Latest / Cookbook Love Podcast / Episode 365: How Print Cookbooks and Food Blogging Fit Together with Camille Beckstrand of Six Sisters' Stuff
Transcript
- 0:02You are listening to the Cookbook Love podcast with
- 0:04Maggie Green, episode number 365.
- 0:11Welcome to the Cookbook Love podcast.
- 0:14A podcast that celebrates cookbook readers, buyers,
- 0:16collectors, writers and clubs.
- 0:19And now your.
- 0:20Cookbook author, culinary Dietician, and Cookbook writing Coach Maggie Green.
- 0:31Hi everybody.
- 0:32Welcome back to another episode of the Cookbook Love podcast.
- 0:35How's everybody doing today?
- 0:37As always, hope you're doing well.
- 0:39I am here in my cookbook Bunker recording this right before the Labor
- 0:45Day weekend, so looking forward to, uh.
- 0:48Nice long weekend, unofficial beginning of summer and kickoff of University of
- 0:55Kentucky football season, which means that college football starts tomorrow.
- 1:00So by the time this show comes out, the outcome of the game, which we
- 1:05are going to tomorrow will be known.
- 1:08We'll be headed into week two.
- 1:11Going to that game.
- 1:12Also, they're playing, uh, Toledo tomorrow in Ole Miss next week, and really looking
- 1:17forward to enjoying the football games.
- 1:20Last week when I recorded the show, I was making Focaccia bread from
- 1:26a cookbook that I had been sent to preview for having a guest come on the
- 1:32show, and I wanted to tell you about how that Faccia Bread turned out.
- 1:36I think the thing about the recipe, which I mentioned in the introduction last time,
- 1:40was that it had to beat on the dough hook for 14 minutes, and then it took five
- 1:46hours of rising, and then the results was.
- 1:52Not that stellar.
- 1:54It was good.
- 1:55Uh, had a good flavor.
- 1:57I thought the salt level was good.
- 1:58I thought the way that the dough, um, the hydration content was good, the way that
- 2:05the onions were sliced really thin and then pressed down into the dough made it
- 2:09really flavorful onion and olive focaccia.
- 2:13But I have to say that the recipe from Marcella Hazel's
- 2:16Classics of Italian cooking is.
- 2:19The best focaccia bread.
- 2:21And I think that's an interesting thing to think about when we think about cookbooks.
- 2:29Her recipe is my favorite and the one I always turn to and has become
- 2:34part of my repertoire for the recipe I use for focaccia bread.
- 2:39But there are people who are now.
- 2:42Starting to buy cookbooks, diving into cookbooks, exploring cookbooks, and it's
- 2:46possible that the recipe that I tried and put up against the one from Marcella's
- 2:52book will be their favorite recipe.
- 2:56Because Marcella's book isn't something that they have even maybe had access
- 3:01to isn't a book they have in their collection is one they've not even aware
- 3:05of, is a book that they would never even really consider using a recipe out
- 3:10of because they don't know about it.
- 3:13So I think that's a fascinating thing about cookbooks is as people are starting
- 3:17to explore a new topic or they get a new book, or they're given a book as
- 3:21a gift, the recipes that are in that book become part of their repertoire
- 3:26and become perhaps family favorites.
- 3:28And I tell my students this all the time because it's important when we think about
- 3:34new stories, new cookbooks, new recipes.
- 3:37Although Faccia bread isn't anything new.
- 3:40It's still important to publish recipes from our own perspective, using our
- 3:46own style, our own words, through the experience that we have in our kitchen.
- 3:52So I just wanted to give you an update about that Focaccia bread.
- 3:55I'm gonna stick with the recipe that I've always used.
- 3:58That doesn't mean that I won't have the person that wrote this book on the show.
- 4:01I don't really know what the outcome of that will be, but I kind of wanted
- 4:05to follow up on the Focaccia bread discussion that we had last week.
- 4:09Now, today, I'm cooking a breakfast cookie.
- 4:13It is a recipe actually in this month's issue of Southern Living Magazine.
- 4:18We are tailgating tomorrow for the football game, so the game
- 4:22is at noon, so everything that we are taking for the food will be
- 4:26something we can eat in the morning.
- 4:28So I thought the breakfast cookie sounded good, and I'll give you
- 4:31an update about that next week.
- 4:33They're an oatmeal based cookie with banana and peanut butter coconut.
- 4:39Chocolate chips, chopped pecans, and I think that's it.
- 4:44Some spices maybe makes about 18 cookies.
- 4:47I look forward to, um, having them tomorrow, uh, alongside with other
- 4:51good food for our tailgate party.
- 4:54And check that recipe out if you, sure.
- 4:57You can find it online at Southern Living, or for some reason you don't subscribe
- 5:01to the magazine and you're interested in good, uh, recipes like that and stories
- 5:05about the South, including gardening.
- 5:08Home decorating, home design, uh, a little bit of, uh, occasionally
- 5:12hunting, then that's a good Southern magazine, the one that I actually prefer.
- 5:16What talks about, uh, little more art and culture and even gets more into hunting if
- 5:21you're into it, is called Gardening Gun.
- 5:24And, uh, that magazine's based outta Charleston, South Carolina, all about
- 5:28southern food culture and the arts.
- 5:33Okay, so one more announcement before we dive into the show.
- 5:35Today I am in the middle of a three-part video training series.
- 5:41Called the Cookbook Publishing Masterclass.
- 5:44So if you are interested in learning more about cookbook publishing, becoming a
- 5:49cookbook author, and making the decision to package your recipes, stories, and
- 5:55processes in a cookbook, head on over to www.cookbookwritersacademy.com/cpm.
- 6:04You can leave your name and email address and get instant
- 6:07access to the video training.
- 6:11So today on the show, I am joined by Camille Beckstrand of Six Sister stuff.
- 6:17What began in 2011 as a way for six biological sisters to stay connected
- 6:23after leaving their childhood home has grown into one of the top family friendly
- 6:29recipe websites on the internet with a focus on simple, approachable meals.
- 6:35Six sister stuff has become a trusted source.
- 6:38For millions of families worldwide.
- 6:42Their latest cookbook, 30 Minute Meals with Six Sister stuff is what
- 6:46we're here to talk about today.
- 6:48It brings their signature Family First approach into the kitchen
- 6:52with more than 100 quick, delicious and stress-free recipes.
- 6:58Today on the show, Camille and I talk all about the evolution of the Six Sister
- 7:02stuff blog from Blog to Thriving Business.
- 7:07We talk about how writing cookbooks fits alongside of online recipes.
- 7:13We talk about how they choose cookbook topics and themes, as well as strategies
- 7:18for making meals in under 30 minutes.
- 7:21Fan favorite recipes such as lemon brownies to ingredient non butter chicken.
- 7:28Mexican street corn tacos, as well as why is dinner served
- 7:33in bowls so popular right now.
- 7:37This episode is packed with insights about food blogging, cookbook
- 7:40writing, and making mealtime easier.
- 7:44And a topic near and dear to my heart, which is having a
- 7:47lot of biological sisters.
- 7:50Camille has five biological sisters.
- 7:53There are six of them.
- 7:55I have six biological sisters.
- 7:57There are seven of us.
- 7:59So we also get into a discussion about sisterhood.
- 8:03The beauty of sisterhood and what we both love about having lots of sisters.
- 8:09So without further delay, let's dive into this interview with Camille Beck Strand.
- 8:14Hi Camille.
- 8:14Welcome to the Cookbook Love podcast.
