Episode 38 - How To Cook Healthy, Family Friendly, And Fast With Kat Can Cook (Full Transcript)
This is a full transcript of the Nirvana Sisters podcast Episode 38 How To Cook Healthy, Family Friendly, And Fast With Kat Can Cook.
Editor’s Note: Please know that this podcast transcript is automatically generated and may contain minor errors such as typos and word switches. For more information, be sure to listen to the podcast here or view our podcast episode guide.
.Amy: 0:06
Welcome to Nirvana sisters podcast, where we take the intimidation out of well being and beauty to help you achieve your highest state your nirvana. We are sisters in law and your hosts. I'm Amy Sherman. And I'm Katie Chandler. So let's get into some real conversation Yeah, so nice to meet you. Nice to meet you, too. We're obsessed with your content. It's so good.
Kat: 0:35
Oh my god, I love you. Thank
Amy: 0:37
you.
Katie: 0:37
It's so your tic tock. We first like I just discovered the whole tic tock thing recently, Amy's been into it forever. But you're like I was I went into like a Kat hole on
Unknown: 0:48
a Kat hole that I've never heard of Kat hole. Thank you. Yeah, it's been it's been really wild. I feel like I don't consume enough. I was just talking to a friend of mine about that this morning. I feel like I don't I want to consume content again. And I you know, because of my bandwidth restrictions, you know, creating and going in putting out content you know, conversing with, you know, my community and then I'm off again, but I miss like actually consuming like Tik Tok in particular, but
Amy: 1:21
I know I am. I know, I have weeks where I have more time where I'm like, I go down the rabbit hole, tick tock, and I love every second of it. And I just like learn new things or get ideas. And then there's weeks where I'm so busy, that you just don't get a chance and it's so nice to be able to do that. But anyway, thanks for joining us. All right. So I will I will start us off. Welcome back to the show Nirvana sisters family. We are super excited to chat with Kat Ashmore today, aka Kat can cook on Instagram and tic tac. She is a tick tock chef, a blogger a producer a mom. She is a classically trained chef, a TV personality and Emmy award winning food television producer and recipe developer focused on real food recipes and cooking tips for busy lives. She's got a 1.7 million following on Tik Tok, which is well deserved because we were just talking before we started recording and how incredible and user friendly her content is. Super engaging, really high quality video and Kat is known for incorporating unique tricks and creativity into everyday meal preparation. She aims to empower the home cook to make delicious healthy meals for themselves and their families and have fun doing it. And I will say I love your bio, which is that mom friend you asked for healthy recipes because it makes it very approachable and accessible. And that's what we're all about as the show. So welcome to the show. Kat so nice to have you here.
Unknown: 2:49
Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to talk with you.
Amy: 2:52
So we are going to start out with something we call our Nirvana the week which is really just a way to step back and think about our week and what brought us joy this week. Whether it was a moment a day, whatever thing that spark joy so I will let you Katie, give us your Nirvana the week.
Katie: 3:10
Okay, great. Thanks, Amy. Hi Kat. We're so excited that you're here and i i should say we live in the same town if it was like a pre COVID world we can be together. So but eventually we will meet in person I look forward to that. Mine are one of the week just happened which is why I look like I do which is kind of a mess. But I just came from being back on the reformer and doing Pilates for the first time in eight weeks. I had I had like post COVID syndrome. So I have been out of commission and now I'm back and to do what I love. It's like my happy place. I mean, I love being other informer my brain goes completely clear. And it just it feels so good. It felt so it was like I felt like the first time my body moved in like two months. That's really what it felt like so it was fantastic. That was my nirvana for sure. What about you, Amy?
Amy: 3:58
I love that Katie you're radiating I can tell you feel really good. So I love that. I would say probably yesterday's launch. So cat we launched one of like my favorite people. Alli Webb. We launched her podcast yesterday, her interview with us and it was sort of a first full circle moment for Katie and I because we've always looked up to her. I've admired her for years. And she's sort of been my inspiration for like starting a business in the first place. Starting my own thing in the first place. It's to be able to launch our episode was was really fun. And I think it was a good like reflection moment for Katie and I because we we launched a podcast a year ago. It was just like a nice moment. So that was great. What about you, cat?
Unknown: 4:38
I was thinking about this. So I think my Nirvana moment was going to the diner with my going to the diner with my kids and my husband and actually enjoying a meal together because they're at those ages where they're three and five. So I'm like I get these glimpses have like, oh, like, this is what it's gonna be like when, you know, they're not running all over the restaurant and going through people's purses. And, you know, we can actually have a conversation and I can finish a meal was really, I mean, the diner might as well have been a palace. I mean, it felt really, really good to be able to just connect and soak it up and I'm managing my expectations. You know, I I know that next time might be a complete disaster again, but I'm very grateful for those. Those glimpses of joy and calm and normalcy when I get them.
Katie: 5:40
That's lovely. We was by chance Sherwood diner in Westport, because in last night, because I almost took my kids last night to the diner.
Unknown: 5:48
Oh, that's so funny. It was Southport diner. So very, okay. We
Katie: 5:51
almost went to Southport Diner because we were in Fairfield for the dentist. Anyway, I digress, but isn't really
Unknown: 5:55
funny. Okay, our favorite place?
Katie: 5:58
That's great. Yeah, that's a good one. I totally get what you mean by that, by the way, like when the kids are at that age, or they sit down and they want to have conversations with you around the dinner table. It's a lot of fun. Right? She's Amy has an older she has teenagers. So she She's their
Amy: 6:12
preteen and a teenager. Yeah. 12 and 14, almost 15. But yeah, when they start becoming like real people and are able to talk and like enjoy a meal together. It's such a milestone, right? Because when the kids are little, you're like a mad person you can never eat. That's the worst. It's like the worst going out to dinner is horrible. It's awful. And now they're starting to get That's great.
Unknown: 6:35
Yeah, great.
Katie: 6:36
Sweet. Well, let's kick it off. I want to get right into it. Because we want to get to know you a bit like we've been following you on social media and your content is so fun, like Amy was saying it's so accessible and easy to follow, easy to do. So tell us a little bit first about becoming this insane social media and blog sensation, you maybe we should back up, what were you doing before you were cat can cook.
