Podcasts about Cooking

Today, the kitchen fills with the smell of pies and cupcakes, but the most important ingredient is something you cannot buy at the store. A surprise batter battle turns baking into a delightful mess, while everyone taste-tests the goodies. Through laughter and flour-covered fun, it's clear that love is what truly makes every recipe special

Today, the kitchen fills with the smell of pies and cupcakes, but the most important ingredient is something you cannot buy at the store. A surprise batter battle turns baking into a delightful mess, while everyone taste-tests the goodies. Through laughter and flour-covered fun, it's clear that love is what truly makes every recipe special

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Mark is the creator of the Modern Rural Civilian channel, creating content about his ongoing DIY journey to design and build his dream "off grid" property and homestead. In the summer of 2021 Mark and his fiancé Heather sold everything they owned to buy bare, rural acreage in the mountains of Idaho. Many people talk about their desire to detach and build their own oasis, to become more self sufficient, but few actually take the required actions. Mark's channel shares the successes and failures quite openly, providing insight in to what the lifestyle actually requires.In this episode, Dave and Mark discuss the journey of homesteading, the importance of food in rural living, and the art of cooking. Mark shares his experiences growing up with food, his culinary career, and the transition to off-grid living. They explore food preservation techniques, the significance of community involvement in food production, and the role of hunting in modern life. Mark emphasizes the value of understanding food sources and the skills necessary for a sustainable lifestyle, while also highlighting the joy of cooking and the fulfillment that comes from growing and preparing one's own food.Send us a textFirecracker Farm Small-batch Spicy Salt Family farm with a secret blend of Carolina Reaper, Ghost, and Trinidad Scorpion peppers.Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the show

Toronto just did something that should scare the league: they're winning big without a single “ball-stopper,” and the vibes aren't a gimmick — they're the engine. On this episode of On The Ball, Ric Bucher breaks down why the Raptors' pregame “house party” bench routine and locker-room freedom aren't cute… they're culture, and culture becomes chemistry, and chemistry becomes wins.Ric contrasts that with Golden State's current reality: an oddly quiet locker room, outsized expectations, and the uncomfortable question nobody wants to ask out loud — what exactly are the Warriors supposed to be right now? If you've been wondering why some teams look like they enjoy basketball and others look like they're surviving it, this is the roadmap.Timestamps:00:00 “Cooking with gas” + show intro00:40 Ric's third book tease: The Value of Being Coachable01:45 Why this episode became “All Raptors” (and why that matters)02:17 The Raptors' bench mob: conga line energy, welcome-in vibes03:24 Locker-room leaders you wouldn't expect: Jamal Shead + Gradey Dick04:03 Why hierarchies can help… or suffocate a team05:12 Off-court chemistry → on-court chemistry (especially for young teams)06:31 Warriors locker-room contrast: quiet, pressure, veteran routines08:02 The Warriors' expectation problem: “one move away” thinking09:13 The Buddy Hield reality check (and what fans project onto role players)10:26 What the roster actually is: youth, second-rounders, undrafted grinders11:18 Raptors parallels to early Mark Jackson Warriors (joy + hunger)13:32 Raptors “secret sauce”: unselfishness + relentless help-and-recover defense14:34 Ric interviews Darko Rajaković: character, consistency, no favorites17:13 The “no hesitation” rule — why Toronto's ball movement is different19:54 The possession that explains everything (Ingram → Jamal Shead → Walter)22:21 Context: OKC injuries, January realities, why panic takes are lazy24:08 Ric's bigger point on greatness — and why highlight culture lies24:41 Ingram's evolution: proving he can win, not just score26:18 Scottie Barnes as “team janitor” (dirty work that closes games)28:23 Can this translate to playoffs? Ric's honest outlook29:32 Tease: Giannis, Milwaukee, and a “game of chicken” next episode #OnTheBall #RicBucher #NBA #TorontoRaptors #Warriors #NBAAnalysis #NBACulture #TeamChemistry #BallMovement #ScottieBarnes #BrandonIngram #DarkoRajakovic #StephCurry #DraymondGreen #UnitedWeCastSupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/bucher-and-friends. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From their resistance to deep snow and hard frosts, to long-flowering habits, hellebores are quietly spectacular plants that earn their keep in pots, borders and shady corners.This week we're diving into one of the true stars of the winter garden, focusing on the new varieties that bring a renewed perspective on one of the winter garden's most generous providers, and how to keep them looking their best in the garden or in a vase.In this episode, discover:How to choose hellebore varieties for pots, borders and different garden conditions, from shade to full sun with Corsican typesThe best new and classic hellebores for long winter colour, including Maestro, Merlin, Strawberry Moon, Bijou and the Pretty Ellen seriesHow to cut, condition and arrange hellebores so they stand proud in a vase for two weeksPractical ways to prevent and deal with pests and diseases like aphids, mice damage, leaf miner and black spotTips on soil, compost, potting and feeding so hellebores thrive as long-lived, reliable perennialsProducts mentioned:Helleborus nigerhttps://www.sarahraven.com/products/helleborus-nigerHelleborus argutifoliushttps://www.sarahraven.com/products/helleborus-argutifoliusHelleborus x ballardiae 'Merlin'https://www.sarahraven.com/products/helleborus-x-ballardiae-merlinHelleborus x 'Bijoux'https://www.sarahraven.com/products/helleborus-bijouxHelleborus x 'Guess'https://www.sarahraven.com/products/helleborus-guessHelleborus orientalis 'Pretty Ellen Red'https://www.sarahraven.com/products/helleborus-pretty-ellen-redHelleborus orientalis 'Pretty Ellen Spotted'https://www.sarahraven.com/products/helleborus-orientalis-pretty-ellen-spottedFollow Sarah: https://www.instagram.com/sarahravenperchhill/Get in touch: info@sarahraven.comShop on the Sarah Raven Website: http://bit.ly/3jvbaeuFollow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarahravensgarden/Order Sarah's latest books: https://www.sarahraven.com/gifts/gardening-books?sort=newest