- 8:17Hi, I'm so excited to be here.
- 8:19Yes, very excited to have you two.
- 8:21We're gonna talk all about the Six Sisters brand new book that's coming
- 8:26out and a just released 30 minute meals.
- 8:30But before we get started, I always have everyone tell me a little bit
- 8:34about who you are and what you do.
- 8:37Absolutely.
- 8:38So like you said, my name's Camille Beck Strand.
- 8:40I currently live just outside of Salt Lake City, Utah.
- 8:45Love the mountains, love the four Seasons.
- 8:47It's just I born and raised here and I will stay here for the rest of
- 8:52my life because I love it so much.
- 8:55Um, married to my husband of 21 years.
- 8:59We have four beautiful kids.
- 9:01Um, and for my day job, my, my 24 7 job is mom and it is my favorite job that I have
- 9:08ever done, and that is where my heart is.
- 9:11But my day job is being part of the Six Sisters brand.
- 9:15And yes, there really are six of us.
- 9:19We are biological sisters, um, and we work together to share easy recipes
- 9:25for moms and dads and just it.
- 9:28Anyone in, in general, we have had college students reach out to us and say,
- 9:33oh, I'm so thankful for your recipes.
- 9:34We've had empty nesters reach out and say, oh, your recipes are saving us.
- 9:39And so kind of the full range of ages, um, are what our recipes
- 9:44serve, but our goal is to help make getting dinner on the table simple.
- 9:51Because we know there's so much magic that happens at that dinner table
- 9:55when you can sit down and talk with these people that you do life with.
- 10:00And it's not always about the food, but the food is what brings people together.
- 10:05And so we just wanna help people make easy food that helps bring people together.
- 10:11Yes.
- 10:11And when someone has a family, like you said, if it's family recipes,
- 10:15families who turn moms and dads who turn to your recipes, simple.
- 10:19Works for so many people and yeah, it seems like from the beginning you're
- 10:24all's focus on simple and easy to use and even some meal plans and budget friendly.
- 10:31How did the six sisters get their start?
- 10:34You know, it was almost by accident.
- 10:37We were in a phase of life where, um, so I'm the oldest of the, of my sisters
- 10:44and, um, we're all about two years apart.
- 10:47And so we got to do a lot of big life phases together.
- 10:53A lot of us were going to college at the same time.
- 10:56A lot of us were moving out at the same time.
- 10:58Or around the same time, a lot of us were getting married and dating around
- 11:02the same time and starting careers.
- 11:04And so we were doing all these big life steps together and, um, it was when some
- 11:10of us started having babies and young kids and, and juggling what it looked like
- 11:16to be a mom and to have a job and to be married and to make dinner every night.
- 11:24It felt overwhelming at times, and so we started, our blog actually was a
- 11:29way to stay in touch with each other.
- 11:31It was a way we shared messages with one another and checked in with each other.
- 11:35But then we started sharing, oh, I made mom's cheesy potatoes.
- 11:39Here's the recipe.
- 11:40Oh, I made this really easy, slow cooker pork chop recipe.
- 11:44It was inexpensive.
- 11:45Everybody loved it.
- 11:46Here's how I did it.
- 11:47We started sharing these recipes and what's funny is
- 11:51it was just for each other.
- 11:52We made it for the six of us and kind of as a way to organize these
- 11:57recipes that we were all sharing.
- 11:59But then people started to find us the beauty of Google when people
- 12:03would Google, yeah, cheesy potatoes and the traffic would start to
- 12:07come in and then we, um, our blog.
- 12:11Started right around the same time as Pinterest.
- 12:14Mm-hmm.
- 12:14I don't know if you remember when Pinterest was starting out and it was
- 12:17invitation only and we were one of the people who got an invitation, one of
- 12:22the sisters got an invitation to join Pinterest right at the beginning, and
- 12:27we had no idea what we were doing.
- 12:28Both.
- 12:29Oh, well, let's.
- 12:29Pinned some of our recipes to these boards and some of our recipes that we
- 12:35pinned ended up going viral, bringing millions of page views into, onto this
- 12:41little blog that we had, this little Google blog spot that we had made.
- 12:46And so from there we started learning and um, just.
- 12:51Figuring it out as we went, how to turn this little blog into a business.
- 12:56And now 14, almost 15 years later, here we are.
- 13:00Hmm.
- 13:01Amazing.
- 13:01And turning a blog into a business doesn't just happen overnight.
- 13:06Goodness.
- 13:07No.
- 13:09And, but I think the neat thing about having Six Sisters involved is I suspect
- 13:13you all have different skill sets.
- 13:15Absolutely.
- 13:15Different things that you're able to do.
- 13:17So talk a little bit about the evolution of it from, uh, the Google Spot blog
- 13:22where you were just sharing recipes.
- 13:24With your sisters too, when you all realized that this was something
- 13:27that you could run as a business?
- 13:30Yeah, so when the traffic started coming, when we started getting
- 13:35page views from all over the country and then all over the world, and.
- 13:39What was fun is we could watch the analytics and we could see how many
- 13:42people were on our website at that moment and what recipes they were looking at.
- 13:47And we just, there has to be a way to monetize this traffic and
- 13:52that's when we got into the world of ads and placing ads on our site.
- 13:57And I know some people might feel like, oh, but that's, it's a nuisance.
- 14:00When you get on a website and there's ads there, we feel.
- 14:06Like it, we were offering this service of these free recipes to
- 14:10the world that putting ads on there just helped us, you know, make
- 14:14a couple pennies, that exchange.
- 14:16And we just kept using different social media platforms and marketing, learning
- 14:22how to market our, um, our recipes and share them with the world because.
- 14:28They say like if you build it, they will come.
- 14:31Mm-hmm.
- 14:32There's that famous quote, and that's not true with blogs.
- 14:35Just because you put something on a website or a blog doesn't mean the
- 14:39world's just gonna start coming.
- 14:40We had a few lucky breaks where people found us organically, but for
- 14:45the most part it came because of the work that we did to put our stuff.
- 14:49Out there mm-hmm.
- 14:50To bring people into our website.
- 14:53And so that became our focus is how can we put more of our
- 14:56recipes out into the world?
- 14:57We, um, did, did a lot with Pinterest.
- 15:00We started growing our Facebook page and sharing recipes on there and
- 15:05encouraging our followers to share it with people they know and Instagram.
- 15:09When that hit the scene, we were, we jumped right on it and thought,
- 15:12okay, we gotta get on this platform.
- 15:14We started sharing videos on YouTube, showing people how to
- 15:17make their recipes and kind of.
- 15:19Let them into our world and see what it was like in our kitchens and just we,
- 15:26we were on all of these social media platforms and we're very active on them,
- 15:30and that is what brought the people in.
- 15:33And that is what helped our company to grow.
- 15:36And, um, it just, it, it was hard work and it was slow.
- 15:43Mm-hmm.
- 15:43But we just kept going.
- 15:45Yeah.
- 15:46And that's why we are here today.
- 15:48Yeah.
- 15:48Talking about where we're at.
- 15:50Yeah.
- 15:51Yeah, I think that often when you're building a business, sometimes it
- 15:55is slow and sometimes there'll be little spurts, you know, that take you
- 16:00forward faster than you had before.
- 16:02But I think persistence is a, is a big thing.
- 16:05And also, uh, using your social media to drive.
- 16:10Traffic back to your website.
- 16:11Right.
- 16:12The website was always the main thing in the blog.
- 16:14Yes.
- 16:15Yep.
- 16:15Yes.