Unknown: 7:05
Thank you for that, by the way. So the couple of years prior to starting, can cook, which was in July of 2020. It was you know, a few months into the pandemic. And I had been a stay at home mom for three years, I was in a I was in a pretty dark place. And that and I think, you know, as the pandemic started, it exacerbated, I think whatever state was kind of like, you know, humming along within a lot of people, it kind of just forced things up, right. So that really was where I was when I started getting creative again, and I started the website. And I think when you're at a hard moment in your life, you either kind of get kicked down the stairs or up the stairs. And that really was a bottom that I was able to spring from and I took action and I'm grateful that I did. But um, prior to that I had, as you said, you know, I had gone to culinary school. And I had sort of worked in almost every area of food media and business. So from, you know, being a food television producer, to a recipe developer to Food Products Manager to a buyer to you know, so I had kind of run the gamut in it. And so I'm, you know, making the choice to stay home with my kids. And we'll probably get into this. But it really didn't even feel like a choice, if I'm honest. And I think a lot of women deal with this. Because being in the suburbs, and knowing that my career really exists in New York City. There really is not a career for me here. So my choices at the time seem to be commute into New York City every day, which my husband also did, and never see my kids and probably not really see my husband, or stop working. And those were the only two options really available to me at the time.
Katie: 9:10
Absolutely. And I mean, we should note, it's an hour's commute. So eat for short, like my husband does it and he gets home often at like eight o'clock after the concern. But so I completely can understand that. When you were doing television producing what were some of the shows you were contributing to on your on?
Unknown: 9:26
Sure. So right after culinary school, I ended up getting a position with Martha Stewart. So that was really amazing. She had been my idol. It still is very surreal to kind of talk about even though you know, I had a great sort of close relationship with her. Yeah, but my I was notorious in my family for I would bring cookbooks with me on vacation all the time, like six heavy cooks. And my dad was like, you know, are you serious? But I would go on vacation and I'd be Reading them in like a hotel room like novels at night. And my mom thought I was, you know, he's like, where
Amy: 10:06
are you cooking like,
Unknown: 10:07
we're in a hotel room. But I just I couldn't get enough. I love to consume the content. I love the story of food. I love the connection. I love the community. I love the creativity of it. So I used to read her entertaining books, you know, those are some of the ones that I read all the time. So it was really very surreal to be able to work for her. But at a time where most of my class, graduating from culinary school was going into a restaurant, which was highly encouraged by all of my instructors at the time, it was really like you need to be in a restaurant, you need to get hands on experience, my instincts were just like, that is not going to be good for me, that is not going to be good for my mental health. That's, you know, I had been like a waitress in college, I kind of knew what that life was like. And it's so much admiration for the people that do it because it is a lot of hard labor. It's very long hours. It's hard on a lot of levels, especially now. But I interviewed for an externship. It's called it's sort of the last leg of your education at the Institute of Culinary Education. There was one spot on the Martha Stewart show. And I ended up getting it, which was great. And within like three months, they offered me a full time position on the show. So I was one of the people that produce the food segments. So anytime you saw Martha cooking with, you know, celebrities, you know, chefs or celebrity chefs or you know, sometimes ourselves, I was on television as well doing things like Thanksgiving hotlines and product reviews and that kind of stuff. So cool so much. It was very cool.
Katie: 11:42
It was I've always wondered about that world. Like, I mean, there's a lot that goes behind the scenes there. Right. And you guys are like all of these other people are actually doing a lot of cooking. Not Martha, right like she does on screen cooking. But right. Isn't there a lot of behind the scenes action?
Unknown: 11:57
Yeah, 90 98% of it is done before the camera starts rolling? Absolutely. You know, you've got swaps you've got and you know, now of course, I'm seeing how so much of that plays. So much of those skills that I had almost forgotten about when I went in a different direction started working for her at corporate and developing recipes. That production side, you know, I've been a storyteller my whole life, right. And the way that I look at it now is that now I'm storytelling on social media in short form video, right? And I'm calling for brands, but I've been a storyteller my entire life. It's just different platforms that I've told that story. So yeah, it was, yes, it was an unbelievable, an unbelievable experience. I also think that I I grew up very fast. Really living in New York City. I almost feel like everybody should live in New York City for like,
Amy: 12:54
three runs. Yeah, no. Both lived in New York for Yeah, over 10 years and totally agree. It's an education.
Unknown: 13:01
It is such an education. And I don't know if you agree with this, but the way that I looked at it was like, I got there. And I was like, Okay, I really need to figure out who I want to be. Because you can be anything like it is it is a place where it's not like a lot of other cities where there's a general direction that the tide flows in, right, like New York, there's everything. So you really are forced to carve out, like what direction is it that I want to take? Because everything is at your disposal. And I that's the time that I really got a backbone. And I'm I mean, I'm so grateful for that. Yeah, it was, it was amazing.
Amy: 13:43
So great. So tell me a little bit about I know you said you started creating your own content and storytelling on Tik Tok and Instagram in early 2020. So how did you kind of figure out that you wanted to do that? Were you just watching tick tock and then saying, Oh, I could do that with my stuff. Like, how did you like actually start because I think that's also the hard part. Just like identifying that this is something you could actually do and make a living doing?
Unknown: 14:08
Mm hmm. Yeah, that's a great question. I didn't. I didn't really even think that far. I had never been on Tik Tok. So the way that it all happened was that it was at a time where tick tock was, you know, again, the pandemic had started and tick tock was at a place within the organization where they were had a priority of leveling up the platform and maturing the platform and making it really heavy on educational useful content. Right. So it was at a time where a friend of mine who is model and actress out in LA she had participated in this program with tick tock called the creative learning fund, I believe it was called and where they brought in education creators and you worked directly with tick tock for a period of time. So like weekly content meetings, and you learned about the platform, and what was great was that you were really accountable. You had to post a certain amount of videos, you know, per month. So I just said, Yes, I was again, I was not in a great place. I didn't feel like I had a whole lot to give.