You can listen wherever you get your podcasts or check out the fully edited transcript of our interview at the bottom of this post.In this episode of The Peaceful Parenting Podcast, I speak with Katie Kimball of Raising Healthy Families. We discussed getting kids in the kitchen and getting them to love cooking, raising teenagers and why they are wonderful, managing screens at different ages, and what kind of skills kids need to become independent, well-rounded and self-sufficient once they leave our homes.Make sure to check out Katie's course Teens Cook Real Food! **If you'd like an ad-free version of the podcast, consider becoming a supporter on Substack! > > If you already ARE a supporter, the ad-free version is waiting for you in the Substack app or you can enter the private feed URL in the podcast player of your choice.Know someone who might appreciate this episode? Share it with them!We talk about:* [00:00] Introduction to the episode and guest Katie Kimball; overview of topics (cooking, teens, life skills, screens)* [00:01] Katie's background: former teacher, mom of four, and how her work evolved into teaching kids and teens to cook* [00:04] Why the teen years are actually great; what teens need developmentally (agency and autonomy)* [00:08] Beneficial risk and safe failure; how building competence early reduces anxiety later* [00:10] Getting kids into cooking: start small, build confidence, and let them cook food they enjoy* [00:16] Cooking as a life skill: budgeting, independence, and preparing for adulthood* [00:21] Screen time: focusing on quality (consumptive vs. creative vs. social) instead of just limits* [00:25] Practical screen strategies used in Katie's family* [00:28] Motivating teens to cook: future-casting and real-life relevance (first apartment, food costs)* [00:33] Teens Cook Real Food course: what it teaches and why Katie created it* [00:37] Fun foods teens love making (pizza, tacos)* [00:39] Where to find Katie and closing reflectionsResources mentioned in this episode:* Teens Cook Real Food Course https://raisinghealthyfamilies.com/PeacefulParenting* Evelyn & Bobbie bras: https://reimaginepeacefulparenting.com/bra* Yoto Screen Free Audio Book Player https://reimaginepeacefulparenting.com/yoto* The Peaceful Parenting Membership https://reimaginepeacefulparenting.com/membership* How to Stop Fighting About Video Games with Scott Novis: Episode 201 https://reimaginepeacefulparenting.com/how-to-stop-fighting-about-video-games-with-scott-novis-episode-201/Connect with Sarah Rosensweet:* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarahrosensweet/* Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/peacefulparentingfreegroup* YouTube: Peaceful Parenting with Sarah Rosensweet @peacefulparentingwithsarah4194* Website: https://reimaginepeacefulparenting.com* Join us on Substack: https://substack.com/@sarahrosensweet* Newsletter: https://reimaginepeacefulparenting.com/newsletter* Book a short consult or coaching session call: https://book-with-sarah-rosensweet.as.me/schedule.phpxx Sarah and CoreyYour peaceful parenting team-click here for a free short consult or a coaching sessionVisit our website for free resources, podcast, coaching, membership and more!>> Please support us!!! Please consider becoming a supporter to help support our free content, including The Peaceful Parenting Podcast, our free parenting support Facebook group, and our weekly parenting emails, “Weekend Reflections” and “Weekend Support” - plus our Flourish With Your Complex Child Summit (coming back in the summer for the 3rd year!) All of this free support for you takes a lot of time and energy from me and my team. If it has been helpful or meaningful for you, your support would help us to continue to provide support for free, for you and for others.In addition to knowing you are supporting our mission to support parents and children, you get the podcast ad free and access to a monthly ‘ask me anything' session.Our sponsors:YOTO: YOTO is a screen free audio book player that lets your kids listen to audiobooks, music, podcasts and more without screens, and without being connected to the internet. No one listening or watching and they can't go where you don't want them to go and they aren't watching screens. BUT they are being entertained or kept company with audio that you can buy from YOTO or create yourself on one of their blank cards. Check them out HEREEvelyn & Bobbie bras: If underwires make you want to rip your bra off by noon, Evelyn & Bobbie is for you. These bras are wire-free, ultra-soft, and seriously supportive—designed to hold you comfortably all day without pinching, poking, or constant adjusting. Check them out HEREPodcast Transcript:Sarah: Hi everyone. Welcome back to another episode of the Peaceful Parenting Podcast. Today's guest is Katie Kimball of Raising Healthy Families. She has been helping parents feed their kids and, more recently—in the past few years—teach their kids to cook. We had a great conversation about getting kids in the kitchen and getting them to love cooking, and also about raising teenagers and what kind of skills kids need to become independent. We also talked about screens, because any parent of a teenager who also supports other parents—I want to hear about what they do with getting kids to be less screen-focused and screen-dependent.Katie had some great tips in all of these areas, including cooking, feeding our families, and screens. In some ways, we're just talking about how do we raise kids who are independent, well-rounded, and have the skills they need to live independently—and those things all come into play.I hope that you really enjoy this conversation with Katie as much as I did. Let's meet Katie.Hi, Katie. Welcome to the podcast.Katie: Thank you so much, Sarah. I'm honored to talk to your audience.Sarah: I'm so excited to talk to you about teenagers, raising teenagers, life skills, screens—there are so many things to dive into. You seem like a very multifaceted person with all these different interests. Tell us about who you are and what you do.Katie: I do have a little bit of a squirrel brain, so I'm constantly doing something new in business. That means I can talk about a lot of things. I've been at the parenting game for 20 years and in the online business world for 17. I'm a teacher by trade and a teacher by heart, but I only taught in the classroom for about two years before I had my kids. I thought, “I can't do both really, really well,” so I chose the family, left the classroom, and came home.But my brain was always in teacher mode. As I was navigating the path and the journey of, “How do I feed these tiny humans?”—where every bite counts so much—I was really walking that real-food journey and spending a lot of time at the cutting board. My brain was always going, “How can I help other moms make this path easier?” I made so many mistakes. I burned so much food. There's so much tension around how you balance your budget with your time, with the nutrition, and with all the conflicting information that's flying at us.So I felt like I wanted to stand in the middle of that chaos and tell moms, “Listen, there's some stuff you can do that does it all—things that are healthy, save time, and save money.” That's kind of where I started teaching online.Then I shifted to kids' cooking. For the last 10 years, I've been sort of the kids' cooking cheerleader of the world, trying to get all kids in the kitchen and building confidence. It's really been a journey since then. My kids currently are 20, 17, 14, and 11, so I'm in the thick of it.Sarah: We have a very similar origin story: former teacher, then mom, and a brain that doesn't want to stop working. I went with parent coaching, and you went with helping parents with food and cooking, so that's exciting.I can tell from what I've learned about you offline that you love teenagers—and I love teenagers too. We have people in the audience who have teenagers and also people who have littler kids. I think the people with littler kids are like, “I don't want my kids to grow up. I've heard such bad things about teenagers.” What do you want people to know about teenagers? What are some things that you've learned as the mom of younger kids and then teens?Katie: It's such a devastating myth, Sarah, that teens are going to be the awful part of your parenting career—the time you're not supposed to look forward to, the time you have to slog through, and it's going to be so difficult.It's all difficult, right? Don't let anyone tell you parenting's easy—they're lying. But it's so worth it, and it's so great. I love parenting teens. I love conversing with them at such a much higher level than talking to my 11-year-old, and I love watching what they can do. You see those glimpses of what they'll be like when they're a dad, or when they're running around an office, or managing people. It's incredible to be so close. It's like the graduation of parenting. It's exciting.That's what I would want to tell parents of kids younger than teens: look forward to it.I do think there are some things you can do to prepare for adolescence and to make it smoother for everyone. I like to talk about what teens need. We want to parent from a place of what teens developmentally need, and they really need agency and autonomy at that stage. They're developmentally wired to be pushing away—to be starting to make the break with their adults, with that generation that we are in. Sometimes that's really painful as the grown-up. It almost feels like they're trying to hurt us, but what they're really doing is trying to push us away so it doesn't hurt them so badly when they know they need to leave.As parents, it helps to sit with the knowledge that this is not personal. They do not hate me. They're attempting to figure out how to sever this relationship. So what can we do to allow them to do that so they don't have to use a knife? If we can allow them to walk far enough away from us and still be a safe haven they can come home to, the relationship doesn't have to be severed. It just gets more distant and longer apart.When they want independence and autonomy, we need to make sure we give it to them. My tip for parents of younger kids is that, especially around ages 8, 10, 11—depending on maturity level—where can we start providing some agency? My team will say, “Katie, don't say agency. It sounds like you're talking about the FBI or some government letters.” But it's the best word, because agency isn't just choices—it's choices plus control, plus competence to be able to make change in your own life, in your own environment.We can't have agency unless we give our kids skills to actually be able to do something. The choice between “Do you want the red cup or the blue cup?” is for toddlers. That's not going to be enough once they're in the stage where their mind is growing and they can critically think. We want to give our kids skills, responsibilities, choices, and some ownership over their lives. That starts in upper elementary school, and it gets bigger and bigger.Sarah: I would argue it starts even earlier. Toddlers can make the red cup or blue cup choice, and as they keep going, you can give them more and more agency.One of my favorite parenting people, Alfie Kohn, says that kids should have the power to make decisions that make us gulp a little bit.Katie: Oh, I love that.Sarah: I think that's true. We come up against our own anxiety too: What if they make the wrong decision? But it's incremental, so the decisions become bigger and bigger as they get older. That's how they practice being able to make good decisions—through experience.Katie: We know statistically that anxiety right now is spiking massively that first year out of high school—where young adults are heading into the world, either to university or for a first job. One theory—one I would get behind—is that everything of adulthood, all the responsibilities, are crashing on their shoulders at once, and they haven't experienced that level of responsibility. Sometimes they haven't had opportunities to fail safely, and they don't know what to do.Sometimes we think we're pushing problems out of their way and that it's helpful, but we're really creating bigger problems down the road. So with that long-term perspective, I love that “gulp.” We've got to let them try and fail and hold back.Sarah: Do you know Lenore Skenazy, who started the Free Range Kids movement? She has a TED Talk that came out recently where she talks about how she attributes the rise in anxiety to the fact that kids never have any unwatched time by adults. They never have room and space to figure out their own way to make things work. Of course, I don't think anyone's saying we should inappropriately not supervise our kids, but they need more freedom. If they don't have freedom to figure things out on their own, that's where the anxiety comes in.Katie: For sure. When Lenore and I have interacted, she likes to call it “beneficial risk.” Climbing the tree is the classic example, but because I love to get kids and teens in the kitchen, we got to talk about the beneficial risk of using sharp knives and playing with fire—literally returning to our ancestral roots.The way I see it, and the way I've seen it played out in my own home: I taught my now 20-year-old to use a chef's knife at age 10. He built competency. He took risks. He discovered how he wanted to navigate in the kitchen. So when he was 15 and getting his driver's permit, I felt pretty peaceful. I thought, “He's so mature. I've seen him make good decisions. He's practiced taking beneficial risks.”I felt confident handing him the driver's license. When it came time for him to get a cell phone—first a kid-safe phone and then a fully unlocked smartphone—I felt like we had been building up to it because of our work in the kitchen. I think he did better than his peers with taking appropriate risks driving a car and having a smartphone in his pocket, because he'd had practice.Sarah: And that was in the kitchen for your family.Katie: Yes.Sarah: Cooking is one of my special interests. I love to cook. My kids love baking. They were never that interested in cooking, although they all can cook and they do cook for themselves. My 21-year-old who has his own apartment has started sending me pictures of the food that he makes. He made some baked chicken thighs with mushrooms the other day, and a green salad. He sent me a picture and I said to my daughter, “Do you want to see a picture of Asa's chicken?” And she said, “Asa got a chicken?” She was picturing it running around. We all laughed so hard because I wouldn't put it past him, honestly.When my kids were younger, they weren't that interested. Maybe I could have gotten them more interested in the cooking part, but I always felt like that was my thing. What tips do you have—for any ages—about how to get kids interested and involved? You said your son was using a chef's knife at age 10. What are some ways to involve kids and get them interested in that skill?Katie: Knives are a great start because they're scary and they're fun—especially for guys. You get to use something dangerous. My second son, John, asked to learn to use a chef's knife, so he learned to use a sharp paring knife at age four and asked to level up to a chef's knife at age seven.For parents of kids who are still in that intrinsic motivation phase—“I want to help”—the good news is you don't have to try. You just have to say yes. You just have to figure out what can my brain handle letting this little person do in the kitchen. If it's “I'm going to teach them to measure a teaspoon of salt,” then do it. Don't let cooking feel like this big to-do list item. It's just one teaspoon of salt.Can I teach them to crack an egg? Can I teach them to flip a pancake? Think of it as one little skill at a time. That's what cooking is: building blocks. If it's something like measuring, you don't have to have them in your elbow room. You can send them to the table; they can have a little spill bowl. Then you can build their motivation by complimenting the meal: “This meal tastes perfect. I think it's the oregano—who measured the oregano?” That's how we treat little ones.The medium-sized ones are a little tougher, and teens are tougher yet. For the medium-sized ones, the best way to get them involved is to create a chance for authentic praise that comes from outside the family—meaning it's not you or your co-parent; it's some other adult. If you're going to a party or a potluck, or you're having people over, figure out how to get that kid involved in one recipe. Then you say to the other adults, “Guess who made the guacamole?” That was our thing—our kids always made the guac when they were little. And other adults say, “What? Paul made the guacamole? That's amazing. This is awesome.” The 10-year-old sees that and blooms with pride. It makes them more excited to come back in the kitchen, feel more of that, and build more competency.Sarah: I love that. That's an invitation, and then it makes them want to do more because it feels good. We talk about that in peaceful parenting too: a nice invitation and then it becomes a prosocial behavior you want to do more of.I started cooking because I wanted to make food that I liked. I'm old enough that I took Home Ec in middle school, and it was my favorite class. I think about my Home Ec teacher, Mrs. Flanagan, my whole adult life because I learned more from her that I still use than from any other teacher. I remember figuring out how to make deep-fried egg rolls in grade seven because I loved egg rolls. You couldn't just buy frozen egg rolls then. So I think food that kids like can be a good way in. Is that something you find too?Katie: One hundred percent. If you're cooking things they don't like, you get the pushback: “Mom, I don't like…” So it's like, “Okay, I would love to eat your meal. What do you want to eat?” And it's not, “Tell me what you want and I'll cook it.” If you meal plan, you get to make all the choices.My kids have been interviewed, and people often ask, “What's your favorite thing about knowing how to cook?” My kids have gotten pretty good at saying, “We get to cook what we like.” It's super motivating.Sarah: When I was growing up, my sister and I each had to make dinner one night a week starting when I was in grade five and she was in grade three. We could make anything we wanted, including boxed Kraft Dinner. I can't remember what else we made at that young age, but it was definitely, “You are cooking dinner, and you get to make whatever you want.”Katie: Why didn't you do that with your own kids, out of curiosity?Sarah: It just seemed like it would take too much organization. I think we tried it a couple times. Organization is not my strong suit. Often dinner at our house—there were lots of nights where people had