Behind the Apron: Stephanie

Who has been the biggest influence on your cooking? Chris and my church friends. Chris loves to cook and has stretched my cooking skills over the years. I have also enjoyed getting many recipes from church friends over the years. Some of them have become favorites of our family.

What is your favorite dish to cook…your signature dish? My signature dish is probably my dad’s lasagna. It’s easy and fun to make!

What was your biggest cooking disaster? Honestly, I can’t think of a big disaster. I know I have burned many a cookie in my day, and I know I’ve overcooked stuff. I guess they weren’t too bad to eat though or to leave a lasting impression!

If you could travel to another country just to taste their cuisine, where would you go? Italy. I LOVE pasta and could definitely go crazy eating there!

What is something you have never cooked, but would like to try? There are so many things! So often I get in a rut of just cooking what I’m used to. I am trying to branch out and try new things more often these days.

What do you consider the 5 most essential ingredients you keep in your kitchen? Sugar, flour, garlic, butter, cheese

What is comfort food to you? Mexican food (enchiladas and chips & salsa), pizza, pasta, soup, anything chocolate!

What are the ideal toppings for pizza? Pepperoni and green olives. I know, a bit boring but it is my favorite!

What kitchen utensil/gadget can you not live without? It’s a tie between my Pampered Chef food chopper and my garlic press. I have only used both of these within the last few years, but they save me a TON of time and I love them!

Behind the Apron: Rachel

Who has been the biggest influence on your cooking? My mom, my grandma and cooking shows. I learned how to cook from my mom, have gotten many yummy recipes from my grandma, and cannot stay away from The Food Network.

What is your favorite dish to cook…your signature dish? My signature dish would probably be crunchy chicken. I learned how to make it from a friend’s recipe while we spent a semester in Oxford, England. It is such a simple dish with lots of texture and flavor that everyone loves.

What was your biggest cooking disaster? Probably the time my mini burgers turned out like hockey pucks. I totally blew it and to top it off, I was serving these at a party. Terrible.

If you could travel to another country just to taste their cuisine, where would you go? Definitely Spain. Mostly because I haven’t been there and also because I love sangria, tapas, seafood, paella, etc.

What is something you have never cooked, but would like to try? A cheese or chocolate souflee. Just because it would be a challenge…and, they’re good.

What do you consider the 5 most essential ingredients you keep in your kitchen? Butter, Olive Oil, Salt, Garlic, Tony Chachere’s Seasoning

What is comfort food to you? Lots of things…homemade mac and cheese, chicken and dumplings, chili, mashed potatoes

What are the ideal toppings for pizza? Basil, Fresh Mozzarella, Italian Sausage, Mushrooms

What kitchen utensil/gadget can you not live without? Probably either my Cutco knives or my OXO tongs. It’s a tie between the two because I use them both all the time.

Behind the Apron: Lindsay

Who has been the biggest influence on your cooking? Becky Campbell, Josh Eason and Christie Bruehl

What is your favorite dish to cook…your signature dish? Sweet Potato soup

What was your biggest cooking disaster? Overcooking cheese soup - YUCK

If you could travel to another country just to taste their cuisine, where would you go? Thailand

What is something you have never cooked, but would like to try? I don't know. I really would just like to get a little more adventurous in general .

What do you consider the 5 most essential ingredients you keep in your kitchen? Thyme, Salt and Pepper, Olive Oil, Onion, garlic

What is comfort food to you? soup

What are the ideal toppings for pizza? artichoke, chicken, olive oil

What kitchen utensil/gadget can you not live without? Is blender an appropriate answer here?

Behind the Apron: Dara

Who has been the biggest influence on your cooking?
My biggest influence was probably my mom and my grandmas for most of my life growing up. All of my comfort food recipes come from them. However, with husband's obsession with Food Network and cooking, I am learning so many new ways to cook and prepare food through Josh.

What is your favorite dish to cook…your signature dish?
I am probably best at roasting meats of all sorts, but my signature dish would probably be French, herbed-roasted chicken. I actually served this to bookclub the first meeting I hosted after we read "A Year in Provence." I absolutely love roast chicken, because it always turns out wonderfully delicious. Other meats have many factors that can affect how well it tastes, but whole roasted chicken is good every time!

What was your biggest cooking disaster?
Oh goodness, there are so many! Many overcooked items and recipes where I left out a main ingredient. One of the strangest ones was cupcakes gone wrong: I used the wisk attachment with my KitchenAid instead of the normal mixing attachment which, apparently, made the cake much too full of air, and I wasn't able to frost them at all. They, literally, just fell apart. I was hosting Bunko that evening, and the cupcake were the dessert. I quickly gave up on frosting the cakes and made a glaze out of powdered sugar and orange juice (the cupcakes were lemony) to drizzle over the tops instead. It worked out, but I was amazingly stressed by that situation.

