Some strange realizations I had while making some truly delicious fuckin yum yum food from Hungry as Hell, the new cookbook by Michelle Albanes-Davis that I highly recommend !
Michelle -- CONGRATULATIONS on this cookbook. It looks wonderful. I happen to be a later life WFPB eater nowadays but have never been an absolutist. I also believe per most of the blue-zone folks that a diverse diet is important for us emotionally, physically and mentally. I feel sad for the absolutists who only eat a few things and especially if it has led to to "thinking" pulverized tablets and powders are anything but asinine. I am SURE I eat more different foods now than anytime in my life and that is mostly because not eating nonsense means you end up nutrient dense and lots of chewing and texture joy. The meatballs look incredible. Final thought for poor Alex -- I have some Polish family history. It is a tragedy not to expose your son to the wonders of Ukrainian cooking before it is too late. One of the best restaurants in my neck of the woods is Kramarczuks, a stalwart wonderful Ukrainian experience. If I were to ask the immigrant women in kerchiefs if they could make pierogies with low fat cottage cheese and protein powder they would rightfully punch me and encourage I go home and have a tomato with cottage cheese. If you are in a withdrawal phase ala Alex perhaps some cabbage soup can satisfy your angst to eat "healthy".
I still make my Mom's recipe for golumpki and my modern kids even like them. The best one's I've had are here though. The digs are humble and only those in the know realize they've won a James Beard award. https://kramarczuks.com/restaurant -- I love cookbooks and eventually bought theirs. Maybe yours is next!!! It's all about the photos and I liken a well illustrated cookbook to food porn -- ROFL
I'm majority Polish decent and oh golumpki...now I'm hungry! My grandmother taught me how to make czarnina, and my other grandma had the prized pierogi recipe -- I made several dozen all by myself during covid. Mmm yum! I joke Polish food seems to be all carbs and meat, but the cabbage is a superfood...the beets.....
Despite my diet changing I still carve out room for my Polish faves. Ultimate comfort food. My Polish grandmother ate the hardcore stuff. Congrats on making czarnina. Love pierogi's -- sauerkraut filled for me
Me too!! I don't do cheese. And I can't get into the potato ones. I have made some with ground beef and onion, and also fruit. First experienced fruit pierogi in Chicago. So good!
My grandmother liked them with prunes --- people who scoff at prunes I just refer to them as dried plums. Everybody likes plums! While I eat a WFPB diet mostly these days, I describe myself as an opportunarian. If good food is offered I have some! I don't like the potato ones either and the carbs are tough on me anyhow. I eat the the farmer's cheese ones and the sauerkraut ones. My fave place in downtown Minneapolis offers ground beef filled also.
The absolute best cabbage dish is the one my husband and I discovered both my Hungarian grandmother and his Ukrainian grandmother always made in a pinch for dinner -- Cabbage and Noodles, aka Haluski. If you use whole wheat egg noodles or the Barilla yellow box farfalle noodles along with lots of chopped cabbage and onions, the dish provides some very flavorful healthy benefits, including lots of fiber.
Sounds delicious Joan! My Mom married into an Irish-Catholic family. We don't favor too many recipes from the Irish side. She had a sister-in-law from Hungary. My Mom and that Aunt were the best cooks by a long shot. Not a lot of Irish cooking shows :) -- take a look at the restaurant I referenced above (Ukranian/Polish). The cabbage and everything else will make your mouth water!!! If you are willing to share the recipe I will share back my recipe for my Mom's Golumpki (cabbage rolls) MRKJMSDLN@GMAIL.COM
My favorite meal to cook at home is rice cakes with peanut butter and bananas on top and then I salt the whole thing, even though the rice cakes are already salted. This is why it counts as cooking.
I think the bacon came in later years -- I know you are not averse -- just avoid highrise bacon :) -- I slow cook steel cut oatmeal with all sorts of bits and it keeps for a week or so. Sometimes I throw in a dollop of peanut butter for the reheat. PB is awesome!
