Latest / Cookbook Love Podcast / Episode 424: Simple Holiday Boards for Every Celebration with Maegan Brown, The Baker Mama

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Episode 424: Simple Holiday Boards for Every Celebration with Maegan Brown, The Baker Mama · Cookbook Love Podcast

• 0:02
  Speaker: You're listening to the Cookbook Love Podcast with Maggie Greene,
• 0:05
  Speaker: episode number four twenty four.
• 0:11
  Speaker: Welcome to the Cookbook Love
• 0:12
  Speaker: Podcast, a podcast that
• 0:14
  Speaker: celebrates cookbook readers,
• 0:16
  Speaker: buyers, collectors, writers, and
• 0:18
  Speaker: clubs.
• 0:19
  Speaker: And now your host, cookbook
• 0:21
  Speaker: author, culinary dietitian, and
• 0:23
  Speaker: cookbook writing coach, Maggie
• 0:25
  Speaker: Greene.
• 0:31
  Speaker: Hi, everybody.
• 0:32
  Speaker: Welcome back to another episode of the cookbook Love Podcast.
• 0:35
  Speaker: How's everybody doing today?
• 0:37
  Speaker: Having a great day here in my
• 0:38
  Speaker: cookbook, bunker batching
• 0:40
  Speaker: podcast episodes, scheduling
• 0:43
  Speaker: emails, doing all the things I
• 0:44
  Speaker: teach all of my students to do,
• 0:46
  Speaker: which is to take advantage of
• 0:48
  Speaker: less busy days in the office, to
• 0:51
  Speaker: get things scheduled and ready
• 0:53
  Speaker: to go so that when I have client
• 0:55
  Speaker: calls or classes, I'm not
• 0:57
  Speaker: scrambling at the last minute to
• 0:59
  Speaker: finish everything.
• 1:00
  Speaker: So today I'm excited to have an
• 1:02
  Speaker: interview with Megan Brown, the
• 1:04
  Speaker: Baker Mama.
• 1:05
  Speaker: But before we dive into her interview, I do want to know if
• 1:09
  Speaker: you have ever looked at the food you regularly cook or bake every
• 1:14
  Speaker: week and thought, maybe there's a cookbook in here somewhere.
• 1:18
  Speaker: But here's what a lot of people
• 1:20
  Speaker: don't think about is that in
• 1:22
  Speaker: traditional publishing, as we've
• 1:23
  Speaker: talked about, the publisher pays
• 1:25
  Speaker: you to write your book and the
• 1:28
  Speaker: team of people who help to put
• 1:30
  Speaker: the book together come with the
• 1:32
  Speaker: book deal.
• 1:33
  Speaker: So if you have ever dreamed of
• 1:35
  Speaker: writing your own cookbook and
• 1:37
  Speaker: you're curious about traditional
• 1:38
  Speaker: publishing, this is the perfect
• 1:40
  Speaker: time to join my free
• 1:41
  Speaker: masterclass, which is available
• 1:44
  Speaker: only for a limited amount of
• 1:45
  Speaker: time.
• 1:46
  Speaker: It's called From Kitchen to Book Deal.
• 1:48
  Speaker: Inside this class, you will
• 1:50
  Speaker: learn insider truths about
• 1:51
  Speaker: traditional publishing so that
• 1:53
  Speaker: you can say yes to your cookbook
• 1:55
  Speaker: publishing dream without saying
• 1:57
  Speaker: goodbye to your savings, you are
• 2:00
  Speaker: going to see why the book you
• 2:01
  Speaker: are meant to write may be
• 2:03
  Speaker: already on your stove or in your
• 2:06
  Speaker: kitchen.
• 2:06
  Speaker: Written by someone like you, just as you are now.
• 2:11
  Speaker: So the link is in the show notes.
• 2:13
  Speaker: Or you can head on down to w w w
• 2:15
  Speaker: dot cookbook Writers academy dot
• 2:17
  Speaker: com slash free to join the From
• 2:20
  Speaker: Kitchen to Book Deal
• 2:22
  Speaker: masterclass.
• 2:23
  Speaker: So back to my conversation with Megan.
• 2:25
  Speaker: Megan has run the Baker Mama dot com for fourteen years.
• 2:29
  Speaker: She's the author of four
• 2:30
  Speaker: cookbooks and her newest book,
• 2:33
  Speaker: Celebration Boards.
• 2:34
  Speaker: Fifty Creative boards.
• 2:36
  Speaker: To turn any occasion into a celebration is perfect for this
• 2:40
  Speaker: time of year.
• 2:42
  Speaker: Today on the show, Megan tells us all about her love of boards
• 2:45
  Speaker: began in her five hundred square foot apartment with wooden
• 2:50
  Speaker: boards made by her father.
• 2:52
  Speaker: We talk about her new book,
• 2:54
  Speaker: celebration boards and her six
• 2:56
  Speaker: step boards method for creating
• 2:59
  Speaker: unforgettable boards, and Megan
• 3:01
  Speaker: generously shares what it takes
• 3:03
  Speaker: for her to write a cookbook, how
• 3:05
  Speaker: her publisher found her, how she
• 3:08
  Speaker: narrows down her ideas, how her
• 3:10
  Speaker: team grew book by book, and the
• 3:13
  Speaker: sweet breakfast table tradition
• 3:15
  Speaker: that shows her four kids just
• 3:18
  Speaker: what her work as a cookbook
• 3:21
  Speaker: author means to them and to
• 3:24
  Speaker: their family.
• 3:25
  Speaker: So without further delay, let's
• 3:27
  Speaker: dive into this interview with
• 3:28
  Speaker: Megan Brown.
• 3:30
  Speaker: Hi, Megan.
• 3:31
  Speaker: Welcome to the Cookbook Love Podcast.
• 3:34
  Speaker: Hi, Maggie.
• 3:34
  Speaker: Thank you so much for having me.
• 3:36
  Speaker: Yes, I'm very excited to have you here today to talk all about
• 3:39
  Speaker: your beautiful new book.
• 3:40
  Speaker: But before we dive in, why don't
• 3:41
  Speaker: you tell everybody a little bit
• 3:43
  Speaker: about who you are and what you
• 3:44
  Speaker: do?
• 3:46
  Speaker: Yes.
• 3:46
  Speaker: Megan Brown, also known as the Baker Mama.
• 3:50
  Speaker: I have been running the Baker Mamas for fourteen years now,
• 3:55
  Speaker: which just feels like forever.
• 3:57
  Speaker: But it's been such an amazing journey.
• 3:59
  Speaker: And I started out sharing my favorite baking recipes and then
• 4:03
  Speaker: started a family after that.
• 4:05
  Speaker: And it really just has grown
• 4:06
  Speaker: with me and my family over the
• 4:08
  Speaker: years.
• 4:08
  Speaker: And now I share family friendly recipes.
• 4:11
  Speaker: I share, um, entertaining inspiration.
• 4:14
  Speaker: And of course, it comes back to my cookbooks.
• 4:16
  Speaker: I have four cookbooks, um, which
• 4:19
  Speaker: range from boards to spreads to
• 4:22
  Speaker: bites.
• 4:23
  Speaker: Um, and so it's just been an amazing journey to be able to
• 4:25
  Speaker: share what we enjoy as a family with others and really inspire
• 4:29
  Speaker: them over the years.
• 4:30
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 4:31
  Speaker: If you started in twenty twelve, you have seen a lot of changes
• 4:35
  Speaker: on the internet over time and over the time that you've been
• 4:39
  Speaker: doing this for fourteen years.
• 4:41
  Speaker: Yes, that has been quite a journey for sure.
• 4:45
  Speaker: And, you know, that's what I've
• 4:46
  Speaker: loved about it is I've just kind
• 4:47
  Speaker: of rolled with it over the years
• 4:48
  Speaker: and really embraced those
• 4:49
  Speaker: changes.
• 4:50
  Speaker: At first I was like, oh, now we got to do video.
• 4:52
  Speaker: Oh, now we got to do this, you know?
• 4:54
  Speaker: And it used to be just posting a
• 4:56
  Speaker: picture and the recipe and that
• 4:57
  Speaker: was it.
• 4:58
  Speaker: Um, and so it's really grown over the years for sure, but I
• 5:02
  Speaker: just have really enjoyed that and really catered to what my
• 5:05
  Speaker: audience is appreciate.
• 5:07
  Speaker: And I think, you know, the more detail you can give, the better.
• 5:10
  Speaker: So I love that I can share more images and more videos so that
• 5:14
  Speaker: people are set up for success when they're making my recipes.
• 5:17
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 5:17
  Speaker: And if you started out talking
• 5:18
  Speaker: about your favorite baking
• 5:20
  Speaker: recipes and now we're sharing a
• 5:22
  Speaker: book about boards, it's evidence
• 5:25
  Speaker: that you have listened to your
• 5:27
  Speaker: audience.
• 5:28
  Speaker: You are providing them with what they need.
• 5:30
  Speaker: But I believe that you were
• 5:31
  Speaker: involved with boards, and you've
• 5:32
  Speaker: seen them evolve from a trend to
• 5:34
  Speaker: a really lasting way of doing
• 5:36
  Speaker: things.
• 5:36
  Speaker: Let's talk about boards just in general from that perspective.
• 5:40
  Speaker: Tell us a little bit about the
• 5:42
  Speaker: evolution of boards in your
• 5:43
  Speaker: life.
• 5:44
  Speaker: Absolutely.
• 5:45
  Speaker: So I've been building boards for years.
• 5:47
  Speaker: Back in two thousand and nine, I remember my husband and I lived
• 5:50
  Speaker: in Boston and a five hundred square foot apartment, and my
• 5:52
  Speaker: dad makes wooden boards as he was making them as a hobby then,
• 5:56
  Speaker: and has since joined me and selling them as a business.
• 5:59
  Speaker: But he would ship us all these
• 6:00
  Speaker: boards to Boston, and we would
• 6:02
  Speaker: host in this five hundred square
• 6:04
  Speaker: foot apartment.
• 6:04
  Speaker: I would make dessert boards, and
• 6:06
  Speaker: my husband would do barbecue
• 6:07
  Speaker: boards, and we'd have all these
• 6:08
  Speaker: boards that we just use more as
• 6:10
  Speaker: platters.
• 6:10
  Speaker: Now, of course, my creativeness really unfolded over the years,
• 6:14
  Speaker: and I got really creative with the boards over the years.
• 6:18
  Speaker: So that's really where mine started.
• 6:19
  Speaker: And then, you know, ten years after that, in twenty nineteen,
• 6:22
  Speaker: I released my first cookbook, which was all about boards.
• 6:25
  Speaker: And yeah, certainly, um, what people thought started as a
• 6:29
  Speaker: trend, I think is here to stay.
• 6:30
  Speaker: It just makes for such an easy and enjoyable way to entertain
• 6:34
  Speaker: and serve your loved ones.
• 6:36
  Speaker: And we found that both with
• 6:38
  Speaker: serving our family at meals and
• 6:40
  Speaker: my husband and I truly enjoy
• 6:42
  Speaker: them for little date nights in,
• 6:44
  Speaker: um, whether it's a movie board
• 6:46
  Speaker: with a family and then
• 6:47
  Speaker: entertaining, it just makes it
• 6:49
  Speaker: so much more enjoyable when I
• 6:51
  Speaker: can have a board prepared when
• 6:52
  Speaker: our guests arrive and actually
• 6:54
  Speaker: get to enjoy the occasion with
• 6:56
  Speaker: everyone.
