Today's interview is with Erin Jensen of The Wooden Skillet, a food blog dedicated to healthy-ish food. Erin has a great story about transitioning from an attorney to a full-time food blogger, photographer, content creator, and small business owner. I also talked to Erin about what inspires her recipes, and her experience with the Whole30 diet. She gives some tips on how to transition into eating more whole foods and shares her meal-planning routine. Enjoy!
Connect with Erin at The Wooden Skillet:
https://thewoodenskillet.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thewoodenskillet/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thewoodenskillet
Erin's Salmon Rice Bowl Recipe: https://app.plantoeat.com/recipes/37712481/
Connect with all the PTE Podcast recipes here
Sign up for a free trial: plantoeat.com
Contact us: podcast@plantoeat.com
Connect with us:
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Pinterest
Today's interview is with Erin Jensen of The Wooden Skillet, a food blog dedicated to healthy-ish food. Erin has a great story about transitioning from an attorney to a full-time food blogger, photographer, content creator, and small business owner. I also talked to Erin about what inspires her recipes, and her experience with the Whole30 diet. She gives some tips on how to transition into eating more whole foods and shares her meal-planning routine. Enjoy!
Connect with Erin at The Wooden Skillet:
https://thewoodenskillet.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thewoodenskillet/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thewoodenskillet
Erin's Salmon Rice Bowl Recipe: https://app.plantoeat.com/recipes/37712481/
Connect with all the PTE Podcast recipes here
Sign up for a free trial: plantoeat.com
Contact us: podcast@plantoeat.com
Connect with us:
Instagram
Facebook
Pinterest
Roni: [00:00:00] to the Plan to Eat podcast. Where I interview industry experts about meal planning, food and wellness. To help you answer the question. What's for dinner.
Hello, and thank you for joining me today on the Plan to Eat Podcast. This is the first official episode without Riley and I am missing her today. It was a little strange to do a podcast interview without my normal co-host, but hopefully you still enjoy it
today I had the pleasure of interviewing Erin Jensen. She is the. Food blogger over at the wooden skillet and today we talked about how she transitioned from being a lawyer into being a full-time food blogger. Um, kind of how she gets her inspiration for the recipes that go on her food blog. She talks about the whole 30 and gives some tips for if you're [00:01:00] interested in starting the whole 30.
And yeah, we just talk about food and recipes and I hope you enjoy this interview.
Erin, thanks so much for joining me on the podcast today.
Erin: Thank you for having me.
Roni: So why don't you just give our audience a little overview of who you are and what you do.
Erin: So my name is Erin Jensen and I run a healthy-ish food blog called The Wooden Skillet. I've been doing that since 2015. Before that I was a lawyer, um, mom of three little girls wife to my husband Mike, who's a high school science teacher, and we live in the Twin Cities area in Minnesota.
Roni: Wow. So previously a lawyer and now a food blogger. What was. That transition like.
Erin: Um, that was interesting, um, and unexpected, obviously. Just as some background, I've always loved business. When I was little, I would start [00:02:00] little businesses and my house, you know, doing chores for my mom and whatnot. So I've always. Loved, entrepreneurship just naturally. Um, but I kind of wanted, I, I also enjoy the art of a good argument, so that led me to become a lawyer.
But I've also always loved food and kind of as a creative outlet. I started cooking on the weekends, so I would be a lawyer all week and on the weekends for fun, I would pick out recipes from cookbooks and make them, and that was just kind of my fun thing to do that weekend. Um, and then I, I kind of discovered, pinch of Yum and their, Income reports that they used to publish, which are, were invaluable to me because it opened my eyes to the fact that you can actually make money doing this thing called food blogging.
So, I decided to start a food blog and it really was just for fun in the beginning. Um, my pictures were [00:03:00] horrible and I didn't know what natural lighting was. I didn't know anything and I just kind of started doing it. And as I read more and more about it, my competitive side kind of kicked in and I.
I wanted to challenge myself to try and make some money doing it, which I did. Started very, very slowly and eventually I was like, Hey, I think I wanna do this full-time. I had one little girl at the time and the thought of being able to have a more flexible, um, schedule to spend more time with her, be home when she got or be at home when she got home from school and whatnot.