Nov 2, 2023Liked by Alex Dobrenko`, Michelle Albanes-Davis
shorts at a premier is a power play and now everyone knows who’s in charge... add to it that you’re a man in shorts and full of cottage cheese and you’re unstoppable
Nov 2, 2023·edited Nov 2, 2023Liked by Michelle Albanes-Davis
ooo love the photos, the recipes, the collab with Michelle! drooling... and yes a great point about looking at the fab dessert recipes and saying NO! NO! NO! but wanting to say yes. I think if you make the dessert from scratch it's not bad for you.
I would not eat a slice but as much of that chocolate concoction as possible. As soon as there would be room in my stomach for more, I would eat the rest.
Only a minute and a half into Joy of Cooking with Dr Dobrenko, and I already nearly had a heart attack THE STICKER ALEX. I'm geekin on this collab! Michelle, congrats on another add to the best collection of vegan recipes in history. The 'Rise Dine' breakfast recipes look worth the price of admission alone!
2. and 3. perfecting any variety of Vegan Queso will make life 400x more enjoyable.
4. Alex brings up a good point about gas-powered beans. Some of us just gotta invest in a good synbiotic. Works wonders!
Thanks for being honest about the food struggles. I go through the same but a year ago decided that if I’ve made something at home from scratch it counts as something that’s good for me to eat. I couldn’t live a life that didn’t feature bread!
I’ve never tried monkey bread but it looks interesting.
Interesting comment by Michelle on the polpetti vs meatballs. I do the same with Indian bhajji’s. If it’s leftovers I’m frying up they are bhajji’s. For my guests they are 3 veg fritters with tamarind chutney and chaat masala 🤩
I think cooking for yourself, from scratch, is one of the very best ways to start building a loving relationship with food. It goes from being a burden, to an experiment, to finally an act of love and creativity. Good luck on your journey. It will be delicious, I swear.
Fritters are the secret to a quick, fun dinner no matter the ingredients. Tamarind chutney should be in everyone's fridge at all times. It's addictive!
Great interview! I really like the parts about Rachel Ray and the NYT bestseller comment.
Re the questions, I cook from scratch OR when very busy I subsist on cheese and oatcakes, which is my favorite snack (depending on the cheese).
I prefer both scratch cooking and quick snacks (with cheese).
Soup is my favorite thing to make—I like a nice thick soup with lots of flavor and usually things like beans, meat, barley, veggies, etc.
Thank you for the video Sasha. I got to the eggplant reveal (or a bit after) and realized I needed to get back to work, but it was really interesting and your hair is a delight!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh I loved this! Eating disorder/issues FTW (not) Alex! I can't tell you how much time I've wasted hating my body and then also the food that I crave. UNCOOL.
Michelle Albanes-Davis is gonna join us in the comments! What questions do you have for her about…anything?!---No questions just thank you! I always figured RR was a real one.
What’s your fav meal to cook at home?-I really and truly love making sauces. Any kind of sauce, or dressing, so pastas are my favorite meal and I just love all the chopping and sautéing, and fresh and dried herbs. Pasta with a very fresh tomato and basil sauce is just divine to me.
What’s your go to healthy snack?-Does coffee count? If not, then yogurt with bananas.
Do you think wearing shorts to a premiere is a cool and awesome idea actually?--Wear the shorts! Life is shorts!
That white bean soup sounds fantastic on a cold day like today!
I like making salads more than anything else, just carefully cut all the ingredients up into bite-size pieces, then mix everything together really well. I like for my salads to have around 10 ingredients, so every bite brings variety. Thanks, pandemic!
You are well versed in the ways of salad. Variety and thinking of how everything will fit on your fork (or spoon if you like to get crazy like me) are key for maximum salad enjoyment. I will potluck with you any day.