• 6:57
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 6:57
  Speaker: And you have gone through several different iterations of
• 7:01
  Speaker: the boards, this being your fourth book, A Celebration
• 7:04
  Speaker: Boards, all about turning any occasion into a celebration.
• 7:08
  Speaker: And this is different from your previous books, but why don't
• 7:10
  Speaker: you tell us a little bit about how your books have evolved?
• 7:14
  Speaker: Yes.
• 7:14
  Speaker: So for certainly boards, you know, when I when you talk about
• 7:17
  Speaker: writing a cookbook, I have, you know, started this blog in
• 7:20
  Speaker: twenty twelve and over the years, people like, are you
• 7:22
  Speaker: going to do a cookbook or are you going to do a cookbook?
• 7:24
  Speaker: And I never really was excited
• 7:25
  Speaker: to do a cookbook because I love
• 7:27
  Speaker: that my blog has all of my
• 7:28
  Speaker: recipes on it with step by step
• 7:30
  Speaker: images.
• 7:31
  Speaker: And I can really, um, discuss
• 7:33
  Speaker: the recipes with people on the
• 7:34
  Speaker: blog.
• 7:35
  Speaker: So I was never like, excited
• 7:36
  Speaker: about another traditional
• 7:37
  Speaker: cookbook.
• 7:38
  Speaker: And, um, and then in twenty nineteen, my publisher reached
• 7:41
  Speaker: out and had noticed my boards taking off on social media and
• 7:46
  Speaker: on my blog, and people were really loving them and, and
• 7:49
  Speaker: recreating them and just having so much fun with them.
• 7:51
  Speaker: And so she said, you thought about a cookbook.
• 7:54
  Speaker: And I said, yes, I've thought about a cookbook.
• 7:56
  Speaker: I'm not ready to do a cookbook.
• 7:57
  Speaker: She's like, what about a boards cookbook?
• 7:59
  Speaker: And I said, yes, I love this idea.
• 8:02
  Speaker: It's just such a visual cookbook that people can.
• 8:06
  Speaker: It's truly for inspiration.
• 8:08
  Speaker: And, and that's, you know, my first one is all about that.
• 8:11
  Speaker: It's fifty creative boards for
• 8:13
  Speaker: every occasion that you can make
• 8:15
  Speaker: your own.
• 8:16
  Speaker: And I really talk about that.
• 8:17
  Speaker: And then with my newest one, it's really grown off of that
• 8:21
  Speaker: fifty all new board ideas.
• 8:22
  Speaker: But this one really talks about
• 8:25
  Speaker: making the board part of your
• 8:27
  Speaker: celebration.
• 8:28
  Speaker: The board board itself becomes the celebration.
• 8:31
  Speaker: I mean, it really, it can be as simple as a mom feeding their
• 8:34
  Speaker: kids this after school snack to a big birthday celebration.
• 8:37
  Speaker: But the boards really gather people together and, um, bring
• 8:42
  Speaker: so much joy and memories to your occasions and your gatherings
• 8:47
  Speaker: with your loved ones.
• 8:48
  Speaker: So yeah, I think it's amazing when a publisher reaches out and
• 8:51
  Speaker: asks a question like, have you thought about a cookbook?
• 8:54
  Speaker: Because that often happens to people in different.
• 8:57
  Speaker: Not just people who have food
• 8:59
  Speaker: blogs, but um, it happened to
• 9:01
  Speaker: me.
• 9:01
  Speaker: It's happened to people that I know.
• 9:03
  Speaker: And when you're hit with that
• 9:04
  Speaker: question, it's kind of scary
• 9:06
  Speaker: because first of all, it's like,
• 9:07
  Speaker: okay, what is this really going
• 9:09
  Speaker: to mean?
• 9:10
  Speaker: But then I have to narrow down
• 9:11
  Speaker: and give them an idea for my
• 9:13
  Speaker: book.
• 9:13
  Speaker: How did you decide what topic about boards to write about for
• 9:18
  Speaker: each of your different books?
• 9:19
  Speaker: Because I know that you are
• 9:20
  Speaker: obviously full of ideas full of,
• 9:23
  Speaker: uh, even favorite baking
• 9:25
  Speaker: recipes.
• 9:26
  Speaker: How did you decide on the books that you wanted to write?
• 9:29
  Speaker: Yeah, I really was.
• 9:30
  Speaker: What was I most passionate about?
• 9:32
  Speaker: What am I, you know, most excited to share?
• 9:34
  Speaker: And then what really resonates most with my community and my
• 9:37
  Speaker: audience at the time, what are they really responding to?
• 9:40
  Speaker: What are they messaging me the most about?
• 9:43
  Speaker: What are they recreating the most?
• 9:44
  Speaker: And so that's really where those
• 9:47
  Speaker: ideas, um, came to life in each
• 9:50
  Speaker: book.
• 9:50
  Speaker: bucket.
• 9:50
  Speaker: It was so hard because I. I
• 9:52
  Speaker: still have hundreds of board
• 9:53
  Speaker: ideas that I haven't even
• 9:54
  Speaker: shared.
• 9:55
  Speaker: Um, and I had to narrow them
• 9:56
  Speaker: down to fifty more for this
• 9:57
  Speaker: book.
• 9:58
  Speaker: And there were only fifty in the book before, so I could do fifty
• 10:01
  Speaker: more books probably.
• 10:02
  Speaker: But, um, you know, it's really
• 10:04
  Speaker: hard to, to narrow that down,
• 10:05
  Speaker: but I think it really comes down
• 10:06
  Speaker: to what are you most passionate
• 10:08
  Speaker: about?
• 10:08
  Speaker: Um, because it takes a lot of
• 10:10
  Speaker: work bringing a cookbook to
• 10:11
  Speaker: life.
• 10:11
  Speaker: So you really have to, it's more
• 10:13
  Speaker: than just creating those fifty
• 10:15
  Speaker: boards.
• 10:15
  Speaker: It's so much more than that.
• 10:16
  Speaker: It's really getting detailed and
• 10:19
  Speaker: making sure that they're
• 10:20
  Speaker: approachable and that the
• 10:21
  Speaker: instructions are really specific
• 10:23
  Speaker: and that people are set up for
• 10:24
  Speaker: success.
• 10:25
  Speaker: Um, and especially in my
• 10:27
  Speaker: cookbooks, they're more
• 10:27
  Speaker: resources.
• 10:29
  Speaker: And so I really dive into my best tips and tricks and advice
• 10:33
  Speaker: to being successful in creating a board and enjoying the
• 10:36
  Speaker: process, enjoying the occasion.
• 10:38
  Speaker: And so that's, um, even a step further of really making sure
• 10:42
  Speaker: people are able to use the book and, um, and enjoy it.
• 10:47
  Speaker: The process.
• 10:48
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 10:49
  Speaker: Because something that you share
• 10:50
  Speaker: is your method for building a
• 10:53
  Speaker: board.
• 10:53
  Speaker: This isn't just a set of recipes.
• 10:55
  Speaker: Like you said, this is a
• 10:56
  Speaker: resource, it's a guide, but you
• 10:59
  Speaker: have a specific method called a
• 11:01
  Speaker: board's method to actually help
• 11:04
  Speaker: simplify hosting.
• 11:06
  Speaker: Why don't you talk us through what the board method is and how
• 11:12
  Speaker: it helps other, the people who are listening, and anyone who's
• 11:15
  Speaker: using your book to be a better host because of this method.
• 11:19
  Speaker: Absolutely.
• 11:20
  Speaker: So the board's method is an acronym for the word boards, and
• 11:24
  Speaker: it's step by step.
• 11:25
  Speaker: Each letter of that word, um, walks you through the process to
• 11:28
  Speaker: successfully build any board.
• 11:29
  Speaker: It could be the boards in this
• 11:31
  Speaker: book, or it could be any board
• 11:32
  Speaker: that you want to create for your
• 11:34
  Speaker: occasion.
• 11:35
  Speaker: And over the years, I've just
• 11:36
  Speaker: honed in on this process, and
• 11:38
  Speaker: it's what I use when I build a
• 11:39
  Speaker: board.
• 11:40
  Speaker: It starts with building your base.
• 11:42
  Speaker: What is your base?
• 11:43
  Speaker: Are you using a board?
• 11:44
  Speaker: Are you using a platter?
• 11:45
  Speaker: Heck, a sheet pan.
• 11:46
  Speaker: You may even want to put some parchment paper on your island.
• 11:49
  Speaker: It doesn't matter.
• 11:49
  Speaker: What is your base for the board?
• 11:52
  Speaker: And then what all do you need to, um, to bring it to life?
• 11:57
  Speaker: So do you need some bowls?
• 11:58
  Speaker: Do you need spreaders?
• 11:59
  Speaker: It's all building that kind of base to hold everything.
• 12:03
  Speaker: And next it is organizing your options.
• 12:05
  Speaker: So that's where you really get to be creative with what you
• 12:09
  Speaker: have on hand.
• 12:10
  Speaker: What is it a special occasion?
• 12:12
  Speaker: Are you needing some seasonal items or is there a theme to it?
• 12:15
  Speaker: Is it an Italian themed board?
• 12:17
  Speaker: So really organizing those options, sorting everything out
• 12:20
  Speaker: and thinking through how many people you're feeding.
• 12:23
  Speaker: And that's one thing I really walk through in the book is I
• 12:25
  Speaker: talk about what, how much you need for a certain number of
• 12:29
  Speaker: people for a certain occasion.
• 12:30
  Speaker: So whether you're feeding them as an appetizer or a meal or,
• 12:34
  Speaker: um, a dessert, whatever that might be thinking through, how
• 12:37
  Speaker: much do I need?
• 12:38
  Speaker: So I have enough and not too much.
• 12:40
  Speaker: Um, and then the next is arranging with abundance.
• 12:44
  Speaker: So I love just an abundant board and I love to just fill it up
• 12:49
  Speaker: because it makes it so inviting and approachable for people.
• 12:52
  Speaker: They get so excited when they approach this beautifully
• 12:55
  Speaker: arranged, abundant board.
• 12:57
  Speaker: So I encourage people to kind of
• 12:59
  Speaker: repeat ingredients across the
• 13:00
  Speaker: board.
• 13:01
  Speaker: I encourage people to change, um, the textures throughout the
• 13:05
  Speaker: board so that no matter where you approach from, you are able
• 13:08
  Speaker: to select a delicious combination of ingredients or
• 13:11
  Speaker: food to enjoy.
• 13:13
  Speaker: And so where were we on board?
• 13:16
  Speaker: So that was the yeah.
• 13:18
  Speaker: And then the r r so refine for balance.
• 13:22
  Speaker: So you're going to just find, um, make sure that everything
• 13:25
  Speaker: kind of has its place.
• 13:27
  Speaker: You've kind of got enough of
• 13:28
  Speaker: everything in each area you're
• 13:29
  Speaker: going to, if you need to move
• 13:31
  Speaker: anything over to fit more in,
• 13:32
  Speaker: whatever that might be, you're
• 13:33
  Speaker: going to just kind of refine
• 13:34
  Speaker: everything and balance it all
• 13:36
  Speaker: out.
• 13:37
  Speaker: And then you're going to decorate to delight.
• 13:39
  Speaker: So this is where I really love to give the dips a nice little
• 13:42
  Speaker: swirl, a nice little maybe sprinkle of something, a A
• 13:46
  Speaker: garnish of fresh herbs.
