Episode 58: Easy and Delicious 10-Minute Meals with Celestina Brunetti
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Episode Description
In this episode of The Up-Beet Dietitians podcast, Emily and Hannah are joined by chef and registered dietitian, Celestina Brunetti. Celestina dives into all things cooking and how you can become a confident cook in the kitchen. From discussing common barriers that may deter you from cooking to sharing easy go-to meal ideas to add to your menu, Celestina will leave you feeling excited to get your hands dirty and potentially try something new. Be sure to tune in for lots of laughs and fascinating cooking tips!
Celestina Brunetti, the founder of Wellness Cucina & The Dietitian Collaborative, is a chef & registered dietitian. First & foremost a foodie…her passion is taking the overwhelm out of cooking & making it super easy for others. She’s a master connector, loves to collaborate with fellow RDs, and uplift the dietetics profession! In her downtime you can find her running with her dog, snowboarding with her husband, or on the hunt for an amazing cup of coffee.
Be sure to follow Celestina @thedietitiancollaborative!
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Participant #1:
Hello everybody. Welcome back to a brand new episode of The Upbeat Dietitians Podcast. Today we are joined by another very special guest. We are joined by Celestina Brunetti, the founder of Wellness Cucina and the Dietitian Collaborative. She is a chef and a registered dietitian, which is a killer combo there. First and foremost, she's a foodie. Her passion is taking the overwhelm out of cooking and making it super easy for others. Celestina is a master connector, loves to collaborate with fellow RDS, and uplift the dietech profession. In her downtime, you can find her running with her dogs, snowboarding with her husband, or on the Hunt for an amazing cup of coffee. We are so excited to share this episode with you and enjoy. Enjoy. Hello, everyone. Welcome back to another episode of the Epidemicians Podcast. Hello, everybody. Welcome back to the podcast. Today we are joined by another very special guest, registered dietitian Celestina Brunetti Celestina. Welcome to the podcast, ladies. I am super stoked to be here. We're so happy you're here. Thank you so much. So we always like to have our guests start off by kind of walking us through a day in the life. What you do for work or education, hobbies, all that fun stuff. So give us the juicy details. I feel like a day in the life is totally different. First, a little entrepreneur already, so I don't know what the actual day looks like, but it usually starts with a very tall cup of coffee with perfectly foamed milk. I feel like super specific, but that's where it's at. And then it'll slowly flow into a day of work, getting whatever that looks like done for the day, often at a cafe. And I work with RDS. So I guess that's clarify there, right? I work with RDS and my mission really within the Rd space is to create an environment that is collaboration over competition. So that's really my passion and where my love of it lies. But I also have a passion for cooking and making food super simple for artists and for their clients as well. So I guess it's kind of a very summed up day in the life for me, but definitely coffee motivated. Same over here. We're big cold brew fans. Big cold brew fans. I was just going to say I love the collaboration over competition whole objective because I feel like that's something that not to say that we're all like super competitive individuals out here on the internet tearing each other apart, but especially within any profession, I feel like there is a lot of competition and there's a lot going on with Dietetics over the past couple of years. So I love the collaboration piece of that. That's so cool. We should work with each other more instead of, I don't know, do whatever we do. Preach curl. I feel the same. I feel like it kind of stems from our undergrad. Right. Like, it's so hard to kind of qualify for a DPD and then qualify for a Di. And once you're in a Di, it just gets more competitive because you're in just like such a selective spot of people and then you're out in the real world and it doesn't seem to get any easier. So I think that there's so much space. Right. If we're all working within our superpowers, there's so much space to collaborate and even past referrals to one another. Yes, that's a good point, too. And this is our topic today. But as dietitians, is it possible to know everything about everything? So that's why it's so important to have friends and peers in the field that you can refer to. Because if a client asks me about, like, I keep getting, like, PCOS questions a lot. And I don't know, the first thing about PCOS is a very basic. So I'm always happy to refer to the very many PCOS RDS that are out there. So I love that. Effective as well. Yeah. Well, we are going to go in