A Couple Cooks | Small Bites Alex and Sonja Overhiser

Food & Wine Culinary Director Justin Chapple joins us for this episode and shares some mad genius cooking tips for spicing up your kitchen! Inspired by his grandmother’s way of making something out of nothing, Justin has gone on to have an illustrious career helping home cooks cook better, quicker, and more delicious food. For our small bite, we eat a smoky marinara soup that tastes like it’s been simmering for hours.
 
Connect: Find Justin on Instagram as @justinchapple and on Food & Wine’s video series Mad Genius Tips
 
Book: Just Cook It by Justin Chapple
 
Small Bite Recipe: Smoky marinara soup from Just Cook It
 
Find A Couple Cooks: Find Sonja & Alex on Instagram at @acouplecooks or online at www.acouplecooks.com. Find Pretty Simple Cooking online and everywhere books are sold.

Are carbs bad? Are detox diets worth it? In this episode we sit down with two Registered Dieticians with an evidence based approach to eating: Jess and Wendy of Food Heaven Made Easy and the Food Heaven Podcast. They break down food myths and help us with a few practical meal planning tips. For our small bite, some crispy, salty stovetop potatoes that count as part of a balanced diet!
 
Connect: Find Wendy and Jess on the Food Heaven Made Easy website, on Instagram as @foodheavenshow, or as hosts of the podcast Food Heaven Show
 
Small Bite Recipe: Crispy Stovetop Potato Rounds from Food Heaven Made Easy
 
Find A Couple Cooks: Find Sonja & Alex on Instagram at @acouplecooks or online at www.acouplecooks.com. Find Pretty Simple Cooking online and everywhere books are sold.

Hosting tips straight out of Hollywood from an actress and mom of two! It’s Tiffani Thiessen, who you might know as Kelly Kapowski from Saved by the Bell. Tiffani shares her passion for bringing people together over food, and breaks down some fun ways to help people connect at the dinner table. With her interview, we pair a lemon feta dip from her new book, Pull Up a Chair.
 
Book: Pull Up a Chair: Recipes from My Family to Yours by Tiffani Thiessen
 
Small Bite Recipe: Lemon Feta from Pull Up a Chair
 
Find A Couple Cooks: Find Sonja & Alex on Instagram at @acouplecooks or online at www.acouplecooks.com. Find Pretty Simple Cooking online and everywhere books are sold.

Why eat organic? It’s a complicated question, so we’ve brought in an expert: the famed Gary Hirshberg who founded America’s largest organic yogurt company. Gary breaks down the benefits of organic for us as a Win, Win, Win: and helps us understand how to start with some organic baby steps. For our small bite with Gary’s interview, our fan favorite apple manchego salad. Another must listen!
Connect: Gary’s “origin story” interview on How I Built This
Book: Stirring It Up: How to Make Money and Save the World
 
Resources:
Dirty Dozen List: the top 12 products you should splurge on for organic produce
Skin Deep Cosmetics Database
Gary’s StonyFIELDS project to remove pesticides from playing fields
 
Small Bite Recipe: Apple Manchego Salad from A Couple Cooks
 
Find A Couple Cooks: Find Sonja & Alex on Instagram at @acouplecooks or online at www.acouplecooks.com. Find Pretty Simple Cooking online and everywhere books are sold.

“I don’t expect perfection: I long for relationship.” Cookbook author and video series host Ashley Rodriguez joins us to talk about life around the table. In an Instagram-saturated world, how do we overcome our desire for a perfect meal and simply gather around the table? We also chat about teaching kids of all kinds learn to embrace the beauty of food. With Ashley’s interview, we pair a charred scallion dip from her new book, Let’s Stay In.
 
Connect: Find Ashley Rodriguez at the Not Without Salt website, on Instagram as @ashrod, or as the host and producer of the video series Kitchen Unnecessary
 
Book: Let’s Stay In by Ashley Rodriguez
 
Small Bite Recipe: Charred Scallion Dip from Let’s Stay In
 
Find A Couple Cooks: Find Sonja & Alex on Instagram at @acouplecooks or online at www.acouplecooks.com. Find Pretty Simple Cooking online and everywhere books are sold.

Culinary legend Mark Bittman joins us for an intimate conversation about trendy diets and how to make our world a better place through food. His book Food Matters was a part of a growing food movement 10 years ago, but are we eating better today? After writing a 20-year New York Times food column, authoring countless books and being in 4 television series’, there’s still conversation to be had. With Mark's interview, we pair a simple bruschetta you can make in 5 minutes with simple ingredients.
 
Connect: Find Mark Bittman at markbittman.com, subscribe to his newsletter here, and follow him on Instagram @markbittman
 
Small Bite Recipe: White Bean Bruschetta, Idea 19 from 101 Simple Appetizers in 20 Minutes or Less
 
Find A Couple Cooks: Find Sonja & Alex on Instagram at @acouplecooks or online at www.acouplecooks.com. Find Pretty Simple Cooking online and everywhere books are sold.