Latest / Cookbook Love Podcast / Episode 423: Thriving After Breast Cancer, One Forkful at a Time with Ellyn Caruso

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Episode 423: Thriving After Breast Cancer, One Forkful at a Time with Ellyn Caruso · Cookbook Love Podcast

0:02
Speaker: You are listening to the Cookbook Love Podcast with
0:04
Speaker: Maggie Greene, episode number four twenty three.
0:11
Speaker: Welcome to the Cookbook Love
0:12
Speaker: Podcast, a podcast that
0:14
Speaker: celebrates cookbook readers,
0:16
Speaker: buyers, collectors, writers, and
0:18
Speaker: clubs.
0:19
Speaker: And now your host, cookbook
0:21
Speaker: author, culinary dietitian, and
0:23
Speaker: cookbook writing coach, Maggie
0:25
Speaker: Greene.
0:31
Speaker: Hi, everybody.
0:32
Speaker: Welcome back to another episode of the cookbook Love Podcast.
0:35
Speaker: How's everybody doing today?
0:37
Speaker: Hope you are all doing well.
0:38
Speaker: I am having a great day here in my cookbook bunker.
0:42
Speaker: Very excited to be here with you today.
0:44
Speaker: And before we dive into our
0:46
Speaker: interview, I have a couple of
0:48
Speaker: different announcements.
0:49
Speaker: One of the reasons I'm so
0:50
Speaker: excited is because one of my
0:52
Speaker: students inside get paid to get
0:54
Speaker: published.
0:55
Speaker: Pitched her book idea to a publisher this morning.
0:59
Speaker: She actually did it last night and she sent pictures via email.
1:04
Speaker: I put them out in our group community of students.
1:09
Speaker: A picture of her hitting the send button.
1:11
Speaker: So it's very exciting.
1:12
Speaker: Takes a lot of courage to get to that point because you don't
1:15
Speaker: really ever know what the response of the publisher or the
1:18
Speaker: agent is going to be.
1:20
Speaker: But I always tell my students, there's a math problem of
1:24
Speaker: cookbook publishing, especially traditional publishing, and that
1:28
Speaker: goes like this.
1:29
Speaker: In order to get one contract,
1:32
Speaker: you have to pitch at least one
1:34
Speaker: time.
1:35
Speaker: And in that pitch, you need to be willing to hear a yes or a
1:39
Speaker: no. She's pitched.
1:41
Speaker: We don't know yet what the answer is.
1:43
Speaker: We don't know yet whether a book deal or contract will be
1:46
Speaker: extended, or whether they will ask for some more information.
1:50
Speaker: But the only way that we ever
1:52
Speaker: get to a deal with a publisher
1:55
Speaker: or an agent is through pitching
1:57
Speaker: to them, very excited,
1:59
Speaker: shepherded her through that
2:01
Speaker: process.
2:02
Speaker: She did the lion's share of the work.
2:04
Speaker: I was just there to help save time, help her overcome
2:08
Speaker: obstacles, clarify her message.
2:11
Speaker: And in fact, what really happens
2:13
Speaker: is she became very sold on her
2:16
Speaker: idea.
2:17
Speaker: She knew that it was time to pitch because she had been able
2:20
Speaker: to narrow it down to a concept and look at other books that
2:24
Speaker: were published similar to hers, so that she could actually
2:28
Speaker: create a concept that will stand out in the marketplace.
2:31
Speaker: Very exciting to have worked with her to do that.
2:34
Speaker: I've done that many times with other students as well.
2:36
Speaker: You've met many of them on the
2:38
Speaker: show, and it's just a great day
2:41
Speaker: when something like that happens
2:43
Speaker: and I get just wish I could
2:44
Speaker: bottle the excitement that my
2:46
Speaker: students feel when they get to
2:47
Speaker: that point.
2:48
Speaker: So along those same lines, I
2:51
Speaker: usually in the month of October,
2:53
Speaker: teach a master class about
2:54
Speaker: cookbook publishing.
2:55
Speaker: And this month is no exception.
2:58
Speaker: I have a brand new class coming up for dietitians, chefs,
3:02
Speaker: culinary professionals, and expert home cooks who want to
3:05
Speaker: write a cookbook called From Kitchen to Book Deal.
3:09
Speaker: Inside this training, you will learn insider truths from me
3:13
Speaker: about traditional cookbook publishing so that you can say
3:17
Speaker: yes to your dream without saying goodbye to your savings.
3:21
Speaker: We are going to talk all about
3:22
Speaker: how traditional publishing
3:24
Speaker: works, the three things
3:25
Speaker: publishers look for in a
3:27
Speaker: cookbook idea, and how you can
3:30
Speaker: spot where you might be stalling
3:32
Speaker: between the idea you have and
3:34
Speaker: the yes, you need to say so that
3:36
Speaker: you can skip the costly detours
3:38
Speaker: of getting your cookbook
3:40
Speaker: published.
3:40
Speaker: So there is a link down in the
3:41
Speaker: show notes from Kitchen to Book
3:43
Speaker: deal.
3:44
Speaker: Register for the class and I would absolutely love to have
3:48
Speaker: you join us today on the show.
3:50
Speaker: I'm very excited to have an interview with Ellen Caruso.
3:53
Speaker: Ellen is an award winning public
3:55
Speaker: relations, professional
3:56
Speaker: entrepreneur, cookbook author,
3:58
Speaker: and culinary curious breast
4:00
Speaker: cancer survivor.
4:02
Speaker: It is no coincidence that it is Breast Cancer Survivor Month,
4:05
Speaker: and Ellen is here to talk all about her beautiful new book
4:10
Speaker: called Forks Full of Flavor.
4:12
Speaker: Ellen is the founder and principal of Caruso PR, and she
4:16
Speaker: is excited to tell you the story all about her cookbook, her
4:20
Speaker: journey to cookbook publishing, and what she hopes this book
4:24
Speaker: carries as a message for all breast cancer Thrivers.
4:29
Speaker: So without further delay, let's
4:30
Speaker: dive into this interview with
4:32
Speaker: Ellen Caruso.
4:34
Speaker: Hi, Ellen, welcome to the Cookbook Love podcast.
4:38
Speaker: Hi.
4:38
Speaker: Hi. Nice to be here.
4:40
Speaker: Yeah.
4:40
Speaker: So excited to have you here.
4:41
Speaker: Can't wait to share all about your beautiful new book.
4:45
Speaker: But before we dive in, why don't
4:46
Speaker: you tell everybody a little bit
4:48
Speaker: about who you are and what you
4:49
Speaker: do?
4:50
Speaker: Sure.
4:51
Speaker: I'd be happy to.
4:52
Speaker: So I'm actually a forty year
4:55
Speaker: public relations communications
4:57
Speaker: professional, and I still head
4:59
Speaker: up.
4:59
Speaker: Caruso, an award winning PR firm in Chicago, Illinois.
5:03
Speaker: Caruso PR and I, I got this idea that I really wanted to dive in
5:08
Speaker: and write a cookbook.
5:10
Speaker: So I think I leaned into my, uh, art and love of storytelling
5:16
Speaker: mixed in with my, uh, need to always nourish and help others.
5:22
Speaker: And as a breast cancer survivor myself, I came up with this
5:25
Speaker: topic and I just really wanted to fulfill this mission to write
5:30
Speaker: and find some practical and good information to share and inspire
5:34
Speaker: others to live their best life.
5:36
Speaker: Um, I think, but I've been
5:39
Speaker: involved in so many different
5:41
Speaker: things.
5:41
Speaker: I've been an entrepreneur.
5:42
Speaker: I can now add cookbook author to
5:44
Speaker: my list and I've certainly along
5:46
Speaker: this journey become very
5:47
Speaker: culinarily curious, uh, breast
5:50
Speaker: cancer survivor and a general
5:51
Speaker: cook.
5:51
Speaker: And I've really enjoyed that along the way as well.
5:54
Speaker: Yeah.
5:55
Speaker: Forty years owning your own PR agency.
5:59
Speaker: Well, I did work in other places before I started this, so I say
6:02
Speaker: it just more generically, but I'm also third generation
6:05
Speaker: communications in my family.
6:06
Speaker: So it's a very common yes.
6:10
Speaker: Table top conversation.
6:11
Speaker: Yes.
6:12
Speaker: And you're helping other people get the word out about their
6:15
Speaker: businesses, their work.
6:16
Speaker: And of course, we're here today
6:18
Speaker: to get the word out about your
6:19
Speaker: beautiful new book, Forkfuls of
6:21
Speaker: Flavor.
6:22
Speaker: So let's talk a little bit about
6:24
Speaker: your journey into being a
6:25
Speaker: cookbook author and why you
6:28
Speaker: settled on this particular
6:29
Speaker: topic.
6:30
Speaker: Sure.
6:31
Speaker: I, um, well, I have always, I
6:36
Speaker: had a life altering diagnosis of
6:39
Speaker: a breast cancer, and breast
6:40
Speaker: cancer is very near and dear to
6:42
Speaker: my heart.
6:42
Speaker: I lost two very close friends to
6:45
Speaker: the disease when they were
6:46
Speaker: young.
6:47
Speaker: My younger sister, um, Also was diagnosed with breast cancer at
6:53
Speaker: a very young age at thirty six.
6:55
Speaker: And those are tougher cases.
6:57
Speaker: So she she was a very
6:59
Speaker: inspirational you know, she was
7:01
Speaker: great.
7:02
Speaker: She was just living every day with purpose and joy.
7:04
Speaker: And she just always stuck in my heart as something to, you know,
7:09
Speaker: just think of the positive.
7:10
Speaker: And I think, um, cancer diagnosis really changed me.
7:15
Speaker: I think it changes most people when you have a diagnosis and
7:18
Speaker: you just want to change.
7:20
Speaker: Once you get through your treatment, you want to make
7:24
Speaker: positive, long standing, uh, healthy lifestyle changes.
7:28
Speaker: And I had a driving hunger to do that.
7:31
Speaker: I, um, I found that after I finished my treatment, which was
7:38
Speaker: pretty comprehensive that you just, you just are always
7:42
Speaker: looking to take control of your life because nothing is your
7:45
Speaker: control when you're going through that experience and it's
7:48
Speaker: very important to you.
7:49
Speaker: And you also realize, I mean,
7:51
Speaker: I'm profoundly grateful that I
7:52
Speaker: do have this second chance to
7:53
Speaker: live a healthier life and try
7:55
Speaker: and be, you know, live my best
7:56
Speaker: life.
7:56
Speaker: And I think everyone I've talked to that have been in those shoes
7:59
Speaker: feels very much the same way.
8:01
Speaker: But we're always looking for that.
8:02
Speaker: And I think it's hard to find, but I, I, it led me down that
8:07
Speaker: path to find, uh, this topic and my love of cooking and kind of
8:12
Speaker: mirroring everything together to come up with, you know, how to,
8:16
Speaker: uh, address this.
8:17
Speaker: And, and I always have had a
8:19
Speaker: drive of, you know, comes from
8:20
Speaker: my PR background helping spread
8:21
Speaker: the word about good things to
8:23
Speaker: help others.
8:24
Speaker: I always had a lot of nonprofits
8:25
Speaker: and things like that in my, in
8:26
Speaker: my aura.
8:27
Speaker: Yeah.
8:28
Speaker: But so we talked about, you
8:30
Speaker: know, it's breast cancer
8:31
Speaker: awareness month.
8:32
Speaker: We hear the term a lot people are breast cancer survivors.
