A Christmas Miracle!
Last week, I was a guest on CTV Ottawa’s News at Noon with my good friend, Leanne Cusack. She was the first-ever TV show that Greta and I appeared on way back in August of 1996 when we launched our first cookbook, Looneyspoons! As desperate, first-time authors with no track record, Greta and I remember being “over-the-moon” ecstatic when Leanne called us after she received our book and fancy schmancy “press kit” in the mail.
“Somebody called us back! Somebody wants us on their show! She said yes!” I’m sure we high-fived each other until our hands were burning red! Sure enough, a few days later the big, white CTV truck appeared in front of our teeny tiny bungalow that doubled as our “secret publishing headquarters.” It was show time! I remember the truck’s big satellite pole going up, up, up higher than the tree in our front yard. It wasn’t long before all of the neighbours were out on their front porches, pointing, gossiping and speculating about what horrible, hideous crime could have been committed by the two mysterious girls living in the red-brick house. Our first-ever TV appearance, with Leanne as our enthusiastic host, went amazingly well. And then our phone rang off the hook for days with order after order from local bookstores. With that interview and just a couple more, our first print run of 10,000 copies was sold out within two weeks! Considering 10,000 copies is considered a bestseller in Canada, I guess we owe Leanne a commission check or two, to say the least.
Well, what does this long-winded story have to do with “a Christmas miracle?” Nothing! I just got a little side-tracked with a nostalgic moment! (I have a way of doing that sometimes.) Here’s the real Christmas miracle part:
Yes, I really did appear on Leanne’s CTV show last week to do some Christmas-related healthy eating tips and tricks. Greta couldn’t make it to Ottawa, but I decided that the show must go on without her. So the “miracle” was that I, Janet Podleski, the domestically impaired one of our duo, the sister who’s the nutritionist and writer, not the cook, the one who takes an hour to make minute rice, made my cooking debut! Flying solo with a recipe! Showing viewers how to cook something! Alone! Moses parted the Red Sea and Janet cooked! Honestly, this was a big deal for me, and I’m sure that everyone who knows me couldn’t believe that I would volunteer to cook alone, and on TV, to boot.
“How hard could it be?” I thought. “Surely if Greta can do it, I can do it, too!”
Phew! It was a lot of work! I prepared for one full day doing the shopping and chopping and prepping. Leanne wanted to film at my house, in my kitchen, and she insisted on making two recipes. Count ‘em–two! Yikes! I’ve appeared on hundreds and hundreds of TV shows, but never had to think twice about putting a recipe together. How nerve-wracking! Greta gave me a detailed check-list to follow: shopping list, cooking items, dishes and utensils I’d need to buy, what needs to be sitting on the counter during the segment, how to garnish everything so it looks beautiful on camera–the whole shebang.
“Just prepare everything ahead of time, put all the ingredients all measured out in little bowls, put the bowls in the fridge and have them all ready to go in advance,” she said. She insisted that if I followed my checklist religiously, I’d surely be able to pull it off.
And I did! It was amazing! First I prepared “Let it Bean” from Eat, Shrink and Be Merry (a colourful, scrumptious, light-tasting four-bean salad that’s not dripping in oil and looks great on a Christmas buffet table). Then I put together a warm banana-bread pudding with pecans and chocolate chips called “Your Pudding Me On.” (We gave it that name because it’s made with whole-grain bread, which no one can believe.) For some reason I was super-calm and super-confident and not at all nervous about remembering all the ingredients and steps of the recipe along with giving my usual nutritional tips. It was really weird, like I temporarily transformed into some kind of “recipe idiot savant” or something. Everything went off without a hitch. The food looked unbelievably delicious and gorgeous on camera. Leanne was impressed and in awe and well, to tell you the truth, shocked. She often refers to my house as “The house that food forgot,” due to my culinary inadequacies. Knowing my long history of burning salad and setting off multitudes of smoke detectors, I actually did hear her mutter the words “Christmas miracle” under her breath.
I was soaring as high as a kite when the show ended, proud of my newfound cooking wizardry. But as I started to clean up my kitchen, my kite came crashing violently down to earth. When I opened the fridge to put away some ingredients, I noticed my perfectly pre-measured bowl containing four slightly beaten eggs sitting there staring at me. Oops! Forgot ‘em! No eggs in the bread pudding! No yolking! I hope no one at home was frantically scribbling down the recipe as I was giving it out. Did I say “idiot savant,” or “idiot?”
Oh well. Who was I kidding? Me pulling this off without a single hitch would have been a miracle, indeed.
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patty | December 25, 2007 at 3:16 pm →
Congratulations!! I think it is great that you did a good job and a testament to the greatness of your recipes. They are so well-written and easy to follow that I think even people who feel cooking-impaired can manage to make good food.
Just wanted to let you know that our Christmas dinner featured many of your recipes: Darth Tater (which was sucked up by a guest who is super picky and always complaining that I don’t add enough cheese to recipes), Mr. Bean, and Mashed FauxTatoes. I love your cook books!
P.S. I have lost 40 pounds and lowered my cholesterol significantly mostly cooking recipes from all three of your books. Thanks for all you do!
Shawn | January 2, 2008 at 2:08 pm →
Hello ladies, I just watch you on Food TV and it looks like the two of have fun cooking together. I really enjoy cooking and eating that could be the reason i weight around 350lbs. I’m a single guy and have a hard time cooking a meal for one i need to eat whatever i cook no matter how much i cook. For the new year i’ve made up my mind to lose weight, my only problem is that there is no such cook book for single people to follow. So i guess im just wondering if u have any cook books for us single folks, or if you know of one i could get to help me take off the needed weight i have to lose. Any help would be much appreciated and i hope u have a wonderful New Year!!! Thanks
Dale | January 3, 2008 at 1:02 pm →
Hi Janet,
Just a note to wish you a ” Happy New Year” for 2008. Seems like a long time since we had a golf game together. I am really happy to see you and Greta have done so well with your cook books.Continued success.
Leah | January 8, 2008 at 4:15 pm →
Hi Ladies! I just got your cookbook, “Eat, Shrink and Be Merry!” for Christmas, and I’m really excited about trying out the recipes! I am currently eating a low Gi diet, and am wondering how your recipes/ingredients fit into that style of eating. I have lost about 15 lbs already and want to keep going! Not sure if you know anything about the Gi diet, but any advice you could give me about incorporating your recipes into my diet would be great! Thanks!!!!
Lori | January 23, 2008 at 1:34 pm →
Hi Ladies, have watched your show on FoodNetwork and love, love you both. You are so personable. I feel like I know you thru the show. Just purchased Eat Shrink & Be Merry and have tried various recipes. I have two teenage sons and they love the recipes I have prepared. They are fairly health conscious and your recipes let them feel as if they are “cheating”. Actually all the recipes I tried recently I didn’t even have to head to the grocery store as I had the items at home already. Now that is a great cookbook when you don’t have to make special trips for items listed. Thank you both so much – you are truly inspiration in our quest to maintain a healthy lifestyle.