Latest / Dishing with Stephanie's Dish / Lauren McDuffie

Transcript

Lauren McDuffie · Dishing with Stephanie's Dish

• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: Hi,
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: welcome to Dishin' with Stephanie's Dish,
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: and I am here with the author Lauren McDuffie,
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: and she is someone that I'm just getting familiar with.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: So Lauren, welcome to the program.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much for having me.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, your book, Homemade-ish, I think I saw it like on maybe a publisher's weekly list.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: And then I started paging through it and you're, I hope this like hits you in the right way.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: You're kind of like sort of semi-homemade ish, but not exactly.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_01: No, that's, you really hit the nail on the head with that.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: I used to watch semi-homemade with Sandra Lee at the beginning of the Food Network
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: days and she's kind of gotten a bad rap.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: What I loved about her and what I loved when I was going through your book too,
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: is just this idea that we don't have to like make every single thing from scratch
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: in order to put a decent meal on the table for our family.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: It's just, that's just true.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: And it prevents people sometimes from cooking at all.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: This idea that cooking is so complicated and so hard.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: And as someone who,
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: I mean,
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just a home cook and I feel like that's a great space where you can sometimes
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: take shortcuts and also knowing the shortcuts to take.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, exactly.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: So your book, Homemade-ish, is really lovely.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: And I felt like-
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: was the modern day version of sort of that idea because your food looks incredible.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: You must be, are you a photo stylist?
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: Because your food in your book is like amazing.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, I did the photography and the styling for all my books.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_01: And it's I just love that part of the process so much.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_01: So thank you for saying that.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: I did laugh because you have a piece in there.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: You talk about like, I just love this.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: This is my joy.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm in the middle of finishing a second book.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm not feeling that it's my joy.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_01: I get that too.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: yeah that's fair I was like all the time so I yeah I have 35 pictures left and I
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: don't even want to eat the food anymore because I'm so sick of it yep you've spent
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: enough time with it probably yes that I do so catch my listeners up a little bit
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: about you and who you are and your blog okay
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_01: So I,
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_01: yes,
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_01: I run a recipe website called My Kitchen Little,
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_01: which I think it just turned five,
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_01: like within the past week.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_01: So I don't know, in blog years, that's,
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_01: not a baby anymore.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_01: So, and I run it as a business, which I really, I really enjoy.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_01: But prior to this website, I had a blog, which was very much a writing space.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_01: I love to write.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_01: And I started that,
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know,
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_01: maybe 12,
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_01: 13 years ago,
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_01: a long time ago,
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_01: back when food blogs were still sort of a novel thing.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_01: Not everyone had one at the time.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_01: So I started that when my daughter was a baby and I just needed an outlet.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_01: And for me, cooking has always been my favorite sort of creative outlet.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_01: I love food.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_01: I love to talk about food.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_01: And a blog just seemed like a really nice way to gather together my creative
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_01: interests with writing and cooking.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_01: And eventually I fell in love with photography.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_01: just by necessity, because I learned that people want to see what you're talking about.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_01: So I grew a new love for that whole side of it too.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_01: So, so I had a food blog for a really long time, purely as a hobby.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um,
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_01: But I met a lot of other people along the way who were in food land just like me, but in different ways.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_01: And I had the opportunity to do my first cookbook several years ago,
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_01: which was kind of an homage to my Appalachian roots.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_01: And then I did another book a few years later, which is called Southern Lights.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_01: I lived in Charleston, South Carolina at the time.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_01: Beautiful.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: My brother lives there.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: I love Charleston so much.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_01: We moved to Portland a year ago from Charleston and I was very sad to leave, but I love Portland too.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_01: So, so it's, it's been fine, but yeah, I have a special spot in my heart for Charleston.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_01: And that book sort of was inspired by just my time living in the low country and in the South.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_01: And I wanted to show off the healthier side of the Southern table, which was a really fun book project.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_01: But this book homemade ish,
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_01: I just really enjoy doing because I've found that a lot of my actual friends like
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_01: in my neighborhood and in my real life are really drawn to things that are
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_01: genuinely easy.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_01: truly low maintenance and unintimidating.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_01: I love a long cooking project with the best of them,
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_01: something that takes all day and then I have to go out into the world to find
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_01: really obscure ingredients.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_01: I like that because I'm a food nerd and that's the kind of stuff that makes me happy.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_01: But a lot of people, in fact, most people that I know, they're not like that.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_01: They do, however, want to
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_01: make food themselves in their home, because there's a lot to be said for that.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_01: But they want to do it with the least amount of fuss, you know, possible.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_01: And so that's really where the idea for this book came.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_01: And I also did used to watch semi homemade,