Um, it just kinda became a goal of mine. So, three years, basically, I would work full-time as a lawyer during the day, come home, do the family thing, and then once kids went to bed at night, I would stay up for like three or four hours and work on my blog, and then I would shoot recipes on the weekend.
So bless my husband's heart for putting up with me for those few years because I pretty much worked [00:04:00] all the time.
Roni: True side hustle there.
Erin: Yes, it was, it was intense and I, um, I kinda get a little obsessive compulsive about things like that. It just kinda all I can focus on. That was my one goal and I was gonna make it happen.
So when my third daughter was born in 2018, um, at that point, I guess, to be fair, I did, I dropped down to four days a week at my law firm. I did ask to do that so that I could have another day to kind of, Work on things because it was getting to be a little too much. But then when my, my third daughter was born in 2018, I went on maternity leave and then I didn't go back.
Roni: Do you miss the life of a lawyer at all?
Erin: um, I don't know if I missed the life of it. One thing I don't like about being a lawyer is that you are trading. Hours for dollars. So in order to make more money, generally [00:05:00] you have to work more hours. And so one thing I love about the blog, while there are aspects of it where you do trade hours for dollars in general, now that I have, um, a steady stream of ad income coming in, even if I take a week off or whatnot, I still have a good amount of money coming in, which is awesome.
So that's. One thing I don't miss. Um, and there are other aspects of it I don't miss, but I miss my colleagues and I miss, I miss some aspects of it. I, I enjoyed legal research and writing and, um, to a point, but there's also some not so fun parts of being a lawyer, so I miss it a little bit sometimes.
Roni: So in your intro, you said the word healthy-ish blog. Can you describe to me what you mean by that?
Erin: sure. I guess to me it's all about balance. I don't really believe in, in doing kind of going all eggs in one basket, so to speak. So, [00:06:00] and that's one thing I like to talk to my kiddos about as well, is it's, it's all about balance. There's nothing that you need to necessarily. Cut out completely unless it's, allergy related or, you know, recommended by a doctor.
But other than that, I like to live a balanced life. I like to eat, um, with a foundation of real ingredients. So I like to make real food recipes that are made with simple real foods. Um, that doesn't mean they're al always, you know, quote unquote healthy, however. You want to define that? But to me it's just all about balance.
Roni: Yeah, I think that that probably, that resonates with me. That probably resonates with a lot of people that it can be really confusing, particularly on the internet, to hear so many different people's take on food and what you should eat and what you shouldn't eat. So it's really refreshing to know that, that you like a balance of all things.
And, um, but I do like that your focus is on whole food [00:07:00] recipes. You know, like that's, I think something that's really important.
Erin: Yes. Reading. You know, I like, I, I don't like to be obsessive about it. I grew up in, you know, the nineties when counting calories in early two thousands when counting calories was like all the rage. So I'm a, I'm a recovering, calorie counter. Uh, so I don't like, um, tracking things or, doing anything like that.
I, I like to make. Decisions based off of how my body feels and, and reading ingredients and kind of knowing what I'm putting in my body doesn't mean I'm always putting like the best, food in my body all the time. Sometimes I want to eat, um, a cupcake at my daughter's birthday and I'm gonna do that if that's, what I want to do.
But it's all about then balancing it and having a foundation and going back to that foundation of real simple foods.
Roni: Right. Yeah. So other than Whole Foods as a basis for your recipes, what are some other things that [00:08:00] inspire, like the recipes and the flavors that you use on the blog?
Erin: Oh man, I have like the longest running list of recipes I wanna make. Um, it's never ending. I don't think I would ever run out of ideas and they come from all different places. A lot come from childhood memories based off of recipes my mom would make. She kind of inspired my love for food. She would make.
So many things from scratch. And so some come from those memories. If I eat out somewhere and I get inspired, if I see a photo in a magazine, um, I mean, it kind of comes from all over. Sometimes I just pop into my head, um, or just doing, you know, research. It can come from anywhere.
