crossfit diet for picky eaters

james mulcahy: hey, guys. what's up? i'm james mulcahy. i'm the lead video producer atzagat, which is, as you know, the restaurant,brand, and guidebook.

crossfit diet for picky eaters, so they called me into interview gina, who is a author of the"skinnytaste cookbook," and she publishes recipesat the skinnytaste blog, skinnytaste.com.

gina homolka: mm-hmm. and you probably saw some of herrecipes today at hemispheres. what did you make today,or what were the recipes? gina homolka: thebuttermilk fried chicken, the sriracha salmon,the brussels sprouts with prosciutto. what else was there? female speaker: the farroto. gina homolka: thecarrot farroto.

female speaker: the greek salad. gina holmoka: yes,the chickpea salad. james mulcahy: there shouldbe a tasting with the talk while we eat it-- gina homolka: yeah, we should. james mulcahy: --as we discuss. female speaker: the carne asada. gina homolka: oh,the carne asada. yeah, that wasashley's favorite.

james mulcahy: so i'm curiousjust being from zagat, i think an easy place tostart is with restaurants. i always ask thisquestion to everyone i meet, what's your favorite? where do you go in new york? gina homolka: yeah. so i always have ahard time with this because i feel like i don'treally have a favorite. every day it might bea different favorite.

but we were justtalking about this now and i was saying i love spicemarket in the meatpacking district. so today i'm going togo with that answer. james mulcahy: that's good. you should come backto google cafeteria. they actually do somegreat indian food. gina homolka: i love indian. james mulcahy: thelines are always

like down the corridorfor indian food days. gina homolka: yeah, definitely. i would definitelycome back for that. you let me know. james mulcahy: we will. we will. cool. let's talk about "skinnytaste." i know you startedout as a blogger,

and it's just you, right,just writing a blog. how did that begin,and did you ever think it would getto this point where there's these projectionsof a book behind us where-- gina homolka: no. this whole thing is so surreal,because i started as a photo retoucher, and i was a graphicdesigner, and i started a blog. i was trying to loseweight for my wedding and i couldn't findanything to make online.

i was googling recipes for--weight watcher-friendly recipes, and everything ifound was really processed, the sites were poorly designed. so i decided, well, let me justtry and see if i could do this. and i just started a blog. i was experimentingwith my own recipes that i was making athome because i've always loved cooking. and i started sharingit out in this blog,

never realizing that peoplewould try the recipes and comment and start givingme all this great feedback. and they start losing weight andtelling me about their weight loss stories. and it just inspiredme to keep going. so this whole thinghas been a crazy ride. james mulcahy:was there a moment when you were blogging in thevery beginning where you said, oh, my god.

this could be a career for me,this could be a path forward. like did you getthat one comment that was like the aha moment? gina homolka: so wheni started blogging, i didn't do it toquit my career, because i loved being a retouchand i loved working in the city and working in a creative space. i think it was januaryand my traffic spiked. it doubled overnight.

and my advertiserthat was working with me called me andsaid, what are you doing? are you working with a team? like what's going on? they were tryingto figure out why i'm getting so much traffic. and i think that moment said,wow, i could make a career out of this. but i didn't leave myjob yet because i really

loved working as a retoucherand i was kind of afraid to just leave during a recession. so it wasn't until ihad my baby madison-- now she's five-- that i actuallyleft and made it full-time. when you said, ok, i knowi can do this full-time? well, i probably knew icould have done it full-time when i had mydaughter, and it was my husband who actuallyhad to push me and tell me, why are you working?

you're doing sogreat with this blog. you could do this athome and raise madison. and i kind of neededhim to make that push. but i think that was-- justseeing the revenue that was coming from the blog, iknew i could make it full-time. james mulcahy: that's cool. so when you firststarted experimenting with these recipes,was there something missing in other recipesthat you found when

you started googling around? what did you try to add whenyou started the site to kind of this skinny conversation? gina homolka: so when ifirst googled recipes-- i was doing weightwatchers because i was trying to lose weight--everything was very processed. so it was like take acan of campbell's soup and mix it with anotheringredient and that's dinner. now, i always liked cookingand i had a nine-year-old

and she's picky, and myfiance was very picky. so i knew i couldn'tmake that for them. they would not be ok with it. so i just startedtaking my recipes that they lovedand i just started playing around with themand making them lighter and getting their thumbsup or their thumbs down, and that's how i started. they critiqued everything.

they still do. james mulcahy: right. it's a pretty goodjob, i imagine. gina homolka: yes. yes. james mulcahy: sodid they lose weight when they were critiquing? i know you told meabout your aunt, right? so when i was doing thecookbook, i, for the first time

used a recipetester to make sure that all the recipeswere accurately written, and she worked withme for an entire year. and i had so much foodfor my blog and the book from testing that i wound upeating lunch with her every day and then i would give her dinnerto take home for her family. we had too much food and idon't like throwing out food. so she started losing weight,and every month i would see her and she'd be like look,my pants are really loose.

and for the entire year she wentfrom a size 14 to a size four. and we thought maybe she wassick, she went to the doctor. and the doctor waslike you're perfect. you're cholesterol's great. like what are you doing? and she's like you haveto go skinnytaste.com. and i ask her all thetime, so what is it that you did different? and she's like you just taughtme how to cook different.

