to but never had time for?What did you make? Anything new?Did you have anything amazing? Any disasters?Something hard or unexpected?When the virus is under control...will you continue to cook more? Have you found a new love for cooking at home or are you ready to get away from it?
We're making it easier than ever for you to join the conversation.
EMAIL US at info@notasinglefork.com. We want to hear from you.
Tell us what's on your mind because (someday) we're going to start an email segment during the episodes...as soon as we get some emails. So, we continue to work on our new podcast home and we'll let you know as soon as it's finished (again).
We're still on Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Spotify and all your other favorite listening places.
Also, we are going to be guests on the Fire and Water Cooking Podcast. Their thing is barbecue, grilling, smoking and sous vide and Darrin, the host, talks to lots of different people about just that. They are on all the listening platforms as well as YouTube so you can hear AND see us. We'll let you know when that episode drops.
Hope you enjoyed this season...still keeping it real! When you're missing us, relive Season 6 and then before you know it - we'll be back in May with Season 7 - Gadgets: The Good, The Bad, The Stupid.
As always, thanks for listening! We love you guys!!
KC Lupp is the kind of guy you just want to hang out with. He's funny, smart, charming...all those qualities you want in someone who you spend time with plus he's just a super nice guy! KC and I got to know each other while working together on a local TV variety show called "Great Day Green Country" and then later it was known as "Tulsa Live" on FOX23 in, yep, you guessed it, Tulsa. KC is the morning drive radio personality on MIX96.5. His show, KC In The Morning, is one of the most popular programs on Tulsa radio and he is one of the few people who carries their own show without a co-host. We think his success is driven by that "hanging out" factor. You just want to hang out so we did for this episode. KC also has his own podcast that you can listen to on MIX96.5 - Take A Walk With KC and Luna. And, the podcast is just that. KC lives out in the country (Bristow, Oklahoma, USA) and he takes a walk with his little dog, Luna (who is the cutest) and talks about whatever comes to mind. In the latest episode, he talks about video games and Luna gets stickers in her paws. It's short and light and super enjoyable. Please listen...I promise you'll like it! There is a link below the time checks to click, listen and follow. Recorded in my home kitchen, the topics ranged from warm nuts (you'll have to listen to get that inside joke) to playing the cello and announcing fight nights to Brazilian food. And, there was never a dull moment. Please enjoy Episode 6 - Hangin' Out With KC. If you want to jump around, you can hit the high (or just very funny) points at these times: 03:58 - Let the interview begin! 11:55 - He cooks more because of Candace 12:15 - His go-to dishes 14:30 - He loves to bake 15:44 - And, he loves turkey burgers 16:54 - The disaster meal 21:05 - The unexpected skill he is practicing 22:05 - Aargh, matey! Playing Sea of Thieves 23:03 - Shakshuka from Mothers Day 2020 28:01 - Let's all hang out 29:50 - He's excited to cook more Be sure to listen to KC's podcast on MIX96.5 by clicking right here. If you're interested, here are the questions we're asking everyone in some shape or form or other...
Did you ever feel excited about being able to stay home and cook more and explore foods you'd always wanted to but never had time for? What did you make? Anything new? Did you have anything amazing? Any disasters? Something hard or unexpected? When the virus is under control...will you continue to cook more? Have you found a new love for cooking at home or are you ready to get away from it?
We're making it easier than ever for you to join the conversation. EMAIL US at info@notasinglefork.com. We want to hear from you. Tell us what's on your mind because (someday) we're going to start an email segment during the episodes...as soon as we get some emails. So, we continue to work on our new podcast home and we'll let you know as soon as it's finished (again). We're still on Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Spotify and all your other favorite listening places. Hope you enjoyed this episode...still keeping it real! As always, thanks for listening! We love you guys!!
Sourdough, frankly, does not set my world on fire BUT I know that for many people, making a successful sourdough is like finding the Holy Grail. So if you are that person, this is the episode for you. When we started the interview with Elizabeth and Dan Martin, I knew that Elizabeth had been doing a lot of sourdough bread baking. This was of interest to us for Season 6 because this was a new activity for her. That's where we began with the conversation. Little did we know that Elizabeth had taken all of the science and the folklore to heart and has become quite the expert on sourdough. She was kind enough to share one of her boules with us and it is/was delicious, lovely bread. So thank you, Elizabeth! This episode also turned out to be one of our funnier ones as well so you really must listen to the whole thing. But, if you want to jump around, here are some highlights to try out. 02:47 - The interview begins officially 03:33 - Dan (and the rest of the family) got COVID 07:06 - They remodeled their kitchen 11:20 - Funky food - if you can find it, you can eat it 11:56 - The sourdough journey 13:06 - The Herman sourdough starter 14:13 - Sarah Owens (James Beard award-winning author) and her starter 17:48 - Elizabeth describes her sourdough as "approachable" 20:08 - Shards in a jar 21:12 - It's all Kevin 23:52 - What is hooch? If you're interested, here are the questions we're asking everyone in some shape or form or other...
Did you ever feel excited about being able to stay home and cook more and explore foods you'd always wanted to but never had time for? What did you make? Anything new? Did you have anything amazing? Any disasters? Something hard or unexpected? When the virus is under control...will you continue to cook more? Have you found a new love for cooking at home or are you ready to get away from it?
We're making it easier than ever for you to join the conversation. EMAIL US at info@notasinglefork.com. We want to hear from you. Tell us what's on your mind because (someday) we're going to start an email segment during the episodes...as soon as we get some emails. So, we hope you like our new podcast website home. It really is www.notasinglefork.com. We're still on Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Spotify and all your other favorite listening places. Hope you enjoyed this episode...still keeping it real! As always, thanks for listening! We love you guys!!
She's one of those people who you don't expect. She looks younger than she is, sweeter than she is and definitely has a mouth on her. Susan Yeh and Natalia began their friendship while working together. They consider each other "wives". I think that happens under dire and stressful working conditions where you have to pull together as if you are joined like a married couple. Their friendship continues to this day and I think you will hear that during this episode. We move through her attempt to make gluten-free pumpkin bread to her hate for brown rice and then she really needs an immersion blender. She didn't really have the shelter in place or staying home from work that most everyone else did but she has always cooked and making dinner all week long gave her some opportunities to go beyond her usual fare. Here are some highlights for your listening pleasure but be sure to listen to the entire episode. You don't want to miss anything. 02:13 - Susan's interview begins here 07:57 - Baking is not good 08:30 - Interested in gluten-free pumpkin bread? 09:20 - Look out for Natalia's laugh! 11:55 - She gave up on gluten-free 13:22 - No immersion blender 15:55 - You just feel better with good food 19:54 - She is not into gadgets If you're interested, here are the questions we're asking everyone in some shape or form or other...
Did you ever feel excited about being able to stay home and cook more and explore foods you'd always wanted to but never had time for? What did you make? Anything new? Did you have anything amazing? Any disasters? Something hard or unexpected? When the virus is under control...will you continue to cook more? Have you found a new love for cooking at home or are you ready to get away from it?
We're making it easier than ever for you to join the conversation. EMAIL US at info@notasinglefork.com. We want to hear from you. Tell us what's on your mind because (someday) we're going to start an email segment during the episodes...as soon as we get some emails. So, we hope you like our new podcast website home. It really is www.notasinglefork.com. We're still on Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Spotify and all your other favorite listening places. Hope you enjoyed this episode...still keeping it real! As always, thanks for listening! We love you guys!!
Want a positive spin on the pandemic and the stay at home order? Let us introduce you to Colton Edwards. Colton is a bartender and manager at one of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma's most popular restaurants and also happens to be a person with a story we thought you'd like to hear. I won't give away the whole interview but when the shutdown began last year, he was in a new relationship and they were together in a one bedroom apartment for three months. Their bond lasted through that trying time and Colton says they are both better for it. He learned a lot about himself during that time (including cooking) and now if looking forward to what the future holds for him and his boyfriend. Here are some highlights from the interview. I would be remiss if I didn't mention we had some tech issues with this episode so please cut us some slack. 02:50 - Colton's interview begins 05:30 - What do you do for three months? 09:42 - He never cooked before 12:46 - The air fryer and neon green chicken 16:30 - Cooking is actually easy and exciting 22:09 - Colton completely enjoyed the shutdown If you're interested, here are the questions we're asking everyone in some shape or form or other...
Did you ever feel excited about being able to stay home and cook more and explore foods you'd always wanted to but never had time for? What did you make? Anything new? Did you have anything amazing? Any disasters? Something hard or unexpected? When the virus is under control...will you continue to cook more? Have you found a new love for cooking at home or are you ready to get away from it?
We're making it easier than ever for you to join the conversation. EMAIL US at info@notasinglefork.com. We want to hear from you. Tell us what's on your mind because (someday) we're going to start an email segment during the episodes...as soon as we get some emails. So, we hope you like our new podcast website home. It really is www.notasinglefork.com. We're still on Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Spotify and all your other favorite listening places. Hope you enjoyed this episode...still keeping it real! As always, thanks for listening! We love you guys!!
Let the interviews begin! And, we're starting off with a super entertaining one. She does A LOT! Alesha Brandt, aka Ginger is an accomplished trainer of some serious dogs She produces a podcast called Working Dog Radio and she is the co-owner of Torchlight K9 where she and her partners provide the most progressive training and services in Oklahoma. That means they train a lot of dogs for the military and law enforcement. When she's not training dogs or producing the Working Dog Radio podcast, she likes to cook In the whole scheme of things, she's probably the most inventive home cook we've talked to so far in our podcasting world. She's just not afraid of anything and who would be when you've got a 100lb dog who will eat you on her command?! Ginger also happens to be a good friend and like both of us, is pretty free-wheeling. Here are some highlights to look for in this episode but be sure to listen to the whole thing! 04:54 - The interview begins 10:29 - Another turkey spatchcocked 11:38 - The discovery and journey to black garlic 18:50 - No intimidation to be found 28:15 - Let's vacuum seal it 29:08 - Other kitchen gadget escapades 30:20 - Don't sous vide rice If you're interested, here are the questions we're asking everyone in some shape or form or other...
Did you ever feel excited about being able to stay home and cook more and explore foods you'd always wanted to but never had time for? What did you make? Anything new? Did you have anything amazing? Any disasters? Something hard or unexpected? When the virus is under control...will you continue to cook more? Have you found a new love for cooking at home or are you ready to get away from it?
We're making it easier than ever for you to join the conversation. EMAIL US at info@notasinglefork.com. We want to hear from you. Tell us what's on your mind because (someday) we're going to start an email segment during the episodes...as soon as we get some emails. So, we hope you like our new podcast website home. It really is www.notasinglefork.com. We're still on Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Spotify and all your other favorite listening places. Hope you enjoyed this episode...still keeping it real! As always, thanks for listening! We love you guys!!
And, here we are with Season 6! So excited but also amazed that we have come so far since starting our little podcast almost a year and a half ago! We're still pretty small but mighty, right? We did a lot of thinking about what to do with this season. Not knowing how soon the pandemic may resolve itself, we thought maybe we should address the only constant in life...CHANGE! Being the disruptors that we are, we also wanted to continue our mission of "keeping it real' so we are back to interviewing but real, everyday people. Some you may know and some you may not BUT all of them with interesting stories to tell about their COVID food journey. We wanted to know: What are they making/cooking/baking? Is it something new, maybe something they've always wanted to try but never had time for? What are their successes or disasters? And, will they keep it up once things get back to "normal"? We want to know all those things and because I love bookends, we're starting and ending with ourselves. So, here is Episode 1 of our ever changing food world and what we have been doing (that maybe you don't already know). This is a short one because we just wanted to get you comfy with the new season and get ready for some super fun interviews. Here a few highlights to look out for: 02:45 - What are we doing this season? 03:34 - I'm going to see a woman about a turkey 09:15 - The Dutch oven journey 13:15 - The country pate journey 16:15 - What do all those downloads mean? 18:21 - Sourdough and more sourdough We're making it easier than ever for you to join the conversation. EMAIL US at info@notasinglefork.com. We want to hear from you. Tell us what's on your mind because we're going to start an email segment during the episodes...as soon as we get some emails. So, we hope you like our new podcast website home. It really is www.notasinglefork.com. We're still on Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Spotify and all your other favorite listening places. Hope you enjoyed this episode...still keeping it real! As always, thanks for listening! We love you guys!!
This is the trailer or short (very) episode for our podcast. You can listen to this and see if we happen to be your cup of tea.