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_01: and I appreciated kind of the heart of the show,
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_01: the point of it made so much sense to me.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, I kind of wanted to breathe some modern new life into that concept.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_01: And
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_01: Because ready-made foods and store-bought foods have really come a long way since the 90s.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_01: And there's so much out there that's really great fodder for jumping off and being
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_01: creative and doctoring up into something new.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_01: And that's kind of the point of the book.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: So you take something that's maybe giving you a helping hand,
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: as it were,
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: like pesto or deli meats or even rotisserie chicken.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: And then you kind of take it the rest of the way.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think that cookbooks really serve a wonderful purpose in just giving ideas.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_01: Also,
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_01: I think sometimes just coming up with what to make for dinner can be,
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_01: a deterrent in and of itself.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_01: And so I'm hoping that these recipes help.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_01: are also fodder for people's own just riffing and their own interpretation.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_01: So hopefully it'll help people see their grocery stores kind of in a new light.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_01: Like what can a store do for me?
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: You mentioned in the book,
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's five,
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: like of your favorite products that everyone should have in their pantry at all
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: times that you always have a meal available.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe it wasn't exactly five, but I think it was pesto was one.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um, curry, I think prepared curry was the... Curry paste.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_01: I love, I love a curry paste.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_01: And can you share a few more?
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that this list probably changes a little bit,
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_01: but for me,
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_01: a rotisserie chicken is always a go-to.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_01: I tend to never get sick of finding ways to wield a rotisserie chicken because you
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_01: can just do so much with them.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_01: But I think this is gonna,
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_01: people scoff at bagged salads sometimes,
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_01: which is silly to me,
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_01: but I do a lot in this book with bagged salads.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_01: I usually have one
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_01: in my fridge to play on and riff on.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_01: I think they're really valuable because it saves you time with chopping and
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_01: procuring all of the individual things.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_01: I just, there's something to be said for that.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_01: So- Do you have bagged salad?
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: Like, are you an Aldi person?
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: Are you a Trader Joe's person?
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: Are you whatever your grocery store is where you are?
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: Because they apparently,
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: someone told me once that the bagged salads at Aldi that are $3 are really quite
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: good and I've never had-
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_01: I haven't either.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_01: Although I'm people, I see people talking about all the more and more singing its praises.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_01: So I will have to check that out.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_01: That's really good intel.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: I can't get past the quarter to get the cart.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, Oh yeah.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, come on.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's a quarter, but people say it ensures that the people bring the carts back into the store.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_01: I see.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: Charge me a dollar.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: I don't care.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: I just want, I don't want to have to fish around in my bag for a quarter.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_01: I know that's true.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't know about that whole thing.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_01: That is interesting.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_01: But it's funny you mentioned Trader Joe's because I just went there last week for
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_01: the first time in like six years for no reason other than that I've moved a few
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_01: times and COVID happened and I just hadn't been in a while and I forgot how much I
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_01: love that store.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's perfect for this book because they have so many wonderful things that are already kind of
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_01: made and started for you.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah,
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_01: I almost panic bought so many things when I went in there because I was like,
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_01: Oh gosh,
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_01: it all looks so good.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_00: You are my person because I'm a panic shopper.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_00: Like where I just,
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_00: and,
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_00: and during COVID,
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: I mean,
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: I have still nightmares about trying to go to the grocery store during COVID and
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_00: just literally throwing things in your cart and running out.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: But I'm also a panic orderer at a restaurant because I want everything.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, I know.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_01: I feel you on that.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_01: I'm a little bit like that.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_01: I close my eyes and just play roulette.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_01: No, I get that.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_01: But I did.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_01: I got some salads there last week, to your point, that were very good.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, normally I grocery shop so much just for my work that it's almost a daily thing.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_01: And I do get delivered groceries,
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_01: which people think is funny because I don't always pick out my own individual this
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_01: and that.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_01: But for pure efficiency sake,
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_01: again,
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_01: which is sort of the heart of this book,
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_01: I just shop at like my big local supermarket and and get all my back salads and
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_01: sundries there and,
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_01: use them in a pinch.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_01: They're always helpful.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: Every day, what does your day look like?