cereal or eggs or different things for dinner. I love to cook, but I like to cook when the urge hits me and I have a recipe I want to try. I'm not seven nights a week making a lovely dinner.Also, dinner was often quite late at my house because things always take longer than I think. I'd start at six, thinking it would take an hour, and it would be 8:30 by the time dinner was ready. I remember one night my middle son was pouring himself cereal at 6:30. I said, “Why are you having cereal? Dinner's almost ready.” He said, “Mom, it's only 6:30.” He expected it later—that's the time normal people eat dinner.My kids have a lot of freedom, but nobody was particularly interested in cooking. And, to be honest, it felt a bit too early as a responsibility when my sister and I had to do it. Even though I'm glad now that I had those early experiences, it was wanting to make egg rolls that made me into a cook more than being assigned dinner in grade five.Katie: That push and pull of how we were parented and how we apply it now is so hard.Sarah: Yes.Katie: I'm thinking of an encouraging story from one of the families who's done our brand-new Teens Cook Real Food. The mom said it was kind of wild: here they were cooking all this real food and it felt intensive. Over the years she'd slid more into buying processed foods, and through the class, watching her teens go through it, she realized, “Oh my gosh, it's actually not as hard as I remember. I have to coach myself.” They shifted into cooking with more real ingredients, and it wasn't that hard—especially doing it together.Sarah: It's not that hard. And you hear in the news that people are eating a lot of fast food and processed food. I'm not anti-fast food or processed food, but you don't want that to be the only thing you're eating. It's actually really easy to cook some chicken and rice and broccoli, but you have to know how. That's why it's so sad Home Ec has gone by the wayside. And honestly, a whole chicken, some rice, and broccoli is going to be way cheaper than McDonald's for a family of four. Cooking like that is cheaper, not very hard, and healthier than eating a lot of fast food or processed food.Katie: Conversations in the kitchen and learning to cook—it's kind of the gateway life skill, because you end up with conversations about finances and budgeting and communication and thinking of others. So many life skills open up because you're cooking.You just brought up food budget—that could be a great half-hour conversation with a 16- or 17-year-old: “You won't have infinite money in a couple years when you move out. You'll have to think about where you spend that money.” It's powerful for kids to start thinking about what it will be like in their first apartment and how they'll spend their time and money.Sarah: My oldest son is a musician, and he's really rubbing his pennies together. He told me he makes a lot of soups and stews. He'll make one and live off it for a couple days. He doesn't follow a recipe—he makes it up. That's great, because you can have a pretty budget-friendly grocery shop.I also don't want to diss anyone who's trying to keep it all together and, for them, stopping by McDonald's is the only viable option at this moment. No judgment if you're listening and can't imagine having the capacity to cook chicken and rice and broccoli. Maybe someday, or maybe one day a week on the weekend, if you have more time and energy.Katie: The way I explain it to teens is that learning to cook and having the skills gives you freedom and choices. If you don't have the skills at all, you're shackled by convenience foods or fast food or DoorDash. But if you at least have the skills, you have many more choices. Teens want agency, autonomy, and freedom, so I speak that into their lives. Ideally, the younger you build the skills, the more time you have to practice, gain experience, and get better.There's no way your older son could have been making up soups out of his head the first month he ever touched chicken—maybe he's a musician, so maybe he could apply the blues scale to cooking quickly—but most people can't.Sarah: As we're speaking, I'm reflecting that my kids probably did get a lot of cooking instruction because we were together all the time. They would watch me and they'd do the standing on a chair and cutting things and stirring things. It just wasn't super organized.That's why I'm so glad you have courses that can help people learn how to teach their children or have their kids learn on their own.I promised we would talk about screens. I'm really curious. It sounds like your kids have a lot of life skills and pretty full lives. Something I get asked all the time is: with teens and screens, how do you avoid “my kid is on their phone or video games for six or seven hours a day”? What did you do in your family, and what thoughts might help other people?Katie: Absolutely. Parenting is always hard. It's an ongoing battle. I think I'm staying on the right side of the numbers, if there are numbers. I feel like I'm launching kids into the world who aren't addicted to their phones. That's a score, and it's tough because I work on screens. I'm telling parents, “Buy products to put your kids on screen,” so it's like, “Wait.”I don't look at screens as a dichotomy of good or bad, but as: how do we talk to our kids about the quality of their time on screens?Back in 2020, when the world shut down, my oldest, Paul, was a freshman. His freshman year got cut short. He went weeks with zero contact with friends, and he fell into a ton of YouTube time and some video games. We thought, “This is an unprecedented time, but we can't let bad habits completely take over.”We sat down with him and said, “Listen, there are different kinds of screen time.” We qualified them as consumptive—everything is coming out of the screen at you—creative—you're making something—and communicative—you're socializing with other people.We asked him what ways he uses screens. We made a chart on a piece of paper and had him categorize his screen time. Then we asked what he thought he wanted his percentage of screen time to be in those areas—without evaluating his actual time yet. He assigned those times, and then we had him pay attention to what reality was. Reality was 90 to 95% consumptive. It was an amazing lightbulb moment. He realized that to be an agent of his own screen time, he had to make intentional choices.He started playing video games with a buddy through the headphones. That change completely changed his demeanor. That was a tough time.So that's the basis of our conversation: what kind of screen time are you having?For my 11-year-old, he still has minute limits: he sets a timer and stops himself. But if he's playing a game with someone, he gets double the time. That's a quantitative way to show him it's more valuable to be with someone than by yourself on a screen. A pretty simple rule.We'll also say things like, “People over screens.” If a buddy comes over and you're playing a video game, your friend is at the door.That's also what I talk to parents about with our classes: this isn't fully consumptive screen time. We highly edit things. We try to keep it engaging and fun so they're on for a set number of minutes and then off, getting their fingers dirty and getting into the real world. We keep their brains and hands engaged beyond the screen. The only way I can get a chef into your home is through the screen—or you pay a thousand dollars.We can see our screen time as really high quality if we make the right choices. It's got to be roundabout 10, 11, 12: pulling kids into the conversation about how we think about this time.Sarah: I love that. It sounds like you were giving your kids tools to look at their own screen time and how they felt about it, rather than you coming from on high and saying, “That's enough. Get off.”Katie: Trying.Sarah: I approach it similarly, though not as organized. I did have limits for my daughter. My sons were older when screens became ubiquitous. For my daughter, we had a two-hour limit on her phone that didn't include texting or anything social—just Instagram, YouTube, that kind of stuff. I think she appreciated it because she recognized it's hard to turn it off.We would also talk about, “What else are you doing today?” Have you gone outside? Have you moved your body? Have you done any reading? All the other things. And how much screen time do you think is reasonable? Variety is a favorite word around here.Katie: Yes. So much so my 11-year-old will come to me and say, “I've played outside, I've read a book, my homework is done. Can I have some screen time?” He already knows what I'm going to ask. “Yes, Mom, I've had variety.” Then: “Okay, set a timer for 30 minutes.”I have a 14-year-old freshman right now. He does not own a phone.Sarah: Oh, wow. I love that.Katie: In modern America, he knows the pathway to get a phone—and he doesn't want one.Sarah: That's great. I hope we see that more and more. I worry about how much kids are on screens and how much less they're talking to each other and doing things.I had a guest on my podcast who's a retired video game developer. His thing is how to not fight with your kid about video games. One thing he recommends is—even more than playing online with someone else—get them in the same room together. Then they can play more. He has different time rules if you're playing in person with kids in your living room than if you're playing alone or playing online with someone else.Katie: Nice. Totally. My story was from COVID times.Sarah: Yes, that wasn't an option then. Someone I heard say the other day: “Can we just live in some unprecedented times, please?”Katie: Yes, please.Sarah: You mentioned the intrinsic motivation of somebody admiring their guacamole. What are your tips for kids—especially teens—who think they're too busy or just super uninterested in cooking?Katie: Teens are a tough species. Motivation is a dance. I really encourage parents to participate in future casting. Once they're about 15, they're old enough. Academically, they're being future-casted all the time: “What are you going to be when you grow up?” They're choosing courses based on university paths. But we need to future-cast about real life too.Ask your 15-year-old: “Have you ever thought about what it'll be like to be in your first apartment?” Maybe they haven't. That helps reduce that first-year-out-of-home anxiety—to have imagined it. Then they might realize they have gaps. “Would you be interested in making sure you can cook some basic stuff for those first years? When you're cooking at home, it's my money you waste if you screw up.” That can be motivating. “I'm here to help.”Sometimes it comes down to a dictate from above, which is not my favorite. Your sister and you were asked to cook at third and fifth grade. I agree that might be a little young for being assigned a full meal. We start around 12 in our house. But by high school, there's really no reason—other than busy schedules. If they're in a sport or extracurricular daily, that can be rough. So what could they do? Could they make a Sunday brunch? We come home from church every Sunday and my daughter—she's 17, grade 12—she's faster than I am now. She'll have the eggs and sausage pretty much done. I'm like, “I'm going to go change out of my church clothes. Thanks.”If we're creative, there's always some time and space. We have to eat three times a day. Sometimes it might be: “You're old enough. It's important as a member of this household to contribute. I'm willing to work with you on really busy weeks, but from now on, you need to cook on Saturday nights.” I don't think that has to be a massive power struggle—especially with the future casting conversation. If you can get them to have a tiny bit of motivation—tiny bit of thinking of, “Why do I need this?”—and the idea of “If I cook, I get to make what I want,” and the budget.Sarah: The budget too: if you're living in your own apartment, how much do you think rent is? How much do you think you can eat for? It's way more expensive to order out or get fast food than to cook your own food.Katie: I feel so proud as a fellow mom of your son, Asa, for making soups and stuff. In Teens Cook Real Food, we teach how to make homemade bone broth by taking the carcass of a chicken. It's a very traditional skill. On camera, I asked the girls who did it with me to help me figure out what their dollar-per-hour pay rate was for making that, compared to an equal quality you buy in the store. Bone broth at the quality we can make is very expensive—like $5 a cup.They did the math and their hourly pay was over $70 an hour to make that bone broth. Then they have gallons of bone broth, and I call it the snowball effect: you have all this broth and you're like, “I guess I'll make soup.” Soup tends to be huge batches, you can freeze it, and it snowballs into many homemade, inexpensive, nourishing meals.Sarah: I love that. You've mentioned your course a couple times—Teens Cook Real Food. I'm picturing that as your kids grew up, your teaching audience grew up too. Were there other reasons you wanted to teach teens how to cook?Katie: Yes. We've had our kids' cooking class for 10 years now. It just had its 10th birthday. The most often requested topic that's not included in the kids' class is meal planning and grocery shopping. It wasn't something I felt like an eight-year-old needed.For 10 years I had that seed of, “How can I incorporate those important skills of meal planning and grocery shopping?” Then my teens got older, and I thought, “I've told parents of teens that our kids' cooking class will work for them, but it's not enough. It wasn't sufficient.”It was so exciting to put this course together. Even just the thinking—the number of index cards I had on the floor with topics trying to figure out what a young adult needs in their first apartment, how to connect the skills, and how to make it engaging.We ended up with eight teens I hired from my local community—some with cooking experience, some with literally none. We had on-camera accidents and everything. But they learned to cook in my kitchen, and it's all recorded for your teens to learn from.Sarah: I love that. What are some of the recipes that you teach in the course?Katie: We have over 35. We spent a whole day with a chef. He started talking about flavor and how seasonings work, and he taught us the mother sauces—like a basic white sauce, both gluten-free and dairy-free, a couple ways to do that, and a basic red sauce, and a couple ways to do that.My favorite cheeky segment title is “How to Boil Water.” We have a bunch of videos on how to boil water—meaning you can make pasta, rice, oatmeal, hard-boiled eggs, boiled potatoes. There's a lot of stuff that goes in water.Then we built on that with “How to Eat Your Vegetables.” We teach sautéing, steaming, and roasting. The first big recipe they learn is a basic sheet pan dinner. We use pre-cooked sausage and vegetables of your choice, seasonings of your choice. It's one of those meals where you're like, “I don't need a recipe. I can just make this up and put it in the oven.”Then, to go with pasta and red sauce, we teach homemade meatballs. We get them at the grill for steak and chicken and burgers. Of course we do French fries in a couple different ways.Choice is a huge element of this course. If we teach something, we probably teach it in two or three or four different ways, so teens can adapt to preferences, food sensitivities, and anything like that.We use the Instant Pot a lot in our “How to Eat Your Protein” segment. We do a pork roast and a beef roast and a whole chicken, and that broth I talked about, and we make a couple different soups with that.Sarah: You almost make me feel like I haven't had lunch yet.Katie: I'm starving, actually.Sarah: I'm quite an adventurous eater and cook, but I'm going to ask you about my two favorite foods—because they're like a child's favorite foods, but my favorite foods are pizza and tacos. Do you do anything with pizza and tacos in your course?Katie: We do both pizza and tacos.Sarah: Good!Katie: Our chef taught us, with that homemade red sauce, to make homemade dough. He said, “I think we should teach them how to make a homemade brick oven and throw the pizzas into the oven.” Throwing means sliding the pizza off a pizza peel onto bricks in your oven. I was like, “We're going to make such a mess,” but they did it. It's awesome.Then we tested it at home: can you just make this in a normal pizza pan? Yes, you can—don't worry. You don't have to buy bricks, but you can. Again, there are different ways.Sarah: I think teenagers would love making pizza on bricks in the oven. For us we're like, “That seems like so much work.” But teenagers are enthusiastic and creative and they have so much energy. They're wonderful human beings. I can see how the brick oven pizza would be a great challenge for them.Katie: It's so fun. My kids, Paul and John—20 and 14—they've both done it at home. As adults we're like, “It's such a mess,” but we're boring people. Teenagers are not boring. So yes—definitely pizza.Sarah: That's awesome. We'll link to your course in the show notes. Before we let you go, where's the best place for people to go and find out more about you and what you do?Katie: Definitely: raisinghealthyfamilies.com/peacefulparenting. We're going to make sure there's always something about teens at that link—whether it's a free preview of the course or a parenting workshop from me. There will always be something exciting for parents there.Sarah: Amazing. It's been such a pleasure. I thought maybe I didn't do all this stuff, but considering how both of my sons who are independent cook for themselves all the time, I think I must have done okay—even if it was just by osmosis.Katie: That's the great thing about keeping your kids near you. That was your peaceful parenting: they were in the kitchen and they were there, as opposed to you booting them out of the kitchen. There are lots of ways.Sarah: My daughter is an incredible baker. She makes the best chocolate chip cookies. I have this recipe for muffin-tin donuts that are amazing, and she's a really great baker. She can find her way around a quesadilla, eggs, and ramen for herself. I think once she moves out, if she doesn't have mom's cooking anymore, she'll probably also be able to cook.Katie: Yes. And so many parents need that bridge. They're like, “My kids love to make cookies. They bake, but they won't shift to cooking.” I would hope that future-casting conversation could be a good bridge.Sarah: Yeah. You can't live on cookies—or you might think you can for a little while, but then you'd start to feel gross.Katie: Exactly.Sarah: Thanks a lot, Katie.Katie: Thank you so much, Sarah. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sarahrosensweet.substack.com/subscribe