Thanks, Michelle! As much time as I spent in restaurants earlier in life, it was really nice to revisit those days during the early portion of the pandemic. We picked up the habit of one salad as a meal every day, and we've managed to keep it up the entire time. If you want to talk about ingredients you like to use, I'm down to listen! I use a rotation of probably 15 or so regularly, and throw some unusual stuff in every now and then to run little experiments.
yessss! I love homemade pickled red onions and shallots, toasted sunflower seeds with a little maple syrup thrown in at the last minute on the stove top so they are a little sweet, sumac sprinkled like it's fresh pepper, fresh dill, and I love homemade dressings with multiple type of vinegar. These are my current obsessions. You?
I'm pretty lazy, so it's always either spring mix or a head of romaine (or leaf lettuce); raw onions but somewhat finely diced; tomatoes; cucumber, celery, and carrots (like a raw mirepoix); pickled beets; pickled jalapenos. Those are sort of the staples, and for variety and in the semi-regular rotation are things like feta cheese, hominy, water chestnuts, and probably five or six other recurring doohickeys I love to throw in for variety, so every salad is a little different. I'm not super picky about protein, but I do have some faves (most centered around consistency and convenience vs gourmet-ness per se).
YUM!
I think you are doing more fancy stuff than me, but I respect that game and have played it before. I loved learning about gourmet cooking at one of my "restaurant grind" jobs, since the KM was a CIA grad and I could just ask him questions about anything food related.
BUSY AND SLIGHTLY INSANE who meeeeee
God I say this everytime but wilder is an ICON.
And also food/body shit is hard and weird and I am proud of you and also hungry af now
Michelle -- CONGRATULATIONS on this cookbook. It looks wonderful. I happen to be a later life WFPB eater nowadays but have never been an absolutist. I also believe per most of the blue-zone folks that a diverse diet is important for us emotionally, physically and mentally. I feel sad for the absolutists who only eat a few things and especially if it has led to to "thinking" pulverized tablets and powders are anything but asinine. I am SURE I eat more different foods now than anytime in my life and that is mostly because not eating nonsense means you end up nutrient dense and lots of chewing and texture joy. The meatballs look incredible. Final thought for poor Alex -- I have some Polish family history. It is a tragedy not to expose your son to the wonders of Ukrainian cooking before it is too late. One of the best restaurants in my neck of the woods is Kramarczuks, a stalwart wonderful Ukrainian experience. If I were to ask the immigrant women in kerchiefs if they could make pierogies with low fat cottage cheese and protein powder they would rightfully punch me and encourage I go home and have a tomato with cottage cheese. If you are in a withdrawal phase ala Alex perhaps some cabbage soup can satisfy your angst to eat "healthy".
Cabbage is extremely underrated. It’s cheap, lasts forever, and is tasty a billion different ways. Alex, it’s time for your cabbage era
I still make my Mom's recipe for golumpki and my modern kids even like them. The best one's I've had are here though. The digs are humble and only those in the know realize they've won a James Beard award. https://kramarczuks.com/restaurant -- I love cookbooks and eventually bought theirs. Maybe yours is next!!! It's all about the photos and I liken a well illustrated cookbook to food porn -- ROFL
I'm majority Polish decent and oh golumpki...now I'm hungry! My grandmother taught me how to make czarnina, and my other grandma had the prized pierogi recipe -- I made several dozen all by myself during covid. Mmm yum! I joke Polish food seems to be all carbs and meat, but the cabbage is a superfood...the beets.....
Despite my diet changing I still carve out room for my Polish faves. Ultimate comfort food. My Polish grandmother ate the hardcore stuff. Congrats on making czarnina. Love pierogi's -- sauerkraut filled for me
Me too!! I don't do cheese. And I can't get into the potato ones. I have made some with ground beef and onion, and also fruit. First experienced fruit pierogi in Chicago. So good!