• 13:48
  Speaker: I love tucking fresh herbs in
• 13:50
  Speaker: around the board if they're if
• 13:51
  Speaker: they're seasonal and fitting for
• 13:53
  Speaker: the occasion, and maybe it's a
• 13:55
  Speaker: birthday and you're adding some
• 13:57
  Speaker: candles, whatever that may be
• 13:59
  Speaker: really, um, just kind of
• 14:00
  Speaker: decorating it and giving it that
• 14:02
  Speaker: extra touch to make it really
• 14:04
  Speaker: elevated and exciting for the
• 14:06
  Speaker: occasion.
• 14:07
  Speaker: And then the most important one serve and enjoy.
• 14:10
  Speaker: So that's the most important one.
• 14:11
  Speaker: You get to serve it.
• 14:12
  Speaker: You get to enjoy it with everyone.
• 14:15
  Speaker: And you get to see how much everyone enjoys it and have
• 14:18
  Speaker: those memories boards just create these such special
• 14:21
  Speaker: memories that people remember and look forward to.
• 14:25
  Speaker: And so that's the that's what I love hearing from people when
• 14:28
  Speaker: they recreate a board is how much feedback they got, um, on
• 14:32
  Speaker: how much everyone enjoyed it.
• 14:33
  Speaker: And I tell them, I said, take all that credit.
• 14:35
  Speaker: Don't.
• 14:36
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 14:36
  Speaker: Once you've built that board, it's all yours.
• 14:38
  Speaker: Take all the credit and, and enjoy it and, and then do it
• 14:42
  Speaker: again and again.
• 14:43
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 14:44
  Speaker: And I think you mentioned
• 14:45
  Speaker: something that's interesting is
• 14:46
  Speaker: that you can a lot of times
• 14:47
  Speaker: prepare most of this stuff ahead
• 14:49
  Speaker: of time so that the board is
• 14:50
  Speaker: actually ready when your guests
• 14:51
  Speaker: arrive.
• 14:52
  Speaker: Absolutely.
• 14:53
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 14:53
  Speaker: That's one of my most important tricks is I love just having it
• 14:57
  Speaker: all prepped as much as possible.
• 14:59
  Speaker: And if it's a board that will
• 15:01
  Speaker: fit in my fridge, I'll put all
• 15:02
  Speaker: the fresh ingredients on there
• 15:04
  Speaker: and save like any of the crunchy
• 15:05
  Speaker: items like crackers or nuts, and
• 15:07
  Speaker: just add those in right before
• 15:09
  Speaker: serving so that everything is
• 15:11
  Speaker: fresh.
• 15:12
  Speaker: If it's something warm on a board.
• 15:14
  Speaker: So like I have a mac and cheese burger board, or I have a boards
• 15:17
  Speaker: with baked Brie on them, I'll keep that warming in a really
• 15:20
  Speaker: low oven so it's already made.
• 15:22
  Speaker: And when I have the board already built, and then I'll
• 15:25
  Speaker: just add the warm item and serve it and we're ready to go.
• 15:28
  Speaker: So prepping as much as head and really that step of organizing
• 15:32
  Speaker: your options sets you up for such success in building these
• 15:35
  Speaker: boards in no time.
• 15:37
  Speaker: Once you have everything kind of organized, you're ready to go.
• 15:39
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 15:40
  Speaker: And do you ever have a party or get occasion where you have more
• 15:44
  Speaker: than one board.
• 15:45
  Speaker: Oh, yes.
• 15:46
  Speaker: Yes.
• 15:47
  Speaker: I'll either.
• 15:47
  Speaker: It depends.
• 15:48
  Speaker: If it's a large crowd, sometimes
• 15:49
  Speaker: I'll put boards throughout, you
• 15:50
  Speaker: know, either the space where
• 15:51
  Speaker: we're entertaining.
• 15:52
  Speaker: But the other day I hosted a kind of a Mexican themed
• 15:55
  Speaker: Tex-Mex, um, party, and we started with a queso board like
• 15:59
  Speaker: queso and dips.
• 16:00
  Speaker: And then I did like a chips and dip board.
• 16:02
  Speaker: And then we had a fajita trio board for the main meal.
• 16:05
  Speaker: And after that we did a churros dipping board.
• 16:08
  Speaker: And all of those were from the book.
• 16:10
  Speaker: So it really kind of set the theme for the evening.
• 16:12
  Speaker: And I had everything already
• 16:13
  Speaker: prepped and warming and ready to
• 16:15
  Speaker: go, and everybody just really
• 16:17
  Speaker: enjoyed it.
• 16:18
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 16:18
  Speaker: That's neat how you used three different boards, but of the
• 16:22
  Speaker: same sort of theme to make a meal, uh, with the.
• 16:25
  Speaker: That's great.
• 16:25
  Speaker: Different.
• 16:26
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 16:26
  Speaker: So, um, this is a time of year when people are starting to
• 16:29
  Speaker: think about more hosting.
• 16:31
  Speaker: Of course we have Halloween coming up.
• 16:32
  Speaker: Thanksgiving is coming up next month.
• 16:35
  Speaker: Then we have Christmas winter holidays.
• 16:37
  Speaker: Um, I thought what we might talk about is a little bit about your
• 16:40
  Speaker: tips for building boards, not only quickly, but so it's
• 16:44
  Speaker: affordable for people.
• 16:46
  Speaker: Yeah, absolutely.
• 16:47
  Speaker: And of course, this time of year, you shop seasonally.
• 16:49
  Speaker: You know, my, my number one tip
• 16:51
  Speaker: is use what you have on hand,
• 16:53
  Speaker: shop your own pantry and your
• 16:55
  Speaker: own fridge.
• 16:56
  Speaker: What do you enjoy the most?
• 16:57
  Speaker: What do you already have on hand in bulk?
• 16:59
  Speaker: Um, and use those first and then go find those special seasonal
• 17:04
  Speaker: items to fill it in.
• 17:06
  Speaker: Um, and that just makes it more affordable, easier.
• 17:09
  Speaker: And of course, it's going to be
• 17:11
  Speaker: enjoyable because you're using
• 17:12
  Speaker: items that you already enjoy
• 17:14
  Speaker: regularly.
• 17:15
  Speaker: And this time of year, also, you can find great specials on
• 17:19
  Speaker: seasonal items using those fresh fruits and vegetables that are
• 17:22
  Speaker: in season buying, um, cheeses that are in maybe a larger block
• 17:27
  Speaker: or in bulk.
• 17:28
  Speaker: So they're not as expensive, um, if they're already pre-sliced or
• 17:32
  Speaker: um, already pre chunked or whatever that may be.
• 17:35
  Speaker: And so just really shopping those items that you can, you
• 17:39
  Speaker: can save a little here and there, but most of all, just
• 17:41
  Speaker: keeping it simple.
• 17:42
  Speaker: Don't try.
• 17:43
  Speaker: You don't need to have everything on the board.
• 17:45
  Speaker: You don't.
• 17:46
  Speaker: You can just select a few key
• 17:50
  Speaker: ingredients that you know
• 17:51
  Speaker: everyone would enjoy and run
• 17:52
  Speaker: with that.
• 17:54
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 17:54
  Speaker: And I think that what about boards then specifically for,
• 17:58
  Speaker: uh, the themes for fall entertaining and the holidays,
• 18:03
  Speaker: the types of things that you think about when you think about
• 18:05
  Speaker: this time of year.
• 18:07
  Speaker: Absolutely.
• 18:07
  Speaker: I love a good holiday board.
• 18:09
  Speaker: I mean, every I've already made
• 18:11
  Speaker: there's a fall mood board in the
• 18:13
  Speaker: book that has so many different
• 18:15
  Speaker: flavors and textures of the
• 18:17
  Speaker: season.
• 18:17
  Speaker: It's got pumpkin and apple and cinnamon and all the cozy
• 18:22
  Speaker: flavors of fall.
• 18:24
  Speaker: And this one is so perfect for just a gathering with friends.
• 18:27
  Speaker: It's perfect to bring for
• 18:28
  Speaker: Friendsgiving or to be an
• 18:30
  Speaker: appetizer before your big
• 18:32
  Speaker: Thanksgiving feast.
• 18:33
  Speaker: Um just has a wonderful selection of sweet and savory
• 18:36
  Speaker: items on it.
• 18:37
  Speaker: Uh, there's another fun board since Halloween's not too, um,
• 18:41
  Speaker: just a few weeks away.
• 18:42
  Speaker: There's a ghost board, a ghost
• 18:44
  Speaker: snack board, and it's really
• 18:45
  Speaker: going to be a fun one for movie
• 18:47
  Speaker: nights.
• 18:48
  Speaker: Maybe with the family you're going to watch a fun Halloween
• 18:50
  Speaker: movie or before everyone goes out trick or treating.
• 18:53
  Speaker: It's filled with pretzels and
• 18:54
  Speaker: popcorn and cookies and little
• 18:57
  Speaker: things.
• 18:57
  Speaker: You can have a little sweet and
• 18:58
  Speaker: savory snack mix to enjoy, and
• 19:00
  Speaker: makes for such a cute
• 19:01
  Speaker: centerpiece for a Halloween
• 19:03
  Speaker: spread.
• 19:05
  Speaker: And then of course, for Christmas.
• 19:07
  Speaker: I just love getting really festive for Christmas.
• 19:09
  Speaker: And so there's a candy cane, a
• 19:11
  Speaker: pancake board in the book that I
• 19:14
  Speaker: love serving on Christmas
• 19:15
  Speaker: morning.
• 19:16
  Speaker: I feel like Christmas morning is
• 19:17
  Speaker: so chaotic with especially with
• 19:19
  Speaker: kids.
• 19:19
  Speaker: We've got gifts going and kids there.
• 19:21
  Speaker: And I just, you know, I used to try to make this big Christmas
• 19:24
  Speaker: morning breakfast and it was just too, too much pressure.
• 19:28
  Speaker: And I wasn't able to enjoy that special moment with my kids.
• 19:31
  Speaker: So I boards like this are really
• 19:34
  Speaker: nice because I can have the
• 19:35
  Speaker: pancakes already prepped, or you
• 19:36
  Speaker: can go with a store bought
• 19:37
  Speaker: already made pancake, heat those
• 19:40
  Speaker: up, arrange them in the candy
• 19:41
  Speaker: cane shape and then add your
• 19:43
  Speaker: fresh strawberries and
• 19:43
  Speaker: raspberries with a sprinkle of
• 19:45
  Speaker: powdered sugar.
• 19:46
  Speaker: And it just comes together so adorably and easy to serve.
• 19:50
  Speaker: And then for Christmas night, I have an antipasto Christmas tree
• 19:54
  Speaker: board that is another very simple one to bring together.
• 19:57
  Speaker: It's all about just arranging
• 19:58
  Speaker: those ingredients in the
• 19:59
  Speaker: Christmas tea tree shape, and
• 20:01
  Speaker: makes for a really nice
• 20:02
  Speaker: Christmas Eve appetizer and
• 20:05
  Speaker: where everyone can get a little
• 20:06
  Speaker: nibble of antipasto and, um, and
• 20:10
  Speaker: snack on it while you're opening
• 20:11
  Speaker: presents or just spending time
• 20:13
  Speaker: with family.
• 20:14
  Speaker: Yeah, I think it's great.
• 20:15
  Speaker: I also see in here you have a
• 20:17
  Speaker: dreidel dessert board, which is
• 20:18
  Speaker: really cute.
• 20:19
  Speaker: Oh yes.
• 20:20
  Speaker: For hot for people that celebrate Hanukkah.
• 20:22
  Speaker: But there's different types of meringues, chocolate coins, uh,
• 20:26
  Speaker: the the candy jelly beans and then, uh, other candy.