Amy: 15:26
So tick tock reach out, to where your friend connected you and
Unknown: 15:30
my friend recommended me for it. That's amazing. Yeah. It's so funny, cuz she texted me the other day. And she was like, she just had a baby. She was been in that haze. And she was like, like, I just looked at your page. Like, I knew that this would happen, you know, but it didn't happen overnight. It seems like it happens. Yeah. But I've had these spurts where, you know, which informs me what kind of content my community really wants to see, of course, but yeah, so I said yes. To this program.
Amy: 15:58
What a great program. Well, yeah.
Unknown: 16:00
I mean, it was an amazing opportunity. And I really didn't feel worthy of it. And I, I remember my husband kind of going like, well, what are your goals with? And he would like, throw these things out there. Like, do you want to write a cookbook? Do you wanna have a product line? Do you want to make $100,000 Next year, and I was bristle, because I was like, I felt this pressure. Like, I'm not gonna do that, you know, it just felt too big. Yeah, that way. And now those things are happening, which is so cool to me to see. But um, yeah, it really saved me in a lot of ways. That sounds a little dramatic, but
Katie: 16:39
it's not amazing. It's okay.
Amy: 16:42
Yeah, congratulations. And it's,
Unknown: 16:43
I work with Tik Tok a
Amy: 16:44
lot through my other job, which is marketing. And I know they're really invested in their creators. I didn't know they had a program like that, and what a valuable place to learn, like how to do it. And now that you're saying that, I'm like, okay, that's, that must have been such a good foundational way to start because, I mean, obviously, your videos are so great, but like, I'm sure they gave you a lot of good tips and tricks. So yeah, speaking of your videos, so let's segue into some meal prep, like go to healthy family friendly. I mean, obviously, there's tons of this on your, on your on your feeds, but what are kind of your favorite things to make and like easy things because I am not. Katie is an amazing cook and I always still recipes from her, but I am not a good cook at all. So I'm always looking for quick ways to like have weekday meals or snacks on the go. What are your favorites? Well, do
Unknown: 17:34
you want to start with like weeknight dinners? Are we sure? Yeah. Yeah, cuz I feel like dinner time is is the is the troublesome time for most of us. Right? Always, like, especially being a mom, even for me, like I cook for a living and sometimes I feel really burdened by getting dinner on the table. So I completely get it. So I think I like to batch cook as much as possible. So oftentimes, when I'm making something, I will make a good amount of it and I'll free some of it. Like I'm always thinking about like, I have to cook right now. Anyway, I might as well like stock away some right so like last night, and this doesn't really apply because my kids wouldn't touch it to be honest, but I made like a minestrone, right so I made like this like beautiful winter minestrone with all this like great stuff in it. They like pick the pasta out, that's fine, whatever. But I made like a huge batch of it. And then you know, I froze, you know, probably like three really good sized containers. I made a double batch. So I'm like thinking about it's an investment in your like future busy. Yeah,
Amy: 18:45
I'm really bad at that.
Unknown: 18:46
I'm always thinking about that. And really, it's the other thing too is that like I'm big on meal prep, but like meal prep light, so not the, you know, little segmented containers and that kind of thing, but I'll be making batches of pesto and I'll freeze it I freeze it in ice cube trays right and so then you've got these, like little cubes of pesto. You throw it into a sauce you put into a blender when it's thought you've got a salad dressing like you've got it awesome. I love that idea. Not your freezer stocked with it. I don't. I'm very big on not throwing things away. I'm sure we'll talk a little bit about that. But my family's big meatball family. I don't know about yours, but something about kids and meatballs. They just it tends to just work. So I make a lot of different kinds of meatballs. I do these like chimichurri meatballs. I do these teriyaki meatballs with like roasted broccoli, sheet pan situations can be really really easy. And very, very simple to do. So. We are big. I mean my my kids like flavor it very much like me. They'd like big flavored food. So I do a lot of different marinates I have teriyaki knee, so marinate on my website. And I love to do it with like grilled chicken or grilled salmon. You could also do it in the airfryer. So you could just like marinate it in the nice oh teriyaki marinade, and then throw it in airfryer or boil it or whatever it is during the winter months. It's just like flavor bombs and then you've got it taken care of like it lasts for a while and your fridge, grab a piece of protein from the freezer, get it to frosting, and you've got your dinner done.
Katie: 20:30
As you're passing my home is my kids don't all want to eat my food and like thank you if you're saying I'm a good cook, I'm not that good. But I think I do all right. And as I ended up being like a short order cook Yeah, and cooking one meal for one kid one meal for the other kid. That has really made me not want to cook as much anymore. You know me? Yeah, well, I guess it is frustrating. But you're I mean, it's of course your kids are, you know, three and five and eating your food. You make amazing food. And did you always like from the time they can eat? Was it always like you're not getting kid food? We're doing this like you're like, I'll eat my meals.
Unknown: 21:09
No, I am not any better than you let me just I mean it like my first I don't know if you if you saw this tick tock but my first truly viral tick tock. Was this like jokey? I mean, it's ridiculous. But it's just like joke that I need because I say to my friends where I'm like, you know, when people find out that I'm a trained chef, they're like, Oh, you must never give your kids frozen chicken nuggets. And I'm like, obviously not Janet, I cook them first. You know, like, literally a million views on Instagram, like, you know, I am like very honest about the fact where I'm like, I will give my kids a box of Annie's macaroni and cheese. And I will put cauliflower rice in it. And they will smart with it. Like cauliflower takes on whatever flavors you put it with. Right? It's a very neutral thing. So I put it in pancakes, I put it in meatballs like you could put it in. That's a great idea. I never thought about that. My superfood pancakes are like, literally they're like banana oats. I put almond butter in there for fat because like, my kids won't eat almond butter or peanut butter and jelly sandwiches like they won't eat sandwiches? I wish they would never mind. They won't do it. You know, they're not easy on me. So I completely get it. So my approach is this. I make sure that there is one thing maybe two that I know that they like that they don't like absolutely despise. So they're like safe foods, right. So whether it's like, you know, sourdough toast with some butter on it, or like some carrots with some dressing, I make sure that there are a couple of things. And then I'll serve that, like I know that they're not going to eat salmon. But I will put salmon on their plate. And I just manage my own expectations of it and say, if they eat some carrots, and they eat a piece of bread, like that's different. Yeah, yeah, well, good. So like a big part of it for me has been letting go of this idea that they have to have a balanced meal and looking at like, I just aim for like a balanced day. Yes. Like, I just aim for a balanced day. So that is why I like those, these superfood pancakes I make. If I get them eating a few of those pancakes, I'm like, I don't care if they have Pirate's Booty the rest of the day, like they had all of the nutrients and healthy fats that they need, you know, and it just takes the pressure off. Because I'm like you like doing the short order cook. That's not fun for anybody. And I've done it too. I've done it too.