Roni: We talked to a, um, a professional chef a few months ago, and one of her recommendations was when she goes to restaurants, if they have just a paper menu, she asks them if she can take the paper menu home with them so that she can try and recreate their recipes, which I thought was so fun.
Erin: definitely. [00:09:00] Yeah. I mean, yeah, inspiration can come from anywhere, so yeah, I love looking at a good restaurant menu. I am always the person who's scoped out the menu before I go to a restaurant.
Roni: Right. Yeah.
Erin: Yeah.
Roni: So you just mentioned that you cooked a lot with your mom or that your mom cooked a lot. Um, what was that the main thing that got you interested in cooking?
Erin: I would say yes. From a very early age. She was always super cool about me messing up her kitchen and getting in there to cook. And like I said, she She loves to cook and would make so many things from scratch. So I think that just kind of pulled me in and I started, I remember, you know, and she would let us, create like dinner menus.
So me and my brother, I don't remember if we did it together or if we would take turns, but we would, you know, we would make dinner and. I always thought that that was super fun. And, um, even back, I mean, it's funny looking back, I, I'm now not surprised. I ended up, ended up doing what I'm doing, but [00:10:00] at the time I never really thought of like food as a career, but I, it was always something that I was drawn to.
Even like back before I married my husband, old boyfriends, I remember like planning menus for them and like cooking. And I did that for my husband as well. I think I still have a copy of a menu. I made him like a five course dinner, just like for fun on the weekend, like, and whenever I go to bookstores, I always would go to the cookbook section and just peruse the cookbooks.
So, yeah. But to circle back to your original question, yes, my mom really inspired, I think my love for home cooking, cooking from scratch. And I, I love it that she was cool about me. You know, getting her, her kitchen all dirty. So I try to do the same thing with my girls.
Roni: Yeah, I think there's a cool, a really cool transition here that I'm thinking of, of you going from being a lawyer, which is like a very. Logical profession to this much, much more creative [00:11:00] profession related to cooking. And I personally find every, like people's different outlets for creativity. Really.
Interesting. And you know, it's interesting to think about like, well, what made one person a writer and a one another, a different person, a musician and some people, um, like a chef or whatever, and. I really just think that cooking is so accessible for everybody. You know, like we all have to eat every day, and it is such a natural part of our lives and our families that I think it's just a, I don't know, it's a special creative outlet I think.
Erin: I totally agree, and there's so many, like there's you'll never run out of ways to make a recipe different or you know, there's so many recipes out there and then within each recipe you can tweak so many little things, serve it differently and yeah, the creativity is kind of endless. It's just get you to that point where you feel comfortable to make those changes without being scared of ruining your dinner or something.
Roni: Yeah. Yeah. What do, what is your favorite part of [00:12:00] blogging? Is it the recipe creation process? Is it the writing? What's your favorite part?
Erin: I would say the, my favorite part is the cooking. I truly do. I love to cook. I, I don't really get sick of it. I still cook dinner for my family every night I cook on the weekends. I, I really don't get sick of it. So my favorite part would probably be, probably be, Recipe research, development, testing, tweaking.
And then I really love photography. I think that's part of the reason my blog has grown the way it has. And I, I do some photography for, you know, brands and even other food bloggers as a separate stream of income. So I really do love that part as well. Um, I have help with writing at this point. I have.
Two amazing ladies that help me out on the team. So they do a lot of the writing, the copy, and the blog post, other than obviously the recipe I write. Um, but they help kind of fill in the blanks, so,
Roni: I agree with [00:13:00] you that, you know, like photo food photography in particular is such a good skill to have as a blogger or as anybody who's on the internet, because I know for me personally, when I go to Instagram or Pinterest, there's very few times when I'm interested in a recipe that looks that the picture is not very good.
You know, like if the picture's good, I'm definitely gonna click on it. Yes.
Erin: it sells it
Roni: Yeah. Yeah. We eat with our eyes. Um, so I was reading on your website a little bit about, um, this relates a little bit back to your healthy-ish comment about the blog that you have some experience with Whole 30.
So why don't you talk about that a little bit?