As 2020 draws to a close (THANK GOD!), we are also finishing up Season 5 of Hotline Helplines. The season definitely had its ups and downs. Sometimes we could get someone to talk to us and sometimes not. Always a challenge but always fun which is the way we like things and frankly, the way we approach life and our cooking school business. Because everyday is a NEW DAY! It keeps our lives interesting, I mean, who wants a boring life? We will often have people in class who seem like they're not having a good time. They're hard to read and are usually quiet and don't ask questions or interact much. Then, much to our surprise at the end of class, they'll come up to us and tell us what a great time they had. We're always so surprised by this. We want to say "WHAATTT?!" But that's their approach to life and Natalia and I frequently discuss what makes people interesting or not and what those people we would categorize as "boring" experience as a good time. But, God love them, they apparently have a good time. And, we're so glad that share that with us. Obviously, our good times are a bit louder and bawdier than most people's. And, we like entertaining you with that. At least, we like to think you're enjoying it!! We close out our season with a a visit from my NYC daughter, a couple of shout outs and reviews from the Hater's Guide to Williams-Sonoma's Christmas catalog. We also share our holiday plans and end with a little hope for what's to come. Here are the highlights but, of course, please listen to the entire episode. The very end should sound familiar...thanks to Frank Capra's It's A Wonderful LIfe. 10:37 - Our super fan, Brenda and her family 12:26 - The beginning of the Hater's Guide but we'll be back 13:06 - NYC daughter, Merrin, arrives (from the kitchen) 21:24 - Details of chicken tetrazzini 23:55 - A shout out for our NY Super Fan, Brian Foley 24:33 - Completing the Hater's Guide and more 28:19 - Tiffany's tin can 37:13 - The Christmas Star We're making it easier than ever for you to join the conversation. We're still up in the air about the topic(s) for Season 6. So, give us your thoughts... EMAIL US at info@notasinglefork.com. We want to hear from you. Tell us what's on your mind because we're going to start an email segment during the episodes...as soon as we get some emails. So, we hope you like our new podcast website home. It really is www.notasinglefork.com. We're still on Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Spotify and all your other favorite listening places. So as Season 5 comes to an end, have a wonderful holiday. Here's to the New Year! Come on 2021!! As always, thanks for listening! We love you guys!!
Our pursuit of hotline help continues with the cranberry and the mother of all cranberry producers, Ocean Spray. Who doesn't remember or recognize the distinctive "slurpppp, plop" of the jellied cranberry sauce slipping out of the can onto a plate with it's measured rings for slicing? That is a favorite of so many people although when I was growing up, my mom ALWAYS made her own, of course. So, actually, I never had the canned cranberry sauce until I was in high school and experienced it at a friend's house. And, sorry Mom, but I think it tastes pretty good. In this episode, we examine many cranberry topics, including the viral skateboarding TikTok video of the guy drinking cranberry juice living his best life. Ocean Spray apparently appreciated the plug (and the free publicity) and gave him a truck loaded with cranberry juice. Also, Fleetwood Mac became a fan as he used the famous "Dreams" as his soundtrack. Thank you, Stevie Nicks! We also revisited the jello shot "fiasco" (could have been worse) with some ideas for how to improve on it next time, talked the making of my mom's cranberry sauce and tried coming up with ways to use cranberries...besides making jellied sauce. OH! And, we did talk to Ocean Spray! Not sure that the number we called would qualify as a hotline but we managed to sneak in a question and it's the one we were most curious about. I think by doing that (Clever Natalia!), we figured out how to get someone to talk to us on the podcast so you'll have to listen for that. You'll find the Ocean Spray Hotline highlight as well as some others below: 01:45 - The making of my mom's cranberry sauce 05:50 - Jello shot making alternatives 07:35 - The TikTok viral video (Natalia gets kinda frustrated with me, HAH!) 10:57 - The Ocean Spray hotline call begins! 17:10 - A question is answered! 20:10 - Things to do with cranberries 25:50 - The baked brie issue There's lots more to listen to so we hope you play (and download) the entire episode. This was another fun one for us...but then we always have fun! We're making it easier than ever for you to join the conversation. EMAIL US at info@notasinglefork.com. Tell us what's on your mind because we're going to start an email segment during the episodes...as soon as we get some emails. So, we hope you like our new podcast website home. It really is www.notasinglefork.com. We're still on Apple Podcasts and all your other favorite listening places. We have one more episode before we take our holiday break and head into Season 6 in the spring. Be sure to tell us what you'd like to hear more about! As always, thanks for listening! We love you guys!!
Hotlines were not needed in the making of this episode, Thank God! Happy to say, Natalia and I made it through the Thanksgiving holiday. My sciatica would disagree but I had a massage after Monday's workout and we're all feeling much better, thank you very much. So what was there to say at this point other than we survived? Well, a lot as usual. And, as usual, we both had very different Thanksgivings and not just because of COVID. Natalia has a big immediate family who all live here and I have my daughter, Shea. Of course, we have to share how we all spent our day, I hold forth on the virtual dinner and cornhole while Natalia has a few things to say about rude family comments and the dog show. Seems like topics were all over the place but they actually are representative of Thanksgiving as a whole. So here's to the weirdness! If you're interested in jumping around the show to hear what we consider to be the highlights, here you go: 01:57 How about some restaurant-style French toast? 05:33 The tale of the cranberry jello shots and cranberry jello, in general 11:45 Trying to find ingredients 12:50 The rest of Natalia's Thanksgiving 18:23 Thanksgiving 2020 was the cheapest in 35 years 20:00 Virtual dinners aren't all what they're cracked up to be 22:46 Tell me about your costume and Thanksgiving with grandparents 24:17 The dog show There's lots more to listen to so we hope you play (and download) the entire episode. This was another fun one for us...but then we always have fun! We're making it easier than ever for you to join the conversation. Email us at info@notasinglefork.com. Tell us what's on your mind because we're going to start an email segment during the episodes...as soon as we get some emails. So, we hope you like our new podcast website home. It really is www.notasinglefork.com. We're still on Apple Podcasts and all your other favorite listening places. We hope you made it through Thanksgiving unscathed. Onward to Christmas, Hannukah and Kwanzaa! As always, thanks for listening! We love you guys!!
ICYMI Keep your butt at home for Thanksgiving! We can almost see that light at the end of the tunnel so hang in there, folks! And, we are here to help you navigate this uncommon and un-traditional holiday time. We've got suggestions from virtual dinners to "porch-lucks". It's also an opportunity to start new traditions that you might like even better than what you've done year after year. If you want to keep cooking, great! If you don't want to cook anything, GREAT! If you want to grab a bottle of wine and sit in a hot tub in the woods, STILL great! The important thing to remember is: you really CAN'T do it wrong this year, How freeing is that? That's my personal favorite for all this craziness...you can't do it wrong. You may not have that Norman Rockwell Thanksgiving but you may have one that is more satisfying than ever because to borrow from Frank Sinatra, you do it your way. And, finally! We talked to folks at a holiday hotline. Butterball comes through once more and what a lovely call it was. We talked with Barb who is one of their supervisors and she had some great suggestions along with a super, heart-warming story about some US engineers stationed in Dubai wanting to celebrate the holiday. So, THANK YOU, BARB! You have no idea how hard it's been to reach someone to talk to us. If you'd like to skip through the episode to the REALLY good parts, here are some highlights and where you can find them throughout the episode. 04:00 - CDC guidelines and how to make Thanksgiving your own 05:56 - It doesn't have to be traditional 06:32 - "Porchlucks" and virtual dinners 10:33 - Cranberry Jell-O shots...what? 13:42 - Donate to a non-profit food provider and shout out to the Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma, Chefs Jeff Marlow and Jeremy Johnson 16:52 - Natalia is having pizza 17:45 - How about deviled eggs? 23:37 - Natalia has a few things to say about COVID fat 31:41 - We actually talk to Butterball (Barb is delightful, btw) 37:08 - You can TEXT Butterball while you're grocery shopping 38:55 - Hang in there, we're almost through this thing There's lots more to listen to so we hope you play (and download) the entire episode. This was another fun one for us...but then we always have fun! Also, we hope you like our new podcast website home. It really is www.notasinglefork.com. We're still on Apple Podcasts and all your other favorite listening places. Now I've got turkey stock and pumpkin pies to make...we're cooking for lots of people who are choosing to not cook so much for Thanksgiving. Please have a safe and joyful Thanksgiving! Do your own thing and enjoy every second of it. This will be one to remember for years to come! As always, thanks for listening! We love you guys!!
Not to be deterred...we found a short-term solution to our holiday hotline dilemma. We're talking to Alexa. And, frankly, one of the things we decided is that maybe hotlines are not so popular anymore because of devices like Alexa and Siri and Google Home. What do you think? Anyway, we decided to talk to Alexa during this episode since no one else has been willing to talk to us "on the record" so far. We are still holding out for Butterball and hoping that we'll have a nice chat with one of their people but that is still to come. Probably the most entertaining part of this episode is Natalia's battles with Alexa. She just can't seem to make herself understood so her exchanges with Alexa are frustrating for her but hilarious for us. I am now the official Alexa questioner so that we can get some information. If you're interested, here are the highlights of this episode: 01:07 - Kitchen cleanup (you'll understand when you hear it) 07:00 - The problem solution 10:35 - The many uses for pumpkin puree 16:45 - Flour is the glitter of the cooking world 21:12 - Alexa hates Natalia 22:35 - Even more cook along information There are, of course, lots of other funny segments in the show. We hear that it takes 21 hours to prepare a turkey and 5 hours to thaw it in the toilet. Yes, I know, you'll just have to listen because otherwise, we'd be listing the entire episode. Also, we hope you like our new podcast website home. It really is www.notasinglefork.com. And, we're still on Apple Podcasts and all your other favorite listening places. As always, thanks for listening! We love you guys!!
We may not be talking to a lot of hotline people but we sure are having a lot of fun! So far, we’ve found that any person we have reached on a cooking or baking hotline has to refer us to their supervisor for comment. Seriously?! All we want to do is ask you a question or two to help our listeners with their holiday cooking. Is it really that hard? The answer is apparently: YES! But we are undaunted and we will continue calling hotlines until someone talks to us. In the meantime, we just get crazy and tell you all kinds of stories and give you other information about cooking that actually is helpful. Here are some of the highlights from Episode 3: 11:39 - There was no call back from Fleischman’s Yeast 12:43 - Let’s talk about butter 22:46 - How about Libby’s? 30:39 - There is no gin 31:55 - We loved doing the United Way fundraiser 32:15 - A brand new cook along Enjoy the craziness…here’s episode 3. Don’t forget, you can find us all over the place now! We're on Amazon Music now so you really can tell Alexa, "Hey Alexa, play the podcast, Not A Single Fork!" and she will play the podcast. I tried it last night and it works! But wherever your favorite podcast listening place is, we’re probably there. Take us on the road anytime you like with Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play or with our player right here.The podcast is moving! You will find Episode 4 and beyond at www.notasinglefork.com, the podcast-only website. This page will still be here but if you just want podcast stuff…you’re welcome!Thanks for listening. We love you!!
As they say, “expect the unexpected”. And, that’s what you’re getting in this next episode. The Holiday Hotlines are obviously busier than usual this year but we are doing are best to break through and get some information for you that you might not already have. We’re trying everything from our “go-to” Butterball Turkey Helpline to the baking and cranberry hotlines. There are a lot of them. The episode starts off a little different than most because well…our past week or so have been kinda off the wall. If yours has been that way, we have found a great excuse, er, explanation for all the extra craziness. Whether it was my dreams about cockroaches and early morning alarms or Natalia’s renegade squirrels stealing (and eating) her decorative pumpkins, I mean who knows what’s going on? And, where the Hell is all of the yeast and the canning jar lids? I don’t want to let the cat out of the bag since we’ll never get it back in but here are some hints. 1 - It has to do with astrology or maybe even astronomy. 2 - We have some additional challenges in our hotline calling experience. 3 - We are relentless! Here are some highlights and where you’ll find them in the show. 09:05 - The hotline call to be made 12:37 - The “call” begins 17:20 - What about King Arthur? 24:23 - Prank calls return I know you can’t wait so here comes Episode 2 and no, you won’t be expecting it. For the record, we have not received a call back from the supervisor at Fleischman’s Yeast. Don’t forget, you can find us all over the place now! We're on Amazon Music now so you really can tell Alexa, "Hey Alexa, play the podcast, Not A Single Fork!" and she will play the podcast. I tried it last night and it works! But wherever your favorite podcast listening place is, we’re probably there. Take us on the road anytime you like with Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play or with our player right here.And, as if we needed to do something else, we will be moving our podcast to its very own website podcast page. It’s coming very soon so stay tuned. You’ll still be able to find us in all of those other places, too.Thanks for listening. We love you!!
Merriam-Webster describes a hotline as: 1 : a direct telephone line in constant operational readiness so as to facilitate immediate communication2 : a usually toll-free telephone service available to the public for some specific purpose Have you ever called a hotline? Not necessarily for help with food or cooking but for help with anything? Well, if you haven’t, we’re here to fill in that gap for you. Season 5 is all about hotlines, specifically, the holiday food ones. And, we’re calling as many as we can during the podcast. Now there are, of course, lots of topics covered by hotlines because (especially now) people are not only learning how to bake bread and how to cook but many people are feeling lonely, isolated and in need of human connection, any kind of human connection. And, if that means someone on the other end of the phone line telling them how to proof their yeast (stay away from super hot water) or hang a picture on the wall, Hell, it’s time to take them up on that. Not only have you learned a new skill but it’s a super satisfying accomplishment. It’s not unlike the old adage that if you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day but if you teach him HOW to fish, you feed him for a lifetime. I kinda feel that way about cooking. Who knew that our cooking at home mission would become so important. We never stray far from that message even in our craziest episodes. We want you to cook more at home and enjoy it! Sometimes that means we did and continue to do ridiculous stuff to get you to try cooking something different (or not so different) in your kitchen for your family and friends. So, here we are with Season 5! We’ve been doing this podcast thing for over a year now. We’ve had over 3600 downloads and that’s not bad for not being celebrities. We’re not resting on our laurels, though. We had to come up with something fun for us, entertaining and useful for you so The Holiday Hotline Season was born. In this first episode, Natalia and I give you a rundown on many of the hotlines that can’t wait to hear from you. We’ll reprise our very first holiday hotline call to the Butterball Turkey Talkline and who knows, we might get to talk to Mary again. But we’re not stopping there, we will be calling a couple other turkey helplines along with baking and cranberries. And, we’re always open to suggestions. Have a favorite hotline you’d like us to call? Let us know and we’ll call them and give you credit, too! So, now let’s kick off our second holiday season with Who You Gonna Call?. Enjoy! If you have a minute, please take a look at our Patreon page and consider becoming a member. And, many thanks to Cathy Wiedenhoeft for becoming our newest patron! You’re the best!! You don’t have to sign up but it’s easy to check it out and see what we’re talking about. We’ve got a lot of fun offerings for members that you won’t get to see, experience or have anywhere else. Don’t forget, you can find us all over the place now! We're on Amazon Music now so you really can tell Alexa, "Hey Alexa, play the podcast, Not A Single Fork!" and she will play the podcast. I tried it last night and it works! But wherever your favorite podcast listening place is, we’re probably there. Take us on the road anytime you like with Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play or with our player right here. And, as if we needed to do something else, we will be moving our podcast to its very own website podcast page. It’s coming very soon so stay tuned. You’ll still be able to find us in all of those other places, too. Thanks for listening. We love you!!