- 16:16All roads pointed back to the website.
- 16:19Yeah.
- 16:19'cause we, we knew if we could get 'em there, that that is
- 16:22how we would get ad revenue.
- 16:25And we also knew that's where we could encourage them to sign
- 16:28up for our email newsletter.
- 16:30Yes.
- 16:30And collect both emails.
- 16:32So Yes.
- 16:32Yes.
- 16:33And the, the emails are wonderful.
- 16:35I have a, um, active email list.
- 16:38It's one of the favorite parts of my business because Absolutely.
- 16:42People are there because they want to be there.
- 16:45Yeah.
- 16:45They chose it.
- 16:46Yes.
- 16:46Yeah.
- 16:47And anymore I think that it's one of the assets that we, uh, it ranks right
- 16:52up there as something that we, um.
- 16:55Own, so to speak.
- 16:56It's, it's, mm-hmm.
- 16:57It's ours.
- 16:58It's my list is unique to me.
- 17:00And your list is unique to you?
- 17:02Yes.
- 17:02And the people that are on it are completely different.
- 17:04Yes.
- 17:05But they're there because they want to be there.
- 17:06And if someone should decide they wanna unsubscribe, they can.
- 17:09Uh, yeah.
- 17:10I, I actually love email and I know that it is something that.
- 17:14Has always been a part of the picture, and I'm sure your email list is the same way.
- 17:20You've probably watched it grow over the years and yes, people come and go, but
- 17:24there's still people on my list that I think have been here for like a long time.
- 17:28Isn't that fun to make that connection and grow that community?
- 17:33Yes.
- 17:33After all these years?
- 17:35Yep.
- 17:35Yep.
- 17:36And, and the community can, uh, build because of, um, email.
- 17:40So that's wonderful that you do that as well and that the website is the main
- 17:43thing, but then you started to probably do other things other than just recipes.
- 17:47What else started working for you when it came to the website?
- 17:51Well, we, we have tried everything under the sun.
- 17:55We have branched out into so many different things.
- 17:59Um, because as you were talking about earlier, with six of us working
- 18:03together, we all had different talents and different gifts and different
- 18:06things we were passionate about.
- 18:08And there were certain sisters that were more into health and
- 18:12there were certain sisters who were more into finding a good deal.
- 18:16And there were certain sisters who, um.
- 18:19Loved the business side of things and we have ventured into all of these areas.
- 18:25We, um, had different arms of our business.
- 18:29At one point we had Six Sisters Strong, which was Help and Fitness for Moms.
- 18:33And we had Six Sisters Style where it was like, let us help you find good
- 18:38deals on clothes that moms will love.
- 18:41And um, we had startup Spark for a little bit where we helped.
- 18:45Coach other moms like us who wanted to start a business or who wanted to
- 18:50start a food blog or write a cookbook.
- 18:52And so we have ventured in all of these areas.
- 18:55And what's so funny is some of those were fantastic and were great sources
- 19:00of revenue, but it's always come back to the blog and to our recipes.
- 19:06Yeah.
- 19:07Been a journey.
- 19:08Yeah.
- 19:08And that that's really what your.
- 19:10Main core audience knew you for, and that's what they absolutely
- 19:13continue to come back for, is your simple family recipes.
- 19:17Easy to use, meal plans and budget friendly cooking.
- 19:22Yeah.
- 19:23Now cookbooks are a big part of this, though.
- 19:25They are, yes.
- 19:26So tell us about a food blog recipe.
- 19:30Blog and cookbooks by the same people and mm-hmm.
- 19:36How they fit in your business model side by side.
- 19:40Yeah, so our first book, let's see, we launched our blog in 2011, and then we
- 19:47got our first cookbook deal in 2012, and we published that first book in 2013.
- 19:55And that point we probably only had a couple hundred recipes.
- 20:00On our blog, like we, we weren't even that well known, but because of the growth
- 20:06that we had been experiencing in that first year, um, a cookbook publisher was
- 20:11very interested in, in working with us.
- 20:14And what's so fascinating, a lot of people have said, okay,
- 20:17but now that I can get all your recipes on a blog, why would I buy.
- 20:22Your cookbook, why would I even need a cookbook?
- 20:25And what's so fun about it is that our, our audience loves cookbooks.
- 20:32I think for a lot of them, a cookbook feels like a curated best of collection.
- 20:38It kind of takes away the decision fatigue because at this point we have
- 20:42almost 4,000 recipes on our website.
- 20:45It, you can scroll endlessly looking for what to make for dinner, but.
- 20:51What our cookbooks do is they kind of give you a trusted set of recipes in one place.
- 20:59I think that our audience also has fallen in love with, um, the storytelling
- 21:05and depth that comes with a cookbook because you have beautiful covers
- 21:09and photography and we can share.
- 21:12Maybe the story behind the recipe and what sister wrote it and yeah, you can
- 21:17find that on the website, but there's just something about feeling that
- 21:21physical cookbook in your hands that, um.
- 21:25That our readers have loved.
- 21:27Yeah.
- 21:27And they loved the, the extra tips and the family traditions that we include.
- 21:32The cookbook almost feels like an experience, not just a list of
- 21:36instructions that you would find on our website or even chat GPT.
- 21:40Yeah.
- 21:40And so a hundred percent I think our cookbooks Yeah.
- 21:43They've given just that deeper connection.
- 21:46Yeah.
- 21:46Um, and so it's been, it's been.
- 21:49A huge part of our business.
- 21:52Yeah.
- 21:52And of course on the Cookbook Love podcast, you're singing
- 21:55to the choir, so to speak.
- 21:57Everybody here is here because they love cookbooks.
- 21:59Either they're writing them or they collect them, or they, some
- 22:03people read them and don't cook.
- 22:05They love to read cookbooks.
- 22:07So it's possible that even through a cookbook, you're reaching
- 22:10people that maybe never even visit, visited your food blog.
- 22:14Absolutely.
- 22:15And what's fascinating too is that.
- 22:18Blogs and websites, they kind of come and go, but a cookbook
- 22:22just feels so permanent.
- 22:25It's fun to look back at all of our cookbooks over the last.
- 22:3111, 12 years since we've started writing them.
- 22:33And to look at our first cookbook, it's got our logo from our very first website.
- 22:38It's got our first sister picture that we took for our website.
- 22:43And what's so fun is you get this piece of history that you can't
- 22:46find on our website anymore.
- 22:48And it's fun because people love that nostalgia and they love that.
- 22:53They have a piece of that history, especially our community that's
- 22:57been with us from the beginning.
- 22:58It's almost like they're collector's items.
- 23:01Um, all our cookbooks through the years.
- 23:03Yeah.
- 23:03Yeah.
- 23:04And I was looking at your books on your site.
- 23:06You have your first one, then you have a Sweets and Treats.
- 23:10You have a Christmas book a year with six sister stuff.
- 23:14That's neat to go through a year.
- 23:15Yeah.
- 23:16Uh, celebrate every season Dinner Made Easy copycat cooking six ingredients.
- 23:23Healthy Eats instant cooking.
- 23:24And of course the one that's new is 30 minute meals.
- 23:28Yes.
- 23:29Yep.
- 23:29And all, like you said, a curated best of collection, trusted set of recipes
- 23:35in one place, storytelling, photos, all the things that go along with cookbooks.
- 23:40And I just love that, um, even with the food blog that this still
- 23:44fits and, um, offers Absolutely.
- 23:47Not only some people who read your blog an opportunity to buy a book, but
- 23:52people who don't even visit your blog, an opportunity to buy a book, and it
- 23:56might even head people over to your blog.