i didn't realize that ididn't need all that oil, and i started trying thingsthat i would have never eaten before, like spaghettisquash or all these things that she's never triedbefore and she was now eating and liking, andher family was eating. and now she's still a sizefour and she works out. she goes to the gym. so she's completelychanged her life. james mulcahy:that's amazing you

get a doctor to kind ofwrite the stamp of approval, right, for the website. gina homolka: i loved itbecause i always got emails from people telling meabout their weight loss, but i never actually met people. so to actually see thetransition for the whole year, it was an incredible thing. james mulcahy: yes. i imagine you've developed kindof a following over the years

from the site that broughtyou to this cookbook. what is it like tointeract with these people? gina homolka: so that's myfavorite part of blogging. when i first started blogging,getting their comments is what made me addicted to it. and when they started tellingme that i'm making a difference and i'm helping them withtheir weight loss journey, that's what made mecontinue doing it. it was never about making ita career, about the money.

i felt like i had tohelp these people. like i like helping people andi like doing things for people. so it's the most gratifyingfeeling in the world. when i wake up some days,i'm having a bad day and i'll check my commentsor an email and somebody sends me this beautiful emailthat they used to be a diabetic and now they'rediabetes is all clear and they're losingweight, or they're starting to cook healthyfor their family.

like that makes me feel so good. so i know i'm making adifference in people's lives. james mulcahy: so yeah,what's the secret then? you're gettingthese emails, people are clearly having effects. do you have a mantraor kind of an idiom that you're working in? what do people learn whenthey come to your site? gina homolka: i thinkit's just about how

to balance your meals. so i will useleaner cuts of meat. i'll use whole grains. i'll make sure that theportions are correct. when i'm using grains i'llincrease the vegetables so that you're gettinga decent portion. obviously, you don't want tobe hungry just to lose weight. so i make sure that all theportions are always filling. and just adding so muchflavor, seasonings, fresh herbs

is really justwhat i like to do. james mulcahy: is itmore about learning how to change your lifestyle-- gina homolka: it is. james mulcahy: --tochange your recipes? gina homolka: ifeel like anybody could take their favoriterecipe and make it lighter. so it's not about not beingable to eat the foods you love. it's about takingthe foods you love

and learning howto recreate them so that you could still eatthem, just in a lighter way. james mulcahy: isthere a few cuisines that this works well with, or doyou just go all over the place? gina homolka: everything. i love all kinds of cuisines. james mulcahy: so you cango to the spice market across the street andrecreate the menu-- gina homolka: absolutely.

james mulcahy: makeit a little skinnier. gina homolka: that'swhat i love doing, yes. james mulcahy:yeah, that's good. i'm curious because i think alot of people-- maybe myself included-- don't necessarilywant to commit to a diet or making all these recipes. do you have threeor four easy tips that you can change rightaway, like small things that would make a big difference?

if you drink soda, i would sayeliminate that immediately. james mulcahy:[laugh] event diet? gina homolka: yes,especially diet because it's all processed. so eliminating sodas is a first. and i would saydrink lots of water or seltzer-- myhusband likes seltzer. eliminating processed foods. eat clean.

i don't use fat-free ingredientsbecause they're so processed, and you wind up, i feel like,gaining weight from them. and they're not healthy. so i say eliminatingall the processed junk. and a third would iwould say exercise. i try to exercise threeor four times a week. so just having a balance. james mulcahy: good. i'm glad you didn'tsay stop drinking beer.

i like my wine, so i do havemy occasional glass of wine. and what about the cookbook? so how did you jump fromblogging to publishing? gina homolka: so i was gettingrequests from the skinnytaste fans, and they keptasking me daily, emailing me on facebook, ontwitter, everywhere possible, so please come outwith a cookbook. so i was like, all right,i want to give them the cookbook becausei'm a people pleaser

and i want to givepeople what they want. and then i started gettingapproached by publishers, so i knew, all right, there'sa possibility to do this. and then i got anagent and started working with clarkson potter. james mulcahy: that's awesome. clarkson potter, they do alot of good food titles there. gina homolka: theydo great books. james mulcahy: so whatwas that like as opposed

to sitting on a computerand publishing a blog post? what was the cookbookprocess like? gina homolka:completely different, because i feel likein the beginning it took me a long timeto come up with a recipe. i just felt like with abook it was so important and it had to sit on a shelf. so i really struggledwith the first recipe. and then when i realized wow,for me to meet my deadline

i have to complete four a week. so then i startedgetting cranking and was like, ok,i could do this. but it was differentalso because i was still creating content for myblog, so there was just a lot of coming up with new recipes. but there was just thatimportance of people are paying for this,as opposed to they can get recipes forfree on my blog.

so that was probablythe difference. james mulcahy: so it's notjust a collection of recipes that people can find online. you have to get the book ortake the books on your seats to get those specific recipes. gina homolka: right. there's 25 from the blog,125 that are brand new. james mulcahy: so how do youcome up with that many recipes? gina homolka: i'm alwaysthinking about food.

i'll be at the gymtalking to my girlfriend and we're talking about food. like we're alwaystalking about food. i'm always thinking about it. i'm always thinking of howto make something lighter, or what's a great swap tomake something different. so i get inspiredwhen i go out to eat. i love going out toeat for that reason. i come up with really greatideas from a great fish

in a great restaurant. sometimes i get people thatsend me requests for makeovers, and those are usually someof my most popular recipes. james mulcahy: like a greenbean casserole, but healthy? i've done that for the blog. james mulcahy: i actuallyhad that over the holidays, and why is anyoneeating this anymore? gina homolka: right, exactly. james mulcahy: creamof mushroom soup.