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: Like, are you already working on the next book?
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: And is that what you're doing every day?
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah,
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_01: I did this book right before we moved from Charleston to Portland,
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_01: and I did it really fast.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_01: For me, it was fast.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_01: And it didn't burn me out, but it definitely gave me a nice...
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_01: kind of pause in the cookbook making because I had a book come out a year ago as well.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_01: So I had two come out pretty close together,
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_01: which has been really fun,
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_01: but I'm just kind of enjoying sitting back a little and looking at the stuff I've made.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm actually working on a non-food related book right now just to see if that can go anywhere.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_01: So, but I've been focusing a lot on my website.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_01: and growing that I just you know as I said before it's past the five-year mark and
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_01: it's really nice to see that uh coming more to fruition and and doing doing pretty
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_01: well so I've just kind of thrown myself into that to that side of things but I'm
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_01: sure another book idea will will surface because I love making them but like you
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_01: you were just saying it's a lot when you're in it it's like whoa oh my my
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_01: Why am I doing this?
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_01: But it's great when all is said and done.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, I took a little break.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_00: There's been a kind of trend that I've been seeing with cookbook authors and recipe developers.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: I'm curious if you're thinking about this at all.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: We have a lot of people that have launched sub stacks and Instagram and TikTok are
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: just full of recipes and recipes.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: were in some respects,
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like have reached this,
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: like everything is just like this free recipe and people just comment like recipe,
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: recipe,
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: recipe.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: And with that, which is great because you build an audience and you build a community and,
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: There are some creators that are like,
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_00: wow,
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just putting all this time,
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_00: energy and money into this thing that the books aren't making money like they used to.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: Podcasts have never really made money unless you're like the top 20.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: And so we have all these creators spending all this energy and we're all chasing,
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: the few cents that you get when someone watches something on a YouTube channel.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm wondering if like we're almost at like some of the creators,
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_00: Carolyn Chambers has talked about this,
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_00: about taking all of her recipes off of her website and really funneling people only
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: into recipe ways that she can monetize.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_00: Have you thought about that at all?
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_00: Or do you think about that when you're working on your blog?
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I do.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_01: Because sometimes it does start to feel almost futile when you really sit back and
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_01: you think about,
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_01: I mean,
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_01: and you just summarized it really well.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_01: I go back and forth.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I actually started a sub stack as well.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_01: And I've enjoyed that as a separate space for me to write more creatively because
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_01: no one comes to food blogs anymore,
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_01: as you know,
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_01: to hear what anyone has to say about their life.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, that's a big joke now, you know, get to the recipe already.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_01: And
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_01: So my Substack became sort of that.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_01: I think for me,
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_01: it's been motivating because my own traffic on my website has grown exponentially
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_01: over the last year,
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_01: really year,
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_01: maybe year and a half.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_01: And that keeps me in the game.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_01: But I do sometimes wonder,
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_01: and I had someone ask me just last week about another factor,
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_01: which is AI is now a part of things as well,
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_01: too,
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_01: which is so intimidating.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_01: And it makes me wonder, is that where people are just going to
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_01: stop for all of their recipes.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_01: And are we going to become obsolete?