today more and expertise on cooking and all of that. We had a really great episode idea from one of our listeners, and she wanted to have us talk about easy recipe ideas like how to get in the kitchen. And we were like, that'd be perfect for trustees. So our first big question for you is, what are some of the most common barriers that you often hear about regarding cooking? And I guess I don't know why I ended that question with that inflection. So that's the end of the question. That was so bizarre. What are the most common barriers? Tell us all about it. Yeah. I think people just get overwhelmed with having to search through Pinterest for recipes or feeling, I guess, again, comparison syndrome, like, oh, their meal prep or whatever looks so good. And a lot of the times, even as RDS, we probably are guilty of this. Right? Like, we make something, we take a really sexy picture of it, and then we post it and like, thinking that that has to be what every meal looks like. And truthfully, like, coming from someone who went to culinary school, who is also a dietitian, who loves food, most of my meals are stir fries and they look terrible in a bowl, but they're delicious and they're well balanced and it's amazing. So I think dropping, it has to be perfect thing. I feel like we say this a lot with all of the things like dropping has to be perfect thing. And starting with the basics that I think is super key. If you could understand the fundamentals of cooking, you can do anything in the kitchen. And when I explain this to our DS or when I was explaining this, when I was working like one on one with clients, it was breaking it down to grain cooking and roasting. Those are the two things that if you only know how to do that, you can do so much in the kitchen. Right. So like brain cooking, like quinoa or Brown rice or white rice, because white rice is also delicious and there is space for all of that in this world. And then roasting, meaning some people refer to it as baking, but technically culinarily, it's considered roasting like high heat, a little bit of oil or a little bit of fat, whether it be on your veggies or on your proteins into an oven. Those two skills can get you so far. And I can think of probably like 20 different dishes that you can make from just using those two skills within the kitchen. So that's kind of the end all be all of like, I guess your question, your question that didn't really start like a question. And my answer is that's not really answering like an answer. This is a person of a podcast. You can just say what we want to say and it can be as messy as we want it to be. I love it. Okay. Yeah, I think you're totally right. That is a really good way to put it. If you can just keep it simple, that's going to get the job done. I think we really always do try to not even overestimate our skills, but just think we have to do it way more complex than it really needs to be. And I love that you said you need to know or you need to feel confident in. I guess you don't need to. If you feel confident in these two skills, you can go really far. I feel like a lot of people hearing that will appreciate that because there are so many different ways to Cook things. I know a lot of people I've talked to are afraid to Cook meat. They are all afraid it's going to be under cooked. There's all these different styles of meat and whatnot or different types of vegetables. And I just love that these are the two things. And if you get good at these, then you can make a decent amount. I also didn't know you had a culinary background. Oh, yeah, my undergrad is culinary nutrition. Oh, cool. Rep in Johnson and Wales University. What amazing and I think the other important part of that is to remember that even if you keep the cooking method simple, that doesn't mean that it's not flavorful. Right. You can still add flavor whether you're just cooking grains or you're just roasting or whatever the cooking process is. It doesn't mean that it's not flavorful. And I think healthy also doesn't mean not flavorful. Those are two things that really need to be emphasized but yeah. Do you guys want to break down some cooking processes to kind of, like, signify that I would love to. Cool. Okay, so I call it the ten minute prep. Like, this is something that is like a staple on a weeknight when you're feeling exhausted, but you still want something that's wholesome homemade, delicious. And truthfully, it's probably faster than waiting in a Chick Fil A line or ordering Uber Eats. Right? Like, literally ten minutes of prep and you're done. Okay, so the first thing you start out with is preheating your oven to 425 degrees. I just find that that is, like, the perfect temperature to do all of the things and not have to worry about it. The next thing is, like, we move to the stove. So getting our grains going, because grains typically take a little bit longer than anything in the oven would. Brown rice takes about 40 