8:36
Speaker: But I was always impressed with
8:38
Speaker: you, Ellen, because you took a,
8:41
Speaker: you, you, you had a different
8:42
Speaker: word that you use for the stage
8:45
Speaker: after you're finished with
8:46
Speaker: treatment and you're living life
8:47
Speaker: again.
8:48
Speaker: Talk a little bit about your
8:50
Speaker: philosophy about the word that
8:52
Speaker: you use.
8:53
Speaker: Tell us what the word is and
8:55
Speaker: what you feel about that word
8:57
Speaker: and how it spoke to you in the
9:00
Speaker: time after you finished your
9:01
Speaker: treatments.
9:03
Speaker: Absolutely.
9:04
Speaker: I so there's, first of all, for Breast Cancer Awareness Month,
9:07
Speaker: October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and there are
9:10
Speaker: more than four point three million breast cancer survivors
9:13
Speaker: in the United States.
9:14
Speaker: Um, and I think that's an important number because it's
9:18
Speaker: showing that there, you know, all this great diagnosis, people
9:20
Speaker: are getting through things and living longer, healthier lives.
9:23
Speaker: So it's something to embrace and something to recognize.
9:26
Speaker: Um, survivor and thriver are different terms that people have
9:30
Speaker: different experiences with.
9:32
Speaker: I strongly believe in the term thriver.
9:35
Speaker: And that's what you're referring to.
9:36
Speaker: It's even in a subtitle of the book.
9:38
Speaker: But to me, a thriver is
9:40
Speaker: something that goes beyond
9:42
Speaker: surviving an event such as
9:44
Speaker: cancer treatment.
9:45
Speaker: It's an intentional, um, adding, uh, a, seeking out actionable
9:52
Speaker: ways to make changes that will help you live your most vibrant
9:58
Speaker: life, uh, healthiest life, be, be more active, be intentional
10:02
Speaker: and move forward.
10:03
Speaker: And that's why I've always embraced that term.
10:06
Speaker: It means different things to
10:07
Speaker: different people, of course, but
10:08
Speaker: I always feel like it's an
10:10
Speaker: active verb.
10:10
Speaker: It's ongoing.
10:11
Speaker: You didn't survive something.
10:13
Speaker: You're surviving, you're thriving.
10:15
Speaker: It's a thriving ship.
10:16
Speaker: It's a long period of time.
10:17
Speaker: So I look at it as the longevity of our lives.
10:20
Speaker: Yeah.
10:20
Speaker: And intentionally adding more
10:22
Speaker: than just, uh, food related
10:24
Speaker: changes.
10:24
Speaker: Tell us about the types of things that you have embraced as
10:28
Speaker: a result of that.
10:29
Speaker: Absolutely.
10:30
Speaker: So I, it, a big part of this for
10:33
Speaker: me is really picking up on the
10:35
Speaker: Mediterranean lifestyle.
10:37
Speaker: And to me, that is all about
10:38
Speaker: adding, you know, many different
10:41
Speaker: parts of our ways to not only
10:43
Speaker: eat, but to move more, to be
10:45
Speaker: active and to connect with
10:47
Speaker: others.
10:47
Speaker: And those are kind of big pillars of the Mediterranean
10:49
Speaker: lifestyle, which I've incorporated in, into the
10:52
Speaker: practical guidance of guide of this cookbook, because I
10:56
Speaker: personally found that I was adding additional fitness
11:01
Speaker: strength training, added more walking, more swimming, dancing,
11:05
Speaker: because I used to love it and other activities to my day.
11:09
Speaker: And I started seeing such great differences.
11:11
Speaker: I also became much more mindful of holistic opportunities
11:16
Speaker: reflexology, meditation, tai chi these types of things just help
11:21
Speaker: keep you grounded.
11:22
Speaker: If you go through something as a cancer diagnosis, it just sticks
11:26
Speaker: with you throughout your life because you're being watched and
11:29
Speaker: you know, everybody has different, different, you know,
11:31
Speaker: journeys and, and ups and downs.
11:33
Speaker: All of our situations differ.
11:35
Speaker: So it's, I always find it helps
11:36
Speaker: you keep you very grounded and
11:38
Speaker: stay positive.
11:39
Speaker: And the other thing I've always liked to do is also stay
11:41
Speaker: connected and active in whether it's volunteering or working.
11:46
Speaker: My whole mantra, frankly, when I was going through treatment was,
11:50
Speaker: uh, my family used to joke and call it the three W's.
11:52
Speaker: It was water working and walking.
11:55
Speaker: So but it's something I did
11:57
Speaker: every day to be me, and that was
11:59
Speaker: me.
11:59
Speaker: Everybody has to find themselves.
12:01
Speaker: And but it helped me be me and move forward.
12:04
Speaker: And I guess I still do that too.
12:06
Speaker: So those were some of the things that I really added.
12:08
Speaker: And then I started taking a
12:11
Speaker: harder look at what specifically
12:14
Speaker: I could do to eat healthier
12:17
Speaker: because I realized food, what
12:19
Speaker: you eat really matters, and it's
12:22
Speaker: time to really step away from
12:24
Speaker: that processed food, step away
12:25
Speaker: from the fast food, and get back
12:27
Speaker: to figuring out, you know,
12:29
Speaker: wholesome, nutritious
12:30
Speaker: ingredients.
12:31
Speaker: Yeah, yeah.
12:32
Speaker: And then your inspiration from
12:34
Speaker: your travels, uh, the way your
12:36
Speaker: kitchen changed, you were
12:38
Speaker: changing your mindset, changing
12:40
Speaker: your activity, And you really
12:43
Speaker: embrace that.
12:43
Speaker: I think we met many years ago through a recipe writing course
12:48
Speaker: that I taught.
12:49
Speaker: And you were actively working on
12:54
Speaker: the recipes then, um, what was
12:56
Speaker: it that flipped the switch to
12:57
Speaker: take this?
12:59
Speaker: What, this thriving ship and turn it into a book?
13:03
Speaker: Well, it did, it started a few years ago with that.
13:05
Speaker: Originally it was I was changing
13:08
Speaker: what I was doing, and I was
13:09
Speaker: watching what I was doing, and I
13:11
Speaker: felt better, I looked better,
13:13
Speaker: everything was looking better at
13:14
Speaker: the doctors, which is always
13:15
Speaker: good.
13:15
Speaker: Um, my, my nurse oncology
13:17
Speaker: practitioner and my oncologist
13:19
Speaker: team were saying, you're doing
13:20
Speaker: everything right.
13:21
Speaker: And I said, well, doesn't everybody they're like, no, not
13:24
Speaker: everybody follows these rules.
13:26
Speaker: Like, really?
13:27
Speaker: So I said, well, why could that be?
13:30
Speaker: And I said, here's what I do.
13:31
Speaker: And they're like, no, they, we give everybody all the same
13:34
Speaker: information, but everybody takes their own thing.
13:37
Speaker: So I started saying to her, you know, I've started tweaking
13:39
Speaker: recipes and I started sharing this idea that I had and they
13:43
Speaker: were very encouraging.
13:44
Speaker: Also, like, that would be a great book.
13:45
Speaker: You should do this.
13:46
Speaker: So that's kind of where the idea
13:48
Speaker: started taking a strong
13:50
Speaker: foothold.
13:50
Speaker: And then I just started building it from there and it really
13:55
Speaker: turned it around.
13:56
Speaker: But I started tweaking all those recipes.
13:59
Speaker: It literally really, during the time when we were all spending
14:01
Speaker: more time at home, um, during the crazy time.
14:05
Speaker: And, uh, but we were all stepping away from going out and
14:08
Speaker: fast food and processed food and our life became a little slower
14:11
Speaker: because of that.
14:12
Speaker: And I think it reconnected me with what is important, moving
14:16
Speaker: more family connections, food.
14:18
Speaker: And that really became those
14:20
Speaker: pillars and why I wove them so
14:22
Speaker: much into this book and why I
14:25
Speaker: truly believe and live that life
14:27
Speaker: today.
14:27
Speaker: Yeah, yeah.
14:29
Speaker: So let's talk a little bit about how you actually moved into
14:33
Speaker: making the decision then to get this book published.
14:37
Speaker: And then we'll talk specifically about all the great things that
14:39
Speaker: are in the book.
14:40
Speaker: Um, tell us a little bit about,
14:42
Speaker: um, the journey to publishing
14:46
Speaker: your book.
14:48
Speaker: Yeah, I, well, we did meet a while ago.
14:51
Speaker: I was actually thinking about when that was, and I believe it
14:54
Speaker: was several years ago, maybe twenty twenty two.
14:55
Speaker: And I, um, I had this idea and I started tweaking things.
15:00
Speaker: I, I've always enjoyed cooking
15:04
Speaker: and I would be very creative,
15:06
Speaker: but I wasn't really good at
15:07
Speaker: recording things.
15:08
Speaker: So I needed to learn how to write down those recipes.
15:11
Speaker: So you're, you know, meeting you was great for that.
15:15
Speaker: And then I got, I kept working at that and improving on that.
15:18
Speaker: And I, but I like to have ideas
15:21
Speaker: simmer a little bit in my head
15:22
Speaker: and, and set them aside a little
15:23
Speaker: bit.
15:24
Speaker: So I was really trying to figure out how, what is the audience?
15:27
Speaker: Is there a market for this?
15:29
Speaker: So my background kicks in, right?
15:31
Speaker: So I started doing a lot of research to find out what other
15:34
Speaker: books are out there.
15:36
Speaker: Uh, did some informal research
15:37
Speaker: on, you know, obviously the best
15:39
Speaker: diets and the forms of good
15:41
Speaker: health habits and also started
15:44
Speaker: seeing if there was really
15:45
Speaker: something there.
15:46
Speaker: And then I started shaping.
15:48
Speaker: When I look back on my notes to
15:50
Speaker: what is written today and
15:51
Speaker: published, it really mirrors
15:53
Speaker: that idea that I had from the
15:54
Speaker: beginning.
15:55
Speaker: Obviously much more polished, but it was I stuck true to my
15:58
Speaker: themes and my concepts going through which, which was
16:01
Speaker: actually interesting to me to do the look back because several
16:04
Speaker: years had transpired, you know, the recipes, I think, just
16:06
Speaker: improved and improved and grew.
16:08
Speaker: But the yeah, but as far as the concepts surrounding it, you're
16:12
Speaker: always pretty clear when we would talk that you wanted this
16:15
Speaker: book to be for Thrivers.
16:17
Speaker: This isn't about necessarily,
16:19
Speaker: um, breast cancer prevention
16:21
Speaker: like before someone might ever
16:23
Speaker: be diagnosed.
16:24
Speaker: It's not necessarily a book, although people could use the
16:27
Speaker: recipes, like while they're going through treatment.
16:29
Speaker: This is a book that's intended
16:31
Speaker: to be used to live intentionally
16:33
Speaker: your healthiest life while
16:35
Speaker: you're thriving.
16:36
Speaker: after you've completed treatment.
16:39
Speaker: Um, but I think that you also
16:40
Speaker: said, but anybody could use
16:42
Speaker: these recipes.
16:43
Speaker: These are recipes that are
16:44
Speaker: because the Mediterranean
16:45
Speaker: lifestyle is a pillar of this
16:47
Speaker: book.
16:47
Speaker: It is truly something that if
16:49
Speaker: someone is cooking for a family
16:51
Speaker: or for a partner, that these
16:52
Speaker: recipes would appeal to them
16:54
Speaker: also.