All good things must come to an end so as we wind up Season 4 - Tell Me A Food Story, we spend some time remembering our favorite moments from all six interviews. Special thanks to everyone who was kind enough to spend time considering our questions, allowing us to interview them and then being a part of our little podcast. Interviewing people is always interesting and revealing, not only for the interviewee but for the interviewer(s) as well. Each episode was great and had its own personality just like the people interviewed. Some were more serious while others were way more lighthearted, and that’s an understatement in a couple of instances. To briefly recap… Our first interview with iconic Tulsa musician, Mark Gibson, ran to the introspective side because well, he is a thoughtful, artistic songwriter. He does love his Thai food but is very mindful of what he puts into his body for energy and being the best person he can be, and he is a great one! Next, we spoke with food writer, Judy Allen. You may remember that she worked with Martha Stewart and lived through 9-11 while in New York City. She worked the lines feeding people during that tragic time; surely something that you could never forget. She also had one of the most interesting guilty pleasures, Tang. If you didn’t hear it, you’ll definitely have to give it a listen! Roy Johnson was our next interview. Roy is a very good friend of mine from our early high school days. He probably had the wildest of all the food stories from his days in the New York City publishing world. It happened during a dinner party thrown by Forbes Magazine with some of the heavy hitter CEOs of that time. Be sure to give that episode a listen if you haven’t already. An accomplished journalist, you can read his articles here. My Stir Crazy Kitchen’s Daisi Owens always brings the mom’s viewpoint to us. With two little boys, she is on top of all the latest trends for parenting, good and bad, and then brings in her own style of keeping her family life, fun and “real”. Her picture completely captures the time she spent with her great grandmother, baking, sewing and generally, doing anything she wanted to do…I mean, what more would you expect from visiting a grandparent? In our interview with Shaylea Morgan, you were able to meet and learn more about our kids class chef instructor. She has two kids of her own and has done a great job with our kids program. She aspires to have her own food business someday and sees herself with a Latin-Asian fusion food truck and eventually, restaurant. Shaylea stalked us at the kitchen for some time before we started looking for a person to lead our kids program and boy! are we happy she was tracking us! Last but definitely not least was our interview with our favorite Somm, Joe Breaux. We have worked together for a long time and you can hear it in our interview as we wildly careen through every topic from Joe working as a server to his guilty pleasure of canned smoked oysters. If you haven’t heard this episode, you really need to take some time and give it a listen. But now, here is the complete wrap up of Season 4, please enjoy the final episode of Tell Me A Food Story.
In the lead in to the first episode, I wrote… Food has a powerful effect on people. Sometimes just because it tastes great or terrible, sometimes because there is some meaning that underlies an experience with a particular food. Food can make you happy or happier. It can disappoint you or lift you higher and out of your funk. It can bring back warm memories so that every time we have it (or cook it), those memories are recreated. And, just as easily, it can cause us pain and maybe even suffering, because of an event or person it is associated with. We may never want to eat, see, smell or even think of that food again. So with Tell Me A Food Story, we made every effort to take you on a food journey through the lives of eight different people from every walk of life and all of them h...
“I don’t want people to know much about me…” So, we got a couple of drinks in him and Joe Breaux told “all” in spite of being a private person. You might know Joe from the monthly wine tasting classes that he teaches at the kitchen. If not, and you’re in Tulsa, maybe from his time spent in any number of the fine dining restaurants where he took care of business in the wine department. And, if neither of those are the case, then prepare yourself for getting to know, Joe Breaux. He is a Houston transplant and as a young man got to know Tulsa through the food industry. From his first job at Tony Roma’s (remember that place?) to present day where he is taking a break from the food world. Although he admits that his identity lands squarely in restaurants and wine lists. He didn’t always know a lot about wine and vineyards and grape growing. In fact, he describes his upbringing as “sheltered” so the restaurant industry was at the very least “eye-opening” for Joe. In fact, he had no idea that food and wine really existed. Food was sustenance and nothing much more. A far cry from the classic pairings that he became fascinated with as he went in search of…Sauternes and foie gras, anyone? Even with his vast knowledge of wine, Joe is about the farthest thing from a wine snob as you can get. He laughs that he sounds pretentious with all of his interest in caviar and champagne but he can also get down with a Coors and canned seafood. As you listen to this episode, here are some highlights to look out for: 08:00 - The difference between serving at Tony Roma’s and a fine dining restaurant 13:26 - The naked farmer interlude 16:59 - The pop of caviar 18:20 - Joe’s guilty pleasure 26:35 - His food story 32:18 - The breakthrough 35:45 - Now, he has a two-year-old Please enjoy our interview with Joe Breaux.
We hope you enjoyed our final interview with Joe Breaux. There still are not enough words to describe how much fun we had. Our next episode is the last one for Season 4. We’ll pull together what each of us feels are the most memorable moments across the season’s interviews. We don’t know what the other has chosen so it will be a surprise for everyone! We’ll also share a couple of listener food stories, we think you’ll enjoy. The kitchen and our hands-on classes are back up and running. We are wearing masks and now Tulsa has a mask mandate as well as WalMart, Sam’s Club and Target. I mean, you wear a seat belt when you drive and a helmet when you ride your bicycle or motorcycle, what's the difference? Other than, when you wear a mask you protect other people. It's the kind thing to do; we hope you think so, too. Pretty sure, the vaccine won't be available for a long time.If you have a minute, please take a look at our Patreon page and consider becoming a member. Just click that little button below that says “Become a Patron”. You don’t have to sign up but it’s easy to check it out and see what we’re talking about. We’ve got a lot of fun offerings for members that you won’t get to see, experience or have anywhere else.Don’t forget, you can find us all over the place now! Wherever your favorite podcast listening place is, we’re probably there, even on Alexa! Take us on the road anytime you like with Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play or with our player right here. Thanks for listening. We love you!!
Food is forgiving…don’t overthink it. Shaylea Morgan wants everyone to give cooking a try because you can always fix it. This aspiring entrepreneur found us and then we found her! Shaylea teaches our kids classes and it is a match made in the kitchen. For years, we had requests for kids classes and, as you can imagine, those are not our strong suit. As luck would have it, we placed an ad looking for a kids teacher. Shaylea had actually been stalking us, applied for the job and the rest, as they say, is history. Like so many things in her life, Shaylea took the ball and ran with it. As a result, the kids program has taken off. Shaylea has always been fascinated with food. It is her creative outlet and it is where she feels most at home. Her first forays into the kitchen were bold but not entirely successful (she had a bit of a run-in with paella) but they led her to culinary school and she has made up for it ten-fold. Her parents were happy they supported her in her culinary journey especially after she prepared a fine dining experience for them. It more than made up for the busted paella! She is also creating foodies at home as her children (ages 8 and 10) are adventurous eaters. They are also her kindest critics. But before I tell her whole story, let’s get to the episode. Here are some highlights to listen for: 04:02 - She’s a stalker 05:08 - An interesting guilty pleasure 07:57 - Game night parties with food themes 09:11 - A paella food story 14:54 - Her goal and aspirations 16:29 - Food is not hard
We hope you enjoyed this interview with Shaylea Morgan. I think you can tell that we did as we giggled our way through the episode. If you have kids at home who are interested in cooking, have them give one of her classes a try. It’s a pretty sure bet they’ll be hooked and they might even cook for you! Our final guest this season is another person we work with. Our favorite Somm, Joe Breaux. There are not enough words to describe how much fun we had during this interview. It is one for the books! He’s got some great stories to tell so don’t miss it.And, what about you? Do you have a food story? We'd love to hear it. Share it in the comments below and more likely than not, you'll hear it in one of our episodes.And, in case you haven't heard, the kitchen and our hands-on classes are back up and running. We are wearing masks and now Tulsa has a mask mandate as well as WalMart, Sam’s Club and Target. I mean, you wear a seat belt and a helmet when you ride your bicycle or motorcycle, what's the difference? Other than, when you wear a mask you protect other people. It's the kind thing to do; we hope you think so, too. Pretty sure, the vaccine won't be available for a long time.If you have a minute, please take a look at our Patreon page and consider becoming a member. Just click that little button below that says “Become a Patron”. You don’t have to sign up but it’s easy to check it out and see what we’re talking about. We’ve got a lot of fun offerings for members that you won’t get to see, experience or have anywhere else.Don’t forget, you can find us all over the place now! Wherever your favorite podcast listening place is, we’re probably there, even on Alexa! We’re on Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play and, of course, here, but you can take us on the road anytime you like! Thanks for listening. We love you!!
KISS…keep it simple, stupid. If there’s any takeaway from this episode’s guest, it’s don’t complicate things (especially with two little boys in the mix!) Food blogger and kitchen enthusiast, Daisi Owens created My Stir Crazy Kitchen as an outlet for her love of food and cooking even when she has to rush through meal preparation and feeding her kids. It is actually her love of food and cooking that drives her to make those special memories as often as possible. Memories shared with her mother were mostly limited to fast (not necessarily fast food) meals. Daisi’s mom was a single mom and like many single moms, she was trying to make ends meet (working several jobs) and keep food on the table. Speed was often the deciding factor for meals and as Daisi looks back on it, she missed having those moments with her mom. Nowadays, Daisi’s mom has plenty of time to cook and enjoy family time something that Daisi takes full advantage of, “My mom is a great cook!” Growing up, Daisi also spent a lot of time with her grandmother (who we discovered along the way was really her great-grandmother). It was here that she thinks her love for food and cooking began. Her grandmother would let her do “anything”. She could bake cookies and bread, make clothes from fabric scraps and never have to clean up the mess. The perfect indulgent grandmother, right?! And, she made some very special chicken and noodles. We won’t divulge the secret, we’ll let Daisi do that. Here are some other highlights from this episode: 05:59 - Burger Street is the best 06:52 - Her childhood food world 09:26 - Daisi’s Food Story 11:57 - The famous chicken and noodles 14:54 - What’s ahead on her blog Please enjoy our interview with Daisi Owens.
We hope you enjoyed this interview with Daisi Owens. we definitely did! Follow her on Instagram @mystircrazykitchen and see her beautiful food pictures, her kids and even some videos. Click through here to find her on Facebook. And, check out her super fun website! Keep an eye out for Daisi…she’s a frequent contributor to Tulsa Kids and watch her cook up some fun on the News on 6. Our next guest is someone who works with us and we're so happy to have her with us! Shaylea Morgan teaches our kids classes and let me tell you, she is a fan favorite! Our kids classes have really taken off since she's come aboard. She admits she stalked us for about a year before we started hiring for the kids position. Now that's dedication! We had so much fun talking with Shaylea.And, what about you? Do you have a food story? We'd love to hear it. Share it in the comments below and more likely than not, you'll hear it in one of our episodes.And, in case you haven't heard, the kitchen and our hands-on classes are back up and running. We are wearing masks and now Tulsa has a mask mandate as well as WalMart, Sam’s Club and Target. I mean, you wear a seat belt and a helmet when you ride your bicycle or motorcycle, what's the difference? Other than, when you wear a mask you protect other people. It's the kind thing to do; we hope you think so, too. Pretty sure, the vaccine won't be available for a long time.If you have a minute, please take a look at our Patreon page and consider becoming a member. Just click that little button below that says “Become a Patron”. You don’t have to sign up but it’s easy to check it out and see what we’re talking about. We’ve got a lot of fun offerings for members that you won’t get to see, experience or have anywhere else.Don’t forget, you can find us all over the place now! Wherever your favorite podcast listening place is, we’re probably there, even on Alexa! We’re on Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play and, of course, here, but you can take us on the road anytime you like!