If you could travel to another country just to taste their cuisine, where would you go?
Italy!!! Maybe Amberly and I can go sometime! :)

What is something you have never cooked, but would like to try?
Homemade breads and rolls. I hear they aren't really difficult, I just never make them! My brother-in-law makes great homemade rolls; maybe he could teach me sometime!

What do you consider the 5 most essential ingredients you keep in your kitchen?
Olive Oil
Natures Seasoning
Garlic
Onions
Butter

What is comfort food to you?
Beef pot roast with potatoes and carrots, my version of ghoulash, Thanksgiving meal, homemade soup... many more!

What are the ideal toppings for pizza?
Fresh mozzarella cheese, prosciutto, fresh leaf basil & tomato slices (same thing I like in panini sandwiches)

What kitchen utensil/gadget can you not live without?
I really love my pampered chef chopper. I love my onions or jalepenos to be super finely chopped when they are going into mix recipes or the saute pan, and the chopper makes that so easy!

Behind the Apron: Becky

Who has been the biggest influence on your cooking?
This is a toss-up between my mother-in-law and the internet. My mother-in-law has taught me a lot about preparing meals, weathered many a harried phone from a frazzled daughter-in-law trying to figure out what cut of meat to buy at the grocery store, and has always had a kind word for my efforts even back when they were quite meager. The internet is where I have found all kinds of information and ideas. The recipes I have read online have motivated me to be more bold and try new things.

What is your favorite dish to cook…your signature dish?
Maybe it's my potato soup. My kids love it, and I love it. I've been making it for as long as I can remember, and it was copied from the potato soup my grandmother made for me when I was a child.

What was your biggest cooking disaster?
One time when Cody and I were newly married I cooked some pork chops in the oven that were completely burned on the outside and completely raw on the inside. I still don't know how I managed to do that. I've also loaded up the crockpot before bed a few times and then forgotten to turn it on.

If you could travel to another country just to taste their cuisine, where would you go?
It would have to be France. I recently read Julia Child's memoir My Life in France, and it made me crave the French experience. It would be a totally new world for me because I am not familiar with French cooking at all.

What is something you have never cooked, but would like to try?
I'd love to attempt a spectacular prime rib one day. I've got to work up my nerve first.

What do you consider the 5 most essential ingredients you keep in your kitchen?
Sugar, flour, garlic, cilantro, and butter

What is comfort food to you?
Any kind of stew or soup, anything extremely buttery or fried, and decadent chocolate desserts

What are the ideal toppings for pizza?
Pepperoni, mushroom, green bell pepper, onion, and lots of cheese

What kitchen utensil/gadget can you not live without?
The Wusthof chef's knife my sister-in-law gave me for Christmas last year. I don't know how I lived without it for so long.

Behind the Apron: Amberly

Who has been the biggest influence on your cooking?
My Grandmother & Sam have both been the biggest influences on my cooking. My Grandmother was a fabulous cook! She passed down numerous recipes to my sisters & I that we look forward to recreating at family gatherings. Our meals together wouldn't be the same without one of Grandmother's signature dishes sitting on the table.

Sam has also been a huge influence on my cooking in the fact that he enjoys preparing food way better than I do! He actually corrects my cooking!! From watching him, I have learned that you don't have to measure every single ingredient when preparing a recipe. You can estimate & feel what you think is an appropriate amount of an ingredient & the results will usually be exactly what you intended, if not better. Sam calls this "cooking with love". I try to follow his method as often as possible!

What is your favorite dish to cook... your signature dish?
Well, it's actually a cake... Kahlua cake. Most people usually ask (or expect) me to make this for get-togethers. (I am much better at baking than cooking.)

What was your biggest cooking disaster?
A chocolate chip bundt cake that I made for a friend's birthday. The recipe called for 6 oz. of chocolate chips, but I mixed in 12 oz. instead. When I turned over the bundt pan to present the cake, only the top half slid out. The bottom half was so heavy with chocolate chips, it remained a gooey mess inside the pan.

If you could travel to another country just to taste their cuisine, where would you go?
Without a doubt, Italy

What is something you have never cooked, but would like to try?
Pad Thai

What do you consider the 5 most essential ingredients to keep in your kitchen?
Salt/Pepper
Season All Seasoning
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Stewed Tomatoes
Chicken Broth

What is comfort food to you?
Any Mexican food. It reminds me of home.

What are the ideal toppings for pizza?
Personally, I like pepperoni, onions & green peppers.

What kitchen utensil/gadget can you not live without?
My apple corer/slicer.