gina homolka: some ofmy most popular recipes that are actually in thebook are makeovers, yeah. james mulcahy: yeah,that's exciting. i mean i think it must bereally hard to just like-- do you ever get tired? you ever just say i don'twant to make anymore recipes? gina homolka: imean there are days that i may not feellike cooking, because i cook every day.

but i give myself a break. on the weekends i'llgo out to dinner. it's where i get my inspiration. but i love goingout to dinner, and i feel like it's all balanced. like i eat really goodduring the week and i know i'm cooking good. so i allow myself atreat on the weekends. james mulcahy: yeah,so you have that moment

and you're like ijust want a burger. i just want fries. that's allowed. it's usually notwhat i'm craving, and not the fries or the burger. i usually crave more like-- james mulcahy: we're verydifferent people, clearly. i'm probably craving a greatpasta dish or something. yeah.

james mulcahy: do youhave any guilty pleasures? gina homolka: i would say wine. james mulcahy: there's nothingto be guilty about there. gina homolka: is that bad? james mulcahy: wine. you don't just like stuffyour face with oreos? i don't like oreos. i don't like sweets, really. so yeah, no.

maybe banana pie, and i haven'thad that in a long time. so no, i don't really-- thesweets don't really bother me. james mulcahy: do you feellike your palate has changed going through this processfrom when you first started-- what you thoughttasted good to today? gina homolka: i feel likethat happens all the time. but i grew up with parents thatcooked everything from scratch. and they are both-- one is fromsouth america and one's czech. so i grew up with a lotof diverse cuisines,

and i've always likedtrying new things. so i have a diversepalate and i enjoy trying all different kinds of foods. james mulcahy: andwhen you started maybe you thoughtyou liked sweets more and now you just want the cal. because i've noticedeating out a lot that i only can eatrestaurant food now because i eat it all the time, whichthat's not a good thing.

i guess i've probably grownto like things that i didn't before just out of making them. or i will take an ingredientthat i may not love and figure out a way to make it delicious. james mulcahy: whatabout your kids? how do they reactto these recipes, and do you have to make kindof modifications for them to make it maybe a littlebit more kid friendly? gina homolka: i nevercook separate meals

for my kids and myself. like my daughter madison who'sfive loves brussels sprouts raw, shaved, a salad. she makes her ownsalad and she asks me like when i'min the supermarket and i call my husband,do we need anything? she's like make sure youbuy brussels sprouts, which is the strangest thing. because i feel like she grewup with me cooking and chopping

and she was tasting all myraw, like all my vegetables when it was in the rough state. so she tries everything. she doesn't like everything, butshe will always try everything. james mulcahy: but you don'tsneak them cookies or whatever the unhealthy dishes would be? gina homolka: youknow they don't really think they're eating skinny. they just know they'reeating home-cooked meals

that their mom makesfor them and they love. so yeah. james mulcahy: i thinkit's really weird. i mean this generationof kids that is growing up on wholefoods and growing up on all these natural organic. like what's next for them? because i rememberthe first time i had an actually good brusselssprout that wasn't from a can.

james mulcahy: this is amazing. but they all aregrowing up on this. are they going to goback, the reverse, be like i justwant wonder bread? gina homolka: you know, i feellike there's still a long way to go. my daughter likesbrussels sprouts, but in school i hear from theteachers that most of the kids don't like healthy food.

so i feel like there'sstill-- they're not there yet. james mulcahy: well,i think probably because they healthyfood that they're eating is not like this healthy food. james mulcahy: it's kind oflike still processed-ish. i mean kids' palates,they're all different, and some kids are very picky. but i think it'salso important not to cook separatemeals for your kids,

like macaroni andcheese and pizza when you're cooking something else. i just say cook whatyou're cooking for dinner and let them try alittle bit of everything. and if she doesn't eatthe entire plate, it's ok. at least she tries it. i always make hertaste-- at least take one bite ofsomething if she tells me she doesn't want it.

and then she usuallywinds up liking it. james mulcahy: i think theywould really like the google cafeteria as well. there's always lots of kelp-- gina holmoka: oh, forget it. james mulcahy:cauliflower's everywhere. gina homolka: she would gocrazy in the raw bar, i think. she likes raw vegetables. james mulcahy: so whatdo you hope people

will get out of your cookbook? is it a resource to"the joy of cooking" that should be used every day? is it kind of a starterto a diet when you start, i'm going to go buythat and try to do this? gina homolka: i hopei could inspire people to start cooking alittle healthier, just to give them a little hope. like if they'retrying to lose weight,

they don't feel like theyhave to eat cardboard. that they could make a meal forthe entire family and everyone will enjoy it. or even for people thatdon't know how to cook. it hopefully will showpeople that it's not hard. it's really simple. i think my recipes areall really easy to follow. i use ingredients that you couldfind in a local supermarket. so if i can just inspiresomebody, then i did my job.