Amy: 23:50
So let me ask you a question about snacking stuff. Because my family including me tends to be big snackers and especially with teenage boys like they don't I mean, my older one will, is starting to eat like real good foods and like flavors. My younger one is super picky. But they tend to snack all day long. Literally, my teenager, my older one will go downstairs at midnight and have five bowls of cereal. I mean, he's crazy. And he's eating phase and they'll just eat cereal and junk. And like my little ones like with candy. And so I just want to have like little snacks that they can eat that are sitting in front of them that they don't have to do anything to because I'll be like, oh, there was this in the fridge and they're like, Oh, I
Unknown: 24:32
didn't see it. I'm like it's in front of your face and you put it in the microwave for 10 seconds. So like what's like an easy thing to prepare that they can just grab? Yeah, that's a great question. Um, so the first thing that comes to my mind is not necessarily a food suggestion, but it's more of an organizational suggestion. Love Oh, yeah. So a friend of mine. Her name is at home with Shannon I don't know if you follow her but she's known for like herself serve for fridge situation and self serve stations. So she has like self serve stations for everything. She's got four kids. And like having a section of the refrigerator that is like their section where they know it's like, their snacks, their food. I don't know, like, I think when they're young, depending upon the kid, I think the the benefit is a little bit different. But when they're young, there's that like pride and like, who is my cooling? I can have anything in this area, right? Like something that's really accessible. And it also is like, yeah, it keeps food from kind of going to the back of the fridge to die. And yeah, never getting seen and being like, I didn't know that that was there. I'm realizing I probably need to do that for my husband. Because you know, for the most part, I'm like,
Amy: 25:46
Oh my God, it is everything. My husband does that all the time will be like, Oh, we're out of XYZ. And I'm like, What are you talking about? It's right there. He's like, Oh, I didn't see it. I'm like, if this is not on the front shelf directly in front of his face, he won't see it.
Unknown: 26:00
I just have to put like, like a PBR label on it or something. So I don't know. I gotta do something about it. But yeah, so I mean, my first question would be, what kinds of snacks do they tend to want? So what do they reach for currently?
Amy: 26:17
Cereal? Cereal? I would say cereals number one maybe like popcorn or chips. Or for my little one candy, which we've got sucker. He's like, addicted. Or like, you know, I don't I try not to buy them but like gummy snacks or fruit strips or bars? Like things like that.
Unknown: 26:36
Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So yeah, I mean, we do. Honestly, we do all of that same stuff. Yeah. A big thing for me that I'm aware of is that if I can make try to get whatever they're snacking on, if it has some fat component, it's gonna keep them full. So that in Yeah, half an hour. They're not like, I want more of this. I want more that, you know, they're just constantly eating and then they're not hungry for dinner or whatever. So it can be a challenge for sure. I do a lot of like smoothies for them. But we'll do I mean, we do like the Lara bar route like yeah, like those chopsticks like the turn? Yes, I
Amy: 27:17
have those. Okay.
Unknown: 27:19
I'll do like knots. Would they do nuts? If you made like a?
Amy: 27:23
Maybe? Yeah, you know, I do have tons of nuts, but they don't. They won't.
Unknown: 27:27
I think yeah, maybe I should mix up like a nut like situation for them. Because they do have tons of nuts, but they don't like grab nuts like I would but yeah, maybe that's like my hair. But what I do is I'll do like maple glaze pecans. And then I have Yeah, so you mean literally it says you just tossed them with maple syrup and like a little bit of flaky salt in a saucepan, and then it hardens. So it sounds so good. Yeah. So I mean, it's great for me too, because I could throw it on salads. I could, whatever. But um, yeah, it's that sweet component, because they're not going to grab like a handful of Brazil nuts. Like, yeah, you know.
Amy: 28:03
So I do I do have a section in the pantry for them. I not in the fridge. That's a good idea. But in the pantry, I do have a section but it's kind of evolved because now they're older. So they just kind of take everything but I'm gonna I'm gonna think of some good nut ideas. I like that because it's a healthy fat. And
Unknown: 28:19
it's like, mimicking what, you know, do they have like, my daughter has a wicked sweet tooth, right? So like in loves, like fruit. So anytime that I can, I can incorporate like some kind of sweetness in there. And also, like, I don't know if this is a whole other thing, but I think we can get so dogmatic about like, Oh, sugar and kids and this and that. It's like, for me, you know, if it's going to get them to eat something healthy. Like it's not covered in chalk. It's, it's all worth it for me. You know, it's, it's real food too. So
Amy: 28:52
yeah, actually, my older one loves fruit. And he's hilarious. Like, I'll get to two things are raspberries at the store. They're gone. Like an hour. He eats great, both of them. But I mean, it's great. But it's like he's telling me you have to go to the store. We need more fruit. We need more of this.
Unknown: 29:12
I'm like, can you just go to the store and like, get what you want? Because I can't I can't keep up with the amount of food and it's not the kind of thing you can buy in bulk like, right? It's not Yeah, it's not like a Costco thing where
Katie: 29:24
you could Yeah, a teenage boy you're out of house and home. Oh, sure.
Unknown: 29:29
Right. Yeah,
Katie: 29:30
so I speaking of your content I saw you have these really amazing food hacks to keep in your like produce longer and to reviving it. I saw something strawberries and something with Romaine and I'm gonna let you tell us and then do you have any other ones?
