April 24, 2024 • 28 mins
You are about to listen to a love letter to the air fryer and how it can make all your favorite proteins and turn them into something amazing. I am not alone in reading this love letter today, Christine Pittman from Cook the Story and the Recipe of the Day podcast is here to share her favorite air fryer recipes. If your air fryer has been collecting dust in the corner of your kitchen it won’t anymore after you listen to this episode.
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(00:01):
You are about to listen to a loveletter, to the air fryer and how it
can make all your favorite proteinsand turn them into something amazing.
But I'm not alone in readingthis love letter today.
Christine Pitman from cook the story andthe recipe of the day podcast is here
to share her favorite air fire recipes.
(00:23):
If your air for her has been collectingdust in the corner of your kitchen.
It will anymore.
After you listen to this episode.
(00:56):
Before we begin today's episode.
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(01:16):
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(02:01):
Now it's raw with today's episode.
Eric (02:03):
All right, everybody.
I'm excited to have Christineon my podcast today.
She runs the wonderful website,Cook the Story, and she also
has a podcast recipe of the day.
So welcome to my podcast.
Christine (02:20):
Eric, thank you so much for having me on.
I'm really excited to talk with you today.
Eric (02:24):
Uh, so first thing I just want to do to introduce yourself a little more and
tell us about your podcast and your blog.
Christine (02:31):
Yeah.
So, um, my blog is cookthestory.
com, which I started back in2009, so it has been around for
a while, and really started as.
You know, I moved from Canada to theUnited States with my, well, now ex
husband for his job and was home with kidsand just needed like a creative outlet.
(02:52):
So it was a place to share recipeswith people back home and became
just a huge passion and eventuallybecame, you know, my full time career.
And then I started the secondwebsite that I have, the cookbook.
And that one is contributor based.
I have like cookbook authors and chefson, and they dive into different topics.
(03:12):
Um, and so that's really fun andlike deeper dives into things.
Uh, right now we're doing a lotof seasoning blends right now.
We had a series on Jewishfoods recently by Emily Pastor.
So that kind of thing.
And then you have thepodcast recipe of the day.
It's a daily seven day a weekpodcast where I'm really hoping to.
(03:33):
Reduce people's decision making process.
What should I make for dinner tonight?
What should I take to that potluck?
Oh, the Superbowl is coming upor Memorial Day is coming up.
What should I make?
So every day I'm choosing just theright recipe, tell you how to make it.
And hoping to solve thatlittle pain point for people.
Cause I know sometimes the decisionmaking is the hardest part of like
(03:54):
meal planning or cooking, right?
What are we going to have?
So that's what I'm hoping to do there.
Eric (03:59):
Oh, yeah, definitely think that's, you know, what people
get, get stuck up on a lot.
I've, I've started doing ameal planning, uh, sub stack
newsletter that I send out, uh,
Christine (04:07):
Oh my God.
Yeah.
Eric (04:08):
that's giving, giving different tips for, um, kind of showcasing
what we're, what, what we're making.
Cause yeah, it, it, it easy to get tolike, uh, Like, you know, I think the
most common things people say, like, I'mtired of making the same thing, I make
the same thing every week, I make thesame things, you know, they need, they
need some inspiration, need some kindof different ideas to kind of point them
in a direction, because we all get inthose kind of ruts sometimes where it's,
(04:29):
with that, or we forget about some of ourfavorite recipes, like, you know, like, oh
man, I used to love making, you know, potroast, now I don't make pot roast anymore,
maybe I should make a pot roast again,you know, those type of things, it's
Christine (04:39):
Oh, yeah, for sure.
And I also find I've actually beengetting this feedback from people who
listen regularly that sometimes theirreaction is almost like the opposite
of what I'm talking about, right?
Like, I'll be like, you know, I'm talkingabout say, uh, chicken cordon bleu, quick
chicken cordon bleu recipe or something.
And they'll be like, No, we hadchicken yesterday, but you know what?
(05:01):
We haven't had ham steaks latelybecause I mentioned ham in there.
So it's like, they're kind of like,it's just like a, like a contrast
jumping off point or like, Oh no,we don't eat that, but Oh, that
makes me think of this other thing.
And just hearing different ideascan inspire you and, and just, you
know, you're driving home from work.
What am I going to stop andget at the grocery store?
Ah, yeah.
Now I know we're good to go.
(05:22):
Right?
Yeah.
Eric (05:23):
Exactly.
Yeah, that's great.
Yeah.
And I love what you're doing.
So you guys should, um, after you'redone listening to this episode,
go check out her podcast and doa little podcast binging session.
Christine (05:33):
Yeah.
Well, there's almost athousand episodes now.
So we're at,
Eric (05:37):
a lot.
Oh my gosh, that's
Christine (05:39):
yeah, I don't, yeah, I don't know when this is going live,
but we'll be hitting, I, I justrecorded number 961 and so we'll be
hitting 1000 this summer by the summerfor sure because it's every day.
So I guess in like 40 days.
Eric (05:54):
Great.
All right.
So today we, um, we're goingto talk about, Air fryers.
And we're going to talk about air fryingproteins, um, as, you know, as part of
our meal plans and why we should kind ofincorporate those and what kind of, um,
go into some of your favorite recipes.
And yeah, look for some differentways we can possibly save
(06:16):
money and reduce food waste.
I have some ideas on how to reducefood waste by using your air fryer.
Um, so first off, I want to ask you,um, why, why air fryer proteins?
Christine (06:29):
You know, first I'll just say, I am not a gadget girl.
Like, I Like, I I am like, why do Ineed more things in my, in my house?
You know, I think it's,I think it's ultramarine.
Somebody says like no single use gadgets.
Like I'm
Eric (06:43):
Yes.
No unit taskers.
Christine (06:45):
yeah, no unit taskers there.
Like, but I'm, I'm like even beyond that.
Like, so like when Ifirst got an instant pot.
I know we're not talking about InstantPots, but I'm just gonna say, when I
first got my Instant Pot, um, it wasjust because it was in the industry,
and I'm in this industry, you're in thisindustry, and then it sat in my front
doorway, like inside the house, forlike three months, because I'm like, I
don't want to learn this new thing, andthen I learned it, and I liked it, and
(07:06):
then the air fryer came, and same thing,it sat there for like, I don't know,
a month anyways, and I'm like, Fine.
I'll do it.
And I loved it so much thatI bought one for my mom.
I bought one for my boyfriend.
I have one.
I actually, now I have three.
Like, it's just such a handy tool thatmakes food taste better than any other
technique, especially in the kitchen.
(07:28):
in a hands off way.
Like it tastes like, I thinkabout, okay, you're asking
about proteins in particular.