Erin: I would love to. So, um, when I started my blog again, it was just, it kind of developed outta my love for cookbooks. So it, there wasn't really a set theme I, I would say, that I fell into and. My gosh, I don't even rem remember how I got introduced to it. I'm sure it was someone on Instagram [00:14:00] mentioned it and I started doing some research about it and me and my mom were talking about it and I was dealing with a lot of acid reflux at the time and a few other issues.
And so her and I decided to kind of. Randomly do a whole 30, I don't remember what year this was. It was a long time ago though. And so obviously before that month started, I did some research about it and I read the book and it just kind of made a lot of sense to me and it clicked for me. Um, a little bit of background on Whole 30 for anyone who doesn't know what it is or maybe you've been misinformed about it, whatever the case may be.
Um, but Whole 30 is a 30 day. It's an elimination diet and it's really, at this point in my life, the only diet that I think you would ever see on my food blog, and that is because it is, it's only a 30 day elimination diet for 30 days, you eliminate a list of ingredients that. May, the emphasis is on, [00:15:00] may be, negatively impacting your body.
And every body is different, so everybody's gonna have a different experience. So for 30 days, you eliminate these certain food items, and then after the 30 days, you one by one introduce them back in and you kind of get to see a true reaction from your body of how it deals with. Those certain foods, for example, dairy, gluten, et cetera. Some people, like one of my best friends did it and she really didn't feel any different. You know, she was like, I don't know why people do this. Like, this doesn't make me feel any different. Other people, again, cuz every body is very different. Other people experience. Very significant reduction in inflammation, acid reflux, like I did for example.
They just experience more energy, less bloating. And so it's, it, it's like a giant science [00:16:00] experiment, really. And you're not supposed to eat that way for beyond the 30 days, you know? That's not, the point of it, which is what I like. The point is to learn what, what makes you feel the best. So then you can make those informed decisions like the cupcake I mentioned.
I know if I eat that cupcake, Once, uh, however, once every couple weeks, I'm not gonna feel bad at all. Whereas if you ate a cupcake every day, you probably wouldn't. I, I know I wouldn't feel very good. I just, I, I would feel I'd probably get a stomach ache. But you kind of learn what works best for you and then you can go on, they call it living your food freedom, but you kind of just take that information and then you can make any changes that make sense.
For you. Um, and you don't live under any restrictions or anything like that. You just get to make your own your own decisions and figure out what works work, what works best for you.
Roni: That's really cool. I think that I had the misconception that a [00:17:00] whole 30 was like a, a raw food diet. Is there, is there distinction between Whole 30 and like a raw whole 30?
Erin: oh gosh. Um, well, they did recently come out with a plant-based whole 30. So they, they've they have like a version of a whole 30 because I think a lot of people who are vegetarians, cause it's pretty, it ends up being somewhat meat heavy because, um, you can, well, I guess to backtrack for one second, while you're on the whole 30, while you have to eliminate certain food items from your diet, there is no restriction on like how much you can eat.
You know, they encourage you to eat like, Three meals a day and, and try to like not, you know, constantly be snacking just because their research has led them to believe that that's not ideal for most bodies. But there is no restriction on like calories or, you know, it's nothing like that. So if you're hungry, you eat plain and simple.
But anyways, so you end up. [00:18:00] Generally eating quite a bit of like meat and eggs and whatnot. So there were, vegetarians and vegans who were like, I'd love to do a whole variety, but how the heck do you do this? So they did recently come out with, a plant-based version of it that does have some variations.
Um, I don't remember what they are at the, off the top of my head, but they're, they made some, some changes to it for the plant-based group so that they can get enough protein and whatnot.
Roni: I. See. That makes sense.
Erin: Well, I guess to finish the now somewhat long story, um, my mom and I did this first whole 30, and it just kind of like, uh, it, it, a lot of things clicked.
I guess for me. I had never read an ingredient list, I don't think, in my life. And so I think that's one of my biggest takeaways was learning to read an ingredient list and knowing like, oh, like. This is what I'm putting into my body. And I just, I never really did that. I only counted calories cause that was what, uh, what was in vogue when I was in my teens or [00:19:00] whatever.