16:55
Speaker: Absolutely.
16:56
Speaker: I feel that I, I feel that that is very important.
16:59
Speaker: It also helps all of us to eat
17:02
Speaker: with others and connect around
17:03
Speaker: that table.
17:04
Speaker: So cooking something that's good for everyone around your table
17:07
Speaker: as opposed to just for a specific group is, is important.
17:11
Speaker: And, um, I think it, it makes
17:14
Speaker: everyone more connected and, and
17:18
Speaker: healthier.
17:18
Speaker: Yeah, yeah.
17:20
Speaker: And you, um, ultimately then
17:22
Speaker: decided to self publish your
17:23
Speaker: book.
17:24
Speaker: I did, I did, I did go down it a little route.
17:27
Speaker: I was starting to do some queries and things like that.
17:29
Speaker: I just think the timing was, I
17:31
Speaker: was driven to do this in as
17:33
Speaker: short a time as possible, and I
17:35
Speaker: know the traditional publishing
17:37
Speaker: journey can be a much longer
17:38
Speaker: time frame.
17:39
Speaker: I think I was getting impatient, so I wanted to get there.
17:42
Speaker: Um, and then I also started just
17:45
Speaker: doing some queries and I just
17:46
Speaker: wasn't, you know, kind of
17:47
Speaker: hitting it out of the ballpark
17:48
Speaker: right away.
17:48
Speaker: But it, but it helped me shape
17:49
Speaker: my idea by doing those proposals
17:51
Speaker: and plans.
17:52
Speaker: And I, you know, so it, it, I
17:54
Speaker: don't think it was any worse for
17:56
Speaker: the wear.
17:56
Speaker: I also have some friends that have published all different
17:58
Speaker: genres and they're like, write the book that you want to write
18:01
Speaker: and we'll figure the rest out.
18:03
Speaker: Yeah.
18:03
Speaker: Because everyone, everyone can.
18:05
Speaker: So they were very encouraging.
18:07
Speaker: Yeah.
18:07
Speaker: And you're now able to put your
18:10
Speaker: PR wheels in motion to help
18:12
Speaker: promote this.
18:13
Speaker: You had a lot of connections in the oncology community.
18:16
Speaker: Everybody from your nurse practitioner to physicians that
18:19
Speaker: you worked with who were very encouraging and wanted you to
18:22
Speaker: write and finish this book, because they were ready to share
18:25
Speaker: it with people that they know.
18:27
Speaker: Absolutely.
18:28
Speaker: In fact, the nurse practitioner
18:30
Speaker: I mentioned, she wrote the
18:31
Speaker: foreword for the book, and I was
18:32
Speaker: so honored that she was doing
18:33
Speaker: that.
18:34
Speaker: And she did it to obviously
18:35
Speaker: honor what I was working on, but
18:37
Speaker: also to help inspire others as
18:38
Speaker: well.
18:39
Speaker: And, um, I am getting some
18:42
Speaker: really good, good connections
18:43
Speaker: there.
18:44
Speaker: And, and everybody is really
18:46
Speaker: talking about wanting to spread
18:48
Speaker: the word.
18:48
Speaker: So, and again, we tried to do very mouthwatering pictures to
18:52
Speaker: make it very enticing and not bland and boring or restrictive.
18:57
Speaker: I think that's the difference between the Mediterranean
18:59
Speaker: lifestyle and a diet book.
19:01
Speaker: And you mentioned earlier, uh,
19:04
Speaker: you know, a lot of the previous,
19:06
Speaker: uh, breast cancer cooking books,
19:08
Speaker: if you will, were focused more
19:10
Speaker: on what to eat when you're going
19:12
Speaker: through treatment.
19:13
Speaker: I found that to be too tricky
19:14
Speaker: because everyone's treatment
19:15
Speaker: plan is extraordinarily
19:16
Speaker: different.
19:17
Speaker: And I don't think we'd ever, you
19:19
Speaker: know, get everything in one
19:19
Speaker: book.
19:20
Speaker: So yeah, I, I was focusing on,
19:23
Speaker: you know, the post and, and
19:24
Speaker: moving there, but that also was
19:26
Speaker: able to bring in everyone around
19:27
Speaker: your table.
19:28
Speaker: And that's how the family and the friends and, and everyone
19:30
Speaker: else gets involved.
19:31
Speaker: Yeah.
19:32
Speaker: That's great.
19:32
Speaker: So if there are people who are picking up this book or looking
19:36
Speaker: at it, what messages do you really hope to share through the
19:39
Speaker: book with them?
19:42
Speaker: I think some of the key messages are really to just take a deep
19:46
Speaker: look and really understand how what you eat truly does matter.
19:50
Speaker: And with some very simple, when
19:54
Speaker: you get down to it, simple
19:55
Speaker: changes or tweaks to both your
19:57
Speaker: Mediterranean pantry at home,
19:59
Speaker: your way that you shop in a
20:01
Speaker: grocery store from, you know,
20:03
Speaker: avoiding kind of shopping the
20:05
Speaker: perimeter as opposed to those
20:07
Speaker: many aisles filled with
20:08
Speaker: processed foods, um, getting out
20:10
Speaker: there and going to a farmer's
20:11
Speaker: market, learning more about
20:12
Speaker: different fruits and vegetables
20:14
Speaker: and learning how to combine
20:16
Speaker: everything together, that you
20:18
Speaker: will come up with endless types
20:19
Speaker: of flavors and possibilities for
20:21
Speaker: things.
20:21
Speaker: So it's never boring, it's never bland.
20:24
Speaker: And that makes it fun and it's
20:26
Speaker: not restrictive and it becomes
20:28
Speaker: more energetic.
20:29
Speaker: And then if you're inspired,
20:30
Speaker: like we were with travel, we've
20:32
Speaker: had an opportunity to travel to
20:33
Speaker: the Mediterranean.
20:34
Speaker: You you can go back to your
20:36
Speaker: favorite, you know, area and use
20:38
Speaker: those spices using a lot of core
20:40
Speaker: ingredients.
20:41
Speaker: And one night it's, you know, this flavor and next night it's
20:44
Speaker: that whether it's Italian or Greek or Spanish, you know, so
20:46
Speaker: on and so forth.
20:47
Speaker: So it just, it's very versatile
20:50
Speaker: to be able to learn to cook in
20:51
Speaker: that way.
20:52
Speaker: Yeah.
20:52
Speaker: I was also really mindful to keep things relatively simple.
20:56
Speaker: There are some complex things and relatively mindful of time.
21:00
Speaker: We all have limited time, but
21:01
Speaker: that shouldn't be a barrier to
21:03
Speaker: eating well.
21:03
Speaker: But you'd be surprised how many
21:05
Speaker: recipes you can make in, you
21:07
Speaker: know, cook in less than thirty
21:08
Speaker: minutes for dinner or
21:09
Speaker: thereabouts or a little bit over
21:10
Speaker: that.
21:11
Speaker: But that's homemade dinner from
21:13
Speaker: something casual to restaurant
21:15
Speaker: worthy right in front of your
21:16
Speaker: table.
21:16
Speaker: That's healthy.
21:17
Speaker: Yeah, yeah.
21:18
Speaker: And you talk a lot about in the
21:19
Speaker: book as we dive into the table
21:21
Speaker: of contents about becoming a
21:23
Speaker: culinary curious cook and tell
21:26
Speaker: us a little bit about what that
21:27
Speaker: means.
21:28
Speaker: Sure I, I was when I was in Europe a lot, and we've traveled
21:33
Speaker: a little bit more a lot lately.
21:34
Speaker: And I found that wandering through those open French
21:39
Speaker: markets or Spanish markets, different countries, you just
21:42
Speaker: saw the food differently.
21:44
Speaker: It's so vibrant in colors.
21:46
Speaker: Everyone is there.
21:47
Speaker: It's locally grown.
21:49
Speaker: You know exactly where it's coming from.
21:50
Speaker: They tell you they're so informative.
21:52
Speaker: If you want to ask a question,
21:54
Speaker: they'll let you taste
21:55
Speaker: everything.
21:56
Speaker: And to me, tasting is everything.
21:57
Speaker: Because if you know what something tastes like, then
21:59
Speaker: you're going to want to try it and you're going to want to be
22:01
Speaker: creative with it.
22:02
Speaker: If you're looking at this funny
22:03
Speaker: looking something, you don't
22:04
Speaker: know what to do with it, it's a
22:05
Speaker: little harder.
22:06
Speaker: So I think that that really
22:08
Speaker: opened my eyes to a lot of
22:10
Speaker: things.
22:11
Speaker: And just taking in the scene when you're traveling, whether
22:13
Speaker: it's in, you know, Europe, along the Mediterranean or even
22:16
Speaker: anywhere, you just open your senses really to the smells and
22:22
Speaker: the tastes and the ambiance.
22:25
Speaker: And just to kind of Understand how things are put together and
22:29
Speaker: how you can take these wholesome foods, you know, and create
22:32
Speaker: different things and learn different and taste them.
22:35
Speaker: When you go out, you know, you're dining out.
22:36
Speaker: When you're traveling, you know, these different experience food
22:40
Speaker: in different countries and different, different regions.
22:42
Speaker: If you're not in this still stay
22:43
Speaker: in this country, um, to try
22:45
Speaker: different things to be open to
22:46
Speaker: it.
22:47
Speaker: Yeah, that's for sure.
22:49
Speaker: You talk a lot also about seafood and you actually have a
22:53
Speaker: couple of different, uh, passages about seafood because
22:56
Speaker: you really want people to, uh, not only understand the power of
23:00
Speaker: eating seafood, but the confidence to cook fish at home.
23:05
Speaker: So let's talk about each of
23:06
Speaker: those, because I do think that
23:09
Speaker: there are some barriers to
23:10
Speaker: people wanting to eat seafood or
23:13
Speaker: cook it.
23:13
Speaker: But let's talk first about the
23:15
Speaker: what you've learned about the
23:17
Speaker: nutrition and seafood and the
23:20
Speaker: value it brings to a driver's
23:22
Speaker: life.
23:24
Speaker: Yes, absolutely.
23:25
Speaker: I think seafood is almost like a hidden, nutritious.
23:29
Speaker: Uh, you know, treasure that some people just haven't unearthed.
23:33
Speaker: Yeah.
23:34
Speaker: It is.
23:35
Speaker: It's usually available readily
23:37
Speaker: in today's world because of how
23:39
Speaker: we all live and things are
23:41
Speaker: flowing around.
23:41
Speaker: And, and you don't have to live on the sea to, to be accessible.
23:46
Speaker: It is it comes in all different forms.
23:48
Speaker: There's frozen, there's fresh,
23:49
Speaker: you know, all these different
23:50
Speaker: things.
23:51
Speaker: And it is so nutritious and easy.
23:55
Speaker: I've just found there's just so
23:56
Speaker: much it's lean, it has so many,
23:59
Speaker: uh, antioxidant properties, a
24:02
Speaker: lot of omega threes, a lot of
24:04
Speaker: lean.
24:05
Speaker: Have some people don't realize how much protein is in a fish.
24:08
Speaker: Uh, you know, especially as skinless boneless fish.
24:10
Speaker: It's all in how you prepare it though, too.
24:12
Speaker: Nothing in the book is fried.
24:13
Speaker: Um, so it's, you know, healthy,
24:16
Speaker: prepared preparation also goes a
24:18
Speaker: long way, but in how to compare
24:20
Speaker: this.