In this Teen Tidbit, I share how the kitchen is one of the most powerful places to pass on family values through working side by side toward a common goal. Cooking together naturally opens up conversation and creates opportunities to model what matters most, whether that is serving others, being good stewards of our resources, or choosing real food as part of daily life. I talk about how asking teens to cook foods they may not personally enjoy teaches empathy and service, how flexible cooking skills help reduce food waste and stretch a grocery budget, and how making simple meals from whole ingredients builds healthier habits without being overwhelming. When teens learn to cook, adapt recipes, and use what they already have, they gain far more than a meal, they absorb the values that shape your family culture and carry them into adulthood.Get the parenting video series now at raisinghealthyfamilies.com/teenvids or check out Teens Cook Real Food at raisinghealthyfamilies.com/teenscookResources We Mention for Passing on Family Values in the KitchenTeens Cook Real Food courseFree 3-part video series on parenting teens intentionallyTeen Tidbit 1 on ownershipTeen Tidbit 2 on agencyTeen Tidbit 3 on overcoming perfectionismWays to avoid food wasteCream of vegetable soup frameworkChicken stockHere are some of my favorite baby steps for eating more real food.Subscribe to the podcast so you don't miss any episodes this week! Apple, Spotify, other options Kitchen Stewardship Raising Healthy Families follow Katie on Instagram or Facebook Subscribe to the newsletter to get weekly updates YouTube shorts channel for HPH Find the Healthy Parenting Handbook at raisinghealthyfamilies.com/podcast Affiliate links used here. Thanks for supporting the Healthy Parenting Handbook!

