Molly Yeh Talks MadeGood Partnership, Her New Allergy Friendly Cookbook, and Recipes for National Food Allergy Awareness Week (Exclusive)
May 15 marked the start of National Food Allergy foo Week. To help busy families cook more inclusively, Food Network star Molly Yeh created a cookbook/recipe collection in partnership with MadeGood that features snacks, desserts, and entrees that are allergy friendly. In conjunction with the campaign, PopCulture spoke with Yeh about the need for such a recipe guide, and how she creates allergy-friendly meals for her friends and family. In addition to talking about the recipe collection, Yeh gave tips on cooking with kids, how her show contributed to the spark of interest in farm life, and balancing homecooked meals with dining out when families have such busy schedules.
PC: Congratulations on your partnership with MadeGood and your work prompting National Food Allergies Week. How did that come about and why is it so important for you to be a part of this initiative?
MY: I've been a fan of MadeGood for a while. My 4-year-old is completely obsessed with their birthday cake granola bars, and I've also had people super close to me that have allergies and allergy-free cooking has always been something that I'm super comfortable with, super aware. And now even more so now having kids and my older ones in preschool and now at the restaurant. So I feel like whenever I'm cooking, I always want to be aware of who I'm cooking for, and what their allergies are. I want to make them feel included and like they're comfortable at the table.
I never want anybody to feel excluded because they have an allergy. And so this partnership felt super organic, supernatural, just because this is what I'm all about, making everyone feel welcome at the table. And these recipes in the recipe collection are inspired by a lot of my go-to favorite recipes. Some of them just needed a few minor tweaks to make them allergy free. Others were new recipes inspired by MadeGood products. So it was really fun to put together and they're all delicious. So it's even someone who doesn't have allergies, I love them.
So tell us about your cookbook and recipe collection, which really makes this inclusive for people with all types of food restrictions. Maybe not even necessarily just allergies, just people who are more on the healthy eating side, there are a lot of gluten-free situations or vegans or whatever the case may be.
So I always, whenever I'm having someone over, I always just ask them total judgment-free zone, "What are your dietary restrictions these days?" Whether it's an allergy, or whether they're just avoiding something right now, doesn't make a difference to me. I just want to accommodate you and I want you to feel welcome at my table. And so these recipes in the collection are, I just say they're delicious, period.
They're delicious and they're free of many ingredients that may cause harm to some. They happen to be allergy free and you don't feel like you are missing something from that dish. And I like to make these dishes for everybody rather than doing one dinner for all of my friends who can eat it and then one separate thing for my allergy friend. No, I just like to make these dishes for everybody so that everybody can enjoy them and not feel like they're singled out or whatever.
And the swaps are, like I said, some of the recipes, super simple swaps. Others were built from the ground up being allergy-free. I use a lot of oat milk, a lot of oat milk ice cream, a lot of oat flour, and a lot of beans. And most of the recipes, I think if they're not vegetarian, there's a swap to make them pretty easily vegetarian. And also the opposite too, if you don't like cooking with a lot of beans or lentils, there are some ways of adding meats into the mix instead of those. So there's just a lot of different things you can do with them.
What are some of your favorites, and what would you say are your most delicious recipes within this collection?
So I'm making the falafel fattoush tonight. I love falafel. I've got my chickpeas soaking. It's a perfect salad ... well, it was warming up. We were getting 80-degree temperatures this week until today when now it's sweater weather. I would say the falafel fattoush is one of my favorites for the summer. And then the ice cream pie is so simple and so good.
I like that. And I really love something that you mentioned that really touched me is that you said you don't like to make a meal and then have one side meal for the one person who has dietary restrictions because that can be excluding them. So I love that you've made it an all-encompassing experience. How do you encourage other people who may be hosting these types of events or even though there are gluten-free options or menu items that are marketed to people who have these restrictions, it still may just be one person at the table who feels left out. What do you suggest that other people and business owners do to make it more of an inclusive environment?
Well, for one thing, I always like to find out right off the bat if someone's coming over to my house, I ask them what their dietary restrictions are. And I try to find something that is naturally that. That naturally avoids meat or that naturally avoids dairy or whatnot, or that just requires a couple of really simple swaps.
And then at my restaurant too, on the menu, I want to make it really clear if something is vegan or gluten-free or whatnot, because I don't want that person, that customer to have to ask or to have to go down the menu with the server and be like, "OK, well what can I eat? I'm avoiding these things."
I just want them to feel like any other customer and not feel like they have to either ask for special treatment or ask for a special item to be made. I just want the item to be there. And I want them to feel like they're not defined by their allergy. They are a person and they deserve to have really delicious food, just like everybody. And so this doesn't need to…I don't want it to make it a big thing for them and just make sure that they get delicious food.