24:21
Speaker: So there's about a six page
24:22
Speaker: chart in there that talks about
24:24
Speaker: twelve different distinct types
24:26
Speaker: of seafood, ranging from, you
24:29
Speaker: know, fillets of whitefish all
24:30
Speaker: the way to octopus for those
24:32
Speaker: that are a little more
24:32
Speaker: adventurous and, um, everything
24:35
Speaker: in between.
24:36
Speaker: And it shows you, uh, a little bit more about what it is, what
24:41
Speaker: kind of nutritional properties they have, uh, how to kind of
24:45
Speaker: cook it, how to pair it, different styles of cooking that
24:48
Speaker: work well for it.
24:48
Speaker: Healthier ones, I should say.
24:50
Speaker: And then also some ideas on, um, pairing it with different
24:55
Speaker: flavors or different, different ideas that coordinate together.
24:59
Speaker: And they're used in twenty three
25:01
Speaker: of the ninety recipes found in
25:03
Speaker: the book.
25:03
Speaker: So it is a significant part.
25:05
Speaker: And they're not all in the seafood chapter.
25:07
Speaker: So they're integrated with other things.
25:09
Speaker: So you might find some seafood in the pasta chapter.
25:12
Speaker: You might find some seafood, you know, in the vegetable mains
25:15
Speaker: because, well, the vegetables may be the star.
25:17
Speaker: There's still some seafood in there.
25:19
Speaker: So that's what I like to do is change up those combinations.
25:22
Speaker: Yeah.
25:22
Speaker: It's amazing that the place that it takes.
25:25
Speaker: So encouragement then for people that want to confidently cook
25:30
Speaker: fish at home.
25:32
Speaker: Yes, I think I have heard so many people say, oh, I don't
25:35
Speaker: cook fish at home.
25:36
Speaker: I'm like, well, why?
25:37
Speaker: You know, I grew up cooking fish at home, or my mother did.
25:40
Speaker: So we did eat fish at home.
25:42
Speaker: But a lot of people didn't.
25:43
Speaker: They were afraid of it took too long.
25:45
Speaker: They had no idea how how much it would take to, um, you know,
25:50
Speaker: timing to cook.
25:52
Speaker: It might have some smelly aromas.
25:55
Speaker: They thought you had to have some special skills.
25:57
Speaker: And I'm like, no, no, no, no. They thought it would take I
26:00
Speaker: fish is so fast to cook.
26:01
Speaker: It's crazy.
26:02
Speaker: But um I, I feel like and then
26:05
Speaker: when I started doing this and I
26:07
Speaker: put some testers and I use
26:09
Speaker: testers and my original testers
26:10
Speaker: were started with friends and
26:12
Speaker: family, obviously.
26:12
Speaker: Then I grouped out and found perfect strangers and they were
26:16
Speaker: like, oh, I've never made fish before, but I never thought to
26:18
Speaker: make it like this.
26:19
Speaker: You can make something that's not fried or, you know, you can
26:22
Speaker: bake that in eighteen minutes.
26:24
Speaker: You know, they were they were shocked.
26:26
Speaker: They were they were just so surprised.
26:29
Speaker: Like they never thought to combine ingredients.
26:31
Speaker: Uh, there's a recipe that I make
26:33
Speaker: in there that's, uh, it's fillet
26:34
Speaker: of cod with a lemon blueberry
26:36
Speaker: sauce.
26:37
Speaker: So you're, you're really
26:38
Speaker: changing fish completely for a
26:40
Speaker: non-fish lover.
26:40
Speaker: That's going to try it because who doesn't like like a
26:42
Speaker: blueberry lemon sauce.
26:44
Speaker: And, and that's rich with
26:46
Speaker: antioxidants that you put on top
26:48
Speaker: of this nutritious fish that's
26:50
Speaker: light and delicate and all of a
26:52
Speaker: sudden, oh, maybe I do like
26:53
Speaker: fish.
26:54
Speaker: Maybe it's easy to cook fish at home.
26:56
Speaker: So there's variety.
26:57
Speaker: Yeah, I think that's amazing.
26:58
Speaker: And I think it's, uh, it's good to know that out of the ninety
27:02
Speaker: recipes, let's say twenty three of them are seafood.
27:05
Speaker: But I think that actually shows
27:07
Speaker: the importance of seafood, that
27:09
Speaker: lean protein.
27:10
Speaker: And it does usually cook relatively fast.
27:13
Speaker: I think that if we're time starved, I think sometimes it's
27:16
Speaker: some of the perfect food to actually Prepare in the kitchen.
27:22
Speaker: So let's dive into the book a little bit more.
27:24
Speaker: Um, when you think about your, the book and the, the table of
27:27
Speaker: contents, we have everything from poultry, vegetable mains,
27:31
Speaker: beef, pork and lamb, pasta and grains, sides and salads.
27:36
Speaker: And, um, I'd love to, um, as you think about the recipes, uh,
27:41
Speaker: Ellen and you think about the types of foods you put in the
27:44
Speaker: book, if there's something else that you'd like to discuss or
27:47
Speaker: bring out that you feel like is, um, a recipe that really sticks
27:52
Speaker: out in your mind as something that not only delicious, but
27:55
Speaker: really fits this profile of a high antioxidant, you know,
28:00
Speaker: healthy food for thrivers ship.
28:02
Speaker: Absolutely.
28:03
Speaker: I think it's, it was interesting
28:05
Speaker: even for me to put it was hard
28:07
Speaker: to choose, actually, at the end
28:08
Speaker: of the day, when I had to start,
28:09
Speaker: I didn't think that would
28:10
Speaker: happen.
28:10
Speaker: It was kind of funny because you
28:12
Speaker: obviously make more recipes than
28:13
Speaker: you think you're going to put in
28:14
Speaker: a book.
28:14
Speaker: Um, so we were, we were laughing the recipe tester and myself
28:17
Speaker: and, and trying to figure out like, okay, there's so many.
28:20
Speaker: Which one do we pick from and
28:21
Speaker: what do we what do we leave on
28:22
Speaker: the table?
28:23
Speaker: But I think, um, what stood out to me is how you can take an
28:27
Speaker: older classic and make it totally something new.
28:30
Speaker: We're all used to comfort food, say lasagna, but there I snuck
28:34
Speaker: seafood in it, and I created a salmon and spinach lasagna that
28:38
Speaker: even some Italians I know that are, you know, they really have
28:42
Speaker: warmed over to it.
28:44
Speaker: Um, that one was a little bit surprising, I think, as far as
28:48
Speaker: like focusing on seafood again, too, is, is the octopus, which
28:51
Speaker: is very Mediterranean.
28:52
Speaker: It's very common.
28:53
Speaker: They're probably a little less
28:55
Speaker: common in the US, but not really
28:57
Speaker: because I think many places have
28:58
Speaker: tried it through different, you
28:59
Speaker: know, cultural cuisine,
29:01
Speaker: restaurants and different
29:02
Speaker: different types.
29:03
Speaker: It happens to be one of my husband's favorites.
29:05
Speaker: So we would, you know, learn how
29:06
Speaker: to make different dishes with
29:07
Speaker: that.
29:08
Speaker: Um, but what people don't understand is how easy it is to
29:11
Speaker: cook and how easy it is and versatile it can be and how lean
29:15
Speaker: and nutritious it is.
29:17
Speaker: And I think people just think of that.
29:19
Speaker: So that was kind of a surprise.
29:21
Speaker: I think turning a lot of comfort food to make them healthier.
29:25
Speaker: Uh, like your basic, um, uh, like a pasta that was like a
29:31
Speaker: creamy or something.
29:33
Speaker: So I would make it with like
29:35
Speaker: ricotta cheese and roasted
29:36
Speaker: vegetables.
29:37
Speaker: So again, you're changing it up
29:38
Speaker: and taking out that sausage and
29:40
Speaker: some of those other ingredients
29:42
Speaker: and making it healthier, but yet
29:43
Speaker: you still get that comfortable
29:44
Speaker: feeling.
29:45
Speaker: And again, and it's good for you.
29:47
Speaker: I think I also included a lot of fun food that I wanted to get.
29:51
Speaker: So there's some, you know, a
29:52
Speaker: little bit more adult or company
29:54
Speaker: ready or, you know, restaurant
29:56
Speaker: worthy as some people were
29:57
Speaker: coining it.
29:58
Speaker: Um, but also like the three flavored eggplant pizzas, they
30:01
Speaker: were really fun to make, uh, fun to make for a crowd using that
30:06
Speaker: little, uh, eggplant as the base of a pizza, if you will.
30:10
Speaker: That's what they call them in Italy and creating three
30:13
Speaker: different flavors that represent different parts of the
30:15
Speaker: Mediterranean from the classic, you know, pizza topping with
30:19
Speaker: tomato sauce to coastal with the shrimp and a little Tuscany with
30:24
Speaker: the Tuscan sauce with some mushrooms and artichokes.
30:28
Speaker: So, you know, different different flavors and cheeses.
30:30
Speaker: So and you can get people active in the kitchen.
30:32
Speaker: If you have a party, do the get everything prepared.
30:35
Speaker: And all of a sudden they're learning how to make something
30:37
Speaker: healthy and they're having fun.
30:39
Speaker: Yeah, I think that's I tried to
30:41
Speaker: have, yeah, did the same with
30:43
Speaker: tacos too, because they're kind
30:45
Speaker: of a popular crowd gathering
30:46
Speaker: thing.
30:47
Speaker: So we, we worked on some roasted, uh, vegetable tacos and
30:52
Speaker: also some chicken quesadillas that were, you know, very
30:55
Speaker: healthy, prepared again with the different types of oil and
30:57
Speaker: things like that.
30:58
Speaker: So just kind of the surprise
31:00
Speaker: they would land in a
31:01
Speaker: Mediterranean book because some
31:02
Speaker: of them are, you know, kind of
31:04
Speaker: classic and step offs and others
31:05
Speaker: are kind of outliers, but yet
31:06
Speaker: they work.
31:08
Speaker: And then I really do love using
31:11
Speaker: just, just, you know, all the
31:13
Speaker: other dishes and chicken and
31:14
Speaker: fish and just creating the
31:15
Speaker: different flavors.
31:16
Speaker: And almost every dish includes a vegetable in it in some way,
31:20
Speaker: shape or form or fruit.
31:21
Speaker: It's always combined.
31:22
Speaker: It's not meat on the plate kind of thing like that.
31:25
Speaker: And speaking of meat purposely, we talked about the fish chapter
31:30
Speaker: having, you know, significant number of recipes by design, the
31:34
Speaker: lean red meats that are butchered in the book.
31:36
Speaker: There are six recipes, but that aligns with the idea that we're
31:39
Speaker: supposed to reduce our consumption as breast cancer.
31:44
Speaker: Thrivers.
31:44
Speaker: I know there's always different
31:46
Speaker: theories, but so there are
31:48
Speaker: specific ones by using lean cuts
31:50
Speaker: of beef.
31:50
Speaker: But again, very much a, you
31:52
Speaker: know, adding flavor and like the
31:54
Speaker: sirloin beef with broccoli saute
31:56
Speaker: that's so fast, but yet so lean
31:58
Speaker: and healthy or doing a, um,
32:01
Speaker: like, you know, a ground beef
32:02
Speaker: Mediterranean bowl.
32:03
Speaker: If you want to be a little bit
32:04
Speaker: more up to date or lamb kebabs
32:08
Speaker: with that feta whipped cheese
32:09
Speaker: that gives you like something
32:10
Speaker: really flavor and a little bit
32:12
Speaker: elegant, but a little bit
32:13
Speaker: different.