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_01: It's scary actually to think about it.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_01: But I have some very,
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_01: very dear friends who are full time food bloggers and are very helpful resources
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_01: for me and have taught me a lot about SEO,
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_01: which is search engine optimization.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_01: And it's sort of how to play the game with Google so that you get your content in
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_01: front of all the people out there who are Googling things all the time.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_01: And it keeps me inspired and motivated when I talk to other people who have found real success in this.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_01: But I don't know,
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_01: to your question,
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_01: it is a little bit nerve wracking and scary to think about what's going to happen
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_01: five years from now.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_01: I don't really know,
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_01: but I just know that I enjoy doing it and I am enjoying the little wins and little
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_01: successes that I'm seeing month to month right now.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_01: And that's keeping me going.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_01: And the books, like you said, you know, I don't know many people who write cookbooks to get rich, but
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_01: But it's a wonderfully legitimizing thing to have.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_01: I love having a tangible representation of my work.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_01: And it's just, I love them.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_01: I love that I've done them.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_01: And it's valuable in other ways that aren't necessarily monetary.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_01: And it all kind of works together as this little food machine and who knows exactly where it's going.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_01: But I'm confident and optimistic that it'll still be,
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_01: there's still a place for our blogs and recipe websites.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_00: Well,
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_00: and to your point,
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_00: I think what is also happening,
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_00: which is sort of in your wheelhouse,
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_00: I don't consider myself a writer.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_00: My husband actually is a writer.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm pretty careful about what that looks like in that space.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_00: I am a 300 words or less person.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_00: I am a bullet pointed list.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: I just, that's how I think.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_00: And that's what works for me.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_00: But to your point,
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: if you have like talent in the writing space and having your own personal points of view,
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_00: I do think that there's always going to be room for that where people align with
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_00: your vision or your values or your lifestyle choices and they get to know you and
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_00: they want to be more in your world.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: Hope so.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think so, too.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_01: I really do that that human element of the equation is special.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_01: And I think people like it.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_01: It's, it's a really nice thing.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_01: And so I'm hoping in fact,
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_01: I've actually made a commitment to invest more into the writing in my website,
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_01: even though I'm not telling you a story about my life anymore.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_01: You can still weave your voice into how you
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_01: explain food.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_01: You know, most of my blog posts, I don't even really call it a blog anymore.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_01: It really is more of a recipe website,
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_01: but there's still tons of words in there and you can pick and choose which words
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_01: you use.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_01: And I try to make mine as useful, but also entertaining and worth people's time to read.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_01: And that's one way you can separate yourself from the bazillions of other people
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_01: who are doing the same things.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm talking with Lauren McDuffie and her book is Homemade-ish.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_00: A couple of other things in your book specifically that I really loved.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_00: I was thinking about this today.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_00: I was doing a TV segment with a friend and there was a laundry guy on and he was
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_00: talking about,
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_00: the five things you need to have in your laundry room.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_00: And I thought, wow.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_00: there's blogs and I've got like kitchen essentials and you really broke it down
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_00: this in,
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_00: in your book,
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_00: some things worth noting about what you should,
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_00: the 13 things you literally need to have in your kitchen.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_00: I'd never seen a list so small and so spot on.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_00: So good for you.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_01: I, um,
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_01: That list came to be because I was photographing the book and I realized I have
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_01: rooms filled with props and things that I've used for years because I work as a
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_01: food photographer and stylist,
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_01: but
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_01: In the name of keeping things real and authentic,
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_01: I just used the stuff that I genuinely cook with in my real life.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, it made it very clear that you don't need a lot.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_01: I love minimalism.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_01: It makes me feel good.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_01: And so I wanted to kind of capture that.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_00: So it was a cutting board,
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_00: a chef's knife,
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_00: a large,
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_00: deep lidded pot,
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_00: a large skillet,
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_00: a medium lidded pot,
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_00: large baking sheets,
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_00: a muffin pan,
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_00: which I might argue with you on the muffin pan.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I know.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_01: I had to sneak that in because there's two recipes in my book that require it.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_00: OK, all right.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_00: A Dutch oven, a grater, a can opener, a large spatula or spoon, a blender or and a strainer.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_00: And like,
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_00: I guess because the one thing that the muffin pan is,
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_00: is you can't replicate a muffin pan,
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_00: really.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_01: Well, that's true.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_01: Well,
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_01: and I think specifically,
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_01: I was just trying to say that you can literally make every single thing in this
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_01: book with just these 13 things.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_01: But I'd be willing to stretch that and say you could probably get by with cooking a
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_01: lot more for a lot longer with just these things you really don't need.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, and you're right, the muffin pan is very unique to the book.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, I think in general,
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_01: Less is more.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not a big single use kitchen tool person.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_01: I used to be, but we have moved so much.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_01: Like my family, we've moved a lot and that'll make a minimalist out of you.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_01: It has me.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, I wanted to weave that notion into this book because I think it's kind of refreshing.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_00: So do you have an instant pot or a slow cooker?