You know, if you pan fry, like, or seara protein, you get much better browning
caramelization faster in that stovetoppan than you do, like, in an oven.
Right?
The oven's hands off, butyou need to stand at your
stovetop to get that browning.
The air fryer is as hands off as theoven, but you get that, like, hands on
(07:54):
stovetop kind of caramelization going on.
And so, I think that, like, that I canput something in there, set a timer, and
walk away, and come back and it's perfect,is just the most brilliant thing to me.
Eric (08:07):
And I think one thing people have kind of gotten a, um,
misconception about how the air fryeris like this kind of a new thing.
It's, it really, in reality,it's just a convection oven.
It's just a convection oven with a drawer.
Christine (08:20):
yeah, it's a toaster oven that actually cooks things properly.
Like,
Eric (08:25):
Yeah.
Yeah.
There you go.
That's even better probably.
Christine (08:28):
yeah, that's what
Eric (08:29):
so it's not like a new thing, it's just like, here's a different
way to put that, and so it does allowthe same kind of function as that,
but because it's in a smaller space,it's able to accomplish things like,
like an oven wouldn't be able to
Christine (08:40):
Oh yeah.
I remember when they first came out on themarket, I had two different friends who
were obsessed with theirs and they kepttelling me about them and I kept saying
in my head or out loud, I'm not sure ifI actually said this to them, but like,
I don't crave or eat a lot of fried food.
So I didn't need this likehealthier air fried version.
Like I I'm fine without the fried foods.
And then it was really.
Um, somebody that I was workingfor actually, um, who was here
(09:04):
one day and she was talking aboutcooking salmon in the air fryer.
And I was like, whoa,whoa, whoa, whoa, wait.
It's not just for like egg rollsand chicken wings and french fries.
You cook salmon in there and that'slike where it just lit up for me.
Like this is just an oven thatworks very very efficiently
and cooks things very nicely.
Eric (09:26):
couldn't, couldn't say it better.
I think that's really exactly what it is.
So, what type of air fryer,uh, do you currently have?
Christine (09:34):
So I have three Three of them right now.
And that's mostly, I mean, I gotthem because I have my one for the
longest time, it's a secure a fiveport, but it's been discontinued.
Well, there were someproblems with some of them.
So some of them were like recalled,but it looks to me like they've
just been discontinued entirely now.
Like you can't find them.
So that one, um, mine wasn't likerecalled, but it, people can't buy it.
(09:58):
So I can't recommend it to people anymore.
And I can't like.
I don't feel a good testing recipes in it.
If it's not something that youcan actually go and get yourself.
Eric (10:07):
Yeah.
Christine (10:08):
I got the other two to just make sure that what I was
doing in the other one was the same.
And it turns out theyare the same pretty well.
Um, mine all behave the same way.
So I have the secure five court.
I have a Kasori six courtand I have a Ninja max XL 5.
5 court.
And they're all just the basic air fryers.
I don't have any of the, uh, Likeinstant pot with air fryer lid
(10:32):
or like any max foodie things.
It's, they're just air fryers.
Eric (10:38):
I don't think that's a good thing to do, testing those things out.
so I have a friend who had a differentstyle air fryer and I was at their house
cooking something, you know, with them.
And we were putting some cauliflowerin there and this was a bigger
style air fryer and it didsuch a worse job than mine did.
It was so uneven.
It was one that had likedifferent, like, um, trays.
(10:58):
So it was almost like the searconvection oven, but calling it an
air fryer sort of, so it did work.
It did accomplish that purpose becausethe space was just simply too big.
You want to, you know,yeah, you could do more.
Um, So, uh, we have actuallywent to is I have a ninja one
now that has the dual drawers.
So, so I have two different drawers.
(11:19):
I can do two different temperatures,two different times, like,
or I can match them together.
And that's really helped out for us.
Um, cause I have four kids, so we
need to have the space.
So like when we were in our camper, Uh,having just a small little air fryer
was like, Hey, you're going to eat.
Okay.
Okay.
The first people you're going toeat dinner at six, um, parents
(11:42):
are going to eat at seven o'clock.
You know, just like time lapse here.
We figured we could actually fit theair fryer, a bigger one into our camper
space, uh, to have the dual doors.
So we could, you know, if we wantto do a double batch of something
here, we can do that and stillget the crispness on both sides.
Cause we're, we have more,we've increased our capacity.
But we didn't actually make thespace is still the same size.
(12:03):
So it kind of accomplished what that bigone didn't accomplish by being bigger.
Um, so that's what we've been using.
It's been great.
Christine (12:11):
And do you find like when you find recipes online or in cookbooks
for other air fryers are is the timingand temperature comparable in that one?
Eric (12:20):
Yes.
Yeah.
Christine (12:21):
Oh, lovely.
I love hearing that.
Eric (12:23):
Yes.
Definitely comfortable.
I've definitely been working at well.
We once got a um, I had a someonesent me a microwave air fry combo
and that did not work for air fry.
Like it was a great microwave.
It was a crappy air fryer.
It just like, I did, I did a comparisonwhere I was doing, using that.
And, um, whatever, when I had the firstpay, I think it was like a power XL.
(12:45):
Like it was the first time I ever had.
And I did both of them at the same time.
And, um, the microwave one, likeit took like so much longer.
Christine (12:53):
I almost
Eric (12:54):
was, didn't work.
Christine (12:55):
I don't want to ever be telling people to like, spend more
money, but I feel like anybody who'sever said to me that they had an air
fryer and didn't like it, I want tobe like, okay, buy a different one.
Because once you have onethat's, you know, Like, actually
good, like, it's so amazing.
I just, I'm like, I don't believethat you didn't like your air fryer.
(13:17):
It must've been the air fryer, uh, becauseyeah, they're just, they're so remarkable.
I love them.
Oh yeah.
Eric (13:30):
the time.
It's like, well, that's why Ilike to talk about like different
varieties of foods and stuff.
Cause maybe you're like, Oh, I don't likefish, but all you've ever eaten is salmon.
I'm like, well, maybeyou don't like salmon,
So
Christine (13:38):
for sure, for sure.
Yep.
Eric (13:40):
it's gotta be that smaller space is, I think that's the key is
you've got to have a small, it needsto be big enough to fit, fit, fit, We
need to do it, but also not too big.
That doesn't deal with the job.
Christine (13:51):
Yeah, because the whole point is that it's heating up really
quickly and that heat is very intense.
And I think staying hot because it'ssmall and it's got that fan and heater
going, it's containing that heat.
Even when you open it and close itagain, like you open and test it,
you close it back up and it's wayhot back in there again, right away.
If it's big and you're openingthe door like your oven, you know,
(14:12):
I, my oven, I've got it on forsomething say it's at like 350.
