Ask Your Guides! The Mindful Table - Live- 10/4/24

Ask Your Guides! Presents: The Mindful Table With Chef Melanie Underwood, Carley (A Smile From Heaven), Eileen Rose Miles, Gina Ferrara, Rebecca Jo-Rushdy, Stephanie Dalfonzo -- Recorded LIVE - 10/4/24 --

A Culinary Journey to Calm and Confidence. Melanie Underwood is a passionate teacher, chef, and mindfulness practitioner. She has dedicated her life to helping others find joy and fulfillment in the kitchen through mindful cooking. Melanie believes that cooking is not just about creating delicious food; it's also about connecting with yourself, your loved ones, and the world around you.

Join us for a fun and entertaining night at the Mindful Table, where your teachers come together to cook, chat, and eat with you on Insight Timer!

And please join us in the Insight Timer group: "Ask Your Guides" — grounded, guided, and always growing.

Transcript

Stephanie,

I'm going to have you start since you're on my screen first.

Okay,

So let me tell you first what I'm cooking.

I am cooking a plant-based sausage with braised white beans and greens with parmesan.

It's a New York Times recipe with five stars from almost 11,

000 people,

So I think it's going to be pretty good.

That sounds amazing.

Though I don't have any,

You know,

Lovely story about that,

I will put a little plug in to please come join my live on Sunday at 5 30.

We're talking about how to rewire your brain,

So that's pretty good stuff.

Hopefully,

I'll see you then,

And I'm so excited to be cooking together.

I love this.

Thank you.

I'm so glad you're here,

And you guys might not know this.

Gina and Stephanie and I met in person because I had a sound bath at my house that Susie Sands came and did,

And it was so fun.

Violet was working.

She couldn't be here,

But we know that she would have otherwise.

Gina,

What about you?

Okay,

And that was really fun.

I never told you,

Melanie,

That my daughter went to Sarah Lawrence.

She literally was probably right in your backyard.

Anyway,

I'm Gina Ferrara,

And I am a person that uses Reiki and sound with my meditations and with my live sessions.

Yes,

I do lives a lot.

I do them once a week at least.

In fact,

One is tomorrow.

It's like the one I do for an hour where we have an entire Reiki session,

So I'm excited about that.

I'm from Connecticut.

I do a lot of live stuff,

But I also do a lot of things in person as well,

And that's me.

I'm in like a second time of my life.

I've retired from my regular work.

I was a therapist,

And now this is what I'm doing in my new career,

So I'm loving it,

And I love inside time work.

I actually love to cook,

And since I left my actual job,

I'm really loving to cook because my time is so much more flexible.

Today I'm making,

And that's why I'm wearing orange because I'm making carrot cake.

Today is my daughter's 32nd birthday,

But I'm not going to be with her until next week,

So I like to make the cake ahead of time and freeze it.

This cake came originally from the Los Angeles Times because I used to live out there,

And I've just adapted it over the years,

And it's just become like the thing I make.

I don't really bake much anymore,

But I bake carrot cake,

And it's amazing,

So I'm excited to make it here even though I did all of the prep ahead of time because I'm afraid I will measure poorly.

I don't think I could be that mindful with my measuring.

Yeah,

I'm making something with carrot too,

Actually.

Yes,

Your ginger soup.

It sounds awesome.

Something savory,

And just like you,

I also just prepped everything ahead of time because it's almost midnight over here.

I'm based in Edinburgh,

UK,

So I was like,

Okay,

I need to make sure everything's laid out so that minimal bandwidth to make it.

But I am Rebecca.

For those of you who don't know me,

I guide sensitive souls to declutter their hearts,

Homes,

And minds,

So I'm a little bit obsessed with decluttering for mental health and for spiritual well-being as well,

So you might have seen me around with my live decluttering sessions.

It's a little bit of a different setup today,

And I'm so excited and so honoured to be invited to be here with Chef Melanie,

And thank you so much,

Violet,

For doing all the tech behind the scenes too.

I am making today,

As I said,

A warming carrot-ginger-coconut soup,

And it's five ingredients because I'm a busy mom of two.

I have an eight- and ten-year-old,

So I want to make it as simple as possible,

Especially since this is like a midnight cooking session too.

I'm all about simplifying life.

When you come to New York,

I need you.

Yeah,

I'm all about the life hacks,

So I'm going to be showing you guys later as well,

Like the hacks,

The shortcuts too.

I know that Carly,

You said that you have a daughter as well,

Right?

Yeah,

So hi everyone.

My name is Carly,

Also known as Smile From Heaven.

My amazing husband is the other half,

Which is hanging around here somewhere.

I'm sure he'll walk past at some point.

I'm in Australia,

So it's nice and early.

I'm in the future for all of you people.

I am Saturday morning here.

I like to say I am the future,

And today I'm making,

Yes,

Oh sorry,

I forgot to say,

Yes,

We have an almost 15-year-old daughter.

She's upstairs.

I'm sure she'll come down when she smells these cookies.

I'm making snickerdoodles from one of the recipes that Mel sent out.

The reason I'm doing it is because here in Australia,

We don't have snickerdoodles.

I keep hearing about it in all these American shows that we watch,

And they sound amazing.

See,

To me,

I hear the word snickers,

And I think peanuts because the snickers is like a chocolate bar full of peanuts.

Then when I looked at the recipe,

I was like,

There's no peanuts in this.

What kind of snicker is this?

I was like,

This is confusing,

Thinking that I was going to be making something chocolatey and peanutty,

And it's not.

It's what looks like a cinnamony-type cookie,

But I love cookies,

So I'm making snickerdoodles.

I'm super excited,

And I do have my stuff.

I'm very much like Mel.

I don't measure too much.

The only thing I weighed out was my butter only because here in Australia,

We don't have sticks of butter.

They come in giant blocks instead,

So I had to weigh out just that,

But the rest of it,

I'm just going to.

I do have my measuring spoons and stuff here,

But I don't tend to follow too much.

I'm just like,

Yeah,

This will do.

This will do,

And I'll make it work.

I'm thinking,

Depending on how much time I've got while I'm waiting for,

Because I notice I've got to let this dough chill,

Which I don't tend to wait too much.

Sorry,

Mel,

If this is your recipe and I don't follow it perfectly,

It's going to be a Carly version.

I've got some cauliflower left in the fridge that I was thinking of roasting to make a cauliflower soup as well at some point today,

So we'll see if I do that.

Yeah,

I mean,

I do intuitive baking,

And I worked as a pastry chef where I had to be so precise,

But I really tap into not that,

And I do one of those once a month at least,

And I'm going to make a cheesecake today,

Even though I made one last week,

Because as many of you know that were in my live,

My husband complained that he doesn't like pumpkin,

And he didn't like the apple one that I made.

So sorry,

Husband,

If you're here,

But I'm making a cheesecake from my book.

I'm not promoting my book.

It is out of print,

And you cannot purchase it,

But I'm making this cheesecake right here,

And it's made with this special cheese,

And it's very similar to pork.

If anybody has access to pork,

You can use it,

But you could also use yogurt.

It's a lot lighter than a typical American cheesecake,

So it's really,

Really delicious,

And I'm going to be working on that.

It's actually really straightforward.

It's just cheese,

Eggs,

Sugar,

And vanilla,

So I'm excited.

Wow.

Yeah.

I think I could do that.

You could.

It's so easy,

And I'm excited to have you guys here because I really believe that cooking bonds people together,

And you know,

This is,

If we were in person,

We could be like a hundred years ago,

A group of friends gathering together,

Cooking in person and supporting each other.

You know,

There used to be knitting clubs,

Crocheting clubs,

And cooking clubs,

And I really believe that this is an amazing opportunity.

So you guys,

If you have questions,

Drop them in the chat.

I'm going to talk to people a little bit.

Can we just start cooking?

Yeah,

Start cooking,

And if,

You know,

I started my crust already while we were talking,

And I'm going to,

I want to show you guys my apron.

I very rarely wear this apron.

Oh,

I'm going to put mine on too.

Oh,

I should put mine on.

I have this thing.

I should get my dinner and eat.

Yeah,

You should get a Christmas one.

I love that.

It's so good.

I love it.

This was made by a woman.

Her name is Cammie Spear.

I don't know her.

Cammie works in the mystical,

Magical world,

And this is hand-dyed with marigolds.

That was done because,

At the time,

It was really my plant ally that I worked with for a year.

So,

Nice.

Yeah,

I'm going to be Mrs.

Claus making cookies.

A very sexy Mrs.

Claus,

I see.

Something for hubby please.

I'll share that this,

My apron,

Because today's my daughter's birthday,

And my daughter gave me this apron.

I'll just wear this for her today.

But I want to ask Melanie,

I want to ask you a question.

I am a completely intuitive cook.

I don't really follow recipes.

I'm not good at that.

That's why when people say to me,

How did you make it?

I'm like,

I couldn't tell you.

But I had always heard with baking,

It was so important because of the way the chemicals interact and all of this.

And so,

I'm much more cautious when I bake.

So,

I'd love if you want to talk about,

Or could talk about that,

About being intuitive with baking.

Definitely.

I mean,

I think we've been told that you must measure.

And there's no question for me working professionally,

I would always measure.

Because I worked at the Four Seasons Hotel.

If you're coming there,

You want the same dessert every single time.

You don't want it to be one way one day and another way the next.

