MM Interview: Fat Girl Kitchen

I am really excited to introduce to you to Jenapher, from Fat Girl Kitchen.  I met her on Facebook through a mutual friend and I just adore her blog. She is laugh-out-loud, entertaining and the girl knows how to cook and write!  I asked her to be apart of a series of interviews I plan on posting this year and she graciously agreed to be my first!  Aside from writing her "crack me up" blog, she self-published her very own cookbook, which is available to purchase!

Question - What do you get when you combine 4 cups of the efficient semi-homemade styling of Sandra Lee, 3 helpings of the artery clogging, butter drenched, down-home cooking of Paula Deen, 2 pounds of the Mr. Wizard-esque geekiness of Alton Brown, 1/4 tbsp of the inspirational insight of Oprah Winfrey, and a dash of Seinfeld-like social commentary?

Answer - You get Fat Girl Food.

My mom is Hispanic and my dad is Yugoslavian/Danish, so clearly I grew up in a home with a deep love of food, broad cultural roots and I first learned to cook at my mom’s elbow. I grew up in the lazy/privileged/instant-gratification generation, so college was a great opportunity for me to really develop my own unique culinary skills - and by that, I mean figure out how to make food that tastes great, doesn't break the bank, comes together quickly, and stores well.

Then I ran across an episode of Alton Brown’s Good Eats and my life changed. Alton intended Good Eats to be part Julia Child, part Monty Python, and part Mr. Wizard. I grew up on all those shows, and for the first time I started learning about the science behind the food I loved to make and had been cooking all my life.

Something else that’s been going on my whole life is my weight. Though I have pictures of me as a skinny little girl, in living memory I’ve always been the size I am - which is supersized. I spent a long time hating everything about myself. Then I was lucky enough to have a best friend (Marty) and to fall in love with my amazing husband who taught me that, while I’m not perfect, I’m pretty flippin’ awesome. Most importantly, they taught me that I’m worthy of love.

What inspired Fat Girl Kitchen? Well, for years, friends and family had told me that I needed to write a cookbook, but I always felt that cooking was more of a ‘hobby’ for me, you know? People asked for my recipes often enough, at parties/potlucks/etc, that if I brought a dish I almost always brought 7-10 recipe cards printed out.  

Fat Hubby, though, is the single biggest reason that we published Fat Girl Food. Originally, it was just intended to be a Christmas gift for friends and family. As we were editing it, though, and received critical reviews of individual recipes from friends & family, Ryan kept saying, “We need to sell this. This is an awesome book. Jena, I don’t even like to cook, and not only do I enjoy reading this book, I feel it’s made me a better cook".

We looked into submitting it to publishing houses, but the terms were not enticing– no creative control, no input on marketing, no nothing, & maybe a $0.10-0.20 royalty on each book. Fat Hubby and I run a print shop (it’s our day job), Ryan has 15 years’ experience in marketing (especially in online marketing), I do basic graphic design, and it just seemed silly to outsource/give up control over all of that. So we did it ourselves, and I’m SO glad we did!

What are some of your favorite cookbooks? I love, love, LOVE Alton Brown’s I’m Just Here for the Food: Food + Heat = Cooking. His cookbook is the only that included ‘handwritten’ notes from the author in the margins. I loved that concept so much, I used it in Fat Girl Food. I’m not stingy; I’ll give props where props are due.

I also love the Southern Living Cookbook, that’s my cold-rainy-day-cuddle-up cookbook, without a doubt. Not a go-to source for diet food but a great resource for classic comfort food.

Even though it’s not technically a cookbook, I adore Alton Brown’s Gear for Your Kitchen. I haven’t always had the beautiful, big kitchen I have now, and Alton gives lots of great pointers about how to make any kitchen of any size work for you.

I also just got Paula Deen’s Southern Cooking Bible and while I’m only a few pages into it, I can just tell I’m gonna love it, too. It’s not that much of a stretch, you know? We have culinary minds (and tummies) of a similar bent.

Got any favorite cooking shows? If you only ever watch one cooking show, every episode of every season, watch Alton Brown’s Good Eats. Most other shows are just video recipe cards – not so with Good Eats. If you watch it, not only will you have fun whether you want to or not, there is no way you will not become a better cook. Alton is really good at explaining the science of cooking in an easy-to-understand way, and is a master at explaining how THIS science relates to THAT science, and why this process is good for these types of foods, etc. Plus, he’s geeky – and I’m always down with that!