james mulcahy: do youthink you're a chef? gina homolka: i don'tcall myself a chef. i'm a home cook. james mulcahy: what'sthe difference there? gina homolka: i feel like achef has culinary training, and i don't know allthose fancy techniques. i think that's whymaybe i'm relatable, because i'm making a quickdinner under 30 minutes that my husband likes,my daughter likes.

that's my goal. i don't know how tocook for a restaurant. i can't cook for 80. so i think there's abig difference there. james mulcahy: yeah. i think maybe the art is thesame, but the kind of execution is different. and i'm learning as i go. i'm always learning,which is really fun.

james mulcahy: so being a personwho goes out to restaurants all the time, you sayyou get your inspiration from restaurant mealsand things like that. when i'm looking at themenu at the restaurant, are there certain things ishould kind of avoid and say i'm going to be a littlebit better tonight, and certain things that areoh, i should go for that. gina homolka: i mean if you'retrying to have a good day, i would say avoid thebread basket probably.

stick with avoid anything friedand have the grilled fish. but when i go outto dinner, i usually order whatever is the special,whatever appeals to me, and maybe i just won'teat the whole thing. i'll take half homeor i'll share it. like i love trying a new dishso i can get the inspiration to recreate it, you know? james mulcahy: yeah, peoplewho i've really talked to and say they have areally good diet success,

it's always portioncontrol seems to be a big-- james mulcahy: --part of that. is that taken intoaccount in your recipes? all my recipes havethe nutritional values and the portion controlall printed in the book. and i measureeverything precisely so that people knowwhat their portions are. james mulcahy: i'vetried to trick myself by getting the smaller dish.

it never works. i just kind of fill it up twice. that's a myth, at least for me. what about social media? because i know you startedyour blog and that was in 2008? 2006? gina homolka: 2007. james mulcahy: 2007. so that was like pre-instagram,pre-twitter and pre

all of that. how has that changed whatyou do and how does it help what you do? gina homolka: i think itdefinitely helped what i do, because most of my trafficcomes from social media. i think google's my numberone source of traffic, and number two is social media. so it's huge. i mean some peoplestart new blogs

and are found on social media. so i think i onlyhelps, not hurts. i mean instagrami'm addicted to. and i like to sharewhat i'm doing on a daily basis-- my recipes,but also my kids, google. whatever i'm doing. it's just like anextension of my blog. james mulcahy: so yay or nay atthe restaurant with your phone on the dish, on the table.

gina homolka: yay. james mulcahy: that's allowed? gina homolka: i dothat, absolutely. james mulcahy: idefinitely do that. i'm the guy who has onephone here and a phone with a flashlight there. so i get it right. gina homolka: i don't thinki'd go to a restaurant that didn't let me take pictures.

james mulcahy: do you thinkif you started your blog today in this more digital age whereeveryone's a little bit more dialed in, everyone is updatinginstagram all the time, do you think you would havefound the same path to success? gina homolka: i think it'sa lot harder for people that are starting blogs today. there's just so many. there are millionsof blogs out there. you really have to do somethingthat sets yourself apart,

whether it's your photographyor a different type of niche. but it's definitelymore challenging today. james mulcahy: yeah, i thinkit's a lot more saturated. if you're going to giveadvice to someone who's thinking about wantingto start a blog and wanting to write aboutfood or get on social media and be a food person, whatadvice would you give them? gina homolka: i would say justbe authentic, be yourself. don't try to copysomebody else's idea

and try to do whatthey're doing. everybody's unique and youhave something unique to bring. so i would say focus on what'sdifferent about yourself. and also, really learnhow to use a camera, because the photography is themost important part of being found on social media, oreven somebody trying a recipe. if it looks good,they'll make it. james mulcahy: to see foodis such a visual thing-- gina homolka: it really is.

james mulcahy: --andpeople want to see-- gina homolka: theyeat with their eyes. james mulcahy: --what'sin front of them for sure. james mulcahy: i think justbeing a blogger myself, i think the advice i would give isdon't get bummed if it doesn't take off right away. gina homolka: oh yeah. james mulcahy: it tooka long time for you to get to this point.

gina homolka: if i wouldhave done this actually make a career out of it iwould have given up, because i wasn'tgetting much traffic. i was happy when i got50 followers a month. it was happy, but ireally just did it because i found it enjoyable. i liked gettingcomments from people, and people were trying myrecipes and giving me feedback. so i did it becausei really thought

it was-- i was addicted to it. it wasn't reallyabout the income. james mulcahy: but now you haveto create content all the time. gina homolka: all the time. james mulcahy: does itbecome swimmer or die when you get to this level? gina homolka: i mean thereare weeks that i make things, or i should say iti could have a week that nothing turnsout right and i'm

like what am i going to post? this is terrible. they don't always comeout great the first time. i usually have to experiment,especially when i'm baking and i'm swappingbutter for avocados. the crazy things i do. yeah, they don't always work. what was the question? james mulcahy: youknow, social media.

so yeah, i don't remember. james mulcahy: i'm curious whatyou do now to the recipes that don't work now? gina homolka: oh, i throwthem in the garbage. james mulcahy: no,you should have kind of like a tumblr accountthat have those bad recipes. gina homolka: well, theother day i actually instagramed a soupthat came out awful, and i was just so madbecause i spent hours on it.

and i instagramed. i'm like this was a fail. and people are like so thankyou for letting us know that that happens to you too. but then people keptasking me for the recipe. i'm like, but it's bad. i'm telling you, youdon't want the recipe. or sometimes i'll beat my brother's house, and he makes a dishthat's not light.