Unknown: 29:45
Yes, yes. So I really it really hurts my feelings to have to throw like anything out. I mean, sometimes my husband's like, what are you doing? Like why are you saving? You know, you're getting like a little Same here, but it really I do not like throwing anything out. So what I do with berries when I'm buying berries, I'm not buying them a ton right now, but what I do with berries is because raspberries in particular, I mean, if you don't have a son that is eating them within like 20 minutes, they tend to go bad really quickly, right? They get bad really, really fast. So if you soak it in a mixture of one part of vinegar, like your everyday white vinegar, you could also use like an apple cider vinegar or whatever, don't waste your expensive stuff. one part vinegar to four parts water, and you just soak it does not make it could be anywhere from four to 10 parts water, if you're really adverse to any kind of vinegar thing, you could just rinse it off. But what it does is it kills the mold inside of the berries, and it keeps it so you can in the summertime, I mean I've had strawberries last, like up to two weeks, if I buy like a big Wow, big package of them. Yeah. Or if I go strawberry picking or whatever. And I'm like, Okay, I can't like be making jam and freezing and all that stuff now. So that is really, really helpful. And when it comes to vegetables because I buy a ton of veggie quick question,
Amy: 31:15
how long do you sell get? How long do you sell? minutes? Okay, and then rinse it off and store it. Okay, Natalie, go ahead, vegetable, sorry.
Unknown: 31:23
Clarify, um, when it comes to vegetables, so you can revive most vegetables with ice water. I tend to when I when I get my veg, I often do this to an online farmers market. Based in New York, I often will order from them. But if I'm going to the store as well, oftentimes, I'll prep some of my veggies when I get home. But if you've got veggies that like you're grabbing a head of romaine, and it's like really sad and wilted. You don't have to throw it out, you can just put it in some ice water. And you will find that it really perks up for you. I have it's amazing. I've even had like carrots where like, I could not even snap them like they were like, I mean, like they were like yoga carrots, you know, it was like, I was like this thing. But then I put it overnight in ice water. Like I peeled it, I put it overnight and ice water and the carrots were perfectly fine. The next day, they were chopping up crying. Oh, yeah,
Katie: 32:27
that's amazing. It makes so much sense. Because the there's so much water content. That's what vegetables and fruit are like, right and you feed water to flowers to bring them alive. Why wouldn't the same thing I've never thought of that. And the other thing was strawberries and the fruit and killing the mold is genius. Because you can accidentally ingest berries that have molded someone and it's really bad for you like it's bad for your gut and all of that stuff. So that's just a great health hack as well. I love that.
Unknown: 32:54
And it's easy, and it's cheap. And it's stuff you already have on hand, it takes two minutes. You know, same thing with herbs with the water, like I put them my favorite way to store herbs like fresh herbs is to put them in like a mason jar filled with water, and then put like a bag on top of it. So like a stash or bag or whatever, and then put it in my refrigerator door and they're gonna last week's for you that way.
Katie: 33:20
That's great. Your your food waste, like how much it really, really bothers you. I mean, I can greatly appreciate it. And I think everyone these days is trying to lean towards reducing that. But I'm so curious as part of that drilled into your own culinary school because I know that in restaurants like chefs and everything, I've heard that like, no food is thrown out like you do something with even the scraps of the scraps. Is that Is that a thing from school?
Unknown: 33:47
You know, that's, that's a really interesting point. I actually think it's more from I mean, my parents were not wasteful people at all. So I grew up with that, you know, my grandfather, like he would lose a shoe and like, hang on to the other one. Like it's so good. Like, come from that. And But Martha also is very much that way. She will not I mean, if there's one drop of batter in a bowl, she's like, No, no, no, like, she will not let you rent it out, you know, and she grew up quite poor. So we had that professional sit like standpoint as well. So I think that that, that that made a difference to it. Thank you for asking that because I hadn't hadn't really considered that before.
Katie: 34:32
I'm super curious. What are your top five pantry staples for healthy meals because I feel like there's things that as long as they're there, we can always go to them and turn something out. That's like, you know, somewhat healthy aside from always having the fresh produce and everything on hand. Entry staples.
Unknown: 34:50
Yes, yes, yes, yes. Yeah, there have been times where I have even you know, I've been recipe testing a lot and then I look in my refrigerator and I'm Like, I don't really know what I'm gonna do for dinner. So, one of my favorite so the first thing that comes to my mind is chickpeas. So all lagoons really like I've always got, especially white beans and chickpeas in my pantry, like I do a lot with lentils as well. If you've got lentils, chickpeas, white beans, ie you are well on your way to a meal, one of my favorite. Okay, so I need to answer your question first because I can go on a tangent so I would say I would say lentils number one. Chickpeas, white beans, I'm going to bunch all of that in together. Number two, some grains. So whether it's rice, or Pharaoh or something like that, and then I would say two big things would be in the realm of some kind of a cooking paste sauce, things like that. So for me, kimchi is always love kimchi. Obsessed. Kimchi is always in my fridge. And then some kind of pesto, curry paste, tomato paste, something like that. And then coconut milk, canned coconut. Oh,
Katie: 36:20
yes.
Unknown: 36:21
I always have those. Those are big ones for me. So
Amy: 36:24
I never use coconut milk. I don't even know what to do with it. Oh,
Katie: 36:27
it's like soups. hurries, like all right. Oh, my goodness.
Unknown: 36:31
I've got a number of recipes on my website, but one I'm going to look up. Yeah, so one of my actually a recipe for when I did a little bit of private shopping when I was just starting at Martha and when I was in culinary school, and I would make this pasta that is it's a spicy fusilli pasta with tomato free, but you're actually using coconut milk so it's dairy free. And you combine tomato paste with coconut milk. Like you cannot taste any hint of coconut is just a really luscious, creamy like nibble of vodka but healthier, delicious. You know,
Amy: 37:08
and I never use tomato paste. I always just use like a sauce. But I feel like a paste is probably like a better texture, right?
Unknown: 37:15
It's that mommy, it's concentrated flavors. So those are those like secret weapons kind of I call them that I have on hand it is like flavor, flavor flavor. It's really complex. All of the work is done for you. I make these coconut spice chickpeas using tomato paste, some spices, some coconut milk, chickpeas, sorbet over rice over cauliflower rice, so good. And then the other night, it was one of those days where just you know, work was insane. I got home at like 530 The kids had eaten already. So that that was helpful, but I literally made Oh, I had lentils in the fridge from the night before. I cooked two fried eggs and olive oil and then like a big heap of kimchi. And that was made. And I was like, Oh, good. I was so happy. You know, like you don't, you can still eat really well, with really minimal time, if you just know how to put things together. And so that's what I'm learning.