I open it to take something out, slipsomething around, close it back up.
I actually hit cancel and reset itto 350 because it doesn't even always
like, and then it'll, it'll showme like 250 for a while as it like
is heating back up again, you know?
Eric (14:32):
Definitely.
Christine (14:33):
Yeah.
So smaller is better when itcomes to air fryers, I guess.
Or like my, yeah, mine are all the fiveto six quart range and I really like that
Eric (14:40):
Yeah.
I think you have likethe sweet spot for that.
For sure.
If you want something bigger thanI think you're better off doing
what I have and have like the
double, a double situation.
If you can spring to that here,but you know, the more money, of
course, I mean, I got a great one,a great one during Christmas time.
So I was able to get a, youknow, a good deal on itself.
Christine (14:56):
Yeah, well, if I get a fourth one, I'm going to look into
that because that seems like it would
Eric (15:00):
It is,
Christine (15:01):
use of
Eric (15:02):
and it is nice to be able to do two different things at once.
So like, you know, I could, I could doa vegetable on one side and I can do
a protein on the other side and have,
you know, a better meal atonce, a more fuller meal then.
Um, so yeah.
So I wanted to, uh, for you to share withus now some of your favorite air fryer
recipes that people can find on your site.
Christine (15:21):
Okay, so this is just going to sound like the simplest
silly thing, but air fryer sausages,just air fryer sausages, Italian
sausages, brats, whatever it is.
So I mean the uncooked, likefresh sausages, not like
a kielbasa or something.
Although that's greatin the air fryer too.
But like normally whenyou're cooking sausages.
Like on a, in the stove, they likeroll around and kind of brown unevenly.
(15:43):
And maybe you get browning on like twosides and like, it's just not ideal.
When you do them in the air fryer, it'slike 10, I do like 10 minutes at 400.
Sometimes I open it and likemove them around halfway through.
Sometimes I don't.
And they are just evenly brownon the outside, crispy skin,
fully cooked to the middle.
And, at least in my air fryers,they're, they sit in the basket
(16:07):
and then there's like a, likea thing that the basket is in.
All the fat drops downinto that lower thing.
So they're not like sittingin that fat, you know.
And they're, they just turn out perfect.
I mean, I do actually, I doground beef in the air fryer.
Not like the, like if I'm doing somethinglike spaghetti, a quick spaghetti
dinner where I don't really care thatthe ground beef is like perfectly
(16:29):
same size and browned exactly right.
I put that in there and I do a littlebit of like a cooking spray or olive
oil on top, just so it doesn't dryout from that fan, even though the
beef does have some fat content.
Um, and then.
And same thing.
It browns nicely on top and allof the fat drips down underneath.
So it's not sitting in there.
(16:50):
And it's just, I'm likeblown away by it every time.
I'm like, like patting myself on theback because it's so smart, you know?
Yeah.
Air fried ground beef, air fryer sausages.
And like I said earlier, like handsoff, they go in there and then I'm
working on the other parts of dinnerand I'm not even thinking about them
until the timer beeps, you know?
Yes.
Eric (17:12):
I've done ground.
Yeah, I've done ground stuffin there to the ground chicken
and ground chicken in there.
Yeah, I think you saidsausages work really well.
Um, we've done this like the simple,like throw some hot dogs in there because
you kind of get the idea instead of, youknow, it's, it's like you get kind of
like that grill type situation almost.
I mean, who wants to boila hot dog anyway, really?
(17:33):
Unless you get one of those, like, Iguess you get one of those hot dogs.
That's been like, you know, that you getlike out of a cart somewhere where it's
been sitting in that, you know, waterthat who knows what's in there, some kind
of magic's in there, but like somethinglike that's different, like a hot dog
cart situation, but like, justlike, you know, throwing it up.
Like who wants to do that?
Christine (17:49):
no, well, you know, you've read my mind.
This is actually not on my siteyet, but I'm in the process.
I did the 1st test this past week.
Um, air fire hot dogs whereI'm doing the wieners in there.
To get the browning.
I'm splitting them open first, getting thebrowning, then I'm adding cheese and I'm
popping the buns underneath the wienersand the buns are getting toasted and the
(18:12):
cheese is melted and they fit exactly.
Mine fits like four exactly in there.
So like toasted buns, wieners withcheese on them, sprinkle a little
onion or something on top, mustard.
Like it's perfect.
I'm obsessed with it.
Eric (18:26):
That's awesome.
Oh, I love that.
Yeah, we just recently I just tried doingburgers, so just taking like the frozen
burger patties you get at costco and
just kind of testing those outand see how those did in the air
fryer And that worked really well.
It was to Brown, but pretty wellas the, you know, given the fat
was down there and it was more andmore of the hands off thing and
not splattering oil in my kitchen.
That's all the thing whenyou're doing it in like a
(18:47):
pan or something, you know, you'regoing to have splattering oil.
So that worked really well.
The thing I had troubleshoot at firstis the first time, you know, cause part
with it, you know, I went up with thecheese at the very beginning because
you don't want to, you don't wantto just burn like you're doing too.
You don't want to just burn the cheese.
But then the first time I put thecheese in there and then put it
right in the, you know, the air firestarts up with this air and then
blew the cheese all over the place.
(19:08):
So that I end up having like cheese,like in the tray and out of here.
So then I discovered, okay, what ifwe, what if we put the cheese on,
put the The patties back into theair fryer, let it sit for a minute,
um, with the air fryer turned offso that the heat's still in there.
Like I said, it keeps warmerquicker than the oven does.
So it starts to melt the cheesejust enough to adhere to the burger.
(19:29):
So it doesn't fly all over the place.
So I learned that thehard way the first time.
And
once I did that technique,it worked great.
Christine (19:35):
I had the, the first time that I tried to do quesadillas in the
air fryer, the top flour tortilla waslike, it ended up like flying around
and then like stuck wedged in like thecorner and kind of burnt in one place
and I've discovered I end up doing, um,either, uh, the lid from a metal pot.
(19:58):
Just for the, like, as you were saying,you just have to get things kind of
like warm, melted, holding together.
So something, or I'll use, uh, like abutter knife, like a knife, a metal knife,
and put that on top to weigh it down.
You just have to remember that it'sgoing to be crazy hot and you need like
tongs or an oven mitt to take it offafter, but something to weight it down.
Your tip, that is brilliant.
Like letting it start to melt first andthen kind of like pushing it down or
(20:21):
something, and then it's going to notfly around because those fans in there.
That's the whole point.
It's a high powered fan.