minutes. Quinoa takes about 15. So I would say choose your grains based off of how much time you have to allow them to Cook or Cook in bulk. And maybe they're just, like, in the fridge ready to go. So with grains, I start with building flavor. That's kind of the essence of all of this. Getting your pot a pot with high sides, ideally to Cook grains, putting a little bit of oil in there. So I typically just use olive oil. But if you want to go Asian with your rice, start with a little bit of sesame oil. This is where we start to build flavor. Then tossing in your grains. After your oil has had time to heat over medium heat for about, like, I don't know, 30 seconds, then you want to add in your grains. Your grains are going to start to toast. They're going to get a little nutty. Again, building flavor. And then we're adding in different herbs and different spices to the next layer. Again, building flavor. So how do you choose herbs and spices? You're probably asking, right? Like, use your nose. So if you have that herb and spice cabinet together, like, wherever that is, I prefer it next to my stove. But, like, grabbing one spice that you like or one herb that you know that you like smelling it and then grabbing another random one, smelling them together. If they smell good together, they're probably going to taste good together. So that's something you can full send into the pot with. I recommend doing a little teaspoon out into your hand so you can figure out how much is enough for what you're making. And then instead of using a measuring spoon to figure out how much liquid that you need. Honestly, I just go right to the stove with that pot, fill it up, and then up to the first digit on your pointer finger. This is like an Asian rice trick, which honestly transcends every grain I've found. So if you fill the water up to the first digit on your pointer finger. And, like, you put your pointer finger into the pot and put it down to where the grain is. It's the perfect amount of liquid for every grain. And it's just amazing. You can choose to add water at that point and continue to Cook your grains. Or you can add another layer of flavor, like mango nectar and water or tea bags and water. That's like a game changer, right? Like, broke College me wasn't about the ramen all the time. So I would just toss, like, black tea bags in when I was making rice or green tea bags and when I was making rice for antioxidant full, but also really delicious rice on the other end of it. So you're going to put that back on, like medium high heat, pop a lid on it, put a timer on for however long your grain needs to Cook. Right. Like, for the longer Brown rice, they'll probably be about 30 to 40 minutes. Quinoa, about 15 to 18, white rice, again, about 15 to 18. So we'll put a timer on, allow it to come to a boil, bring it down to a simmer on low heat, and then shut it off. When the timer goes off, take it off the heat, and then that's our thing. Right? So I know it took a while to explain, but that whole process should take about a minute total, right. To prep it obsessed with all of that. The way you talk about these different tips and tricks. I'm like enamored right now by all this. Just so you know, like, I'm in a cooking class. I think I'm on Food Network right now. Yes, the chellist. Do you have a ten minute master class? I love it. Oh, my gosh. What are some herbs that you guys use that you would want to explore different flavors with? So I'm a garlic girl at heart. Garlic goes on everything. I know it's very basic of me. Garlic, and I also love paprika is my two big ones that I use in most things. Okay. So right off the bat, my mind goes Italian with garlic and doing some type of Italian blend. But garlic can also be used in Mexican cuisine. So combining that with cumin and coriander or combining that with chili powder to kind of go a little bit more South American and then with paprika, maybe not so much with the grains, but when we get to the meat, I have an idea for that. Okay. Okay. Emily, I don't even know if this is probably a spice, like red pepper flakes. I put that on everything, like, probably too much. But I don't like your spicy. You like spicy stuff. I totally agree with that. But pepper Flake is, like, literally on everything that I make. And sometimes I'm like, oh, wait, I didn't add any heat. Red pepper Flake. So I totally get that. That would be really good with black tea, I think with quinoa black tea. I've never heard of doing the tea. And the mango blows my mind. And I think depending on the population that you're working with, too, I used that a lot when I was working with people with heart disease who had to minimize the amount of salt. And that's why I'm so focused on bringing up the flavor aspect of things. So game changer. So cool. They have, like, that giant mango nectar at Costco. I'm going to have to get that tip. Yeah, the tip with the nectar, though, you have to do half nectar, half