- 23:58You never really know how people, um.
- 24:01Can get there and Sure.
- 24:03Um, it's probably one of the things that's harder to track,
- 24:06I would suspect, if someone buys a book and lands on your blog.
- 24:10Not quite a clean trail to get there, but yes, I think it's, it's wonderful.
- 24:14Yeah.
- 24:15Let's, let's talk a trail nonetheless.
- 24:17A trail nonetheless.
- 24:18Exactly.
- 24:18Yep.
- 24:19So what has changed over the years when it comes to your
- 24:22blog and the online food space?
- 24:26Oh, everything.
- 24:28Since we started everything, when we began this food blog, um, we, like I
- 24:36mentioned before, we didn't have much money and actually everything that
- 24:41we have done, um, for this website is, has been grassroots marketing.
- 24:46We didn't have money to invest in ads.
- 24:49Or to buy traffic or anything to be done professionally.
- 24:53We designed our first logos using, um, little.
- 24:57Uh, websites online that would help us design a logo for free.
- 25:02And we just, we just figured it out.
- 25:04We were taking photos of our food with our flip phone cameras
- 25:08because that's all we had.
- 25:10So they're blurry and the lighting is terrible and the coloring is off.
- 25:15And so if you look at where we began and where we are now, that
- 25:19journey in and of itself has been.
- 25:22Such a journey, a journey of evolution, but also the whole food space and the
- 25:28online space and the social media space.
- 25:31And I think something that has set us apart from the food bloggers
- 25:36who have stopped, or the websites that are no longer current or
- 25:40they're no longer active, is that we always focused on evolving.
- 25:45We always did the things that we needed to do to stay current
- 25:49and to constantly evolve.
- 25:51Like I was saying, when Instagram came out, we jumped on that train.
- 25:54We learned what we needed to learn because we knew our audience of moms was
- 25:59there and that's where we needed to be.
- 26:02And then with YouTube, we knew that was an audience of people
- 26:06wondering, well, how do I cook this?
- 26:08How do I cook this?
- 26:09And we thought we wanna be their go-to source.
- 26:12So it's important that we are on YouTube.
- 26:14And so with social media and with the changes in AI and the changes in SEO,
- 26:21just, we just we're always evolving and we were always looking to the future.
- 26:25And, um, having mentors help us figure that out too.
- 26:29Yeah.
- 26:30Yeah, a lot of people that, uh, have a business or maybe they have
- 26:35some sort of a website or a course or something that they're teaching
- 26:38online, some of them don't have the most, uh, positive things to say often
- 26:43about social media, and I think it's important for people to remember that.
- 26:50To think about social media as a way to meet your customer.
- 26:52A new customer?
- 26:53Yeah.
- 26:53Somebody that, um, maybe you haven't met before.
- 26:57Because all of us that have businesses, we've met the people who we're interacting
- 27:03with in our communities somehow.
- 27:05Um, like I said, it could be through paid traffic, it could be through organic,
- 27:09but either way, there's somehow that they were attracted to our communities.
- 27:14Sure.
- 27:14And, um, what have you all done or how do you.
- 27:18Navigate the social media landscape so that it feels like a way that
- 27:22you're really still there interacting with the people who want to use your
- 27:26recipes and interact with the sisters.
- 27:30Well, we have what we call our, our avatar, our our.
- 27:37Perfect customer.
- 27:39Our mom that just loves every recipe that we make.
- 27:43And we do everything for her.
- 27:45Yes.
- 27:46Her name is Susan.
- 27:47Yes.
- 27:47And we just keep Susan in the back of our mind.
- 27:51In every video that we make, in every recipe that we post, in every
- 27:55meal plan we put together in our meetings, and when we discuss things,
- 27:59we always say, would Susan Love this?
- 28:01Is this helping Susan?
- 28:03What is it that Susan?
- 28:05Needs today.
- 28:06And we keep that in our mind when we go live on Facebook or when
- 28:09we, um, share a video on YouTube.
- 28:13Of course it's gonna be found and seen by people who aren't
- 28:17our perfect fit, who aren't our biggest cheerleaders and support.
- 28:21And they, they'll share comments and they'll say things like, oh,
- 28:24this is the worst recipe ever.
- 28:26Why would you share this?
- 28:27You guys are stakes or whatever.
- 28:31Like, I mean, they say not.
- 28:32Kind things and those can get to you.
- 28:34Those comments for sure hurt.
- 28:37But we always come back to, oh, that person isn't Susan.
- 28:39Exactly.
- 28:40We're doing this for Susan.
- 28:42Yes.
- 28:42And we keep our focus on her.
- 28:45Not 'cause she loves even a real person.
- 28:46Not she loves all but she loves everything that you do.
- 28:48Yes, yes.
- 28:50And so we always just steer it back to her.
- 28:53Yeah.
- 28:53And keep the focus on her.
- 28:54And there are, and and, and there are people like her in your audience.
- 28:58I'm sure you're, you're always.
- 29:00Thinking that Susan loves everything you do, that there are other
- 29:03people that feel the same way.
- 29:06Absolutely.
- 29:07Yes.
- 29:07Yeah, it's, it's so important that you said that because to me, that is the
- 29:12secret to it is it's keeping your eye on the people that love what you do.
- 29:19And if you wanna name it.
- 29:21Or name her or him and do that, because that helps so, so much.
- 29:26It really personalizes it.
- 29:28It does.
- 29:28Yeah.
- 29:29That's exactly it.
- 29:30It makes it feel real.
- 29:32Yeah.
- 29:32Rather than thinking you're gonna navigate what you post.
- 29:37Based on someone in high school who maybe doesn't like the fact that you're
- 29:41online, well, that is not going to be the, that is the juice that we need to
- 29:46be, um, sharing our content or like, I don't know about you, but in our, in
- 29:51our family, it come from a big family.
- 29:53Mm-hmm.
- 29:54We weren't supposed to like, you know, blow our own horn, you
- 29:58know, we weren't supposed to like over talk about ourselves, you
- 30:02know, and all that kind of stuff.
- 30:03And this promotion.
- 30:06Can feel kind of icky, but it's not icky.
- 30:09When you don't, when you think about it, is really, truly connecting with
- 30:12people who love what you have to offer.
- 30:15Yes.
- 30:16And who need what you have to offer.
- 30:18Yeah, a hundred percent.
- 30:19You, yeah.
- 30:20You know, it will help make their life easier.
- 30:22And when it comes from that place, it's a lot easier to talk about and share.
- 30:28Yeah.
- 30:28And I think it's very inspiring to talk that way.
- 30:31And it just makes, it just uplifts every, it uplifts the whole conversation.
- 30:35So.
- 30:35Um, yes, so great.
- 30:37And, um, like you said, of course, you know, there'll be other things
- 30:39sometimes that might get to you, but keeping our focus on Susan is, uh,
- 30:44just the best way to go about it.
- 30:45So all of your books then have been written for her as well?
- 30:49Yeah, absolutely.
- 30:50Every.
- 30:51Every time we are brainstorming a new cookbook, it comes back
- 30:54to, okay, what does Susan need in this season of her life?
- 30:58Our instant cooking came about when the instant pots were all the rage
- 31:02and we're like, okay, Susan just got an instant pot for Christmas, but
- 31:05she doesn't know what to cook in it.
- 31:07It's so that's where our instant cooking cookbook came.
- 31:11Yep.
- 31:12And 11 cookbooks in, we're now talking about 30 minute meals.