If you knew tomorrow was your last day on earth, what would your last three meals be? That entirely depends on if I have to cook or not. I love cooking, but (especially being 6 months pregnant) it really takes it out of me. But, assuming someone else is cooking for me on my last day, I’d want a mess of my mama’s pan fried chicken, some Welfare Casserole, a plain hot dog, some sliced cucumbers and cauliflower florets dipped in my Semi-Homemade Ranch, a big bowl of Schwann’s Sweet-n-Salty Ice Cream, and a hunk of bone marrow. No "meals", just let me graze all day long.

Top three favorite restaurants?  Wicked Spoon at the Cosmopolitan (Las Vegas, NV). All-you-can-eat 5 star dining for $30? How could I NOT?


Culinary Dropouts (Scottsdale, AZ). An eclectic, funky, indy-coffeehouse vibe with food that is mouth-slappingly innovative AND foodgasmically delicious? Worth the drive, every time.


Claim Jumper. I know, “Gasp – a chain?” I’ve got two words for you, my friend –Brontosaurus Ribs. I think they call them ‘beef’ ribs, but when they bring out that huge platter of yard-long ribs, TELL me you don’t immediately think of when Fred Flintstone gets his car flipped by the poor placement of dino ribs. SOLD!



Buy the Book: www.FatGirlFood.com
Follow the Blog: www.FatGirlKitchen.com

Part Deux and Part Tres: Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution

Earlier this week, I blogged about Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution and my attempt at one of his recipes, which turned out pretty damn tasty. I also promised a future post on a few other recipes from his book which I made later in the week. Chicken and Leek Stroganoff and Italian Pan Seared Tuna.

The Salmon Tikka I made at the beginning of the week was delicious, satisfying and a terrific choice for a quick weeknight fix. The Chicken and Leek Stroganoff, not so much. I had high hopes for this recipe, but it just turned out into something bland and a bit on the boring side. And let's be honest, with the cream, it wasn't exactly "healthy".

The Italian Pan Seared Tuna on the other hand, was scrumptious. Seasoned with salt, pepper and oregano, I seared the tuna in a little olive oil and kept it warm in the oven while I sauteed cherry heirloom tomatoes, anchovies, olives and a ton of basil. I finished the dish with some bowtie pasta and I couldn't have had a bigger smile on my lil' face. There are still a few recipes I want to try before I return the book to my library, but one can't argue with 2 out of 3 recipes named a success.

Getting in Touch with your Feminine Side.

Maybe you knew this already, but I'm a part of a book club here in L.A. Part of our ritual when we get together to discuss the book is to cook dishes inspired from the book that we recently read. Over the weekend, we met to discuss our most recent book, The Red Tent by Anita Diamant. The story is a fictional story about Dinah, a character in the Bible. Very little is written about her in Genesis 34 and this author does a phenomenal job of weaving a story together about love, forgiveness, anger, feminine power, midwifery and so many more topics. I highly recommend the book and am willing to pass along my copy to the first person who makes a comment on this post!

The book was rich with descriptions of meals, snacks and other culinary treats that they ate during this time frame in history. My contribution to the meal was a honey cake (which I sadly did not get a photo of) and a loaf of olive bread. Once again, I turned to my trusty No Knead book for this recipe. It was dense, chewy and hearty. I made it with 2/3 whole wheat pastry flour and 1/3 unbleached all purpose flour. It was delicious with a slab of butter or some of the other dips and spreads that were featured at our meeting.

What's fer Dinner?

Like the rest of America, I too, was sucked into Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution. Of course, I watched it post all of the hype. After watching the series one weekend online, I decided to borrow his book from the library (aptly named after the series). Oliver is enduring, adorable and you can't help but fall in love with his political rhetoric, he means business and he cares. That much I know is true, his message is simple and his heart is in the right place. If you haven't watched the series, Oliver goes to what has been dubbed as the most unhealthy city in American, in an effort to educate them with respect to cooking fresh, simple and healthy meals. He hits many walls and obstacles, but he doesn't give in to fear and barge ahead, spreading his gospel.

Tonight, I made one of his 20 minute recipes - Quick Salmon Tikka with Cucumber Yogurt (pictured above). Guess what? I actually made the dish in 20 minutes, prep and all, I was pretty surprised. It was fresh, simple and uber tasty. I've planned on making a couple other recipes from the book this week, so I guess we could dub this week, "Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution Week: Part 1".

The salmon was rubbed with a tandoori paste and sauteed in a pan. I made a quick yogurt sauce with greek yougrt, cucumbers, lemon juice, red chile, salt and pepper. Put a piece of garlic naan from Trader Joe's in the oven and voila, supper. I'm looking forward to trying the other recipes this week.

Braised Endive with Prosciutto.

I recently borrowed a copy of Molly Steven's All About Braising from the library. I've had this book on my wish list for a while and I've also been doing alot of braising as a result. Braising isn't complicated, as Molly claims, in fact the technique never changes. Braising is reliable, all throughout the year and I highly recommend giving this book a peek if you're interested in braising.