But when I grew up on a farm,

My grandmother never measured.

And so,

Historically,

People did not measure when they were cooking in their own homes.

Like,

Oh,

I'm going to do a cup full of this,

A handful of that.

But they weren't measuring the way that we have really sort of taken a new line of doing.

And I think that works for a lot of people.

It's sort of a two-way street.

Some people are perfectionists,

And it makes them feel good.

And I've been teaching cooking for 28 years.

And one of the things that I know is that recipes give people a really strong sense of security in cooking and baking.

Because they feel like,

Well,

I'm following a recipe.

If it doesn't work out,

It's not my fault.

And it's okay if it doesn't work out anyway.

And also,

I think,

For me,

One of the things that I try to encourage people is,

I think cooking and baking are a lot like us as people.

It's going to come out a little bit differently every time.

And that's okay.

And that's kind of what makes it fun.

And you don't have to expect it to be professional every single time.

I have a sister,

Though,

Who would never do it sort of intuitively,

Because she wants it just perfect.

So if you're somebody who's really tapping into perfection,

It's probably not the right space.

And knowing,

Like,

Okay,

This time it turned out this way,

This time it turned out that way,

And I'm okay with it.

But also,

I'm not saying you don't have to use a recipe.

You could look at my recipe,

Right?

So my recipe calls for,

I'm doubling my recipe,

But it calls for three containers of this cheese.

Well,

I don't need to measure it.

It comes in a container.

It calls for six eggs.

I don't need to measure eggs.

They come in a shell.

A stick of butter,

Although Carly said she doesn't have sticks.

In the US,

We have sticks.

So there's a lot of stuff you don't even need to be measuring.

But yes,

So baking soda and baking powder,

If you're like,

Hey,

I want to try this,

The best thing to do is to measure a teaspoon of it and put it in your hand or in a spoon and see what it looks like.

And then,

You know,

Going forward,

All right.

Hey,

And I also say,

Like,

If you are someone who wants to use a cup or a spoon in your measuring,

Use the same one every time.

Because baking is really a ratio.

So it helps you sort of tap in to that because you're already like,

Oh,

I know this.

And it's something I'll do when I do it in my lives.

And I know people have seen me do this.

I'll be like,

Oh,

You know what,

It's a little wet.

I'm going to add in a little flour or it's a little dry.

I'm going to put in a little bit of,

You know,

Milk,

Water,

Whatever is in the recipe.

So I feel comfortable making those changes and adapting.

And people will say,

Oh,

Hey,

I don't feel comfortable because I don't know how to do it.

But many things in our lives we don't know how to do and we adapt to doing them.

We try it out.

And so for me,

It's just such a reflection of us as people and opening up.

I love that.

Thank you so much.

That's a lot of more freedom,

Actually.

And you're right,

Because I think I would be much more forgiving when I'm making something that's just for,

You know,

A few members of my family.

But when I'm having a dinner party or,

You know,

I'm not necessarily about the food,

But definitely about the baking,

I'm more cautious.

I would definitely be more cautious.

But that made a lot of sense.

I appreciate that.

Well,

And also I do want to say,

You know,

All of us,

I send all of us recipes,

Right?

And we all let's say we're all making snickerdoodles.

They're going to come out differently,

No matter what,

Even following the same recipe,

Because maybe it's hot in Australia right now and Carly's butter is a different temperature than ours or our ovens are different.

And we all measure a little bit differently.

Carly?

So two questions.

Is this your recipe?

Three questions,

Actually.

Yes.

Okay.

No,

No,

No,

No,

Not at all.

I'm just not used to making cookies without vanilla.

Is there a reason there's no vanilla in the recipe?

You can put vanilla for sure.

Snickerdoodles like really heavily usually rely on the cinnamon,

But I put heavily in salt and vanilla in pretty much everything.

So because I've got,

I just thought,

I was like,

Why isn't there vanilla in this?

Secondly,

I didn't beat for the full five minutes because I didn't want to make that much noise.

And my egg was a double yolker.

So because,

You know,

It said large eggs,

I'm going to use my homemade vanilla.

So this is my homemade vanilla that I've been making for 15 years.

These vanilla beans have been in there for 15 years and I just keep adding to it and then just topping it up with vodka.

Oh my God.

I love it.

Yeah.

And I go to the,

Go to the bottle shop or whatever you guys call it.

I don't know what you guys call it.

The liquor store.

Something very different,

Carly.

The liquor store.

You go to the bottle and I go and buy a bottle of vodka and they're like,

Oh,

This isn't like the best vodka you can get.

I'm like,

I don't care,

Dude.

I'm making vanilla out of it.

Wow.

I don't need to buy a hundred dollar vodka.

It's going to be turned into vanilla essence.

And they all look at me like I've lost my mind.

So yeah.

So that's my homemade vanilla that I've been making for,

And it just,

I need to top it up actually.

I need to go and buy some more vodka.

So yeah.

And you can always taste the difference between real vanilla and,

And don't get me wrong.

I do use that crap one every now and again,

If I'm making something for somebody that I don't care.

But for the close,

Yeah.

So I have put a little bit of vanilla in it.

So yeah.

And the other thing I'm going to do is,

I know it says in a separate bowl.

Now this is a question that I'm always going to ask because I'll always ignore it.

Why in a separate bowl combine the dry stuff,

Whereas I'm just going to chuck it all in and add it to the existing bowl?

Is there a reason?

Well,

Yes and no,

You can just put it in.

But one of the things you want to make sure is that your ingredients are dispersed,

Especially your cream of tartar,

Because when people don't mix it together prior,

It can stay in one spot in the cookie or whatever you're making.

So honestly,

Many times I don't use a separate bowl,

But I move some space over in my bowl and add it and stir it together to disperse it a little bit.

And Carly,

I did a project for Grey Goose many,

Many years ago.

Yeah.

I was wondering what the vibration was.

I'm looking at my phone.

I'm like,

Am I vibrating?

I didn't turn it on.

And I,

So I used Grey Goose for all my homemade vanilla extract.

And I will say I stuck with it because I really do like it in there.

Yeah.

I definitely think the better quality vodka would work,

But my budget is like,

No,

You can just do with the shit stuff.

Yeah,

Absolutely.

I mean,

And Melinda asked about how to make it.

You take,

Melinda,

It's,

There's a lot of people are really have strong feelings about measuring the beans.

I don't measure them.

People do two ounces of beans per quart of vodka.

I do 10 to 15 beans depending on my beans.

And I will use mine after six months.

I know people who,

Who are like purists who are like,

No,

You need to wait.

And you need to wait at least a year to two years.

I'm not waiting that long.

And I get great vanilla,

But it could be because it's really good vodka,

But you just split your beans.

You put them in a jar and then you can put them,

You can actually put them in your vodka jar.

You just take a little bit of the vodka out and then you just let it hang out in a,

You know,

Area that's either in your kitchen or in a cabinet that's dark and not super hot.

And then it's ready to go.

And you can do what Carly does where you keep topping it off or people will add in or start new,

People start batches sporadically.

So they always have them going.

I give it a lot as a gift and I actually am doing one on a live in October with like gifts for the holidays.

And that's going to be one of them.

That's genius.

I just wanted to say,

Jessica wants to know if she can ask questions.

Jessica,

You can always ask questions.

Absolutely.

She can be asking questions.

Absolutely.

So good.

Should I bring out a pad and do what Melanie does and be the question keeper?

No,

I think questions.

I saw hers.

I just haven't gotten to it yet.

But yes,

Ask questions.

Thank you so much,

Jessica.

Yeah.

Let's see.

She had a question for Stephanie first and everyone.

She says,

Does cooking help or add to your anxiety?

Helps.

Well,

The crust of baking,

When you want to do what you're supposed to do,

You go to the kitchen and you bake something instead.

That helps your anxiety.

And what were you saying,

Stephanie?

I missed that.

So for me personally,

This is mindfulness.

This is something that's very calming.

It's,

I love cooking.

And this is something that I had to learn because my mother,

We ate a lot of TV dinners when I was growing up.

My mother didn't know how to cook.

Nobody taught her.

So when my husband and I met,

He was,

Oh,

Michael Delfonso.

He's the master chef.

And so I was like chopped liver,

But I learned to cook.

And a lot of it has become,

That has been a big part of my mental well-being is I cook.

I thankfully,

I can show you all my stuff was already prepped.

I didn't do that.

My husband and I are at a point in our marriage now,

We just celebrated our 40th anniversary.

He's my sous chef and he does the prep.

I do the cooking and the eating,

And then he does the cleanup.

So this is a great way for me to lower my anxiety and keep myself calm.

But,

You know,

For somebody like Violet,

I would say this might be anxiety producing.

Absolutely.

It is.

Yeah.

If I have to cook,

I get all like frazzled and I'm trying to get everything to work at the same time,

But I'm very good with the takeout menu.

And you know what?

We all have different gifts,

Right?

Baskin-Robbins has 31 flavors because Vlenn doesn't at all.

Yeah,

That's right.

But,

You know,

I do want to say something about that,

Stephanie,

And I agree with you.

And I,

Violet,

I think it's partially because you're a perfectionist and you don't admit it.

I admit I am a perfectionist.

I meant about cooking,

But I feel like we have to eat every day.

So that's different.

It's not an activity that you can say,

Well,

I'm not going to do unless you're you are ordering out or you're married to someone who's going to cook.