Eric (20:28):
yeah, and oftentimes I'll do like, you know, I'll shred the cheese for
burgers put on instead of cutting itjust because it melts more evenly that
way if you have it, but, but, but withthe air fryer, I thought originally,
okay, well, if I have a pile on there,it's going to blow around, but I
didn't even realize that even like theslices were also going to blow around.
So then
that's when I realized, okay, Ineed to, let's melt it just enough
so that it won't blow around.
(20:48):
So, and then it worked, thenit looks perfectly fine.
Now, now I have a great photo of it.
It looks great.
Christine (20:53):
Nice, yeah, um, I'm gonna say I was telling you my favorite proteins.
One of my favorite things to do in theairfryer is also salmon fillets With
the skin on and I cook them skin sideup And then the skin starts to crisp.
But if like, I like my salmon, notrare, but like not fully cooked.
(21:17):
So what I actually do is when the salmonis where I like it, I take all the
salmon out and then I peel the skin off.
It comes off really easily andput it back in the air fryer.
And what made me think ofthis is the skin, those pieces
of skin will fly around.
I stick that little, like,like a little metal rack that
comes with some air fryers.
I stick it like on top of thosepieces of salmon skin and they
(21:39):
go back in until they're crispy.
And put them back on top of the salmon.
And it's like a piece of salmon baconon top of each of your salmon portions.
Eric (21:47):
Oh, that's nice.
Oh, that is so good.
Yeah.
Yeah I think the best thing i've doneso far is is a turkey breast where I I
I did a I did a dry brine first So twodays I did a dry brine on the turkey And
then and then put that there and then Iwas able to actually fit like my probe
thermometer Into the air fryer so I couldtrack the temperature of the turkey so I
(22:08):
I could pull it at the perfecttime It was a little tricky.
I I had I have a couple of cheapPro Probes so I had to get in the
right spot and the door is notperfectly shut but it's shut enough
that it's actually still usable.
It's like it was in the ovenbut um and that that was like
absolutely like phenomenal.
Oh my gosh, best turkey ever.
It was so flavorful, so juicy,
(22:29):
perfectly cooked at a single liketurkey breast would fit in my air fryer.
So I had, I had two breasts.
I had one for each side.
So it was, it
was absolutely like phenomenal.
That's one, that's one tosave for like Thanksgiving.
If you want the extra type,
you know.
More, more white meat type thing here.
Christine (22:45):
Yeah, I love it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Eric (22:55):
in the air fryer or any way that, you know, you've found that using the
air fryer for, for things can help, youknow, save some money or save some food.
So anything you have in that regard.
Christine (23:06):
Yeah, definitely reheating leftovers is like game
changing with the air fryer.
Um, it's way better than microwaving andbetter, they turn out, as with everything,
turns out better than in the oven too.
I often, um, so.
The thing I do worry about or watchout for is that if something is already
(23:27):
fully cooked, putting it back intothe air fryer to fully reheat again
can actually dry it out quite a bit.
And so what I often do is I'llmake, so say like a, a chicken
breast or one of these sausagesor like something like that.
Uh, leftovers, something like abreaded chicken cutlet, even pizza.
Actually, I will do this.
I'll put it in the microwave ata low power, like defrost or 50
(23:49):
percent until it's like warmed,like into the middle warm.
And then it goes.
into the air fryer for the last bit toreally like crisp up the outside without
drying it out so that I do it a lotand it makes a huge difference um and
it delicious hot and and not Mm hmm.
Eric (24:11):
yeah, that can make a big difference too.
And also for me, sometimes I've used,um, I'll wrap something in foil first
and put it in the air for that way.
Like if we have leftover likesteak, cause that does never
reheat well in a microwave.
So I'll, I'll end up, you know,wrapping the steak in there and
just, you know, you know, cooking,cooking it out at a lower temperature
in the air fryer, just to kind of
get it.
Heat it up here.
And then I always like, I'm,I'm a big thermometer person.
(24:33):
So I will pull my thermometersout for everything.
And so I'll just check it there andsay, okay, do I got it up to hot enough
temperature so that it's warm enough to
eat again now?
And that's all I'm trying to get to.
Cause it's already cut.
So,
Christine (24:47):
And then one of my, in terms of like protein, air fryer,
money saving tips, I know you andI, before we started recording,
we're talking about grocery stores.
My favorite locally, well, they'reall over the place, but Aldi, I'm
obsessed with Aldi and they have thesebig bags of chicken leg quarters.
Sometimes on sale, like I, you knowwhat, I can't remember what the price
(25:08):
is, but I feel like I'm spending5 and getting chicken for a month.
Like it's just this crazy thing.
And those chicken leg quartersturn out so good in the air fryer.
And I do them, they're big.
So you would think you can'tfit very many, but you could
actually put them in there.
If you think about puttingthem in like books on a shelf.
So they're, they're layingkind of, I'm, I'm doing, we're
(25:31):
looking at each other on a video.
Nobody can see, but they're, they're
Eric (25:35):
it.
You're saying, yeah,
Christine (25:36):
and you kind of lean them against the sides.
You can fit as many as like six in there.
So for like cheap, quick food prep.
Nice, juicy, dark chicken meat.
If you're obsessed with, with chickenskin the way I am, obviously salmon
skin, chicken skin, I love it all.
You get that really nice too, butit's just like really inexpensive,
delicious, easy chicken in the air fryer.
(25:58):
That turns out great.
We all love it.
Like it's one of my favorite things.
Eric (26:00):
That does sound good.
Yeah.
I definitely need totry something like that.
Eventually we're, unfortunately we'recurrently in one of the few places in
the whole country that has no Aldi.
There is
no Aldi at all in the whole state of Utah,
uh,
Christine (26:12):
crazy.
Eric (26:13):
They're, they're nearly in every state.
There's a couple they're not in,and this is currently one of them.
So I, so I
have not been Aldi very much, but wedefinitely did shop there and look for
a lot of different air fire meals there.
Christine (26:22):
Yeah, no, I love it.
It doesn't have everything that Ineed all the time, but I'm there
every few weeks getting there's abunch of things that are super cheap
there that I stock up on when I go.
Eric (26:31):
absolutely.
Right.
Well, thank you for coming on today.
Um, can you share with us wherepeople can find you online if they're
interested in your recipes or podcast?
Christine (26:40):
Yeah.
Well, Eric, thank you somuch for having me on.
This has been really wonderful.
Thank you to everybody forlistening, uh, finding me online.
So my sites are cook, the story.
com and the cook full.
com.
I am cook the story in social mediaeverywhere that I've been social media.
So that would be.
Um, I guess YouTube, Facebook,Instagram, and TikTok, cook
(27:00):
the story in those places.
And then the podcast everyday, recipe of the day.
You can get to it, cookthestory.
com slash R O T D or search for recipeof the day, wherever you listen to
podcasts and you will find it there.