• 20:29
  Speaker: So that's a beautiful board.
• 20:31
  Speaker: Also, I love the blue, you know,
• 20:32
  Speaker: it's kind of funny in books and
• 20:34
  Speaker: in cookbooks.
• 20:34
  Speaker: I've noticed this recently and
• 20:35
  Speaker: I've got actually, I got a guest
• 20:37
  Speaker: coming up.
• 20:38
  Speaker: We're going to talk about her
• 20:39
  Speaker: book, but it's just so striking
• 20:41
  Speaker: to see blue in a photo like
• 20:43
  Speaker: that.
• 20:43
  Speaker: Yeah, yeah.
• 20:44
  Speaker: That background, we really love that.
• 20:45
  Speaker: It really brought out the blue too.
• 20:47
  Speaker: Beautiful.
• 20:48
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 20:48
  Speaker: Um, but just another simple one
• 20:50
  Speaker: of gathering some sweet treats
• 20:51
  Speaker: that you and your loved ones
• 20:53
  Speaker: would enjoy.
• 20:53
  Speaker: And arranging it in that dreidel
• 20:55
  Speaker: shape makes it just all the more
• 20:56
  Speaker: special.
• 20:57
  Speaker: And for celebrating.
• 20:59
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 20:59
  Speaker: So I thought what we might do to take a little bit of a journey
• 21:02
  Speaker: through the table of contents.
• 21:03
  Speaker: I think sometimes this might help people also to get a feel
• 21:06
  Speaker: for what the expansiveness of this book and the types of
• 21:09
  Speaker: things that are included.
• 21:10
  Speaker: Because the first thing is you start with is different boards
• 21:13
  Speaker: for breakfast and brunch.
• 21:15
  Speaker: Tell us a little bit about preparing a board for that time
• 21:18
  Speaker: of the day.
• 21:19
  Speaker: Yes.
• 21:19
  Speaker: I mean, they're my favorite ones.
• 21:21
  Speaker: I we make a breakfast board almost every weekend.
• 21:23
  Speaker: And those are just so easy because you can prep so much
• 21:26
  Speaker: ahead of time.
• 21:27
  Speaker: Sometimes if I'm doing like the loaded brunch board, I'll go
• 21:30
  Speaker: ahead and make the frittata the night before, get the cinnamon
• 21:32
  Speaker: roll bake ready to go the night before, and all I have to do is
• 21:35
  Speaker: warm that up and add everything else to the board.
• 21:38
  Speaker: And.
• 21:38
  Speaker: But then there's simple ones
• 21:40
  Speaker: like the, um, the, uh, southern
• 21:43
  Speaker: biscuit board.
• 21:44
  Speaker: Well, I can have those biscuits baking and I can get all the
• 21:47
  Speaker: meats ready and um, and put those out and everybody just
• 21:52
  Speaker: loves fixing their own biscuit, whether it's opening it up and
• 21:54
  Speaker: covering it with gravy or making a sandwich out of it.
• 21:58
  Speaker: But it's just one of those that
• 21:59
  Speaker: makes you kind of slow down in
• 22:01
  Speaker: the morning.
• 22:01
  Speaker: These breakfast boards are just that.
• 22:03
  Speaker: They bring people together.
• 22:04
  Speaker: Sometimes our mornings can be so chaotic or just so rushed, and
• 22:08
  Speaker: especially on the weekends or a holiday where it's nice to just
• 22:10
  Speaker: let everyone sit down, gather around and graze on a beautiful
• 22:15
  Speaker: breakfast board, sipping some coffee and really enjoying the
• 22:18
  Speaker: morning with each other.
• 22:19
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 22:20
  Speaker: And of course, another, um, part
• 22:22
  Speaker: of the meal that a lot of people
• 22:23
  Speaker: probably generally think about
• 22:25
  Speaker: boards being associated with is
• 22:27
  Speaker: appetizers, although you call
• 22:28
  Speaker: these appetizer or anytime
• 22:31
  Speaker: boards.
• 22:32
  Speaker: Yes, yes.
• 22:33
  Speaker: And you know, with this book,
• 22:34
  Speaker: it's so much more than
• 22:35
  Speaker: charcuterie.
• 22:36
  Speaker: I always tell people like, I
• 22:37
  Speaker: think people call everything
• 22:38
  Speaker: charcuterie boards.
• 22:39
  Speaker: And this is we have gone way
• 22:41
  Speaker: beyond that for since I've
• 22:42
  Speaker: started building boards, I took
• 22:44
  Speaker: it really to the next level with
• 22:45
  Speaker: making them for any meal, any
• 22:47
  Speaker: occasion.
• 22:48
  Speaker: But appetizers and anytime
• 22:49
  Speaker: boards, you really could have
• 22:50
  Speaker: make a meal out of these for
• 22:52
  Speaker: sure.
• 22:52
  Speaker: Some of them, like the Spanish tapas board, has shrimp on it.
• 22:56
  Speaker: It's got churros on it as well.
• 22:58
  Speaker: It's got a little bit of
• 22:59
  Speaker: everything from your little
• 23:00
  Speaker: tapas style snacking, so you
• 23:02
  Speaker: could make a full meal out of
• 23:04
  Speaker: it.
• 23:04
  Speaker: Um, and then there's of course an epic charcuterie board.
• 23:07
  Speaker: So I certainly did not leave that out.
• 23:09
  Speaker: And I give you my best tips.
• 23:11
  Speaker: I really expand on that one and
• 23:12
  Speaker: give you step by step images on
• 23:14
  Speaker: how I bring a board like that to
• 23:16
  Speaker: life using the boards method and
• 23:19
  Speaker: give you best tips on how to,
• 23:21
  Speaker: you know, shop for those
• 23:22
  Speaker: ingredients.
• 23:23
  Speaker: What cheeses and meats and and accompaniments I like the most.
• 23:26
  Speaker: And then I give you kind of a
• 23:27
  Speaker: breakdown of those
• 23:29
  Speaker: accompaniments or the combos
• 23:30
  Speaker: that people tend to enjoy the
• 23:32
  Speaker: most.
• 23:33
  Speaker: Um, and then just, you know,
• 23:35
  Speaker: other fun ones, like a global
• 23:36
  Speaker: grazing board where I touch on
• 23:38
  Speaker: several different regions, um,
• 23:40
  Speaker: and give a little bit of variety
• 23:42
  Speaker: for everyone and then encourage
• 23:43
  Speaker: you, you know, maybe you just
• 23:44
  Speaker: want to do, uh, two to three of
• 23:46
  Speaker: those regions on your grazing
• 23:48
  Speaker: board, but at least I give you
• 23:49
  Speaker: all the options so you can pick
• 23:51
  Speaker: and choose what works best for
• 23:53
  Speaker: y'all.
• 23:53
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 23:54
  Speaker: I mean, you're in the way you go
• 23:55
  Speaker: into depth on just the epic
• 23:57
  Speaker: charcuterie board is a several
• 24:00
  Speaker: page explanation.
• 24:02
  Speaker: It's wonderful.
• 24:02
  Speaker: And I think that, I mean, that
• 24:05
  Speaker: alone is worth the price of the
• 24:06
  Speaker: book.
• 24:07
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 24:07
  Speaker: It's a, it's a great, uh, but you're right.
• 24:10
  Speaker: I think that that's probably what people think about when
• 24:13
  Speaker: they think about a board, right?
• 24:15
  Speaker: Mhm.
• 24:15
  Speaker: They think charcuterie immediately.
• 24:16
  Speaker: And, and that's it is, but also, it's so much more than that.
• 24:20
  Speaker: And that's where the celebration part comes in, because you can
• 24:23
  Speaker: make a board for any occasion.
• 24:26
  Speaker: It's such an easy way to bring
• 24:28
  Speaker: people together and so
• 24:30
  Speaker: enjoyable.
• 24:31
  Speaker: And so just thinking beyond that
• 24:32
  Speaker: appetizer, charcuterie and
• 24:34
  Speaker: cheese and making them for
• 24:35
  Speaker: desserts and breakfast and lunch
• 24:37
  Speaker: and snacks or whatever occasion
• 24:40
  Speaker: that you need to bring people
• 24:41
  Speaker: together with some delicious
• 24:42
  Speaker: food.
• 24:43
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 24:43
  Speaker: And the next section then is on meals.
• 24:45
  Speaker: So this actually is boards that make a complete meal.
• 24:50
  Speaker: Tell us a little about a few of those.
• 24:51
  Speaker: They're very creative and all sound really good.
• 24:54
  Speaker: Yes.
• 24:54
  Speaker: And they're very interactive.
• 24:55
  Speaker: So one thing and where these really stemmed from early on
• 24:59
  Speaker: when I started serving boards, when our kids were young and I
• 25:02
  Speaker: and I still to this day, almost every Thursday, I make what's
• 25:05
  Speaker: called a salad board.
• 25:05
  Speaker: And so I put it in the middle of
• 25:06
  Speaker: the board, a big bowl of
• 25:08
  Speaker: lettuce, and I surround it with
• 25:09
  Speaker: items that we might have left
• 25:10
  Speaker: over from the end of the week,
• 25:12
  Speaker: like some meat, some proteins,
• 25:13
  Speaker: cheeses, vegetables, whatever we
• 25:15
  Speaker: have.
• 25:16
  Speaker: And it really got our kids into
• 25:18
  Speaker: appreciating food and liking
• 25:21
  Speaker: salads.
• 25:21
  Speaker: They order salads at chick fil A now or wherever they are.
• 25:24
  Speaker: And because of this board, and
• 25:26
  Speaker: it really brought them the
• 25:28
  Speaker: independence to build their own
• 25:29
  Speaker: plate.
• 25:29
  Speaker: And so a lot of these billboards are built off of that.
• 25:32
  Speaker: And there's a. Ramon.
• 25:33
  Speaker: Build your own ramen board where?
• 25:35
  Speaker: My is my daughter's absolute favorite.
• 25:37
  Speaker: She begs for it every single
• 25:39
  Speaker: week because she just loves
• 25:41
  Speaker: ramen.
• 25:41
  Speaker: But it also.
• 25:42
  Speaker: It gives them the opportunity to
• 25:44
  Speaker: add different vegetables and and
• 25:47
  Speaker: meats and egg and all that to
• 25:49
  Speaker: their bowl.
• 25:49
  Speaker: And once they fix it, they own it.
• 25:52
  Speaker: They don't have they won't complain to me.
• 25:53
  Speaker: I didn't give I didn't hand them the bowl with all the fun add
• 25:57
  Speaker: ins in it.
• 25:58
  Speaker: And so they really do learn to try new foods and appreciate
• 26:01
  Speaker: those foods and, and enjoy it.
• 26:04
  Speaker: And there's also build your own kind of barbecue, baked potato
• 26:07
  Speaker: boards, baked potatoes.
• 26:09
  Speaker: You can fill them with different barbecue meats, beans, cheese, a
• 26:13
  Speaker: little bit of everything.
• 26:14
  Speaker: And then one of our absolute favorites is the Mediterranean
• 26:17
  Speaker: Rice Bowl board.
• 26:19
  Speaker: I make it almost every Monday
• 26:20
  Speaker: night where we fill our own
• 26:22
  Speaker: little rice bowls, um, with rice
• 26:25
  Speaker: and chicken and chickpeas and
• 26:28
  Speaker: falafel pita.
• 26:29
  Speaker: And then we have some veggies on there to add in there, and it
• 26:33
  Speaker: just makes for such a light.
• 26:35
  Speaker: Um, delicious meal to start the week off.