Because that's why I try to really get people to get on board because I eat three meals a day.

As far as I know,

Most people are eating.

So I always feel like if we can somehow figure out how to get people to eat,

Somehow figure out how to bring joy to that,

It is really helpful to people because you are eating most of the time.

I don't know.

Does anybody in here not eat every day?

Who was the idiot that came up with only three meals a day?

I didn't include the snacks.

I'll share that.

I think that it was more stressful like when my children were young because it was a time consumer and there was a pressure about it,

About having to feed these little bodies.

So I can see where there's the anxiety about that.

I know when my kids were small,

I had to do like meal planning for two weeks at a time.

And that took the stress off of me because I didn't have to think ahead of time.

But I kind of use cooking now as kind of like how I use walking.

So I sometimes I use it as meditative and I'm just into the chopping and into it and I'm completely focused on what I'm doing.

Sometimes I do it as my podcast accompaniment.

You know,

I'm listening to a podcast or to music or a book on tape or something so that I try to pair it with something else.

Like I just was listening to something on IT,

One of the courses,

You know,

And I was getting everything ready for this.

The DAO,

Actually the DAO,

The DAO.

It was very cool.

But so I like to use it for a variety of things.

And then when I have family here,

It's nice,

Nice,

Fun activity to do together.

I think that you can use it in so many ways to manage and not be anxiety producing.

But I know it is sometimes.

Yeah.

And it's like what,

You know,

Viola was saying,

Like five ingredients or less.

And then there's also shortcuts as well.

And also just getting the whole family involved,

Like the people that you're living with,

Like Stephanie,

Too.

My husband's also my sous chef.

He does all the chop and all the prepping and we all clean up together,

Too.

So it just becomes like a shared activity rather than all lying on one person's shoulders as well.

And another thing is it's meditative because we're using our hands and we're away from the screens.

Oh,

That's what makes it so powerful.

I wanted to also share because I know Angela was asking about some of the hacks because it's late here and I also have kids.

I'm like,

OK,

It's all about the shortcuts for me.

So I actually use for the soup today.

I actually use crushed garlic,

Like frozen,

Because you don't have to peel it.

There's like four garlic cloves in each cube.

So you just pop it in.

And then I also use just frozen chopped onions.

You can just keep it in your freezer,

You know,

Like Violet,

You can keep it as well.

It's just so easy.

Actually,

I actually have used that because I used to use my crockpot a lot and I used to buy a lot of stuff like that and just throw it all into the crockpot.

I love those kind of tips.

Somebody asked,

Someone says they would love to have a meal planning workshop and I would love that as well.

And I'm happy to host that.

So I'm just putting that out there.

Oh,

I love meal planning.

Hi.

Right.

I fully attend and like let's do it.

So I love my first lives I ever did.

It was on meal planning and meal prep.

If you want to plan another one,

I will host it.

You can invite everybody.

Yeah,

I think I'll be fine.

That would be fun.

That'd be awesome.

Yeah,

I mean,

I do I do on occasion make,

You know,

Stuff here and there.

I did one of the things that Melanie,

What was the thing with the creme fraiche that I loved?

Oh,

I forget what you called it.

The smoked salmon with mashed potatoes.

Yes,

I loved that.

That was easy.

That was something I could do.

You had me at potatoes.

Oh,

God,

Me too.

In fact,

I'm still buying those potatoes because I love them so much.

I just throw them in the in the oven and I'll just eat them with anything.

Yeah,

They're super delicious.

Yeah.

Oh,

I see Morgan uses garlic.

Yes,

Totally.

I use as well.

Like,

You know,

Anything to just have a shortcut,

Right?

And oh,

Hi,

Ellen.

So great to see you here.

Melinda.

I love Yes,

Melinda.

I love Trader Joe's.

That's where I get a lot of the stuff from that I buy frozen.

I'm sure that because my husband does a lot of chopping,

Too,

As does my food processor.

I will,

Especially my husband says I love to chop garlic,

But I still have to force him to do it.

But when I get him to do it,

If I get like some really nice garlic from the farmer's market,

I'll have him chop up like,

You know,

Several heads and then I'll put it into a cup and just pour some olive oil in it and stick it in the fridge so that I always have that,

You know,

And that's a really good use of the sous chefs.

And I share two things.

The first is following up on what Gina just said about the garlic.

This is I think I know this was well under 10 bucks.

It was maybe under five.

It's to put the garlic in.

And I don't know if you can see there's like little nubs on the inside.

You put the garlic cloves in here and rub it like this and it takes the skin off.

I have one of those.

It's so cool.

I love it.

That's a recent purchase for me that I was like,

Oh,

No.

And how smart.

It was so smart to come up with that.

Yes,

Everything.

I grabbed this off my refrigerator.

This has been on my fridge for years.

It was out of an Oprah magazine years and years ago.

For is there any practice less selfish,

Any labor less alienated,

Any time less wasted than preparing something delicious and nourishing for people you love?

Isn't that nice?

It is nice.

Including yourself,

People,

Because you should love yourself.

Yes.

Actually,

I think it was Evie asked,

What if you developed a fear?

I want to answer two things.

Evie said,

I think,

What if you developed a fear of cooking?

And then a couple of people said chopping garlic is the bane of my existence,

Which I think is interesting because when I chop garlic on my lives,

Those of you that are here are like,

I love this.

It's so soothing.

It's so nice.

Yeah.

When somebody else does it.

Yeah.

Right.

I was going to say that.

So,

Evie,

You know,

I actually work with a lot of people who are have developed a fear of cooking.

And I think you have to figure out maybe where it came from and what it came from,

Because there's different reasons why people develop that fear.

And sometimes it's hearing other people say to them,

Oh,

This isn't very good or I don't like it.

That can be a big part of it.

So I don't know if you want to share,

But I know all of us have a lot of wisdom about developing fears.

So if you.

My mother never let us in the kitchen.

She didn't want us to get hurt or burned or use a knife.

So I never was in the kitchen and I just did not develop an interest in it.

Yeah.

I was brought up in the kitchen.

My mom and mine were all big cookers and bakers and,

You know,

Sharing food and stuff.

For me,

That fear and whether that is,

You know,

As a creative arts therapist,

That fear comes in many different ways,

Whether it's the fear of cooking or the fear of that blank page when you first open a journal or start on a canvas.

Honestly,

I think as a society,

We have lost the ability to allow ourselves to be crap at something,

Like give yourself permission to be bad at something.

You don't have to be good.

You just have to do it,

Do it for the fun of it,

Do it for the joy of it,

Whether that's art or cooking or exercise or whatever.

We've got to stop going into whatever we're going into with that mindset that it's going to be one hundred percent perfect and fabulous and all the great things every single time.

You know,

Allow yourself to be bad at something.

Allow yourself to make bad food or bad art or because that's where practice,

That's where lessons come from.

That's where we just let go of that control.

Allow yourself to make some bad cocktails and mix those drinks,

Violet.

I think that's a good,

Really a good point,

Though.

I like that.

It's all about starting,

Isn't it?

You know,

You just got to start,

Right?

Over the years,

I've made some pretty bad things,

But the thing is,

What's bad when it comes to food is,

Is it still edible?

Because there's oftentimes that it might not taste like Melanie's cheesecake.

It might not be exactly the same as Rebecca's soup,

But I bet you any money it's still edible unless you've accidentally used salt instead of sugar or something really out there to make it inedible.

I have made a lot of disastrous mistakes in this kitchen,

But I can honestly tell you on one hand that it has been inedible,

Like to the point where the crows outside won't even eat it.

But it was still an experience.

It would still be edible.

Like I made a cake once that wouldn't cook inside.

Do you know what I did?

I sliced it up and laid it all flat and baked it and it came out like nice crispy biscotti.

Like I'm like,

I'm not throwing these damn ingredients out because it tastes good.

It's just soggy in the center.

Yeah,

You get creative,

Right?

You're like,

Got to salvage that.

That's all right.

I had a dish once when my kids were growing up.

I was in a rush.

I did something and when I got home later,

They said,

Why did you serve us hard tack and gruel?

I said,

Well,

I didn't intend to be that,

You know,

But that's just how it came out.

Hey,

I just have a quick question because this is nothing to do with cooking,

But Carly,

You're a creative arts therapist?

Yes,

I am.

I love that.

Yeah.

So I love connecting in all forms of different creativity,

Whether it's,

You know,

Through tattoos or through wood burning or through glass etching,

Paint,

Food,

Fashion,

Music,

Sound.

You know,

I just think that we don't give ourselves anywhere near enough permission to be fun and free,

Childlike in any type of creative outlet.

I think everybody has an inner artist.

Artist doesn't mean that you have to have a piece of art hanging in a gallery or a museum.

No one ever has to see it.

So yeah,

That's me.

Speaking of art.

Oh yeah.

I have a Carly original sitting by my desk.

You have two Carly originals?

Yes.

This one's sitting by my desk.

The other one's in the window with the crystals.

The other one's my favorite one.

Oh my gosh.

Mine too.

This one,

This one is near and dear to me because she's violet,

But the sunflower is absolutely my favorite.

I hate to say that in front of Violet though.

Don't worry,

I say the same thing and I'm saying it to your face.

I don't want her to feel,

Don't feel bad,

Violet.

You're beautiful too.

Yes.