Eric (27:15):
Awesome.
Thanks guys.
You definitely should, um,listen to her podcast here.
She has lots of great stuff andlots of great inspirations for you.
So again, thank you for coming on.
Christine (27:22):
Thank you so much.
You are about to listen to a loveletter, to the air fryer and how it
can make all your favorite proteinsand turn them into something amazing.
But I'm not alone in readingthis love letter today.
Christine Pitman from cook the story andthe recipe of the day podcast is here
to share her favorite air fire recipes.
(00:23):
If your air for her has been collectingdust in the corner of your kitchen.
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After you listen to this episode.
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Now it's raw with today's episode.
Eric (02:03):
All right, everybody.
I'm excited to have Christineon my podcast today.
She runs the wonderful website,Cook the Story, and she also
has a podcast recipe of the day.
So welcome to my podcast.
Christine (02:20):
Eric, thank you so much for having me on.
I'm really excited to talk with you today.
Eric (02:24):
Uh, so first thing I just want to do to introduce yourself a little more and
tell us about your podcast and your blog.
Christine (02:31):
Yeah.
So, um, my blog is cookthestory.
com, which I started back in2009, so it has been around for
a while, and really started as.
You know, I moved from Canada to theUnited States with my, well, now ex
husband for his job and was home with kidsand just needed like a creative outlet.
(02:52):
So it was a place to share recipeswith people back home and became
just a huge passion and eventuallybecame, you know, my full time career.
And then I started the secondwebsite that I have, the cookbook.
And that one is contributor based.
I have like cookbook authors and chefson, and they dive into different topics.
(03:12):
Um, and so that's really fun andlike deeper dives into things.
Uh, right now we're doing a lotof seasoning blends right now.
We had a series on Jewishfoods recently by Emily Pastor.
So that kind of thing.
And then you have thepodcast recipe of the day.
It's a daily seven day a weekpodcast where I'm really hoping to.
(03:33):
Reduce people's decision making process.
What should I make for dinner tonight?
What should I take to that potluck?
Oh, the Superbowl is coming upor Memorial Day is coming up.
What should I make?
So every day I'm choosing just theright recipe, tell you how to make it.
And hoping to solve thatlittle pain point for people.
Cause I know sometimes the decisionmaking is the hardest part of like
(03:54):
meal planning or cooking, right?
What are we going to have?
So that's what I'm hoping to do there.
Eric (03:59):
Oh, yeah, definitely think that's, you know, what people
get, get stuck up on a lot.
I've, I've started doing ameal planning, uh, sub stack
newsletter that I send out, uh,
Christine (04:07):
Oh my God.
Yeah.
Eric (04:08):
that's giving, giving different tips for, um, kind of showcasing
what we're, what, what we're making.
Cause yeah, it, it, it easy to get tolike, uh, Like, you know, I think the
most common things people say, like, I'mtired of making the same thing, I make
the same thing every week, I make thesame things, you know, they need, they
need some inspiration, need some kindof different ideas to kind of point them
in a direction, because we all get inthose kind of ruts sometimes where it's,
(04:29):
with that, or we forget about some of ourfavorite recipes, like, you know, like, oh
man, I used to love making, you know, potroast, now I don't make pot roast anymore,
maybe I should make a pot roast again,you know, those type of things, it's
Christine (04:39):
Oh, yeah, for sure.
And I also find I've actually beengetting this feedback from people who
listen regularly that sometimes theirreaction is almost like the opposite
of what I'm talking about, right?
Like, I'll be like, you know, I'm talkingabout say, uh, chicken cordon bleu, quick
chicken cordon bleu recipe or something.
And they'll be like, No, we hadchicken yesterday, but you know what?
(05:01):
We haven't had ham steaks latelybecause I mentioned ham in there.
So it's like, they're kind of like,it's just like a, like a contrast
jumping off point or like, Oh no,we don't eat that, but Oh, that
makes me think of this other thing.
And just hearing different ideascan inspire you and, and just, you
know, you're driving home from work.
What am I going to stop andget at the grocery store?
Ah, yeah.
Now I know we're good to go.
(05:22):
Right?
Yeah.
Eric (05:23):
Exactly.
Yeah, that's great.
Yeah.
And I love what you're doing.
So you guys should, um, after you'redone listening to this episode,
go check out her podcast and doa little podcast binging session.
Christine (05:33):
Yeah.
Well, there's almost athousand episodes now.
So we're at,
Eric (05:37):
a lot.
Oh my gosh, that's
Christine (05:39):
yeah, I don't, yeah, I don't know when this is going live,
but we'll be hitting, I, I justrecorded number 961 and so we'll be
hitting 1000 this summer by the summerfor sure because it's every day.
So I guess in like 40 days.
Eric (05:54):
Great.
All right.
So today we, um, we're goingto talk about, Air fryers.
And we're going to talk about air fryingproteins, um, as, you know, as part of
our meal plans and why we should kind ofincorporate those and what kind of, um,
go into some of your favorite recipes.
And yeah, look for some differentways we can possibly save
(06:16):
money and reduce food waste.
I have some ideas on how to reducefood waste by using your air fryer.
Um, so first off, I want to ask you,um, why, why air fryer proteins?
Christine (06:29):
You know, first I'll just say, I am not a gadget girl.
Like, I Like, I I am like, why do Ineed more things in my, in my house?
You know, I think it's,I think it's ultramarine.
Somebody says like no single use gadgets.
Like I'm
Eric (06:43):
Yes.
No unit taskers.
Christine (06:45):
yeah, no unit taskers there.
Like, but I'm, I'm like even beyond that.
Like, so like when Ifirst got an instant pot.
I know we're not talking about InstantPots, but I'm just gonna say, when I
first got my Instant Pot, um, it wasjust because it was in the industry,
and I'm in this industry, you're in thisindustry, and then it sat in my front
doorway, like inside the house, forlike three months, because I'm like, I
don't want to learn this new thing, andthen I learned it, and I liked it, and
(07:06):
then the air fryer came, and same thing,it sat there for like, I don't know,
a month anyways, and I'm like, Fine.
I'll do it.
And I loved it so much thatI bought one for my mom.
I bought one for my boyfriend.
I have one.
I actually, now I have three.
Like, it's just such a handy tool thatmakes food taste better than any other
technique, especially in the kitchen.
(07:28):
in a hands off way.
Like it tastes like, I thinkabout, okay, you're asking
about proteins in particular.
You know, if you pan fry, like, or seara protein, you get much better browning
caramelization faster in that stovetoppan than you do, like, in an oven.
Right?
The oven's hands off, butyou need to stand at your
stovetop to get that browning.