and they're like can yougive us the recipe anyway? so i'm like i don't knowwhere i'm going to do that. james mulcahy: so youdo all this cooking in your home kitchen. gina homolka: i do. james mulcahy: andis it a nice kitchen? james mulcahy: i havemy little apartment kitchen's like this big. gina homolka: there'snothing nice about it, no.

i never take picturesof my kitchen. i never redid the kitchenfrom when i first moved in, and it was always my goal. and then when istarted blogging, i couldn't, because theni'd have no kitchen. so we actuallybought a new house and we're going to make anice kitchen in that house. but right now, no, thekitchen's not pretty. james mulcahy: ibetcha you end up

missing the not pretty kitchen. gina homolka: the countersare mauve, like ugh. there's nothing pretty about it. james mulcahy: [laugh] mauve. i haven't heard that word sincei was using crayons i think. gina homolka: it's not pretty. james mulcahy: homecooks, i'm sure there's some here listening along. what are the essentialthings that they

have to have in theirkitchen to do this? both ingredients and kind oftools to make these things? gina homolka: well,the ingredients, i feel like havingall your dried herbs and spices-- spicesand herbs are something like you're going to spend alot of money in the beginning, but they're going tolast you a long time. so having that on hand. and then as far ascooking appliances,

really good nonstickpans, a really good knife, a wooden cutting board. those are essentials thatyou really need to start. james mulcahy: right,the kind of very basics-- gina homolka: really basics. james mulcahy: that maybepeople take for granted. gina homolka: if you want to getfancy, slow cooker, spiralizer. i love my spiralizer--yeah-- to make zoodles, which are zucchini noodles.

yeah, i mean you couldhave a ton of gadgets, but to start with, youdon't really need a lot. james mulcahy: so i think a lotof the success of the program for you has been just eatingwith your family, too. james mulcahy: and i thinkthat's time is what you need, right? absolutely. i mean i try to alwaysmake the recipes quick, because i don't really-- ididn't have a lot of time

when i started. i would workfull-time in the city. you know, rushhome, cook a meal, try to beat the lightbecause you have to shoot your photos in natural light. so i would tell myfamily to hold on, i just have to take a picture. i'd shoot my plate andthey would wait for me-- they'd get cold food.

and again, i lostmy train of thought. james mulcahy: no, just kindof like being able to have a family there to cook for-- james mulcahy:--just seems to be-- i don't think iwould have started a blog if i didn't have that. i feel like they were myinspiration why i started it. james mulcahy: yeah, yeah. and i think the familydinner is a good way.

because i think a lotof us googlers probably are a little bit moreon the go and crazed, like running around. james mulcahy: so forthe delivery types and don't have this time,do you have any advice? get a slow cooker. i mean like there'snothing easier than throwing iningredients in the morning, going to work, and comehome and dinner's ready.

the slow cooker isyour best friend. also, on the daysoff, you could make two, three batches of differentsoups and then freeze them. put them in portion controlled,freezer-friendly containers and label them. and then you have yourown freezer-friendly meals for lunch, if you want to reheatthem, or for another dinner. so that's a really greatway to do it and save time-- james mulcahy: cook in batches.

gina homolka: when you're busy. james mulcahy: yeah,that's good advice. and working out, i know you saidthat was on your list of three essential things. what do you do? gina homolka: i like to dostrength training and cardio. nothing fancy. i do treadmill, elliptical,and just weights. james mulcahy: so you don'tneed to go to p90x or crossfit

or all that pretty stuff. gina homolka: no, idon't do any of that. no. i'm not that strong. [laughter] but it is an essential part of-- gina homolka: i feel likeit's good for your soul, but it also, there'sa balance and i feel better when iwork out, but i also

feel like it tones me and youlook better by working out. so absolutely. james mulcahy: that'ssomething i always feel about when peopletalk about diet, people say oh, a diet. i want to lose thismuch weight by this day. but to really make it successfulit's more of a lifestyle, james mulcahy: make it likea lifelong commitment that-- james mulcahy:--you have to make.

gina homolka: you don't puton the weight in two months. you can't expect tolose it in two months. i feel like you have to justmake small changes that you can stick with long term. i don't believe ineliminating entire food groups from your diet to lose weight. like i did no carbsbefore i started blogging and i was really unsuccessfulat it, because i craved pasta and i craved bread.

and i would always loseweight, but then i'd gain it all right back because iwould start eating pasta again. so i think just havingeverything in moderation. james mulcahy: yeah,even moderation. moderation is key. james mulcahy: well, it'sfunny you mentioned no carbs. so i want to ask you about afew of the diet crazes that are out there these days. so you said no carbs.

you just want pasta too much. james mulcahy: whodoesn't like carbs. gina homolka: i'll dolow carb, but i'll still have my pasta days. james mulcahy: right, so you'reable to cheat a little bit. gina homolka: i justkind of balance. if i have a low carb day,i'll have a pasta for dinner that night. james mulcahy: allright, what about

have you heard about this bonebroth that people are doing? james mulcahy: i justheard about this. it's these chefs in new yorkare now basically making kind of pasta broth that theywould usually make soup with. but they're just servingthe broth in a coffee cup, and apparently this issupposed to help you be nourished and lose weight. gina homolka: i don't know. there's no solid foods involved.