Narrator: Thomas Jones

00:00 - Skincare and Talking Vegetables13:07 - Summer House's Kyle and Amanda Split23:28 - Beckham Family Beef38:27 - Mild Social Emergency HotlineThis episode is sponsored by:- DripDrop: DripDrop is offering podcast listeners 20% off your first order. Go to https://www.DripDrop.com  and use promo code outofthepods- ButcherBox: New listeners can get their choice between organic ground beef, chicken breast or ground turkey in every box for a year PLUS $20 off when you go to https://www.ButcherBox.com/outofthepods- Marley Spoon: Head to https://www.MarleySpoon.com/offer/outofthepods for 45% off your first order and free delivery- Nutrafol: Nutrafol is offering our listeners $10 off your first month's subscription and free shipping when you go to https://www.Nutrafol.com and enter the promo code OOTP

0:00 - Sixers play two VERY different games on Monday and Tuesday3:50 - Jared McCain starting to get on track?6:27 - Joel Embiid looking dominant once again13:37 - Paul George was COOKING against the Bucks18:20 - How V.J. Edgecombe stacks up against other star rookies22:15 - Sixers bring back familiar face in Charles Bassey

In Depth Halacha: Siman 318 3-4 [Cooking With Sun, Microwave, Dud Shemesh. Hot Water Turned Mistake]

As a continually recovering perfectionist myself, I share why that drive to do everything just right can actually hold kids back from starting, trying, and growing. We've all heard “progress over perfection,” but I wanted to explore what that really looks like in everyday life, especially for teenagers who can freeze up when things don't feel exact or guaranteed.The kitchen, in my opinion, is one of the best places to practice letting go of perfection. When I filmed Teens Cook Real Food with eight real teens who were mostly beginners, we captured the messy, real-life moments: broken eggs, small cuts, burned food, and lots of learning along the way. I intentionally pushed them to measure like TV chefs, eyeball seasonings, and move faster than felt comfortable, all to help loosen that grip of perfectionism. Cooking shows us that food doesn't need to be flawless to be delicious, and that it's actually pretty hard to completely mess things up.When kids can aim for “yummy” instead of “five-star restaurant quality,” they gain confidence, experience, and momentum. If you have a teen whose perfectionist tendencies keep them from trying new things or putting themselves out there, cooking can be a powerful and practical way to help them grow.Get the parenting video series now at raisinghealthyfamilies.com/teenvids or check out Teens Cook Real Food at raisinghealthyfamilies.com/teenscookResources We Mention for Overcoming Perfectionism in the KitchenTeens Cook Real Food courseFree 3-part video series on parenting teens intentionallyTeen Tidbit 1 on ownershipTeen Tidbit 2 on agencySubscribe to the podcast so you don't miss any episodes this week! Apple, Spotify, other options Kitchen Stewardship Raising Healthy Families follow Katie on Instagram or Facebook Subscribe to the newsletter to get weekly updates YouTube shorts channel for HPH Find the Healthy Parenting Handbook at raisinghealthyfamilies.com/podcast Affiliate links used here. Thanks for supporting the Healthy Parenting Handbook!

We draft our chefs for Next Gen Chef (confusingly, after the first episode), which of course means we have to talk about Kelsey Barnard Clark's recent DUI arrest. It's fun, we promise!Check out our merch at maxfunstore.com, support us at maximumfun.org/join, follow us on Instagram @tvcheffantasyleague, and leave us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts!

When you're the one cooking for your family, trying to lose weight can feel impossible. You want to eat healthier… but you also want to eat with your family, enjoy your cultural foods, and not spend your whole life meal prepping two separate menus (uhhh hello, ain't nobody got time for that haha). In this episode, I talk about how to stay on track with your meals without adding more to your plate, how to navigate eating cultural foods with cultural expectations (especially when it comes to your elders, because I can't be the only one who can't say "no" to food even when I am full). So if you're the main person who cooks for your household, but you also want to be healthier this year, tune in. :) Here's what we get into: -Why traditional diet advice doesn't work for women of color, especially when food is emotional, cultural, and communal -How to eat the same meals as your family while still supporting your weight loss, by adjusting your plate -How to feel in control at family events and gatherings, even when you're not the one choosing the menu, because once you master this at home, going out no longer keeps you off track Book a Consultation for 1:1 Coaching: Ready to lose 10-20 pounds while eating foods you love? My 1:1 coaching program is designed to help women of color like you ditch restrictive diets and eat your cultural foods to keep the weight off for good. Choose between a 3-month (lose 10 pounds) or 6-month (lose 20+ pounds) program. Book here: https://calendly.com/superlysam/6-months-1-1-coaching-sales-call Stay Connected With Me: Join the consistency club weekly email series: https://superlysam.com/emails Learn more about me: https://superlysam.com/about Follow + connect with me on Instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/superlysam Follow + connect with me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/superlysam Unlock Your Consistency Archetype to Stay Consistent for Good. Take the quiz here: https://quiz.tryinteract.com/#/6887fab071bb7a0015b2461b

Fluent Fiction - Italian: Cooking Magic: Lorenzo's Epiphany Feast Find the full episode transcript, vocabulary words, and more:fluentfiction.com/it/episode/2026-01-28-23-34-02-it Story Transcript:It: Il profumo di spezie e piatti tradizionali riempiva la grande casa di famiglia.En: The scent of spices and traditional dishes filled the large family home.It: Era inverno e tutto era pronto per celebrare l'Epifania.En: It was winter, and everything was ready to celebrate the Epiphany.It: La Befana era nell'aria, e Lorenzo voleva preparare una cena speciale per la sua famiglia.En: The Befana was in the air, and Lorenzo wanted to prepare a special dinner for his family.It: Il camino scoppiettava e le decorazioni brillavano sotto la luce calda delle lampadine.En: The fireplace crackled, and the decorations shone under the warm light of the bulbs.It: Lorenzo era un giovane chef dedicato.En: Lorenzo was a dedicated young chef.It: Voleva impressionare la famiglia con un banchetto memorabile.En: He wanted to impress the family with a memorable banquet.It: Ma nel cuore aveva un dubbio: avrebbe soddisfatto le loro aspettative?En: But in his heart, he had a doubt: would he meet their expectations?It: Con Alessandra, sua sorella, Lorenzo uscì per fare la spesa.En: With Alessandra, his sister, Lorenzo went out to do the shopping.It: La piazza del mercato era affollata.En: The market square was crowded.It: Le persone si muovevano veloci, cercando gli ultimi ingredienti per le proprie cene.En: People moved quickly, searching for the last ingredients for their own dinners.It: Lorenzo sapeva che il tempo stringeva.En: Lorenzo knew that time was running out.It: Ma il mercato offriva una sorpresa: molti ingredienti erano già esauriti.En: But the market offered a surprise: many ingredients were already sold out.It: "Niente baccalà," sospirò Lorenzo.En: "No codfish," sighed Lorenzo.It: "E i carciofi?En: "And the artichokes?It: Spariti anche loro," aggiunse Alessandra preoccupata.En: They're gone too," added Alessandra worriedly.It: Lorenzo si fermò, pensando.En: Lorenzo stopped, thinking.It: Doveva prendere una decisione.En: He needed to make a decision.It: Cambiare il menu o trovare alternative?En: Change the menu or find alternatives?It: "Cosa possiamo fare, Alessandra?"En: "What can we do, Alessandra?"It: chiese, scrutando la lista.En: he asked, scrutinizing the list.It: "Improvvisiamo!"En: "Let's improvise!"It: esclamò Alessandra, sempre ottimista.En: exclaimed Alessandra, always optimistic.It: "Possiamo usare il pesce spada invece del baccalà e magari sostituire i carciofi con le melanzane.En: "We can use swordfish instead of codfish and maybe replace the artichokes with eggplants.It: Cosa ne pensi?"En: What do you think?"It: Lorenzo annuì, cercando di nascondere le sue ansie.En: Lorenzo nodded, trying to hide his anxieties.It: Tornarono a casa, pronti a sfruttare ciò che avevano trovato.En: They returned home, ready to make use of what they had found.It: La cucina era un caos creativo.En: The kitchen was a creative chaos.It: Le pentole bollivano, e i profumi riempivano l'aria.En: Pots were boiling, and fragrances filled the air.It: Lorenzo seguiva le ricette, ma dentro di sé l'ansia cresceva.En: Lorenzo followed the recipes, but inside him, anxiety grew.It: E se il pesce spada fosse troppo diverso?En: What if the swordfish was too different?It: E se le melanzane non piacessero?En: What if the eggplants weren't liked?It: Alessandra si avvicinò, vedendo il nervosismo del fratello.En: Alessandra approached, seeing her brother's nervousness.It: "Hai cucinato piatti meravigliosi prima.En: "You've cooked wonderful dishes before.It: Fidati di te stesso, Lorenzo," lo incoraggiò.En: Trust yourself, Lorenzo," she encouraged him.It: Lorenzo respirò profondamente e continuò a lavorare.En: Lorenzo took a deep breath and continued working.It: Si affidò al suo istinto culinario, mescolando sapori e spezie con cura.En: He relied on his culinary instincts, blending flavors and spices with care.It: Quando la famiglia si sedette a tavola, la cena venne servita.En: When the family sat down at the table, dinner was served.It: C'erano risate e storie, e i piatti passarono di mano in mano.En: There was laughter and stories, and the dishes were passed from hand to hand.It: Assaggiarono ogni portata, gustando le alternative creative di Lorenzo.En: They tasted each course, savoring Lorenzo's creative alternatives.It: Le facce erano illuminate dal piacere.En: The faces were lit up with pleasure.It: "Il miglior pranzo dell'Epifania!"En: "The best Epiphany lunch!"It: esclamò il nonno con un sorriso largo.En: exclaimed the grandfather with a broad smile.It: Lorenzo sentì le sue preoccupazioni svanire, sostituite da un senso di realizzazione e gioia.En: Lorenzo felt his worries disappear, replaced by a sense of accomplishment and joy.It: Aveva soddisfatto la sua famiglia.En: He had satisfied his family.It: Aveva dimostrato che in cucina, come nella vita, a volte l'improvvisazione porterà al successo.En: He had shown that in the kitchen, as in life, sometimes improvisation leads to success.It: In quella serata invernale, Lorenzo divenne più sicuro delle sue abilità culinarie.En: On that winter evening, Lorenzo became more confident in his culinary skills.It: Imparò che la flessibilità non solo risolve problemi ma arricchisce l'esperienza.En: He learned that flexibility not only solves problems but enriches the experience.It: E così, la serata terminò con dolci risate, il calore del caminetto e un affetto rinnovato attorno al tavolo di famiglia.En: And so, the evening ended with sweet laughter, the warmth of the fireplace, and renewed affection around the family table. Vocabulary Words:the scent: il profumothe spices: le speziethe dishes: i piattitraditional: tradizionalito celebrate: celebrarethe fireplace: il caminoto crackle: scoppiettareto shine: brillarethe bulbs: le lampadinededicated: dedicatothe banquet: il banchettothe expectations: le aspettativethe market square: la piazza del mercatocrowded: affollatathe ingredients: gli ingredientito run out: esaurirsithe codfish: il baccalàthe artichokes: i carciofito improvise: improvvisarethe swordfish: il pesce spadathe eggplants: le melanzanethe kitchen: la cucinathe chaos: il caosto boil: bollirethe anxiety: l'ansiato blend: mescolarethe course: la portatato savor: gustareflexibility: la flessibilitàto enrich: arricchire

In this episode of the Shark Farmer Podcast, host Rob Sharkey chats with Holly Payne from Bigelow, Arkansas, who shares her unique journey from theater costume designer to farmer. Holly discusses her background, including her time in Milwaukee and her husband Aaron's biochemistry expertise, which they now apply to their farming venture. The couple started a small farm during the COVID-19 pandemic, initially as a hobby, but it quickly evolved into a full-time business focused on raising Gloucestershire Old Spot pigs and producing high-quality pork products, including sausages. Holly emphasizes the importance of sustainable farming practices and the joy of growing food that tastes like it did in their childhoods.   Throughout the conversation, Holly shares insights into the challenges and rewards of farming, including the need for effective marketing and the importance of building relationships with customers. She also highlights the significance of using animal fats in cooking and how they can enhance flavor. The episode wraps up with Holly offering practical cooking tips and encouraging listeners to embrace the joy of cooking with quality ingredients. This engaging discussion showcases the couple's passion for farming and their commitment to providing delicious, sustainably raised food to their community. takeaways "We started looking for a new bit of property." "It's all about food for us." "You have to have a five-year plan." "You need to do the research, you need to do the math." "Cooking shouldn't be intimidating." "You have to be willing to put yourself out there." "Our life is great, but we don't get new cars every year." "It's hard to go wrong with a pork shoulder." "You can make tacos with chorizo easily." "So many farms fold in the first five years."

From the flavorful broths, to endless combinations of thinly sliced meats, vegetables, and noodles, hot pot has something for everyone. And it doesn't always have to mean dining out. You can host a hot pot party at home! James Beard-award winning chef Natasha Pickowicz takes us into the world of hot pot in her new book, Everyone Hot Pot: Creating the Ultimate Meal for Gathering and Feasting, and listeners share their favorite hot pot combinations.

Send me a textKatie Kimball is here to talk about what teens actually need from us in this season and why the kitchen might be the best training ground for real life. We got into the two big inner needs teens are juggling: agency (choices and control) and answers (support when they're stuck). Katie also broke down autonomy versus “ancestry,” aka why teens push away, but still need roots, connection, and family stories. We wrapped up with practical ways to motivate your teen to start cooking (without a power struggle) and how this one skill can give you back real time during the week.Mentioned in this episode:

JPR's resident food enthusiasts Erika Bishop and Will Smith highlight the soulness of cooking and discuss citrus and winter food recipes with Natalie Golay, Senior Producer of the Jefferson Exchange.

