Jenna Pepper
Specialties
One pan skillet meal with sausage, potato, onion and green beans.
What is Jenna Pepper doing now?
Working with a local elementary school to create food tasting games to get kids interested in real, natural food.
Q&A with Jenna Pepper
- What is your name?
- Jenna Pepper
- What was your very first cooking experience?
- In Junior High my mom had me cook dinner a couple nights a week. I really liked choosing the menu and being responsible for it from start to finish on my own.
- Do you ever make mistakes cooking?
- I never use a salad bowl big enough to toss the salad in. Ingredients fit fine, but no room to stir! I do. This. Every. Time!
- Who taught you how to cook?
- I’m sure I learned a lot from watching my mom, but when I think of “lessons” I think of my grandma. Much of my passion for fresh produce comes from summers harvesting, putting up and preparing vegetables from her garden.
- Why do you like to plan and make meals?
- Holding a knife in my hand and working through a clove of garlic, an onion or a head of cabbage is relaxing. I love the colors, the smells, the flavors. Best part about planning is I rarely have to eat something I don’t really want! Our meals are centered around what protein I have in the freezer and what produce I find at the market. I like the challenge of figuring out how ground pork and cabbage will come together in a tasty dish my family will actually eat
- What advice do you have for kids 10 to 14 to learn to cook?
- Taste the produce, smell it. Revel in the shapes and patterns you can make when you slice a cuke or a carrot this way or that. Enjoy it, let it be a relaxing part of your day.
- Why do you like zisboombah?
- I like the variety of foods, not just kid food, but lots of veggies most kids don’t eat! I really like the add it up meters. It’s a fun way for kids to learn what items contain protein, carbs, fat and fiber. Food labels are all about fat and calories, but protein, fiber, carbs, fat are much better indicators of a food's true nutritional value.
- What is your favorite food?
- I like purple food. Blueberries, purple cabbage, eggplant, black beans (they’re really just dark dark purple) and purple potatoes.
- How long have you been a chef?
- No chef here, but I’ve been head cook for my family for over a decade. First feeding a husband, then two growing boys. This wasn’t conscious, but I suspect part of the reason I wanted to cook was so I could have control over what I ate. As a kid, I was a picky eater, and cooking gave me a way to eat only the things I wanted to. That and loving food, big surprise there eh?
- What does your day consist of?
- I start each morning by making a wholesome protein rich meal for my boys before school, then I work at my desk all day, at a computer, blech. My favorite time of day is making dinner. I love to chop. I love it when my kids run in the kitchen and nab corn silk or raw cabbage or green beans and nibble while I cook.
- What thought process do you use when making a meal?
- People. People who: I’ve eaten those foods with, I’ve prepared those foods for, made those foods for me, taught me how to make those foods, people who I want to make those foods for.
- If you have kids, do they like to eat your food?
- Tacos, egg toast, waffles, egg salad, stir-fry, rice and beans, macaroni and cheese.
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