Most people are familiar with meat dishes that are braised, but Molly has dedicated an entire section to braising vegetables. So I decided to try the braised endive with prosciutto recipe. In about an hour, the endive softened as it slowly cooked in a little chicken broth and finished off with a little cream. The endive was tasty and the prosciutto added a subtle smoky and salty contrast. To make it a complete meal, Molly suggested fried eggs and toast, which really complimented the braised endive. Satisfying, this is an easy weeknight meal.

I've been a very bad girl. I've neglected the kitchen, but I have a good reason. I've abandoned it for the sake of finding my very own kitchen to use and abuse in Los Angeles. Yes, about a month ago, I started the great apartment search, something vintage, hardwood floors, crown molding, somewhere in the vicinity of Los Feliz and I struck gold! I just found out this week that the apartment I applied for over the weekend is mine, all mine.....MUUUAAHHH!

Of course now I actually have to MOVE! So the next couple of weeks here at the Madame Munchies ranch are likely to be scarce, but I am looking forward to unpacking my groovey dishes, various kitchen appliances and filling my cupboards with a fresh pantry and sharing new recipes and finds here on the blog.

In the meantime (on a totally non-food related note), I came across this post from Margaret Feinberg at the beginning of the year and her personal quest to read 75 books in 2010. At first, I was gung-ho and admired her feisty desire to consume so many books in one year, but I also realized I was intimidated by such a quest! In addition to my love for all things food related, I have a passion for literature, books, and words as well. So, I too, am sticking myself out there and declaring that I will join in the fun! My personal goal is to read 50 books in 2010. So far, I've managed to read two books, The Help by Kathryn Stockett (also the current selection of Kabooki, my LA based book club) and Food Rules by Michael Pollan.

Crafty Cookin'

Recently, I've had a strong desire to make pickles, don't ask me where this sudden urge arose from, but it's loud and it's proud and I have a feeling it isn't going anywhere. Whenever I have a sudden urge to do anything, I usually research and research, oh and did I mention research the heck out of it before I commit myself to it? It's true, call it the neurotic slightly-Jewish-by-heritage side, but it's how I roll. I picked up a copy of this gem called Jam It Pickle It Cure It at the library and have been devouring it late at night in my bed. The book's title alone was a worth a trip to my local library branch. This book isn't really all about pickling, though a chapter is dedicated to this craft, but it covers all "crafty" endeavors when it comes to homemade pantry items. The book has "recipes" or "instructions" for making your own butter, bacon, cheese, marshmallows, crackers and more. If you are into food and crafts, this book might bring you to your knees. The bonus is that this book is clean, laid out professionally and has an innate ability to draw you into its world. I've written a few recipes down and made a list of ingredients to get for some food projects. I will definitely keep you informed of the "results".

The Sweet Life in Paris.

I literally just finished reading David Lebovitz' memoir of living in Paris, The Sweet Life in Paris. Once a pastry chef at Chez Panisse in Berkeley, Lebovitz moved to Paris and chronicles the ups and downs of acclimating to the Parisian lifestyle. Witty, clever, and laugh-out-loud moments pull you into this "slice of life" vacation from your worries and woes. It's in the number one destination slot for me (followed by Spain) and this memoir only cements my desire to travel there sooner rather than later. In addition to entertaining reading, David includes some to-die-for recipes (if your mouth doesn't water or if you don't drool after perusing the recipes, perhaps you should be committed for psychiatric evaluation. If you enjoy a foodie/travel memoir, you are sure to enjoy this one. You should visit his blog too (Link is above) to check out more of his adventures while living Paris.

a homemade life.

I want to plug the heck out of this book, and perhaps the above photo of the Banana Bread with Chocolate Chips and Crystallized Ginger will do the trick! It's the first recipe from Orangette's, A Homemade Life, that I made and successfully, I might add. Folks at the office really enjoyed it, especially with a cup of freshly brewed coffee (that was the buzz around the water cooler). Last night after a laugh-out-loud telephone conversation with my friend, Lydia, I snuck into bed, bundled underneath purple flannel sheets and finished the book. I've had the book for about a week and it was my intention to make it last as long as possible, but a week later, here I am, done with it. I tried my hardest, I really did, but each chapter was so deliciously enjoyable, I couldn't resist but read some more, which is truly a high compliment. An added extra bonus is that I want to make at least half of the recipes included, which says alot. Often memoirs offer a few recipes I'm interested in trying, but the real reason I read the book is for the "story". In this case, I read it for both. I'm a regular over at Orangette and the book has inspired me to continue blogging, writing restaurant reviews, etc. So thanks, Molly!