Katie: 38:15
Affordable. Also, like all the stamp staples, rather that you just said are super affordable. I know so many people say oh so expensive to eat healthy. And I know. That's not true. Everything you just says you get rent prices.
Unknown: 38:29
Yeah, very affordable. And that's really important to me with my content in particular is that I am I really want to be I want as many people making these recipes as possible. So I am always like, if you don't have this, use this, if you don't have this use this, like I try and make it so that things are very, very accessible to people because not everyone lives in a community where number one they can afford it. Number two, they've got these specialty stores that carry stuff, right like most of the stuff, Walmart, like you know,
Amy: 39:02
so you know, we love your hungry lady salad series that we like went down the rabbit hole watching them because first of all the salads look incredibly amazing. And second of all, they look like fairly easy to me. So I like watching those videos because I'm like, okay, that's like a thing to have. And then you can eat that over several days. So how did the inspo for that come out? And those on imagining are super popular and like on your channels?
Unknown: 39:24
Yeah, yeah, it's been. It's been really amazing. I mean, that series, I so I posted a soup. It was and I'll never forget because I had I hit a million followers on Tik Tok January 8 of 1.7. So it's all pretty much been because
Amy: 39:44
like January 8, like a month ago this year, yeah.
Katie: 39:47
Oh, wow. It's amazing. Working somebody having more. Congrats.
Unknown: 39:51
Yeah, and I mean, I think I have like 60,000 followers on Instagram, and now I have like 130 And it's so in four weeks. So Clearly, like, one thing that I've really learned is, I think a lot of the success that I've had is because I really shifted my focus to, like really listening to my community, you know, and I tell a lot of content creators, my friends, and you know, marketing in this way, like people will tell you what they want to see from you, you just have to be listening. Because I used to have this whole content plan. These are the recipes I'm going to make and Baba and I had a whole plan for January, and all of these recipes that I had either already made and shot and are still ready to go or not. And I throw it all out the window because I'm like, the way that this one salad resonated with people I called it The Hungry lady salad. It's a kale chop salad with like a lemon tahini dressing. And people were going crazy over it, they loved the name. And I was like, there's really something here. And and so I just was like, this needs to be a series. And you had posted like, 10 episodes so far. And yeah, and I have actually shot one this morning. So I mean, I can make salads all day, like I yeah, I am like very much about like, what are you? What am I adding to my plate rather than what I'm taking away? Like, I love this feeling of like abundance in my life. And it really, like especially entering this month that is like the month of like deprivation, January where everyone's like, wait, I need to do that, like, let's look at it in a little bit of a different way. I have personally gotten a ton of food freedom from viewing food that way, you know, really just focusing on, like, what makes me happy? What are how can I add more color, more texture, more interest? Rather than like taking it away? You know that the perspective of lack and restriction is not one that serves me very well.
Amy: 42:04
I think a lot of Yeah, and I think your salads too, in that series. They're very hardy. So I was looking at them. I'm like, Okay, I need to make because they're not just like, oh, having this little salad. I'm gonna be starving mean they're like, a full on meal. I mean, super hearty so and they're, yeah, I, I they're all like, Look, I
Unknown: 42:21
know, I need them. I just
Amy: 42:24
watched them, like, oh my god, I have to make this immediately. Katie, you can do like a salad off and try to make it better.
Unknown: 42:33
It's been amazing. And it really has. Again, just like really helped me pronounce my mission further of just getting people excited about food, not taking ourselves so serious, adding a whole bunch of stuff to our plate, eating with huge spoon, you know, just the whole concept of like, what it means to eat like a lady and what you know what it means to eat healthy, and it's, it's fun.
Katie: 42:59
And I really love your approach to it. And you know how you're saying, like, switching the focus from restriction and everything. Some people might look at you and think like, oh, you can eat anything you you know, like, you're one of those girls, but you actually lost 25 pounds. And you've been very vocal about this on social media, getting the way you love and the way that you promote and share and everything. Tell us a little bit about that journey.
Unknown: 43:25
Yeah, so I do, I've talked about this a little bit on social, I don't talk about it often not for any reason in particular. I also think that right now, we're in a very sensitive world. And so anything having to do in inevitably, I get tons of comments with like, you know, that like accusing me of promoting diet, culture, you know, all of that stuff. So, it's a, you know, it's not a narrative that I talk about a lot. But yeah, I mean, I was I was a good 2025 pounds heavier. Yeah, like a year ago, then or a year and a half ago, than I am now. And I think in a lot of ways, my my passion for food never left, just like in the absence of creating food, I just ate food and ate. And so, you know, it was nice to be able to redirect my passion a bit into, you know, creating food as well. But, um, yeah, it really started with that mentality of what can I add to my life and, and it's been very, very, very rewarding. I get messages every day. I mean, dozens of messages a day from people that you know, have said like, You've helped me look at healthy eating a different way. I've lost this amount of weight. Like, I don't really ever talk about calories. I don't really, like ever talk about that stuff. Because for me When you just really start falling in love with like beautiful real food like hearty food, interesting food, that that that stuff like sorted itself out. I didn't have to go that route. I'm not saying that that's the way it is for everyone. But from what I'm hearing, I'm not alone in that. Yeah, but
Amy: 45:22
when you say when you say adding, so you're obviously like not creating an eating more. So when you're when you kind of started creating and lost weight, and obviously, it probably wasn't intentional. It's just because you probably were in the creative mode. And that's sitting around like we all were during the pandemic eating. But when you're adding, so you're saying because I love that that's really a great way to think about it, because I never thought about it that way. Like what am I adding? When you say that? You mean in the sense of like, what am I adding that can be more nutritious? Like, am I adding another might add like something to fill you up? More? Like explain that theory? A little bit?
