095 Sarah Kaminski of Best Ever Granola

What do you do when the thing you built suddenly stops working and you still need to pay the bills? We talk with Sarah Kaminsky, founder of Best Ever Granola, about turning a pandemic pivot into a fast-growing food brand that’s now stocked by more than 100 retailers across 10 states.

Sarah breaks down what makes her small batch granola different in a crowded aisle: gluten-free and vegan recipes with intentionally low sugar, sweetened only with pure Pennsylvania maple syrup from Paul Family Farms. We get into why ingredient sourcing is a non-negotiable and how local partnerships shape great flavor and necessary connection. a

Then Ken from Point State Fork names the buffalo chicken fix she takes out-of-towners to every time: Spak Brothers Buffalo Chicken Pizza in Garfield. 

Finally, Chef Ken of KCZ Cuisine gives us a weeknight-friendly Hainanese chicken rice method that turns one pot into multiple meals, with ginger-scallion broth that becomes a soup you can sip all week.

Subscribe for more Pittsburgh food stories, share this with a friend who loves local brands, and leave a review so more listeners can find the show.

Transcript

Best Ever Granola And The Ingredients

Doug 0:00

Welcome to The Pittsburgh Dish. I'm your host, Doug Heilman. What happens when a pandemic pivot becomes the best decision ever? This week, we learn the story of best ever granola. Have a craving for buffalo chicken? Ken of Point State Fork has a go-to place. And spoiler, we're talking pizza. And later in the show, do you have a recipe that does double duty? Chef Ken shares his take on Heinany's chicken and rice, a great dish that also yields a flavorful soup to sip throughout the week. All that ahead, stay tuned. Thank you so much for coming over and for being on the show.

Sarah 0:47

Absolutely. Thank you for having me.

Doug 0:49

Would you introduce yourself to our listeners and what you have going on right now in the world of food?

Sarah 0:56

For sure. My name is Sarah Kaminski. I am the founder of Best Ever Granola. We craft small batch gluten-free vegan granola. And what sets us apart is our low sugar content. We sweeten only with pure Pennsylvania maple syrup. So we partner with Paul Family Farms out of Galeton PA.

Doug 1:14

Oh.

Sarah 1:15

And that's really what sets our product apart and makes us unique.

Doug 1:19

Paul Family Farms is is harvesting the maple syrup.

Sarah 1:22

Yeah.

Doug 1:23

Oh. I'm going to check them out too.

Sarah 1:25

Yes. Yeah.

Doug 1:26

I I think what I've gleaned from your website is ingredients are really important to you. Is that fair to say?

Sarah 1:32

Uh 300%. Ingredients are at the core of what we do. Right. And, you know, we'll never sacrifice, you know, those morals to, you know, make an extra buck. Um for me, when I learned about really our food system 10 years ago, um, has been the core of the way that I eat and shop. And so whenever it came to creating a product, I I took the same approach. Yeah.

Doug 2:00

I think, you know, maybe some folks think, oh, granola is granola and they've bought some store brand or whatever. But if someone dives into your product, there's a lot of intention. And I I want to add beyond the health benefits or the sustainability, just your mentioning of using the other family farm for the maple syrup, it goes to show the connectedness of what a small business can do for other families and other small businesses. Totally. Yeah. If folks are not familiar with best ever granola right now, can you just give us sort of an overview of uh maybe the product line or what your some of your best sellers are or what you're, you know, what you're working on right now?

Sarah 2:44

Yeah, absolutely. So we obviously specialize in granola. That's what we do, and we do it really well. And so we've really stayed in this niche space of granola and just doing it well. Um, we started with our original. Um, it is just a classic sort of toasted coconut with a bite of salt. Um, someone on my team, Blakely, always says it's like the perfect sweet and salty bite because we use a coarse salt. So you get this almost experience of like a like a chocolate-covered caramel that has like that coarse salt. So you sort of get this bite of salt every now and again, kind of elevates it. Um, and we use thick toasted coconut chips, which sounds delicious, just epic.

Doug 3:27

Yeah. It's sort of bordering a little savory for me with those flakes and the salt. I love that sweet and salty kind of combo. Totally.

Sarah 3:36

Yeah. So we started with just that recipe um at the end of 2020, and we've expanded the product line now into we'll be launching our ninth flavor this year. So we have two core offerings throughout the year. We do a dark chocolate chia, and that one is probably my favorite for sure. But our original is our bestseller, and then we offer seasonal flavors throughout the year. And with for those seasonals, we really try to lean into local, smaller partners for fresh herbs. Um, we use like a locally roasted coffee for our chocolate espresso and just try to get creative with partnerships in that way.