So another thing that I'm always interested in is snacking throughout the day, because they always say that it's good to have snacks throughout the day to keep you energized, but sometimes you don't want the healthiest version of the snack. You might want some ice cream versus some fruit. So what are your favorite healthy snacks that you suggest to keep you full in between meals?
I'm big on crackers, mostly because you'll see it when you have your child and they start eating solid food, you'll realize that there are just crackers everywhere. I didn't use to eat crackers before, but now they're just so easy to grab a handful of. MadeGood has their little star puffs, which I love. And there's a recipe for Spicy Ranch ones, where you kind of toss them with some seasonings and sriracha and bake them. So those are really good. And I don't know, I also just tend to have a lot of fruit around too. So we love those little Cutie oranges, those mandarin oranges.
Now families are obviously very busy. Before, it used to be just the parents with their work schedule, but now the kids are booked and busy too with their schooling and sports and all of their extracurricular activities and whatever online stuff they may have going on. So a lot of families are resorting to dining out more, whether that's via food delivery app or just eating on the go. What is your advice to balance that out with also making sure that you have healthy meals at home?
So I'm all about prepping and taking the time when you have it to invest in when you don't have it. So for example, over the weekend when you have time, I'll make a fresh loaf of bread or I'll make a pasta salad or something that is going to be great as leftovers or that can carry us throughout the week so that when we are starving but we're short on time, the quick thing that we're reaching for actually was homemade. I guess it makes it better for you food more easily accessible so you don't have too many excuses to go out.
I guess just prepping, making things in big batches so that you can have leftovers throughout the week. I'm big on leftovers. And then just knowing that you have that as an easy meal. You don't have to make from-scratch meals, three meals a day, but if you make a huge from-scratch meal on a Sunday, you can have it on a Monday and a Tuesday, and a Wednesday, and it takes five minutes to reheat, but it's still something that you made from scratch.
So a lot of moms ... I know I come from a house where my mom preferred to be in the kitchen alone because it's without interruption. It's their "me time," and they get things done quicker. But you encourage cooking as a family, especially when you have younger kids. What do you feel are the benefits of that?
It's such a balance, right? Because I have those moments too where I'm like, "Everybody please leave. I need to listen to my music and I don't need to listen to the Frozen soundtrack for the 5000th time." And then there are, of course also those times where I'm like, "OK, yeah, Bernie, get in here and help out and wash some potatoes or get to work," because when she does help out, at this point, it's like she sees the food being made, she's more likely to eat it. If she feels like she has had a hand in making it, she gets more excited about it.
For my little one, I have a one-year-old. For her, it's more of a sensory activity and learning what ice cubes feel like or what big piles of oats feel like and what it's like to scoop them up and stuff. And so I think there are benefits of getting them involved no matter how much they're actually helping or if they're actually just making a mess. But then it's also totally OK to tell everybody to leave you alone and let you have your me time. So it's a balance.
Now, a lot of people obviously are fans of you from your work with the Food Network. I think that your show has been very different. It was a really good…especially because so many people are…I see a lot of celebrities nowadays who are really adopting the whole idea of farm life and homegrown foods. Kellis was really a major person who a few years ago really started that trend. And I just spoke with James Van Der Beek a few weeks ago, who lives on this ranch in Texas, and his six kids and his wife are growing their animals and making their own food. Tell us a little bit about your show and how you're seeing an uptick in this trend in farm life and how that is beneficial to family life and for healthy dietary reasons as well.
I think across crossed the board there's increased interest in seeing where your food comes from because number one, it's fascinating and it's educational, but also it's so delicious and there's just nothing like a farm fresh egg from chickens that you raised. Or we have our rhubarb growing in our garden and I'm so excited for it to be ready so that I can start cooking with it. And it's also, I keep seeing articles that say, "If you garden, you'll extend your lifespan." So I'm like, OK.
Whatever we can do.
Yeah, I'm really bad at gardening, but I'll do that. So there are so many benefits to it and fresh air, huge benefits to it. And just getting outside. And so I love visiting cities. I loved living in a city when I was younger. At this point in my life, I can't imagine raising kids in a city. They love being outside and they love having a yard.
But at the same time, there are benefits to both places. There's so much amazing culture in cities and so many amazing restaurants and concerts and museums, and those are things that I sometimes do miss living out here, but there are such…the quality of life out here, I don't ever want to take for granted because it's just so nice to be able to walk out into a yard and let your kids run around naked in the sprinkler.
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