• 26:38
  Speaker: And then that's pretty much all the meal.
• 26:40
  Speaker: All the meal options are build your own in some version.
• 26:43
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 26:43
  Speaker: And I think when you have a family, if you know, someone
• 26:46
  Speaker: might not like pickled onion or someone might not want jalapeno.
• 26:51
  Speaker: The beauty of a board is they can not, they just leave it off
• 26:54
  Speaker: their, um, item.
• 26:55
  Speaker: Yeah, yeah.
• 26:56
  Speaker: And I talk about that a lot too
• 26:57
  Speaker: with just entertaining in
• 26:59
  Speaker: general.
• 26:59
  Speaker: People's preferences are so um, particular these days.
• 27:03
  Speaker: And people have food allergies aversions.
• 27:06
  Speaker: There's so many things.
• 27:07
  Speaker: Of course you would want to ask if there was a major allergy
• 27:10
  Speaker: before preparing a board with things, but it gives people the
• 27:13
  Speaker: option to eat and enjoy what they want or what they can eat,
• 27:16
  Speaker: and not feel pressured to have a plate of food like a meal served
• 27:20
  Speaker: to them and feel like they're going to offend the chef or the
• 27:24
  Speaker: host if they don't enjoy it all.
• 27:26
  Speaker: And so I think people really
• 27:27
  Speaker: enjoyed this because maybe they
• 27:28
  Speaker: don't want to eat as much as
• 27:29
  Speaker: others, or maybe they are more
• 27:31
  Speaker: hungry.
• 27:32
  Speaker: Or maybe they don't like cheese or meat or whatever it may be.
• 27:34
  Speaker: And so it just really gives people the comfort of being able
• 27:38
  Speaker: to enjoy a meal with each other without the pressure of having
• 27:43
  Speaker: to eat everything that's served.
• 27:45
  Speaker: Right.
• 27:46
  Speaker: Right.
• 27:46
  Speaker: And you have a whole chapter
• 27:47
  Speaker: then not just holiday focused
• 27:50
  Speaker: ones, but entertaining and
• 27:52
  Speaker: special occasions.
• 27:52
  Speaker: Everything from maybe a tea
• 27:54
  Speaker: party to, yeah, the slider snack
• 27:56
  Speaker: stadium board.
• 27:57
  Speaker: Tell us a little bit about your thought behind that chapter.
• 28:00
  Speaker: Yes.
• 28:01
  Speaker: It just kind of goes into making
• 28:03
  Speaker: those special occasions even
• 28:05
  Speaker: more special, even more
• 28:06
  Speaker: memorable.
• 28:07
  Speaker: Um, like a book club board I have in here and it's one of my
• 28:10
  Speaker: favorites because of course, you know, you gather around, you're
• 28:13
  Speaker: usually wanting to have some nibbles to enjoy while you're
• 28:15
  Speaker: discussing the book.
• 28:16
  Speaker: And this one, I shaped its sandwiches and I shaped them,
• 28:19
  Speaker: um, like a bookworm.
• 28:21
  Speaker: And I put a circle of Brie for
• 28:24
  Speaker: the head of the little, um, worm
• 28:27
  Speaker: shape.
• 28:28
  Speaker: And with I've got these little
• 28:29
  Speaker: tiny, like doll glasses and put
• 28:31
  Speaker: on it.
• 28:31
  Speaker: It just makes it so cute.
• 28:33
  Speaker: I turn Fig Newtons into.
• 28:34
  Speaker: I decorated them to look like little books.
• 28:37
  Speaker: Um, but it's it's one of those that people can graze on.
• 28:39
  Speaker: They can grab a sandwich.
• 28:41
  Speaker: There's fresh veggies and chips
• 28:43
  Speaker: and nuts, and they can just have
• 28:44
  Speaker: a little nibble of everything
• 28:47
  Speaker: while they, while they're
• 28:48
  Speaker: hanging out and discussing the
• 28:49
  Speaker: book.
• 28:50
  Speaker: So it's, you know, so simple to think of, but it makes the
• 28:54
  Speaker: occasion all the more joyable.
• 28:56
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 28:57
  Speaker: Um, and then there's like a pool party snack board.
• 28:59
  Speaker: So it's just arranging lots.
• 29:00
  Speaker: It's basically a fruit platter with a yogurt dip in the middle.
• 29:03
  Speaker: But I organize the fruits and
• 29:05
  Speaker: colors around a circular
• 29:07
  Speaker: platter.
• 29:08
  Speaker: And it just, it's that kind of like eating the rainbow.
• 29:11
  Speaker: Um, and really it's in the end,
• 29:13
  Speaker: it's really playing with your
• 29:14
  Speaker: food.
• 29:15
  Speaker: I know we're taught not to play with our food, but I, my kids
• 29:18
  Speaker: know that I, I encourage you to play with your food in a
• 29:21
  Speaker: positive way like this.
• 29:22
  Speaker: So it really shows how much, um, beauty there is in food.
• 29:27
  Speaker: I just amazing.
• 29:28
  Speaker: I tell people there's no wrong way to build a board.
• 29:30
  Speaker: I promise you, if you get a
• 29:32
  Speaker: variety of foods, a beautiful
• 29:34
  Speaker: selection of fresh foods and
• 29:36
  Speaker: arrange them on a board, all
• 29:37
  Speaker: those colors and textures and
• 29:39
  Speaker: flavors will really make it so
• 29:41
  Speaker: beautiful.
• 29:41
  Speaker: You just can't go wrong.
• 29:43
  Speaker: Yeah, that's for sure.
• 29:44
  Speaker: And you also mentioned you do
• 29:47
  Speaker: have something for Thanksgiving
• 29:48
  Speaker: now.
• 29:48
  Speaker: I think people would think, oh gosh, there's no way I'd do a
• 29:52
  Speaker: Thanksgiving meal board.
• 29:54
  Speaker: But you do have a Thanksgiving focus board.
• 29:57
  Speaker: Tell us a little bit about that.
• 29:58
  Speaker: Yeah, I love this one.
• 29:59
  Speaker: It's a turkey sandwich board.
• 30:01
  Speaker: And I feel like Thanksgiving now this has really kind of evolved.
• 30:05
  Speaker: Like there's so many people who really love Friendsgiving or
• 30:08
  Speaker: they love getting together on a more casual basis rather than
• 30:12
  Speaker: doing the full feast.
• 30:14
  Speaker: And, you know, I feel like we
• 30:15
  Speaker: have with our family, we have
• 30:17
  Speaker: about five different
• 30:17
  Speaker: Thanksgivings.
• 30:18
  Speaker: By the time we hit up all the in-laws and all the friends.
• 30:21
  Speaker: And so this is one of those that you can just come, it comes
• 30:24
  Speaker: together really simply.
• 30:25
  Speaker: It can be used with leftovers, or you can bring it to your
• 30:29
  Speaker: Friendsgiving or just a casual gathering with friends.
• 30:32
  Speaker: Um, but it's a turkey sandwich board.
• 30:33
  Speaker: It's got little, um, rolls, like those kinds of wine rolls as
• 30:38
  Speaker: part of the feathers.
• 30:39
  Speaker: And then a variety of you got
• 30:41
  Speaker: your turkey cheese, tomatoes,
• 30:43
  Speaker: pickles, onions, lettuce,
• 30:45
  Speaker: endive, um, the spreads, little
• 30:48
  Speaker: gravy.
• 30:49
  Speaker: Um, and then I use a pear for the face.
• 30:52
  Speaker: And so it's just more arranging all the ingredients in a build
• 30:55
  Speaker: your own sandwich style board.
• 30:57
  Speaker: Um, and those have been some of my most popular boards over the
• 30:59
  Speaker: years to are my build your own sandwich boards because it does
• 31:02
  Speaker: let everyone kind of pick and choose what they want.
• 31:05
  Speaker: Um, and this one's just so perfect for that.
• 31:07
  Speaker: It's adorable.
• 31:08
  Speaker: Um, and it's fresh and it's
• 31:10
  Speaker: delicious and so easy to bring
• 31:12
  Speaker: together.
• 31:13
  Speaker: Yeah, they look great.
• 31:14
  Speaker: And you did not leave out desserts and drinks.
• 31:17
  Speaker: And I'd like to talk about those
• 31:19
  Speaker: separately because desserts are
• 31:20
  Speaker: one thing, but it's neat how you
• 31:22
  Speaker: have a board for espresso
• 31:24
  Speaker: martinis and you have a board
• 31:26
  Speaker: for Mocktails.
• 31:27
  Speaker: Yes.
• 31:29
  Speaker: So fun.
• 31:29
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 31:29
  Speaker: Drink boards are just so interactive and at least
• 31:32
  Speaker: everyone can get creative.
• 31:35
  Speaker: And some people have never mixed their own cocktail or they've
• 31:37
  Speaker: never mixed their own drinks.
• 31:38
  Speaker: So it really, it creates
• 31:40
  Speaker: conversation and it lets people
• 31:42
  Speaker: kind of get excited about what
• 31:43
  Speaker: they're making.
• 31:45
  Speaker: And also you can help each other out and like, oh, I really like
• 31:47
  Speaker: this combo or that combo.
• 31:49
  Speaker: And the great thing is I give you some recipe inspiration in
• 31:53
  Speaker: here so you can print that out or, or have it open when you're
• 31:56
  Speaker: serving this board so that people have the different
• 31:58
  Speaker: recipes that I, um, have tested and that are tried and true
• 32:02
  Speaker: delicious options for different espresso martini combinations as
• 32:06
  Speaker: well as different fun mocktails.
• 32:08
  Speaker: So, um, but the mocktail one in itself is just so beautiful.
• 32:13
  Speaker: It's so fresh and people love fresh drinks right now.
• 32:17
  Speaker: They're just such a great way to, um, serve drinks that people
• 32:22
  Speaker: love getting creative with them.
• 32:23
  Speaker: And these are all like really
• 32:24
  Speaker: fruity and fun and would make
• 32:26
  Speaker: for such a fun summer party
• 32:28
  Speaker: board.
• 32:29
  Speaker: Yeah, and this is the gift giving time of year.
• 32:32
  Speaker: Time when we're not only
• 32:34
  Speaker: thinking about foods that we're
• 32:35
  Speaker: going to serve our guests, but
• 32:37
  Speaker: maybe gifts that we are going to
• 32:39
  Speaker: give people on our gift giving
• 32:41
  Speaker: list.
• 32:42
  Speaker: And I think this book would make a perfect gift.
• 32:46
  Speaker: Yes, it is such a great gift.
• 32:48
  Speaker: People just tell me all the time
• 32:50
  Speaker: that they gifted it to someone,
• 32:51
  Speaker: and that they still just talk
• 32:53
  Speaker: about how great it is, how much
• 32:54
  Speaker: they use it, and what a resource
• 32:56
  Speaker: it is.
• 32:56
  Speaker: People love displaying it in
• 32:58
  Speaker: their kitchens, opening it on
• 33:00
  Speaker: those special holidays in their
• 33:02
  Speaker: kitchen as like a as a display,
• 33:05
  Speaker: but also using it to make boards
• 33:08
  Speaker: and create special occasions and
• 33:09
  Speaker: celebrations with their loved
• 33:10
  Speaker: ones.
• 33:11
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 33:11
  Speaker: And you also have a chapter in the book about how to give a
• 33:15
  Speaker: board as a gift.
• 33:17
  Speaker: Now talk us through that a little bit because to me, it
• 33:20
  Speaker: might or it might sound like, gosh, won't things fall off?
• 33:23
  Speaker: How will they stay fresh.
