Jackie Sun has been one of the greatest blessings to Cook Smarts. She was the first person I hired and took me from a one-woman show to a two-woman show. Not only has she proved herself to be an integral part of the team, but she is such a gentle, caring soul and has made me a better person over the years we’ve worked together.    In today’s episode, we’re getting to know this multi-talented lady and also taking a walk down memory lane. I cannot believe that Jackie has been working with me for 7 years -- time absolutely flies! Among the many stories you’ll get to hear:   How Ja ..read more

We’re on a little summer break, so I’m introducing you to another one of our Cook Smarts team members!   If every company had a Sarah Byun on the team, companies would have many, many more happy customers. Sarah started off as a Cook Smarts customer in 2014 and then joined our team as our Kitchen Happiness Cheerleader in the spring of 2015. Since then, she has helped countless customers get their questions answered, concerns addressed, typos on their emails fixed, always with the most cheerful demeanor.    In today’s episode, you’ll get to know this amazing multi-tasking mama an ..read more

We’re on a little summer break, so we’re rerunning one of my favorite episodes!   One of the best things that’s happened to Cook Smarts is bringing on a dedicated meal plan developer. Jess Smith joined the team in the spring of 2015, all the way from Thailand and has taken our recipe development process and the quality of our meals to a whole other level.   In today’s episode, we’re getting to know this multi-talented lady and also giving you a behind the scenes of our small little company. Plus, you’ll get to hear:   How she made a huge career switch going from working for the ..read more

For the full set of links from today’s episode, head to the show notes at www.cooksmarts.com/podcast/33   In today’s episode, I’m covering the five main flavor profiles: salty / umami, sweet, sour, bitter, and spice. Most of us are just following recipes when we’re in the kitchen but if you develop an understanding of flavor and how it’s created using a wide variety of ingredients, you’ll be free to go off-roading and become much more confident tinkering with recipes (or even creating your own!).    Here’s what we’ll cover: The concept of “The Flavor Star,” and how flavor profi ..read more

In today’s podcast episode, we are bringing in teacher extraordinaire Katie Kimball to give us a few cooking and parenting lessons. Katie is an advocate for healthy kids cooking, a blogger, former teacher and the founder of the Kids Cook Real Food eCourse. Her blog, Kitchen Stewardship helps families stay healthy without going crazy, and she’s on a mission to connect families around healthy food and teach every child in America to cook.   We are actually going through Katie’s course right now, and it’s been so fun. Katie is one of those people who was just born to teach kids. She has a na ..read more

In today’s podcast episode, we’re checking in with another one of our all-star community members Lauren Davis. Lauren lives in the San Francisco Bay Area and is the mom to 4 year old Gavin. Her husband is immunocompromised so she has been extra diligent about staying away from the grocery stores and this definitely requires some next level planning.   In addition to the adjustments required for the pandemic, her family has also moved in with her parents, which is introducing another element into her planning process. However, using a sophisticated Post-It Note system (head to our show not ..read more

In today’s podcast episode, we’re checking in with one of our favorite community members Gabrielle Smith. Gabrielle lives in Fort Worth Texas with her husband and her 7 year old son and 4 year old daughter. While she works as an attorney, she could just as easily be a professional meal planner and prepper.   Gabrielle has been one of our most active Facebook members. She so generously offers tips and suggestions when others need it and routinely shares not only photos of her meals but the comments of the food critics she cooks for. During the time she’s been a part of our community, I can ..read more

* G I V E A W A Y*  Our podcast turned 1, and we are doing a little $50 Amazon gift card birthday giveaway. Leave us a review on Apple Podcast, snap a screenshot of your review and text it to 650-386-0290. It has to be a new review dated after April 22nd. If you’ve already left a review in the past but still want to enter the giveaway, you can leave your review as a voice message at the same number, and we might just play it on a future episode. At the end of the month, I’ll select 1 winner at random!   In our latest podcast episode, I got to chat with Yvette Marquez all about Mexica ..read more

We are rerunning episode 8 because like everyone in the world, our schedule got a little thrown off by the coronavirus. Since Earth Day was yesterday, we thought it was the perfect time to replay one of our most popular episodes from season 1. Plus, 2 new special guests appear in the intro!   In this podcast episode, I’m sharing how I’m trying to create a greener kitchen and reduce the amount of waste, especially plastic waste, that my family produces and tosses.    Ever since having kids 4 years ago, I’ve become so much more aware of all the waste, we as a modern family of 5 pr ..read more

To celebrate our podcast’s first birthday, we are doing a giveaway for a $50 Amazon gift card.   All you need to do is leave a review on Apple Podcast. Snap a screenshot of your review and text it to 650-386-0290. It has to be a new review dated after April 22nd.   So If you’ve already left a review in the past or are not an Apple person but still want to enter the giveaway, you can leave your review as a voice message at the same number 650-386-0290 and we might just play it on a future episode. I will select a winner Friday, May 15th but don’t procrastinate. I know you’re just stuc ..read more