Doug 4:18

So good.

Sarah 4:18

Yeah.

Doug 4:19

I love that. We should also say you mentioned uh 2020, your business started sort of as a pandemic related uh motivation. Is that right?

Sarah 4:30

Yeah, 100%. It was a pandemic pivot. Uh-huh. Um, so I was doing health coaching and consulting. That was going really well. COVID hit, and nobody was investing in health coaching and consulting. So my business tanked. And, you know, over the course of that spring of 2020, you know, you're kind of scrambling thinking, like, what's my next step going to be here? And over the course of my health coaching, I had developed hundreds of plant-based recipes that I used to support my client base. Our original granola was one of those recipes. And I looked at my husband that summer and was like, what if we packaged up that original granola recipe and just offered it? Um, my husband co-founded Three Rivers Outdoor Company in Regent Square. So at the time we had that retail outlet, I'm like, we can sell it at the shop. We can, you know, I have this little bit of an online presence and we'll just list it online and see what happens. Yes. So we ran some numbers and it made sense. And so we just sort of put it out there that fall.

Doug 5:29

You had never been selling this product or a food product before that.

Sarah 5:34

No.

Doug 5:35

No. Tell us a little bit more about the journey of getting this started. Like, how do you learn how we can do this? Where can we sell it? What kind of licenses do I need? You know, how did that work out for you?

Sarah 5:48

Well, I started my home kitchen. And so, you know, not knowing sort of what direction I was going to take in terms of, and if I'm being completely honest, I had no aspiration to wholesale this product.

Doug 6:01

Yes.

Sarah 6:02

I mean, we've like built that in from the beginning, you know, mar of our margin, but that was just because my husband had a buying background and he knew you need to build this in just in case this is something that you ever decide to do.

Doug 6:14

So you thought this was just a cottage. I might sell it to some friends, neighbors, past clients.

Sarah 6:19

Totally.

Doug 6:20

That was it.

Sarah 6:20

Yep. I'm gonna, you know, list it online. We're gonna sell it in the shop, you know, a three rivers outdoor company, which is I guess where that wholesale margin would have been built in initially. Yeah. But it turned out that nobody was doing a craft, you know, granola, a specialty granola in Pittsburgh. People were really excited about it. And, you know, between November of 2020 and the end of the year, we had 10 wholesale partners and I was like, oh my gosh, we're doing this.

Doug 6:46

Yeah.

Sarah 6:46

You know, I quickly realized, like, you know, we're growing out of this home kitchen much faster than I thought. And so we were in January, I was, you know, scouring Pittsburgh for a shared commercial kitchen space that we could move our production to. Uh, and we moved out of my home kitchen into a shared commercial kitchen space in Squirrel Hill in February of 21.

Doug 7:06

Wow. Are you still there?

Sarah 7:08

We were there until March of last year, and then we just moved into our own facility. Oh, congratulations. Yeah, thanks.

Doug 7:14

Yeah, having your hours or whatever space you need and leaving it set up probably the way you want all the time.

Sarah 7:19

Yes.

Doug 7:20

Some advantages.

Sarah 7:21

For sure.

Doug 7:21

We do have a lot of nice shared kitchens in the area.

Sarah 7:23

So we do. Yeah. I think there's uh I think there's an opportunity there for sure, with in terms of being able to build out.

Doug 7:33

Right. You know, I've talked to some other folks and it's a great place to start, but it may not be sustainable for what you want to do. And also, you know, the flexibility of how much it costs and what time I get and what equipment is there. So sometimes it just leads the folks to their own place eventually.

Sarah 7:49

Yeah, but I think it really gave us opportunity. I mean, starting in the home kitchen under the cottage food law. And then whenever we moved to the shared commercial kitchen space, then that involved, you know, licensing with through Allegheny County. So that basically with every step that you take, you just add like an additional layer of licensing, essentially.

Doug 8:07

Okay. Right.

Sarah 8:08

But because we were, you know, selling retail as well through wholesale outlets and retail partners, um, you just have more eyeballs on your product. Yes. And so you have to make sure you check all your, check all the boxes.

Local Partners And Pittsburgh Food Community

Doug 8:22

Yeah, yeah. Cross the T's, dot the I's. Were there any other? I mean, it sounds like your your husband was helpful in, you know, thinking through some of the steps with you. Were there any other mentors or partners or moments that have also like given you like a better direction on, oh, I should do that, or let's pivot a little bit to this.