Food is friendship. Interestingly enough, our next interviewee has been the only person to share this sentiment with us. It is a sentiment that we echo wholeheartedly and in fact, could go so far as to call it our “mantra”. In food we find a common place and Lord knows, we need a common place right now. Roy Johnson is a storyteller who fashions words into vivid, “as if you were there” experiences. Experiences that neither you nor I will likely ever be a part of. An accomplished journalist whose credits include Sports Illustrated, the New York Times, Men’s Fitness and any number of TV appearances, most recently as part of the docu-series, The Last Dance that chronicled the rise of Michael Jordan, Roy has defied tradition. After 30+ years in New York, Roy now lives and writes in Birmingham, Alabama. Our interview, as a consequence, was done via computer with us in the kitchen studio and Roy in his home kitchen (one of his favorite spots). He loves to cook and views it as another creative outlet for himself and likes to see that in others. When in a restaurant, he is comfortable asking the chef to simply create something for him. He has also ended up with things on his plate that he wasn’t quite sure that he ordered. Roy Johnson has been my friend for 50 years. Yes, I said it, 50, count ‘em years. Until I did the math, it certainly didn’t seem like it could possibly be that long but there it is. Roy and I went to school together. It was the end of the 60’s when we met and he was and still is one of the bravest people I know. An African-American in Tulsa, Oklahoma, he chose to attend a basically all-white school albeit a fairly progressive one (but not as progressive as I thought). At that time, Holland Hall was known as the “pink” school in the hills as in “pink-o” and if you’re too young to know that reference…its meaning today is: a person who holds advanced liberal or moderately radical political or economic views; back in the 60’s and early 70’s, it simply meant, communistic. I think if my mother had known that (maybe she did but I doubt it), she would have yanked me out of there so fast it would make your head explode. I include this as a way of saying, yes, at school, we tried our best to be progressive with open hearts, minds and opportunities but we were still immersed in the white privilege that exists today. So I’m quite certain only those very close to Roy understood the challenges he faced at that time. I know I didn’t understand and he was my friend. But he never allowed the long hours and the hidden and not so hidden prejudice and racism to get in his way or hold him back. As soon as he graduated, he headed to Stanford University and never looked back. Roy took the road less traveled by, and yes, that has made all the difference. Here are some of the highlights from our interview not to be missed: 07:05 - Grilling with the best of them 10:24 - I was a fat, little kid 12:12 - It was not easy to be the editor of Men’s Fitness magazine 14:06 - His guilty pleasure 17:20 - The long drive 21:15 - Tell Me A Food Story (and it’s an extraordinary one) 27:35 - Is there anything you won’t eat? Please enjoy our interview with Roy S Johnson.
Follow Roy on Facebook by clicking right here and who knows, maybe he'll make your head explode!? And, you can read many of his recent articles here. I can promise you’ll be reading some of the best writing around. We hope you enjoyed this interview with Roy S Johnson. we definitely did!Our next guest is food blogger, Daisi Owens. She describes her blog, My Stir Crazy Kitchen as a place to find real recipes for real families (and you know how we feel about keeping things real!). She goes on to write, “I’m…an accounting nerd by day and a kitchen wizard by night. I like tailgating in the fall, a tall glass of wine (or two), and cooking for my friends -- now that includes you!” Daisi appeared on our podcast last year during the holidays and talked about Thanksgiving...
“I just want people to cook…” We couldn’t agree more with our next guest - food writer, recipe developer, food stylist and food magazine junkie, Judy Allen. We spoke with Judy on a very stormy day in July where we lost the Internet right before her interview (we were social distancing via computer), Siri interrupted and Judy’s phone rang twice. She declared at one point, “This is the one thing I had to do today!”. Well, Judy, we are certainly glad we worked through the technology and you were able to make time for us because it was a terrific interview. Listeners, you are in for a treat! Not just the funny things that happened but Judy has a wonderful story to tell and stands as a a model of following your dream and making it happen. Judy Lockhart Allen is originally from Oklahoma and quickly developed a love for the beauty of food that led her to a culinary school in NYC, a magazine internship and then employment with Martha Stewart Living. Her family, particularly her father, strongly influenced her career path (Her dad even went to culinary school after retiring from a successful career as a surgeon.) and food was always an important and creative outlet for her. In particular, she loved the magical pictures in the food magazines and knew that was what she wanted to do. Although, she did a stint in a restaurant, cooking was never her aim. She was shooting for food writing and styling and set her sights on a culinary school that could provide her with that background. No better place to do that than New York City. She worked at Martha Stewart Living where she was Senior Food Editor and also freelanced as a recipe developer for Cooking Light and Real Simple. Three magazines with very different editorial approaches to food. She said at Martha Stewart, it was nothing to use 20 ingredients or more in a recipe. And, Martha, as you can imagine, is everything you imagine her to be, she is a “perfectionist”. They had the “best” of everything to work with. That stands in stark contrast to how we view food today especially in the midst of the pandemic. Judy lived through 9-11 while in NYC and likens that experience to what we’re going through now. After returning to Tulsa, Judy worked as the Food Editor for Tulsa People for several years, as the Creative Director for Edible Tulsa and is now freelancing for the Tulsa World. And, she is ALWAYS working on a cookbook. It might also interest you to know that she does not like to critique restaurants. As she says, “I’m here to support the restaurant industry in Tulsa.” Something that is more important than ever right now. Before I end up recounting the entire story, let me hit you with some highlights to listen for during the interview and you can hear for yourself. 05:47 - The Martha Stewart story begins 10:00 - What Judy is up to these days 14:40 - Listen for an unexpected guilty food pleasure and her family’s love of cereal 20:20 - Judy’s Food Story 23:35 - What food means to her now and her bread-baking Dad
Judy definitely hit the mark in her career and continues to follow her path as a food writer freelancing at The Tulsa World. Be sure to look for her byline. Click here to read her latest story on how to pick and cook the perfect peach. Follow Judy on Instagram at @tenthousandsnacks to see even more beautiful food pictures. We hope you enjoyed this interview with Judy Allen. I can assure you we did! Our next guest is Roy S. Johnson, my longtime friend from high school. Roy is currently the Director of Content Development and a Columnist with Alabama Media Group. He has worked at Sports Illustrated and was Editor-in-Chief of Men’s Fitness magazine. He was most recently one of the featured guests on the Netflix docu-series, The Last Dance that chronicled the rise to fame of Michael Jordan. A great storyteller (not surprisingly), Roy’s food story ranks as one of the most unique we heard so you don’t want to miss it. And, what about you?
We knew this would be a special interview. Mark Gibson is a musical celebrity around here and the quiet waters run deep with Mark. Super thoughtful and a consummate story teller, we couldn’t have chosen a better guest to kick off our fourth season of food stories. Meeting in the studio kitchen (I did my best to adjust the sound quality but it’s still in the kitchen), the topics ranged from wrestling to his music beginnings to his love for Thai curries. Mark, like many singers and songwriters, is a complex person but also a refreshingly, kind and gentle soul. He was born and raised Broken Arrow, Oklahoma and went to college on a wrestling scholarship not discovering his true love for music until he was an older teen. He stopped wrestling to pursue his music and has never looked back. Mark shared how he developed his love for Thai food as well as growing up as one of three boys (all wrestlers) and competitively vying for food at dinnertime or actually, anytime because they ate A LOT! He has a special affinity for sweets, especially, donuts. And, although we didn’t get it worked into the interview, he makes a mean chili. The pandemic has seriously impacted his ability to perform live and so he has been producing weekly Facebook Live concerts from his living room. You can still catch them, “like” his page, Mark Gibson Music and you’ll get the latest Of course, you’ll want to check out his website, MarkGibsonMusic.com. His most recent album “Live From Soul City” is available on iTunes along with two other albums and singles. You can also listen to selections but you’ll want to hear (and then buy) them all…Support our starving artists! So, as we introduced him in this episode, without further ado…here’s Mark Gibson.
Our next guest, Judy Allen is a Food Writer, Recipe Developer, Food Stylist and Food Magazine Junkie. She is been the Food Editor for any number of publications, including one you’ve probably heard of, Martha Stewart Living and yes, we got her to tell a few “Martha” stories. Don’t miss it. And, what about you? Do you have a food story? We'd love to hear it. Share it in the comments below and more likely than not, you'll hear it in one of our episodes.And, in case you haven't heard, the kitchen and our hands-on classes are back up and running. We are wearing masks and now Tulsa has a mask mandate as well as WalMart, Sam’s Club and Target. I mean, you wear a seat belt and a helmet when you ride your bicycle or motorcycle, what's the difference? Other than, when you wear a mask you protect other people. It's the kind thing to do; we hope you think so, too. Pretty sure, the vaccine won't be available for a long time.If you have a minute, please take a look at our Patreon page and consider becoming a member. Just click that little button below that says “Become a Patron”. It’s as easy as that to check it out and see what we’re talking about. We’ve got a lot of fun offerings for members that you won’t get to see, experience or have anywhere else.And, don’t forget, you can find us all over the place now! Wherever your favorite podcast listening place is, we’re probably there, even on Alexa! We’re on Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play and, of course, here, but you can take us on the road anytime you like!We love and appreciate you guys. Keep listening, hang in there...we're going to get through this thing!
It was bound to happen. I mean, I am a psychologist after all. Food has a powerful effect on people. Sometimes just because it tastes great or terrible, sometimes because there is some meaning that underlies an experience with a particular food. Food can make you happy or happier. It can disappoint you or lift you higher and out of your funk. It can bring back warm memories so that every time we have it (or cook it), those memories are recreated. And, just as easily, it can cause us pain and suffering because of an event or person it is associated with. We may never want to eat, see, smell or even think of that food again. I am fascinated with the effect that food can have on us. So, why not, a whole podcast season of exploring people’s relationship, good or bad, with food. What does it mean to you? What’s your favorite? What’s your guilty pleasure? What’s the worst? So…Tell Me A Food Story is going to take you on a food ride through the lives of eight different people from every walk of life. Some are in the food business, some just love food but all of them have a story to tell. Here are the victims, er, kind folks who volunteered their time to talk to us. This is alphabetical order, we haven’t decided whose episode is whose so you’ll have to listen to ALL of them! That’s part of our evil plan to get you to listen to us!! Bwahahah…. Judy Lockhart Allen - Food Writer, Recipe Developer, Food Stylist and Food Magazine Junkie who survived and lived to tell the tale of working for Martha Stewart Joe Breaux - Our Favorite Sommelier, Joe leads our wine tasting classes at the kitchen and is the least stuffy of any wine person we know Mark Gibson - Musician, Singer and Songwriter and he just happened to write our podcast theme music Roy S Johnson - Director, Content Development and Columnist at Alabama Media Group and one of my very good friends from high school, Roy has had and continues to have an impressive writing career Shaylea Morgan - Our Favorite Kids Chef Instructor, Shaylea is helping us build our kids cooking program Daisi Owens - Food Blogger and mother of two little boys at My Stir Crazy Kitchen and the first person who we interviewed for Season 2 of the podcast But in our first episode, Natalia and I tell all…SURPRISE! You’ll hear some funny and not so funny stories from experiences we’ve had and about our families’ very different food histories and approaches to food. No secrets, here, as usual. So, hope you’re ready for Season 4…here it comes.
What's your food story? We'd love to hear it. Share it in the comments below and more likely than not, you'll hear it in one of our episodes. And, in case you haven't heard, we have reopened our kitchen and our hands-on classes. We are wearing masks and guessing that soon it will be mandated beyond food workers. I mean, you wear a seat belt, a helmet when you ride your bicycle or motorcycle, what's the difference? Other than, it also protects other people. It's the kind thing to do, so we hope you think so, too. Pretty sure, the vaccine won't be available for a long time. If you have a minute, please take a look at our Patreon page and consider becoming a member. Just click that little button below that says “Become a Patron”. It’s as easy as that to check it out and see what we’re talking about. We’ve got a lot of fun offerings for members that you won’t get to see, experience or have anywhere else. And, don’t forget, you can find us all over the place now! Wherever your favorite podcast listening place is, we’re probably there, even on Alexa! We’re on Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play and, of course, here, but you can take us on the road anytime you like! We love and appreciate you guys. Keep listening, hang in there...we're going to get through this thing!
Season 3 started off with great expectations of taking you through our favorite markets and introducing you to even more crazy stuff BUT life happens. We had to come up with a way to help you with your cooking at home needs in a different way. So, we toured our in-home pantries, we found articles to share and finally, answered every question we could find (that wasn’t answered completely) from our live cook-alongs. Yes, we pivoted right along with everyone else. The podcast and the online cooking “classes” really kept us going and they both gained in audience and popularity so we thought cleaning up those lingering questions would be helpful. It also gives us a good excuse to share more of our pearls with you. We tackled beer added to risotto, the “cooked” temperature for chicken, where you can find ouzo (and what is ouzo), 3-stage breading and the difference between milanese and schnitzel. We even heard about the fire department showing up at one of our participant’s homes, told you about how Natalia and I met and when I made risotto for the first time. Keep asking! We love questions! There is so much misinformation out there!! And, we LOVE to share our numerous opinions about that but you already knew that, amiright? Once more and for the final time this season, here comes Episode 8, The Final Pivot. Listen and enjoy and send us some more questions…
We’re not quite sure what the future holds. If you do, please enlighten us. But we have reopened our kitchen and our hands-on classes, we are wearing masks and there will be a Season 4. We do know that we have been doing this podcast thing for a year and we’ll be celebrating that accomplishment. Without your help and listening, we wouldn’t still be doing it. If you have a minute, please take a look at our Patreon page and consider becoming a member. Just click that little button below that says “Become a Patron”. It’s as easy as that to check it out and see what we’re talking about.We’ve got a lot of fun offerings for members that you won’t get to see or experience or have anywhere else.And, don’t forget, you can find us all over the place now! Wherever your favorite place is to listen to podcasts, we’re probably there, even on Alexa! We’re on Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play and of course, here, but you can take us on the road anytime you like!We love you guys. Keep listening, hang in there and we'll see you for Season 4!
