Must Love Food

Pam, Robin, and Maddy wax poetic about sweet corn — the love of late summer. Robin tells tales of detasseling corn, Maddy talks about running (and her cousin driving) through the corn rows at her uncle's farm, and Pam talks up New Jersey's (aka the Garden State's) dream-worthy sweet corn. We share our favorite ways to cook and eat corn (and Maddy gives a great tip on steam-baking whole, unshucked, ears of corn—bake it at 350 for 30 minutes). Some of our favorite Cuisine corn-centric recipes are: Grilled Sweet Corn with Basil Lime Butter, Pimento Cheese Butter, Grilled Corn Salad, Pickled Sweet Corn with Peaches & Red Onion, Bacon & Sweet Corn Pasta, Maque Choux with Edamame and Sherry, Corn Chowder, and Sweet Corn Budini with Fresh Basil.

Pam, Teresa, and Robin talk all things homemade pasta. Robin shares a few highlights from her Pasta Basics Cooking Class (using our Basic Pasta Dough recipe), where she shows how to make fettuccine, tortellini, and ravioli, Teresa talks about how to make her Nonna's cavatelli without a pasta machine (using that same Basic Pasta Dough). Her story is featured both online at cusineathome.com and in our September/October 2020 issue, plus Teresa talks about making lots of other pasta shapes with her family and one of her favorite sauces is a ragu (so we're sharing one of Cuisine's that Pam developed - Instant Pot Pork Ragu). And Pam reminisces about making and mastering gnocchi.

Maddy, John, and Robin have a lively discussion about judging food over the years at the Iowa State Fair, Cuisine's sponsorship of a corn contest at the Fair (and a few recipe highlights, such as Sweet Corn Ice Cream and Whoopie Pies), some of Cuisine's fair food recreations (check out your July/August issue for the Fair Foods story), and their favorite must-have treats when they go to the fair, including Corn Dogs and Cheese Curds,

Pam "sits" down with Maddy and Haley to celebrate finalizing another issue while working from home — they briefly touch upon the highlights to come in the September/October 2020 issue.

Pam chats with John and Robin about the online classes they're teaching every month. We highlight what's to come, what's already been done, how people can sign up, pricing, etc. We digress a little and discuss our favorite pies: Cherry Pie, Blueberry Pie, Peach Pie, Pecan Pie, Apple Pie, and Pumpkin Pie, among others (as there were two pie classes—crust and fillings) and our favorite cakes, including Pineapple Upside Down Cake, Brooklyn Blackout Cake, Old-Fashioned Chocolate Cake, Angel Food Cake, Carrot Cake, and more (because as it turns out, Robin's favorite thing to bake is cake). Listen and maybe subscribe and watch these two naturals in action.

Pam and Haley chat with Lauren Grant, former Cuisiner, founder of Zestful Kitchen (ZK). Our former colleague has become a full-time influencer and freelancer. Lauren shares her journey of building ZK from the ground up as a passion project while in school to a now successful self-sustaining, albeit still somewhat new and growing brand. We all reminisce and divulge what some of our favorite cuisine recipes are: Cashew Cream Caesar Dressing, Vietnamese Noodle Salad, Couch Potato Soup, Chicken Spiedies, Homemade Pastrami, Apricot & Almond Kringle, and Bulgogi Jerky and Lauren tells us that one her favorite ZK recipes is her Blood Orange Boston Sour (which leads us on a discussion of aquafaba and an article Pam wrote, "What is Aquafaba and How to Use It." Lauren also mentions that three of her most popular recipes on ZK are: Healthy Skillet Cornbread, Blueberry Lemon-Curd Tart, and Saucy Gochujang Noodles. There's so much more the three discuss about the world of creating food content for the web and print publications and all that goes into it. This is one episode you won't want to miss!

Pam, Haley, and Maddy have a lively round table chat, discussing our just launched Must Love Food Cookbook Summit and Maddy is one of the presenters where she demos two Cuisine at Home recipes that she developed: Steak & Quinoa Salad Bowl and Plum and Sherry Shrub. Be sure to check out the Summit. The FREE, online, on-demand, virtual event features 15 demo-style videos from the authors so you can take your cooking, baking, and cocktail-crafting skills to the next level. AND when you sign up, you're automatically in the running to win 2 FREE cookbooks - there will be MULTIPLE winners - but ACT FAST - the giveaway ends July 31, 2020.

Chef Sean Wilson joins Pam and Haley (his wife) on our podcast again to share a little about his experience opening a new restaurant, St. Kilda Collective in West Des Moines, IA, during a pandemic.

In the continuing round robin discussion with the Cuisine at Home staff - to answer the question "what a cool job you have, how did you get into that?" - Chris and Teresa briefly tell their tales.

Today Pam talks with Robin and John about their beginnings in the food industry. Follow their journey from picky eating in childhood all the way up to present-day tastes.