Sarah 8:45

So I think partnering with Paul Family Farms out of, you know, right from the very beginning was really powerful in the sense that like I had a built-in mentor just through that partner. Travis is has become a great friend. And any question that I have, you know, as as we continue to grow and we're constantly, you know, just sharing ideas and, you know, hey, have you tried this or have you tried that? Or hey, who do you use for X, Y, or Z? Um, so he has been really instrumental uh in terms of you know, a mentor from the very beginning.

Doug 9:20

How did you guys meet?

Sarah 9:21

At the farmers market. Really? Yeah, at the Bloomfield Farmers Market.

Doug 9:24

Awesome.

Sarah 9:25

Yeah, we uh we would shop the Saturday Bloomfield Market every so often. And, you know, that original recipe that I had on my blog, we always use maple syrup. And I don't know that I was ever particular about what type of maple syrup I bought, aside from it just being local, you know. And I saw that he had gallons and I was like, all right, well, if I'm gonna scale this recipe, I'm gonna need more than, you know, X, this, this small portion of it. And so I'm gonna need one of those gallons. And so I stopped at their tent one day and said, like, hey, like I'm thinking about making this granola. And he's like, Sarah, I can't tell you how many people have come up to us and said, Hey, I'm thinking about making this pro this product. You know, everybody always comes up with ideas. He's like, Never in a million years did I think, you know, now we have, you know, pallets of you know, gallons shipped to us. But so, you know, I just kept showing up. I love that.

Doug 10:17

Well, I think also not only are you supporting each other and you're supporting local, I think it gives your granola a niche that you're using these local products and that you can tell that story of that other farm that's helping you. Yeah, it's a great story.

Sarah 10:32

Yeah, it is very cool. I think generally, you know, we talked a little bit about just the the food community in Pittsburgh is really unique and that it's just very uplifting. Um, you know, coming out of coaching, the coaching world, it was like, you know, you asked anybody a question and they're like, oh yeah, that answer that's on my course. Here's the link for that. You're like, okay.

Doug 10:53

Yeah. We're much more giving in the food community to help you move forward. It's more, you know, raise the ship, so to speak. Yes. Yeah.

Sarah 11:01

I agree.

Doug 11:02

Are there any other partners like Paul Family Farm locally that you like to use throughout the year or partner with?

Sarah 11:08

Um, so in our recipes, we've partnered with um, we partner with Ohio Pile Coffee Roasters. They do our uh they roast the espresso for our chocolate espresso.

Doug 11:18

It sounds so good, by the way.

Sarah 11:19

It is. We have it right now. Okay. Yeah, I'll I'll send it back. Oh it's a really good one. Uh, we partnered with Freedom Farms for Fresh Time. We did a uh lemon blueberry time.

Doug 11:30

They're up Route 8 in Butler. They've got their own market. Yeah. And a bunch of other stuff. You can have like weddings and corn mazes and stuff up there.

Sarah 11:37

Yeah, they do a ton of incredible events and they have Grist House Brewery attached to, you know, other sort of restaurant, and then they also have the farm market.

Doug 11:46

This is the King family.

Sarah 11:48

It is. Yeah, they're great people. Um, and they're doing they're doing really important work.

Doug 11:53

Yeah. Such a good news story. The other thing that I think we should talk about too for listeners, it's not just your granola product. If people go to your website, you have a bunch of recipes that you've developed probably over the years since your coaching days that use the granola, you know, not just straight away, but in a lot of different ways. Can you share with us a few maybe of your favorites or the most popular ones?

Sarah 12:17

Yeah, we always say, you know, here's some creative ways to enjoy our products whenever you're not eating them by the handful, because it is really easy to just, you know, eat it right out of the bag. But we, I'm trying to think of some of my favorites. We did a baked brie with our vanilla lavender and local honey.

Doug 12:36

Sounds great.

Sarah 12:37

It's really good. Vanilla lavender is going to come back this spring. So keep your eyes open for that one.

Doug 12:42

That's good. We're recording at the end of February, so we're right around the bend for this.

Sarah 12:46

Yes.

Doug 12:47

Oh, good.

Sarah 12:47

Yeah. So keep your eyes peeled for that. That is a flavor that we're asked about year-round. We did over the holidays, we do a chocolate almond peppermint. We made energy balls. So have you ever made energy balls that you roll with like the nut butter?

Doug 13:01

Yeah, you need some kind of nut butter to keep it all together, but otherwise it's like a bon bon.

Sarah 13:05

Uh, it is. Yeah, kind of like a it was like a crunchy truffle, and we made them like really cute with sprinkles for you know, holiday baking season.

Doug 13:14

I imagine with any of your varieties or flavors, you could do this and they'd be a great carry-on or pack in the kids' lunch or I don't know, take post-workout, right?