- 31:16It's amazing to me that it took 11 cookbooks to get here, but when
- 31:20you look at all your other topics, those are things Susan needed also.
- 31:25It's true.
- 31:26It's true.
- 31:27And I guess Susan's in the season right now where.
- 31:30This is what she needs.
- 31:31And so it was time.
- 31:33Yeah.
- 31:33I think it is time too, because you've talked about, like
- 31:36you said, the instant cooker.
- 31:37You've talked about health, you've talked about the copycat recipes.
- 31:41Yes.
- 31:42Dinner made easy, seasonal things, Christmas, sweets, uh, a year long,
- 31:48you know, journey through your recipes.
- 31:50But what is it that, what makes 30 minute meals so popular other than
- 31:54the fact that they're 30 minutes?
- 31:56I mean, yeah.
- 31:58Because this, this phrase in the way that, uh, is not new.
- 32:04Yeah.
- 32:04Oh, definitely not.
- 32:06Yeah.
- 32:06And I think it came about just because as busy parents ourselves, we know most
- 32:13people don't have hours to spend in the kitchen, and so we wanted to make.
- 32:20Meals that taste a good, and that seemed doable in just a short amount of time.
- 32:26If you hear that you can have a meal made from start to finish in 30
- 32:31minutes, it's like, okay, I can do that.
- 32:34It's a doable, a doable.
- 32:37Timeframe that can fit into real life.
- 32:40Yeah.
- 32:40And were you all pretty strict about the 30 minute time?
- 32:43Yeah.
- 32:44Well, and what's funny is we discussed this and realized that that was kind
- 32:48of our own personal limit that we would put on, okay, I have, you know, X amount
- 32:54of time to spend on dinner tonight.
- 32:56And it was funny, all of us were like, mm, 30 minutes max.
- 32:58Yeah.
- 32:59So we thought this is, this is perfect because this is real life.
- 33:02Yeah.
- 33:02And the thing is though, with 30 minutes, that eliminates a whole bunch of things.
- 33:07It does, yeah.
- 33:09And it, and it makes you start looking at.
- 33:14The simplicity of a good recipe.
- 33:17Mm-hmm.
- 33:17Like, okay, what, what can I, can I trim out the fluff and
- 33:21just get down to the good parts?
- 33:23Yeah.
- 33:23And so that our goal is to have it still be delicious, still be yummy, but also
- 33:28feel doable and find things that, um, you could purchase at any standard grocery
- 33:34store, or that you could have groceries delivered to your door instead of having
- 33:38to go to specialty shops or, or butcher.
- 33:41And, and get, um, special things that you're only gonna use for one recipe.
- 33:44We just, we just keep it simple.
- 33:46Yeah.
- 33:47And so outside of the appetizer chapter, and then there's also
- 33:50a side dish and dessert chapter.
- 33:52Mm-hmm.
- 33:52The main, the main chapters are categorized by the protein that's in them.
- 33:56Yeah.
- 33:56We have beef, chicken, meatless.
- 33:59Pork, seafood and Turkey.
- 34:01But within those chapters, they're not all the same types of things.
- 34:05For example, I've, I see soup recipes, I see pasta recipes,
- 34:09but they all contain that main protein ingredient in that chapter.
- 34:15So what are some strategies that you all uncovered that you realized were
- 34:21across the board, some 30 minute strategies that were kind of a common
- 34:26theme throughout the whole book?
- 34:29Well, I think the first strategy that we had in mind as we were approaching
- 34:34this, um, this book was budgets.
- 34:39Mm-hmm.
- 34:39We knew that moms and dads and well all people in general
- 34:44are shopping what's on sale.
- 34:46Our shopping maybe less expensive cuts of meat.
- 34:50And so instead of planning their meals around, you know what sounds
- 34:55good, what's their favorite thing?
- 34:56They're planning their meals around what they can afford.
- 35:00Mm-hmm.
- 35:00And a lot of times it was specific.
- 35:03Um, leaner cuts of meat.
- 35:06And so we thought, let's build our cookbook around that, because that
- 35:11is what we noticed on our website that people were searching for
- 35:14were, were protein specific recipes.
- 35:17And so we thought, let's combine.
- 35:20Short amounts of time, 30 minutes with these cuts of meat that are
- 35:24inexpensive, but they also cook faster and that are affordable and can be
- 35:29found at, you know, any standard grocery store instead of a specialty butcher.
- 35:35And so that was kind of our first strategy when it came to, um.
- 35:41To riding this cookbook mm-hmm.
- 35:42Was helping people in this season, in this economic climate Yes.
- 35:47That we are experiencing today.
- 35:49Yes.
- 35:49And so that, that was kind of the first frame of mind.
- 35:53And then the second frame of mind was not only do these cuts have to cook faster,
- 35:58but they also can't sacrifice flavor.
- 36:01Mm-hmm.
- 36:01We wanted it to still be yummy, even though our recipes are simple.
- 36:05We still want 'em to be good.
- 36:07We don't want people to be like, oh, that was terrible.
- 36:09Yeah, I know.
- 36:10We want people to show up at the table excited about what they were going to eat.
- 36:14So chicken, breast thighs, pork tenderloin, thinner cuts of
- 36:19beef, things like that, that felt doable, felt approachable,
- 36:23felt portable, and that that.
- 36:27Real everyday cooks in the kitchen are using.
- 36:31Yeah.
- 36:31And I saw the use of two countertop appliances, the air fryer and mm-hmm.
- 36:36The multi cooker.
- 36:37So talk a little bit about that.
- 36:40We, if you have followed us for any amount of time, you know that
- 36:45we love simple kitchen appliances.
- 36:47We don't think you need all of them.
- 36:49You don't need a counter full of all these different appliances
- 36:52that do different things.
- 36:53But when it comes down to it, um, or multi cooker appliance, some
- 36:58people call it a pressure cooker.
- 36:59Some people call it, um, an Instant Pot.
- 37:02That is probably our go-to appliance that we choose.
- 37:06It just can do so much in so little time, and it can be used for so
- 37:12many different, not only cuts of meat and recipes, but just different
- 37:16food items that you want to cook.
- 37:18And then our air fryer, we just love the versatility that comes with that
- 37:23and the fun things that you can do with it in a really quick amount
- 37:26of time, plus the health aspect.
- 37:28And so those are our two kitchen appliances of choice that we
- 37:33say you can invest in this.
- 37:36It's going to make cooking that much easier and that much more doable for
- 37:41you in this busy season of your life.
- 37:44Yeah, and I think also, um, any investment in those appliances with
- 37:49a book like this, they're certainly appliances that will be used.
- 37:53It's not like you'll only use them one time.
- 37:55I mean, I saw multiple recipes for both of those, which is good
- 37:59because I think that helps too.
- 38:02Help people think about, these are the kinds of things that sometimes really
- 38:05help us take things that might normally take more than 30 minutes and turn it into
- 38:10something that takes 30 minutes or less.
- 38:13That's exactly it.
- 38:15And adjust.
- 38:16You're buying yourself time.
- 38:18Yes.
- 38:18And that investment is always worth it.
- 38:21Yeah.
- 38:22So how do you all go about picking the topics then for all of your cookbooks?
- 38:26Other than thinking about Susan and what she would uhhuh, what she would love, uh,
- 38:31what else helps you all decide that, oh, 30 minute meals was the thing that we need
- 38:36to talk about in this particular book.
- 38:40So we usually have one big brainstorming session where we just go through and say,
- 38:47okay, so our topic is 30 minute meals.