Our intention this season was to go to market but the Universe had different plans for us. Like so many people, we pivoted (that’s the new word now, you know), took our lemons and turned them into lemonade. We pivoted in a few ways: one was to turn the podcast marketing adventure into a pantry and home-bound one, another was to expand our catering business to shore up the gap caused by shutting down our classes and then finally, we took to Facebook and created some online cook alongs so, hopefully, you wouldn’t forget about the cooking and teaching part of our world. When we are physically in a class, we get lots of questions. It is no different when we’re online. The difference is we don’t always have the chance to fully develop an answer to questions that come up in the Facebook Live videos. So, in this episode, you will get a lot of answers for some of the questions that didn’t seem to get a fair shake. Now, this isn’t every question but we definitely hit many high points. If you had a question, get ready for some answers because here comes Episode 7!
Episode 8 will wrap up our third podcast season. I think it will be a wild one! If you have a minute, please take a look at our Patreon page and consider becoming a member. And, now, we have another Patreon member, Tiffany Zachary! Thanks for joining us, Tiffany!! We’ve got a lot of fun offerings that you won’t get to see or experience or have anywhere else. And, don’t forget, you can find us all over the place now! Wherever your favorite place is to listen to podcasts, we’re probably there, even on Alexa! We’re on Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play and of course, here, but you can take us on the road anytime you like! We love you guys. Keep listening and hang in there!
Reopening is fresh on everybody’s minds from chomping at the bit to ummm, I think it’s too early, let’s wait and see. We’re falling more in the latter camp. We, of course, want to reopen (I know everyone does) but we’re trying to be prudent and professional about it. So, the city Natalia and I live in is Tulsa. It started phasing in reopening of the city, May 1st, but Broken Arrow down the expressway about 15 minutes is where we have our business…and, well, let’s just say that in our opinion, they kinda jumped the gun. So, our official start is about 3 weeks after a lot of businesses in BA opened back up. Hoping for the best for all of the early birds but reserving judgment. Actually, we’re pretty judge-y as you probably already know if you’ve listened to us and/or our podcast at all. So, we took this episodic opportunity to update you on a lot of things. We have our first Patreon member, Brenda Christ! Thank you for supporting us through thick and thin. You can often see her comments at the end of our posts. You can also see “Be a Patron” down there, too. It’s a pretty fun page so click below and at least check it out. Maybe Brenda will offer her thoughts about it, too? We also talk about reopening and what it means not just for us but for the food industry, in general, and what you can expect to find when you come back to our studio and restaurants, specifically. It’s the new normal and it will probably be that way for a long time to come. To keep ourselves entertained because F-U-N is what we love, we have had LIVE online cook-alongs on our Facebook page. Click here if you’d like to take a look at some of the video. We will be continuing our online cooks even after we get back into the kitchen because we have such a blast doing them…they will become an addition to our Friday Night Date Nights. But I’m not going to let the entire cat out of the bag. Listen to our next episode. Here comes A Brave New World, keepin’ it real, as always. Life will never be the same after this but we’re discovering how resilient and resourceful we can all be. If you have a minute, please take a look at our Patreon page and consider becoming a member. Just ask Brenda Christ, our very first patron and we’re very proud! We’ve got a lot of fun offerings on there that you won’t get to see or experience or have anywhere else. And, don’t forget, you can find us all over the place now! Wherever your favorite place is to listen to podcasts, we’re probably there, even on Alexa! We’re on Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play and of course, here, but you can take us on the road anytime you like! We love you guys. Keep listening and hang in there!
Stay in as much as you can. Trips out only to restock the toilet paper and the liquor cabinet. We hope you are staying safe and healthy in these trying times. Change is hard but it’s the only constant if you stop and think about it. Life will never be the same after this but we’re discovering how resilient and resourceful we can all be. We love you guys. Keep listening and hang in there! And, if you’re worried about eating “right”, you won’t want to miss Episode 5. If you have a minute, please take a look at our Patreon page and consider becoming a member. We’ve got a lot of fun offerings on there that you won’t get to see or experience or have anywhere else.
We hope you are staying safe and healthy in these trying times. Change is hard but it’s the only constant if you stop and think about it. Life will never be the same after this but we’re discovering how resilient and resourceful we can all be. If you have a minute, please take a look at our Patreon page and consider becoming a member. We’ve got a lot of fun offerings on there that you won’t get to see or experience or have anywhere else. And, don’t forget, you can find us all over the place now! Wherever your favorite place is to listen to podcasts, we’re probably there, even on Alexa! We’re on Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play and of course, here, but you can take us on the road anytime you like! We love you guys. Keep listening and hang in there! And, if you’re worried about eating “right”, you won’t want to miss Episode 6.
Still in the house; still foraging.. In this episode, Natalia brings interesting items from her pantry over to mine for another game of What’s In Your Pantry?! Can’t begin to tell you how much I love game show music. I guess I am just a frustrated game show host! Music aside, we had a great time figuring out what to do with all of the crazy stuff that Natalia has in her pantry. These days you need to be a little more creative than usual. Not just because you can’t run to the store at the drop of a hat but because it’s really more fun to be a bit adventurous with what’s on hand. If you’re extra brave, you could get your kids involved with “I wonder what we could do with this stuff?”. Their minds run much farther afield than ours so you might learn something, who knows? We even brought Alexa into the mix for this show. Seriously though, don’t be intimidated by unusual items that could be outside your comfort zone. Hello!, isn’t everything outside our comfort zones right now? So, sit back, relax and enjoy Episode 4!
Stay in as much as you can. Trips out only to restock the toilet paper and the liquor cabinet. We hope you are staying safe and healthy in these trying times. Change is hard but it’s the only constant if you stop and think about it. Life will never be the same after this but we’re discovering how resilient and resourceful we can all be. We love you guys. Keep listening and hang in there! And, if you’re worried about eating “right”, you won’t want to miss Episode 5. If you have a minute, please take a look at our Patreon page and consider becoming a member. We’ve got a lot of fun offerings on there that you won’t get to see or experience or have anywhere else.
Desperate times call for desperate measures and while we’re really not desperate (at least not yet), we certainly have to be a lot more creative. So, if we can’t go to any of the grocery stores just for fun, we can hang out in my kitchen and forage through my pantry. (The picture included with this post is one of my pantry so you do have a visual.) And, Natalia had a great time rummaging through all the foodstuffs she found. True enough, I probably have things in my pantry that most people don’t. We could still get crazy with some of the odd and possibly even bizarre items that she dug out, Like most people, I have flour and rice and some canned goods, as well as things I totally forgot about and don’t really know what they are. We did not do an exhaustive search but we went through any number of items and included ideas about what you can do with them. We recorded this episode from my kitchen (truly just outside my pantry doors) so the sound is definitely “live” and is different from the other episodes so we hope you enjoy the difference. We had a great time doing it and I think you’ll be able to tell that, too. Of course, we kinda always have a great time! Here comes Season 3, Episode 3, complete with sound effects as we play…”What’s In Your Pantry?”
We hope you are staying safe and healthy in these trying times. Change is hard but it’s the only constant if you stop and think about it. Life will never be the same after this but we’re discovering how resilient and resourceful we can all be. We love you guys. Keep listening and hang in there! We’ll be back with a peek inside Natalia’s pantry next time…hope it’s not TOO scary!! And, if you have a minute take a look at our Patreon page and consider becoming a member. We’ve got a lot of fun offerings on there that you won’t get to see or experience or have anywhere else.
With the best of intentions, we began our third season. Our plans included visiting many food markets, groceries, wine stores and more but COVID-19 had different plans. So, like most of you listening, we are staying home and making the best of it. I, for one, am getting lots of things done that I simply don’t have time for under normal conditions. Natalia is doing the same. For the record, we have a catering arm to our business so we now have the opportunity to develop it beyond the occasional order. We are full-fledged caterers with curbside takeout and delivery! But back to the business of podcasting… Since we are stuck inside, planning is always at the top of my mind (you know how I love lists). So get prepared, I know we are, as we lead you through the maze of grocery store psychology and then how to deal with and notice it as you do your occasional shopping these days. The stockers don’t just throw the items on the shelves wherever they like or wherever they will fit. Oh no! You have to consider not only what shelf it goes on but possibly that a manufacturer paid to have its product placed squarely in the “bullseye” so you don’t miss it. Also, don’t disregard those end caps in the stores, they have a big purpose as well. And, of course, we all know what that purpose is, right? It’s to get you to buy stuff. Stuff that you need and then stuff that you don’t need but gosh, it looks so enticing…I need one, or five. So come with us as we tell you all about Supermarket Psychology and what you can do about it.
Now, you are supremely prepared to face the grocery store today and when things get back to “normal” because even though it may be the “new normal”, it will be back. So, enjoy! Listen, subscribe (on Apple Podcasts, please…that would be great!), download, and review us. All those things! Comment below, too, we love to read your comments and as you know, we take them to heart! We love to hear from you!!And more fun surprises…our Patreon page is LIVE! Click the button below, check it out and please become a member. It really helps keep this podcast running! You’ll get lots of extra personal goodies, too!!! We’re still waiting on our first patron…will it be you?!
Annnnd, we’re BACK! It seems like forevah since last we connected but we’ve created some great content for you and we hope you enjoy it. I like to think that it was worth the wait. We wanted to do some new things to keep you (and us) interested in making cooking and food, fun and stress-free so here’s what we’re doing this season. We’re cracking the food shopping code (as they say). More interviews! On-The-Road episodes! And, of course, lots of new suggestions and ideas for how to make all things cooking more fun! We’re hitting the road so that you can actually hear how we tackle a market. All kinds of markets! We’ll get you up close and personal with everything from International to Fish to Farmers and how to best shop for what you need. The food services, like Hello Fresh and Blue Apron, are great and convenient. We believe part of the reason for this (and Natalia raises her hand on this one) is that you don’t have to shop for ingredients or even think about them. They all appear on your doorstep. How much easier can you get? But sometimes, you have to venture out so we’re here for you to make it more pleasant and yes, dare I say, fjun. So snuggle up to your favorite listening device and check out the introduction to what is going to be a super fun season of food and where to find it! Coming atcha right here and now…
We’re very excited to bring you lots of new content, introduce you to some new people and keep this whole cooking and food world fun and stress-free. So, enjoy! Listen, subscribe (on Apple Podcasts, please…that would be great!), download, and review us. All those things! Comment below, too, we love to read your comments and as you know, we take them to heart! We love to hear from you!! And more fun surprises…our Patreon page is LIVE! Click the button below, check it out and please become a member. It really helps keep this podcast running! You’ll get lots of extra personal goodies, too!!!
This should give you an idea of how this episode is going to go…
It is the last episode of Season 2 and yes, you guessed it, we hate Valentine’s Day. Not for the reason you think, neither Natalia nor I is single, screaming Adele songs at my cat. I mean, you have been introduced to my cat and she does plenty of screaming on her own so no extra screaming needed. No, we hate Valentines for different reasons. And, you’re going to hear all of them! We are in the food industry and for years we had to endure Valentine’s dinners at the restaurant. Although, those nights are cash cows, it’s never really worth the stress. V-Day diners are typically the ones who never go out and are only out now because it’s “expected”. Honestly, we’re trying to give you all the leftover food that we haven’t been able to sell and the same goes for the alcohol. Mediocre at best and we are going to charge you A LOT for it. Actually, we’re mainly charging you for the pain we have to go through to deal with all the people who have no clue how to behave when they’re out in public. Does that set the stage for you? We are definitely ending on a crazy note with this episode. We cover everything from sexy food, aphrodisiacs (not the same as sexy food) and weird bedroom games. In the end, we would just like you to treat every day like it’s Valentine’s Day. Do you really need a special day to let your person know you love him/her? We sure hope not! Buckle up buttercup, here comes the final episode. Happy Valentine’s Day!? So, that’s it guys. Thanks for hanging in with us for Season 2. We all made it together and hopefully, mostly stress-free. If we gave you a few laughs along the way, good! That was our plan. Don’t take yourselves too seriously and have fun. Life is short so we’re okay with you eating dessert first. We’re going to take a break for a few weeks but we’ll check back in here and there so be sure to follow us on Instagram (@notasinglefork) and Twitter (@notasinglefork1) and we’ll keep you updated on what we’re up to. Also, check out our Facebook Lives from the kitchen! We’ve got lots of classes coming up so you won’t want to miss that craziness. In the meantime, you can catch up on Season 1 and 2, our episodes are evergreen so you can listen and listen again. Please subscribe, download, and review us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher and Google Play. And, we love to hear from you, so comment below…all those things! They mean so much to us but not as much as you! Thanks for listening! We’ll be back soon with Season 3 and trips to the farmer’s markets plus interviews! WE LOVE YOU!
Betcha thought you’d been seeing hats and horns and champagne glasses clinking, right? Nope, we get right down to the food, surprise!