Sarah 13:24

Yes, yes. Yeah. So we're always looking for creative ways. I'm really lucky to have, you know, two people on my team come with a culinary background. So, you know, they're always like, We should try this, we should try this. And, you know, we're always the three of us together, always working and thinking about, you know, different ways to wow, we should try it with this, wow, we should try it with this. Um, and differ just different applications and creative ways to enjoy granola that you maybe wouldn't have been thinking of otherwise.

Doug 13:53

Right. I I also love, and can we just take a moment to say you have a team, which is super important? Yeah.

Sarah 14:00

Yeah, it's wild, honestly, because I think about it's I'm I'm so so grateful. But it's wild to think, like I said, I started in my like home three ruck oven, you know, and I would just tell my husband, like, you got to get the kids out of the house of baking today. Um, and truly, whenever we first moved to the shared commercial kitchen space, it was very, I didn't have, it was me. I had my friend Kim that would come. We were baking initially like once a month, then we would just do a big batch bake. Um, my husband had the shop over in Regent Square, and so he would come in the mornings before he had to open the shop and he would help us for as long as he could. And then he would go open the shop. And, you know, we were just my friend Kim and I, just baking, baking, baking. And when we started, and truly up until this time last year, we were doing everything in an eight, eight-hour window of time. So we were baking, cooling, packing, everything would go out finished in cases, ready for retail, like in one day. So it's been great to be able to not hustle like that.

Doug 15:04

That sounds like high stress. Grinding granola is not like where I want to be in like, oh my gosh, by like 7 p.m., we have to have this packed.

Sarah 15:12

Yeah, yeah. It was sometimes a little high stress. Um, a lot of us too have kids. So it's like, I gotta get home to just get my kids. So it's like we had a we had a hard stopping point where it was like, all right, this is just where we're gonna stop for today. And if we don't get it done, then we'll just pick back up here. It's like everything's gotta load out where we are.

Doug 15:31

Wow.

Sarah 15:32

Yeah.

Doug 15:32

And so it sounds like you have at least two folks on the team now.

Sarah 15:37

So we have I have a team of four. Four. Yes. Okay. We operate, you know, in we're we're baking in the space two days a week. Our deliveries go out one of those days. Um, and then we sort of have like a half day recoup day where we're just like, you know, doing a deep clean and you know, finishing up any loose ends throughout the week. So we're we're in a place right now where in the space that we're in, we have a lot of time to build in as we continue to grow where we didn't have that before.

Doug 16:08

Not that same kind of stress of we've got to get it all done in one day.

Sarah 16:12

Right, right, exactly.

Doug 16:14

And congratulations again from something that started in your home kitchen in 2020. You have four employees or folks on the team, however you like to describe it, within like just over five years.

Sarah 16:25

Congratulations. Yeah, thank you. So good. Yeah, I definitely couldn't do what I I do without them.

Doug 16:31

We should let listeners know. I found this on your website. Of course, you can order it through the website, and we'll talk about that later. But you are in over like a hundred retailers now.

Sarah 16:43

Yeah, so we're partnering with just over a hundred retailers in 10 states.

Doug 16:48

Right, not just Pennsylvania.

Sarah 16:50

Yeah, so um locally um we're in Pittsburgh Market District locations. There are seven stores and lots of independent. A lot of independence.

Doug 17:00

I was what I was appreciating looking at like where to buy on your website, I was finding all of these small independent retailers, and I'm like making notes, like, oh, I need to go there. I've never heard of this place. And some of them are a little further out of the region, which was also interesting to me as well. So if you want to shop and shop a small independent store or grocer, take a look at the website and then make like a day trip or something.

Sarah 17:27

Yeah, that's a really great idea. Yeah.

Doug 17:29

So I think you've done just this tremendous business again for other businesses. And that connectedness is something that I think, you know, we all appreciate. We often don't understand how much small business gives back to the communities they're in and often beyond.

Sarah 17:46

Yeah, I think I don't know, entrepreneurship is wild because I think when you really think about it, it's like just a series of people believing in you. Yeah, that's right. And it like makes me emotional thinking about it, but it's truly just like one person believing in you enough to say yes, you know. It's like it was Paul Family Farm saying, Yes, I'll, you know, wholesale my syrup to you. It was, you know, that first retailer saying yes, I'll carry your product. And uh it's just a series of those yeses and series of people believing in you, which is really magical.

Doug 18:16

I do think it's a story of you see the good in people when you're trying to do something good as well. You bring it out. Yes, it's amazing.

Sarah 18:26

Yes. Hi, this is Sarah Kaminski with Best Ever Granola, and you're listening to The Pittsburgh Dish.

