Daphne Oz Shares Her Cooking Hack for Busy Moms and Opens Up Her Fridge to ABC News
"The Chew" co-host reveals the kitchen staples in her home with "GMA."
— -- Daphne Oz, the co-host of “The Chew” and mom of two, has simple tips for staying happy in the kitchen: cook in advance and make in bulk.
"People always ask me, 'How do you keep it fun in the kitchen and not make it feel like one more chore at the end of a long day,'" Oz, the author of “The Happy Cook” cookbook, said. "On Sundays I'll make a big batch of lentils or quinoa or rice or whatever it is ... that way I can spread it into side dishes, salads, soups, whatever it might be the rest of the week. Anytime I turn the oven on I’m making a double batch. We might want two squashes, but I’ll make four. It just goes a long way toward making your life easier for the amount of effort you’re putting in."
She invited "Good Morning America" into her home for a Facebook live-stream lunch break, cooking chicken rollatini with kale-walnut pesto and a roasted butternut squash. Oz also shared her tips to keep it fun in the kitchen. Watch the recipe demo in the video above.
“It’s not about being perfect. It’s about having a good time and creating meals that you want to eat, but also that you want to share,” Oz, 30, said.
Oz opened up her fridge, which is covered with artwork by her 2-year-old daughter Philo, and filled with her healthy cooking staples. Check out her list of must-haves.
1. Chili peppers, mustard and hot sauce.. "To add lots of flavor without a ton of calories or sugar, I’m always a big fan of chili peppers and you can see my wall of hot sauce. I love a chili in my mustard and I have a ton of different mustards that I use.”
2. Salad dressing in a jar. “When you have it already made it makes it that much easier to say, ‘I’m going to have a big salad with this meal,’” she said. “That’s sort of how I think about balancing what I eat. I crowd my plate with healthy options and then make the other dishes I want to indulge [in] with a side dish.”
3. Eggs and unsalted butter. “I always have unsalted butter. It’s all I cook and bake with.”
4. Nuts. “I keep my nuts in the refrigerator. Nuts are full of fat. Fat goes bad when there’s warm temperatures or exposed to a lot of light. I keep my flour in the freezer.”