- 38:49What would this look like?
- 38:51What could this be?
- 38:52And this, this brainstorming session usually takes a couple hours, but
- 38:56by the end, we know not only the different topics that are gonna be
- 39:00in each book, but we also know the recipes that are going into it.
- 39:04And then we divide it by six and each of us take a six of the recipes.
- 39:10We developed them.
- 39:12And we also test them out on our families.
- 39:14Yep.
- 39:15They pass.
- 39:16If our families approve, if they don't, it's back to the drawing board.
- 39:20But our families really are our food testers and let us know
- 39:26if the food is good or not.
- 39:27We each have, um, for.
- 39:31One sister has three, a couple of us have four, and there's even
- 39:34two sisters who have five kids.
- 39:36Yeah.
- 39:36So between all of us, we've got plenty of kids who will give us
- 39:40honest feedback about what they think, and that's our process.
- 39:45That's the beautiful thing about children, is they'll tell
- 39:48you exactly what they think.
- 39:49And a lot of times it's just honesty without any cruel intent.
- 39:54Uh, but it's just the truth.
- 39:55Oh, yeah.
- 39:56Yeah.
- 39:56Yes.
- 39:57Oh, it's raw and, and they don't mean it to hurt you, but they're
- 40:02just telling you the truth.
- 40:04And Susan, I'm sure has children and you want her children to love
- 40:07the food as much as your kids do.
- 40:10Absolutely.
- 40:11We always say our food is.
- 40:13Family tried and tested and, and we stand by that because our kids have been
- 40:18our Guinea pigs for years, especially when we were getting started and we were
- 40:22kind of learning how to cook ourselves.
- 40:24None of us have any professional training whatsoever.
- 40:27Yeah.
- 40:27It's all self-taught and, and through trial and error.
- 40:31And there was a time, I have a son who is 16, but when he was three and our bog was
- 40:37still new and I was still learning how to cook and how to use my slow cooker.
- 40:42He was saying the prayer at our dinner table, we always pray before we eat.
- 40:45And he said, dear God, please bless that mom won't make food.
- 40:49That makes us shutter.
- 40:52And that has stuck with me for all these years of, because he sometimes
- 40:56he would try and buy it and shutter and say, this is not good, mom.
- 41:00It's so, our food really has been tried and tested through all our families.
- 41:06Yeah.
- 41:06Now, if you were working on a recipe or you one of your recipes developing it,
- 41:11if the family was like, I don't know, would you say, well, this is something
- 41:15that really needs to be in the book.
- 41:16Let's send this to another sister to see what they think,
- 41:19or let them give it a try.
- 41:21Uh, has it ever passed off among the sisters?
- 41:25We've done that once or twice.
- 41:27Yeah.
- 41:27And I can think of some instances where that has happened where
- 41:30it's like, you know what?
- 41:30My kids do not like seafood.
- 41:32Yeah.
- 41:32But I know that your family would like this.
- 41:34So we've done that.
- 41:35But honestly, usually we just go back to the drawing board and either tweak the
- 41:40recipe to make it taste better, tweak cooking times, tweak ingredients, or
- 41:45we just pick a new recipe altogether.
- 41:47Yep.
- 41:48That's great.
- 41:49So what's the breakdown?
- 41:50Um, then a lot of people wonder if, if I buy 30 minute meals, what do you have
- 41:55a certain percentage of recipes that are in the book, but not on the blog?
- 42:02It varies from book to book.
- 42:04Um, but in 30 minute meals, I would say most of them are actually on the blog.
- 42:11Like probably a solid 60% you can find on our website.
- 42:16Yeah, and like we talked about earlier, yeah, the people who, our followers
- 42:21who buy our cookbooks, they know that.
- 42:24Because the recipes are buried in the thousands of other recipes.
- 42:28They like the curation hundred percent.
- 42:30They like that they can have it in their hands and they don't have to
- 42:35do the searching on our website.
- 42:36I agree with that completely.
- 42:37I think that's one of the biggest benefits of getting a printed cookbook is the
- 42:41curation and the way that they're brought together with a common thread and, um.
- 42:48People know, okay, here they all are, all the 30 minute meals under
- 42:52one cover, but if there's still 40% of the recipes, that would be new.
- 42:55And also for the people that never have even visited your blog,
- 42:59absolutely wonderful for them to be able to discover the book and use
- 43:03it, and they're all new to them.
- 43:05Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- 43:06I think a lot of people wonder, uh, from a publisher's perspective,
- 43:10like, oh no, if I have a blog, I have to have all new recipes.
- 43:14But I don't think that that's necessarily true.
- 43:17You know what?
- 43:17It really isn't.
- 43:19And we have found that a lot of times QuickBook community, they love
- 43:25cookbooks in our online community.
- 43:28I really like to find recipes online.
- 43:30We almost have kind of a separation, and there's some crossover in the middle,
- 43:36but for the most part, they kind of.
- 43:39Love one or the other.
- 43:40Yeah.
- 43:40And that's where they find us.
- 43:42Yeah, I think that's right.
- 43:44Alright.
- 43:44Would you be willing to talk about a few of the recipes that are in the book?
- 43:49Some that I thought sounded really good and, um, just to give people
- 43:52an idea about the, the breadth of things that are in here.
- 43:57Be so fun.
- 43:58One of, let's do it.
- 43:59Yeah.
- 43:59One of them is uh, Mexican Street corn, chicken tacos now of chicken tacos,
- 44:03and then there's Mexican Street corn.
- 44:05But this looks delicious because it combines the two.
- 44:08Exactly.
- 44:09It's kind of a mashup of them all the flavors.
- 44:13It's so good.
- 44:14Yeah.
- 44:14And prep time.
- 44:1515 minutes in cook time.
- 44:17Yeah.
- 44:17Really only 15 minutes.
- 44:18Really quick.
- 44:19Yeah, very quick.
- 44:20Yes.
- 44:20Comes together really fast.
- 44:22And that one is actually on our website and we included it in the book because
- 44:27of its popularity, because people love how fast it comes together.
- 44:32It's something they serve at parties because it looks impressive.
- 44:35It looks pretty, it has great flavor and it's so easy.
- 44:39People don't realize how simple it really is.
- 44:42Yeah.
- 44:42Now in the side, this chapter, it includes bread, salad,
- 44:47si, and then different sides.
- 44:48Mm-hmm.
- 44:49One of the breads I wanna talk about is the easy non, A lot of people think,
- 44:52well flatbread, um, I don't know if I can make bread or do bread in this timeframe,
- 44:58but this recipe uses Greek yogurt and self-rising flour for the dough.
- 45:06Yeah, that's it.
- 45:07That's it.
- 45:08And it's so simple.
- 45:10And, um, what's funny is this recipe, we have a version of this recipe on
- 45:15our website, um, and it took off during the pandemic when everyone was at home.
- 45:21And I don't know if you remember, so many people were baking bread during that
- 45:25time, discovering sourdough, but there were still a lot of people who felt like.
- 45:30She can't do sourdough.
- 45:31I don't have hours upon hours.
- 45:33I'm still working.
- 45:34I am doing homeschool with my kids.
- 45:36I'm trying to entertain my kids.
- 45:38And so we were like, try this non bread I, how easy it is.
- 45:43It's really simple.
- 45:45Just handful of ingredients and it was so fun because so many moms.
- 45:49Like I have never been able to successfully make bread, and I
- 45:52was able to do this non breaded and it came together so easy.
- 45:57You don't even need yeast.