So I learned a lot. I felt like, and I learned kind of what it feels like for me to feel my best or at least better than I had before. And so it definitely led to a lot of. Changes into how I eat. And again, I haven't done a whole 30 in, I dunno, two years or more maybe. Um, I did one or two within a two year span and just learned a ton.
And, and so it's definitely kind of like, it just helped me build a different foundation for how I eat, kind of how I talked before of eating those real foods, as much as possible and. And then making those decisions to eat anything else based off of how my body's feeling. So it definitely changed a lot, in my approach to eating.
And I learned a lot. I learned a lot doing it. Um, again, that being said, my recipes, while I have a ton of whole 30 recipes and resources on the site, um, I would say [00:20:00] in the more recent year or two, I, I always usually if I can put in the notes like how to make something paleo or Whole 30 or gluten-free or dairy-free.
But, um, not necessarily all of my recipes are written that way anymore. So my, my blogs kind of, um, you know, it's changed over time. So that's kind of where we're at now.
Roni: Right. Yeah. I haven't myself done a whole 30, but I can imagine that. Over a month long period. Number one a month is a really doable time period. But there's also an aspect of it where I think it's that. That aspect of mindfulness, that doing a whole 30 would bring that you have more connection with, okay, I ate this food, and how does my body feel after that?
And just being a little more intentional about the things that you're putting into your body. And then, like I said, being mindful about how is this actually making me feel? Is it making me feel better? Do I feel unchanged?
Erin: Agreed. Yes, completely. So, yeah, it's [00:21:00] a, it's a great learning experience if it's, you know, if it's right for you, it's definitely not right for everybody. But I learned a lot from it and I know a lot of my family members have as well.
Roni: Hmm. So I have two questions related to all of that, which the first one is, do you have any tips for somebody who might be trying to change their style of eating? Whether it's they wanna do a whole 30, or potentially they've gotten medical advice with. They have to change their style of eating
the second one is, do you have any resources for understanding the ingredient lists on items?
Erin: So the first question, if people are wanting to kind of make some changes in their diets to kind of a more real food diet, I would say again, reading ingredient labels is really eyeopening. Um, and, and I think it's. It's a fairly simple way to, you know, I don't think it needs to be overwhelming. I think the first step [00:22:00] is just to, if you're gonna eat something, maybe just look at the ingredient list first.
That doesn't mean you don't have to eat it, but it's just like, just be aware of what's in it. And, and once you read that ingredient list, maybe you'll be like, wow, this has 25 ingredients in it. Like, that seems like a lot. Depending on what it is versus something that has one or two ingredients and you can read what they are, you know, may, that might just be enough to get you interested in learning more, so you can educate yourself on, on making choices that will hopefully make you feel better and more energized.
Roni: Yeah, so back to the idea of resources. Was there any, were there any other blogs or books or anything that you read to kind of help you understand like, I guess the thing that I'm thinking of is that things like sugar can be quote unquote hidden inside of food items because they have different names and so like how do you learn about like, okay, [00:23:00] well what's the difference between these things and.
What's the, you know, more pure kind of sugar versus these fake kinds and all that stuff?
Erin: Yeah. Um, I mean I learned a lot of that through Whole 30 because as part of that 30 days, you really do have to read the labels to see if things fall under the whole 30.
Roni: Mm-hmm.
Erin: Um, so reading some of the whole 30 resources, they do a good job of breaking down, like all I'm sure they have a printout actually on their website of like, Sugar, like things that are actually sugar but aren't called sugar. Um, so they, they do a really good job on their website of providing those different resources. So I think it would be a good spot to, to start as a jumping off point, even if you don't wanna do one, um, they just have a lot of good resources about reading labels.
Roni: No, that's a good tip. I believe you are also a interested in meal planning, right? You're a meal planner yourself and you have
Erin: am [00:24:00] an avid meal planner.
Roni: Yeah. And you have a family of five. So, um, I wanna like just transition a little bit to talk a talk about that and how you, um, manage to, you know, meal plan and please a family of five on a regular basis.