• 33:25
  Speaker: But what are your ideas for giving a board as a gift?
• 33:28
  Speaker: Yes.
• 33:28
  Speaker: I mean, there's so many
• 33:29
  Speaker: occasions where you kind of want
• 33:30
  Speaker: to take someone or where you do
• 33:31
  Speaker: want to take someone, something
• 33:33
  Speaker: a little different or something
• 33:34
  Speaker: that's brings them a little more
• 33:35
  Speaker: comfort and that they'll
• 33:36
  Speaker: actually use and enjoy in the
• 33:38
  Speaker: moment.
• 33:38
  Speaker: Like our neighbor just had a baby.
• 33:40
  Speaker: And so I'm preparing a, um, a little board to take to them
• 33:44
  Speaker: kind of a comfort and care board for a new mom and a busy family.
• 33:48
  Speaker: And so I put in there like some fresh baked banana bread, some
• 33:51
  Speaker: little energy bites for the mom, some fresh fruit for the other
• 33:56
  Speaker: siblings, and just some, like little things that they can
• 34:00
  Speaker: enjoy and snack on to make their lives a little bit easier.
• 34:03
  Speaker: And that could be also like a
• 34:05
  Speaker: welcome home board or
• 34:06
  Speaker: housewarming board.
• 34:08
  Speaker: And I serve them in little baskets.
• 34:09
  Speaker: I find these little baskets at
• 34:11
  Speaker: like a craft store or even a
• 34:13
  Speaker: target or Michaels or whatever,
• 34:15
  Speaker: and I put a nice tea towel in
• 34:17
  Speaker: there and then fill it with
• 34:18
  Speaker: those ingredients.
• 34:20
  Speaker: Um, so that when you gift it to them, it's just such a special
• 34:24
  Speaker: gift that's so different from your candle or, um, bottle of
• 34:30
  Speaker: wine that most people bring when they're coming to your house for
• 34:34
  Speaker: a certain occasion.
• 34:35
  Speaker: Yeah, they look wonderful.
• 34:36
  Speaker: And I know that one thing you
• 34:38
  Speaker: encourage is getting your kids
• 34:40
  Speaker: involved in making the boards if
• 34:41
  Speaker: it's appropriate.
• 34:42
  Speaker: So tell us a little bit about
• 34:44
  Speaker: your tips for involving the
• 34:45
  Speaker: family.
• 34:46
  Speaker: Yes.
• 34:47
  Speaker: I mean, I really appreciate how
• 34:50
  Speaker: much my kids have gotten in the
• 34:52
  Speaker: kitchen over the years because
• 34:53
  Speaker: I've let them get in there and
• 34:55
  Speaker: just get creative and play with
• 34:56
  Speaker: their food, like we talked
• 34:57
  Speaker: about.
• 34:57
  Speaker: Um, and it's just letting them
• 34:59
  Speaker: come in there and kind of start
• 35:00
  Speaker: small, letting them, letting
• 35:02
  Speaker: them get creative with the foods
• 35:03
  Speaker: and the board that I kind of
• 35:05
  Speaker: encourage or that I do encourage
• 35:07
  Speaker: in the book is putting out a
• 35:08
  Speaker: selection of snacks and fresh
• 35:11
  Speaker: foods and ingredients that you
• 35:12
  Speaker: have on hand and letting your
• 35:13
  Speaker: kids really build their own
• 35:14
  Speaker: board.
• 35:15
  Speaker: And it gives them, they, they
• 35:17
  Speaker: can recognize colors and flavors
• 35:19
  Speaker: and textures, and you encourage
• 35:21
  Speaker: them to pick different items and
• 35:23
  Speaker: maybe tell them to get creative
• 35:24
  Speaker: and build it into a certain
• 35:25
  Speaker: shape or cut things into certain
• 35:27
  Speaker: shapes.
• 35:27
  Speaker: It's it makes the process just
• 35:29
  Speaker: so interactive for the kids and
• 35:31
  Speaker: it makes them, helps them to, to
• 35:33
  Speaker: develop those skills of building
• 35:36
  Speaker: up into cooking one day and to
• 35:38
  Speaker: appreciating the food that
• 35:39
  Speaker: they're, that they have on their
• 35:41
  Speaker: plates.
• 35:42
  Speaker: And so, and it just makes for such a fun experience when the
• 35:46
  Speaker: kids are involved.
• 35:47
  Speaker: What's your experience been with letting your children get
• 35:50
  Speaker: involved in that and the types of and expansion of food that
• 35:53
  Speaker: they're willing to eat?
• 35:55
  Speaker: Oh yes.
• 35:56
  Speaker: They, I mean, like I said, my daughter, she's ten and she is a
• 35:59
  Speaker: huge into all Asian foods, but ramen, um, dumplings, sushi,
• 36:05
  Speaker: they'll eat it all just because we've, we've exposed them to a
• 36:09
  Speaker: lot of that over the years.
• 36:11
  Speaker: They're not afraid to have like sauces on their, on their foods.
• 36:15
  Speaker: They're not afraid to have a garnish of an herb.
• 36:17
  Speaker: Um, they're always curious about, you know, what it is.
• 36:20
  Speaker: Now certainly they can be stubborn sometimes.
• 36:22
  Speaker: I have three teen boys who like
• 36:25
  Speaker: to like to just press those
• 36:27
  Speaker: buttons enough to to, to
• 36:29
  Speaker: aggravate me.
• 36:30
  Speaker: But deep down you can see the
• 36:31
  Speaker: smile on their face when they
• 36:32
  Speaker: try something new that we've
• 36:34
  Speaker: made.
• 36:35
  Speaker: Or if we have a build your own style board that they're over
• 36:38
  Speaker: there having like all these fun little new foods on there in
• 36:42
  Speaker: their bowl or in their on their taco or whatever that may be.
• 36:45
  Speaker: I'm like, I just don't say anything.
• 36:46
  Speaker: And I let them enjoy it.
• 36:48
  Speaker: And it just helps them develop into a more broad eater and
• 36:53
  Speaker: really appreciate how lucky we are to have such an amazing
• 36:56
  Speaker: selection of food all the time.
• 36:58
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 36:58
  Speaker: And if you think about a food as a parent that you like, I could
• 37:02
  Speaker: imagine if it's something that does have a lot of different
• 37:05
  Speaker: parts to it, you could actually think about how you might break
• 37:10
  Speaker: it down and present it on a board, and then let them put the
• 37:14
  Speaker: toppings on it that they want.
• 37:15
  Speaker: It could be anything.
• 37:16
  Speaker: It might be you mentioned tacos, but I'm even thinking like, um,
• 37:20
  Speaker: spaghetti and meatballs?
• 37:21
  Speaker: Yes.
• 37:22
  Speaker: Maybe there's mushrooms in it sometimes.
• 37:24
  Speaker: Maybe there's peppers in it sometimes.
• 37:25
  Speaker: And you're like, oh, I don't know if they'll eat the sauce
• 37:27
  Speaker: with that in it.
• 37:28
  Speaker: But if you have them on a board, then they can decide, but they
• 37:31
  Speaker: also get to taste it.
• 37:34
  Speaker: It's not flavored that way for everybody, but it's so neat.
• 37:37
  Speaker: I think also for them to even
• 37:38
  Speaker: visualize what goes into
• 37:40
  Speaker: something.
• 37:40
  Speaker: Yeah, absolutely.
• 37:42
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 37:42
  Speaker: We do a lot of build your own pasta, um, boards.
• 37:45
  Speaker: I just break it all out and let
• 37:46
  Speaker: everyone pick and choose what
• 37:48
  Speaker: they want.
• 37:48
  Speaker: And, and another one that's
• 37:50
  Speaker: great for that is a baked potato
• 37:51
  Speaker: board.
• 37:51
  Speaker: Oh yeah.
• 37:52
  Speaker: And not not just the barbecue one, but just really anything
• 37:55
  Speaker: you have on hand.
• 37:55
  Speaker: Sometimes I'll put peas out there.
• 37:57
  Speaker: I'll put different cheeses out there.
• 37:59
  Speaker: Um, maybe a spicy cheese and tell them like, hey, you might
• 38:02
  Speaker: like that on there.
• 38:04
  Speaker: Um, ground turkey, like different.
• 38:06
  Speaker: Just we try to kind of like mix
• 38:07
  Speaker: it up to let them try those
• 38:09
  Speaker: foods so that when they are
• 38:10
  Speaker: introduced to them, um, it's not
• 38:12
  Speaker: a shock.
• 38:13
  Speaker: It's, it's really like, oh, you did try that and it's okay if
• 38:16
  Speaker: you don't like it, maybe you'll like it next time.
• 38:18
  Speaker: We'll try it again.
• 38:19
  Speaker: Right, right.
• 38:19
  Speaker: I think they say it maybe takes
• 38:21
  Speaker: several exposures for someone to
• 38:24
  Speaker: actually say that they don't
• 38:26
  Speaker: like it.
• 38:26
  Speaker: They may not like it at first,
• 38:28
  Speaker: but we can develop a taste for
• 38:30
  Speaker: things.
• 38:30
  Speaker: I think our taste buds have to mature and they have to grow and
• 38:33
  Speaker: they have to develop and form.
• 38:34
  Speaker: And I think that it's important
• 38:36
  Speaker: to let them taste different
• 38:38
  Speaker: things.
• 38:38
  Speaker: And if they think they might try this spicy and they might like
• 38:41
  Speaker: it, it's not going to hurt them to give it a try.
• 38:43
  Speaker: Yeah, yeah.
• 38:44
  Speaker: They can see if it's something that appeals to them or not.
• 38:47
  Speaker: Um it's great.
• 38:48
  Speaker: I think it encourages, uh, like you said, a breadth of food, a
• 38:53
  Speaker: variety of foods that these boards can actually present and
• 38:56
  Speaker: plus the colors.
• 38:56
  Speaker: I mean, it's just a, just
• 38:59
  Speaker: looking at the photos in the
• 39:00
  Speaker: book, I mean, so many colors in
• 39:02
  Speaker: the food and that's food and
• 39:03
  Speaker: food in of itself is naturally
• 39:05
  Speaker: beautiful.
• 39:06
  Speaker: And so I think just seeing that
• 39:08
  Speaker: and appreciating that is so
• 39:09
  Speaker: important.
• 39:10
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 39:11
  Speaker: So lest everybody thinks this
• 39:13
  Speaker: book is just about descriptions
• 39:14
  Speaker: of boards, there is a whole
• 39:15
  Speaker: section of recipes for some of
• 39:18
  Speaker: the things that would go on the
• 39:19
  Speaker: boards.
• 39:19
  Speaker: Now, I could see if someone's doing a barbecue.
• 39:23
  Speaker: Uh, the baked potato.
• 39:24
  Speaker: Potato board with the barbecue.
• 39:26
  Speaker: They could buy chopped brisket.
• 39:28
  Speaker: They could buy smoked chicken.
• 39:30
  Speaker: They could buy, um, some grilled
• 39:32
  Speaker: sausage or they could grill it
• 39:33
  Speaker: very easily.
• 39:34
  Speaker: You're not, like, encouraging everyone to always make
• 39:37
  Speaker: everything from scratch.
• 39:38
  Speaker: But there are things that you
• 39:40
  Speaker: actually make kind of board
• 39:41
  Speaker: sized portions.
• 39:43
  Speaker: And one of the things that struck me was, how did you make
• 39:46
  Speaker: those mini cinnamon rolls?