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_01: I do have a slow cooker because I love them.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_01: They're so...
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_01: helpful and I love a slow cooked thing like we're getting into that season now so
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_01: mine's like I've just dusted it off and it's ready to go but yeah I I don't have an
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_01: instant pot and I'm sure I would like it I mean I'm sure I would like an air fryer
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_01: I don't have that either and I know people love them but that's just me probably
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_01: being resistant to one change and then also I'm
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, you know, if we move again, that's another thing I'm going to have to pack and unpack.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, you don't need an air fryer.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_00: And the only thing I would say about the instant pot is the pressure cooking aspect is really nice.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_00: And it's a slow cooker too.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_00: But there's something kind of homey about your ceramic slow cooker, you know?
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_01: And I love just, I love a Dutch oven, like old school, just, but I also work from home.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_01: And so I'm here to do that.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_01: But for,
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_01: I used to not work in my house and I loved a slow cooker because it just,
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_01: it made everything so easy.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_00: So as you're thinking about food trends and kind of new products,
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_00: like one of the,
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_00: um,
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_00: you have a recipe that's kind of like this,
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_00: we went through a shakshuka phase.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_00: Are there any like trends that you're seeing on the horizon that you're like,
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_00: Oh,
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_00: I need to simplify that.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_01: Hmm.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_01: That's actually, that's a great question.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um,
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_01: Well,
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_01: one trend that I've literally been working on just this morning is I'm really
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_01: obsessed with chili crisp,
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_01: which is something I see all over the place.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_01: I like spice.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_01: And so I've been trying to think of ways.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_01: In fact,
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_01: I just shared in my,
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_01: um,
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_01: I think I shared in my newsletter or I'm getting ready to ways to kind of make your own,
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_01: but using a store-bought one as you're just like with homemade ish,
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_01: using it as a launch pad.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_01: So I took a chili crisp that I bought, um,
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_01: from maybe Trader Joe's and I turned it into a Southern style chili crisp by adding some like candied
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_01: pecans and a little apple cider vinegar and like yum like so it and brown sugar I
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_01: think or molasses is what it was but anyways I southernized um an already
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_01: store-bought product which is very much what this book is sort of all about but I
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_01: keep seeing chili crisp everywhere that makes me so happy because I love it I
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_00: really want to put that on a white bean or cauliflower puree I'm just hearing you
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_01: talk about it that's the perfect idea yeah that would be um
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_00: Do you like some of the,
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_00: as I look at cookbooks,
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_00: sometimes I see like that,
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_00: and this is why I'm probably not a very prolific person.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_00: When I do this,
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_00: I kind of plot along like,
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_00: oh,
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_00: I'm going to make,
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_00: this double stuffed something.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_00: And then they find 12 other ways to make the same thing, but just with different twists on it.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_01: Do you think like that?
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_01: I think I do now,
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_01: but that's because I have to think strategically about how I publish recipes and on
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_01: my website,
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_01: at least,
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_01: because that's very,
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_01: that's very useful just for getting views and getting people.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_01: It's funny how,
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_01: how my brain splits into when I'm writing recipes for a book,
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_01: it's a very different,
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_01: it's much freer actually creatively.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_01: But then to your question, when I'm
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_01: working on coming up with recipes for my, um, for my website.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_01: If I can split something off and offer variations that serves me really well.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so yeah, I think my brain does work that way.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_01: The more the merrier.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_00: And,
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_00: and I know I I'm always like,
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_00: there's a reason people are doing it like this and I'm not doing it like that,
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_00: but I know there's a reason why people are,
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_00: and it never occurred to me that it was due to SEO,
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_00: but that makes total sense.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_01: That's why I would do it at least.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_00: Are there other cookbook authors that inspire you or that like books that you just
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_00: will never take off your shelf considering that you've moved?