In this Teen Tidbit, I dive into why agency is such a powerful (and often overlooked) developmental need for teenagers. Agency is really the combination of having choices and having the skills to act on those choices, which together give teens real options in life. I've intentionally woven this into the Teens Cook Real Food course, sometimes in ways that feel a little chaotic, like cooking multiple versions of the same recipe at once to show how flexible cooking really is. Even when it feels messy or overwhelming at first, teens are more than capable of cutting through the chaos, following a recipe, and making something delicious. More importantly, all those options feed what they crave developmentally: independence and ownership. My encouragement is to look for ways at home to give your teens more agency by pairing choices with real skills, because that combination is what helps them grow into confident, capable adults.Get in on the free parenting series on parenting teens here: https://raisinghealthyfamilies.com/teenvidsCheck out the Teens Cook Real Food eCourse here!Resources We Mention for Teen AgencyTeens Cook Real Food courseFree 3-part video series on parenting teens intentionallyTeen Tidbit 1 on ownershipWhat's it like to be diagnosed with a food allergy as a kid?Subscribe to the podcast so you don't miss any episodes this week! Apple, Spotify, other options Kitchen Stewardship Raising Healthy Families follow Katie on Instagram or Facebook Subscribe to the newsletter to get weekly updates YouTube shorts channel for HPH Find the Healthy Parenting Handbook at raisinghealthyfamilies.com/podcast Affiliate links used here. Thanks for supporting the Healthy Parenting Handbook!

Join host Samuel Goldsmith for an inspiring conversation with broadcaster Mariella Frostrup and chef Belles Berry about their groundbreaking cookbook Menolicious and their mission to transform how we talk about menopause and midlife health. In this episode, you'll discover:• How Mariella and Belles met while campaigning for affordable HRT in Parliament Square and decided to create a cookbook that fills a massive gap in the market• The truth about menopause and perimenopause, including why the psychological symptoms like anxiety, brain fog, and insomnia are often more challenging than hot flushes• Why menopause has been shrouded in shame for centuries and how Victorian-era "treatments" were shockingly harmful• Practical nutrition strategies for midlife health, including nutrient-dense foods, phytoestrogens, and blood sugar balance all in recipes that take under 30 minutes• Their favourite dishes from the book, from fragrant salmon with miso broth to firecracker beef stir fry (that even sceptical husbands love!)• Cooking disasters, guilty pleasures, and why they've accidentally become the denim-clad Avengers of menopause advocacy Plus: Mariella and Belles share their best kitchen tips, health advice, and New Year's resolutions focused on joy, strength, and putting yourself first. Whether you're navigating perimenopause, supporting someone who is, or simply want to eat better in midlife and beyond, this episode is packed with wisdom, warmth, and delicious inspiration. Subscribers to the Good Food app via App Store get access to the show ad-free, and with regular bonus content such as interviews recorded at the good food show. To get started, download the Good Food app today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Kevin Lane is the executive chef and co-owner of The Cookery and The Lone Chicharron Taqueria in Seward, and he was recently named as a James Beard Award semifinalist. Reflecting on that recognition, he says it wouldn't have been possible without his team at The Cookery, or the kitchens and crews from his past that shaped the way he cooks today. Those roots stretch back to California's Sacramento area, where he was raised on crockpot meals, black-eyed peas, and lentil stew, before he found his way into kitchens in San Diego. Around nineteen, he was eating street tacos, shucking oysters, and learning the pace of restaurant life — first on the cold oyster bar, then on the hotline, where teamwork and discipline took root. Those early experiences still show up in his food today — the steady presence of Mexican influence, the belief that cooking is ultimately about making people happy, and he's still shucking oysters.  He was still early in his career when he moved to Juneau to work as a Sous Chef. There, and later in Sitka, he recognized the realities of Alaska's food system, how kitchens relied heavily on frozen and canned goods because they were dependable. Orders had to be placed seven to ten days out, and even then, fresh vegetables and herbs might arrive frozen and mushy. It was a lot different from working in California, where you could order produce in the morning and expect it that afternoon. The learning curve was steep, but learning to adapt is what good cooks do. So, given Alaska's abundance of fresh seafood, he adjusted his cooking and learned to let fish become the focus. And now that there's more access to farm-fresh produce than ever before, the constraints that once defined cooking in Alaska have eased, expanding what's possible on a menu.

Episode Summary: In this conversation, Kimberly and Josh Redd delve into the critical topic of inflammation, exploring its prevalence, symptoms, and the various health conditions it can exacerbate, including autoimmune diseases and fertility issues. They discuss the impact of diet, gut health, and environmental toxins on inflammation, as well as the promising role of stem cell therapy in managing chronic inflammatory conditions. The conversation emphasizes the importance of education and proactive health management, encouraging listeners to take control of their health through informed lifestyle choices.Chapters00:00 The Rise of Inflammation Awareness03:04 Understanding Inflammation Symptoms05:59 Inflammation's Impact on Children09:00 Autoimmunity and Inflammation12:02 Dietary Influences on Inflammation14:51 The Role of Gut Health17:59 Environmental Toxins and Inflammation21:30 Big Picture Health Strategies23:53 Cooking and Nutrition Control25:25 Understanding Stem Cell Therapy28:56 Stem Cells and Inflammation31:55 Innovations in Stem Cell Treatments34:19 Insurance and Accessibility of TreatmentsSponsors: FATTY15 OFFER: Fatty15 is on a mission to replenish your C15 levels and restore your long-term health. You can get an additional 15% off their 90-day subscription Starter Kit by going to fatty15.com/KIMBERLY and using code KIMBERLY at checkout.USE LINK: fatty15.com/KIMBERLYDr. Josh Redd Resources: Book: THE 30-DAY INFLAMMATORY RESET: A Complete Guide to Healing Your Immune System Website: DrJoshRedd.com Tik Tok: drjoshred Instagram: @drjoshredd Bio: Dr. Josh Redd, NMD, MS, MPHb, is an industry leader in functional and personalized medicine. With over 12 years of post-graduate education—including two master's degrees and two doctorate degrees—he brings an unmatched depth of training and experience to his patients. His expertise in regenerative medicine includes over 1,000 precision-guided injections for spinal, joint, and soft tissue treatment, helping athletes and active individuals optimize performance and accelerate recovery. He holds an MS in Human Nutrition and Functional Medicine, an MPHb from Johns Hopkins (with an emphasis on molecular biology and immunology), and a Doctor of Chiropractic from Parker University. Most recently, he graduated from naturopathic medical school and completed his residency in regenerative medicine and stem cell injections through Bastyr University.Dr. Redd is the founder of RedRiver Health & Wellness, one of the largest functional medicine clinics in the U.S., with eight locations across Utah, New Mexico, Nevada, and Idaho, and PalmaVita Clinic, a regenerative medicine and athletic performance center in Spanish Fork, Utah.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Discover all of the podcasts in our network, search for specific episodes, get the Optimal Living Daily workbook, and learn more at: OLDPodcast.com. Episode 3272: Danielle Omar shares how meal prepping can dramatically improve your nutrition, save time, and help you build confidence in the kitchen. By exploring different prep styles and offering practical tips, she makes it easy to start small, stay consistent, and take control of your health with less stress. Read along with the original article(s) here: https://foodconfidence.com/2019/01/02/one-change-meal-prep/ Quotes to ponder: "Meal prepping makes the healthy options just as convenient as the unhealthy ones." "Cooking your own meals each week, even if they're not gourmet, will inevitably improve your kitchen skills." "Set yourself up for success by keeping it simple." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With decades of culinary experience, Chef Calvin Harris is on a mission to transform home cooking. He launched Spiced Up to tackle a common problem: the trade-off between convenience and taste. Chef Calvin understands that busy lives often lead to dining out or ordering in. Yet, he believes that home-cooked meals can be both healthy and incredibly flavorful. That's why he created Spiced Up seasoning blends—making it easy for anyone to whip up delicious, nutritious meals at home. Cooking is Chef Calvin's love language. He's passionate about helping home cooks create amazing meals that bring families together. With Spiced Up, he proves that anyone can cook and that great taste should never be sacrificed for convenience. Chef Calvin joins Justin to uncap this spicy brand!

From delectable marchpane in Romeo and Juliet, and the herbs of the Merchant of Venice to stew'd prunes of Henry IV, and carving capons in Love's Labour's Lost, there is a wide gambit of meals consumed in Shakespeare's plays that span from bawdy feasts to elite noble banquets, and even popular meals eaten as much to control your behavior as they were seen as nourishment. The details about food found throughout Shakespeare's plays reflect the real foods enjoyed from the peasants to the royalty of Shakespeare's life.   This week we are diving into these delectable delights with food historian and author Sam Bilton, to talk about her latest book, Much Ado About Cooking—which was created in collaboration with Shakespeare's Globe---that allows us to get a literal taste of Shakespeare. Much Ado About Cooking takes Shakespeare's own food references and pairs them with real recipes from his lifetime, then reimagines those recipes for the modern cook so that you can easily make, and eat, food from the life of William Shakespeare. 

If you've ever dreamt of eating your way around the world—but without the jet lag, lost luggage, or questionable airplane food—today's episode is your passport.  My guest today is Abby Cheshire, a private yacht chef, culinary arts teacher, and global flavor hunter who somehow manages to cook extraordinary meals in the tiniest kitchens… while floating on the open sea. She's the author of the just-released cookbook Passport to Flavor, featuring 100 global recipes inspired by destinations around the world—from Barbecue Short Rib Vermicelli in Ha Long Bay, Vietnam, to Calypso Cracked Lobster in the Bahamas, Beef Bulgogi in Seoul, Schnitzel Sliders in Germany, and even Lomi Lomi Salmon on the Na'Pali Coast of Hawaii. And this isn't just a pretty cookbook for your coffee table. The praise is already rolling in, including from Andrew Zimmern, who says: "Bravo to Chef Abby for taking us around the world on her delicious journey. One hundred global recipes is so meaningful an effort in our mission to make the world a better place for everyone." Abby spends her school year teaching high school culinary students, then trades the classroom for the galley—traveling the world by yacht and cooking with fresh, local ingredients wherever she drops anchor. If you've seen her viral videos on @abbyinthegalley, you already know she's the queen of making magic in small spaces. Today, we're talking about food as a universal language, how travel shapes the way we cook and connect, and why opening yourself up to global flavors might just be one of the most joyful ways to expand your world—no matter where you live. So grab a fork, fasten your seatbelt, and get ready to travel—one delicious bite at a time. Let's dive in. 

Discover all of the podcasts in our network, search for specific episodes, get the Optimal Living Daily workbook, and learn more at: OLDPodcast.com. Episode 3272: Danielle Omar shares how meal prepping can dramatically improve your nutrition, save time, and help you build confidence in the kitchen. By exploring different prep styles and offering practical tips, she makes it easy to start small, stay consistent, and take control of your health with less stress. Read along with the original article(s) here: https://foodconfidence.com/2019/01/02/one-change-meal-prep/ Quotes to ponder: "Meal prepping makes the healthy options just as convenient as the unhealthy ones." "Cooking your own meals each week, even if they're not gourmet, will inevitably improve your kitchen skills." "Set yourself up for success by keeping it simple." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kevin Lane is the executive chef and co-owner of The Cookery and The Lone Chicharron Taqueria in Seward, and he was recently named as a James Beard Award semifinalist. Reflecting on that recognition, he says it wouldn't have been possible without his team at The Cookery, or the kitchens and crews from his past that shaped the way he cooks today. Those roots stretch back to California's Sacramento area, where he was raised on crockpot meals, black-eyed peas, and lentil stew, before he found his way into kitchens in San Diego. Around nineteen, he was eating street tacos, shucking oysters, and learning the pace of restaurant life — first on the cold oyster bar, then on the hotline, where teamwork and discipline took root. Those early experiences still show up in his food today — the steady presence of Mexican influence, the belief that cooking is ultimately about making people happy, and he's still shucking oysters.  He was still early in his career when he moved to Juneau to work as a sous-chef. There, and later in Sitka, he recognized the realities of Alaska's food system, how kitchens relied heavily on frozen and canned goods because they were dependable. Orders had to be placed seven to ten days out, and even then, fresh vegetables and herbs might arrive frozen and mushy. It was a lot different from working in California, where you could order produce in the morning and expect it that afternoon. The learning curve was steep, but learning to adapt is what good cooks do. So, given Alaska's abundance of fresh seafood, he adjusted his cooking and learned to let fish become the focus. And now that there's more access to farm-fresh produce than ever before, the constraints that once defined cooking in Alaska have eased, expanding what's possible on a menu.

This week on the Buck Junkies Podcast, We're bringing back Chef Michael Hunter to talk about all things cookin', hunting, and conservation!... Timestamps: 00:00 - Intro 00:23 - Welcome back Michael Hunter!... 01:57 - Who is Michael Hunter? 05:48 - The first animal Michael ever hunted and cooked 09:25 - The beginnings of Michael's restaurant  13:45 - Wild game on a restaurant menu 16:17 - Foraging in the restaurant industry  18:02 - First timers in Michael's restaurant  18:56 - Sourcing wild game in Canada  21:24 - It has been a ROUGH year to find deer... 22:15 - Michael's 2025 hunting season  23:54 - Hunting caribou  29:22 - Mikey's ancestry story 30:33 - Michael's new book 34:46 - Hunting bears 38:30 - Eating bear for the first time 47:20 - Serving grits with bear 52:28 - What do hunters understand MORE about animals than the average cook? 55:02 - Getting into hunting and cooking for beginners  56:40 - Rapid Fire Questions 1:04:20 - Closing Notes   Connect with the Buck Junkies: Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/buckjunkie   Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/buck_junkies/  TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@buck_junkies  Join The Community - https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1BExLBvcAo/ Have any questions? Shoot us an email: buckjunkiespodcast@gmail.com

We jumo into some of the most up to date food news stories! Plus we get heated about Mcdonalds nugget sauces!