Doug 18:33

Sarah, I would love to pivot a little bit. You know, we did mention that you were doing this health coaching uh before the business. I'd love to know a little bit more about your background and and where did you grow up?

Sarah 18:46

So I'm Pittsburgh. You are? Yeah, Pittsburgh, born and raised. I grew up in Fox Chapel area, um, graduated high school from Fox Chapel area high school, went to West Virginia University, um, where I studied child development. I moved to Colorado for a window of time where I actually met my now husband. Uh-huh. But that's sort of a boomerang story. And moving back to Pittsburgh after Colorado, um, went to uh Carlo University for my master's in education. And I actually taught first and second grade for seven years.

Doug 19:19

I had no idea.

Sarah 19:20

Yeah. So I have a my formal education is in education. Okay. Yeah. And I did that until 2015. So when our first son was born in 2014, I just really struggled, like, you know, the commute and working a 40-hour week out of the house. Right. And thought, like, wow, this just isn't it. You wanted something else. Yep. Yeah. And so I started health coaching and doing that on the nights and weekends. And I did all of that online, um, offering group coaching. And I did that for a year and a half until I'd built it to the point that I could leave teaching.

Doug 19:52

And where did health and wellness coaching come from? Was this something that was always important to you?

Sarah 19:57

So I read, I guess I watched Food Inc. Um, and that really opened my eyes to our food system. That was like in my mid-20s. I watched that. And that is sort of what planted the seed, right? Like just understanding our food system and wanting to educate people around, you know, just incorporating more. For me, it was always incorporating more plant foods. Like, how can you incorporate more plant foods into your life? And just how many benefits there are to that for the environment and for your body and you know, of this sort of ripple effect of and you're a mom now with kids.

Doug 20:33

So all of this is important to you. Yeah. And if our listeners don't know, Food Inc. was um a program that revealed the industrialization, sort of the not so great parts of our food system and really helps educate a lot of folks on, you know, how could we probably do a little better, even just personally?

Sarah 20:50

Yeah. And I think for me, it was like a right in my face, like, wow, there's a major disconnect. Like we have no idea what we're eating. Right. Um, and so having just uh open my eyes to that, that is I think what inspired me to just start learning as much as I could about, you know, how can I just be more intentional about the way that I eat and the way that I shop and the way that I cook, and then teaching that to others.

Doug 21:15

Yeah. Well, you're a natural teacher. Yeah, of all that. So what what was food life like as a youngster growing up? I mean, were you cooking at an earlier age? Would you ever have dreamed that you'd have a food business now?

Sarah 21:29

No, never. It's wild to say, you know, oh, I open, you know, people are like, oh, what do you do for work? And I'm like, I don't know a granola company. And they're like, wow, that's cool. And I, you know, sometimes I think the same thing to myself, like, wow, I can't believe I like have a product that's, you know, stocked in grocery store shelves. It's just wild. It is. Um, no, I don't don't have a lot of food memories from childhood per se.

Doug 21:55

Yeah.

Sarah 21:56

I remember making like pancakes with my grandmother. Yeah.

Doug 21:59

Yeah. Yeah.

Sarah 22:00

But that's, you know, really it. I don't have a lot of big core memories from my childhood. Like I said, it wasn't until like my mid-20s that I sort of had that pivot point and was like, wow. And that's something that I'm trying to, you know, provide for my kids. Right. You know, just um just to be aware of the food that they eat and what it does for the environment and their bodies and that it doesn't need to be perfect, but just to understand.

Doug 22:26

Right. Well, I think I've seen on your Instagram too. I mean, this has crept into your own lifestyle. I saw you making, I think it was snack boxes for the kids or things. Are there a few mom tricks or maneuvers you do now to make sure that they're eating a little better than they that they kind of stay on point with the the theme of what you're doing with the granola?

Sarah 22:45

Yeah, I again I just want them to be, I mean, I don't gatekeep anything from them. You know, I say, like, you know, this is what's in that. Would you like to eat it?

unknown 22:54

Okay.

Doug 22:55

They won't rebel someday and be a total chicken nugget and ranch dressing kit.

Sarah 22:59

And if they are, then like, you know, it's okay. I think what I'm trying to teach them is like, how does your body feel when you eat certain foods?

Doug 23:06

Yes. That's so important. I think I didn't learn that till I was an adult. I know. I don't really feel great after I've had this like big, heavy something, but I feel really good after I've had uh my morning oatmeal.