Erin: Totally. Yeah. Um, meal planning is like the backbone of my week. Um, my husband and I both agree that if we don't plan out our meals for the week, it. Things fall apart very quickly because like I said, we have all the extracurricular activities, people going everywhere, so I need to have a solid plan. And so what I do is it's usually on Saturdays so that I can order my groceries and then pick them up on Sunday so I can like organize the pantry, clean out the fridge, and get everything fresh and ready to go.
So on Saturday I usually, I'm super cool. So usually Saturday night I'll watch a movie with my husband and we'll meal plan together and we'll [00:25:00] look at the week and just see what do we have going on during the weeknights. And that bases my decision or helps me base my decision as to what kind of meal we're having.
So I kind of have, at this point a mental list. For a long time I had a physical list of like, What are my 15 minute meals like for the weeks or for the days where we have three different activities going on and I don't really have time to cook, so that would be like your, I make brown rice, avocado bowls all the time.
The girls love them. You just put soy sauce on 'em. You can add a protein in if you have it. Um, or we're literally doing like Turkey sandwiches or it's, it's a non cooking night essentially. Then I have more of like a list of. You know, maybe more like 15 to 30 minutes to cook and eat. So we might have time to grill something quick, like even grilling brats and hotdog.
Um, we grill a ton all year round, even though we live in Minnesota. Um, and then the nights when we don't have stuff going on, then I [00:26:00] can actually cook something that might take a little bit longer. And so I kind of plan out my meals, based off of those little lists that I have. And. Plan everything, order the groceries, and then pick everything up.
I'm not a huge meal prepper. I wish I was, but we usually have stuff going on, or I just wanna not cook for a second. So, I'm not a huge meal prepper, but I am a meal planner because it keeps us, keeps us on track for the week.
Roni: Yeah. I love that and I totally agree. Do you, how do you make the, the balance work between cooking recipes for your blog and cooking recipes for your family? Do they, do they cross paths a lot of the time, or are the things that you're cooking on your blog usually? Um, Like you're testing out recipes, maybe they don't turn out right the first time, so you're not gonna serve it to your family for dinner.
How does that work?
Erin: Um, yeah, they [00:27:00] definitely are my Guinea pigs a lot. So sometimes I will be testing things for dinner. I would say generally I'd say the major testing for like a weekend or I set aside a workday to test stuff so they usually don't get too many like recipe bombs. So at this point I try, I do try to set aside like work days to test recipes.
Which is nice. So, but I do cook, I mean, I cook recipes from my site literally all the time. So they, uh, I, I mean, I, a lot of times, depending on what they are, I mean, I like them to try them so that I can get the, the blog approved, the stamp of approval from them.
Roni: Right. Yeah. And then how involved are your kids are in in the cooking process with you on a
Erin: Yeah, so yeah, I forgot to mention, so when I do meal planning, usually on Saturdays I will ask, I will hold the family and I'll say, [00:28:00] Hey, on meal prepping or meal planning, anybody have anything that they want to see happen this week? It doesn't mean I'm gonna make any or all of it, but like usually I will try and work in.
A few of their requests, depending on what we have going on for extracurriculars and you know, if it's something they request just every week, I probably won't make it every single week. But they, so they'll give their input and they'll say, we want, you know, taco salad or we want, meatloaf or whatever.
And if I can work it in, then I will. Just because I want them to be excited about. Dinners. Um, and I want them to eat them. So I, I will say I don't have super picky kids, so I'm very grateful for that. Um, they eat most things, or at least they're very good about trying everything and giving it like a, a fair shot.
But I do love it when they. They see the meal plan, so I, I have like a magnetic meal plan and I put it on the side of the bridge [00:29:00] and so they'll check and see what's for dinner. And I love it when they're like, oh yes, you know, I requested lemon pasta, and it's on the, it's on the menu plan for Tuesday, so I love.
Including them so that they get excited about it. And then as far as like being part of cooking, my oldest is almost 12 and she loves to bake, so she loves to make like muffins for breakfasts or desserts to have. So she is my little baker. The other two, they aren't as like, drawn to the cooking process yet anyways, but they're only eight and four.
So, but my oldest loves to bake, so.