If you enjoy the show, please leave a 5-star rating and follow Chef's PSA. It helps more chefs find these conversations.In this episode, André Natera welcomes back chef and content creator Brent Weathers for a conversation that cuts through trends, gimmicks, and recycled food content.They break down cooking without recipes, the pressure of originality, content creation burnout, and the realities most chefs don't say out loud. From wild dining stories to serious industry talk, this episode blends food, culture, and humor in a way only Chef's PSA does. Only 5-stars! ⁠Brent on Instagram⁠

Nell Bernstein tells us about her book In Our Future We Are Free. It traces the grassroots movement that helped dismantle youth prisons across the United States. Then, Tamar Adler talks about her book Feast On Your Life, a month-by-month meditation on cooking, gratitude, and finding meaning in the everyday.

Tabitha Brown reveals the prayer that changed everything: "God, if you heal me, you can have me."After battling chronic illness for a year and seven months, she made a choice that terrified her, to stop pretending and start living as her authentic self. The transformation didn't just heal her body. It cost her friendships, tested her marriage, and forced her to walk away from the version of herself she'd spent decades creating.On the other side of that bathroom prayer, she found something more valuable than any acting role or endorsement deal: freedom. Her journey from conforming in corporate America and Hollywood to building a multimedia empire on authenticity proves that when you finally stop performing for approval, abundance finds you. The path forward starts with one question you need to ask yourself today: What mask are you wearing, and what would happen if you took it off?Tabitha's books:Cooking from the SpiritFeeding the Soul (Because It's My Business)Seen, Loved and Heard: A Guided Journal for Feeding the SoulI Did a New ThingHello There, SunshineIn this episode you will:Learn the signs of confirmation that keep appearing in your life and what they're trying to tell you about your purposeBreak through the fear of losing relationships when you step into your truth and understand why some people can't come with youDiscover why habitual prayer kept you stuck and how to shift into true connection that transforms your realityUncover the difference between dreams deposited inside you and goals you create, and why only one will let you restMaster the practice of obedience over sacrifice and why choosing the harder path now creates the easier life laterFor more information go to https://lewishowes.com/1880For more Greatness text PODCAST to +1 (614) 350-3960More SOG episodes we think you'll love:Lewis HowesToby RobbinsDr. Daniel Amen Get more from Lewis! Get my New York Times Bestselling book, Make Money Easy!Get The Greatness Mindset audiobook on SpotifyText Lewis AIYouTubeInstagramWebsiteTiktokFacebookX Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Ep 730: Ethical Broads PRIVATEWe kick off FOLLOW UP with California's AG sending a cease-and-desist to xAI over Grok generating creepy deepfakes of minors, while regulators finally notice Elon Musk's xAI datacenter illegally running methane turbines in Memphis. The FTC is also appealing its loss in the Meta monopoly case, because apparently breaking up Zuckerberg's data empire is still the hill they want to die on.IN THE NEWS, Washington joins the age-verification-for-porn parade, the UK considers an Australia-style social media ban for kids under 16, and governments everywhere continue demanding your ID before you're allowed to enjoy the internet. OpenAI rolls out age prediction for ChatGPT accounts ahead of a rumored adult mode—though hey, at least you can now group tabs in ChatGPT's Atlas browser. Anthropic rewrites Claude's “constitution” to make it more vibes-based, Nevada moves to block Polymarket because gambling is only legal when the house owns the house, and YouTube promises even more AI features in 2026. Elsewhere, a Swiss suicide pod gets an AI “mental fitness” upgrade, Microsoft's CEO begs AI developers to do something useful before the grid collapses, Musk hunts for a $134 billion payday from OpenAI and Microsoft, and makes yet more Davos predictions about robotaxis and aliens that are absolutely happening this year. On the bright side, A-list creatives push back on AI and Comic-Con bans AI art, buying humans a little more time.MEDIA CANDY finds us slogging through Wish, The Pitt, and the “Mel's Diner in Space” look of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy. We confirm 20-year-old CGI wargs still look terrible, get cautiously excited for 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, and note that Fallout Season 2's weekly drops may not be working for a binge-rotted audience.In APPS & DOODADS, X launches Bluesky-style starter packs—presumably to help you find more Nazis—while ICE becomes one of the most-blocked accounts on Bluesky. Threads edges out X in daily mobile users, proving the “federated future” is just another Zuck app. And yes, we think we know what the Apple AI pin is—and definitely what it isn't.AT THE LIBRARY, we check out The Elements, Jet Tila's 101 Thai Dishes You Need to Cook Before You Die, Half Baked Harvest: Quick & Cozy, and Southern Living's A Southern Gentleman's Kitchen. Scott reports back from a Jim Butcher talk, where we learn Harry Dresden sounds suspiciously like Han Solo.We close with THE DARK SIDE WITH DAVE, who is juggling five podcasts while reading Going to the Top: The Story of Videopolis, plus teasers for Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord and a baffling Masters of the Universe trailer, a rant on what “remastered” even means anymore, a dishwasher follow-up, and the grim news that a lot of snow is coming.Sponsors:DeleteMe - Get 20% off your DeleteMe plan when you go to JoinDeleteMe.com/GOG and use promo code GOG at checkout.SquareSpace - go to squarespace.com/GRUMPY for a free trial. And when you're ready to launch, use code GRUMPY to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain.Private Internet Access - Go to GOG.Show/vpn and sign up today. For a limited time only, you can get OUR favorite VPN for as little as $2.03 a month.SetApp - With a single monthly subscription you get 240+ apps for your Mac. Go to SetApp and get started today!!!1Password - Get a great deal on the only password manager recommended by Grumpy Old Geeks! gog.show/1passwordShow notes at https://gog.show/730Watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/LiwVkLKr8CoFOLLOW UPCalifornia AG sends cease and desist to xAI over Grok's explicit deepfakesElon Musk's xAI datacenter generating extra electricity illegally, regulator rulesZuck stuck on Trump's bad side: FTC appeals loss in Meta monopoly caseIN THE NEWSWashington is the latest state pursuing an age verification law for porn sitesThe UK is mulling an Australia-like social media ban for users under 16OpenAI is launching age prediction for ChatGPT accountsYou can now group tabs on OpenAI's ChatGPT Atlas browserAnthropic Updates Claude's 'Constitution,' Just in Case Chatbot Has a ConsciousnessNevada files to block Polymarket from offering ‘unlicensed wagering' in the stateYouTube CEO promises more AI features in 2026Controversial Swiss Suicide Pod Gets an AI-Powered Mental Fitness UpgradeMicrosoft CEO urges AI developers 'to get to a point where we are using this to do something useful,' or 'lose even the social permission...to generate these tokens'Elon Musk is looking for a $134 billion payout from OpenAI and MicrosoftElon Musk Sure Made Lots of Predictions at DavosA-List creatives sign up to fight AI, say it enables 'theft at a grand scale'Comic-Con Bans AI Art After Artist PushbackMEDIA CANDYWishThe PittStar Trek: Starfleet Academy28 Years Later: The Bone Temple'Fallout' Season 2's Weekly Drops May Not Be WorkingAPPS & DOODADSX is also launching Bluesky-like starter packsICE becomes one of the most-blocked accounts on Bluesky after its verificationThreads edges out X in daily mobile users, new data showsI think I know what the Apple pin is, and definitely know what it isn'tApple Developing AirTag-Sized AI Pin With Dual CamerasNot to be outdone by OpenAI, Apple is reportedly developing an AI wearableSiri's iOS 27 upgrade sounds exactly right. Apple's AI pin sounds exactly wrongAT THE LIBRARYThe Elements by John Boyne101 Thai Dishes You Need to Cook Before You Die by Jet TilaHalf Baked Harvest Quick & Cozy: A Cookbook by Tieghan GerardPestleSouthern Living A Southern Gentleman's Kitchen: Adventures in Cooking, Eating, and Living in the New South by Matt MooreTHE DARK SIDE WITH DAVEDave BittnerThe CyberWireHacking HumansCaveatControl LoopOnly Malware in the BuildingGoing to the Top: The Story of Videopolis—Part OneStar Wars: Maul - Shadow Lord | Official Teaser Trailer | Streaming April 6 on Disney+Masters of The Universe – Official Teaser TrailerCLOSING SHOUT-OUTSClassic-Era Scorpions Bassist Francis Buchholz Dies at 71See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Chef and TED Fellow Dieuveil Malonga traveled to nearly every country in Africa, tasting flavors straight from farms and local kitchens, to learn about the traditions that transform a dish. Today, he runs a center to train the next generation of top chefs from across the continent, collaboratively crafting food that shares each country's culinary secrets with the world.Following the talk, Lily James Olds, director of the TED Fellows program, interviews Malonga on Chefs Exchange, a program welcoming chefs around the world to share and innovate new methods of cooking. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning, television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Dr. Yolanda “Yo-Yo” Whitaker. SUMMARY OF THE INTERVIEW In this interview on Money Making Conversations Master Class, host Rushion McDonald speaks with Dr. Yolanda “Yo-Yo” Whitaker—Grammy‑nominated rapper, actress, radio host, philanthropist, and now the star of Downright Delicious with Yo-Yo, a cooking series on Aspire TV. The conversation moves through Yo‑Yo’s evolution as an artist and entrepreneur, her spiritual and personal transformation, her love for food and cooking, and the creation of her television cooking show. She reflects on surviving and thriving in an unpredictable entertainment industry, learning discipline, overcoming fear, and discovering new purpose later in life through cooking. Yo‑Yo also shares her philosophy on authenticity, family, and faith. She describes how the pandemic deepened her love for cooking, how her show blends food + family + culture, and offers practical cooking tips. PURPOSE OF THE INTERVIEW According to the interview content, the purpose is to: Highlight Yo‑Yo’s transition from iconic hip‑hop entertainer to food‑focused TV personality. [Dr. Yoland…' Whitaker | Txt] Promote her Aspire TV series “Downright Delicious with Yo‑Yo.” [Dr. Yoland…' Whitaker | Txt] Share insights on career longevity, entrepreneurship, reinvention, and personal growth. [Dr. Yoland…' Whitaker | Txt] Inspire listeners with actionable advice on fearlessness, budgeting, confidence, and purpose‑driven living. [Dr. Yoland…' Whitaker | Txt] Celebrate cooking as an expression of love, culture, peace, and family connection. [Dr. Yoland…' Whitaker | Txt] KEY TAKEAWAYS 1. Reinvention Requires Honesty & Letting Go Yo‑Yo stresses that overcoming fear came from “getting real” with herself, abandoning trying to look successful, and restructuring her finances and lifestyle.She had to “let the old me die so the money could grow.” [Dr. Yoland…' Whitaker | Txt] 2. Entrepreneurship Is a Lifelong Reality for Artists She and McDonald emphasize that entertainers are entrepreneurs, without the stability of 40‑hour jobs, making resilience essential. [Dr. Yoland…' Whitaker | Txt] 3. Purpose Matters More Than Fame She encourages people to seek purpose—not just fame or quick money—and do the work that builds confidence and personal foundation. [Dr. Yoland…' Whitaker | Txt] 4. Cooking Became Her “Happy Place” and Divine Gift Yo‑Yo says cooking is a God‑given gift and a therapeutic practice that began thriving during the pandemic.It helped her through depression and opened new creative fulfillment. [Dr. Yoland…' Whitaker | Txt] 5. Her Cooking Show Blends Food + Family + Culture The show features: Her mother Her partner Her kids Celebrity friends Authentic cultural dishes with her unique twistIt’s not guest‑driven; it’s family‑driven storytelling in the kitchen. [Dr. Yoland…' Whitaker | Txt] 6. Technique & Tools Matter She emphasizes: Good knives (sharpen weekly) Quality pots Measuring ingredients Understanding seasonings Building confidence by cooking regularly [Dr. Yoland…' Whitaker | Txt] 7. Simplicity + Love = Great Food According to Yo‑Yo, love is the secret ingredient, and cooking is about joy, connection, and comfort, not rigid perfection. [Dr. Yoland…' Whitaker | Txt] NOTABLE QUOTES FROM THE INTERVIEW (All quotes drawn exactly or near‑exactly from the transcript.) [Dr. Yoland…' Whitaker | Txt] On Fear and Growth “I had to let the old me die so that the money could grow.” “What I did to overcome my fear was to call myself fearless.” “You have to get real with yourself. You really have to do the work.” On Purpose and Success “If you don’t find your purpose, you’re just job hunting.” “God told me, because of your obedience, I’m going to give you the desires of your heart.” On Cooking “Cooking is my happy place.” “I’m not a chef—I just love to cook.” “If you don’t love what you cook, we don’t want to taste it.” On Family “More than serving a meal, I’m serving family.” “When mama’s in the house and they can smell food cooking… that’s everything.” On Her Show “You get to see Dr. Yolanda ‘Yo‑Yo’ Whitaker for the first time.” “I only cook things I love—things I’m comfortable with.” “The food is the star.” On Technique “Great knives will save your life.” “If you use your knives a lot, sharpen them every week.” On Pandemic Transformation “I started really cooking during the pandemic… it took me out of my depression.” #SHMS #STRAW #BESTSupport the show: https://www.steveharveyfm.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning, television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Dr. Yolanda “Yo-Yo” Whitaker. SUMMARY OF THE INTERVIEW In this interview on Money Making Conversations Master Class, host Rushion McDonald speaks with Dr. Yolanda “Yo-Yo” Whitaker—Grammy‑nominated rapper, actress, radio host, philanthropist, and now the star of Downright Delicious with Yo-Yo, a cooking series on Aspire TV. The conversation moves through Yo‑Yo’s evolution as an artist and entrepreneur, her spiritual and personal transformation, her love for food and cooking, and the creation of her television cooking show. She reflects on surviving and thriving in an unpredictable entertainment industry, learning discipline, overcoming fear, and discovering new purpose later in life through cooking. Yo‑Yo also shares her philosophy on authenticity, family, and faith. She describes how the pandemic deepened her love for cooking, how her show blends food + family + culture, and offers practical cooking tips. PURPOSE OF THE INTERVIEW According to the interview content, the purpose is to: Highlight Yo‑Yo’s transition from iconic hip‑hop entertainer to food‑focused TV personality. [Dr. Yoland…' Whitaker | Txt] Promote her Aspire TV series “Downright Delicious with Yo‑Yo.” [Dr. Yoland…' Whitaker | Txt] Share insights on career longevity, entrepreneurship, reinvention, and personal growth. [Dr. Yoland…' Whitaker | Txt] Inspire listeners with actionable advice on fearlessness, budgeting, confidence, and purpose‑driven living. [Dr. Yoland…' Whitaker | Txt] Celebrate cooking as an expression of love, culture, peace, and family connection. [Dr. Yoland…' Whitaker | Txt] KEY TAKEAWAYS 1. Reinvention Requires Honesty & Letting Go Yo‑Yo stresses that overcoming fear came from “getting real” with herself, abandoning trying to look successful, and restructuring her finances and lifestyle.She had to “let the old me die so the money could grow.” [Dr. Yoland…' Whitaker | Txt] 2. Entrepreneurship Is a Lifelong Reality for Artists She and McDonald emphasize that entertainers are entrepreneurs, without the stability of 40‑hour jobs, making resilience essential. [Dr. Yoland…' Whitaker | Txt] 3. Purpose Matters More Than Fame She encourages people to seek purpose—not just fame or quick money—and do the work that builds confidence and personal foundation. [Dr. Yoland…' Whitaker | Txt] 4. Cooking Became Her “Happy Place” and Divine Gift Yo‑Yo says cooking is a God‑given gift and a therapeutic practice that began thriving during the pandemic.It helped her through depression and opened new creative fulfillment. [Dr. Yoland…' Whitaker | Txt] 5. Her Cooking Show Blends Food + Family + Culture The show features: Her mother Her partner Her kids Celebrity friends Authentic cultural dishes with her unique twistIt’s not guest‑driven; it’s family‑driven storytelling in the kitchen. [Dr. Yoland…' Whitaker | Txt] 6. Technique & Tools Matter She emphasizes: Good knives (sharpen weekly) Quality pots Measuring ingredients Understanding seasonings Building confidence by cooking regularly [Dr. Yoland…' Whitaker | Txt] 7. Simplicity + Love = Great Food According to Yo‑Yo, love is the secret ingredient, and cooking is about joy, connection, and comfort, not rigid perfection. [Dr. Yoland…' Whitaker | Txt] NOTABLE QUOTES FROM THE INTERVIEW (All quotes drawn exactly or near‑exactly from the transcript.) [Dr. Yoland…' Whitaker | Txt] On Fear and Growth “I had to let the old me die so that the money could grow.” “What I did to overcome my fear was to call myself fearless.” “You have to get real with yourself. You really have to do the work.” On Purpose and Success “If you don’t find your purpose, you’re just job hunting.” “God told me, because of your obedience, I’m going to give you the desires of your heart.” On Cooking “Cooking is my happy place.” “I’m not a chef—I just love to cook.” “If you don’t love what you cook, we don’t want to taste it.” On Family “More than serving a meal, I’m serving family.” “When mama’s in the house and they can smell food cooking… that’s everything.” On Her Show “You get to see Dr. Yolanda ‘Yo‑Yo’ Whitaker for the first time.” “I only cook things I love—things I’m comfortable with.” “The food is the star.” On Technique “Great knives will save your life.” “If you use your knives a lot, sharpen them every week.” On Pandemic Transformation “I started really cooking during the pandemic… it took me out of my depression.” #SHMS #STRAW #BESTSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning, television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Dr. Yolanda “Yo-Yo” Whitaker. SUMMARY OF THE INTERVIEW In this interview on Money Making Conversations Master Class, host Rushion McDonald speaks with Dr. Yolanda “Yo-Yo” Whitaker—Grammy‑nominated rapper, actress, radio host, philanthropist, and now the star of Downright Delicious with Yo-Yo, a cooking series on Aspire TV. The conversation moves through Yo‑Yo’s evolution as an artist and entrepreneur, her spiritual and personal transformation, her love for food and cooking, and the creation of her television cooking show. She reflects on surviving and thriving in an unpredictable entertainment industry, learning discipline, overcoming fear, and discovering new purpose later in life through cooking. Yo‑Yo also shares her philosophy on authenticity, family, and faith. She describes how the pandemic deepened her love for cooking, how her show blends food + family + culture, and offers practical cooking tips. PURPOSE OF THE INTERVIEW According to the interview content, the purpose is to: Highlight Yo‑Yo’s transition from iconic hip‑hop entertainer to food‑focused TV personality. [Dr. Yoland…' Whitaker | Txt] Promote her Aspire TV series “Downright Delicious with Yo‑Yo.” [Dr. Yoland…' Whitaker | Txt] Share insights on career longevity, entrepreneurship, reinvention, and personal growth. [Dr. Yoland…' Whitaker | Txt] Inspire listeners with actionable advice on fearlessness, budgeting, confidence, and purpose‑driven living. [Dr. Yoland…' Whitaker | Txt] Celebrate cooking as an expression of love, culture, peace, and family connection. [Dr. Yoland…' Whitaker | Txt] KEY TAKEAWAYS 1. Reinvention Requires Honesty & Letting Go Yo‑Yo stresses that overcoming fear came from “getting real” with herself, abandoning trying to look successful, and restructuring her finances and lifestyle.She had to “let the old me die so the money could grow.” [Dr. Yoland…' Whitaker | Txt] 2. Entrepreneurship Is a Lifelong Reality for Artists She and McDonald emphasize that entertainers are entrepreneurs, without the stability of 40‑hour jobs, making resilience essential. [Dr. Yoland…' Whitaker | Txt] 3. Purpose Matters More Than Fame She encourages people to seek purpose—not just fame or quick money—and do the work that builds confidence and personal foundation. [Dr. Yoland…' Whitaker | Txt] 4. Cooking Became Her “Happy Place” and Divine Gift Yo‑Yo says cooking is a God‑given gift and a therapeutic practice that began thriving during the pandemic.It helped her through depression and opened new creative fulfillment. [Dr. Yoland…' Whitaker | Txt] 5. Her Cooking Show Blends Food + Family + Culture The show features: Her mother Her partner Her kids Celebrity friends Authentic cultural dishes with her unique twistIt’s not guest‑driven; it’s family‑driven storytelling in the kitchen. [Dr. Yoland…' Whitaker | Txt] 6. Technique & Tools Matter She emphasizes: Good knives (sharpen weekly) Quality pots Measuring ingredients Understanding seasonings Building confidence by cooking regularly [Dr. Yoland…' Whitaker | Txt] 7. Simplicity + Love = Great Food According to Yo‑Yo, love is the secret ingredient, and cooking is about joy, connection, and comfort, not rigid perfection. [Dr. Yoland…' Whitaker | Txt] NOTABLE QUOTES FROM THE INTERVIEW (All quotes drawn exactly or near‑exactly from the transcript.) [Dr. Yoland…' Whitaker | Txt] On Fear and Growth “I had to let the old me die so that the money could grow.” “What I did to overcome my fear was to call myself fearless.” “You have to get real with yourself. You really have to do the work.” On Purpose and Success “If you don’t find your purpose, you’re just job hunting.” “God told me, because of your obedience, I’m going to give you the desires of your heart.” On Cooking “Cooking is my happy place.” “I’m not a chef—I just love to cook.” “If you don’t love what you cook, we don’t want to taste it.” On Family “More than serving a meal, I’m serving family.” “When mama’s in the house and they can smell food cooking… that’s everything.” On Her Show “You get to see Dr. Yolanda ‘Yo‑Yo’ Whitaker for the first time.” “I only cook things I love—things I’m comfortable with.” “The food is the star.” On Technique “Great knives will save your life.” “If you use your knives a lot, sharpen them every week.” On Pandemic Transformation “I started really cooking during the pandemic… it took me out of my depression.” #SHMS #STRAW #BESTSteve Harvey Morning Show Online: http://www.steveharveyfm.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today is a very special episode. For the first time ever, I'm bringing on a guest. And not just any guest—my husband, Kevin. If you've been listening to this podcast for a while, you know I talk a lot about my recovery journey, the tools, the strategies, the mindset shifts. But what I don't talk about as much is the man behind the scenes. The man who supports me. The man who holds down the fort so I can record this podcast, run my business, and continue to show up for you every single week. Kevin is that man. He's the anchor. And it's time for you to meet him. Here's the truth: Recovery doesn't just affect the person struggling. It affects the whole family. And the support of a partner can make or break the journey. Kevin met me shortly after my recovery, but he's watched me navigate ups and downs with body image and restrictive behaviors throughout our marriage. He's a law enforcement officer, lifts heavy weights, is in tip-top shape, and constantly pushes himself to the limit. He's an alpha personality—strong, driven, disciplined. And he's also a man of God, a father to our two boys, and the most supportive partner I could ever ask for. But supporting someone in eating disorder recovery didn't come naturally to him. He had to learn. And today, he's sharing what he learned—for the men listening, and for the women who want their husbands or partners to understand what real support looks like. In this episode, you'll hear: How Kevin met me shortly after recovery and realized it's an ongoing journey, not a one-and-done Why his instinct to "fix" me actually created distance instead of intimacy The words he thought were supportive that actually made me feel dismissed What he did that made me feel the MOST safe and supported How he learned not to react in passion or frustration, but to actively listen instead Why asking "What do you need right now to feel safe?" changed everything How Kevin had to recognize that what HE needs for his body is very different from what I need The learning curve of being an alpha male married to someone in ED recovery What it really looks like to be "the man behind the biz" (spoiler: it's cooking, cleaning, and holding down the fort) Kevin's 5 practical takeaways for men supporting their wives through ED recovery or body image struggles A sneak peek at future episodes where Kevin will come back to share more of his perspective If you're a woman in recovery, send this episode to your husband or partner. If you're a man listening, thank you for being here. Thank you for wanting to support your wife. This episode is for you. KEY QUOTES FROM THIS EPISODE