The air fryer is as hands off as theoven, but you get that, like, hands on
(07:54):
stovetop kind of caramelization going on.
And so, I think that, like, that I canput something in there, set a timer, and
walk away, and come back and it's perfect,is just the most brilliant thing to me.
Eric (08:07):
And I think one thing people have kind of gotten a, um,
misconception about how the air fryeris like this kind of a new thing.
It's, it really, in reality,it's just a convection oven.
It's just a convection oven with a drawer.
Christine (08:20):
yeah, it's a toaster oven that actually cooks things properly.
Like,
Eric (08:25):
Yeah.
Yeah.
There you go.
That's even better probably.
Christine (08:28):
yeah, that's what
Eric (08:29):
so it's not like a new thing, it's just like, here's a different
way to put that, and so it does allowthe same kind of function as that,
but because it's in a smaller space,it's able to accomplish things like,
like an oven wouldn't be able to
Christine (08:40):
Oh yeah.
I remember when they first came out on themarket, I had two different friends who
were obsessed with theirs and they kepttelling me about them and I kept saying
in my head or out loud, I'm not sure ifI actually said this to them, but like,
I don't crave or eat a lot of fried food.
So I didn't need this likehealthier air fried version.
Like I I'm fine without the fried foods.
And then it was really.
Um, somebody that I was workingfor actually, um, who was here
(09:04):
one day and she was talking aboutcooking salmon in the air fryer.
And I was like, whoa,whoa, whoa, whoa, wait.
It's not just for like egg rollsand chicken wings and french fries.
You cook salmon in there and that'slike where it just lit up for me.
Like this is just an oven thatworks very very efficiently
and cooks things very nicely.
Eric (09:26):
couldn't, couldn't say it better.
I think that's really exactly what it is.
So, what type of air fryer,uh, do you currently have?
Christine (09:34):
So I have three Three of them right now.
And that's mostly, I mean, I gotthem because I have my one for the
longest time, it's a secure a fiveport, but it's been discontinued.
Well, there were someproblems with some of them.
So some of them were like recalled,but it looks to me like they've
just been discontinued entirely now.
Like you can't find them.
So that one, um, mine wasn't likerecalled, but it, people can't buy it.
(09:58):
So I can't recommend it to people anymore.
And I can't like.
I don't feel a good testing recipes in it.
If it's not something that youcan actually go and get yourself.
Eric (10:07):
Yeah.
Christine (10:08):
I got the other two to just make sure that what I was
doing in the other one was the same.
And it turns out theyare the same pretty well.
Um, mine all behave the same way.
So I have the secure five court.
I have a Kasori six courtand I have a Ninja max XL 5.
5 court.
And they're all just the basic air fryers.
I don't have any of the, uh, Likeinstant pot with air fryer lid
(10:32):
or like any max foodie things.
It's, they're just air fryers.
Eric (10:38):
I don't think that's a good thing to do, testing those things out.
so I have a friend who had a differentstyle air fryer and I was at their house
cooking something, you know, with them.
And we were putting some cauliflowerin there and this was a bigger
style air fryer and it didsuch a worse job than mine did.
It was so uneven.
It was one that had likedifferent, like, um, trays.
(10:58):
So it was almost like the searconvection oven, but calling it an
air fryer sort of, so it did work.
It did accomplish that purpose becausethe space was just simply too big.
You want to, you know,yeah, you could do more.
Um, So, uh, we have actuallywent to is I have a ninja one
now that has the dual drawers.
So, so I have two different drawers.
(11:19):
I can do two different temperatures,two different times, like,
or I can match them together.
And that's really helped out for us.
Um, cause I have four kids, so we
need to have the space.
So like when we were in our camper, Uh,having just a small little air fryer
was like, Hey, you're going to eat.
Okay.
Okay.
The first people you're going toeat dinner at six, um, parents
(11:42):
are going to eat at seven o'clock.
You know, just like time lapse here.
We figured we could actually fit theair fryer, a bigger one into our camper
space, uh, to have the dual doors.
So we could, you know, if we wantto do a double batch of something
here, we can do that and stillget the crispness on both sides.
Cause we're, we have more,we've increased our capacity.
But we didn't actually make thespace is still the same size.
(12:03):
So it kind of accomplished what that bigone didn't accomplish by being bigger.
Um, so that's what we've been using.
It's been great.
Christine (12:11):
And do you find like when you find recipes online or in cookbooks
for other air fryers are is the timingand temperature comparable in that one?
Eric (12:20):
Yes.
Yeah.
Christine (12:21):
Oh, lovely.
I love hearing that.
Eric (12:23):
Yes.
Definitely comfortable.
I've definitely been working at well.
We once got a um, I had a someonesent me a microwave air fry combo
and that did not work for air fry.
Like it was a great microwave.
It was a crappy air fryer.
It just like, I did, I did a comparisonwhere I was doing, using that.
And, um, whatever, when I had the firstpay, I think it was like a power XL.
(12:45):
Like it was the first time I ever had.
And I did both of them at the same time.
And, um, the microwave one, likeit took like so much longer.
Christine (12:53):
I almost
Eric (12:54):
was, didn't work.
Christine (12:55):
I don't want to ever be telling people to like, spend more
money, but I feel like anybody who'sever said to me that they had an air
fryer and didn't like it, I want tobe like, okay, buy a different one.
Because once you have onethat's, you know, Like, actually
good, like, it's so amazing.
I just, I'm like, I don't believethat you didn't like your air fryer.
(13:17):
It must've been the air fryer, uh, becauseyeah, they're just, they're so remarkable.
I love them.
Oh yeah.
Eric (13:30):
the time.
It's like, well, that's why Ilike to talk about like different
varieties of foods and stuff.
Cause maybe you're like, Oh, I don't likefish, but all you've ever eaten is salmon.
I'm like, well, maybeyou don't like salmon,
So
Christine (13:38):
for sure, for sure.
Yep.
Eric (13:40):
it's gotta be that smaller space is, I think that's the key is
you've got to have a small, it needsto be big enough to fit, fit, fit, We
need to do it, but also not too big.
That doesn't deal with the job.
Christine (13:51):
Yeah, because the whole point is that it's heating up really
quickly and that heat is very intense.
And I think staying hot because it'ssmall and it's got that fan and heater
going, it's containing that heat.
Even when you open it and close itagain, like you open and test it,
you close it back up and it's wayhot back in there again, right away.
If it's big and you're openingthe door like your oven, you know,
(14:12):
I, my oven, I've got it on forsomething say it's at like 350.
I open it to take something out, slipsomething around, close it back up.
I actually hit cancel and reset itto 350 because it doesn't even always
like, and then it'll, it'll showme like 250 for a while as it like
is heating back up again, you know?
Eric (14:32):
Definitely.