Sarah 23:17

Right. Yeah. Right. So I, you know, I'm just my goal, I guess, is really just to teach them like how does your body feel after you eat certain foods? And, you know, do you want to eat more foods that give you energy or more foods that deplete your energy as opposed to healthy and unhealthy? I I guess this is me, you know, an 80, 90s kid who's, you know, reform diet culture. Yeah. I think it's just uh important that for me at least to not say you have to have something healthy. It's like, why don't we just choose something else that's going to give you more energy? Um, so our fruit bowls always open. And I don't know, I try to just let them make empowered choices with the information that we give them.

Doug 23:55

I love that. I I think that's so important that you're not demonizing one food over the other, but you're actually giving them that awareness. You're sort of pointing them toward like, well, how do you feel after that? How do you feel right now? And like sort of learning the impacts of some of the not so great food that's out there.

Sarah 24:11

Yeah, for sure.

Doug 24:12

Great mom lesson.

Sarah 24:13

Aw, thanks.

Doug 24:14

Yeah, yeah. Well, why don't we do this? Let's take it forward. You have this business going right now, it looks amazing. Are there any events or goals or things you want to be doing? What's ahead?

Sarah 24:28

So we lightly launched at the end of this last year, 2025, we lightly launched a line of roasted almonds. Um, so those are out and they're available. Um, we're finishing the sort of final packaging design for those now. So those will be sort of more formally launched this this year.

Doug 24:47

So we did a soft launch.

Sarah 24:49

We did, yeah. And so they're out. Um, and we're getting feedback about them. Uh, we're really excited about them, uh, sweetened with just a little tiny bit of maple syrup and that bite of salt that we talked about. Um, roasted without any seed oils. So we're just tossing a little bit of um organic cold pressed coconut oil, and then we roast them in-house. So they're really good. We're excited to share those. Um, just really good nourishing snack option. Yes. Right out of the bag.

Doug 25:17

Yes.

Sarah 25:18

And we've been sharing some creative ways to enjoy those as well. Um, with you know, different desserts and um like on salads with roasted beets and goat cheese and put a pile on my next charcuterie board.

Doug 25:31

Yes. Yeah.

Sarah 25:32

Yes.

Doug 25:33

I'm sure that that's tougher to source from a local. You can't do everything locally, but do you have some other suppliers that you really you trust with this stuff or you're trying to go organic or anything like that?

Sarah 25:46

So we're a dedicated gluten-free facility. Everything that we do is gonna be dedicated, gluten-free. Um, you know, it's a non-negotiable for us to source organic, gluten-free rolled oats. Um, we go through a volume of oats at this point.

Doug 25:59

So much, I'm sure.

Sarah 26:01

But like you said, um, you know, we source those from they actually come from Canada. Okay. And that same supplier actually sources a lot of our seeds. Okay. So we use like sesame, papita, pumpkin seeds, and um, did I say sunflower? No. Sunflowers, yeah. Um, so seeds and then um almond slices, and then those thick cut coconut chips. We do work with Steel City Salt Company here in Pittsburgh. Um, he does like the perfect coarseness of salt that we like. Yes.

Doug 26:31

They're over in Milvale. They're great. Yes, yeah.

Sarah 26:33

John and Candy are really incredible. Uh, we've worked with them since the very beginning. So we they help us with our salt needs. And, you know, like I said, with some of those seasonal flavors, we, you know, look to find local and regional partners where we where we can and where it makes sense.

Doug 26:51

Is there anything else happening?

Sarah 26:52

Um, no, we're really just kind of gearing up for our event season. So we don't do, I have three, I have three young kids. So I'm in a season of my life where, you know, a week, every weekly farmers market is just an overcommitment for me. Um, so we've sort of phased out of farmers markets and we instead just sort of do pop-ups throughout the year. We do Greensburg Night Markets, Squirrel Hill Night Markets, um, everything that I made it does. They put on some really incredible community events throughout, you know, the summer and holiday months. Um, so we're kind of gearing up for that. You know, our event season is April through the end of the year. So we're in our quiet months right now. And, you know, we've gotten smarter about using this time and really like honing in on, like I said, we're working on the packaging design right now. We do all of our recipe development. We do have one more new flavor coming out this fall. Okay. Um, I can't give any details.

Doug 27:50

That's all right. We'll have to search it out.

Sarah 27:53

Yeah.

Doug 27:53

You also you have a beautiful website and great photography. So whoever's doing that, kudos.

Sarah 27:57

Oh, thank you. I designed the website, but Caitlin Girdwood uh can take credit for all the photography. She's really great at what she does.

Doug 28:05

I think I know her. Does she make jam as well?

Sarah 28:08

She does, yeah. Maple Street jam. We've met. Yeah. She's a great human.

Doug 28:13

Absolutely. All right, Sarah. It's been so great to talk with you and learn about your products. I think we should do this for our listeners. Uh, can you remind us where uh people can find and follow you? Your website, your social handles, and I also know they can purchase from the website, correct?