Listen,

When I lived in Washington DC,

And I don't know if it's still there,

I'm assuming it is,

But there was a museum because my roommate worked there called the Museum of Temporary Art and thought that was pretty awesome,

You know?

Love that.

That is really cool.

Yeah.

Mota.

So I want to give a tip and it's got nothing to do with anything that I'm making and I don't know why it's just come to me,

But my tip in the kitchen,

And this comes down to the fact that I'm cheap and like to budget and save as much money as I can.

My two tips on that are,

You know when you've got containers of different things like pretzels or dry crackers or chips or all those sorts of random things,

I keep all the crumbs and put them all into one container and blitz them in the food processor and then add them to breadcrumbs.

And so when you're breading and you're crumbing things like schnitzels or anything like that,

You'll have a totally unique flavor going into your stuff.

Certainly not promoting packaged foods here,

But you know,

We're all human.

We all have those things in our cup.

Most of us have those things in our cupboard all the time anyway.

So yeah,

I always use up the little bits and pieces in the bottom,

All those broken biscuits that no kid wants to eat.

Sweet ones.

Don't waste it.

The same.

So sweet ones go into a container for sweet crumbing and then savory stuff goes into a container for savory crumbing.

And then the other thing is,

Because I use my Thermomix a lot.

I don't know if you guys have those overseas.

I know Australia,

I don't know if England has them,

But anyway,

It's like a big food processor and it does everything.

It cooks as well.

Did you just say the Thermomix?

Yes.

Yeah.

I have one and it's a big food processor.

It's like 400.

I don't know what that costs there,

But I paid 1,

500 for it and I used it once.

Wow.

They're two grand.

They're nearly two and a half grand now,

But I didn't pay for mine.

I actually,

Again,

My cheapskate budget brain,

I joined Thermomix because I had a few friends that wanted to buy it.

So I joined,

Sold their machines to them,

Used the commission to pay for my machine and then quit.

Awesome.

Awesome.

Wow.

I will say this.

If you don't like loving cooking,

A Thermomix is a must.

I use mine.

Yeah.

I use mine at multiple times a day.

So I make my own jams,

Soups.

I make my own bread because I don't want to be standing there kneading dough all the time.

You know,

The only bread that I need by hand is my sourdough.

Everything else goes in the Thermomix.

Anyway,

When I'm doing anything in a machine like the Thermomix or a food processor or a blender,

I do it in a process so that I can back to back cook without cleaning up in between.

So yesterday,

For example,

I made jam.

So our mulberry tree is going crazy at the moment and I've got a freezer full of mulberry.

So I made mulberry jam for my friends.

And at the end of the process,

I had all this like jam left in the bottom of my machine that was like,

And so I made an acai bowl for Jordan for his morning tea that was like,

Had a little bit of the jam inside the acai bowls.

So,

You know,

It just used up all the bits that were in the bottom there.

So back to back cooking is definitely my go-to if I know I've got to make something.

Like if I'm making peanut butter.

So I love making my own peanut butter.

The machine does all the work for me.

But as soon as I finished making the peanut butter,

I then go and make a satay sauce and use up all the peanut butter that's left in the bottom of the jug.

So back to back,

Think about your process back to back.

So you've got a lot less cleanup,

But you're also using up all the little bits at the end as well.

Yeah.

You know,

And mentioning peanut butter as well,

Like never throw out,

Never throw out after like the jar is done,

Right?

Like you can add in some soy sauce,

Some rice vinegar,

Sesame oil,

And chili,

Chili flakes.

And then you just like shake it up.

And it's such a great sauce for everything.

From noodles,

You know,

Or a dub of ice cream and just,

Oh yeah.

Yeah.

So many uses.

That's the Nutella jar.

Yeah.

And you know what I saw that JP had mentioned about the freezer bag and I wanted to show I have one too,

You know,

So all the bits into it.

And then once it's full,

Just put it into my pressure cooker and then got an amazing stock.

Rebecca,

I need you in New York.

Oh,

It's like,

It's just such a easy,

It's such a,

It's such an easy life hack,

Right?

Oh yeah.

Which Ziploc bag do you want?

Nice.

Oh,

Wow.

You are super organized.

I need these organized people to come help me.

What is that machine that you guys are talking about?

The Therma something?

Thermamix.

Is that Thermamix?

Did I spell it right?

Thermamix?

It cooks,

It blends.

It cooks,

It blends,

It steams,

And you can be steaming at the top while you're cooking soup underneath.

Yeah.

I love it.

I use it all the time,

But there are a lot of people that I know.

So when I first got my Thermamix,

I actually used to teach Thermamix cooking classes because there's so many people that didn't know how to use it or use it to it.

And so there was a lot of people that were like,

Oh,

It's just,

I just make cocktails with it or smoothies,

You know,

Oh my God,

Melanie.

No,

But you know why?

Because the truth is I'm,

So the reason I bought it was I was doing a private cooking class and the woman I was doing with,

She's from the UK and she had one and we made lemon curd from scratch ourselves in a pot.

And then we made one in the Thermamix and the Thermamix was amazing.

And I was like,

Okay,

This is why I understand why somebody might not want to do it by hand because.

I've got everything frozen.

Am I the only one?

Yes.

No,

Mine's not frozen.

Mine's okay.

Mine's working.

Must be me then.

Okay.

I was just.

Oh,

I thought you meant everything frozen in food.

So did I.

I was like,

What?

Anyway,

That was why I bought it was because I was like,

Oh my gosh,

I'm going to make lemon curd in here every time.

And my husband said,

You're never using this.

I know you.

And he's right,

But he has used it a couple of times.

And I think it's amazing because like Carly said,

It does cook and steam and it does all,

You can be doing five things at one time.

So it's not.

And the good thing is,

I don't know which brand it is.

I don't know how to buy it.

It looks expensive.

Yeah,

It is expensive.

But look,

Honestly,

For someone like Violet,

It would actually be worth its weight because the newer version,

The older version,

Not so much,

But the newer versions,

There is a,

What they call the cookie on the side.

So you actually just click on the recipe and it weighs it for you.

So you click next,

Add 500 grams of whatever,

And it'll weigh it.

And then next,

And it'll tell you to add two or 200 grams of this and you put it in and it weighs it for you.

And next,

And it tells you the next ingredient for you to weigh.

And then you just follow the directions,

Hit start and walk away.

That's a lot of next though.

You see my smart oven,

You just put the whole tray in and you scan the code and it does everything.

Yeah,

But I'm just convinced you're following a recipe with multiple ingredients.

True.

Jessica asked a question.

She said,

What is one food that you all could eat and not get sick of?

Chase.

It's gotta be rice for me.

I just love rice.

I get like angry if I don't get rice like every other day at least.

I just saw Alejandro says he needs me to be in the kitchen like a pro.

Listen,

I am handling OBS,

Alejandro.

You know that's enough.

He's our brother here,

Alejandro.

Stefanie and Gina,

What about you guys?

I'm cooking OBS.

Cheese,

Seafood.

Yeah,

I love seafood too.

Anything seafood.

I could eat forever.

Well,

Cheese and chocolate.

Cheese and chocolate.

Yes.

For me,

It's gotta,

I mean,

I can't seem to give dairy up.

I just,

It's yogurt.

I just love Greek yogurt and chocolate.

Those two,

I don't get tired of.

You know,

I make my own Greek yogurt in the Thermomix.

It does it all for me.

I do.

That does sound,

Oh,

Because I'm getting distracted.

I mean,

Distressed by purchasing that.

Yeah,

That's so good.

Homemade Greek yogurt is the best.

Natural,

Nothing else in it other than the milk and the starter.

And you do it in the Thermomix,

Huh?

Yeah,

Because it sets the temperature at the right level for the eight hours.

And I just put it on,

Go to bed and wake up in the morning to yogurt.

Right.

I tried.

Okay.

I tried to go vegan when I decided to stop eating meat.

I wasn't giving up cheese.

Who was I kidding?

There was no way.

So I am a pescatarian,

Not a vegetarian,

Because we do eat fish and seafood.

But vegan for me was just too hard.

There was no way I could do it.

We weren't plant-based for four years because of Jordan's health issues and it saved his life.

And I'm glad we did.

But it was really hard for me to give up cheese.

While we were plant-based,

I started a food business,

A plant-based food business.

And I taught myself and I used to cook,

Make my own feta,

Smoked cheese,

Cashew cheese,

Coconut cream cheese.

Yeah,

So I did it.

That's amazing.

Amazing,

Honestly.

It's called ADHD.

That's all it is.

I'm a flexitarian.

My husband's vegetarian.

But I was like,

You know,

When I'm out,

I eat my seafood and my meats as well.

But at home,

I'm like,

I'm not going to be cooking different meals for everyone.

We're all going to be vegetarian at home.

Well,

Yeah,

When I decided to do this,

Because when my husband and I met,

He was living off steaks like this thick,

Almost,

You know,

Three or four times a week.

And I was like,

Oh my gosh.

So when I decided that that's it,

I don't want to eat meat anymore.

I just said to him,

I said,

You know,

I'm going to do this and I'm not going to force you to,

But I'm not going to be making meat anymore.

So I'm going to cook,

You know,

Not meat.

And if you want to cook a steak or something to add to it,

Be my guest.

And he said,

Well,

You know,

Let me give it a try.

And now he doesn't want the steak anymore.