32:13
Speaker: But again, when you're doing
32:14
Speaker: kebabs, these smaller pieces of
32:16
Speaker: meat, but in heavier vegetables
32:17
Speaker: around it.
32:18
Speaker: Yeah.
32:18
Speaker: Sounds delicious.
32:19
Speaker: I love the concept of the
32:21
Speaker: roasted brussel sprouts with red
32:23
Speaker: grapes.
32:24
Speaker: One of my favourites.
32:26
Speaker: It sounds so good and I love
32:28
Speaker: that's what I love about
32:28
Speaker: cookbooks too.
32:29
Speaker: I like to see how people combine
32:30
Speaker: ingredients and I've seen
32:32
Speaker: recipes with roasted grapes, and
32:34
Speaker: I've seen them, you know,
32:35
Speaker: roasted Brussels sprouts, but
32:36
Speaker: I've never thought of putting
32:37
Speaker: them together.
32:39
Speaker: Yeah, well, you're emerging such
32:40
Speaker: great properties too, because
32:41
Speaker: the vegetable of Brussels
32:44
Speaker: sprouts combined with the
32:45
Speaker: antioxidants of the red roasted
32:47
Speaker: grapes.
32:47
Speaker: And then by roasting them, you're bringing out that pasta
32:50
Speaker: flavour and you're using different spices and herbs.
32:53
Speaker: And then those roasted red grapes become a little jammy.
32:56
Speaker: So they taste a little sweet, even though they're not sweet,
32:58
Speaker: and they just take on a whole new bent for those.
33:01
Speaker: MM, soon to love Brussels sprouts crowd.
33:03
Speaker: But yeah, sounds wonderful.
33:05
Speaker: It kind of helps.
33:06
Speaker: Yeah.
33:06
Speaker: Even my grandkids like those, I'm sure they do.
33:09
Speaker: And, you know, I think you're right.
33:10
Speaker: When those grapes arose.
33:12
Speaker: They probably break open or they they concentrate a little bit.
33:15
Speaker: They get sweeter and they season the brussel sprouts.
33:18
Speaker: And the thing about a roasted Brussels sprout, or even one
33:21
Speaker: that's not cooked to death, like we maybe used to have in a
33:25
Speaker: cafeteria at school is they're, they're so delicious.
33:28
Speaker: I mean, they're, there's crunch to them.
33:30
Speaker: There's color.
33:31
Speaker: Um, there's not that off putting smell.
33:34
Speaker: It's a very, uh, fresh, delicious dish.
33:37
Speaker: And I love the idea of putting them with grapes.
33:40
Speaker: Thank you.
33:41
Speaker: Yeah.
33:41
Speaker: And then the salad I saw was the
33:43
Speaker: Bosc pear and butternut squash
33:45
Speaker: salad.
33:45
Speaker: You sometimes see, you know, apples and pears, maybe with a
33:50
Speaker: little bit of a strong cheese.
33:52
Speaker: You might see it with nuts.
33:53
Speaker: But I love the idea of combining it with the butternut squash.
33:57
Speaker: Yeah.
33:57
Speaker: The butternut squash is such a versatile recipe.
34:00
Speaker: Or excuse me, a virtual, a
34:01
Speaker: virtual, excuse me, versatile
34:03
Speaker: vegetable.
34:04
Speaker: My goodness.
34:05
Speaker: Um, and it, it is so easy to prepare too because you can if
34:10
Speaker: you're stressed, you know, pressed for time.
34:14
Speaker: Most produce departments will
34:15
Speaker: have it chopped up, especially
34:16
Speaker: in season.
34:17
Speaker: But it doesn't take all that much to do that.
34:19
Speaker: And sometimes you can even add a frozen because when it's flash
34:21
Speaker: frozen, it's great.
34:23
Speaker: But it's so easy to add to
34:24
Speaker: things and it adds such a
34:26
Speaker: different element.
34:27
Speaker: It gives that sweet, buttery
34:28
Speaker: taste and rich taste, but it's
34:30
Speaker: not.
34:30
Speaker: It's super healthy and it has a lot of, again, anti-inflammatory
34:33
Speaker: properties and antioxidants.
34:35
Speaker: And when you mix it with pears,
34:38
Speaker: it adds a little bit more of a
34:40
Speaker: nutty flavor.
34:41
Speaker: So it's definitely more, uh, it's not super sweet.
34:44
Speaker: It's, it's, everything's got a
34:46
Speaker: different, you know, richness to
34:47
Speaker: it.
34:48
Speaker: And then you can always add a protein to that salad too.
34:50
Speaker: If you really wanted to add a
34:52
Speaker: lean piece of chicken or fish or
34:53
Speaker: something like that, but even on
34:55
Speaker: its own, it can be a standalone
34:57
Speaker: or certainly a great side with
34:58
Speaker: anything.
34:59
Speaker: Yeah.
34:59
Speaker: Sounds great.
35:00
Speaker: Now, something I want to point
35:01
Speaker: out is, um, in addition to the
35:03
Speaker: ninety recipes and the, you
35:05
Speaker: know, the seven chapters, you
35:07
Speaker: really made an effort to do
35:08
Speaker: professional full page
35:11
Speaker: photography.
35:12
Speaker: Tell us a little bit about the photos in this book.
35:16
Speaker: Of course, I feel that part of
35:18
Speaker: storytelling visuals are so
35:20
Speaker: important and we eat with our
35:22
Speaker: eyes.
35:23
Speaker: So for some people,
35:24
Speaker: unfortunately, not everybody
35:25
Speaker: reads.
35:26
Speaker: So the eating with your eyes was very important to me.
35:28
Speaker: So I knew I was going to going to put significant number of
35:33
Speaker: photographs in the book.
35:36
Speaker: So we were, we worked with two
35:37
Speaker: different professional
35:38
Speaker: photography teams.
35:40
Speaker: And for the recipe photos, it
35:41
Speaker: was, it was a fabulous
35:42
Speaker: experience.
35:43
Speaker: We worked hand in hand with the art director, planned out every
35:47
Speaker: little scene, if you will, and, uh, had to give up the recipes
35:51
Speaker: to have professional chefs make them, uh, which is a little hard
35:54
Speaker: because it's the first time out.
35:56
Speaker: Uh, but it was a great experience.
35:58
Speaker: It was very freeing.
35:59
Speaker: And they actually gave some great feedback.
36:01
Speaker: And then we watched in real time and put it all together, got to
36:05
Speaker: make some minor changes.
36:07
Speaker: But for anyone that's not used to working with food, those are
36:10
Speaker: fast and furious.
36:12
Speaker: A lot of planning goes in, but
36:14
Speaker: once you get those photos to
36:16
Speaker: look at, you only have minutes
36:17
Speaker: to make any changes before that
36:19
Speaker: food wilts.
36:20
Speaker: So you have to be very decisive
36:23
Speaker: and definitive and make quick
36:25
Speaker: decisions that you're going to
36:26
Speaker: live with.
36:27
Speaker: But I think they turned out great.
36:29
Speaker: I really love that they had I think they had an element, um,
36:33
Speaker: that will help people journey and then introduce.
36:36
Speaker: I think it shows a lot of these combinations of vegetables.
36:40
Speaker: And it really brings out how we put vegetables and fruit in
36:44
Speaker: different dishes and sometimes in different ways.
36:47
Speaker: Yeah.
36:47
Speaker: I was impressed with your dedication to that part of the
36:50
Speaker: book, and it certainly does add to the story.
36:53
Speaker: Like you said, in addition to
36:55
Speaker: that, you have menu pairing and
36:57
Speaker: you have nutritional highlights
36:59
Speaker: that you focus on all across the
37:01
Speaker: book.
37:02
Speaker: Yes.
37:02
Speaker: With each headnote for every recipe, I tried to kind of focus
37:07
Speaker: a little bit about where the origin might be for that dish,
37:09
Speaker: if it's something of interest, but also focusing on some of the
37:14
Speaker: nutrient dense ingredients and a little bit of a tidbit.
37:17
Speaker: Again, particularly focusing on
37:19
Speaker: breast cancer thrivers because
37:20
Speaker: we have certain nutritional
37:21
Speaker: needs, but also great for
37:23
Speaker: everyone else because it goes
37:25
Speaker: across so.
37:26
Speaker: And then, and then and often in the headnote, there's also a
37:30
Speaker: pairing idea, but there is a special section where we turned
37:34
Speaker: out five curated menus that run the gamut from small, intimate,
37:39
Speaker: you know, home bistro night to, you know, a casual supper to a
37:44
Speaker: seafood extravaganza which would combine all the seafood recipes
37:48
Speaker: you could imagine just to just to have fun.
37:50
Speaker: And a couple of others.
37:52
Speaker: And across that, we took twenty of the recipes throughout the
37:55
Speaker: book and showed how you can pair them different ways.
37:57
Speaker: And sometimes it was a source
37:59
Speaker: from this to put on a protein
38:00
Speaker: from that.
38:01
Speaker: And I think I always like that, you know, if you're if you're
38:05
Speaker: going to mix and match, I tend to do that.
38:07
Speaker: So I'm hoping others will be inspired to do the same.
38:09
Speaker: Yeah.
38:10
Speaker: Yeah.
38:10
Speaker: That's great.
38:11
Speaker: And something that I really
38:13
Speaker: enjoyed looking at were those
38:14
Speaker: menus.
38:15
Speaker: You have also a nice reference section.
38:18
Speaker: I think something that you wanted to back this book up with
38:21
Speaker: is you're not just pulling these ideas out of thin air.
38:25
Speaker: You went into this with, um, not only having medical
38:30
Speaker: professionals behind you, but really wanting this to be
38:33
Speaker: educational for people to help them live during this thrive and
38:38
Speaker: to, you know, taking ownership of this time in their life.
38:40
Speaker: But you do have a nice, nice reference section and suggested
38:43
Speaker: reading for people if they're interested in looking at even
38:46
Speaker: some research studies about breast cancer survivorship.
38:51
Speaker: Yes, I was important for me to include that.
38:54
Speaker: And even within the book itself,
38:57
Speaker: particularly the front matter, I
38:58
Speaker: do reference a lot of American
39:00
Speaker: Cancer Society guidelines for
39:02
Speaker: survivors.
39:03
Speaker: Things to eat and things to do.
39:05
Speaker: So we have both the active and the eating part in there, and I
39:09
Speaker: think that's just a great reminder for all of us.
39:11
Speaker: And honestly, it works for everyone.
39:13
Speaker: So it's really about, you know,
39:14
Speaker: prevention and, you know,
39:16
Speaker: recurrence.
39:17
Speaker: And then also referenced a few other cancer associations that
39:21
Speaker: also provide some very good advice along the way.
39:24
Speaker: So it's not just me.
39:25
Speaker: I mean, I lived my experiences,
39:27
Speaker: I continue to and in addition to
39:29
Speaker: that, I actually invited two
39:31
Speaker: other fellow breast cancer
39:33
Speaker: thrivers to the table to my
39:36
Speaker: table.
39:36
Speaker: I it was important for me to
39:39
Speaker: share more voices than just my
39:41
Speaker: own to talk about thriver and
39:44
Speaker: different advice.
39:46
Speaker: So I connected with two
39:48
Speaker: different women that have had
39:50
Speaker: breast cancer and multiple
39:52
Speaker: cancers and are doing amazingly
39:55
Speaker: well.
