Behind The Scenes With Kinzie

We sat down with Dana Kinzie, founder of To Cheese or Not to Cheese blog and star of many of our Meatless Monday recipe videos. Kinzie takes us behind the scenes in her kitchen, offering tips to budding chefs and video bloggers alike.

What inspired you to start recording recipe videos and posting them to youtube?

I was doing research for my blog one afternoon and I stumbled across the Meatless Monday site. I was inspired by the site and wanted to write about it; then it hit me to do weekly Meatless Monday videos. I think that it can be a little overwhelming for people to try and think about what to cook without meat. Thus, these videos were born.

What are some challenges you come across when making the recipe videos that you wouldn’t face when cooking off-camera?

I think the hardest part is taking a recipe that takes 30 minutes to an hour to prepare and jamming it into a five minute video. Also, having to explain what you are doing while you are doing it isn’t something that you normally do when cooking in your kitchen by yourself!

What advice would you give to a novice chef who is interested in learning to cook for themselves?

Start with something easy that you love to eat. Pasta, for example, is kind of like sandwiches; you can throw pretty much anything into the pot and it will come out fantastic!

What new technologies or resources have you seen that would be useful to the average home cook?

I would definitely say get a good food processor. It has opened up a whole new world of recipes that I can create. My cooking life has never been the same!

What advice would you give to someone who is interested in making their own recipe videos?

You have to be passionate first and foremost. So whether you love to bake, have creative ways to get your kids to eat their veggies, or create recipes from the food you grow in your garden, its all fair game as long as you’re inspired.