Thanks! 🙂
My grandmother liked them with prunes --- people who scoff at prunes I just refer to them as dried plums. Everybody likes plums! While I eat a WFPB diet mostly these days, I describe myself as an opportunarian. If good food is offered I have some! I don't like the potato ones either and the carbs are tough on me anyhow. I eat the the farmer's cheese ones and the sauerkraut ones. My fave place in downtown Minneapolis offers ground beef filled also.
The absolute best cabbage dish is the one my husband and I discovered both my Hungarian grandmother and his Ukrainian grandmother always made in a pinch for dinner -- Cabbage and Noodles, aka Haluski. If you use whole wheat egg noodles or the Barilla yellow box farfalle noodles along with lots of chopped cabbage and onions, the dish provides some very flavorful healthy benefits, including lots of fiber.
that sounds like heaven. perfect dinner for the winter months
Sounds delicious Joan! My Mom married into an Irish-Catholic family. We don't favor too many recipes from the Irish side. She had a sister-in-law from Hungary. My Mom and that Aunt were the best cooks by a long shot. Not a lot of Irish cooking shows :) -- take a look at the restaurant I referenced above (Ukranian/Polish). The cabbage and everything else will make your mouth water!!! If you are willing to share the recipe I will share back my recipe for my Mom's Golumpki (cabbage rolls) MRKJMSDLN@GMAIL.COM
My favorite meal to cook at home is rice cakes with peanut butter and bananas on top and then I salt the whole thing, even though the rice cakes are already salted. This is why it counts as cooking.
peanut butter and any kind of rice is an underrated combo. love an old school rice cake tho
Elvis has entered the building Anne!!!
I need to put some bacon on that thing, right?
I think the bacon came in later years -- I know you are not averse -- just avoid highrise bacon :) -- I slow cook steel cut oatmeal with all sorts of bits and it keeps for a week or so. Sometimes I throw in a dollop of peanut butter for the reheat. PB is awesome!
shorts at a premier is a power play and now everyone knows who’s in charge... add to it that you’re a man in shorts and full of cottage cheese and you’re unstoppable
oh i'm also remembering i rode my bicycle to that premiere I was very stoned its all coming back to me now
i hate to stroke an ego in the open but damned if that isn’t cool as hell man good for you
ooo love the photos, the recipes, the collab with Michelle! drooling... and yes a great point about looking at the fab dessert recipes and saying NO! NO! NO! but wanting to say yes. I think if you make the dessert from scratch it's not bad for you.
Absolutely. You get to enjoy that slice of cake knowing you created it and earned every bite
I would not eat a slice but as much of that chocolate concoction as possible. As soon as there would be room in my stomach for more, I would eat the rest.
I love what Michelle says about "food becomes a part of you". I recently listened to this great interview about ultra processed foods. Basically if you can make it in your kitchen, it'll be good for you. Or at least not bad. https://think.kera.org/2023/10/17/why-does-a-potato-chip-have-20-ingredients/
I want that chocolate cake
Only a minute and a half into Joy of Cooking with Dr Dobrenko, and I already nearly had a heart attack THE STICKER ALEX. I'm geekin on this collab! Michelle, congrats on another add to the best collection of vegan recipes in history. The 'Rise Dine' breakfast recipes look worth the price of admission alone!
2. and 3. perfecting any variety of Vegan Queso will make life 400x more enjoyable.
4. Alex brings up a good point about gas-powered beans. Some of us just gotta invest in a good synbiotic. Works wonders!
Thanks for being honest about the food struggles. I go through the same but a year ago decided that if I’ve made something at home from scratch it counts as something that’s good for me to eat. I couldn’t live a life that didn’t feature bread!
I’ve never tried monkey bread but it looks interesting.