39:55
Speaker: They're very thriving, they're
39:56
Speaker: very active, but they cooked a
39:58
Speaker: few recipes.
39:59
Speaker: They had a chance to pick which ones they wanted.
40:01
Speaker: It was.
40:01
Speaker: It was great fun.
40:03
Speaker: And then they were featured in the book.
40:05
Speaker: There's a whole section.
40:07
Speaker: And what we did was we took a camera crew to their home
40:10
Speaker: kitchens, and we watched them make this and they talked about
40:14
Speaker: it and they had a blast.
40:15
Speaker: I mean, it was so much fun.
40:17
Speaker: And it so it's able to give people real world insights and
40:21
Speaker: real world advice.
40:23
Speaker: You know, I'm included in that as a thriver as well.
40:25
Speaker: But it just, it just gives it a little bit more depth.
40:27
Speaker: And it was important to me.
40:28
Speaker: Yeah, great.
40:29
Speaker: And I think that really, you know, connecting with other
40:32
Speaker: people and meeting other women who have gone through something
40:35
Speaker: like this is, um, nothing like a shared experience to, um, yeah,
40:42
Speaker: be partnered with people in, in a project like this.
40:46
Speaker: So I'm sure they're really excited to be involved.
40:49
Speaker: They are.
40:50
Speaker: They saw the book for the first time.
40:51
Speaker: They were like, ah, I'm so excited.
40:54
Speaker: Yeah.
40:54
Speaker: Now we have the book is out, it's published.
40:57
Speaker: And, uh, it's, you know, Being
41:00
Speaker: shared and we're talking about
41:02
Speaker: it here.
41:02
Speaker: But there's a whole part of this
41:04
Speaker: now that you, even as a PR
41:06
Speaker: expert, get to look at from the
41:08
Speaker: perspective of being a cookbook
41:10
Speaker: author.
41:11
Speaker: Um, yeah.
41:12
Speaker: Media opportunities, you know, your website, all the things
41:16
Speaker: that go into being an author.
41:19
Speaker: What's it been for, like for you being a PR agent to now be on
41:24
Speaker: the other side of this?
41:26
Speaker: Well, I became my own client, which was a different stuff.
41:29
Speaker: I have to say.
41:30
Speaker: I haven't really done that in this way before.
41:32
Speaker: A few little ventures, but this is very interesting.
41:35
Speaker: But we were ready for it.
41:36
Speaker: And obviously that part comes a
41:37
Speaker: little more naturally because of
41:39
Speaker: my background.
41:40
Speaker: So, um, but there's a lot of
41:43
Speaker: different elements to think
41:44
Speaker: about.
41:44
Speaker: I mean, branding is so important and creating a brand, creating a
41:48
Speaker: platform, building that website, you know, starting social media,
41:53
Speaker: having a message, working to get direct messages and emails with
41:59
Speaker: individuals that would be really interested in this topic.
42:02
Speaker: And this cookbook is important to me.
42:04
Speaker: Um, and really just, I think
42:07
Speaker: myself having my background, I
42:10
Speaker: really understand the
42:10
Speaker: differences between owned media
42:12
Speaker: and earned media and paid media
42:15
Speaker: and how they all have to work
42:16
Speaker: together to help, you know,
42:19
Speaker: amplify and share about any, any
42:21
Speaker: product, but particularly a
42:22
Speaker: cookbook, especially in today's
42:24
Speaker: world, there's so many ways to
42:26
Speaker: acquire things.
42:27
Speaker: So do you want to do you want to
42:29
Speaker: give everybody a little primer
42:31
Speaker: about that?
42:31
Speaker: Owned versus paid?
42:33
Speaker: Sure.
42:33
Speaker: Versus what was it earned?
42:36
Speaker: Earned?
42:36
Speaker: Yeah.
42:36
Speaker: Right.
42:37
Speaker: So tell us a little bit about that.
42:39
Speaker: Absolutely.
42:40
Speaker: Owned media is includes any communication channels that you
42:43
Speaker: get to control.
42:45
Speaker: You get to control the content.
42:46
Speaker: So that's things like your
42:47
Speaker: website, your newsletter, if you
42:50
Speaker: have one, a blog, if you have
42:52
Speaker: one, a newsletter that goes on
42:53
Speaker: something like Substack or
42:54
Speaker: something like that would be
42:55
Speaker: considered that as well, uh,
42:56
Speaker: social media channels because
42:59
Speaker: you put out what you want to put
43:00
Speaker: out.
43:00
Speaker: People react to it, but you put out what you want to put out.
43:03
Speaker: So that's owned in any direct mail campaigns that you're able
43:07
Speaker: to write whenever you can direct with anyone that connects with
43:11
Speaker: you, whether they've signed up on your website or sent you a
43:13
Speaker: personal note because they may have met you somewhere at a
43:15
Speaker: signing or an event, or in any which way or form, whether
43:19
Speaker: that's snail mail or email.
43:20
Speaker: It's all direct owned communication.
43:23
Speaker: Earned media is when you're
43:25
Speaker: working with external media
43:27
Speaker: outlets.
43:28
Speaker: Frankly, this is an earned media example, which we're on now.
43:30
Speaker: A podcast is an earned media example.
43:33
Speaker: It's your show, Maggie, and thank you for inviting me in.
43:36
Speaker: Yeah, I'm happy to have you here.
43:38
Speaker: Absolutely.
43:40
Speaker: But, you know, that would be,
43:41
Speaker: uh, television interviews, radio
43:43
Speaker: interviews, television demos
43:46
Speaker: about cooking.
43:46
Speaker: It would be, uh, newspapers.
43:49
Speaker: It would be online media.
43:50
Speaker: There's so much more online
43:51
Speaker: media today, so don't forget
43:53
Speaker: about that.
43:54
Speaker: Um, but those are all sources that are earned media.
43:57
Speaker: And what you have to do is
43:58
Speaker: create a pitch, you know, kind
44:01
Speaker: of solid information, news
44:03
Speaker: release about what you're doing
44:04
Speaker: and an idea on what you know,
44:06
Speaker: anyone would do and then, you
44:07
Speaker: know, send that out and, and you
44:09
Speaker: kind of have to communicate with
44:11
Speaker: the producers or the writers or
44:12
Speaker: the editors or the assignment
44:14
Speaker: editors and make your way
44:15
Speaker: through that.
44:16
Speaker: But that's how those stories are all created.
44:17
Speaker: They start there.
44:18
Speaker: They start with an idea, they start with a plan, and then they
44:21
Speaker: get they become produced.
44:24
Speaker: Paid media, of course, is advertising.
44:26
Speaker: So it can be everything from paid, uh, you know, Google ads,
44:30
Speaker: SEO, search to display ads in any magazine or publication.
44:36
Speaker: It can also be the Amazon ads and things like that.
44:39
Speaker: There's all different ways to do paid media.
44:41
Speaker: I always feel strongly that you organic media, I start with with
44:45
Speaker: most clients and even with myself with this project.
44:48
Speaker: And then we'll see where we go with those other things.
44:51
Speaker: And the biggest part is to lean into earned media and own media
44:56
Speaker: with what I call crescendo moments, new things that happen.
45:00
Speaker: Um, what's going on?
45:02
Speaker: Like on our website, we're going to put where we're going to be
45:04
Speaker: during Breast Cancer Awareness Month and how people can come
45:08
Speaker: and see that where the book might be happening.
45:10
Speaker: Author events, uh, shine a spotlight on any local bookstore
45:14
Speaker: that wants to carry this, connect with them.
45:16
Speaker: So then you're building those followers.
45:17
Speaker: So that's all media you can
45:19
Speaker: control and it helps with your
45:20
Speaker: influencing.
45:21
Speaker: Yeah.
45:22
Speaker: Um, so yeah, lots of different areas.
45:25
Speaker: I love the word crescendo moment.
45:28
Speaker: I use that one a lot, but it's true.
45:31
Speaker: And the crescendo moment is if you become, you know, you win an
45:34
Speaker: award, you become a speaker, you, you do a major event.
45:38
Speaker: You're a crescendo moment, which
45:40
Speaker: could mean an appearance on a
45:41
Speaker: television show.
45:42
Speaker: News can make news, right?
45:43
Speaker: If you were doing a cooking demo or an interview, you want to
45:47
Speaker: share that out.
45:47
Speaker: So that's another crescendo moment.
45:49
Speaker: So you keep building it so they're not once and done.
45:51
Speaker: It's something that you have to keep feeding.
45:53
Speaker: And that's where I felt very confident this part with my team
45:56
Speaker: and my background.
45:56
Speaker: So that didn't scare me at all.
45:58
Speaker: On self publishing.
45:59
Speaker: I know sometimes people are like, I had no idea.
46:02
Speaker: Um, but the other thing we
46:03
Speaker: didn't really talk about, but
46:04
Speaker: it's very, very, very important
46:06
Speaker: as well.
46:06
Speaker: And I call it word of mouth marketing.
46:08
Speaker: And even in today's digital
46:10
Speaker: world, it is still so important
46:12
Speaker: because just like I'm talking
46:13
Speaker: about in the cookbook, human
46:16
Speaker: human connection is still very,
46:18
Speaker: very important.
46:19
Speaker: So getting out there, talking to
46:21
Speaker: whoever, you know, whoever you
46:23
Speaker: meet and also, you know,
46:25
Speaker: knocking on doors, so to speak,
46:26
Speaker: reaching back into your own
46:28
Speaker: network and reaching out and
46:29
Speaker: telling them what you're doing,
46:31
Speaker: whether it's, you know, an
46:32
Speaker: author of a cookbook or whatever
46:33
Speaker: else is, is that word of mouth
46:35
Speaker: marketing that will turn into
46:37
Speaker: different things and they become
46:39
Speaker: crescendo moments.
46:40
Speaker: Yes.
46:41
Speaker: Yes.
46:41
Speaker: My best word of mouth marketer was my mother.
46:45
Speaker: Aha!
46:46
Speaker: Yes.
46:46
Speaker: She probably like have books
46:48
Speaker: like in her because she lived in
46:50
Speaker: the town where I grew up, and
46:52
Speaker: she would like my books in her
46:54
Speaker: car.
46:54
Speaker: I mean, she'd tell anybody that would listen.
46:57
Speaker: And she actually was pretty smart about it.
46:59
Speaker: Like if she went into a boutique
47:01
Speaker: or she went into a shop that she
47:03
Speaker: saw carried books, you know, she
47:04
Speaker: was always keeping her eyes
47:05
Speaker: open.
47:06
Speaker: And so it was kind of funny in
47:08
Speaker: my, in my hometown, she was, she
47:10
Speaker: was great.
47:11
Speaker: And, uh, so, and meeting people
47:13
Speaker: and talking to people, you know,
47:15
Speaker: don't under.
47:15
Speaker: I think you're so right about
47:17
Speaker: not underestimating the power of
47:19
Speaker: going out and seeing people in
47:21
Speaker: person, you know, going to other
47:23
Speaker: author events, going to book
47:25
Speaker: events, finding out how maybe
47:26
Speaker: you could get your book, um, on
47:29
Speaker: the list for the next time that
47:30
Speaker: event rolls around because, uh,
47:33
Speaker: meeting people and building
47:34
Speaker: relationships is really what
47:36
Speaker: it's, uh, at the end, you hit
47:37
Speaker: the nail.
47:37
Speaker: Yeah.
47:38
Speaker: It's the building relationships.