• 39:48
  Speaker: Oh, many of the boards there are
• 39:49
  Speaker: teeny little cinnamon rolls and
• 39:51
  Speaker: these little pans, and they're
• 39:52
  Speaker: so cute.
• 39:52
  Speaker: But I'm like, how what's the process for that?
• 39:55
  Speaker: So I see here, it's in the recipe chapter.
• 39:57
  Speaker: Why don't you tell everybody a
• 39:58
  Speaker: little bit about your mini
• 39:59
  Speaker: cinnamon rolls?
• 40:00
  Speaker: Well, those are one of my most popular recipes in general.
• 40:03
  Speaker: I share those a lot in different variations on social media and
• 40:08
  Speaker: on my blog.
• 40:08
  Speaker: But it's, it's a super hack.
• 40:11
  Speaker: It's a cinnamon roll hack is what I like to call it.
• 40:13
  Speaker: But you take the grains like
• 40:15
  Speaker: unraveled a bowl, um, cinnamon
• 40:18
  Speaker: roll.
• 40:19
  Speaker: And you cut them into smaller strips and then you roll them up
• 40:22
  Speaker: into little mini, um, versions of a cinnamon roll.
• 40:25
  Speaker: You don't even have to make it from scratch.
• 40:26
  Speaker: And they're delicious.
• 40:27
  Speaker: Everybody loves them.
• 40:28
  Speaker: Um, and putting them together,
• 40:30
  Speaker: either in a baking dish like I
• 40:32
  Speaker: do on the epic, um, or the
• 40:34
  Speaker: loaded brunch board where they
• 40:35
  Speaker: all bake together nice and
• 40:36
  Speaker: gooey, or I separate them out
• 40:39
  Speaker: into mini muffin pans and bake
• 40:40
  Speaker: them individually like I do on
• 40:42
  Speaker: the kids, um, pajama party
• 40:43
  Speaker: board.
• 40:44
  Speaker: So those are just so fun because they're bite sized.
• 40:46
  Speaker: And you'll see that a lot throughout the book is, you
• 40:48
  Speaker: know, most of the items on these boards are bite sized so that
• 40:51
  Speaker: people can approach it and take a bite or two of this or that
• 40:55
  Speaker: and not be committed to a huge portion of anything.
• 40:58
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 40:58
  Speaker: That's right.
• 40:58
  Speaker: And then they can just pick up the little cinnamon roll.
• 41:01
  Speaker: They can have a few of the other
• 41:02
  Speaker: things and it makes it a little
• 41:03
  Speaker: bit of a complete, uh, dish
• 41:06
  Speaker: there.
• 41:06
  Speaker: You even have the churro recipe in here.
• 41:08
  Speaker: Oh, yes.
• 41:09
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 41:09
  Speaker: And you can I encourage you to
• 41:10
  Speaker: either, you know, make those
• 41:11
  Speaker: homemade or you can buy them
• 41:12
  Speaker: store bought.
• 41:13
  Speaker: They have plenty of great options in the freezer section
• 41:15
  Speaker: of the grocery store.
• 41:16
  Speaker: So I really want people to approach this or feel like they
• 41:19
  Speaker: can do this without having to make everything from scratch.
• 41:23
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 41:23
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 41:24
  Speaker: And then I think also that can help with the affordability.
• 41:27
  Speaker: Also depending you could compare
• 41:28
  Speaker: the price if it's better to, you
• 41:30
  Speaker: know, buy a prepared cheese ball
• 41:32
  Speaker: or to make the one you have in
• 41:33
  Speaker: here, all the well, the one you
• 41:34
  Speaker: have in the book is so cute
• 41:36
  Speaker: because it looks like a golf
• 41:37
  Speaker: ball and it goes on the the
• 41:39
  Speaker: party cheese board for with a
• 41:41
  Speaker: golf theme.
• 41:43
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 41:43
  Speaker: And it's so delicious.
• 41:44
  Speaker: It's made with like, um, all different flavors.
• 41:46
  Speaker: We got parmesan mozzarella in there, a little Worcestershire
• 41:50
  Speaker: sauce for flavor, garlic onion.
• 41:52
  Speaker: It is so flavorful and of course looks adorable as a golf ball.
• 41:56
  Speaker: But you can make it, um, without the little indentions and make
• 42:01
  Speaker: it into a snowball if you want.
• 42:02
  Speaker: So and really, uh, so inspiring.
• 42:05
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 42:06
  Speaker: It's wonderful.
• 42:07
  Speaker: So, uh, any last tips, final
• 42:10
  Speaker: tips you can think of as people
• 42:12
  Speaker: are thinking about the holiday
• 42:15
  Speaker: season?
• 42:16
  Speaker: Yeah, I mean, I would just say have fun with it.
• 42:18
  Speaker: I don't take a board building does not have to be perfect.
• 42:21
  Speaker: You don't have to take it seriously.
• 42:22
  Speaker: I promise you, once you start
• 42:24
  Speaker: building boards, um, it becomes
• 42:26
  Speaker: just so enjoyable and fun for
• 42:29
  Speaker: everyone and you'll just find
• 42:31
  Speaker: that it makes entertaining so
• 42:33
  Speaker: much easier.
• 42:33
  Speaker: So I just say, just start build
• 42:36
  Speaker: one here, build one there, make
• 42:37
  Speaker: it your own and serve it and
• 42:39
  Speaker: just see how much, um, how many
• 42:42
  Speaker: delicious memories you create
• 42:44
  Speaker: with it.
• 42:44
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 42:45
  Speaker: That's great.
• 42:45
  Speaker: So, um, as we're starting to wrap up, one thing I like to ask
• 42:50
  Speaker: all of my guests when we think about cookbooks and writing
• 42:54
  Speaker: cookbooks and sharing cookbooks is about the role that cookbooks
• 42:58
  Speaker: have played in your own life.
• 43:00
  Speaker: Um, tell us a little bit about that.
• 43:02
  Speaker: And if you have any favorite cookbook that has joined you on
• 43:05
  Speaker: the journey in your own kitchen?
• 43:07
  Speaker: Yes.
• 43:08
  Speaker: I, as a kid collected cookbooks.
• 43:10
  Speaker: I grew up, my mom was a home teacher.
• 43:12
  Speaker: So if you can imagine what our At home?
• 43:15
  Speaker: Um. Everything was very.
• 43:17
  Speaker: You know, the kitchen was the heart of our home then.
• 43:19
  Speaker: And it still is today in my own home.
• 43:21
  Speaker: But, um, I loved cookbooks.
• 43:23
  Speaker: I loved reading them.
• 43:24
  Speaker: I loved tabbing them with different recipes.
• 43:26
  Speaker: And I, of course love trying the recipes as a kid.
• 43:29
  Speaker: As I grew and my confidence in
• 43:30
  Speaker: the kitchen, I can always
• 43:32
  Speaker: remember that red and white
• 43:34
  Speaker: checkered Better Homes and
• 43:35
  Speaker: Gardens Cookbook was just one of
• 43:37
  Speaker: my favorites because it was so
• 43:38
  Speaker: organized, it had tabs already
• 43:40
  Speaker: in it.
• 43:40
  Speaker: It had each, you know, section
• 43:42
  Speaker: of cooking broken down, lots of
• 43:44
  Speaker: great images and just
• 43:45
  Speaker: educational.
• 43:46
  Speaker: And so I really found that kind
• 43:47
  Speaker: of as a cookbook nerd back then,
• 43:49
  Speaker: um, just so exciting to be able
• 43:53
  Speaker: to open it and just have
• 43:54
  Speaker: everything I needed to make a
• 43:55
  Speaker: recipe.
• 43:56
  Speaker: And, you know, those are, that cookbook has some of the most
• 43:58
  Speaker: simple recipes and basics in it, but you got to start somewhere.
• 44:01
  Speaker: So I certainly, um, appreciated that.
• 44:05
  Speaker: But I would check out cookbooks
• 44:08
  Speaker: from the library as a kid, you
• 44:09
  Speaker: know, I would any chance I would
• 44:11
  Speaker: get to get my hands on a
• 44:12
  Speaker: cookbook?
• 44:12
  Speaker: I would, and I would always like, try to tell my parents
• 44:15
  Speaker: like that counts as my reading time, you know, doesn't it?
• 44:18
  Speaker: When they were like, you really need to be reading.
• 44:20
  Speaker: I'm like, I'm reading a cookbook.
• 44:22
  Speaker: Yeah, there's a story there.
• 44:23
  Speaker: And a lot of it is, and I, yeah,
• 44:26
  Speaker: I talk about that a lot with my
• 44:27
  Speaker: kids too.
• 44:28
  Speaker: Like writing a recipe is very,
• 44:30
  Speaker: um, detailed and it requires a
• 44:33
  Speaker: lot of skill and attention to
• 44:35
  Speaker: detail and thinking to make sure
• 44:37
  Speaker: everything works.
• 44:39
  Speaker: So yeah, so I would say that and then I, you know, really, I go
• 44:42
  Speaker: back to like one of the very first cookbooks I actually
• 44:45
  Speaker: created that's not on the market is when my sister got married in
• 44:48
  Speaker: two thousand and three, two thousand and three.
• 44:51
  Speaker: I worked for the whole year.
• 44:53
  Speaker: They were engaged on a family cookbook.
• 44:55
  Speaker: And so I created this, um,
• 44:57
  Speaker: family cookbook and I had it
• 44:58
  Speaker: printed.
• 44:59
  Speaker: Um, and we still, I still have it today.
• 45:01
  Speaker: It has um, little marks on it.
• 45:03
  Speaker: They, they updated my mom and my sister a little bit when I got
• 45:05
  Speaker: married a few years later.
• 45:07
  Speaker: And then, and so I think one of my like goals or passions will
• 45:10
  Speaker: be to really make that one, Um, a true like cookbook with images
• 45:15
  Speaker: for each one.
• 45:16
  Speaker: So I just have such a, an
• 45:18
  Speaker: appreciation for a cookbook and
• 45:20
  Speaker: what it takes to bring it to
• 45:21
  Speaker: life.
• 45:21
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 45:21
  Speaker: It's wonderful.
• 45:22
  Speaker: And I know I told you before we started the recording that many
• 45:25
  Speaker: people that listen to this show are aspiring cookbook authors.
• 45:28
  Speaker: They want to write a cookbook of their own.
• 45:30
  Speaker: And I wondered if you had any
• 45:32
  Speaker: tips as we're wrapping up, that
• 45:34
  Speaker: you might share with them about
• 45:36
  Speaker: your life, not just as a food
• 45:37
  Speaker: blogger and someone who does
• 45:39
  Speaker: video, but about someone who
• 45:40
  Speaker: actually was able to harness
• 45:43
  Speaker: some of that and put it into a
• 45:44
  Speaker: book.
• 45:45
  Speaker: Um, what, what habits or rituals or routines really worked well
• 45:49
  Speaker: for your book writing?
• 45:51
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 45:51
  Speaker: I mean, I think you just have to
• 45:52
  Speaker: like lock in and focus on it and
• 45:54
  Speaker: just really make sure that you
• 45:56
  Speaker: are passionate about what you're
• 45:57
  Speaker: creating and that you are very
• 46:00
  Speaker: detailed in every step of the
• 46:01
  Speaker: way.
• 46:02
  Speaker: It takes a village, certainly to bring a cookbook to life and
• 46:05
  Speaker: many of hours and sleepless nights and lots of food and
• 46:10
  Speaker: testing and editing.