Christine (14:33):
Yeah.
So smaller is better when itcomes to air fryers, I guess.
Or like my, yeah, mine are all the fiveto six quart range and I really like that
Eric (14:40):
Yeah.
I think you have likethe sweet spot for that.
For sure.
If you want something bigger thanI think you're better off doing
what I have and have like the
double, a double situation.
If you can spring to that here,but you know, the more money, of
course, I mean, I got a great one,a great one during Christmas time.
So I was able to get a, youknow, a good deal on itself.
Christine (14:56):
Yeah, well, if I get a fourth one, I'm going to look into
that because that seems like it would
Eric (15:00):
It is,
Christine (15:01):
use of
Eric (15:02):
and it is nice to be able to do two different things at once.
So like, you know, I could, I could doa vegetable on one side and I can do
a protein on the other side and have,
you know, a better meal atonce, a more fuller meal then.
Um, so yeah.
So I wanted to, uh, for you to share withus now some of your favorite air fryer
recipes that people can find on your site.
Christine (15:21):
Okay, so this is just going to sound like the simplest
silly thing, but air fryer sausages,just air fryer sausages, Italian
sausages, brats, whatever it is.
So I mean the uncooked, likefresh sausages, not like
a kielbasa or something.
Although that's greatin the air fryer too.
But like normally whenyou're cooking sausages.
Like on a, in the stove, they likeroll around and kind of brown unevenly.
(15:43):
And maybe you get browning on like twosides and like, it's just not ideal.
When you do them in the air fryer, it'slike 10, I do like 10 minutes at 400.
Sometimes I open it and likemove them around halfway through.
Sometimes I don't.
And they are just evenly brownon the outside, crispy skin,
fully cooked to the middle.
And, at least in my air fryers,they're, they sit in the basket
(16:07):
and then there's like a, likea thing that the basket is in.
All the fat drops downinto that lower thing.
So they're not like sittingin that fat, you know.
And they're, they just turn out perfect.
I mean, I do actually, I doground beef in the air fryer.
Not like the, like if I'm doing somethinglike spaghetti, a quick spaghetti
dinner where I don't really care thatthe ground beef is like perfectly
(16:29):
same size and browned exactly right.
I put that in there and I do a littlebit of like a cooking spray or olive
oil on top, just so it doesn't dryout from that fan, even though the
beef does have some fat content.
Um, and then.
And same thing.
It browns nicely on top and allof the fat drips down underneath.
So it's not sitting in there.
(16:50):
And it's just, I'm likeblown away by it every time.
I'm like, like patting myself on theback because it's so smart, you know?
Yeah.
Air fried ground beef, air fryer sausages.
And like I said earlier, like handsoff, they go in there and then I'm
working on the other parts of dinnerand I'm not even thinking about them
until the timer beeps, you know?
Yes.
Eric (17:12):
I've done ground.
Yeah, I've done ground stuffin there to the ground chicken
and ground chicken in there.
Yeah, I think you saidsausages work really well.
Um, we've done this like the simple,like throw some hot dogs in there because
you kind of get the idea instead of, youknow, it's, it's like you get kind of
like that grill type situation almost.
I mean, who wants to boila hot dog anyway, really?
(17:33):
Unless you get one of those, like, Iguess you get one of those hot dogs.
That's been like, you know, that you getlike out of a cart somewhere where it's
been sitting in that, you know, waterthat who knows what's in there, some kind
of magic's in there, but like somethinglike that's different, like a hot dog
cart situation, but like, justlike, you know, throwing it up.
Like who wants to do that?
Christine (17:49):
no, well, you know, you've read my mind.
This is actually not on my siteyet, but I'm in the process.
I did the 1st test this past week.
Um, air fire hot dogs whereI'm doing the wieners in there.
To get the browning.
I'm splitting them open first, getting thebrowning, then I'm adding cheese and I'm
popping the buns underneath the wienersand the buns are getting toasted and the
(18:12):
cheese is melted and they fit exactly.
Mine fits like four exactly in there.
So like toasted buns, wieners withcheese on them, sprinkle a little
onion or something on top, mustard.
Like it's perfect.
I'm obsessed with it.
Eric (18:26):
That's awesome.
Oh, I love that.
Yeah, we just recently I just tried doingburgers, so just taking like the frozen
burger patties you get at costco and
just kind of testing those outand see how those did in the air
fryer And that worked really well.
It was to Brown, but pretty wellas the, you know, given the fat
was down there and it was more andmore of the hands off thing and
not splattering oil in my kitchen.
That's all the thing whenyou're doing it in like a
(18:47):
pan or something, you know, you'regoing to have splattering oil.
So that worked really well.
The thing I had troubleshoot at firstis the first time, you know, cause part
with it, you know, I went up with thecheese at the very beginning because
you don't want to, you don't wantto just burn like you're doing too.
You don't want to just burn the cheese.
But then the first time I put thecheese in there and then put it
right in the, you know, the air firestarts up with this air and then
blew the cheese all over the place.
(19:08):
So that I end up having like cheese,like in the tray and out of here.
So then I discovered, okay, what ifwe, what if we put the cheese on,
put the The patties back into theair fryer, let it sit for a minute,
um, with the air fryer turned offso that the heat's still in there.
Like I said, it keeps warmerquicker than the oven does.
So it starts to melt the cheesejust enough to adhere to the burger.
(19:29):
So it doesn't fly all over the place.
So I learned that thehard way the first time.
And
once I did that technique,it worked great.
Christine (19:35):
I had the, the first time that I tried to do quesadillas in the
air fryer, the top flour tortilla waslike, it ended up like flying around
and then like stuck wedged in like thecorner and kind of burnt in one place
and I've discovered I end up doing, um,either, uh, the lid from a metal pot.
(19:58):
Just for the, like, as you were saying,you just have to get things kind of
like warm, melted, holding together.
So something, or I'll use, uh, like abutter knife, like a knife, a metal knife,
and put that on top to weigh it down.
You just have to remember that it'sgoing to be crazy hot and you need like
tongs or an oven mitt to take it offafter, but something to weight it down.
Your tip, that is brilliant.
Like letting it start to melt first andthen kind of like pushing it down or
(20:21):
something, and then it's going to notfly around because those fans in there.
That's the whole point.
It's a high powered fan.
Eric (20:28):
yeah, and oftentimes I'll do like, you know, I'll shred the cheese for
burgers put on instead of cutting itjust because it melts more evenly that
way if you have it, but, but, but withthe air fryer, I thought originally,
okay, well, if I have a pile on there,it's going to blow around, but I
didn't even realize that even like theslices were also going to blow around.
So then
that's when I realized, okay, Ineed to, let's melt it just enough
so that it won't blow around.