Sarah 28:28

Yeah, absolutely. So we're bestevergranola.com at best evergranola on all social platforms. Uh, you can, of course, purchase our products online, but also a retailer near you, and that list is on our website and almost always up to date as well.

Doug 28:45

It's worth exploring, also just to learn all these other small local shops. I loved it. Yeah.

Sarah 28:50

Yeah. I love your day trip idea. So fun.

Doug 28:53

You know, one more thing I wanted to ask, I saw on the website. I didn't know much about the Good Food Foundation, and you got an award.

Sarah 29:01

Yeah. So um we are a recipient of a good food award. Um, the Good Food Foundation really is built on three pillars. It's sustainability, ingredient sourcing, and epic taste. So it's essentially having a product that tastes incredible without sacrificing their morals, you know, a little bit like we talked about earlier. So we feel really proud to have earned that for our dark chocolate chia. Um, it's a national, nationally recognized award. So we actually went out. I was seven months pregnant when I went out to receive that award on the stage in San Francisco a couple years ago. Wow. Yeah, so that was a very cool honor. Oh, congratulations. Thanks.

Doug 29:44

I always like to end our interviews with a customary question. The name of the show is the Pittsburgh Dish. What's the best dish you've had to eat this past week?

Sarah 29:56

So we're in a season, like I said, with three young kids. So we don't we do a lot of cooking at home right now. Um, what I'm loving right now is a Thai peanut chopped salad that I've been eating for lunch over and over again. We actually use uh a lot of the core ingredients for the dressing that we're using in our peanut butter crunch granola right now. Oh. And now that I'm saying that, I feel like the peanut butter crunch granola would be a really good topper on that salad. Yes. So I don't know what I'm doing with my life because I should be putting that on top of the salad.

Doug 30:32

You're having ideas right now. So it's good.

Sarah 30:34

Yeah, so it's just purple cabbage and greens and uh chopped up bell peppers, some green onions, and then some chopped peanuts and endamame, and then tossed in this sort of spicy Thai peanut dressing. It's so good. I've been eating it on repeat for two weeks.

Doug 30:52

So good. Yeah. Best bite. More than just this week, every day.

Sarah 30:57

Yeah. And now that I'm saying it, I think we're gonna publish that on the website and top it with the granola.

Doug 31:02

I think that needs to be a recipe. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Sarah Kaminsky of Best Ever Granola. Thank you so much. And thanks for being on the Pittsburgh dish.

Sarah 31:12

Thanks for having me, Doug.

Doug 31:15

Up next, have a craving for buffalo chicken. Ken of Point State Fork takes us to her go-to spot. Ken, I always love what you're posting on your Instagram. You're always getting me inspired and wanting to go out to places. I was thinking this week, you know, if you're craving something like, I don't know, chicken wings or buffalo chicken, where do you go?

Ken 31:40

So there is a place that I always go to for Buffalo Chicken, and like whenever anyone comes out of town, I bring them. Uh, and it's Spak's.

Doug 31:48

So wait, Spak Brothers pizza?

Ken 31:50

Yes.

Doug 31:51

And you're getting the Buffalo Chicken pizza at Spak?

Ken 31:54

Yes, the Buffalo Chicken Pizza.

Doug 31:55

I don't think I've ever had it.

Ken 31:57

It's really good. So I am a big Buffalo chicken person because like in New York, like, like I grew up in New York, so like that is like a big thing, um, especially like out on Long Island.

Doug 32:07

The home state, too, by the way, they're gonna own it, right?

Ken 32:10

Right. But yeah, no, Buffalo chicken pizza um at Spak's is so good. And they also do like a Seitan version, yeah, which is equally as good. I actually really like their Seitan, and I feel like sometimes Seitan like can be like it's not great, it's not always great.

Doug 32:26

Yeah, sometimes it can fall flat. But to your point, my husband's vegetarian and he loves Spak's, vegetarian, and seitan pizza. So I'm right there with you.

Ken 32:35

And like their buffalo chicken uh pizza there, like they always like give you ranch with it, and like if you're getting the the vegan version, they will also give you like vegan ranch, and the ranch really just makes it. It's just like is like the perfect combination and their dough is so good.

Doug 32:51

It's so good. They've been doing it for years too, and we're talking about Spak Brothers, it's right along Penn Avenue in Garfield in the summertime. You can hang out. Usually, there's also maybe a food truck or two Fraser nearby, so it's just a lovely location.

Ken 33:05

Yeah, no, that's actually the move. Like you get your pizza and then you go to Two Frays for a drink and you just hang out.