- 45:58It's really soft.
- 45:59It's chewy.
- 46:00So that's been, but that recipe has been a lot of fun.
- 46:03If you don't have success with bread, try this non, it's simple.
- 46:07Yeah, and the suggestion for the serving with that is with the multi cooker
- 46:12butter chicken, which is also in the book, and obviously a 30 minute recipe.
- 46:17But who wouldn't love to make butter chicken in 30 minutes or less?
- 46:22Yeah, homemade and it tastes like takeout and so it's, it's a win-win in our book.
- 46:29Yes.
- 46:30Wonderful.
- 46:31Okay, so, uh, another dessert that caught my eye, and I honestly can't say I've
- 46:34ever seen this before, is lemon brownies.
- 46:38And I've heard of lemon bars like lime bars, but lemon brownies with
- 46:43a lemon cream cheese frosting.
- 46:46Yes, you are missing out.
- 46:48Just imagine the texture of a brownie, but lemon and so it's, it's soft,
- 46:56it's chewy, and then it's got that fluffy cream cheese frosting on top.
- 47:01This is something that my mom, we grew up with these.
- 47:04We thought everybody had lemon brownies, and my mom would make these for family
- 47:08parties, or if we had like a neighborhood potluck, she would bring these and they
- 47:13were always some of the first to go.
- 47:15Um, they're just, it's a really fun dessert.
- 47:18We, I have one sister who does not love chocolate and I don't know why.
- 47:22Yeah.
- 47:23But these lemon brownies are her go-to choice.
- 47:26Yeah.
- 47:26You know, it's kind of fascinating.
- 47:28Um.
- 47:28Mm-hmm.
- 47:29I'm live in Kentucky.
- 47:30Have Okay.
- 47:31Lived in Kentucky most of my life.
- 47:32And like I said, we have the lemon bars or we would have, uh, non-chocolate
- 47:37brownie that we called blondies.
- 47:40That would be, yes.
- 47:41Brown sugar and butter and maybe.
- 47:43Maybe pecans, sometimes not.
- 47:46Yes.
- 47:46But it was more of like a chewy caramelly brownie rather than the lemon.
- 47:50Yeah.
- 47:51So it's just, and then I thought, well, is this made with a cake mix?
- 47:54But the answer is no, it's not.
- 47:55It's just no eggs, flour, butter, sugar.
- 47:59A lemon, obviously, and then the frosting.
- 48:01So that looks really, really, yeah.
- 48:02All things you probably have, oh yeah.
- 48:04In your pantry you might have to grab a lemon at the grocery store,
- 48:07but other than that, you've got all the ingredients you need.
- 48:10Yeah, and I think we can easily imagine that vegetables are.
- 48:15Easy to cook in under 30 minutes.
- 48:17Yes.
- 48:17But there is a recipe for, uh, Parmesan roasted sweet potato.
- 48:22That looks really good because sometimes we think of potatoes as
- 48:25maybe a chunkier harder vegetable.
- 48:28It might take longer to cook, but the way that you prepare this, um, allows
- 48:32you to come in and under the 30 minute timeframe, and it looks really good also.
- 48:37It's so good.
- 48:38I think a lot of times, like in my family, um, growing up, sweet potatoes
- 48:43were a big dish at Thanksgiving.
- 48:45Mm-hmm.
- 48:45And they're sweetened with brown sugar and cinnamon and even marshmallows sometimes.
- 48:50And, well, that's delicious.
- 48:51It's not something you want to have year round.
- 48:55Um, it's almost more of a dessert.
- 48:57And so making it this way is such a yummy and healthy side dish.
- 49:02Fish, but also so quick to come together.
- 49:05So yeah.
- 49:06And then there's also recipes for soups.
- 49:09There's New England clam chowder.
- 49:10There's a really nice looking multi cooker.
- 49:12Salmon bowl bowls are very popular.
- 49:14Mm-hmm.
- 49:14I'm sure.
- 49:15Tell us a little bit about bowls.
- 49:16Yes.
- 49:16What have you seen on the webs on your blog related to bowls?
- 49:20What people love.
- 49:22I think the main thing that people are looking for are
- 49:25different ways to make bowls.
- 49:28Everybody loves the idea of that you can get a lot of vegetables
- 49:31and a protein and they're filling.
- 49:34Um, and so people are just looking for different ways to
- 49:37prepare them and different ways to make them work for your family.
- 49:40And so.
- 49:41We do have a lot of different recipes for bowls on our site and all of them
- 49:45have different sauces and different proteins and different ways to prepare
- 49:49them and you can spend as much or as little time on them as you want.
- 49:52But I think what's so great about them and making them for dinner
- 49:56is everybody gets to choose what they want to put on their bowl.
- 50:00Yeah, my picky eaters keep it really simple with like rice and a protein.
- 50:05Well, my other more adventurous eaters.
- 50:08Load it up with all the things that I put out, and I just love
- 50:12that it works for everybody.
- 50:14Yeah.
- 50:14And I think in big families, that's what works best.
- 50:18Or even little families.
- 50:19You just, in order to meet the needs of everybody and the, and the desires
- 50:24of everybody, that's a, it's a great way to put dinner on the table.
- 50:29I think it's true, and I love the, the way that it can be customized
- 50:32based on preferences, what people like, what they don't like, and um,
- 50:37it's, it's a really fun way to eat.
- 50:39So was there anything that you had thought maybe you could get
- 50:43under 30 minutes that just did not make the cut because of the time?
- 50:48You know, we, there were a few things, um, especially like we love
- 50:53a good pot roast, we love mm-hmm.
- 50:55Like that there's so much you can do with shredded, um, like with Roast
- 51:00and then shred 'em up and use that cut of meat, especially inexpensively.
- 51:04But for this cookbook, it didn't quite fit the bill, but it's okay.
- 51:10They, it will be included in upcoming cookbooks.
- 51:12It's in old cookbooks.
- 51:13Plus you can find so many recipes on our website.
- 51:16Yeah.
- 51:17It's wonderful.
- 51:18Well, it's, it's great.
- 51:19I think it, um, a hundred plus quick and easy meals, the whole family will love.
- 51:25So what are y'all's plans for promoting the book, other than obviously talking
- 51:29about it on your socials, your website?
- 51:32Um, are y'all getting out and about any, where people might be
- 51:34able to come and connect with you?
- 51:37Yeah, we're mostly doing it in Salt Lake City.
- 51:40We're doing some book signings and appearances.
- 51:42Um, also some TV spots around, um, salt Lake City.
- 51:47What's so interesting is that our reach on social media, um,
- 51:53we have over 4 million followers.
- 51:56On our social media channels, and they're across the world, and so some of our
- 52:00favorite places to promote our book is just on our own social media platform.
- 52:05Yeah, we can do it from our own house, from our kitchen, and we can reach.
- 52:09All those nooks and crannies in the world that, um, people who, who like
- 52:14to follow us and choose to follow us.
- 52:15And so it's fun to celebrate with them that another cookbook has
- 52:19come out, and that's where we will spend the majority of our time.
- 52:23Yeah, I think that's true.
- 52:24So why don't you tell everybody how they can connect with you all online?
- 52:28Awesome.
- 52:29So just six sisters stuff all spelled out and it's, you can use
- 52:35that name on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest, um,
- 52:42X, all of the different platforms.
- 52:44We are, we are there.
- 52:46So yes.
- 52:47Well, six Sisters stuff.
- 52:49The original name of Y all's blog.
- 52:51It was, yeah, because.