james mulcahy: i guess so. gina homolka: a liquid diet. i don't think i can do that. female speaker: it's like detox. james mulcahy: yeah,you get detoxed. gina homolka: is itlike a long-term thing? james mulcahy: you couldlike shave tumeric over it. no, people are just replacingtheir morning or afternoon coffee with bone broth.

gina homolka: ok. it's kind of like having a soup. james mulcahy: it's very trendy. zagat.com, everyone. female speaker:it's like juicing. james mulcahy: well, jucing-- gina homolka: it's like asavory type of juice, right? bone juice. james mulcahy:hot, savory juice.

female speaker: there may be acookbook coming december 2015, all about-- james mulcahy: see, theyknow about bone broth. gina homolka: they know. see, they know. james mulcahy: so then bonebroth maybe it's very new. what about juice cleanse? every time i alwayshave a friend who's trying to start to loseweight, juice cleanse.

they're like oh, i'mon seven day cleanse. i'm like seven days? are you mad? gina homolka: i personallydon't do cleanses. i get stomach aches wheni drink too much juice, so it doesn't work for me. i don't do cleanses. if i feel like i put on weight,i'll just get back on track and do portion control and goto the gym and lose it again.

james mulcahy: so you haveyour moments when you-- i mean i had two children. you have your moments. you go on vacation, youeat too much that week. i always have those moments. it's why i started the blog. as you get older, yourmetabolism slows down. so yes, absolutely,i have those moments. james mulcahy: sodon't get discouraged

if you fall off a little bit. gina homolka: oh no. i mean i don't beat myself up. i just say, all right, todayi'm starting all over again. today's day one. i'm not going tothink about yesterday. james mulcahy: ok. butter coffee. have you heard of this?

james mulcahy: have youguys heard of butter coffee? i've personally think it's nuts. gina homolka: what is it? james mulcahy: it's basicallycoffee with butter in it. you drink it in themorning and you're supposed to just have thatand then you go to dinner. but it gets you through theday because it gives you this illusion of fullness. gina homolka: wow.

i don't think that wouldbe good for my cholesterol. james mulcahy:[laugh] i guess not. it's kind of a crashdiet thing right now. you google it, you'llfind it's pretty nuts. yeah, i'm not familiar. is there a bookcoming out? [laugh] james mulcahy: no. probably-- female speaker: it'scalled "bulletproof."

james mulcahy: "bulletproof." gina homolka: "bulletproof." they serve it-- i've actuallyseen it served at the gym, like they have a butter coffeeat their little juice bar. and like this can't be right. gina homolka: strange. james mulcahy: like it's weird. let's see, how arewe doing on time? i think we're-- well, no,we're doing pretty well.

so what's next for you? is it you've done theblog, you've done the book. tv? are you going to bethe next rachel ray? james mulcahy: are yougoing to do some web series? where do you see this going? gina homolka: you knowi never really saw-- like seven yearsago i didn't know that i was going to have a bookdeal or make this a career.

so you just don'tknow the future. like i can't evenpredict what's going to happen seven years from now. but right now there's nothingin the works for tv or video. perhaps when ihave my new kitchen i want to try to start doingsome more video in my kitchen. and maybe a second book. james mulcahy: oh. female speaker: stay tuned.

james mulcahy: stay tuned. that's a good littleforeshadowing. do you think the blogis going to still-- the blog as an idea, is it stillgoing to have relevance in four or five years, or do youthink people are moving more onto social media? gina homolka: yeah, i'mnot-- it's hard to say. i feel like social media workshand in hand with the blog. so i'm not sure.

i mean things arealways changing, so it's hard to predict. james mulcahy: peopleare always going to want to learn how tolose weight and learn how to cook betterfor themselves and change their lifestyles. gina homolka:right, right, right. i hope it doesn't go awaybecause i actually really enjoy doing it.

james mulcahy: yeah, it'san evergreen business. i mean like we were sayingit's a lifelong commitment. gina homolka: right, it is. james mulcahy: soyou're always going to need that next new recipe. gina homolka: yeah, exactly. james mulcahy: andthen so book, blog. what else? i mean do you see yourselfever stopping doing this?

gina homolka: no, i don't. i know. people talk aboutwell, one day maybe you could sell skinnytasteand you could, you know. and i'm like no, i don'twant to stop doing this. i love doing this. so i can't see that right now. i mean maybe one daymy daughter will-- i'll pass it onto my daughter.

who knows? but i love doing this. i don't haveintentions on stopping. i mean here we areon the google stage. gina homolka: exactly. james mulcahy: that meansthings are going pretty well. gina homolka: i would nothave gotten this opportunity if i was still a retoucher. [laugh] i've had amazingopportunities with this blog

that i could havenever dreamed of. james mulcahy: maybe withskinnytaste line of food one day? gina homolka: youknow, you never know. something like that couldbe something-- selling something, frozen dishesthat are mine would be fun. james mulcahy: yeah, ithink the frozen dishes you see probably thesedays are-- the recipes are a little boring still, i think.