It’s not easy to write the opening for a new year. So much has already been said at this point so let’s just barrel through and get this party started…Happy 2020! Did you have a fun-filled and boisterous ball drop or do you prefer the solitude of quietly bringing in the New Year with a champagne toast followed quickly by bedtime? We’ve been there and done that (got the tee-shirt multiple times) whole “let’s have a rip-roaring NYE party” thing. It’s highly overrated but when I was a kid and couldn’t participate, I thought it was the coolest! After years in the food industry, we know it’s just another Amateur Night where the food is mediocre and super expensive, the entertainment is usually similar (I mean, how many times can you listen to IJ Ganem and his band?) and the party is the same party you’ve attended for the past 5 to 10 years. We opt for the quiet version with friends and doing our own “thang”. It’s way safer to stay in and be with the people who really mean the most to you, right? We stop just short of singing Auld Lang Syne (you know how Natalia loves her sound effects and music!) but we do let you in on the exciting lives of podcasters. Of course, we tell you all about it in this episode. I failed to mention on my part that although my boyfriend and I do not partake in this activity, his brother and family put round items in their pockets and jump up and down outside for their midnight festivities. Not quite sure where that good luck comes from…I’ll have to ask. What we do share with you, in addition to our shenanigans, is New Year’s good luck food traditions. Mine are deeply rooted in the South even though Oklahoma is more of a Plains State. We sure behave like we’re there so maybe I should refer to our traditions as more country food, actually, soul food. You must have black-eyed peas, collards, and corn bread on New Year’s Day for good luck. We go into what all that means and how we were first introduced to those foods (special thanks to Steven Howard for helping Natalia out) so no spoilers here, you’ll have to listen. Also included are our take on New Year’s resolutions, yes, we have an opinion or five and healthier eating in the New Year. In general, don’t lose your mind and go overboard. Keep it simple! So here’s what you’ve all been waiting for…drumroll, please, Season 2, Episode 9 and Happy New Year!
2019 marked our 10-year anniversary of teaching! And, we’re looking forward to another 10 years of something (together, of course) so you’ll have to stay tuned for that! In this episode’s Tips and Tricks, you’ll get the ends and outs of grilling vegetables. Now, don’t yawn! Vegetables are underrated but can add so much life to your meals. Grill them and don’t overcook them and they will serve the new healthy-ish you in an easy lifestyle change. As always, thanks for listening! Please subscribe, download, review, comment…all those things! They mean so much to us but not as much as you! We start winding down this season in our next episode so you don’t want to miss it!
We’re running a little behind getting the podcast episode finished up but it is Christmas Eve!
This is an especially fun episode for us because both of my daughters are in the house and join in to share their favorite holiday foods, traditions, and memories. We’re an unusually raucous bunch but we hope you have as much fun hearing about warm toasted nuts with KC Lupp on FOX23’s Great Day Green Country (RIP that super fun show), figuring out whose talking, me or my older daughter, and all the suggestions for what to do at this very late date. So pour yourself an egg nog (spiked, please!), finish your Christmas wrapping and cozy up to our final episode of 2019.
Thanks again to our faithful followers, Brenda and Tiffany, who are always quick to share their comments and, in this case, Christmas traditions. We’d love to hear from more of you so bring it on!! As always, thanks for listening! Please subscribe, download, review, comment…all those things! They mean so much to us but not as much as you! HAVE A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS! SEE YOU IN 2020.
It’s all about how you like to celebrate. It’s nearly “go time” so we thought instead of regaling you with more checklists and countdowns, we would share personal traditions and how we like to spend the holiday…having fun and making memories. In this episode, we find the origin of the Christmas tree tradition (and burning of the house), the foods people eat all over the world during the holiday season with lots of other crazy stuff thrown in and we take a brief visit through Hanukkah as well as Natalia’s Serbian Christmas (actually, her visit isn’t so brief). You’ll hear about what made our holidays special in the past and give you some ideas of what you could do in the present. We’d also like to hear what your favorite holidays traditions are because there are lots of things to do besides gift giving. So, we’re going to get right to it with Traditions, Traditions, Season 2, Episode 7.
Hope you like this episode including the Rants and Raves. It’s okay if you like matching holiday PJs. As always, thanks for listening! Please subscribe, download, review, comment…all those things! They mean so much to us but not as much as you! There’s one more episode before Christmas so stay tuned and you’ll meet another member of the family!
Here we are! Barrelling toward the end of the year. Still trying to keep you amused and not stressed out as the rest of the holiday season sneaks up on you. We’re all into pre-planning, you know, so this episode is full of ways to prepare for anything that could happen. At least, that’s our plan. So along with sharing what we did for Thanksgiving, there’s a little taste of shopping, parties, and decorating. Don’t miss how long Natalia keeps her Christmas tree…and, give Episode 6, “Jingle All The Way”, a listen as we guide you through another stress-free episode.
If you’ve got some ideas about how to make this holiday season easier than ever and full of fun, leave us a comment. We love to hear from you. As always, thanks for listening! Please subscribe, download, review, comment…all those things! They mean so much to us but not as much as you!
Light, fluffy and goes down easy…this episode is personal and just FUN! We spent such a long time fussing over checklists and countdowns and “to dos” that we completely overlooked talking about our personal Thanksgivings and favorites.. Ready or not, here they come! We’ve sprinkled some valuable information in here and there but mostly this is what we have been told you like best…the personal stuff. So, since it’s airy and not too serious…let’s get this party started.
One thing I believe I promised in the midst of all the frivolity, was my recipe for Turkey Tetrazzini. Here it is! ENJOY! Turkey TetrazziniMakes one 9 x 13 casserole3 tbsp unsalted butter1 medium onion, finely chopped2 medium carrots, finely chopped2 celery stalks, finely chopped½ red bell pepper, finely chopped3 garlic cloves, minced4 cups cooked turkey, chopped or shredded1 quart heavy cream2 tsp dried thyme½ lb pasta, cooked until just al dente½ cup grated Gruyere cheese½ cup Panko bread crumbsKosher saltGround black pepperPreheat oven to 350°.In a large sauté pan, melt butter over medium heat. Add onion, carrots and celery. Cook until softened about 10 minutes. Add red pepper and cook another 5 minutes. Add minced garlic and cook about one minute until very fragrant. Add cooked turkey and warm through about 5 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.Pour heavy cream into a large saucepan with thyme and allow to boil on medium heat until cream is reduced by about half and is thickened. Stir in cooked pasta, reduce heat to low and allow to simmer until pasta has released starch and further thickened the sauce.Pour pasta mixture into the sauté pan with the vegetables and turkey and stir to combine. Taste for seasoning and adjust with salt and pepper.Butter (or use cooking spray) a 9 x 13 casserole dish. Pour turkey and pasta mixture into the casserole and smooth the top. Cover the top with cheese followed by bread crumbs. Bake for 30 minutes or until the casserole is golden brown and bubbly. And, one more thing, just in case you missed it: Prepdecks are SELLING OUT FAST! If you’re thinking about one, THINK FAST! We are told they will be sold out before Christmas (there are less than 100 left as of this writing) so if you were planning on it as a gift, HURRY! Otherwise, you’ll have to wait until after January 2020 to get one. Here is a link to their site that only our peeps get. It gives you a 10% discount on the already super reasonable price and we get a little love as well. PREPDECK As always, thanks for listening! Please subscribe, download, review, comment…all those things! They mean so much to us but not as much as you! HAVE A WONDERFUL THANKSGIVING! Love, Candace and Natalia
I’m pretty sure there’s very little left to say after taking in that amazing meme. Thank you ME.ME for creating that image! It makes me super happy! I hope you’re enjoying it as much as I am. So, have you tried calling the Butterball Turkey Hotline? If you haven’t and you need some turkey advice, you really need to. Actually, even if you don’t need turkey advice, you should at least check out their website (it is very fun). We did call the hotline (during the podcast) because Natalia didn’t believe it existed and we talked to a very friendly gal, Mary. She was great and very patient with us. So, thanks, Mary, we hope we drum up some more business for you and Butterball although I’m guessing Butterball is doing okay. And, that’s just a small part of this episode, Thanksgiving Part Deux! We are getting you so organized and relaxed that we had to throw in another interview with the lovely Daisi Owens of My Stir Crazy Kitchen. During this interview, we heard about how to really up your leftover game and we are including two of her favorite recipes right here. Just click on the links below and you will be magically taken to her website with these recipes and lots more. It actually isn’t magic, it’s technology but magic is way more fun and you sometimes you need some extra fun, and magic, to get through a trying time. Thanksgiving can be that but only if you let it. We’re just not going to let that happen! Thanksgiving Taquitos The Perfect Bite - Thanksgiving Cupcakes We hope you enjoy those recipes and that they give you even more ideas for using leftovers, and not just for Thanksgiving. This episode also includes some of our favorite recipes and stories. So if you need a little more food inspiration and you can’t look at another green bean casserole, here is my version…just for you! The Un-Casserole I know you can’t wait to experience our shenanigans (you probably skipped right to the episode) so without further ado, here is Season 2, Episode 4 of Not A Single Fork, Thanksgiving Part Deux. I know we keep teasing you with our Patreon membership page but I can’t roll it out until it’s the way I want it…that perfectionistic streak, you know. But it really is coming VERY soon. So, I’m going to try to give you an idea of what it will be. We are going to start with a minimum of 3 tiers of membership and as the tiers go up so do the goodies you get. Tiers will include things like special shout-outs, recipes, videos and such that only members get to see. You will get an email with a link and we hope you will join us. Also, if you haven’t ordered your Prepdeck yet, you better get on it! We are told they will be sold out before Christmas so if you were planning on it as a gift, HURRY! Otherwise, you’ll have to wait until next year to get one. Here is a link to their site that only our peeps get. It gives you a 10% discount on the already super reasonable price and we get a little love as well. PREPDECK Don’t forget, if you have a question or a comment, leave it in the comments below. We’ll tackle it as soon as we can!Be sure to download, listen, subscribe and review our podcast wherever you prefer to listen. We appreciate YOU!
Planners at the ready? Let’s take control and plan this sucker!
So, here’s the thing. You can make anything into a huge overwhelming, life-draining monster or you can do what we do and beat the living crap out of the thing with laughter, friends and a plan. We are here to help, as usual. And it is really all about the planning. You simply can’t wait until the day before a huge project like Thanksgiving and expect to execute with authority, aplomb (look it up) and no stress. Ain’t happenin’ friends. Now, of course, you can farm all of this out and have everything catered and planned by someone else. But let’s face it, as we’ve noted before, not all of us have Martha Stewart’s budget or staff. You don’t have to do the dinner yourself and if you’re one of the younger family members, chances are you’re arriving at the festivities, wine bottle in hand and, if so, good for you! If you’re a little older, you could be producing the event yourself. We have suggestions for both sides of the operation and how to keep your cool (remember you have no control over anyone else’s cool) and have a good time. Once more, in case you missed it in the last episode, here is the link to the great print-it-off-yourself calendar months. No reason to spend extra money buying calendars for an entire year…unless you’re into that. Here’s the link: PRINT YOUR OWN BLANK MONTHLY CALENDAR Since we are “free ranging” during our episode discussions (listen in to get that joke), here is a list because I love lists. And, we make every effort to pull together many of the endless lists online that can contribute to the overwhelm. Keep in mind, we are pre-planning here for the big day. Cooking and preparing for that comes next so I guess you’ll have to listen to the next episode for that one. READY, SET, PLAN! (and, by all means, grab a glass of wine) Are you hosting the party? Then, what kind of party do you want to have? How many people?What about the general menu? Classic/traditional, something entirely different or a mix of both?How much can you do and what are you going to delegate?Pick out your recipes and maybe assign a recipe to different people.Compare the ingredients on your recipes (the ones you’re making only) with what you already have. Cross out anything you already have. You don’t need to double up on stuff this time of year. The more space the better!Do you need any cooking gear that you don't have? Turkey roaster, potato ricer, Instant Pot… Before you go on a shopping spree, ask around to friends and family and see if you can borrow. Unless you’re dying to have an airfryer, no need to buy one.How are you going to serve? Buffet, family-style? We love standing and grazing on apps with cocktails before dinner. Do you have enough dishware/serveware, chairs, linens, card tables, etc.? Make a list, so you don’t forget.How are you decorating? You could delegate some of that, for sure. Decorating is the last thing I think of and the first thing Natalia thinks of! Make your decorations list now. Candles, anyone?Now think about shopping. You will probably need to do it more than once. One fell swoop is stressful and not very fun so divide items into different categories, like perishable, non-perishable, exotic, etc.If you like an extra special turkey, better order it now. Any exotic ingredients or specialty cooking gear? Hello, Amazon? After gathering recipes, ingredients and knowing your head count, it’s time to make your cooking plan: This may be your first shopping trip but before you go…clean out your pantry and make room for the things you'll be buying. Consider things in your fridge and freezer, too, but that shopping is later.Now…time to SHOP! Oh yeah, but before you go anywhere, listen to Episode 3, Thanksgiving I, or better yet, pop your earbuds in and take us along. And, we’ve got a great little bonus. Our first real studio interview with blogger, Daisi Owens of My Stir Crazy Kitchen.
I’ll say it again, I LOVE Halloween. Frankly, I love the holiday season. Not everything indiscriminately but I love a lot of it. I know there are lots of people who don’t (we talked about that in the first episode) so in the interest of spreading goodwill (not in a cheesy way, I hope), we want everyone to enjoy it as much as we do. Even though, we work in the food industry and it is CA-RAZY, we still make sure to have fun. Part of the way we do that is by keeping our sense of humor and being organized so we’re sharing both of those with you. The point of these first two episodes, not unlike the first few episodes of Season 1, is to lay the groundwork for a fun-filled, stress-free, organized holiday season. We’re not going to tell you how you SHOULD do it because we don’t know you and what works for you but we’re going to share ideas about what we do. So, here we go. What’s that organizational stuff? Well, since I’m a visual person, I like to see things. My go-to is a calendar so I suggest finding a printable calendar online. Ask and ye shall receive! Here is a link to a DIY month-by-month calendar. You can print it out one month per page at a time and bonus! There’s lots of room to write things in each day. Click on the link below to check it out: Printable Calendar Months We both use pencils a lot because “erasing” so you can change things and be flexible. But you can also get colorful post-it notes so that you can move things around. Get an idea of how many events, parties, etc you have and pencil them in on that month to get started. That’s just one of our ideas in this episode. Here’s another take away…stop comparing yourself to others. We’re not necessarily talking about friends and family but okay, we’re talking about the magazines and TV shows and Martha Stewart that show you this picture perfect experience. My world, your world? NOT! So stop that! You do you. And, you can’t do it ALL. Only do as much as you and your family can handle and seeing it on a calendar, well, it can help. Be picky, it’s really okay. We had a lot of fun recording this show and we hope you do too. Natalia shares her love of Martha Stewart (just in this particular situation), Jello shots and costumes. I’ve got the rundown on Halloween origins, my past perfectionism and a certain Disney character’s wig. So relax, have a laugh with us and enjoy this next episode. It’s Halloween!