water, because if not, then it's too thick. And the kernels of grains, they don't have enough liquid to poof up. Got you. Trial and error. Okay, that's definitely made error. Amazing. Okay, tell us about the oven side of it. Yes, I cut you off. Grains. You're good. We had to know our spice combinations. Hannah quiz. Yes. Oh, my God. Yeah, that might be something. Put it on your homepage of your website. What are you. Yeah, I love it. I love it. This is why our DS collaborate. Yes. Okay, so onto the oven side of things. I like to keep it super simple. And I don't like clean up. I don't know about you guys, but that is not my favorite part of cooking. And that's also I find another hindrance to people cooking. Right. Like, I have to Cook and clean. Terrible. So I like to line a parchment, or rather a sheet tray with parchment paper for super easy clean up, because then, like, depending on what you're making, literally all you have to do is crumple the parchment paper and toss it. So some really easy things for a ten minute meal, or rather, ten minute prep that you don't have to worry about. Frozen fish filets. Game changer. Right? Like, we all want our clients to embrace fish a little bit more in whatever shape or form that looks like. And sometimes you can't get fresh fish depending on where you're at. So I highly recommend getting some frozen fish filets and then judging them up a little bit. It's a game changer. So literally, from frozen, you can forget to defrost anything that day. And from frozen, grab your frozen salmon or frozen tilapia or whatever that looks like. Pop it still frozen on a sheet tray and grab another frozen veggie that you love. I find that frozen cruciferous veggies, like broccoli or space broccoli. What is that called? Romesco, romanesco. You guys know what I'm talking about. I have no idea. Okay,
Participant #1:
wait, I'm Googling. Wait, this can be our next bonus question. Emily. Oh, my gosh, we forgot. No, we didn't forget. I didn't forget. I thought I send you the question, but that could be a really good bonus question. What's the best type of broccoli? I didn't know there was more than one. I blown away. Right. It's called Romanesco. I'm pretty sure but it looks spiral, which is why I called this thing. I've seen it up like Whole Foods. I live in Europe, so it's very common here, but it's sweeter. If you've ever had, like the sweetest cauliflower ever, it's like a cross between cauliflower and broccoli. It's bomb. I'm including a link of this broccoli in the description because I have never seen this before. Oh, my gosh, it looks so cool anyway. Cooler than it. You're talking about cruciferous frozen veggies. Carry on, Carrie. Yeah, so cruciferous like Hardy veggies. But you can also roast sliced onions or sliced Bell peppers or like an Asian stir Fry mix or whatever kind of frozen veggies you have. So don't feel limited. But I find that, like, those just happen to roast the best. So don't do anything to them, literally, from the freezer to the sheet pan, put them in the oven, walk away. Put a timer on. Obviously, like 15 ish minutes, depending on how big your fish fillet is. I would say 15 to 20 ish minutes. And your veggies will also probably need about the same amount of time. So just walk away. Go do what you got to do. Go clean your house. Go have fun with your family. Go outside. Maybe don't go outside, but do things in your house. And then when all of your alarms and timers go off, like you pull your rice or your grain off, allow it to sit, you'll fluff it eventually. Fun things to add at the end to that are like lemon juice or lime juice. And adding the lime juice or lemon juice at the end prevents the kernels from getting mushy and funky. You can also rather add in lime zest or lime zest or lemon zest at the end or Orange zest. Get wild and crazy with your zest and then that's it, right? Then your green is done. You can also add in fresh herbs. I forgot about that. And then when your stuff comes out of the oven, this is the time that you can add flavor to it. I recommend adding flavor after your frozen stuff comes out of the oven because frozen items tend to have a lot of liquid or like water in them. And if you put oil and water together, it turns into this oil floating on top of your water in the oven. And it's not great. So whenever you're going from frozen, just go straight into the oven. Don't have to do anything to it, right? So with that tilapia or with that salmon, that's a great opportunity to maybe do like a little bit of soy sauce on it. Or you can go back into your spice cabinet, start smelling different things together. I know, Hannah, I mentioned earlier with your paprika. I love doing cocoa and paprika together. Not necessarily on fish, but it's great on chicken. Like if you have a piece of chicken, whether it be breast or thigh or whatever, without bones. They're going to Cook faster in the oven, like for this kind of situation. So just