Hey,

Am I doing this right?

I don't know what I'm supposed to,

I'm just reading.

You roll the balls.

Is this about the right size,

Mel?

Yeah,

That's perfect.

I'm just like doing my own thing over here.

And as you can see,

I'm wearing gloves because my sensory thing,

When it comes to paint,

I will happily cover myself in paint.

I'll get paint and glue and glitter and all the sticky bits over on my art desk on me.

No problem.

But when it comes to the kitchen,

I cannot handle food sticking to my hands.

I don't know what it is.

I'm a walking oxymoron.

Pressure on what we're cooking because some people have just come in.

So I know Peter Brook was asking,

I'm making snickerdoodles because I'm Peter Brooks and Aussie as well.

We don't have them in Australia.

So when it was on the list from Mel,

I was like,

Yeah,

No,

I'm definitely making those because I want to see what they taste like.

So that's why I'm doing them.

What are they?

Yeah,

No,

Don't worry.

I did the same thing.

Cookies with cinnamon sugar.

Yeah,

But it's a type of cookie.

It's made with cream of tartar and cream of tartar is something that's readily available here in the States.

I'm assuming it is also in Australia.

I had to go search in the cupboard,

But I found it.

It gives it a really distinctive flavor.

If you've ever had a snickerdoodle,

That's like its flavor.

And cream of tartar is the byproduct of wine making.

It's tartaric acid.

And that's going to help give it the crispy edge,

But keep it soft in the center.

And then they get rolled in cinnamon and sugar and baked.

And they're really,

I don't press them down or anything.

I just leave them whole.

Hey,

Google,

Set the timer for eight minutes.

So did you say cream of tartar is the byproduct of wine making?

Yeah,

It is.

When wine is aged in casks,

Tartaric acid forms on the side of the casks,

And then that becomes cream of tartar.

And it changes the pH in a recipe.

It's why you see it like for stabilizing egg whites,

Because it changes the pH and it makes them less likely to deflate in the end.

So it makes them a little more stable.

And you only need a tiny bit,

Isn't it?

Like cream of tartar.

I always feel like.

.

.

For what you're making.

But yeah,

For egg whites,

You need a quarter teaspoon max for six egg whites.

She said,

I love how you know all these interesting facts.

Me too.

I only know them because I taught people who wanted to do it for a career.

It's my job to know them.

That's why I know them.

It's not like I'm just a person stumbling around with all these facts.

It was a job.

It still is my job.

When it's something we're passionate about,

We remember these things anyway,

Because Ella will come downstairs and tell us all these random,

Useless facts of the day about animals that nobody on the planet has ever heard of.

Because it's interesting to her.

It's what she's passionate about.

So I would never have known.

I ran a food business for five years,

And I was in the kitchen for five years cooking for lots of people.

But I didn't know about cream of tartar because it didn't interest me.

And it's not a big ingredient here in Australia.

I think the last time I used cream of tartar was actually making Play-Doh.

I think it's in the Play-Doh recipe.

I think that's the only reason I've got it in the cupboard is because it was in the Play-Doh recipe.

That's funny.

So it's what your knowledge is about what you're passionate about as well.

And Mel's,

You're really passionate about food and its origins and the information.

And I really love the fact that all the cinnamon stuck to my hands is actually going through my dough here as well.

Because I was thinking before,

You know,

You told me that there were cinnamon cookies,

But there's no cinnamon in the actual dough.

But now there is because as I keep going,

There's cinnamon going into the dough.

And I loved Alejandro's comment before that said,

Carly's nearly finished and now she's asking questions.

Yep.

Super relaxed here.

Well,

I'll share.

This is again,

Well,

Like maybe it's a little bit about cooking.

But when Stephanie grabbed a magnet or something from her fridge,

I just grabbed the magnet that I keep on my fridge.

I don't know if you could see that.

I love that.

I love it.

Yeah,

A friend of mine gave this to me a long time ago.

And we did a performance actually about that.

And there we go.

I can't give that one up.

I'm sorry.

What does it say?

It says a clean house is a sign of a wasted life.

Oh,

I love that.

I need that.

Here's that on my desk.

I'm Stacey.

My mind says kindness.

Kindness.

Nice.

One has the Wi Fi password.

I'm holding here too.

It's from a good friend.

It says walk with the dreamers,

The believers,

The courageous,

The cheerful,

The planners,

The doers,

The successful people with their heads in their clouds and their feet on the ground.

I love that.

Beautiful.

But when we got a new fridge at the start of the year after ours blew up,

Jordan wouldn't let me put anything on the new fridge.

That's why my husband told us we weren't going to put magnets on the fridge.

And there's a ton of magnets on the fridge now.

I'll give me give me another couple of months.

It'll be full.

I'm just giving him the first first year magnet.

I was good for a year.

That's the only one we have because I actually don't like magnets on my fridge.

And he doesn't either.

I got one more from the fridge and this has nothing to do with cooking.

But boy,

Does it have everything to do with what I do as a hypnotist.

Look at it and then I'll read it.

Two guys at the mountaintop saying I had obtained enlightenment long ago.

If only I'd listened to my mother.

Very cute.

Okay,

Alejandro said this ask your guide is giving big time nurturing vibes.

I know Alejandro always adopt him.

And now he's saying he's open for adoption for any of us.

I kind of keep forgetting that we're actually live because my phone is down underneath the computer.

And I keep forgetting to watch the comments.

Oh,

I'm sorry.

I'm going to check another one.

This is on my fridge.

This is for the my kids.

You know,

I have two girls.

They're eight and 10.

So it's what to do when someone makes you feel small.

So it says like pause and breathe.

Ask questions.

Did you mean to hurt me?

Make eye contact.

Walk away.

I deserve respect.

You know,

Remember your worth.

I am enough.

Stand tall.

I love it.

Yeah.

And ask them to repeat.

This one I thought was cool.

Can you say that again?

Wow.

You need to send me a copy of that.

I love it.

Will you keep this on our fridge too?

I have to share with my grandbaby.

Yeah.

And the new one on the way.

Yeah.

Oh,

I wanted to also share with you guys too.

I don't know if anyone else does this too.

This is a hack that I learned from my mom a long time ago.

So it's just getting a piece of kitchen towel,

Fold it up.

And then you just put a little piece of tape to secure it.

So that it won't drip down onto the bottle.

Wow.

That's right.

You got the chef version.

That's good for wine too,

I think,

Right?

I just licked the bottle on the wine.

Here's my kitchen match for oil.

It's a squeegee.

That's so good.

Yeah.

That's a chef's way,

A professional chef's way.

It's good.

Mine's a spray.

You got your spray one too,

Carly?

It's so good too.

And it's like a mist,

Isn't it?

Yeah.

So I've got both.

I've got the pour one and the spray one.

Yeah.

I used those bottles for like sanitizers during the pandemic.

I was like misting them.

I'm going to show you guys my cheesecake.

And I'm going to pop it in the oven.

I made two because we're having 15 people over for dinner tomorrow night.

Oh,

I thought it was because you were sending me one.

Oh,

Violet.

I know.

What's two more people?

I'm going to put this in a water bath.

So I'm going to put this in the oven.

I'm going to pour hot water around it.

And that's going to help diffuse the heat in the oven.

And it's going to help it steam.

And it's not going to be dry and crumbly.

It's going to be smooth and creamy.

I love pumpkin cheesecake.

No,

Peta Brooke,

Because last week,

I don't know if you were in my live.

My husband was like,

Why are you doing pumpkin?

I hate pumpkin.

And so apple.

And he didn't like,

I have an apple one in my book that has a streusel crust.

And a streusel top.

And I didn't do that one.

So he was like,

Can you make my favorite cheesecake?

So it's using a different type of cheese that's not usually available in the oven.

I knew what you meant,

Jo.

I'm sorry.

I'm cracking up.

Why?

JoRo,

You definitely look old enough to be a grandma.

I knew she meant don't.

So I'm laughing.

She writes,

Don't.

And I said,

I knew what you meant.

I'm going to call mom a granny bun.

My minute truth.

I could be a grandma.

My son is 27.

But I have told him if he has kids anytime soon,

They're not calling me grandma.

Yeah,

Mine's 29.

He had the first one when he was 27.

And I didn't even have him till I was 29.

I don't feel done.

Are they supposed to be soft?

Well,

It depends.

So this is a great question Carly just asked.

She said,

Are the cookies supposed to be soft?

It depends on how you like them.

I like a soft cookie.

So yes,

My answer is they are supposed to be soft.

If you don't like a soft cookie,

Put them back in the oven.

The other thing that you can do with that cookie tray,

Carly,

Is pick it up and drop it.

And they'll spread a teeny bit.

Just hold it up 6 inch.

Yeah,

Yeah.

So earlier,

Actually,

When you asked about do I flatten them,

I wanted to ask you in that moment if you like soft or crispy.

Because if you flatten them,

They do spread more.

And they're more likely to get crispy.

That's the thing with any cookie.

Well,

Maybe I'll flatten the second one.

Hang on.

Where's my spatula?

Do you like crispy cookies?

I'm going to squish me on the second tray so that I get two different tops.

OK,

Perfect.

Oh,

Look,

I love it.

Jen said she made smoothies with us and she cooked dinner for her dog.

Aw,

Cooked dinner for her dog.

Yummy.

They're very soft.

And Blossom Violet,

I was 39 when I had my second son.