Unknown: 45:58
Yes, yeah. So when I look at what I'm adding, like when I'm creating a salad, for instance, right, like so, I am always looking at like, Okay, here's the base of it. And here, maybe a couple of other things that are pretty normal to put on it. What like cucumber, tomato, like chirp has has a place there for sure. But like that's a pretty boring salad, not something I'm going to be excited to eat every day. And if you love food, the way that I love food, I need to be excited about what I'm eating. And so I'm going to be excited to be eating an amazing new haven pizza or delicious croissant, like that's gonna make me excited. So I need to come up with stuff that is as exciting as that. And so that is really about layering in textures and colors. And, you know, understanding I talked about this a good amount in my videos like understanding the yin and the yang of a great run, like how the sweetness plays off of something that's acidic, and how the creaminess plays off of something, you know. So how different elements of the salad make the other element more pronounced.
Amy: 47:13
Yeah, and it's probably just experimentation to like, I'm just not experimental because I'm like, oh, maybe that won't taste good. And then whatever. Katie actually taught me that though, when she's making a salad, she does that, where she'll just like, go through the pantry be like, oh, what else can I add? Let me add like some cheese. Let me have some nuts. Let me and so I sort of I learned from her like to throw like nutritional yeast in the salad, like, give it a little bit of like, of that texture. So anyway, yeah, it's good to hear that. It's a great way to think about really anything that you're making, like what can you add to make it more? You know, yummy and nutritious. And I love that. Yeah. Okay, so we could talk all day. There's so much more I think to talk about, we probably have to have you on for around two, because there's so many like, there's so many hacks who want to know, let's get to dessert quickly. Like what are your favorite swaps for making healthy dessert? Because I definitely have a sweet tooth and I'm always looking for a yummy dessert.
Unknown: 48:07
Yeah, for sure. And I have dessert every single night like I have. I my freezer is filled with cookies, brownies. blondies. Like, if I don't have bags. So I am with you. So a couple of things. So I mean, I have the fudgy avocado brownies that one of my most in my clothes. Yeah, those look amazing. Those are really, really fun and really big and great. I love to make like chocolate puddings and chocolate mousse is with tofu. It gets a lot of volume and creaminess to the chocolate mousse. And I would never know that it was in there. Sometimes I'll do like a roasted sweet potato mashed sweet sweet potato. I'll make the chocolate mousse out of that. So yeah, so those are those are the big ones for me. And then I have these vegan chocolate chip cookies that I just love and they're really delicious. I'll be posting the recipes soon. So good. Yeah, yeah, it's really just a matter of stepping back and asking yourself like What purpose does this ingredient serve in the dish? And what can replicate that? And and it takes practice to know that but
Katie: 49:20
I need your chocolate chip cookie recipe because that is my all time favorite dessert and I can't eat eggs. So I need that.
Unknown: 49:25
Oh, this is it. I've been I'm still like perfecting it because it's very temperamental. Sometimes it spreads too much. Sometimes it doesn't, which is fine for me because I'm just eating them. But I haven't shared it yet. So I'm like it's not perfect, but I will share with you and maybe it'll be good for you to give me feedback too.
Katie: 49:42
Okay, great. All right. Well, tell us quickly about your ebook because that's so exciting. When did that opportunity come about and
Unknown: 49:51
Well, it's interesting too, because I just submitted my finished my proposal for an actual cookbook yesterday. Awesome. Yeah. So yeah, my literary agents sent it out to publishers last night. So that is like, very exciting. It's so exciting that when this when all of this happened in January, I had like three publishers email me directly, like, we want to do a hungry lady. cookbook. It's not going to be bad. Exactly. But that'll definitely be the tone and the element of it. So yeah, recipe development, it at my core is like what I love to do. It is my favorite thing in the world. I just would create recipes all day, every day, if I could. So I wanted a place where I could, I could package things in a more structured way. So many people have been asking for cookbooks and cookbooks take a while to produce, there's a you know, it's a whole thing. So it was a way for me to just easily get something up for people. And then when I started seeing photos on Instagram of like, you know, people cooking and they have like, bound together all of the pages in like a binder. And I'm like, because they're like, basically like, Oh my God, it was really funny. I'm like these four people. They're, like, printed out and they're, like, laminating it. And I'm like, they're like, it's like a DIY cookbook. Yeah, it that is on the horizon.
Amy: 51:15
Very cool. And if you think about it, you're tick tock and Instagram is basically like a virtual cookbook, because cookbook, because I tend to find recipes that way. And just watch the videos and do them because it's so much easier for me to like visually see it than to like read through the whole recipe. So yeah, that's greater. Awesome. So we're going to get into our rap session was just some fun questions we like to ask every guest so what is your favorite wellness or beauty hack? Hmm, wellness or
Unknown: 51:41
beauty hat. So I will say two things. First thing is not a hack, but I do I do TM, I do Transcendental Meditation. And that has like, changed my life. And as far as my skin goes, because I get a lot of questions about my skin have gorgeous skin. Yeah, thank you. Thank you so much. I did not always but um, I put some three main things so I stopped washing my face in the morning. So I don't wash my face at all morning first, so when I am done with my shower, I do like a minute of ice cold water, which takes some getting used to but I think that's really good for my skin and it just wakes me up. It's like good for your endorphins. It also kind of calms you down at the same time. And then the other thing is after my moisturizer at night I do like a pea size of Vaseline all over my face. Oh yeah,
Amy: 52:38
yeah, that's that's so funny. We we had this other we have this tick tock or on the healthy Heuga who does all these beauty and wellness stuff and she told us that she puts vaseline or Aquaphor over her face and like it gets everything Yeah,
Unknown: 52:51
it makes a difference. Yeah,
Katie: 52:53
yeah. Are you literally like dipping your face in a bowl of ice?
Unknown: 52:57
No, so I finished with ice cold water in the shower shower.
Katie: 53:02
Oh, gotcha. Okay, I misunderstood that entirely. Yeah.
Unknown: 53:05
All right. I mean you can definitely like if you just put an ice cube run it all over your face. It's amazing for your skin. I just like yeah, I have an ice roller freezer in my yet. I could do that too. Yeah, weird. Keep it in the freezer and then you go from your bathroom to the freezer.
Amy: 53:22
I keep it in the fridge or the freezer Yeah, and I just grab it like sometimes if I just go downstairs I'll just and I have like a little freezer in my or little fridge in my room in my bedroom in my bathroom like a mini one and so I just use it there.