Interesting comment by Michelle on the polpetti vs meatballs. I do the same with Indian bhajji’s. If it’s leftovers I’m frying up they are bhajji’s. For my guests they are 3 veg fritters with tamarind chutney and chaat masala 🤩
I think cooking for yourself, from scratch, is one of the very best ways to start building a loving relationship with food. It goes from being a burden, to an experiment, to finally an act of love and creativity. Good luck on your journey. It will be delicious, I swear.
Fritters are the secret to a quick, fun dinner no matter the ingredients. Tamarind chutney should be in everyone's fridge at all times. It's addictive!
Great interview! I really like the parts about Rachel Ray and the NYT bestseller comment.
Re the questions, I cook from scratch OR when very busy I subsist on cheese and oatcakes, which is my favorite snack (depending on the cheese).
I prefer both scratch cooking and quick snacks (with cheese).
Soup is my favorite thing to make—I like a nice thick soup with lots of flavor and usually things like beans, meat, barley, veggies, etc.
Thank you for the video Sasha. I got to the eggplant reveal (or a bit after) and realized I needed to get back to work, but it was really interesting and your hair is a delight!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh I loved this! Eating disorder/issues FTW (not) Alex! I can't tell you how much time I've wasted hating my body and then also the food that I crave. UNCOOL.
Michelle Albanes-Davis is gonna join us in the comments! What questions do you have for her about…anything?!---No questions just thank you! I always figured RR was a real one.
What’s your fav meal to cook at home?-I really and truly love making sauces. Any kind of sauce, or dressing, so pastas are my favorite meal and I just love all the chopping and sautéing, and fresh and dried herbs. Pasta with a very fresh tomato and basil sauce is just divine to me.
What’s your go to healthy snack?-Does coffee count? If not, then yogurt with bananas.
Do you think wearing shorts to a premiere is a cool and awesome idea actually?--Wear the shorts! Life is shorts!
You absolutely crack me up! No, food isn’t that healthy but I’m gonna eat it anyway!!!
I am literally adding this cookbook to cart as we speak. This looks so good.
Looks awesome! I'm always on the hunt for new recipes- especially soups! I'm a cottage-cheese-and-berries eater myself.
That white bean soup sounds fantastic on a cold day like today!
I like making salads more than anything else, just carefully cut all the ingredients up into bite-size pieces, then mix everything together really well. I like for my salads to have around 10 ingredients, so every bite brings variety. Thanks, pandemic!
You are well versed in the ways of salad. Variety and thinking of how everything will fit on your fork (or spoon if you like to get crazy like me) are key for maximum salad enjoyment. I will potluck with you any day.
Thanks, Michelle! As much time as I spent in restaurants earlier in life, it was really nice to revisit those days during the early portion of the pandemic. We picked up the habit of one salad as a meal every day, and we've managed to keep it up the entire time. If you want to talk about ingredients you like to use, I'm down to listen! I use a rotation of probably 15 or so regularly, and throw some unusual stuff in every now and then to run little experiments.
yessss! I love homemade pickled red onions and shallots, toasted sunflower seeds with a little maple syrup thrown in at the last minute on the stove top so they are a little sweet, sumac sprinkled like it's fresh pepper, fresh dill, and I love homemade dressings with multiple type of vinegar. These are my current obsessions. You?
I'm pretty lazy, so it's always either spring mix or a head of romaine (or leaf lettuce); raw onions but somewhat finely diced; tomatoes; cucumber, celery, and carrots (like a raw mirepoix); pickled beets; pickled jalapenos. Those are sort of the staples, and for variety and in the semi-regular rotation are things like feta cheese, hominy, water chestnuts, and probably five or six other recurring doohickeys I love to throw in for variety, so every salad is a little different. I'm not super picky about protein, but I do have some faves (most centered around consistency and convenience vs gourmet-ness per se).
YUM!
I think you are doing more fancy stuff than me, but I respect that game and have played it before. I loved learning about gourmet cooking at one of my "restaurant grind" jobs, since the KM was a CIA grad and I could just ask him questions about anything food related.