Blossom Violet said she was 39 and a half when her son was born.

I was 31 when I had Ella.

I was 29 when my first son was born.

I was 20.

And I thought I was too young.

I have a joke because in New York City,

When I was pregnant with my first son and I was 27,

Every woman that I knew was 45.

And there were no 27-year-olds having children.

And then with my second son,

I was 39.

And everyone I met was 27,

30,

Having their kids.

I was like,

I somehow missed this.

It was just very funny.

Breeze,

Hello,

Breeze.

Dogs do love it when you cook for them.

I have a friend who had another baby when she was 47.

When she told me,

I thought she was kidding and I laughed.

This is my baby.

Hello,

Carly's baby.

Hi,

Baby.

Look,

It makes doodles.

What are you listening to?

What are you listening to?

Nothing right now.

Very specifically,

Nothing right now.

Welcome to autism.

What were you listening to?

Mostly random songs.

Oh,

Music,

Music.

Music.

So everybody,

This is Ella.

This is the baby of us.

Hi,

Ella.

She'll be 15 in like eight weeks' time.

Wow.

Oh,

I feel old.

What's your favorite thing that your mom cooks for you,

Ella?

That's pretty wide,

Actually.

Because I cook a lot of great things.

She got a new food this week,

Which is great for all those special needs families out there.

It is possible to get them to eat new foods.

Takes a while,

But they get there.

What was your new food this week?

Chicken mushroom pesto pasta.

I was very happy with that.

So,

All right.

Do you want a cookie?

Yeah,

Sure.

I think that's what Melinda said.

She came down because she smelled the cookies.

Oh,

No,

I pressed the doorbell.

I made her come down.

Mike yelled,

Never be on camera.

He came in here and was like,

Bye.

The best thing that we ever bought,

Because we've got quite like tall ceilings and then there's upstairs where the bedrooms are and because she's always got her headphones on,

We're sick of yelling.

So,

We've got a little doorbell that's in her room and I just press the doorbell down here and she comes downstairs.

Like you're the queen.

You're getting called.

Exactly.

I think they passed the test.

Yep.

Awesome.

All right.

What about dad?

Do you want to come and grab one?

Come and say hi.

Come here and say hi.

Are the cookies done?

Yeah.

I want a cookie.

How'd they come out,

Ella?

Tell the truth.

They're very good.

They're good.

All right.

Hi,

Jordan.

This is what we call team cane.

Jordan,

Are they good?

Okay.

They're not going to last long.

You need to make more.

Oh,

Gosh.

I'm drooling.

They're very soft.

They're like eating.

.

.

Alejandra,

I'm freaking out too,

Alejandra.

I have a cookie in the kitchen.

I might have to go eat it.

Small from heaven family.

Jordan!

This is the family.

Oh,

And you put cinnamon and sugar on the top.

Yeah.

Yeah,

Yeah.

And by the way,

Now that Jordan is here,

Alejandra,

We've spoken about doing that all-male teacher's panel,

And we want Jordan on it.

Yeah.

I've got my filter back.

Jordan's got a filter now.

Ironically,

There's a spiritual guy in Australia that wanted me to go on his,

And I didn't do it.

I didn't want to.

But you want to with Alejandra.

Yeah,

Yeah.

We'll do it with the brother.

We'll do it with.

.

.

I can't stop eating these cookies.

Mel,

Why did you send me this recipe?

What are you talking about?

I said it's an amputation one.

Oh,

These would make good gifts.

They're for Christmas.

Yes,

That's what they do.

That's when I first tried them was around Christmas time.

The snickerdoodles.

Well,

We do random acts of kindness.

So we drop them off to the phone station.

Oh,

I love that.

You know,

Even the pharmacy,

The people who work behind the counter.

Yeah.

Oh,

I love that.

But we just randomly pick somebody and drop them off.

They're a friend of the news agency.

Yeah.

That's wonderful.

These ones aren't going to go very far.

They're going right here.

Melinda,

I have never made a snickerdoodle either,

But I have eaten many of them.

Homemade ones.

I'm drooling.

Signify holiday season,

Right?

With Thanksgiving,

Christmas.

Yes.

I love sugar cookies at Christmas time.

I absolutely love sugar cookies.

You know what we did once?

Carly makes the best,

What are they called?

Cinnabons?

Cinnabons.

Cinnabons with the thing.

So we froze them,

Hard froze them,

Put them in ice packs and put them in a foam cooler and sent them to my sister in Canberra,

That is like.

.

.

Whole nother state away.

Keep going,

Three states away.

And they were still frozen when she got them.

We froze them.

Wow.

When she said they defrosted,

They ate them and they said they were perfect.

Nice.

You've never tasted Cinnabons like Carly's.

Oh,

I'm sure.

Something beats carbs.

Something beats carbs.

Food is love.

Food is my love language.

And it depends on who makes it because you put your energy into it too.

Definitely.

Yeah.

Those ones are gonna have to be intuitively checking the time,

Checking the oven.

Not yet.

But it's so true that I can say one of my favorite meals is a meal that someone else makes for me.

Yeah.

You know what Jordan says,

Gina?

Jordan goes,

Oh,

Can you make it for me?

You make it better than me.

But it is true.

Even when someone just butters a piece of toast for you,

That's so much different.

And it's so meaningful.

It's really,

It's amazingly meaningful.

Melanie Alejandro says,

This is his favorite Ask Your Guide.

So we're going to have to make it a regular thing,

Okay?

I saw that.

And Carly,

Blossom Violet wants to know if you're going to bring her some snickerdoodles.

I'll ship some to Sydney for Blossom Violet.

If they survive.

I was going to let you know.

And Peter Brook,

I'll ship some up to North Queensland because aren't you up north?

Gina,

It's okay.

My cake is,

I'm making layers.

So some is already done.

There's still another one in the oven.

Yeah.

What's that?

I asked Stephanie,

How's her food coming along?

You're on mute.

Mine is done and I have fed hubby.

Mine looks like dog food,

But it actually tastes really good.

It doesn't look like dog food.

It's all mushy because the beans,

But I like the beans all mushy like that.

So this is really good and it would really be good.

He likes,

I'm not a bread and sweet person anymore,

But he loves his bread.

So he got a couple of slices of bread with it.

I could just see smearing this on some bread.

I'm so hungry,

To be honest,

Because I didn't have dinner before we did this.

I might just show up in Danbury.

I'll send you the recipe,

Gina.

I would actually really love that recipe because we're not,

I don't cook meat either.

So I'd love that.

This recipe doesn't call for the meat.

I just was like,

This was just the braised beans and greens,

But I love throwing the plant-based sausage in there too.

It just gives them a little extra flavor and some more protein.

I didn't feel like we were doing the beans and greens.

I make that recipe all the time.

I love it.

Melanie,

We have a request for a monthly mindful cooking like this one.

So she said weekly,

I said monthly.

So I want to know if anybody else,

Anybody who's watching,

Is anybody cooking with us or is it just us?

No,

Some people are.

They said they were.

Good.

Yeah.

Some people cook on my Sunday mornings,

But I feel like most people watch,

But yeah,

I thought this might be better in the evening.

I'm salivating.

Most of these may be on the group or something.

Put them in the group,

Yeah.

Even people that are out there doing their cooking,

It's nice to see what other people are making because- Yeah,

If everybody sends me their recipes,

I can also put them up on the page with your profiles.

Oh,

That's cool.

Yeah.

Any plant-based or vegetarians?

I've got like 400 plant-based recipes,

But they're probably a lot to put in the group,

But I have a separate group for it that you could join.

You can say your group.

I have a mindful cooking- Oh,

No,

Because it's on the book of faces.

Oh,

I see.

Sorry.

Well,

I have a mindful cooking group here on Insight Timer and I will put the recipes in there.

And I do also have one in the same place that you have,

Curly.

Look,

They're all gone,

Your cookies.

Oh,

My God.

Wow.

I want to show you guys.

So we recently,

For our anniversary present,

Bought ourselves this little mini barbecue that also is a dehydrator and a smoker.

It's a Ninja.

And I worked out that you can do cold smoking.

So I,

Nearly two weeks ago,

Cold smoked some cheese.

Oh,

That looks so good.

And I haven't opened it yet because you've got to let it sit for up to two weeks.

And guess what?

I can't wait any longer.

I think I need to open it with you guys and see.

But what kind of cheese is it,

Curly?

So this one is a Gouda,

Some sort of Gouda.

Yeah.

I did write it down somewhere.

Hang on.

Where's my phone?

I wrote it down in my phone.

So I wouldn't throw the packet out.

This one is Mastum Holland Gouda,

I think.

A smoked it?

Some sort of Gouda.

So yeah,

So I smoked it for two hours.

I'm going to open the packet and see.

I've got a whole heap of them.

There's a whole heap in the fridge.

Oh,

My God.

If you guys had smell-o-vision.

Oh,

That's like one of my favorite cheeses too.

She's killing me.

Sorry.

That smells good.

That is so good.

Yeah.

I have to have some water.

I'm drooling.

That looks so good.

Let's taste it.

I'm pass on the snickerdoodles.

I would not pass on that smoked Gouda.

Well,

As soon as you said before cheese,

I was like,

Oh,

My God.

Jordan,

You will not like this at all.

That's code in our house.

We'll leave it alone.

It's mine.

Oh,

My God.