- 52:54It wasn't recipes, it was just our stuff stuff.
- 52:59So we, we kept the name because it, it was fun and, and we wanted
- 53:05to remember how we started.
- 53:07So yeah, it's all our stuff.
- 53:09That is all your stuff.
- 53:09I think that's great.
- 53:10And that hadn't really, um, hit me until just now when you were saying
- 53:14Yes, the name for the socials, that that's really what it is.
- 53:18It's not just six sisters.
- 53:20Yes.
- 53:21Isn't that so funny?
- 53:22Even though if you put in Six Sisters, it will pull us up.
- 53:25But the official loan name, the six sisters stuff.
- 53:29Yes.
- 53:29Yes.
- 53:30Now we need to have a short conversation about families and sisters.
- 53:34I told you before we, we started the recording that I'm one of seven girls.
- 53:38I have, our family has eight children, seven girls and one boy.
- 53:41So I have six sisters, but I'm the seventh.
- 53:44Um, and I'm num and I'm number five.
- 53:47But you said you were number.
- 53:49I'm number one.
- 53:50I'm the oldest.
- 53:52I'm one.
- 53:52The oldest.
- 53:52Yes.
- 53:52Yes.
- 53:53Isn't that something?
- 53:54Yes.
- 53:55Yeah.
- 53:55So, which, it's so fun.
- 53:56Which sister initially, when you think back to the beginning was like really
- 54:01the driving force behind getting the site up and getting everybody to post.
- 54:06You know, it kind of was a joint effort.
- 54:09It was something we discussed altogether and we all agreed to it.
- 54:13It was um, just kind of one of those sister conversations and we
- 54:18were like, what if we did this?
- 54:19Ooh, yeah.
- 54:20What if we did and what would it look like?
- 54:22And we just kind of all, we all bought into it from day one.
- 54:27Yeah.
- 54:28That's amazing.
- 54:29Amazing.
- 54:29And I think it's just, um.
- 54:31Built in friendships.
- 54:34Yes.
- 54:34Built in, uh, support built in, um, if some built in love somebody.
- 54:42Exactly.
- 54:42Mm-hmm.
- 54:43And, and that's love that, um, it's stretched a lot of ways and given
- 54:48a lot of ways, but it's always multiplied and better when it's shared.
- 54:52And I just think it's, uh, an amazing thing.
- 54:55And I've often had this wonder in this question, Camille, is okay, is how many.
- 55:01Families out there in the world have, uh, large amounts of sisters like we do.
- 55:09You know, it's funny you say that because as we have, you know, been in this space
- 55:14for a long time, we have actually gotten some emails, um, actually many emails
- 55:20over the years and even met families Oh.
- 55:22Of six sisters and probably my favorite one that we ever got, it
- 55:27was an email and it had a picture, and it was six old ladies together.
- 55:31These were ladies that were all in their seventies and eighties.
- 55:34They had post for a picture and they said, we are actually the original six sisters.
- 55:40And they were just teasing, but they were, they were six sisters who grew
- 55:45up together and um, and they just loved what we were doing because
- 55:51they were so close as a family.
- 55:52And what's fun too is that my great grandmama was
- 55:56actually one of seven sisters.
- 55:58Oh wow.
- 55:59And so it's kind of in our blood, we know.
- 56:02Um.
- 56:03Big families and big families of girls is just something
- 56:06that has, has been in our DNA.
- 56:09Yeah.
- 56:09And so it's fun to kind of learn from the past and, and, um.
- 56:15Use that going forward?
- 56:16Well, there was never any shortage of clothes, although
- 56:18they weren't always my clothes.
- 56:20You always knew that you could go sneak something outta
- 56:23somebody's closet and wear it.
- 56:24There was no shortage of hair products and hair cuts and hairstyles.
- 56:31We all wore glasses or contacts.
- 56:33So my mother, when we sold our family home, she said, I wonder
- 56:36how many contact lenses are like in the carpet of this house.
- 56:40There's no shortage of.
- 56:43Boyfriends coming and going, oh yes, from the house.
- 56:46Some, some stuck around longer than others.
- 56:48Some, some didn't.
- 56:49So none of no shortage of that.
- 56:51No shortage, yes.
- 56:52Of sisters teaching each other to drive sisters.
- 56:56Uh, that.
- 56:58One of my sisters fell once and broke her tailbone when we lived at home.
- 57:01And so we were like helping take care of her, you know, so it's, and
- 57:05my mom was always there, but it was always seemed like we were just like
- 57:10doing things with and for each other.
- 57:13And, um, I think in my mom's older age, and even my father, he died,
- 57:18uh, many years before my mom did.
- 57:20But they would just like, they just loved having everybody around.
- 57:25Listening to us talk and laugh.
- 57:27And my mom always said that, you know, she wanted us to continue
- 57:30that even after she wasn't here.
- 57:32And when you lose the matriarch, is your mother's still alive?
- 57:35She is.
- 57:35Yeah.
- 57:36And our dad.
- 57:37Yeah.
- 57:37Yeah, yeah.
- 57:37So when, you know, that's the important thing is when they're no longer
- 57:41here, you know, just keeping that, um, intact and finding reasons to
- 57:45get together and do things together because it's, it's really important.
- 57:48You don't want that to, uh.
- 57:50To go away.
- 57:51'cause it's a very special no relationship with a very special it's number of people.
- 57:55Yeah.
- 57:56Yeah.
- 57:57Yep.
- 57:57People you get to do life with and I love that.
- 57:59Exactly.
- 58:00Well, um, one more thing about sisters.
- 58:02I remember seeing a book once, or maybe it was a blog, a set of sisters
- 58:07every year took their picture.
- 58:09Did you ever see this in the same order.
- 58:11So in their birth order.
- 58:12But whenever they got together, they always took the picture and
- 58:14just the collection of pictures they had over the years of the way that
- 58:18they changed and, uh, fascinating.
- 58:21I love that.
- 58:22I know, I know.
- 58:22I wish I had done that.
- 58:24I do too.
- 58:24Could do it.
- 58:25You can.
- 58:26Yes, we can.
- 58:26You can start, start right now.
- 58:28Yes.
- 58:29Start today.
- 58:30Yes, exactly.
- 58:31So, um, it's wonderful that you all do this together.
- 58:33I'm sure you all have a variety of talents and skills and, um, just keep going.
- 58:37That's what you do.
- 58:38Keep doing things for Susan.
- 58:40She appreciates it, I'm sure.
- 58:41And, um, I really thank you all so much, you, so much for coming on the show.
- 58:47Yes, of course.
- 58:47Thanks for having me.
- 58:48This was a lovely conversation.
- 58:50Yes, I appreciate it.
- 58:51Yes, have a great day.
- 58:52You too.
- 58:54Thank you so much for joining us today for this episode of the Cookbook Love Podcast.
- 58:59Again, all the links can be found in the show notes@www.cookbooklove.co.
- 59:04And if you are interested in writing a cookbook of your
- 59:07own, please check out the free.
- 59:10Cookbook writing masterclass called How to Get Paid to Write a Cookbook.
- 59:14It is designed specifically for food or nutrition experts,
- 59:18and you can check that out at www.cookbookwritersacademy.com/free.
- 59:26So that's it for today's episode of the Cookbook Love podcast.
- 59:29This is your host, Maggie Green, and until next time, have a great day.
- 59:33And keep loving your cookbooks.
- 59:39Thanks for listening to the Cookbook Love podcast.
- 59:42You can find out more information@www.cookbooklove.co.