Thanksgiving is next (two episodes because it takes two) where we really get into the checklists (my personal fave) and making it your best ever…whatever that means for you. You’ll also be meeting one of our favorite bloggers with her personal tips and tricks to help you get through the season with little kids. If you’re interested in adding Prepdeck to your kitchen (and getting a 10% discount off the already great price) or just looking at their beautiful website with all kinds of fun ideas on it click the link below and it will magically (actually it’s just technology) take you there. We spell out the link for you in the episode but this is so much easier, right? PREPDECK Also, coming soon is our Patreon page. As a member, you will have extra access to podcast bloopers, videos, logo merch, and you’ll get to know us even more so watch for that. We’d love you to join us over here in our Second Season where you’re going to continue to get the ins and outs of all the holidays! And don’t forget, there are even more Rants and Raves (or Tips and Tricks) as we go crazy talking about what we love or DON’T. If you have a question, leave it in the comments below and we will be happy to address it in our next episode (and in the comments section). Special thanks to our SUPER FAN, Brenda Christ. Be sure to download, listen, subscribe and review our podcast wherever you prefer to listen.. We appreciate YOU!
Feeling the sudden rush of the holidays? We’re here to help!
We’re back with Season 2 as Not A Single Fork Tackles The Holidays! Our continuing mission is to keep your cooking as stress-free as possible and the holidays are no exception, in fact, they fall into this category probably more than anything else. What is more stressful than the onslaught of holiday decorations and the endless holiday music coupled with the inherent competition-ish stakes of family gatherings, holiday parties and all the rest of the celebrations? Starting with Halloween when you’ve got best costume, best candy, best party…and we’re just getting started. So we’re getting you started with some reasons why people dread the holidays (spoiler alert: it does NOT include cooking!) and then more reasons why and how you can start making your holidays more fun and bearable. Natalia (me too, but mostly Natalia) will regale you with stories from her childhood in England (yes, she really is a Brit) and corn stealing in Oklahoma. Priming you for what’s to come, the apple picking sketch from SNL’s season premiere (a couple of weeks ago) and how people in Oklahoma are so fascinated with farms and farm animals. Did you hear that NBC’s Al Roker and his wife, Deborah Roberts got their car stuck in the mud while apple picking and that comes on the heels of this hilarious sketch? Perfect timing for our episode, too. Truth IS stranger than fiction. We also have lots to share about our new Patreon page and membership site. There’s more to come on that as we create some super fun EXTRAs for our members-only group. It’s easy to become a member, in fact, we’d like everyone to join us! There will be tees (yes, tangible merchandise with the cool NASF logo), videos, recipes, and lots and lots of other fun stuff just for our faithful followers. Why? Because we LOVE you guys, THAT’S why! So, keep listening and reading our show notes. We have also partnered with this cool startup, Prepdeck. Remember when we talked to you about how important organization is in the kitchen and “mise en place” way back in Episode 3 of Season 1? Well, Prepdeck is the total ANSWER! You don’t need to worry about having little bowls and pieces of foil and what-not spread all over your kitchen and cutting board as you try to cook your meal. Prepdeck is a totally self-contained mise en place system. Super well thought-out and thoughtful. We will have a direct link coming soon where you can take a spin around the system on their website and buy it (if you think it will work in your kitchen, can’t imagine why it wouldn’t) and we’ll get a little credit for it. WIN-WIN-WIN. You gotta love that. So without further ado, here comes Episode 1, the Holiday Lead Off for Season 2.
We’d love you to join us over here in our Second Season where you’re going to get all the ins and outs of all the holidays! And don’t forget, there are even more Rants and Raves (or Tips and Tricks) as we go crazy talking about what we love or DON’T. Frankly, this entire episode was a rant (and we definitely went crazy) so we didn't separate anything out. If you have a question, leave it in the comments below and we will be happy to address it in our next episode (and in the comments section). GET INVOLVED! We love it!! We also love to give our peeps a SHOUT OUT! Be sure to download, listen, subscribe and review our podcast wherever you prefer to listen.. We appreciate YOU!
It’s the final countdown. Thank you, Europe…you said it all. And, thanks to all our listeners and sponsors and partners. WE LOVE YOU! We couldn’t do it without you because well, a podcast is just a podcast but we’ve got listeners! And, YOU make it all worthwhile. So take a little stroll down Memory Lane with us, meet one of our new friends (a super talented musician) who helped give our show a little street cred and get a short refresher course from the entire season. We talk about our faves (and not so faves) and give back a little love with more shout outs to our PEEPS! Listen for your names (you know who you are) It’s been a blast. So without further ado, here is the final episode of Season One and our love letter to you, our listeners! We hope you enjoyed all (well, maybe most) of the episodes, laughed along with us and maybe even learned a thing or two. We will be back with Season 2 - Not A Single Fork Tackles The Holidays! Watch Facebook and Instagram and your inbox for the announcements of not only the Season Premiere but some other fun additions to our program. Thanks again for hanging in there with us. We appreciate you more than you know! If you have a lingering question or something you just have to say, leave it in the comments below. You know you’ll get a reply! Please keep listening, downloading, subscribing and tell all your friends about us! Season 2 drops in mid-October. And, in the words of Michael Jackson, “This is IT.” So stay tuned and fresh…fork bags!
Let’s face it, the world of vegetables is daunting. I mean, there is just so.much.produce in the groceries, farmers markets, wholesale clubs. Where do you even start? This vegetable mountain of choice was never a problem for our grandparents or even parents. There were carrots, green beans, peas, iceberg lettuce (also known as just lettuce back then), spinach and that was about it. Now, carrots come in a rainbow, lettuce can be bitter, leafy, Romaine, butter, and more. Then, there are all the beans out there and we’re not talking just pinto and navy, those are so yesterday. The new beans are heirloom as are tomatoes. And, we can’t forget the whole legume issue. What are they or it and how does it/they fit into this whole balanced diet thing. We have so many questions. Lucky for you, we have A LOT of answers, too! We’ll be sorting through this confusing topic of bean or legume or vegetable, we'll share everything we know (or found out) about this super important part of your diet and even play a game! It’s all coming up! So, play along, learn a few new things (and in such a fun way, right?) and join us over here in Episode 14 where you get the ins and outs of beans, legumes and, oh yeah, vegetables. And don’t forget, there are even more Rants and Raves (or Tips and Tricks) as we go crazy talking about what we love or DON’T. If you have a question, leave it in the comments below and we will be happy to address it in our next episode (and in the comments section). It’s time for you to get involved in this whole thing, too! We love to give our peeps a SHOUT OUT!Be sure to listen, subscribe and review our podcast wherever you prefer to listen.. We want to keep doing this!
CARBS! Most of us have a love/hate relationship with them. If you’re one of those people, let us enlighten you. Carbs can and should be your friend.
Here we are! Still keeping it real for you and now we’re breaking down the carb story. It’s LUCKY NUMBER 13! That’s right, episode 13 is about to drop on you. We’ve wrapped up all the proteins (at least, the animal variety) and it’s on to the other parts of your plate. Remember, we did that balancing act episode where we talked to you about how easy it is to put a meal together. Here’s the next part of your plate program, then. Carbohydrates are getting a bad rap these days what with all the paleo and keto diets our there. But here’s why we think that’s happening: YOU EAT TOO MANY and slather them with butter and sour cream and cheese! It’s not the carb’s fault! It’s all the stuff you put on them. They’re actually low in calorie and high in fiber and vitamins and we’re going to tell you all about that, along with how to cook them. So, hang on to your pasta, kids, Candace and Natalia are here to help you through this maze of variety called CARBS...from potatoes to pasta to grains, we’ve got it going on. It’s Episode 13 and we’re going to make this a lucky one! Don’t forget, we’ve got more Rants and Raves (or Tips and Tricks) for you. Always a surprise, I guess everything we say is a surprise, even to us. If you have a question, leave it in the comments below and we will be happy to address it in the comments section). It’s time for you to get involved in this whole thing, too! We love to give our peeps a SHOUT OUT! Be sure to listen, subscribe and review our podcast wherever you prefer to listen.. We want to keep doing this! BTW, we’re winding this puppy down and by that, we mean, Season 1. Only 2 more episodes to go so cross your fingers, don’t step on a crack or walk under a ladder…here is Episode 13!
Natalia and I live in Oklahoma but you probably figured that out. Not only are we insulated from the Coasts in our red state but we are severely land-locked. Being in the middle of the country makes it hard to keep up with the latest goings on (my NYC daughter keeps me updated) and it also makes it difficult for us to convince people in this part of the world that fish are delish! Can’t control myself when rhymes just fall into my lap… So, FISH! In general, one of the best proteins out there. Lots of omega-3 fatty acids and health benefits so why don’t we eat more of it? I can’t speak for everyone but around here, people just think they don’t like it. We can’t even begin to fill a cooking class for fish. They don’t want to try it or have anything to do with it mostly because it smells/tastes “fishy”. Well, there’s a difference between fish smell and fish stink so we’re going to tackle the PR problem for this misunderstood protein. In Episode 12, we’re going to give you all kinds of suggestions for easing into the whole fish eating mind space. Where to buy it, how to buy it and cook it but most of all, if it STINKS, DON’T BUY IT! Only old fish stink, sorry old fish but you know it’s true. We’ll even throw in some info on their bivalve-y brothers and sisters, like mussels, oysters and clams as well as the guys with the claws and shells, like crab and shrimp. So, get ready, here comes Episode 12, as we tell you ALL about the FISH. Because yes, we have an opinion…or five. There’s also a new Rants and Raves (or Tips and Tricks) as we once more. go crazy talking about what we love or DON’T. If you have a question or comment, leave it below and we will be happy to address it in our next episode or in the comments section or both. It’s time for you to get involved in this whole thing, too! We love to give our peeps a SHOUT OUT!Be sure to listen, subscribe and review our podcast wherever you prefer to listen.. We want to keep doing this!
Chicken. The go-to protein for so many people. And, let’s be honest (surprise!), it is a super versatile food. It can be prepared in so many ways and can take on flavor like no other, I mean, it’s a blank slate, really. It can also be abused in so many ways and cooked so badly! Dry, tasteless, stringy. It can be described as sawdust falling apart in your mouth. All words to suggest something terribly overcooked but there is the other side, too. Undercooked chicken. YIKES! Salmonella, here we come! So in spite of its versatility and seemingly unassuming nature, there are A LOT of things that can go wrong and keep people away from chicken and poultry, in general. But have no fear, the Fork Girls are here to dispel more rumors and misconceptions about the humble chicken and its cousins.
In Episode 11 - Beyond Chicken, we’re not only going to sing the praises of chicken, turkey, duck and more but we’re going to help you figure out how you might want to buy, cut up and then cook these little darlings. There are, of course, some caveats especially when dealing with chicken. People in our classes freak out if they have to touch raw chicken. So, congratulations, CDC and USDA, you have successfully created additional panic in the populace, at least in our neck of the woods. So, do you need to worry about the dangers of chicken and their salmonella carrying tendencies? Of course, but don’t lose your minds! Safe food handling takes care of just about everything and we’re going to tell you all about that, too. Oh, by the way, stop rinsing your chicken. Beyond Chicken takes you through best practices in terms of cooking methods and then, there is, of course, our opinions about all that. And don’t forget, we’ve got more Rants and Raves (or Tips and Tricks) as we go crazy talking about what we love or DON’T. If you have a question, leave it in the comments below and we will be happy to address it in our next episode (and in the comments section). It’s time for you to get involved in this whole thing, too! We love to give our peeps a SHOUT OUT!Be sure to listen, subscribe and review our podcast wherever you prefer to listen.. We want to keep doing this! So buckle up, buttercup. here comes Episode 11.
MOO, BAA, OINK…we got ‘em all.
Now we’re going to start working our way around the plate (remember Episode 8 - Balance Your Plate), beginning with proteins and in this case, animal proteins. So we’ll be giving you a rundown on everything in this episode except for poultry because it deserves an episode of its own. In Episode 10, we are , once more, sharing probably way more than you ever wanted to know about all kinds of meat: beef, pork and lamb, mainly, but we’ll touch on their more exotic brethren, too. The cuts and why they’re fatty or muscular and the best way to cook them based on that. For instance, working parts of an animal require the longer braising or stewing times because you have to breakdown all that muscle. Makes sense, right? So here is Episode 10, coming atcha. Who’s got the MEAT?
You’ve got this, my friends, stress-free cooking and actually having fun in the kitchen! So, join us once more, as we tell you ALL about the MEAT. Because yes, we have an opinion…or five. There’s also a new Rants and Raves (or Tips and Tricks) as we go crazy talking about what we love or DON’T. If you have a question, leave it in the comments below and we will be happy to address it in our next episode. It’s time for you to get involved in this whole thing, too! We love to give our peeps a SHOUT OUT! Be sure to listen, subscribe and review our podcast wherever you prefer to listen.. We want to keep doing this!