Unknown: 53:34
Yeah, one of the I need to get one of those. I've been thinking about that. So maybe it's
Amy: 53:38
Yeah, I don't know. I mean I've heard though that doing cold water in the shower a lot of people a lot of like wellness people say that. I don't know if I could stomach egg but I heard it like totally get you going. Yes, it does. Okay,
Katie: 53:52
cool. Are five minutes low. You just got out of the shower and dried off your ice shower. And Uber just alerted you they are five minutes away. What is your quick beauty routine to get out the door like your go to is your holy grail but you're gonna throw
Unknown: 54:05
on to get a car? Yeah, so So the first thing that I'm going to do is probably like use a little bit of dry shampoo. So like Korean or whatever. And then I probably won't do anything to my hair. I'll just like judge it up a bit. And then as far as bass goes, like the biggest things for me are, I've been loving. I've been I love the milk primer. So it's like, you know Milk Makeup the clean Yeah, I love that. It's not like silicone based. You don't feel like it's like clogging my pores. And then I've been using the Ilia super serum. Yes. I have it tinted serum. Yes. Yeah. And it's just like it's light coverage. So if I'm like running out the door, it's like nothing crazy. It always has SPF makeup on. It has SPF. So it's like you're covered. I would throw on some concealer for sure. A little bit of bronzer probably and then Like never go without mascara Thrive mascara is my favorite thing in the entire world.
Amy: 55:06
I haven't tried that I keep seeing it online, it is
Unknown: 55:09
the best. I also think my eyelashes are better because I stopped curling them like I haven't curled them in a long time, like probably year and a half or something like that. So that is really essential for me. Nice.
Katie: 55:21
What did you say thrive?
Unknown: 55:24
Mascara? T h r i v e. Amazing. Amazing. Amazing. Yeah, so yeah, I
Amy: 55:31
see so many videos about that. Great. I'll have to try it because the mascara that I use is the Ilia mascara. It's like the I forget which one it is like the full, whatever. And it's great, but I'm always looking for a good one. So that's that's good to know. And let Yeah, and last question of our rap session is how do you maintain your daily nirvana? I know you said you do TM so I'm sure that's a big one. But any others?
Unknown: 55:54
TM is really is it's like an essential for me. I do it first thing in the morning it. Yeah. So I would say TM for sure. And then also I wake up very early. And I think that that is really essential for me and setting my day because my kids start to wake up by 636 3645. So if I don't have some time before that I'm in a funky headspace like I'm a sensitive creature. I'm an empath, I tend to take on the energy around me if I don't like ground myself in something pretty significant first thing in the morning, it is not good for anybody involved. So I wake up and usually like 430 Wow. Which is, but I just wake up, I just wake up. Now. I mean, now I literally just wake up and I do my TM, I do like a 20 minute workout. I get a little bit of work done. And by the time they wake up, it's all behind me.
Katie: 56:57
Yeah, that's the same. I don't do that much. But I have to if I don't have
Amy: 57:02
an hour to do that.
Katie: 57:05
Like right before the I need an hour before anybody in my house is awake. And even when my parents are here, my mom with me to have the coffee. I'm like,
Unknown: 57:13
so I need my time, my time and when people act like I'm doing something that is you know, so virtuous by waking up so early. I'm like, I'm doing it so that you don't see me on the news, like I'm doing like I'm doing is so that I am like a good member of society like not for any reason that you should be, you know, like, I just I require a lot to just be steady. You know, that's not my I'm not aware life like a loose garment kind of gal. So I need to I need to send it again.
Amy: 57:45
Yeah, so important. Love that. You love that. All right. Well,
Katie: 57:49
cat I appreciate you so much. You. This was so fun. And we for sure need to do a second round.
Amy: 57:55
Okay, so, cat at the end of the show, I like to just one of us will talk about kind of what we're loving lately. And I'm just curious to know if you know this, so we were just talking about desserts. So I had my new favorite dessert, which I found didn't make it but I found it at Trader Joe's which I was saying on another episode. I don't go to a lot but when I go I somehow sometimes always find like a fun thing. So I found these I've a picture on my phone. I don't know if you guys can see it. But it's the Trader Joe's vegan cookies and cream, vanilla bean bond bonds. And they are made with coconut non dairy frozen dessert. And so it's a coconut non dairy frozen dessert enrobed in a chocolatey coating. They are so good. They're these little bond bonds. And they're non dairy, which is great. So you don't feel like and they're not like you know, you don't get all the dairy side effects. And they're so yummy. And they're really not that bad. Not that we need to go through the calories or the fat or the sugar, but they're pretty low and all of those things. So I happen to find them lately. It's my new favorite things. Are they they're frozen, actually, I'm literally in like frozen section cookies and cream vanilla bean bonbons.
Unknown: 59:04
I'm telling you there's so indulgent knows, like 20 minutes, so I'm going to pack them.
Amy: 59:08
I want to hear what you think about them because I had them and then my my husband loves them. My parents were over recently they went to Trader Joe's and bought them. They're so yummy. And they're just like a good little treat. And that's
Unknown: 59:20
for my kids too. Because they're like, they're not enormous. We're like the ice cream is melting. All right, and they taste like ice cream.
Amy: 59:26
I mean, they're so good. I love that. So really Yeah, take a look. Give us your expert opinion on what you think of it. So that's my favorite thing I'm loving this week. Yeah,
Katie: 59:37
we had a lot of fun talking to you and any smarter.
Amy: 59:41
Yeah, thank you and congrats on all of your success.
Katie: 59:44
Where can our listeners find you you just want to mention
Unknown: 59:47
it Yep. So they can find me on Instagram. I'm Cat underscore can underscore Cook, tick tock. It's cat can cook and then my website is www dot Kathleen ashmore.com
Amy: 1:00:00
Yeah fantastic. Thank you so much. Thanks for listening to Nirvana sisters. For more information on this episode check out the show notes please subscribe and leave us a review. also find us on Instagram at Nirvana sisters. If you loved what you just listened to or know someone that word please share it and tag us. Tune in next week for a fresh new episode of Nirvana sisters will continue to watch out for all things wellness so you don't have to. Bye.