like smacking it with some cocoa and paprika or just sprinkling it with your fingers. Cocoa and paprika. Delicious combination. You'll add those dried spices or dried herbs when everything comes out of the oven to your salmon or to your fish and to your veggies. And then obviously a little bit of salt, a little bit of pepper or whatever you need there with the veggies. I like to drizzle extra Virgin olive oil when they come out extra Virgin. I don't personally like to Cook with it. I think of it more as like a salad dressing, drizzleable kind of oil. And obviously the vitamin E properties are going to be better when it's not heated. So that's why I recommend doing it afterwards and use your good stuff, because you're actually going to taste it. Little salt, a little pepper, maybe a little bit of lemon juice or lime juice, whatever that looks like. Or maybe like vinegar too, right? I feel like sometimes we forget about vinegar for flavor, but that can be a really great addition at the end. So that is the key to the ten minute meal. And don't feel like you have to use fish. If that's not your jam, you can do that same process with boneless chicken thighs or even chicken breast. A normal sized chicken breast, not like a Tyson sized chicken breast, will Cook up in about 15 to 20 minutes. A Tyson size will probably Cook up in about 30 depending. And that's something that you kind of just have to judge it out. But if you don't have a thermometer a great way to test your meat is to use your hand test. Have you guys seen this before? Like, this is raw. And then you put your finger down. Okay, let me explain this better. Podcast, right? Okay, so open your hand and then touch the gooey part of your thumb, like the inner part of your thumb. That's raw. You put your pointer finger towards that gooey part of your thumb. That's medium. No, that's like rare, rare meat. So like for beef. And then your middle finger down is medium, ring finger medium well. And then Pinky finger down is well done. So well done is what you want for chicken. If you're doing that. A little bit about me, include a snippet of that so people can see that on social media. So if they don't watch YouTube, what's the gooey? That's awesome. Gosh. But yeah, I feel like fish needs to have a moment. Like, fish is so good and so easy. People often I think, are fearful of cooking fish. And I think it's like one of the easiest. I don't know if it's classified as meat, but one of the easiest proteins to make. I think so too. I mean, all you have to do is wait for it to Flake and if it doesn't Flake, you keep it in the oven longer. That's it. And like shrimp, too. Shrimp is so easy, and it cooks in 2 seconds. Yeah. Shrimp is like a game changer, too. That's also what I do from frozen, like in a pan with also frozen veggies. Like, game changer. Game changer. You took us through a journey. Now everyone knows how to prep meals in ten minutes, and everyone's going to be a cooking pro after this. Yes. But what are kind of the benefits? I'm feeling really good about cooking right now, but kind of one of the benefits of being confident in the kitchen. You keep giving us some skills, but talk us through like, some people, I just know they're in their 40s. I've had clients that are in their forty s, and they're just like, I don't know how to Cook. I never learned. And at this point, I don't know if I need to learn. What are the benefits of becoming confident in the kitchen? That's a great question. I think it just gives you some freedom to explore. Right. Like, we have so many different outlets, or maybe we don't that we could just kind of explore and have fun with. And I feel like cooking is one of them. I always say there's no rules in the kitchen because who knows? You may find two flavors that just really happened to work. One of my past clients put cinnamon on his broccoli, and that's his go to thing. Now I'm like, dude, what? So I feel like that's the cool part. Right. And there's endless possibilities. So I think having confidence translates to knowing the skill set behind it so that you can Cook anything without a recipe. Right. I like my clients and the RDS that I work with also to get to the point where they can literally spin a globe, put their finger down, maybe research a recipe and not have to look through the steps of that recipe, but by knowing the cooking process behind it. Let's take tangent from the Morocco area. That sounds scary. It sounds really, I don't know, complicated to make, but truthfully, it's a stew. And as long as you understand the process of making a stew, you can make it. The only thing that changes are the flavor profiles behind it. Right. So maybe there's, like, cumin, coriander, and cinnamon in it, as well as some dried fruit. That's pretty much the only difference. And then you spin the globe again, and maybe you go to Northern Italy where they're, I don't know, poaching something in, like a pasta sauce or like a