Smoked cheese.

That's good.

Homemade smoked cheese.

I made.

That's a different Gouda.

And then I've also smoked some Costco cheese just to see how it would go.

So I've got a whole heap of cheese.

Oh,

My gosh.

Oh,

My God.

That is so good.

And jerky.

She's killing me.

Oh,

And jerky.

She's killing me.

This one's a smoked jerky.

Hmm.

Very good.

Oh,

My God.

That cheese.

Next level.

Oh,

Cookies.

And Rebecca,

I saw you adding coconut milk to your soup.

Yeah.

This is the final ingredient after it's all softened.

And honestly,

It tastes like pumpkin soup.

It's really good.

You know,

Like even the starch is one of those things.

But it's carrot,

Ginger,

Right?

Carrot,

Ginger,

Garlic,

Onion and coconut.

So does it.

Five ingredients.

Five ingredients.

Yeah,

The kids love it.

I want that five ingredient recipe.

We'll send it to you.

It is.

And it's literally like because I have I have like nothing left in the fridge.

I was like,

What shall I make?

And this is what you can just whip up.

Everyone has it right.

And same with like Stephanie's recipe,

Too.

It's like things that you'll just have around in the house.

So easy to make something super nutritious.

Do you blend that,

Rebecca?

I do.

Yeah,

I'm gonna unmute myself for that.

I don't even want to tell you how much stuff I have in my cupboards and my kitchen.

And my husband and I look at each other.

We're like,

We don't we don't have anything to eat.

What are we going to order?

I look I kind of gamify it.

I'm like,

I try to eke it out for my next shop.

Like I try not to go shopping until everything's used up.

I want to do that.

I want that to be my goal that I don't shop until I use up what I have.

There are websites that you can plug in ingredients and they spit out recipes,

Violet,

Or to anybody.

I need handholding,

Though.

So I used to do pantry makeovers and I went to a lady's place once.

And what you do is you pull everything out of your pantry and you make an inventory of everything you've got.

Pull everything out of your freezer,

You make an inventory.

Pull everything out of your fridge,

Make an inventory.

And this lady said to me,

I've got nothing to make for food.

We pulled everything out.

We inventoryed it all.

All she needed was some fresh vegetables and a few bits of protein.

She had 10 weeks worth of meals out of her pantry supplies once we went through it all.

You'd be surprised.

Doing that inventory and keeping a stock of what you've got,

Which is time consuming,

But it's part of that meal planning.

It's part of the process that if I meal plan,

I go that stock of what you've got.

It's so much more efficient,

Right?

Like when you're going to go shopping,

You can just quickly go and identify the pockets.

And I also keep like a pad here as well.

Pencil.

So it's like anytime that anything's out,

It's like just write it down immediately.

Because sometimes you don't have your phone on you and then you can quickly just put it into one of your checklists.

Like I have like,

I use Google,

Google Tasks,

Google,

Wait,

Google Keep.

And so I have like different groups.

So it's so handy because it's like Costco,

You know,

You have your Trader Joe's list,

All those like separate lists going.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I love Trader Joe's.

We don't have that anymore.

No,

Trader Joe's.

They're moving.

But you know,

We like to do that too.

I mean,

Every month or so,

I'll just say,

Let's,

We're going to do this.

Our dinner tonight is we're eating out of the cabinet,

You know,

And we're just going to pull out whatever's there and just create something to eat because the steers,

You know,

Maybe cans of stuff,

Or like you said,

Stuff in the freezer that we forgot about.

And it's,

I find it kind of fun.

And sometimes we'll do it for a couple of days in a row because it makes life a lot easier.

I don't have to think.

It takes the thinking out of it.

And you know what?

I think it's like also an abundance mindset as well,

Because,

You know,

Especially when I'm teaching decluttering too,

A lot of times,

Like we stand in front of the closet and we're like,

I have nothing to wear.

Or like we're in the kitchen and it's like,

Well,

I have nothing to eat.

And I'm just like,

That's not true.

Let's just take that,

You know,

Out of our vocabulary because that's so not true.

And once you're able to think about that,

You can get creative,

Right?

Like with that,

Your creativity flourishes.

You're just like,

Oh,

I can make up all these different things.

Like just what Carly said,

Like you're able to make 10 weeks worth of food,

Meal planning.

That is just.

.

.

Oh yeah,

You could probably do like six months in my.

.

.

But aren't words so important?

I mean,

Words really mean a lot.

You know,

I try to like,

I don't want to say things like I'm starving,

You know,

Because like we get into this idea that we actually know what that means,

You know?

And I think that's a really good point,

Rebecca,

You know,

That this mindset of,

We have too much and just love.

There's always enough there.

You know,

We're really fortunate.

Our family was like,

Oh,

That was delicious.

Can you make it the same again?

I'm like,

No,

Because it's based on whatever was in the fridge or cupboard.

Like,

And there's no guarantee I'm going to have those ingredients next time.

And I'm not one that will go to the shop for one thing.

I'm like,

I'll make it up.

I'll MacGyver it.

I'll figure something else out.

I'm not going to go for one ingredient.

So very rarely do my things ever taste the same more than once.

Well,

I started cooking my next thing because we're having 15 people for dinner tomorrow.

And I'm like,

I better get my ass moving.

I'm too busy eating cheese.

Sorry.

I hate cheese and jerky.

Can you talk about that dinner party?

What are you having?

How are you doing it?

Is it a buffet?

Are you doing sit down?

And what are you serving?

This is very exciting to me.

So I am serving,

We're going to do duck with eggs and chicken pate.

So if you're not a meat eater,

Close your,

Close your ears for chicken pate and maybe salmon rillette.

And then we're going to do brisket,

Mashed potatoes,

A quinoa salad.

What time are we meant to arrive?

Yeah,

530 US Eastern time.

And these cheesecakes that I made earlier.

Jordan's like,

Brisket and cheesecake,

I'm there.

But I'm afraid it would offend so many people.

Well,

When you have that many people over,

You're the one who's,

You're cooking everything.

I am cooking everything.

My husband's going to help me cook stuff tomorrow.

Years ago,

I set up a potluck club,

A potluck dinner club with 11 other couples,

Because it,

Oh,

It gives us,

You only host once a year.

Every month we have something to look forward to.

And I love potlucks because,

You know,

Make a dish and bring the recipe,

You know,

So we got to try a lot of different things.

But also then it doesn't all land on one person,

Because that's why I was asking you if you were doing everything,

Instead of having some people bring,

You know,

Like you do the main dish and then have others bring stuff to fill in,

No?

I like to cook,

So for me,

It's,

I think this might sound rude,

But I'm a better cook than everybody I know.

And for my husband's birthday,

So I want to make it special.

And along with you,

Stephanie,

We do a lot of bring a plate stuff here in Australia with body sheds in the giving,

And then it's not all on one person.

And I don't mind,

Over the years,

I've hosted so many things where I've done all the work,

But I'm at a point now where I'm like,

I'm also more than happy for other people to bring it along.

And I don't care if they bring a store-bought thing,

I don't care,

As long as there's a lot less pressure on me to have fun.

Well,

A lot less pressure,

But also then we get to try new things that,

You know,

Maybe we wouldn't have tried before.

It's funny though,

Because the first time I tried to organize a potluck,

Because here in Australia,

It's not a big thing to call it a potluck.

But anyway,

I tried to organize it and I really wasn't planned ahead.

I just said,

You know,

Just bring whatever.

And we ended up with like five of the same thing.

Yeah.

I do suggest if you're doing a potluck,

Make sure you kind of have a bit of a plan that you don't all end up bringing the same dish.

Everybody ends up bringing like pasta.

That's not funny.

Yeah.

We have like a thousand pasta dishes when you don't specify,

But what the heck?

I mean,

It's more for me when that kind of stuff is just more about the game.

We end up with like five desserts,

Which wasn't a bad thing.

That's bad.

Well,

Not a hell of a lot of main food.

That was the problem.

I bring it for my book club.

We do a potluck and I love it.

But this is sort of,

I don't know if you guys know,

Rosh Hashanah was two nights ago and we actually canceled that dinner.

It's a tie-in of Rosh Hashanah and my husband's birthday.

So that's why I'm doing the brisket because we do that every year for Rosh Hashanah.

But we decided to not have it that night.

And I love potlucks under different occasions.

And I know something that we do for Christmas is my family and I pick a country and we do the research and then we cook the food that's traditional in that country for that time of year.

It doesn't have to be Christmas.

It could be whatever religion it is that they might be celebrating in that country.

And it's been really amazing.

My favorite has been Persian and my older son's favorite was France.

You have to do an Aussie one.

We what?

You have to do an Australian one.

Yeah,

I think we might do that this year.

Well,

Our Christmas is summer.

So you're eating a lot of salads and cold ham and cold things because it's way too hot to turn the oven on.

I agree with you,

Though.

Like my daughter's birthday party is next week and I'll make everything.

I mean,

You know,

People can bring a little something.

But there are some occasions where you just want to make,

You know,

It's your thing,

You know.

Potlucks are awesome,

Though,

For every day.

Yeah.

And for my birthday last year,

We did a color theme.

And so each of my guests was associated a color and they had to bring a tray of something with that color.

It's so clever.

Yeah.

So my girlfriend,

Who was in charge of green,

She bought,

You know,

Food that was in green packages or green food.

And then somebody else had red.