47:39
Speaker: Yes.
47:40
Speaker: Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's the kicker.
47:42
Speaker: Yeah.
47:42
Speaker: And that's, that's what really works.
47:44
Speaker: Yeah.
47:45
Speaker: So I'm sure you had to lean into routines and habits not only in
47:51
Speaker: working on this book.
47:53
Speaker: Running your own business, but in thriving ship.
47:56
Speaker: Um, I would love it if you would touch a little bit on.
47:59
Speaker: Let's talk about routines and what has helped you to really,
48:04
Speaker: um, you know, be a thriver when it comes to the routines that
48:07
Speaker: you've built in your life.
48:09
Speaker: Absolutely.
48:10
Speaker: I, I literally have transformed the way I operate.
48:13
Speaker: I was very much, um, I'm still very busy and I still do take
48:18
Speaker: care of a lot of people, but I definitely put myself high on
48:20
Speaker: the list and higher than I used to to take care of myself.
48:23
Speaker: And I think that's a really huge lesson learned.
48:26
Speaker: Like, why didn't I think of it earlier?
48:28
Speaker: But you get there.
48:30
Speaker: Um, and I, I, so every day I try and both be positive.
48:36
Speaker: I try and do healthy things, whether it's starting with
48:39
Speaker: stretches in the morning or be mindful of what I'm eating.
48:42
Speaker: I seriously always eat a good
48:43
Speaker: breakfast because I never know
48:44
Speaker: where my day is going to go, but
48:45
Speaker: at least I've got good fuel to
48:47
Speaker: start.
48:47
Speaker: Um, and I, I always just, you know, you try and make your
48:54
Speaker: appointments, keep your appointments, uh, make sure that
48:57
Speaker: you have on your list some joyful times connecting with old
49:00
Speaker: friends, whether that's having a cup of coffee with an old
49:03
Speaker: girlfriend or catching up with other friends for dinner.
49:06
Speaker: It's so important to thrive, to reconnect and stay connected.
49:11
Speaker: And then also, you know, sometimes it's just a phone
49:14
Speaker: call, but it works.
49:15
Speaker: And then, um, also just being mindful of adding that activity
49:21
Speaker: and continuing to, you know, whether it's taking a class or
49:26
Speaker: finding that swim, getting, getting it in, putting it on
49:28
Speaker: your calendar and, and doing it.
49:30
Speaker: You know, if you write it down, you're going to do it.
49:32
Speaker: Or at least that's what I try to do.
49:34
Speaker: And it works for me.
49:35
Speaker: And it, it helps me be a thriver and helps me in thriver ship.
49:40
Speaker: But it also helps me balance a
49:42
Speaker: very busy, active life and try
49:44
Speaker: and get a lot of things done,
49:45
Speaker: like able to eke out, you know,
49:46
Speaker: writing a cookbook and things
49:48
Speaker: like that.
49:49
Speaker: So it was, you know, it gives you that energy to, to be able
49:53
Speaker: to feel what you want to do to.
49:54
Speaker: Yeah.
49:55
Speaker: And what about if there's someone listening who's thinking
49:58
Speaker: about wanting to write a book, but they're kind of like you,
50:01
Speaker: they have a, they do have a very active, busy life.
50:05
Speaker: Yeah.
50:06
Speaker: I think a lot of us do, of course.
50:09
Speaker: But I think if you really get an idea and you start kind of not
50:15
Speaker: dreaming, but kind of like sugar plums in your head there, but
50:18
Speaker: it's really your cookbook or your idea, your concept, you
50:21
Speaker: know, you're destined to do it.
50:22
Speaker: So take some time, find that time.
50:24
Speaker: It can start with ten minutes,
50:26
Speaker: it can build to a half hour, and
50:27
Speaker: sooner or later it's going to
50:28
Speaker: build higher.
50:29
Speaker: You're going to find time in your day to do it.
50:31
Speaker: Just start writing.
50:32
Speaker: Start writing down your ideas.
50:34
Speaker: Start writing down your concepts.
50:36
Speaker: They will become legit, you
50:38
Speaker: know, full fleshed out content,
50:40
Speaker: fleshed out outlines, fleshed
50:41
Speaker: out ideas.
50:42
Speaker: But it'll help you start if you're waiting for the.
50:45
Speaker: perfection is the perfect world.
50:47
Speaker: It's not going to happen or it's hard.
50:51
Speaker: So just dive in.
50:52
Speaker: I always say to people, we dive into the deep end of the pool.
50:55
Speaker: That's right.
50:56
Speaker: And it is the deep end.
50:57
Speaker: And then you even went a little deeper because you ended up
50:59
Speaker: being coming your own publisher.
51:01
Speaker: And, uh, what kinds of things did you have to shift into doing
51:05
Speaker: as you published your book?
51:08
Speaker: I have been wearing multiple hats, so I just, every time I go
51:11
Speaker: to work on different tasks, I have to remember which role I am
51:14
Speaker: from author to publisher to, you know, a publicist.
51:17
Speaker: And I do a team, obviously on some of this, but, um, so the
51:22
Speaker: publisher hat I, it was a, I working with you was fabulous
51:26
Speaker: because you really took a very complex, difficult concept and
51:29
Speaker: broke it down, although it's still very complicated.
51:33
Speaker: Um, but I always would feel victory as I got through
51:36
Speaker: different steps because it was almost victorious in some ways.
51:40
Speaker: I found that some of these
51:41
Speaker: nuances were a little more, I
51:43
Speaker: would say that harder than
51:44
Speaker: writing a book, but it's just
51:45
Speaker: more complicated than you kind
51:47
Speaker: of think.
51:47
Speaker: Like, okay, I fill out these forms.
51:48
Speaker: I do some of this like, oh, wow, that took a while, you know?
51:51
Speaker: Yeah.
51:52
Speaker: But it's well worth it when you get to it.
51:54
Speaker: It's a lot of honing and editing, and I totally see the
51:57
Speaker: value of it for sure.
51:58
Speaker: And I do understand the need for it.
52:00
Speaker: It's just I don't think I was, you know, you're not really
52:03
Speaker: prepared to open up that page of the book where you are and how
52:06
Speaker: much time you're going to need to spend on it.
52:08
Speaker: But I think it's been invigorating.
52:11
Speaker: And the opportunity to be a
52:12
Speaker: creator has always been a part
52:14
Speaker: of me.
52:14
Speaker: I've always been an entrepreneur, so having an
52:16
Speaker: opportunity to create an imprint and to have that creative
52:19
Speaker: control is just it's great, I like it, I like it a lot.
52:24
Speaker: And you were really, really good at putting a team together.
52:28
Speaker: You even though you didn't do this on your own, you knew.
52:32
Speaker: No, not at all.
52:33
Speaker: Value of having people, um, help
52:35
Speaker: with testing, having people help
52:38
Speaker: with editing, people who helped
52:40
Speaker: with the photography, the design
52:42
Speaker: of the book, all the things that
52:43
Speaker: went into, you know, like I
52:44
Speaker: said, bringing some other voices
52:46
Speaker: in.
52:46
Speaker: You, uh, were a great team leader.
52:49
Speaker: You're willing to be a team player.
52:51
Speaker: And publishing is most
52:52
Speaker: successful when a team of people
52:54
Speaker: work together.
52:56
Speaker: Absolutely.
52:57
Speaker: I really some of the people I've
52:59
Speaker: worked with and pulled together
53:00
Speaker: on this team said, I'll never
53:01
Speaker: look at a cookbook the same way
53:03
Speaker: because they now know, peek
53:05
Speaker: behind the curtain and what goes
53:06
Speaker: into it, and it's a lot, but you
53:08
Speaker: do need a huge team, and I did,
53:11
Speaker: I, I'm very grateful to all of
53:13
Speaker: the people that joined me on
53:14
Speaker: this.
53:14
Speaker: Uh, they were great.
53:15
Speaker: And everyone brought a different perspective, a different tasks.
53:19
Speaker: I did function as a creative
53:20
Speaker: director to pull it all together
53:22
Speaker: again, leaned into my
53:23
Speaker: background.
53:24
Speaker: So that's kind of what I do all the time.
53:26
Speaker: So, but I had the vision and kind of honing it and keeping it
53:29
Speaker: moving, but the talents that came through from keeping using
53:33
Speaker: two different photography units, because we use Chicago for all
53:36
Speaker: of the thrivers in those kitchens and also, you know,
53:40
Speaker: some ingredient shots to mirror with those recipes that were
53:43
Speaker: done in a studio.
53:44
Speaker: It's just to get that aesthetic to go across to great talent.
53:47
Speaker: Uh, and really just the editing and the endless endless
53:53
Speaker: proofreading and still to write, it's still continue even after
53:59
Speaker: the book comes out.
54:00
Speaker: You like looking at it, you know, you want to read things
54:02
Speaker: and you see it differently when the book actually is in print
54:05
Speaker: and in your hands.
54:06
Speaker: It's, um, so fun to be able to see that it was great even to
54:10
Speaker: pull in a professional indexer as well, because I didn't want
54:13
Speaker: to tackle that on my own.
54:15
Speaker: And, and the interesting thing
54:16
Speaker: was to see what she saw
54:17
Speaker: initially in what she thought
54:18
Speaker: were the big themes and how that
54:20
Speaker: came out.
54:20
Speaker: So it's, it was a great part of the process.
54:22
Speaker: Yeah.
54:23
Speaker: You're always very open to that.
54:24
Speaker: So that's wonderful.
54:25
Speaker: And I would I loved working and like you would like you.
54:28
Speaker: I knew your head was down and you were working because, you
54:30
Speaker: know, maybe go six weeks.
54:32
Speaker: I didn't hear from you.
54:33
Speaker: Then all of a sudden you like pop up and say, okay, now what
54:35
Speaker: about an indexer?
54:36
Speaker: Or what about, you know, this?
54:38
Speaker: And then you'd go, You weren't
54:40
Speaker: quiet, but from, you know, you
54:41
Speaker: would go.
54:42
Speaker: But you were definitely like working along.
54:44
Speaker: And, you know, that's what it takes is a consistent, a
54:47
Speaker: willingness to be consistent in terms of persistence would be
54:51
Speaker: the word that I. Yeah.
54:52
Speaker: And just taking the next step, doing the next thing that you
54:55
Speaker: have to do.
54:56
Speaker: And now you have this beautiful print cookbook out in the world
55:00
Speaker: and yeah, hardcover only.
55:02
Speaker: All right.
55:02
Speaker: And your cookbook lover too, I believe.
55:05
Speaker: I am.
55:06
Speaker: I've collected cookbooks for many, many, many years.
55:09
Speaker: Yeah.
55:09
Speaker: And, um, so one thing I love to ask all of my guests is if you
55:14
Speaker: have a favorite cookbook.
55:16
Speaker: I do.
55:17
Speaker: It was a hard decision actually, because I do have several.
55:20
Speaker: But to narrow it down, I would have to say the classic Italian
55:24
Speaker: cookbook, the Art of Italian Cooking and the Art of Italian
55:27
Speaker: Eating by Marcella Hazan is one of my favorites.
55:31
Speaker: Yes.
55:31
Speaker: And it.
55:33
Speaker: It just harkens so many things I. Before I was married,
55:37
Speaker: honestly, I didn't cook very much, but we just didn't.
55:40
Speaker: We didn't do that.
55:40
Speaker: And my mom was my grandmother's cook more than my mother.
55:44
Speaker: So I didn't have that day to day.
