Key Note: Chef Cheatham Serves Up a New Holiday Favorite

In our November episode, Chef Adrienne Cheatham joined us to share healthy ways to tweak our holiday menus without sacrificing flavor. In this month’s Key Note, Chef Cheatham opens her cookbook, Sunday Best, to offer a delicious, nutritious, affordable, make-ahead alternative to traditional main dishes – Mississippi Pot Roast. Enjoy!

The Takeaway

• We want to hear from you! Please complete our survey: org/member-feedback.
• Drop us a line at our social media channels: Facebook// Instagram // YouTube.

• Start your health journey by making an appointment with your primary care physician. Don’t have one? Find one at our Provider Directory: www.1199SEIUBenefits.org/find-a-provider.
• Visit the Healthy Living Resource Center for wellness tips, information and resources; www.1199SEIUBenefits.org/healthyliving.
• Get inspired by fellow members through our Members’ Voices series: www.1199SEIUBenefits.org/healthyliving/membervoices.
• Stop by our Benefits Channel to view webinars on building healthy meals, managing stress and more: www.1199SEIUBenefits.org/videos.

• Find a greenmarket near you by visiting grownyc.org/greenmarket/ourmarkets.
• Visit our YouTube Channel to view a wide collection of cooking demos and healthy living videos: youtube.com/@1199SEIUBenefitFunds/playlists

• Sample our wellness classes to exercise body and mind: www.1199SEIUBenefits.org/wellnessevents.
• For Chef Cheatham’s Mississippi Pot Roast recipe, visit www.1199SEIUBenefits.org/Mississippi-Pot-Roast
• To order Chef Cheatham’s cookbook, Sunday Best, visit Penguin Random House Books.

 

Guest Bio Adrienne Cheatham is a New York-based chef, author, consultant and television personality known for her bold perspective on food and culture. A veteran of some of the country’s most acclaimed kitchens, Adrienne served as Executive Sous Chef at Le Bernardin and Executive Chef at Red Rooster Harlem and Corporate Chef of the Marcus Samuelsson Group.

She rose to national prominence as the runner-up on Top Chef, Season 15, and has since returned to the show as a guest judge. In 2023, Adrienne published her debut cookbook, Sunday Best, inspired by her critically acclaimed pop-up dinner series of the same name. The book was nominated for a James Beard Award.

Adrienne is a regular judge on the Food Network and contributor to Epicurious, where her videos have earned over 6 million views. She’s been featured in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Bon Appétit, Food & Wine, USA Today and more—both as a subject and a writer. In 2025, she and her former Top Chef rival, Joe Flamm, launched The Chef’s Cut podcast. Through every platform, she shares stories that connect food, identity, and the communities that shape them.