• 46:12
  Speaker: Um, but I think if you're truly
• 46:14
  Speaker: passionate about what you're
• 46:16
  Speaker: sharing in that book, um, and
• 46:18
  Speaker: you're willing to put in the
• 46:21
  Speaker: effort and the time and the
• 46:23
  Speaker: detail that it takes to bring it
• 46:25
  Speaker: to life.
• 46:25
  Speaker: It is so worth it.
• 46:27
  Speaker: It's something that you and
• 46:28
  Speaker: others will be able to use and
• 46:30
  Speaker: cherish forever.
• 46:31
  Speaker: So that's what's so special
• 46:33
  Speaker: about a cookbook is that it is
• 46:34
  Speaker: forever.
• 46:35
  Speaker: Um, and it's out there and people can enjoy it.
• 46:38
  Speaker: And, um, you should be so proud of it for sure.
• 46:42
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 46:42
  Speaker: And when you think about publishing, uh, and you
• 46:46
  Speaker: mentioned the work that goes into it, that's all very true.
• 46:49
  Speaker: What was it like for you and
• 46:50
  Speaker: your experience working with a
• 46:51
  Speaker: team of people, though, who put
• 46:53
  Speaker: cookbook together?
• 46:54
  Speaker: Yeah, it's a labor of love.
• 46:55
  Speaker: Um, and it's grown over the four cookbooks.
• 46:57
  Speaker: So that's one thing.
• 46:58
  Speaker: Like the first one, I was so clueless.
• 47:00
  Speaker: Um, even though my first cookbook is like a unicorn, it's
• 47:03
  Speaker: still out there.
• 47:04
  Speaker: It's in five different languages.
• 47:05
  Speaker: It's still sold, but I was clueless.
• 47:08
  Speaker: I mean, I just tried to do it all on my own.
• 47:10
  Speaker: I had a photographer, but that was it.
• 47:11
  Speaker: I didn't have any, you know,
• 47:12
  Speaker: food stylist or, um, I help
• 47:16
  Speaker: people helping me and I finally
• 47:18
  Speaker: like second week of
• 47:19
  Speaker: photographing.
• 47:20
  Speaker: I was like, I need help.
• 47:21
  Speaker: So I had some friends come help.
• 47:22
  Speaker: And so each cookbook, I've kind
• 47:24
  Speaker: of built my team a little bit
• 47:25
  Speaker: more, a little bit more to so
• 47:26
  Speaker: that I, so I can take a deep
• 47:28
  Speaker: breath and enjoy the process and
• 47:30
  Speaker: really pay attention to those
• 47:31
  Speaker: areas where I need to be the
• 47:32
  Speaker: most involved.
• 47:34
  Speaker: And so, um, yeah, I think it does.
• 47:36
  Speaker: It's learning to like find those
• 47:39
  Speaker: people who are experts in
• 47:41
  Speaker: certain areas of bringing the
• 47:42
  Speaker: cookbook to life and really
• 47:43
  Speaker: relying on them and trusting
• 47:44
  Speaker: them to help you bring it to
• 47:45
  Speaker: life.
• 47:46
  Speaker: Right.
• 47:46
  Speaker: And I think that, um, with the team, it certainly isn't
• 47:49
  Speaker: necessary that the author knows how to do it all.
• 47:52
  Speaker: That's why you have other people on the team who know who they
• 47:54
  Speaker: can excel in, what they do.
• 47:56
  Speaker: It sounds to me like what you told me.
• 47:58
  Speaker: You've been with the same publisher since the first book.
• 48:01
  Speaker: First book?
• 48:01
  Speaker: Yes.
• 48:02
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 48:02
  Speaker: My publisher, same publisher.
• 48:04
  Speaker: She reached out to me on Instagram, um, asking about my
• 48:07
  Speaker: interest in a cookbook.
• 48:08
  Speaker: And then we just, um, have just
• 48:10
  Speaker: had a strong relationship ever
• 48:12
  Speaker: since.
• 48:12
  Speaker: And they, they have so much
• 48:14
  Speaker: trust in me, which I really
• 48:15
  Speaker: appreciate.
• 48:15
  Speaker: And then they bring so much expertise to the process as
• 48:19
  Speaker: well, which I trust them so much when it comes to helping edit
• 48:22
  Speaker: and design and all of that that goes into it.
• 48:26
  Speaker: It's it takes years to bring a cookbook to life.
• 48:28
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 48:29
  Speaker: It does.
• 48:29
  Speaker: You gotta really trust the
• 48:30
  Speaker: people you're working with and,
• 48:32
  Speaker: and be able to communicate a lot
• 48:34
  Speaker: often.
• 48:35
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 48:35
  Speaker: A book is forever.
• 48:36
  Speaker: I, I have to think in some ways.
• 48:38
  Speaker: I mean, I guess blogging, what's the, what's on the digital like
• 48:43
  Speaker: in the digital world is forever too, because we always, you
• 48:47
  Speaker: know, know that things just they don't like go away.
• 48:50
  Speaker: But there's something about the
• 48:51
  Speaker: tactile, um, tangible version of
• 48:53
  Speaker: a book in the kitchen that does
• 48:55
  Speaker: have legs.
• 48:56
  Speaker: And I think that, uh, what's it
• 48:58
  Speaker: mean to your children for you to
• 48:59
  Speaker: not only have the blog, but the
• 49:01
  Speaker: books also.
• 49:02
  Speaker: Yeah, yeah.
• 49:03
  Speaker: They each have all four in their rooms.
• 49:05
  Speaker: I on the, on the morning of each one's publish date.
• 49:09
  Speaker: I sign a special book to each of them, and I have it at their
• 49:12
  Speaker: table, at their place at the table that next morning.
• 49:14
  Speaker: And and they all four and not I
• 49:16
  Speaker: don't require them to do this,
• 49:18
  Speaker: but they.
• 49:18
  Speaker: All four have them propped up at some some place in their room.
• 49:21
  Speaker: And so that means so much to me when I go in there, because I
• 49:24
  Speaker: know they're proud of me and I know how much, you know, they've
• 49:27
  Speaker: been part of it.
• 49:28
  Speaker: They everything I share and everything I do is what we enjoy
• 49:31
  Speaker: as a family.
• 49:32
  Speaker: So they've got they see me, you know, working hard to, to create
• 49:37
  Speaker: these experiences and delicious moments for them.
• 49:41
  Speaker: And then they see me afterward,
• 49:42
  Speaker: of course, once we've enjoyed
• 49:43
  Speaker: the food and everything, that's
• 49:44
  Speaker: great.
• 49:45
  Speaker: But I also have to go and edit
• 49:46
  Speaker: and write the recipes and do all
• 49:50
  Speaker: of the, you know, the behind the
• 49:51
  Speaker: scenes work that a lot of people
• 49:53
  Speaker: don't see.
• 49:54
  Speaker: So they get to see that.
• 49:55
  Speaker: And I know that they appreciate it and are really proud of me.
• 49:58
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 49:58
  Speaker: And I think that your books are certainly a fruit of the life
• 50:02
  Speaker: that you live.
• 50:02
  Speaker: And I think the best cookbooks are that it's not like you have
• 50:05
  Speaker: your life here and your writing life over here.
• 50:08
  Speaker: It's like they just are part,
• 50:10
  Speaker: it's part of you and it's part
• 50:11
  Speaker: of who you are, part of what you
• 50:13
  Speaker: do.
• 50:14
  Speaker: And a family is affected in a
• 50:16
  Speaker: lot of very positive ways by the
• 50:19
  Speaker: creation of this book, and they
• 50:20
  Speaker: have had a hand in it, so to
• 50:21
  Speaker: speak.
• 50:22
  Speaker: They have been part of it, and
• 50:24
  Speaker: they have every reason to be
• 50:25
  Speaker: proud.
• 50:26
  Speaker: You have a beautiful book.
• 50:27
  Speaker: The fourth one, celebration
• 50:29
  Speaker: boards, fifty creative boards to
• 50:31
  Speaker: turn any occasion into a
• 50:33
  Speaker: celebration.
• 50:35
  Speaker: Yes, yes.
• 50:36
  Speaker: Thank you.
• 50:36
  Speaker: Well, why don't you share with everybody how they can connect
• 50:39
  Speaker: with you online or get in touch?
• 50:42
  Speaker: Absolutely.
• 50:43
  Speaker: So my blog is the Baker Mama dot com, and I have hundreds of
• 50:46
  Speaker: recipes on there as well, as well as some just supplemental
• 50:50
  Speaker: stuff for cookbooks.
• 50:51
  Speaker: And if you want to learn more about each cookbook, certainly
• 50:53
  Speaker: can learn there.
• 50:54
  Speaker: I'm on Instagram as the baker Mama.
• 50:57
  Speaker: Same on TikTok, Facebook, YouTube, Pinterest.
• 51:01
  Speaker: I'm out there everywhere.
• 51:02
  Speaker: I try to share and inspire at every And point that I can, um,
• 51:08
  Speaker: and so come and say hi.
• 51:09
  Speaker: Um, if you have any questions about the process of creating a
• 51:12
  Speaker: cookbook or about any of the cookbooks or just, um, me being
• 51:17
  Speaker: a the baker mama reach out.
• 51:19
  Speaker: I'm happy to help and answer any questions.
• 51:21
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 51:22
  Speaker: That's why I love cookbook authors so much.
• 51:25
  Speaker: You all are some of the most generous people that I know, and
• 51:28
  Speaker: I've never had an author that hasn't said, um, something along
• 51:32
  Speaker: those same lines.
• 51:33
  Speaker: And I, and I think that people who are listening, um, remember,
• 51:36
  Speaker: there are real people behind these books and reaching out to
• 51:41
  Speaker: them and, you know, making a comment, sharing something with
• 51:44
  Speaker: them about a success that you've had means a lot.
• 51:47
  Speaker: So, um, I know that, um,
• 51:49
  Speaker: everyone greatly appreciates all
• 51:51
  Speaker: the work that you've done,
• 51:51
  Speaker: Megan.
• 51:52
  Speaker: And I wish you nothing but
• 51:53
  Speaker: success with your book and, um,
• 51:55
  Speaker: have a beautiful rest of the
• 51:57
  Speaker: year.
• 51:58
  Speaker: Thank you.
• 51:58
  Speaker: Same to you.
• 51:59
  Speaker: I appreciate you having me on.
• 52:01
  Speaker: Thank you so much for joining us today for this episode of the
• 52:04
  Speaker: Cookbook Love Podcast again.
• 52:06
  Speaker: All the links can be found in
• 52:07
  Speaker: the show notes at w w w dot
• 52:09
  Speaker: cookbook.
• 52:11
  Speaker: And if you are interested in
• 52:13
  Speaker: writing a cookbook of your own,
• 52:15
  Speaker: please check out the free
• 52:17
  Speaker: Cookbook Writing Masterclass
• 52:18
  Speaker: called How to Get Paid to Write
• 52:20
  Speaker: a Cookbook.
• 52:21
  Speaker: It is designed specifically for
• 52:23
  Speaker: food or nutrition experts, and
• 52:25
  Speaker: you can check that out at w w w
• 52:28
  Speaker: dot cookbook writers academy dot
• 52:30
  Speaker: com.
• 52:33
  Speaker: So that's it for today's episode of the Cookbook Love Podcast.
• 52:36
  Speaker: This is your host, Maggie Greene.
• 52:38
  Speaker: And until next time, have a
• 52:39
  Speaker: great day and keep loving your
• 52:41
  Speaker: cookbooks.
• 52:46
  Speaker: Thanks for listening to the Cookbook Love podcast.
• 52:49
  Speaker: You can find out more information at w w w dot
• 52:52
  Speaker: cookbook dot co.