Doug 33:10

Well, we're getting a twofer, and so hopefully, as we get through some winter months while we're recording, we'll get over to Spak's, we'll get our pizza, we'll go to Two Frays, and maybe we can sit outside in the beer garden.

Ken 33:20

No, that's like the ideal, ideal like night. Um, and also like I think Spak's has like pickle pizza too. So for all the Pittsburgh pickle fans.

Doug 33:29

Oh my gosh, you gotta have it. I have never had anything else off the menu, but I think they have sandwiches, some other things. Have you had anybody order something other than the pizza?

Ken 33:38

So people love their um vegan chicken nuggets. I I don't know if they call it like vegan chicken wings, but yeah, uh, people love their chicken nuggets too. You can get them in like different sauces and like the hoagies people love because you can get them with the satan too.

Doug 33:53

Such a gem. All right. Spak'ss in Garfield. Ken, thanks so much for another great recommendation. Thanks for being on The Pittsburgh Dish.

Ken 34:02

Thank you for having me, Doug.

Doug 34:04

You can follow Ken on Instagram at Point State Fork. Now, from one Ken to another, we sit down at the table with Chef Ken of KCZ Cuisine to get a weeknight recipe that goes the distance. Let's have a listen. Chef, when you were here last, we talked about your incredible food that you're making for clients. You're so busy. Uh, people are after you. I I was wondering if I'm falling on that wait list. Could you actually give me a recipe of yours that maybe I could make myself at home, something that's flavorful yet easy enough for a home cook?

Ken 34:40

Yeah, one of my favorite recipes to go to that that I go to, again, it's simple, but you just kind of do the method and it and it comes out great. One of the things that I always go to for my own personal meal prep is a dish called Hainanese chicken rice.

Doug 34:55

Okay.

Ken 34:56

It's a Singaporean dish. It's basically a poached chicken, poached whole chicken. Um so you'll need a pretty big pot for this if you're going to if you're going to do it. But um, you take chicken stock and you simmer that for about 20 minutes with a decent amount of ginger and scallion, and then you take a whole chicken and you just dunk it in that water. You bring the pot up to a simmer, and then you turn off the water and you cover the pot for about an hour. After an hour, you you should have a probe thermometer and temp the chicken. Right. Deepest part of the breast and in the thigh as well. Make sure the breast comes up to about 160 or 165, and the thigh comes up to about 165. If the thigh is not getting cooked, you can always break down the chicken. Yeah, like cut it.

Doug 35:49

Yeah, you can cut it quarters or something. Yeah.

Ken 35:52

Cut the cut the breast off, uh, and then just throw the thighs back in there. And the dark meat can simmer for a while. Yeah, it's a good thing. But you want you want a very, very tender poach for the breast meat. Okay, if you want it to be that really nice and tender, like succulent breast.

Doug 36:08

In that flavorful broth.

Ken 36:09

Yeah, in this in the flavorful broth, the if you cook it low and slow, that ginger and scallion flavor will permeate into the meat. Yes. And then what you're gonna do is after you break down that chicken, you take the broth and you cook rice. I like to use sushi rice because I like the texture of sushi rice. Okay. But you just you but you can cook any sort of rice. Cook the rice with the ginger scallion broth. In the broth. Mm-hmm.

unknown 36:32

Yeah.

Ken 36:33

So you cook rice with the ginger scallion broth, and then you just eat it with uh some sweet Thai chili.

Doug 36:39

That's it.

Ken 36:39

That's it. Maybe some cucumber, maybe a little salad. Yeah. That's that's it. It's super, super simple. A little bit technique heavy, but it's I mean, it's really so good.

Doug 36:49

Yeah, it sounds delicious. And it sounds comforting. And we were we are recording during like chilly months of the year, but I think you could probably have this any time of year.

Ken 36:57

You can have this anytime. You can even have it cold. You know, chicken you can have cold. And then you got ginger scallion chicken soup to drink.

Doug 37:05

I love it. Chef Ken, thank you so much for this recipe, and thanks for being on the Pittsburgh Dish. You're welcome. You can learn more about Chef Ken and his services on his website at kczcuisine.com. Do you have a recipe? Share it with us. Just go to our website at Pittsburghdish.com and look for our share a recipe form. If you enjoyed the show, consider buying us a coffee for this episode or supporting the show monthly. You can find links to those options at the bottom of our show description. And if you want to follow my own food adventures, you can find me on social media at Doug Cooking. That's our show for this week. Thanks again to all of our guests and contributors, and to Kevin Selecki of Carnegie Accordion Company for providing the music to our show. We'll be back again next week with another fresh episode. Stay tuned.