Here it comes, THE FOOD PART! And, it’s all wet. Yep, and holding true to our tradition, we will begin at the beginning with stock, broth and sauce, OH MY! These are the things that help make your food delicious and also help you build an understanding of why some things taste great and others, meh, not so much. So, stock is the next foundation. You need it to make soup, stew, and sauces. But it’s not great to eat on its own because…it’s not salted. It has all of this great, inherent flavor but you can’t get to it because it hasn’t been seasoned. You’ll hear all about that in the upcoming episode as well as what makes it different from broth and bonus! we’ll walk you through how to make a pan sauce. This is a jam-packed episode.
So if you enjoyed the last episode…you ain’t seen nothing yet. We’re just picking up speed now! In Episode 9, we are sharing probably way more than you ever wanted to know about how to make stock, and, oh, by the way, it’s okay to buy it in the grocery; there are a lot of good brands. Then we move on to broth and how it’s different and then spend the rest of the time extolling the virtues of the Five Mother Sauces. Then wrap it all up in a neat little package with my personal fave….the PAN SAUCE! I love to tie up loose ends, well, because I am OCD. TAH-DAH! You’re on your way to stress-free cooking, my friends. So, join us once more, as we tell you ALL about the wet side of cooking. Because yes, we have an opinion…or five. There’s also a new Rants and Raves as we go crazy talking about what we love or DON’T. Have to admit, we’ve moved a little more into digging the Tips and Tricks for now. If you have a question, leave it in the comments below and we will be happy to address it in our next episode. It’s time for you to get involved in this whole thing, too! We love to give our peeps a SHOUT OUT! Be sure to listen, subscribe and review our podcast on Apple Podcasts, too. We need to be able to keep doing this!
By now, you’re probably wondering when are we going to start talking about the good stuff…FOOD!? Trust me, we’re getting there but in case you didn’t know this, there’s a whole bunch of back story involved in cooking. We’re helping you with the “mise en place” of enjoying the whole cooking process and having FUN! So, we have to do some cleanup to get you prepared. If you have most of the basics, then cooking is a breeze and you won’t get stressed out by just thinking about having to cook dinner. I promise this is the last of the organizational tips and tricks and just things you need to know. Creating a balanced meal and/or plate is as easy as 1 - 2 - 3. One protein, one carb and (at least) one veggie…that’s it! We’ll go into the deets in this next podcast episode but that’s what it boils down to. Have you noticed I’ve been using a lot of cooking related references? I just can’t help it! In Episode 8, we walk you through an simple and basically, fool-proof method for creating a balanced plate for almost any meal. And, we have a helluva lot of fun while we’re doing it. But I guess that’s normal for us. You’re on your way to stress-free cooking, my friends. So, join us once more, as we tell you more than you probably want to know about balancing a healthy plate of food. Because yes, we have an opinion…or five. There’s also a new Rants and Raves as we go crazy talking about what we love or DON’T. We even throw in some Tips and Tricks here and there. If you have a question, leave it in the comments below and we will be happy to address it in our next episode. It’s time for you to get involved in this whole thing, too! We love to give our peeps a SHOUT OUT! Be sure to listen, subscribe and review our podcast and please leave us a comment (or question)…we love that!! And, we WILL reply!
Cooking is, of course, about food but remember, there are also tools involved to make your life easier. We no longer have to cook over an open campfire, wash our food and equipment and dishes and ourselves, for that matter, in the nearby lake, or use our bare hands to tear food apart.
Primitive humans discovered (certainly by accident) that when food is cooked it is typically more flavorful so fire became a necessity and cooking was created. Washing and cutting came along somewhat later but also made it easier to eat. Nowadays, we covet our tools whether big, small or somewhere in between but we are here to let you in on a little secret…stay basic and essential and you will be a happier cook. You honestly don’t need a gadget for every task. There are many tools, like knives, for instance, that can tackle many jobs. So in this episode of Not A Single Fork, we are going to guide you through the unending maze of large appliances, small, countertop appliances and the smallest hand-held tools that you really need to make your cooking life fun, easy and stress-free.
Join us as we tell you more than you probably want to know about all the tools that we love oh, and don’t love so much. Because yes, we have an opinion…or five. There’s also a new Rants and Raves as we go crazy talking about what we love or DON’T. We even throw in some Tips and Tricks here and there. If you have a question, leave it in the comments below and we will be happy to address it in our next episode. It’s time for you to get involved in this whole thing, too! Be sure to listen, subscribe and review our podcast and please leave us a comment (or question)…we love that!!
Here’s the next brick in your foundation. After talking about ingredients, we gotta get into their flavors and how they go together, makes sense, right? So, yep, this episode is all about flavors and flavor profiles. Scratching your head, thinking what does this have to do with anything… Well, flavor profiles are everything! It’s why things taste so great because things work together like a team or an ensemble. If you want to understand the game, you need a scorecard. Or am I mixing metaphors? Anywho…it’s a simple process of starting with the “tried and true” and then (because you’ve learned so much experimenting with ingredients) you make your own! We are really getting into the fun stuff now. So we’re going to tell you about the flavor profiles driven by cultures and ethnicities then branch off into the ones closer to your taste buds and the experience of the flavors as they hit different parts of your tongue like sweet and salty or sweet and spicy or sweet and sour…wow, I’m kinda stuck on sweet…oh well, it still works. Episode 6 is coming atcha and another newsflash…we’re almost halfway through Season 1 WOOHOO!
Assemble your primary and supporting characters then get inspired to create your flavor profiles and expand your cooking horizons. Feeling more kitchen confident every.single.day! There’s also a new Rants and Raves as we go crazy talking about what we love or DON’T. We even throw in some Tips and Tricks here and there. Be sure to listen, subscribe and review our podcast and please leave us a comment…we love that, too!!
Your new cooking foundation is being built. We’re almost there and getting into the fun stuff…ingredients!
The next piece to this puzzle is learning about ingredients so in this episode we’ll get your started with an overview of the basics and how to approach ingredients. It’s very different from the era when housewives were fascinated with canned foods and making things convenient. The 50’s and 60’s also created the opportunity for talented people like Julia Child to introduce more sophisticated ways of cooking. In this episode, you’ll learn about how different foods and cooking are now based on mindset, availability of fresh products and flavors. Characteristics of food can be described by appearance, aroma, taste, texture or “mouthfeel” and temperature. We will visit all of those topics and you will find that they are standards and will reappear throughout Season 1.
Join us as we tell you more than you probably want to know about a lot of ingredients and their stories that we love oh, and don’t love so much. There’s also a new Rants and Raves as we go crazy talking about what we love or DON’T. We even throw in some Tips and Tricks here and there. Be sure to listen, subscribe and review our podcast and please leave us a comment…we love that, too!!
I don’t like to measure. I don’t like to measure so much that I rarely make anything that demands precision…like baking. Exact measuring cramps my style and who wants their style cramped, right? That’s what we’re talking about in this episode, how measuring can get in the way of freeing yourself in the kitchen and cooking. My mom never measured anything. Imagine how difficult it was trying to learn anything about cooking from her. Or, maybe you had a mom like that, too? No matter, we’re going to help whether you’re someone who loves to or hates to measure. So here’s our final game changer before we start talking about the really fun stuff!
In this episode, we’re going to “suggest” you throw away your salt and pepper shakers. Why? Because they’re like using a black box. If you’re going to season food, you have to be in control and you can’t be in control if you can’t see what you’re doing. So, we’re going to guide you through the process of measuring without measuring. We’ll teach you about creating your own reference points so you can totally release your cooking animal. Another fun part of this episode is the (continuing) announcement of the winner of our May contest winner. We celebrated Moms throughout the month of May as a part of our 10 Year Anniversary Celebration and we loved the story so much we recorded a Facebook Live for our business page. You can watch our shenanigans there and hear the story written and submitted by Tiffany Christ Zachary. She won a Cooking Class for Two and has already signed herself (and her mom) up for our next Pasta Making 101 Class…how fun is that? You can watch the video from the Facebook Live by clicking the button below.
As always, let us know what you think of this episode and the Rants and Raves, of course, So leave us comments, ask questions, call us out, but most of all, subscribe to our podcast and leave a review. You’ll find us on iTunes (Apple Podcasts), Spotify, Google Play and Stitcher.
One of the biggest stressors for home cooks is organization, or the (total) lack thereof.. In this episode, we will teach you how to “mise en place”, the ins and outs of how professional chefs stay organized, Here is another game changer! Organization is what it’s all about. Everything is ready to go. You know you have the ingredients, you know they’re the right shape and you know where they are. NO STRESS! This is the episode where I have to admit that you probably need to use a recipe IF you are making a dish for the first time. If you know it like the back of your hand, fuck it, just go for it. But you’ve got to know what you need and when, regardless of recipe or not. Everything that goes into what you’re making is at the ready, in order of use (the timing for when it goes into your recipe) and it’s easy to see at a glance. That main picture is a really good example for a way that you can “get organized” in your home kitchen. So how do you “mise en place”.? Well, first, don’t go all rulebook on me. You can use anything as a container. You don’t need to buy anything new although there are A LOT of cute new items at Target for mise.
Know your recipe and what ingredients you need BEFORE you start cooking
Cut up and measure (if you must)
Have your containers ready and line them up
Put your prepped food in the containers
Arrange the containers in the order the ingredients will go into your dish
RELAX AND ENJOY THE COOKING…YOU CRAZY KIDS
You’re starting to feel it, aren’t you? That carefree cooking attitude! Let us know what you think of this episode and the Rants and Raves (more of those to come). So leave us comments, ask questions, call us out, but most of all, subscribe to our podcast and leave a review. You’ll find us on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play and Stitcher.
You are kidding yourself if your don’t think you need to know anything about cutting shit up. And, that’s the truth! Nothing is more important in a kitchen (commercial or home) than having solid knife skills. I saw a tweet this morning from @ExcuseMyFly (AKA hot pot of grits.) with a picture from someone in a professional kitchen who was supposed to cut (looked like potato) a vegetable into a 1/4” brunoise. See that picture just below on the far right of the purple veggie? That’s what a brunoise should look like.
Here’s what the tweeted “brunoise” looked like. This is from a professional kitchen, people! It’s bigger so you can really see it. See all those triangular pieces and the different sizes? That’s just flat out WRONG! And, as the tweet said, “someone who went to culinary school and worked at (three different restaurants).”. So, it’s not just you home cooks. It’s people with “training”. Get what I’m saying? Knife skills! You gotta get you some!!
Yes, we are dead serious about knives. You can’t see us but with our descriptions, you can definitely get yourself started on the path to learning basic knife skills. The bottom line, no matter what, is that you have to practice. We teach a knife skills course and that is one of the main things we emphasize. You have got to practice! You are not going to leave a two-hour class being a samurai…ain’t no way, my friend. When you have good knife skills, everything else falls into place.
You will be comfortable
You will be confident
Cooking becomes so much easier
Knives are personal. You need to figure out what works for you so don’t don’t go buy one of those big, expensive knife sets from Williams-Sonoma. You might use two of the knives in the set and then you’ve wasted $1000 on knives you don’t use. Buy “cheap” knives that you can sharpen with a “cheap” sharpener every time you use it and you will be so much happier. Also, in this episode, we begin our Rants & Raves segments. In each episode, we’ll have a little bit extra to say about things that make us crazy and things that we absolutely love. The rants come from the heart and we intend them to be helpful even when we get that shit that gets under our skin off our chests. Please listen to them with the humor and affection that they are offered. If you happen to get offended, well, sorry, we don’t mean it that way but be sure to let us know. Also, be sure to leave us comments, ask questions, call us out, but most of all, subscribe to our podcast and leave a review. You’ll find us on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play and Stitcher.
Welcome to our crazy world of food and cooking classes where we teach real people how to cook real food. We don’t pull any punches and we are about as real as two bitches can get. Try to guess who’s crazier?. I’m Chef Candace Conley and this is my partner in culinary (and other types) crime, Natalia Banjac. We’ve worked in the food industry together for over 10 years; we are still besties and are still keeping it real.. So, we thought it was about time we shared that with you. We’re making that happen in our first ever podcast, Not A Single Fork.
Our first episode is intended as an introduction not only for you to get to know us but to get to know our approach to food, cooking and well, life. And, yep, you guessed it…we don’t give a single fuck, er, fork…not really for much of anything. It has to be really, really important. We ascribe to the philosophy of Mark Manson in his book, The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F**k. If you aren’t familiar, we strongly recommend it. You’ll be SO much HAPPIER! This episode sets the stage for Season 1. We give you a brief overview of what kinds of topics we’re going to be talking about.
Flavor profiles and what that means in your personal cooking style
“GO TO” ingredients and suggestions of what you might want to always have on hand
Building your own reference library of your cooking faves, like magazines, cooking shows, books and such
Cooking basics and my “secrets” (The secret is, I don’t have any secrets…I’ll tell you everything!)
We just want you to stop taking yourselves so seriously! Life is short and you usually have to spend a lot of time cooking so let’s have some fun, dammit! Some of our episodes will run longer and some shorter but no matter the length we hope you enjoy them.. We want you to relax and just cook! No more judging, just cooking and loving what you make in the kitchen. So leave us comments, ask questions, call us out, but most of all, subscribe to our podcast and leave a review. You’ll find us on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play and Stitcher.