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_00: So you've probably pared down.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, I really have.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_01: I donated some books that I'd worn pretty well, but, um,
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_01: I, um, I love Alison Roman's books.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_01: I just, I think, well, her food is a lot like the food that I just cook for myself, um, on any given day.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_01: Cause it's very simple.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it's nothing more than it needs to be.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_01: And I like that,
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_01: but I really respect and appreciate anybody that truly innovates and carves out
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_01: their own style.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_01: That's really hard to do.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_01: I
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_01: you know, recipe development and food.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_01: And so anytime someone comes along and has a very distinct and sort of fresh
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_01: feeling point of view,
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_01: I just think that's great.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_01: I admire that.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_01: She's good at that.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_01: She's, she's done that for herself.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_01: So she's the first person that came to mind and I have her books.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_01: They're sitting out and they have been for a long time.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_01: I love her.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um,
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_00: when you,
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_00: is there like a classic recipe that you just find yourself coming back to that's
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_00: maybe from your blog that you just love and.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_01: I always say my, uh, my most, I guess, well-loved and well-worn recipe.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_01: It's a,
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_01: I love Cajun and Creole,
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_01: uh,
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_01: cuisine,
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_01: and I've got just this etouffee recipe that I have been making for a really,
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_01: really long time.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um,
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_01: that's got shrimp and chicken and andouille.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_01: And it's just so good.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_01: I've made it for, I think, everyone that has ever come to my house.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_01: It's just so tasty and it tastes better the longer that it sits.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_01: Anything that can check that box, I'm gonna automatically be a fan of.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_01: But I think that's my all-time favorite.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_01: And I love like a cocoa van as well.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_01: In fact, I'm sitting here today working on a chicken stew collection for my website.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_01: And that's just my favorite, I think, category of food just in general.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_01: But my all-time favorite would be this.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_01: like an etouffee, like a spicy one.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_01: I love them and I make them all the time.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_00: And that is super Southern too.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_00: Like something that,
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_00: sometimes I think like,
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_00: oh,
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_00: do I even need to like tell someone a recipe for this?
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_00: Like some of it seems so obvious.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, sure.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_00: That is something.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_00: And I guess you get accustomed, like I can make gravy like nobody's business.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, sure.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_00: But I, you know, in the Midwest, we had grew up with gravy on everything.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_00: So it's,
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_00: Sort of unique.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_01: I appreciate that.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_01: I know.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_01: I forget sometimes how I assume things are just so easy and you don't need recipes for things.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_01: But then I'll have friends who just are like, Lauren, no.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_01: That's why I wrote this book.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_01: They're just like, you know, I don't know what I'm doing.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_01: My brain doesn't work that way.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_01: And so I always equate it to the way that I am with gardening.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know how to do anything with plants at all.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_01: I'm so ignorant.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_01: And so I always just try to remember like how I am with plants.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_01: It's how some people are with cooking.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_01: It's just not your, you want to do it, but you just aren't super well-versed.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I'm going to put a link to the book, obviously homemade-ish in the notes here.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_00: I will also, remind me of the name of your blog again.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_01: It's called My Kitchen Little.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_01: And so it's just mykitchenlittle.com.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_00: It's cute.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_00: And then I'll find your sub stack and I'll link to it too.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_00: Great.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_00: And we'll go from there, but it was really lovely to spend time with you.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_00: I really think the book is clever.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_00: I felt like I knew right away people in my life that would really get a lot out of this.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_00: Good to hear.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_00: And it's beautifully shot,
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_00: which is also...
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_00: I really admire that because I'm over here with my stupid iPhone.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_00: But it's beautifully shot.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_00: It looks great.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_00: And I would recommend that people buy it.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_00: I...
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_00: When I really sat down with it and went through the recipes, I liked it very much.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_00: It's homemade-ish, recipes and cooking tips that keep it real.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_00: And I liked your 13 things you need in the kitchen, probably minus the muffin pan.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_01: That's fair.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_01: That's fair.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_01: I get it.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks, Lauren.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_01: We'll talk soon.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_01: Bye-bye.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_01: Bye-bye.