tomato sauce. It's poaching. Right. Or it's like a very slow and low form of cooking. So I think that it really just opens up the possibilities of what you can do in your kitchen so that you can get, I don't know, just a little bit more international exposure at home and not feel like you have to go outside for every meal to have an amazingly flavorful meal. That's so interesting. So kind of what you're saying is if you can figure out the basics, like the basic cooking methods and types of cuisines from there, you can really expand and make all different kinds of dishes without a recipe. I think that's what I don't like about cooking is like following a recipe. I hate to have my phone up and trying to scroll through it. It's like jump. Trust me on the blog, which has like 18 million paragraphs. I don't know why, but I just get so flustered by that. And so I think if I can just make a lasagna from scratch, that always just feels so good to not have to worry about my phone being there, listen to music or watch a show or whatever. And I do feel more confident in that way. So I love that. I also love how you brought up the different areas of the world and kind of like going down to the basics because I feel like maybe it's just moving in little like the Midwest of the United States, where maybe if we're in Chicago, like, there's a lot more variety and flavor profiles and whatnot. But a lot of people like to stick to what they know. And when it comes to trying different types of foods, it's either like eating out or that's it they don't make it themselves because it seems so different. I know. Yeah. One of my favorite go to meals is SAG paneer from Indian cuisine. And that's something that I initially had. I think it was like a teenager in a restaurant. It's not something that I made at home. But then I realized how I don't say easy it is. But you understand the process, right. Just generally from this conversation, like, you know how to hate oil in a pan. You know how to add spices to the pan and then add spinach, in this case, to a pan. Allow spinach to Cook and then add paneer, which is basically like a soft cheese that they make. And maybe you can't find paneer, but you can also use more of like a Greek style Hului, which is a little bit squeaky. It's like a squeaky cheese. I don't know how else to explain it, but it's like a squeaky cheese that you could grill and it would still hold its form. Or you could use feta and just mix it up a little bit. No, it's not like 100% culturally appropriate in that instance. But I think exploring some of these flavors with what you have around you can just be really fun and just kind of switch it up a little bit, especially if you're in an area where some of those foods aren't the norm and you want to explore. Oh, yeah. I live in beef and noodles, meat and potatoes territory in Indiana, so that's really good advice, actually. So to kind of finish us off. Celestina, I know we kind of already went over a bunch of different recipes, but do you have any other last minute go to meals that you would like for our listeners to be able to add to their menu? I think one of my favorites has to be stir Fry, and that's something that you can still do with frozen veggies as well. So if you are making a stir Fry at home with frozen veggies, start with a cold pan. I know that sounds counterintuitive, but they'll defrost steam and then get crispy. So that, I think, is game changer, because after my long day with coffee fuel day of being an Rd, I love cooking, but I also sometimes don't like prepping. So using frozen veggies in that way, just like a dump into a cold pan, allow the heat to come up, allow them to steam. Once the water is evaporated, that's when you can add in your oil and any other flavors that you want to add in. I love ginger, sesame, sesame oil, too. Soy sauce and some ball is like my key, right. So it doesn't have to be complicated. And that's I think, another thing. Right. Like using some of the condiments that you already have in your fridge, lime juice, sambal and soy sauce can make an amazing, really quick and easy sauce for frozen veggies like that. And maybe you are cooking chicken in the oven while those veggies are doing their thing. And maybe you have rice precooked, or maybe you have one of those rice packets that all you have to do is microwave for like a minute game changer, guys. And then you have a delicious, I guess, quote unquote, Asian inspired meal. And I think that's also something important. Right. It can be that culture inspired. It doesn't have to be like wordforword everything, like all of the flavors from that particular part of the world. So that's probably one of my favorite go to's and one of the most delicious things that we make on repeat. I love stir fries. Attention. They're so easy and so good. Yeah, I did not know that. Cold Pantric. Is that what you're going to do? Trial and error, guys. Don't be afraid to try new things.