james mulcahy: it'sa little cardboardy like you were saying. i mean i already know whatrecipes people like on my site. and if perhaps theydon't want to cook it, maybe i could offer itfrozen in the frozen section. so if anyone'slistening-- [laugh] james mulcahy: now that you'vekind of developed a following and you have thisbook, do you get to meet these people inperson that are your followers

and have really beenimpacted by this? so now that the book came out,i went on a few book signings and i was able tomeet face-to-face a lot of people that follow me. and it was greatbecause a lot of them brought pictures of their beforeand after they lost weight, and they showed me whatthey looked like before. and it's just so great to seethem and meet them in person, and how they're regular peopleand they're so grateful.

so it's been sucha great experience. james mulcahy:that's a good segue to just mention that you'regoing to be signing books in the back after the talk. so if anyone wants their booksto be signed, you can go say hi when we're done here. gina homolka: perfect. james mulcahy: i'm just curiousto say the other craze i was going to askyou about, i think

there's a lot of debatearound "the biggest loser" and that sort of thing. these kind of bingeand purge shows. do you have any take on that? gina homolka: i don't reallywatch "the biggest loser." so no, i don't really. i mean i know itworks for people. it's pretty intense. so i don't know.

if it's working for them. stick to the butter coffee. james mulcahy: that'sprobably a better [inaudible]. james mulcahy: cool. i think we're windingdown, and we're going to leave some timefor questions if anyone has q&a in the next few minutes. there's a fewmicrophones on each side, if anyone wantsto chat with gina.

someone's got tohave a question. here we go. audience: hi, gina. my name is andrea. nice to meet you. gina homolka: nice to meet you. audience: i love your cookbook. i make your mediterraneanquinoa salad once a week. gina homolka: awesome.

audience: so yeah,it never gets old. just had a question foryou about sponsored posts. i know that you don'tdo them too frequently, but i'm curious if there'sany one product in particular of all the ones you've workedwith that you would really recommend getting forsomeone who's super busy and doesn't have much time. gina homolka: yeah, i don'tdo a lot of sponsored posts because i just get a lotof backlash when i do.

for some reason peopleget really angry at me, and they tell me in thecomments i can't believe you got paid for this recipe. i don't know why theyget so mad because it's free-- the blog is free. audience: yeah. but i also will only reallyuse a brand that i really love. so i'm working withharry and david. they have amazing pears.

it's easy. i did-- for the potatoboard, which it's potatoes, so you can't go wrong with that. i was working withalmond breeze. as far as-- i'm tryingto think who else. oh, i work with delallo pasta. delallo is amazing. they have the besttasting whole wheat pasta. so if you could getyour hands on that.

we hate whole wheatpasta at my house. so when i first triedit, my husband's like this is not whole wheat. and i was like it is. he's like they're lying. i'm like they're not. look, the ingredientssay whole wheat. like it's whole wheat. so i would say delallo'swhole wheat pasta's amazing.

and i'm starting tosee it everywhere. audience: thank you. gina homolka: sure. james mulcahy: let'ssee, any other questions? i think it's interesting youmentioned quinoa, these very trendy ingredients these days. are there a few of thosethat you would like, or fans of like the quinoa. i see grain bowlsare becoming a thing.

have you seen that? gina homolka: they are. i like all those bowls. yeah, quinoa used to be fancy. i feel like nowit's so mainstream. farro is one of thosethings that you can't always find in the supermarket. so i feel like a lot of thingsthat aren't easy to buy, i guess are fancy.

chia-- i love using chia. chia pudding. james mulcahy: chia. ok, i don't know ifi've ever had chia. gina homolka: yeah, itexpands when it's in liquid. so if you leaveit overnight, like i have a vanilla chia pudding. it's so good. like it has thisstrange texture,

so it's not for everybody. but it gets a littlegelatinous, but it fills you up and it has lots of omegas. james mulcahy: do youhave any predictions as to what the next kind ofbig ingredient's going to be? gina homolka: i don't. james mulcahy: otherthan bone broth? gina homolka: i mean brusselssprouts are really big right now, so maybemore brussels sprouts.

james mulcahy: morebrussels sprouts. isn't it amazing, i wasa kid and i hated them. gina homolka: i know. james mulcahy: and everyonejust loves them now. gina homolka: everybodywas cooking them wrong. james mulcahy: yup, wehave a question here. audience: with regardsto the pasta dishes, have you tried swappingout for quinoa pasta, because we seem to actuallyreally love that in our house.

gina homolka: ilove quinoa pasta. yeah, i think it wasancient grains i think was the brand that i tried. because my aunt isnow gluten-free, so i had to start tryinggluten-free brands. so experimentingi've learned which ones are better than others. but the quinoapasta's wonderful. tastes great.

whole grain. audience: so your recipes thenyou could probably swap out-- gina homolka: oh, absolutely. audience: ok. james mulcahy: how do you modifyyour recipes for gluten-free-- your gluten-free friends? gina homolka: so anythingthat can be modified, i always tell people how. so if it's madewith soy sauce i'll

tell them to usegluten-free tamari. if it's flower i'lltell them to use all-purpose gluten-freeflour in place, because i have tested them and they work. so i usually in everyrecipe, even in the book, i always talk about how tomake something gluten-free. james mulcahy: doyou have a question? audience: yes. so i just bought a zucchinispiralizer the other week

and i love it. but how do youmake the zucchini-- how do you get allthe water out of it? because i found thatafter sauteing it, it gets a little watery. how do you work that? gina homolka: when i makethe spiralized zucchini, i just cook it for abouta minute and a half. after that i feel likeit starts getting watery.