And it was really cool because we had a mixture of different things of different colors and it was just easier for everybody.

Then they didn't have to,

You know,

Make anything.

It was more about just making sure that the kids and everybody had something easy to eat.

Oh,

You got the table ready.

I'm getting it ready.

Not ready,

But slowly,

Slowly.

My mindful table.

Guys,

This has been amazing.

I was going to say I ate at that beautiful table.

You did eat here.

Yes.

And I love my all my paintings on my wall are women.

Oh,

Beautiful.

Is it like a street vendor?

Say that again.

A street vendor?

Like what's the image of?

She's a street vendor and she's cooking.

Oh,

Look at that.

Beautiful.

And then this one I love.

This is a folk artist actually from North Carolina.

I don't know if you can see it.

She's this is metal.

And she's cooking a pie that's coming out of the oven.

And I won't show you the rest.

Carly Melinda wants to know what you use to smoke the cheese.

Um,

I've got a smoker barbecue.

But it's an all-purpose blend.

It just says all-purpose blend.

Balanced,

Mild,

Bright and sweet.

They're little wood pellets.

See what it says.

Does it give me a blend?

Yeah,

It's what type of ninja?

Ah,

Cherry,

Maple and oak is what's in this particular blend.

But our machine is a little ninja wood fire outdoor grill.

So it dehydrates,

It smokes,

It grills,

It bakes,

It air fries.

I'm all into the appliances that do multiple things at once.

So yeah,

Good commercial.

It's aces,

It's laces.

That's what I was thinking of.

Yeah,

So ninja outdoor smoker grill.

Because I've had one.

She's not the type of machine.

Oh,

Yeah.

Okay,

So.

Yeah,

Ninja wood fire electric barbecue grill and smoker.

Well,

Does anybody else have any questions before we sign off?

And I just want to say to everybody in the audience,

I really appreciate all of you showing up tonight.

And of course,

Gina,

Stephanie,

Rebecca,

Carly and Violet.

I love you all.

This has been so fun and amazing.

And just if you could share with everybody anything you want anyone to know where they can see you,

Find you,

Your lives,

Your tracks,

Courses,

All the things.

Violet,

You want to start?

Yes,

Please.

Find all their links in my teacher's profile because I make sure I put them all in there.

But also you have amazing scripting tracks,

Violet.

I mean,

Thank you for saying they're amazing.

I think they're okay.

They're great.

Jordan's even scripting.

I love that.

I think Jordan scripts more than me.

I think that's awesome.

I love that.

Yeah,

I do.

I love journaling and scripting.

That's definitely.

.

.

That was my in insight timer because I didn't know how I was going to get in here.

But thank you.

And now you're in.

I'm in.

You're in.

Well,

That's a live session tomorrow morning.

If anybody is interested to find out about Reiki,

We talk about Reiki and just share information as well.

Then we finish it with a 20-minute Rainbow Reiki session,

Which is really cool.

So yeah,

That's always a really fun one.

I do those once a month and I do monthly.

I mean,

No,

Do weekly ones on Monday mornings where we just talk about a theme and explore and meditate together.

So yeah,

Lots of fun stuff.

Love doing the lives.

My favorite part of the week,

Honestly.

So I've got a cacao and meditation on Monday morning,

Queensland time,

Which would probably be Sunday night for some of you guys.

And then Friday morning,

Queensland time,

We're doing.

.

.

I'm doing another PJs and poetry session because that went really well yesterday.

Everyone loved that.

So I'm not sure if I'm going to get a creative session in midweek this week.

We'll see.

Yeah.

Check it out because I'll always add new things at the last minute.

Sorry.

You want to go?

I won't be in my PJs,

But I will be here on Sunday,

5.

30 Eastern time.

This week,

We're talking about how to rewire your brain and literally anything you want to change,

We can by rewiring our brain.

I'm very excited about this one.

And then also at the end of the month,

A week before we change the clocks here in the States,

Please mark your calendars now.

It is October 27th.

I'm doing the first.

.

.

I think I'm going to do two on sleep because people are extremely sleep deprived.

And then when we do the time change,

It hits even harder.

So a week before we do the time change,

I'm going to start prepping you for it.

And then probably the night that we change the blocks,

We'll do a follow-up.

Amazing.

I can't wait to join those,

Stephanie.

I host sessions on every Tuesday and Wednesday.

So they interchange between a safe space for sensitive souls to connect and also the live decluttering sessions.

So if you guys want to get cracking and actually put the theory into action,

Come and check out my lives.

I haven't actually scheduled it yet.

So just if you follow,

Then you'll be able to see it.

I'll schedule it in tomorrow as well.

I also want to show you the suit.

Hold on.

Yeah,

I'm on.

The computer.

That looks so good.

Oh my God,

It looks delish.

I can't wait to get that recipe.

It's so easy.

Are those scallions on there?

Ginger and the coconut milk.

And I put some coriander on top.

What's the green?

Coriander,

The green?

I put coriander,

But you can put green onions as well.

It's just so forgiving.

But it's just so easy.

Like anyone can make it,

Right?

Especially if you have like a slow cooker or anything too,

Right?

Yeah.

Hey,

Rebecca,

Just quickly,

When you were talking about the decluttering,

I saw a really funny meme the other day about decluttering.

And,

You know,

Because I know you do the.

.

.

Is it Marie Kondi?

Marie Kondi,

Yeah.

And it said,

Does this item bring you joy?

Yes.

Well,

This funny meme says,

If it was covered in poop,

Would I clean it?

Would I just throw it out?

I will have nothing left.

When I saw it,

I was just like,

If your stuff was covered in poop,

Would you keep it?

I was like,

Okay,

I will have nothing left.

Yep.

But it also brings us to that,

Well,

Did we really have a big attachment to it in the first place then?

If we could so easily throw it out.

Yeah,

It's a detachment,

Right?

And that's one of my core favorite attitudes of mindfulness as well.

Yeah.

I have two extremes.

I'll either keep it or throw it out.

There's no in between.

And it's all about joy.

You just got to lean into it.

Everyone's got different emotional readiness,

Right?

So we just have to honor that.

Yeah.

Elizabeth says,

Carly,

I find that super helpful.

I do too,

But I'm afraid that I would throw it out and buy another one.

That's such an interesting.

.

.

I love that you bring these together,

Because what an interesting combination that we are here,

As well as the people that are participating with us.

It's just a really nice blend.

And I'm really grateful to have been here with you all.

Yeah,

Thank you.

It's so nice.

Honestly,

Thank you so much,

Violet.

And thank you so much,

Chef Melanie,

For bringing us all together.

Because it's not easy to organize and everything that goes on behind the scenes too.

And to be able to connect with so many amazing teachers from all corners of the world.

I was so stoked,

Because I'm usually in bed by 8 p.

M.

And it's like 1 a.

M.

Here right now.

But I took a power nap as well.

I told my husband,

I was like,

Make sure you wake me up.

Good on you,

Rebecca,

For turning up at that time zone.

Because I always say to Violet and Melanie,

I'll be there,

But you're doing one at the time that's going to be in Australian time.

Because I'm not getting up at two o'clock in the morning.

Lots of credit to Rebecca for being here.

Because man,

I'd be asleep.

Boring my head off.

It's the energy,

Right?

Energy of you guys.

Energy of everyone who's on the live as well.

Like,

Oh,

That's beautiful thing right now,

Guys.

I don't know how I'm going to go to sleep.

I want to do it again.

Maybe we can do it on a weekend next time.

So it's not 1 a.

M.

It's Friday night.

So that's why it's fine.

You know,

It's not like I have to get up.

And also the kids are so sufficient.

Oh,

I wanted to share one more thing as well,

Which is I got date paste recently.

I didn't know you could buy date and like paste form.

But anyways,

We made these.

And talking about the random acts of kindness that Jordan was saying too,

We made them into little choccy,

Little sweets.

So we've been giving them out to everyone.

I love that.

Rebecca,

I'll have to send you my date paste recipe.

It's really easy.

Please do.

I think I'm just like lazy to clean.

That's why I was like,

Oh.

I was like,

This is like done already.

Oh,

My gosh.

Well,

I have a live every Sunday.

This Sunday,

I'm doing pumpkin chili,

Which I'm super excited about.

And I'm actually going to go live Monday morning.

And I don't know what I'm doing.

At Tuesday night,

I'm going live on bittersweet.

And I'm making a chocolate citrus tart.

But I'm really going to talk about the duality of bitter and sweet and how it relates to our lives.

So I hope that you guys can join me.

And thank you,

Guys.

This has been so much fun.

I know that every single person in this live has loved it.

They have said so.

And I really want more.

Really grateful for each of you and for everyone that's here.

She doesn't want to say anything because she knows she doesn't want to ask me.

But I will do it.

I will.

I know you don't want to ask me to do OBS,

But I would do it again.

Me?

Yes.

She doesn't like to impose on me when it comes to OBS.

I know her.

So she hasn't responded,

But we'll do it again.

OBS is Violet's love language.

I know.

Like Alejandro says,

It's our healing journey.

And also,

Violet,

We gave OBS a good deal.

We sent a good energy,

Positive energy before.

And it went really smoothly,

Right?

Yes.

Thank you,

Guys.

Thank you,

Guys,

Again for organizing.

This has been amazing.

Loved it.

Loved it.

We'll put the recipes in the group.