Participant #1:
Cool. So we always like to wrap up our guest episodes with giving you the floor with what are your final thoughts on all things cooking and ten minute meals? And this is kind of we always like to joke that if they were to hear nothing else Besides your little blurb right here, what would you like them to kind of take away from this? Start small, start with what you're comfortable with. And even if it's not a ton of herbs and spices, go for the cooking method. Master the cooking method. And cooking is going to be so much easier. And I think for the RDS out there, assuming that your client literally knows nothing about food and being able to simplify it in this way and maybe even break it down into, like, three to five steps Max for them. So breaking down the grain cooking and the roasting process into three to five steps Max is going to make it so much more approachable for your clients, too. I feel like this whole episode is just a caffeine class. That's amazing. I am blown away. I want everyone to listen to this episode. Me too. It's like, definitely one of a kind for us. Usually we talk about the keto diet and that kind of thing. This is a good change of mind. I'm sure they'll appreciate so much positivity. Yes. And happiness. But cool. So we always like to end our episodes with a bonus question. And this is kind of a little bit of a debate, but it's more so us just kind of sharing our opinions on things. Okay. We always like to let our guest start. The bonus question for this episode is if you could only use one kitchen tool for the rest of your life, what would you choose? Cast iron pan. Oh, that's a great answer. Yeah, that's a great answer.
Participant #1:
Okay, so I love a cast iron because you can make it nonstick, right? Like, if you give it, like, the proper TLC, you can make it nonstick and Cook an egg on it. But then that same pan can go into, like, a scream at hot oven or under the broiler or in my pizza oven and it can handle all of it. That's why I love a cast iron. I think that's a logical answer.
Participant #1:
There's no wrong answers.
Participant #1:
Actually, I'm curious. Trust this is not on our outline, so if you don't want to answer that's, fine. But what are your thoughts on air fryers? I feel like they're very controversial. I'm dying to know your thoughts on air fryers. Yeah, I think there are waste of space on the counter. However, that's because I have an oven with a fan called convection. So I can technically, like, I guess air Fry in my oven because I have a fan. If you don't have a fan in your oven, I can see the benefit of an air fryer. But even if you have, like, a nice one, they don't have very much space inside. So I feel like you're having to Cook multiple batches, which is kind of annoying. Yeah. That's why I was wondering, because they are so controversial. I love mine because I don't have convection. Right. Not convention convection. I mostly use it for reheating stuff. Like, I'll reheat French fries so they get nice and crispy. Or like, I made some sweet potatoes other night, like sweet potato fries and reheated those in the air fryer. So they got all crispy. So I use mine a lot for everything. I don't have it on the counter. I kind of store it away and pull it up and I need it, which is really annoying. So I agree with the waste of space thing, but if I can't choose castiron, I'm going to have to go with Airfryer for my answer. I do love my airfare. Emily, you look perplexed. What I want to share because I was thinking of a completely different tool. I will say my initial thought, like the very first thing I had thought of was tongs. So you can't my first answer was going to be a Butcher knives.