Soybean oil dominates the U.S. food supply. Americans' intake has increased from about 2% to nearly 10% of calories over a century, alongside sharp rises in obesity and diabetes A recent study published in the Journal of Lipid Research found soybean oil drives obesity independent of calories by generating liver oxylipins that track with weight gain, revealing LA metabolism, not food intake, as the key driver of fat accumulation Soybean oil promotes oxidative stress, mitochondrial damage, gut permeability, and long-lasting inflammatory byproducts that continue to affect your metabolism for years due to LA's extended half-life in body fat Soy contains additional disruptive compounds, including phytoestrogens, phytic acid, enzyme inhibitors, lectins, saponins, and goitrogens, along with frequent glyphosate residues Reducing LA intake means eliminating sources of soybean and other vegetable oils from your diet, and replacing them with stable fats like ghee, tallow, butter, or coconut oil

The NBA isn't “American property” anymore — and this year's All-Star voting made that impossible to ignore. Ric Bucher breaks down why the top fan vote-getters being international stars isn't a problem… it's the point. But there's a twist: the players' vote tells a very different story than the fans and media, raising an uncomfortable question about who the league's real hierarchy respects.Then: Ric takes aim at the “free throw merchant” label on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, previews the new All-Star format (Americans vs. foreigners), and explains why it might finally bring competitive juice back to All-Star weekend.And in a hard left turn into culture + business: Ric calls out the optics of Nike/LeBron's MLK Day shoe release, and closes with a look at Jeanie Buss, the Buss family, and the future of the Lakers, including the resentment over the Bronny roster spot and why Steve Ballmer's financial advantage may have forced Jeanie's hand.Time Stamps00:00 “Cooking with gas” + show intro00:41 Ric announces upcoming book on being coachable01:41 NBA → “IBA”: the league's global takeover is complete02:19 All-Star vote shocker: Luka/Giannis/Jokic lead — and fans don't care where you're from03:07 Deni Avdija leapfrogs Anthony Edwards: how did that happen?04:34 Why the league changed voting rules after Zaza Pachulia05:08 Ric's theory: Ant's off-court noise may be costing him votes06:40 Players vs fans/media: who actually respects which stars?08:45 SGA isn't a “free throw merchant” — blame the whistle, not the scorer10:07 New All-Star format: Americans vs foreigners — and why internationals may have something to prove12:41 Social media's “everything is debatable” disease + Ric's contrarian code13:39 Nike + LeBron MLK shoe: “sounds wrong” and gets worse the more you explain it16:41 The real lesson: stars need advisors who say “no”20:04 Jeanie Buss + Lakers sale strategy: what's new (and what isn't)21:12 The Bronny favor and why some Lakers voices feel unappreciated26:14 Ballmer's money changed the Lakers' reality — and Jeanie's endgame27:50 Wrap-up + what Ric might cover next (Raptors/Warriors locker rooms)#OnTheBall #RicBucher #NBA #AllStar #LukaDoncic #GiannisAntetokounmpo #NikolaJokic #AnthonyEdwards #DeniAvdija #ShaiGilgeousAlexander #VictorWembanyama #LeBronJames #Nike #MLKDay #Lakers #JeanieBuss #BronnyJames #UnitedWeCastSupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/bucher-and-friends. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

FREE Hashimoto's and Thyroid Type Training and Support CallThursday Jan 29 ,2026 @ 8:30pm EasternRegister here: https://innatopiler.com/zoomcall/Cooking with Hashimoto's often becomes the hardest place to stay consistent, not because you do not know what foods are supportive, but because figuring out how to cook in real life takes energy, planning, and the right setup.In this conversation Inna and Hypothyroid Chef Ginny Mahar talk about how to actually cook in a way that supports your body without turning food into another source of stress. You will see how anti inflammatory eating looks in real life, why personalization matters, and how to think about meal prep, leftovers, freezing, and cooking methods in a way that preserves energy instead of draining it.The episode also goes beyond food and into the kitchen itself, from pots and pans to utensils, cutting boards, and food storage. If cooking with Hashimoto's has felt overwhelming or unrealistic, this conversation will help it feel simpler, calmer, and more doable.For full show notes, please see:https://innatopiler.com/podcasts/cook-hashimotos-hypothyroid-chef-ginny-mahar/Get ThyroLove - the first all in one bottle multi-nutrient comprehensive formula designed specifically for those with Thyroid Autoimmunity at ThyroLove.com - use code “Podcast” to get 10% off and free shipping For more information about everything Hashimoto's please visit InnaTopiler.comIf you are struggling to lose weight with Hashimoto's, Inna has a 10 day plan just for you at InnaTopiler.com/jumpstartIf you need help with fatigue or brain fog with Hashimoto's, please check out Inna's 9 Day Exhaustion Solution at innatopiler.com/energyIf you don't yet know your thyroid type, please be sure you sign up for Inna's next free training at InnaTopiler.com/zoomcall FREE Hashimoto's and Thyroid Type Training and Support CallThursday Jan 29 ,2026 @ 8:30pm EasternRegister here: https://innatopiler.com/zoomcall/

March 2026 marks the release of perhaps Sarah's most personal book to date, drawing from childhood love, family influence, and the evolution of one's own gardening tastes.In this week's ‘grow, cook, eat, arrange' Milli Proust joins us to discuss Sarah's new book, ‘A Year of Cut Flowers', blending the memoir and the method to trace her family's historic love of flora, and how it drew Sarah into the world of cut flowers.In this episode, discover:How childhood wildflower hunts with Sarah's father and her life with Adam shaped her lifetime love of cut flowersHow even a small, carefully planned patch of cut flowers can fill your home with abundant, seasonal bloomsThe surprisingly powerful impact of spacing and pinching on plant health, vase life and stem productionWhy gardening, and especially growing for the vase, can become such a life‑enhancing practice which evolves with youProducts mentioned:Abelia x grandiflorahttps://www.sarahraven.com/products/abelia-x-grandifloraCerinthe major 'Purpurascens'https://www.sarahraven.com/products/cerinthe-major-purpurascensEuphorbia oblongatahttps://www.sarahraven.com/products/euphorbia-oblongataSalvia viridis 'Blue Monday'https://www.sarahraven.com/products/salvia-viridis-blueHelianthus annuus 'ProCut Plum' (Sunflower)https://www.sarahraven.com/products/helianthus-annuus-procut-plumAmmi majushttps://www.sarahraven.com/products/ammi-majusPhlox drummondii 'Blushing Bride'https://www.sarahraven.com/products/phlox-drummondii-blushing-brideFollow Sarah: https://www.instagram.com/sarahravenperchhill/Get in touch: info@sarahraven.comShop on the Sarah Raven Website: http://bit.ly/3jvbaeuFollow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarahravensgarden/Order Sarah's latest books: https://www.sarahraven.com/gifts/gardening-books?sort=newest

Ever bring home beautiful winter vegetables from the market, and then completely blank on what to cook with them?In this bite-sized episode, we share delicious moments about the best things we ate this week to inspire each other — and you.By the end of this episode, you'll want to make a deeply comforting, grandmother-approved borscht that celebrates winter vegetables, plus a one-pot, meatless main designed to use up every last leafy green, finished with a bold, garlicky, crispy topping that makes it irresistible.Tune in for a quick dose of home cooking inspiration, and turn your winter produce into meals you'll genuinely look forward to cooking.***Links:Sonya's family borscht recipe from our free SubstackUtica Greens from Chesterfield Restaurant in Utica, NY; adapted by Jim Shahin for NYT Cooking ***Got a cooking question? Leave us a message on our hotline at: 323-452-9084For more recipes and cooking inspiration, sign up for our Substack here.Order Sonya's cookbook Braids for more Food Friends recipes!We love hearing from you — follow us on Instagram @foodfriendspod, or drop us a line at foodfriendspod@gmail.com!

Today, I'm talking about the element of fire. This is the third episode in my series on the elements. Last fall, I explored water and wind, what they represent and how to work with them in everyday life. The Element of Fire When I say fire, I mean the flames that warm you, cook your food, clear land, and forge metal. Fire is one of the few elements that feels instantly familiar and deeply mysterious at the same time. You've sat in front of a fire and felt its heat. You've probably stared into the flames and lost track of time, almost like a meditation. That alone tells you something important. For thousands of years, fire has been far more than a tool. It has been treated as a presence, revered as a teacher, and even honored as a deity. Across cultures, fire has been seen as a messenger between worlds, a force that connects the visible and invisible. In classical and esoteric traditions, fire is one of the four primary elements, alongside earth, water, and air. It's associated with energy, passion, illumination, will, creation, destruction, and transformation. More than anything, fire is the element that changes things. Everything that touches fire is altered, and there is no undo button when it comes to flames. That's exactly why mystics, shamans, and alchemists paid such close attention to it. When I talk about fire as a spiritual element, I'm talking about a force that burns away what no longer serves, illuminates what's been hidden, and initiates transformation at a deep level. Fire is never subtle. Fire Across Time and Tradition If you look back through history, fire appears everywhere people were trying to understand life, death, and the unseen world. In ancient Greece, fire was considered a divine substance, famously stolen from the gods by Prometheus and given to humanity. That myth alone tells you how powerful fire was perceived to be. Fire wasn't just heat, it was consciousness, creativity, and civilization itself. In Vedic and yogic traditions, the fire element is called tejas. Tejas represents inner radiance, metabolic energy, and illumination. It's linked not only to digestion of food, but to digestion of experience, what you can process, integrate, and turn into wisdom. In Chinese philosophy, fire is one of five elements and is associated with the heart, joy, vitality, and spirit. When fire is balanced, there's warmth and enthusiasm for life. When it's excessive or depleted, it shows up as burnout, agitation, or a coldness of spirit. Celtic traditions placed fire at the center of seasonal festivals like Beltane and Samhain. Bonfires marked thresholds between worlds, protected communities, and ushered in new cycles. Fire was symbolic and practical. And in homes across the world, the hearth fire was the literal and energetic center of life. It's where food was prepared, stories were told, and decisions were made. The hearth was both sacred and ordinary. When we work with fire today, we're stepping into one of the oldest relationships humans have ever had with an element that could both sustain and destroy them. Fire demands respect and doesn't negotiate. In return, it offers truth by stripping away illusion and getting to the core. Builder, Destroyer, and Catalyst for Change One of the most important things to understand about fire is its dual nature. Fire is both a builder and a destroyer. People usually think of fire's destructive qualities, but destruction is not inherently bad. Fire clears old growth in the forest, so new life can emerge. It purifies, resets, and creates space. In alchemy and mysticism, this dual role is essential. Fire breaks structures down to their core components. From that essential place, something new can be formed. This mirrors an inner process many people experience, especially in midlife and beyond. There's often a moment when what used to work no longer does. Old identities might feel restrictive and old patterns can feel exhausting. Maybe there's an inner fire saying, “This cannot continue.” That inner fire isn't trying to make you uncomfortable, but working to realign you. Fire doesn't consider your comfort zone as it eliminates illusion to reveal the truth. Fire and Spiritual Alchemy In spiritual alchemy, fire is the heat that refines raw material into something clearer and more potent. Alchemists weren't just trying to turn lead into gold. They were working to transform fear, emotion, and confusion into insight and clarity. That doesn't happen without heat. Fire has long been described as a bearer of information, a force that accelerates transformation and amplifies subtle energy. In yogic and Buddhist traditions, balanced inner fire is linked with clear perception and intuitive awareness. You see more clearly. You digest experience instead of storing it as emotional baggage. This is why working with fire can feel clarifying and, at times, uncomfortable. Fire asks simple but powerful questions such as: What's ready to be released? What truth is trying to surface? What no longer fits? If you've ever sat in front of a candle and had an unexpected realization, you already know how fire speaks. The Hearth and Everyday Alchemy For most of human history, the hearth fire represented safety, nourishment, and belonging. In Greek tradition, Hestia was the goddess of the hearth, embodying stillness and presence. In Irish tradition, Brigid carried the triple flame of hearth, forge, and inspiration, overseeing care, craft, and creativity. Cooking over fire is everyday alchemy. Raw ingredients are transformed into nourishment through heat, time, and attention. When you cook with awareness or light a candle with intention, you're already working with fire as an ally. Fire for Manifesting and Divining Fire has also long been used for manifestation and divination. It creates momentum – just think of how a fire spreads so rapidly. Fire also shifts things from one state to another, responding to clarity and sincerity, rather than force or desperation. Across traditions, people burned symbols of what they wanted to release or manifest. Watching something physically transform signals completion to your nervous system. The flames help the body and psyche understand that a shift has occurred. Fire has also been used for divination, especially using a candle. Observing how a flame moves, steadies, flares, or resists lighting has long been a way of engaging intuition. Fire helps you reflect on what's already present rathern than telling you what to do. One of the easiest ways to work with fire is by candle gazing, a practice found in yogic traditions called tratakah. Watching the flame steadies the mind, quiets mental chatter, and brings clarity. Listen to the podcast to discover several simple fire practices in the podcast. Message from the Element of Fire Intuitively. I've connected with the element of fire. A couple of years ago, my friend Krista and I sat in front of a fire. Suddenly she suggested we should “talk to the fire.” I was surprised, and honestly delighted, when I actually heard something. I had been told it takes years of training to speak with the elements. That's no longer true. The energy on earth moves faster now. The veil is thinner. Many people have a higher vibration today. What I heard from the fire was simple and unmistakable: “I am powerful. I am destructive. I am creative. I am transformative. I am beautiful. I am warmth. I am dancing. I am passion.” That sounds exactly like fire, doesn't it? Fire teaches through warmth and light, but also through endings and change. When you work with fire, you're can't control it. You're partnering with a force that knows how to transform everything it touches. You listen, respect, and collaborate. Sometimes, that's exactly the kind of magic you need. The post How To Use The Fire Element To Transform Your Life appeared first on Intuitive Edge.

Narrator: Thomas Jones

This week we're discussing big and small things we want to learn. This episode is a great space for brainstorming. If you've been thinking that you'd like to pick up a new hobby. We're each discussing five big and small things that we'd like to learn in the near future. And we're also doing a hot take debate on the topic of plastic treat bags at children's birthday parties. Thank you to this week's sponsor: Start saving money with Dupe.com today Go to brooklynbedding.com and use my promo code MESS at checkout to get 30% off sitewide 5 Things we want to learn Emma: Learn Spanish Play piano Learn to write microfiction Cooking and recipes Painting Elsie: Water Marbling Writing poetry Classical painting lessons Make 3 Ina Garten recipes Book binding Book Report: Emma - The Cottage Around the Corner by D. L. Soria Elsie - The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown You can support us by leaving us a couple of 5 star recipe reviews this week at abeautifulmess.com Have a topic idea for the podcast? Write in to us at podcast@abeautifulmess.com or leave us a voicemail at 417-893-0011.