Roni: Yeah, I think that particularly at that age, I just remember being, you know, 12 years old and thinking like baking. I mean, I know that baking now is science, but like at that age it almost feels like magic. Like you put something in the oven and it looks kind of like, you know, gloopy or it's like a dough and then it comes out and like, wow, this actually, this is beautiful and it's really tasty.[00:30:00]
Erin: Yes, agreed. I remember my easy bake oven,
Roni: Oh yes, of
Erin: although it took like three hours to cook anything. Cause it was just like a light bulb, I think. But I don't know. But I still loved it. But yeah, so they, they loved to, they liked being part of the meal planning process and I, I think that, you know, if you can include your kids, Again, obviously there's, there's times where it's like they're asking for lasagna and it's like, well, I don't have time to make that.
But, you know, I do my best.
Roni: Well, let's see. Is there anything that we have missed that you wanted to share about today?
Erin: I don't think so. I mean, I know we've talked a lot of a whole 30, and I know that's interesting, but I'll just reiterate that. I probably haven't done well. I do a few every now and then. I sprinkle in the whole 30, like purely full 30 recipes, especially in January. But I would say the bulk of the recipes that come out of my kitchen these days are just [00:31:00] real simple, real food recipes that my family loves.
And, yeah, I, I mean, it's just all about good, good food made with. Real simple ingredients and I try my best to, write in the notes, you know, how you can adapt them, especially for gluten-free, dairy-free, paleo, et cetera. So always check out the notes if you see a recipe that you like, but you might not know it, like it doesn't look cold, dirty, or it doesn't look paleo.
I always check the notes cause if it's possible, I'll put in how to tweak it a bit to make it work for you.
Roni: And if it's kid approved, even better.
Erin: Yeah. Right. Yes. They, I mean, obviously you'll see some recipes and be like, okay, I know her kids don't eat that, but they do eat a fair amount. I mean, and we do a ton of dinner recipes.
That's probably our, our biggest area. We, we turn out a lot of dinner recipes, and my kids, they eat, most of 'em, they, I don't make food that, you know, [00:32:00] gotta be somewhat family friendly because that's how we eat.
Roni: Right. Alright, well why don't you share, Your website and where people can find you on social media and anything else related to that.
Erin: Awesome. So my website is the wooden skillet, the wooden skillet.com. I am on Instagram most of the time at the wooden skillet. We have Pinterest, we got TikTok. We got. All the things. And I would say, check out our newsletter. It's pretty easy to find the signup for that on the site. Um, and we do have a full 30 email series if you are interested in that to kind of break that down a little bit for you.
But if you wanna sign up for the newsletter, we send out a newsletter every Friday. So. With a list of any new recipes that have come up on the site. Cause I don't necessarily share like, every new recipe on Instagram. So you'd get those all in that newsletter. And then we do a four day meal plan every other week.
We, you know, share [00:33:00] recipes for upcoming holidays that you might wanna check out. Um, we share, products that we've been loving and discount codes and whatnot. So, I would sign up for that email if you wanna kind of get the, the low down of all the things that are happening.
Roni: That sounds great. Well, let's end the episode by having you talk about a recent recipe that you ate for, you know, any meal, breakfast, lunch, or dinner, and, um, that you just really loved and would wanna share with our audience.
Erin: I would say, I'm gonna share the, my favorite recipe so far that I have shared this year on the site is a soy, ginger, salmon, rice bowl. It has been so popular with everyone. I love it. My husband loves it. My kids love it. It's easy to adapt. So it's cubed salmon that it's marinated, it's served on rice.
You could serve it without rice if you don't wanna do that. Um, there's tons of way to modify it. And then there's cucumbers, there's a spicy mayo ami. It's all the delicious things in a [00:34:00] delicious rice bowl. So that would be my recipe recommendation.
Roni: That sounds great. Well, Erin, thank you so much for joining me today and, um, yeah, look forward to our audience hearing this episode.
Erin: Yeah. Thank you so much for having me. It was awesome.
Roni: Thanks for tuning into this episode, you can support the Plan to Eat podcast by subscribing, wherever you get your podcasts and leaving us a rating and review on apple podcasts and Spotify. Thanks again for listening