(20:48):
So, and then it worked, thenit looks perfectly fine.
Now, now I have a great photo of it.
It looks great.
Christine (20:53):
Nice, yeah, um, I'm gonna say I was telling you my favorite proteins.
One of my favorite things to do in theairfryer is also salmon fillets With
the skin on and I cook them skin sideup And then the skin starts to crisp.
But if like, I like my salmon, notrare, but like not fully cooked.
(21:17):
So what I actually do is when the salmonis where I like it, I take all the
salmon out and then I peel the skin off.
It comes off really easily andput it back in the air fryer.
And what made me think ofthis is the skin, those pieces
of skin will fly around.
I stick that little, like,like a little metal rack that
comes with some air fryers.
I stick it like on top of thosepieces of salmon skin and they
(21:39):
go back in until they're crispy.
And put them back on top of the salmon.
And it's like a piece of salmon baconon top of each of your salmon portions.
Eric (21:47):
Oh, that's nice.
Oh, that is so good.
Yeah.
Yeah I think the best thing i've doneso far is is a turkey breast where I I
I did a I did a dry brine first So twodays I did a dry brine on the turkey And
then and then put that there and then Iwas able to actually fit like my probe
thermometer Into the air fryer so I couldtrack the temperature of the turkey so I
(22:08):
I could pull it at the perfecttime It was a little tricky.
I I had I have a couple of cheapPro Probes so I had to get in the
right spot and the door is notperfectly shut but it's shut enough
that it's actually still usable.
It's like it was in the ovenbut um and that that was like
absolutely like phenomenal.
Oh my gosh, best turkey ever.
It was so flavorful, so juicy,
(22:29):
perfectly cooked at a single liketurkey breast would fit in my air fryer.
So I had, I had two breasts.
I had one for each side.
So it was, it
was absolutely like phenomenal.
That's one, that's one tosave for like Thanksgiving.
If you want the extra type,
you know.
More, more white meat type thing here.
Christine (22:45):
Yeah, I love it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Eric (22:55):
in the air fryer or any way that, you know, you've found that using the
air fryer for, for things can help, youknow, save some money or save some food.
So anything you have in that regard.
Christine (23:06):
Yeah, definitely reheating leftovers is like game
changing with the air fryer.
Um, it's way better than microwaving andbetter, they turn out, as with everything,
turns out better than in the oven too.
I often, um, so.
The thing I do worry about or watchout for is that if something is already
(23:27):
fully cooked, putting it back intothe air fryer to fully reheat again
can actually dry it out quite a bit.
And so what I often do is I'llmake, so say like a, a chicken
breast or one of these sausagesor like something like that.
Uh, leftovers, something like abreaded chicken cutlet, even pizza.
Actually, I will do this.
I'll put it in the microwave ata low power, like defrost or 50
(23:49):
percent until it's like warmed,like into the middle warm.
And then it goes.
into the air fryer for the last bit toreally like crisp up the outside without
drying it out so that I do it a lotand it makes a huge difference um and
it delicious hot and and not Mm hmm.
Eric (24:11):
yeah, that can make a big difference too.
And also for me, sometimes I've used,um, I'll wrap something in foil first
and put it in the air for that way.
Like if we have leftover likesteak, cause that does never
reheat well in a microwave.
So I'll, I'll end up, you know,wrapping the steak in there and
just, you know, you know, cooking,cooking it out at a lower temperature
in the air fryer, just to kind of
get it.
Heat it up here.
And then I always like, I'm,I'm a big thermometer person.
(24:33):
So I will pull my thermometersout for everything.
And so I'll just check it there andsay, okay, do I got it up to hot enough
temperature so that it's warm enough to
eat again now?
And that's all I'm trying to get to.
Cause it's already cut.
So,
Christine (24:47):
And then one of my, in terms of like protein, air fryer,
money saving tips, I know you andI, before we started recording,
we're talking about grocery stores.
My favorite locally, well, they'reall over the place, but Aldi, I'm
obsessed with Aldi and they have thesebig bags of chicken leg quarters.
Sometimes on sale, like I, you knowwhat, I can't remember what the price
(25:08):
is, but I feel like I'm spending5 and getting chicken for a month.
Like it's just this crazy thing.
And those chicken leg quartersturn out so good in the air fryer.
And I do them, they're big.
So you would think you can'tfit very many, but you could
actually put them in there.
If you think about puttingthem in like books on a shelf.
So they're, they're layingkind of, I'm, I'm doing, we're
(25:31):
looking at each other on a video.
Nobody can see, but they're, they're
Eric (25:35):
it.
You're saying, yeah,
Christine (25:36):
and you kind of lean them against the sides.
You can fit as many as like six in there.
So for like cheap, quick food prep.
Nice, juicy, dark chicken meat.
If you're obsessed with, with chickenskin the way I am, obviously salmon
skin, chicken skin, I love it all.
You get that really nice too, butit's just like really inexpensive,
delicious, easy chicken in the air fryer.
(25:58):
That turns out great.
We all love it.
Like it's one of my favorite things.
Eric (26:00):
That does sound good.
Yeah.
I definitely need totry something like that.
Eventually we're, unfortunately we'recurrently in one of the few places in
the whole country that has no Aldi.
There is
no Aldi at all in the whole state of Utah,
uh,
Christine (26:12):
crazy.
Eric (26:13):
They're, they're nearly in every state.
There's a couple they're not in,and this is currently one of them.
So I, so I
have not been Aldi very much, but wedefinitely did shop there and look for
a lot of different air fire meals there.
Christine (26:22):
Yeah, no, I love it.
It doesn't have everything that Ineed all the time, but I'm there
every few weeks getting there's abunch of things that are super cheap
there that I stock up on when I go.
Eric (26:31):
absolutely.
Right.
Well, thank you for coming on today.
Um, can you share with us wherepeople can find you online if they're
interested in your recipes or podcast?
Christine (26:40):
Yeah.
Well, Eric, thank you somuch for having me on.
This has been really wonderful.
Thank you to everybody forlistening, uh, finding me online.
So my sites are cook, the story.
com and the cook full.
com.
I am cook the story in social mediaeverywhere that I've been social media.
So that would be.
Um, I guess YouTube, Facebook,Instagram, and TikTok, cook
(27:00):
the story in those places.
And then the podcast everyday, recipe of the day.
You can get to it, cookthestory.
com slash R O T D or search for recipeof the day, wherever you listen to
podcasts and you will find it there.
Eric (27:15):
Awesome.
Thanks guys.
You definitely should, um,listen to her podcast here.
She has lots of great stuff andlots of great inspirations for you.
So again, thank you for coming on.
Christine (27:22):
Thank you so much.
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