55:45
Speaker: And so I married an Italian and I thought, I gotta learn how to
55:50
Speaker: cook this stuff.
55:52
Speaker: So anyway, so that's how it started.
55:55
Speaker: But I just became so enthralled
55:56
Speaker: with her approach to cooking and
55:58
Speaker: her practical.
55:59
Speaker: And I love the idea of the art of eating and the art of cooking
56:03
Speaker: and being a part of that.
56:04
Speaker: And I think that's been woven into my whole life.
56:07
Speaker: And you can see it's evident in this book.
56:09
Speaker: It certainly is.
56:10
Speaker: When I wander the streets and different restaurants in
56:12
Speaker: different cities and certainly in Italy, and I think I just
56:18
Speaker: used it as a guide to step off of taking classics and always
56:23
Speaker: making them my own.
56:24
Speaker: I would have friends for years say, I tried making that, but
56:28
Speaker: you make it different.
56:29
Speaker: You know, I'm good at recording recipes now.
56:33
Speaker: But back then.
56:34
Speaker: Yes, yes.
56:35
Speaker: And Marcello was a great teacher through her words.
56:39
Speaker: Um, her books for people that know them.
56:42
Speaker: You know, there was maybe a few line drawings, but it was a lot
56:45
Speaker: of text, a lot, a lot of text conversation with Marcela
56:49
Speaker: through the, through her words.
56:51
Speaker: And, uh, it's a classic book and
56:54
Speaker: I'll link to that in the show
56:55
Speaker: notes.
56:55
Speaker: But you have another one too that you actually loved as well.
56:59
Speaker: I do.
57:00
Speaker: I have a sweet tooth in my house
57:02
Speaker: in my life from childhood, uh,
57:05
Speaker: forward.
57:05
Speaker: And my husband's always had a sweet tooth.
57:07
Speaker: And actually I had an early, uh, chapter where I was toying with
57:11
Speaker: some, um, chocolates that I used to be involved in making.
57:13
Speaker: But Sharon Tyler Herbst Simply
57:16
Speaker: Sensational Desserts has become
57:18
Speaker: a classic and primarily because
57:21
Speaker: I, I basically, um, took on
57:24
Speaker: several key desserts in that and
57:27
Speaker: became family favorites year
57:29
Speaker: over year.
57:29
Speaker: It wouldn't be Christmas if I
57:31
Speaker: didn't make the white chocolate
57:32
Speaker: mousse with the raspberry sauce,
57:33
Speaker: or it wouldn't be such and such
57:34
Speaker: if I didn't make the orange, you
57:36
Speaker: know, uh, mousse with, uh, or
57:39
Speaker: actually the orange cake with
57:40
Speaker: chocolate cake.
57:41
Speaker: And so there's different things,
57:42
Speaker: but I just, I loved, they were
57:44
Speaker: so practical.
57:45
Speaker: They were so elegant, but so easy to make and approachable.
57:48
Speaker: And I started using this when I was a much younger cook.
57:51
Speaker: And so I found it easy and anything that I could do easy
57:55
Speaker: when I was raising three small boys was, was the way to go.
57:59
Speaker: But yet it looked like something.
58:00
Speaker: And we used to entertain an awful lot back in that era.
58:03
Speaker: So yeah, I really enjoyed that too.
58:06
Speaker: And I, and I still have many of the clippings pulled out from
58:09
Speaker: that still start.
58:10
Speaker: I would annotate recipe books all the time.
58:12
Speaker: So I had favorites.
58:14
Speaker: And, um, you know, she went on
58:16
Speaker: to write the, um, the Food
58:18
Speaker: lover's Companion, which is the
58:19
Speaker: little dictionary.
58:22
Speaker: Well, it's a small book that I always recommend, um, people who
58:26
Speaker: are writing about food.
58:27
Speaker: My references.
58:27
Speaker: Yes.
58:29
Speaker: Oh, is it really?
58:30
Speaker: Yeah.
58:30
Speaker: To have like for spelling.
58:32
Speaker: I mean, because, you know, how do you spell shiitake?
58:34
Speaker: Right.
58:34
Speaker: Like right.
58:35
Speaker: Right, right.
58:36
Speaker: And it would describe it too, if you really wanted to go back
58:39
Speaker: down to it, you know, because you're going to find that in
58:41
Speaker: write about food like spell check on built into maybe word
58:45
Speaker: or even Google Docs.
58:47
Speaker: It doesn't, it doesn't pick it up.
58:49
Speaker: Correct.
58:50
Speaker: So but I wonder what she wrote first, if she was a cookbook
58:54
Speaker: author first, she she has since passed away, or if she wrote The
58:57
Speaker: Food Lover's Companion, I don't know, but Food Lover's Companion
59:00
Speaker: is an excellent book.
59:01
Speaker: I actually thought sometime it
59:02
Speaker: would be really fun to do a show
59:03
Speaker: about some of these, like food
59:05
Speaker: writing, like resources that
59:07
Speaker: people use.
59:08
Speaker: If you're wanting to build a library of books that are
59:11
Speaker: really, um, reference books for people who write cookbooks and
59:16
Speaker: write about food, um, that's certainly one of them.
59:19
Speaker: It's an absolutely, absolutely.
59:21
Speaker: I'm such a geek about stuff.
59:22
Speaker: It's so fun to even like look through that and read it.
59:26
Speaker: So much information in there.
59:28
Speaker: Absolutely, absolutely.
59:30
Speaker: And I've always read cookbooks like they were novels really,
59:33
Speaker: from the beginning to the end, and I'd read the recipes, but I
59:35
Speaker: loved all the information, even if I was glancing at the
59:37
Speaker: headnotes without a recipe.
59:39
Speaker: So I just, I, and I do find the like you said, the the resource
59:43
Speaker: books is is handy as well for that reason too.
59:45
Speaker: To learn more.
59:46
Speaker: Yeah.
59:47
Speaker: Well, I wanted to, as we're closing read, if I could, the or
59:51
Speaker: I can I'll read it because I didn't prepare you to read it.
59:55
Speaker: The um, your your dedication.
59:58
Speaker: Oh, yeah.
59:58
Speaker: Why don't you go ahead?
59:59
Speaker: Because I'm not prepared.
1:00:00
Speaker: I will.
1:00:01
Speaker: It's so beautiful.
1:00:02
Speaker: I just loved it.
1:00:03
Speaker: It says to thriving, choosing to
1:00:05
Speaker: live our best vibrant lives,
1:00:08
Speaker: focusing on healthy habits and
1:00:10
Speaker: preparing nourishing meals for
1:00:11
Speaker: ourselves, our family and
1:00:14
Speaker: friends.
1:00:15
Speaker: And that's what you want.
1:00:17
Speaker: Everyone.
1:00:18
Speaker: You want everyone to thrive.
1:00:19
Speaker: In particular breast cancer.
1:00:22
Speaker: People who are living after breast cancer treatment.
1:00:25
Speaker: And you have dedicated this book to them.
1:00:28
Speaker: Forkfuls of flavor.
1:00:29
Speaker: Mediterranean inspired dishes for breast cancer.
1:00:34
Speaker: Thriver ship.
1:00:36
Speaker: Thank you.
1:00:37
Speaker: You're welcome.
1:00:38
Speaker: Wonderful.
1:00:39
Speaker: Yeah.
1:00:39
Speaker: So, so proud and happy for you.
1:00:42
Speaker: Ellen.
1:00:42
Speaker: You have you've got you went
1:00:44
Speaker: from a recipe writing class to
1:00:47
Speaker: now this, which is just an
1:00:49
Speaker: amazing journey.
1:00:50
Speaker: And I hope that you have the
1:00:51
Speaker: best time meeting people,
1:00:53
Speaker: promoting the book, talking
1:00:54
Speaker: about the book, sharing the
1:00:56
Speaker: book, and who knows, you know,
1:00:59
Speaker: what's next.
1:00:59
Speaker: But, um, you really did take this idea and ran with it.
1:01:04
Speaker: And, um, again, I wish you
1:01:05
Speaker: nothing but the best in the
1:01:07
Speaker: promotion and, uh, talking about
1:01:09
Speaker: your book.
1:01:10
Speaker: Thank you so much.
1:01:11
Speaker: It was very inspirational process.
1:01:15
Speaker: And I love learning so many things along the way.
1:01:17
Speaker: And I'm not, I'm not done learning.
1:01:18
Speaker: There's more to go.
1:01:19
Speaker: That's right.
1:01:19
Speaker: There's always more to learn.
1:01:21
Speaker: Oh, there's always more.
1:01:22
Speaker: Always more.
1:01:23
Speaker: I wish you have a great time out promoting.
1:01:25
Speaker: And, um, where can people connect with you online and
1:01:27
Speaker: learn about, um, the book and about events that are coming up.
1:01:32
Speaker: Absolutely.
1:01:33
Speaker: So forkfuls of flavor dot com is the website.
1:01:37
Speaker: And there you'll be able to see
1:01:38
Speaker: actually a video on the
1:01:39
Speaker: backstory and meet some of those
1:01:41
Speaker: thrivers that I discussed here
1:01:42
Speaker: today.
1:01:43
Speaker: And also you'll see a page that
1:01:45
Speaker: will show where local events are
1:01:47
Speaker: happening and where it can be
1:01:48
Speaker: purchased as well, and stay in
1:01:50
Speaker: touch.
1:01:50
Speaker: I'd love to hear from anyone, and I'd love feedback and your
1:01:54
Speaker: ideas what recipes you like because it helps inform and you
1:01:58
Speaker: never know what's next.
1:01:59
Speaker: Yeah, and you're willing to
1:02:01
Speaker: connect with people, probably
1:02:02
Speaker: talk to a group, do things like
1:02:04
Speaker: that.
1:02:04
Speaker: You want to share this message.
1:02:06
Speaker: So, um, you guys welcome to all ideas, right?
1:02:10
Speaker: So, uh, reach out to Ellen if
1:02:12
Speaker: there's anything that you need,
1:02:13
Speaker: and I will put the link to how
1:02:15
Speaker: to connect with you in the show
1:02:16
Speaker: notes.
1:02:17
Speaker: Great.
1:02:17
Speaker: All right.
1:02:18
Speaker: Well, have a great time.
1:02:19
Speaker: And thanks again for coming on the show today.
1:02:21
Speaker: Thank you so much, I enjoyed it.
1:02:24
Speaker: Thank you so much for joining us today for this episode of the
1:02:27
Speaker: Cookbook Love Podcast again.
1:02:28
Speaker: All the links can be found in the show notes at w w w dot and
1:02:34
Speaker: if you are interested in writing a cookbook of your own, please
1:02:37
Speaker: check out the free Cookbook Writing Masterclass called How
1:02:41
Speaker: to Get Paid to Write a Cookbook.
1:02:44
Speaker: It is designed specifically for
1:02:45
Speaker: food or nutrition experts, and
1:02:48
Speaker: you can check that out at w w w
1:02:50
Speaker: dot cookbook writers academy dot
1:02:53
Speaker: com.
1:02:55
Speaker: So that's it for today's episode of the Cookbook Love Podcast.
1:02:58
Speaker: This is your host, Maggie Greene.
1:03:00
Speaker: And until next time, have a
1:03:02
Speaker: great day and keep loving your
1:03:04
Speaker: cookbooks.
1:03:09
Speaker: Thanks for listening to the Cookbook Love podcast.
1:03:12
Speaker: You can find out more information at w w w dot
1:03:14
Speaker: cookbook dot co.