so i will cook it fora minute and a half, remove it from the pot becauseit'll still keep cooking, and serve it right away. so it's still a littleal dente kind of, and it eliminatesthat sogginess. also, i do some asian dishesthat are cooked in a sauce. so i'll make mysauce not as thick, like knowing that the zucchini'sgoing to add water to it. so i'll cook it in thesauce the last two minutes,

and it's going to kind ofbring everything together. audience: [inaudible] too long. that's usually what happenswhen you first start. also using a thickersetting because it comes with different settings. it's better. the thicker setting is betterbecause it's not as thin so it doesn't melt away. gina homolka: yeah, sure.

james mulcahy: are there anyfood that you just won't eat? gina homolka: i won'teat kidneys or liver. and i say that becausei grew up with my mom cooking that at times. and i don't like lima beans. james mulcahy: lima beans, ok. maybe lima bean's goingto be the next brussels sprout though-- gina homolka: maybe.

james mulcahy: --andmake a comeback. gina homolka: i'llhave to figure out a way, some kind of limabean hummus or something. that might work. james mulcahy: not too bad. audience: i have one, butshould i just yell out loud? james mulcahy: you can yell. we can hear you. i'll repeat it.

audience: i can'tget cauliflower crust right for pizza, which isone of my favorite dishes. i try to lighten it up. it's just a soggy mess. so any tips? gina homolka: yeah, i don'thave a cauliflower crust pizza on my site,because i remember having the same issues. like if it requires so muchcheese that it's low carb,

but it's full of fat. there's so muchcheese, you're almost having like a cheese crust. audience: cheeseon top of cheese. so that's why i never used itbecause it was like when i did the calories it was still high. it was just not carbs. i felt like it wasa lot of cheese. i actually tried it withspaghetti squash and it worked.

it was good with spaghettisquash instead of cauliflower. and maybe i have to keepexperimenting with that and see if i couldperfect that one. james mulcahy: somethingwe notice at zagat, actually, is cauliflower's thetrendy ingredient of the moment right now. gina homolka: great. james mulcahy:and a lot of chefs are substituting it for meatand making steaks and using it

as a vessel for flavor. are you cauliflower fans? i have buffalo cauliflowerthat is instead of chicken, it's cauliflower. it's super popularand people love it. it's amazing howpopular cauliflower is. i make a cauliflower rice, likea fried rice instead of rice. i use cauliflower inplace of everything. i love cauliflower.

my husband hates it. so when he likes it, iknow i did a good job. james mulcahy: it'svery versatile, right. gina homolka: i love it. james mulcahy: itcan do everything. i have cauliflower steaks,and in the target version of the cookbook they havean exclusive version. james mulcahy: oh, cool. gina homolka: so yeah.

we got one in the back? audience: what isyour favorite recipe? gina homolka: in the book or? audience: or on the blog. gina homolka: that's such ahard question all the time. it depends on theday of the week. my kids love the picadillo. i mean i make thatprobably every two weeks. i love in the bookthe zucchini lasagna.

it tastes just likelasagna, but it has zucchini instead of pasta. it's really good. that would probably be-- orthe buttermilk fried chicken. i love fried chicken, so easy. james mulcahy: how doyou make that healthy? gina homolka: i remove the skin. i soak it overnightin buttermilk, so it has all the flavor likewith herbs and lemon juice.

and then i put acrispy crust on top, and then bake it at areally high temperature and it still tasteslike fried chicken. james mulcahy: that's whatwe had upstairs today, right? it has all the great flavor,just without the skin and without the frying. and without the mess. frying is messy,so baking's easy. james mulcahy: ilove those recipes

that have the quotes aroundit, like "fried" chicken. so that means good for me. i have lots of those. james mulcahy: i can eat that. no more questions? quinoa. celery? gina homolka: let's thinkof a trendy ingredient that people aren't using.

my zucchini noodlesare super popular. the zoodles i call them. james mulcahy: zoodles. my husband names everything. when i do spaghetti squash,he calls it squashta. and i was like i love that. so he's just reallyquick with it, so he comes up withthese one line names, and i'm like i'm using that.

so yeah, squashta,spaghetti squash. james mulcahy: so people couldcome and see this on your blog. how often do youpublish these days? gina homolka: i doabout three days a week. james mulcahy: threedays a week, ok. gina homolka: sometimes four. james mulcahy: cookbookis out, but the blog is still up and running. i never stopped, even wheni was doing the cookbook

i kept posting new recipes. james mulcahy: fingersare going to fall off from all that typing. i think familiar feelingto all of us googlers. gina homolka: well, yeah, yeah. i mean i don'treally write a lot. it's mostly photo, photo,recipe, and just a small blurb about my experience making it. i think i'm going toleave a little extra time,

and if no one hasany other questions. so you can all say hito gina in the back and get your cookbook signed. and definitely check outher blog, skinnytaste.com and get some recipes. i'm going to go reallyeat healthy after this. gina homolka: good. james mulcahy: i'mnot going to lie. i'm going to look for thefamous quotes around it.

gina homolka: maybe iinspired one person. james mulcahy: i know. like mmm. thank you so much, gina-- gina homolka: thank youso mu for having me. james mulcahy: forhanging out with us today. gina homolka: thank you. [applause]