Participant #1:
Yes. I love big Butcher knives. And then I was going to say a spatula because I love spatula. That's a good one. I think it's essential, though. I want to hear your guy's opinion because I get in this argument all the time with my sister. So she listens to this episode, she's going to know which answer is right. So with Stash, when you think you can't see my screen, there's the ones that you flip things with. But then there's also the flimsy ones that you use, like the rubber spatulas. Yes. Are they both spatulas? They are. I think of one is like a pancake spatula, like a Flippy one. And I would probably only use it to flip pancakes because it's pointless otherwise. And a silicone spat like the one that you like scrape a bowl with or like scrape a pan with is also a spatula. But I call it a silicone spat. Yeah, I like silicone spat better. That sounds so fantastic. I'm going to start saying that. Don't tell Lizzy this, but I have the pancake spatulas that are also silicone. It's not flimsy. It's not flimsy, but it's like silicone. So don't let us part of the podcast. But I agree that the Scrapy ones are. What was the question? Which one is best? Oh, no, it was more so like which one is more of? I didn't even say the question. It was just more so like, which one do you think of? Hers was the Flippy. Mine was the silicone spat. Well, if someone says spatula, I think of the pancake Flippy guy. Really? Yeah. That's so interesting. I don't know what I think of like flipper. Maybe it's because I watched SpongeBob a little bit growing up and I just think of the crusty crab. I don't know. I don't know where it comes from. My first thought is like the pancake or like a burger. Yeah.
Participant #1:
Interesting. I'm glad I asked two other professionals. I call myself a professional on this, but it definitely is. Yeah. Okay, cool. But mine are not as cool as yours. Butcher knife and smash. But your knife is so badass. That's what you're going to answer. They're also very underrated because I know people struggle with like whacking, open squashes, especially like butternut. And with that it's just like one angry whack. And you're good. Yes, especially. I love them. Yeah. I did not know that about you, Emily. I really appreciate Sharkknife. I did not know that in my old age. Yes. Game changer. Yeah. I get irrationally mad when I go places or like a friend's house and they don't have serrated knives. For something that needs a serrated knife, I'm like, what am I supposed to do with this duel edge? Like, it's going to splash the things like tomatoes offline. Send me your address. I'm going to get you a knife kit. You can bring your knives with you. Yes, please. I'm showing up like social events. Don't worry. It's like a charcuterie board. Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh. Celestina thank you so much for being on the podcast. This has been an absolute treat. I learned something. I know everyone else had to have learned something because we learned so many cool little tidbits today. Tell our listeners where they can find you if they want to learn more tips, hear more of your knowledge, whatever it is, this is kind of your floor to kind of talk about whatever you want that you want to promote. Cool. So I am most active on Instagram, and it's all one word, the dietitian collaborative, because I'm again all about lifting up RDS, but with cooking stuff that is all Wellness Cucina related. And that's the OG name of my biz so wellnesscucuinaallc.com. That is like all things cooking related. So for RDS who want to help their clients simplify all things cooking, I have a more in depth version of what we just talked about today in my resource library, which is called the Kitchen Confidence Resource Library. Makes sense. But yeah, it's a really cool tool that RDS can join the membership and then license to their clients so their clients can have access to it. We do weekly recipe breakdown, so similar to how we did it today, like breaking it down to three to five steps, super simple so that your clients can feel really confident making those dishes without having to follow a recipe. And I think I have like ten different cooking methods in there, so it's very comprehensive and I keep adding information. So that is like my baby brainchild of all things cooking. And even if you're not an Rd, if you want access to that, there is an annual membership for lay people who are just really interested in cooking. That is so cool. That is so cool. We will share a link to all that below so you guys can find it. What a good episode. Thank you again to Celestina for joining us today. We know that they're going to love this one. This is a good one. Oh, yeah. Okay. This was a blast. I'm so stoked that we were here and I'm really happy that I napped. We're happy you nap, too. You're driving? Yes. Cool. Well, everyone go check out Celestina's Links. If you don't, you're missing out. Otherwise. Thank you so much for listening to today's episode. We love all of your support so much. We will see you next week. Otherwise have a great rest of your day. Yes. Thanks for listening guys. Bye bye.
