Steve & Gina interview: Dolly Parton recipes and your chance to see where the magic happens at Conagra!

Lisa Ellis tells Steve & Gina about "Open Omaha 2024" and your chance to hear about Dolly Parton's new additions to the Conagra line and actually see for yourself where the magic happens! (Photo: Getty Images)

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Kat one O three point seven. It is Steve and
Gina in the morning. Steve Lundy em melting. You know,
you look at a superstar like Dolly part you know,
it has been in the business for so long, and
most people when they've been in the business as long
as Dolly is, they start to kind of kick back
and take it easy. Sure, but it seems like every
month we're hearing about her kicking it up another notch.

(00:20):
I know, And this is really cool. She is partnering
with some people who are very familiar name around this area,
and that's ConAgra, and joining us is a manager of
communications with ConAgra. Lisa Ellis, Lisa, good morning.

Speaker 2 (00:34):
Good morning, Thank you. It's great to be with you.

Speaker 1 (00:36):
Guys, well, thank you for being here with us. It's
it's kind of we got two icons, Dolly partner in ConAgra.
How did this thing come about?

Speaker 2 (00:44):
You know, we know that she's an international icon. He
also is a great cook, so it just made sense
to partner with her. You know. Back in two thousand
and two, Duncan Hines partnered with Dolly for her cake
mixes and frostings. Some of her favorite recipes, like her

(01:05):
coconut cake and her banana pudding cake. You know, then
that last year that was expanded to cornbread mixed biscuit
mix and a couple of brownie mixes. And now this
year you can find some of Dolly's products actually in
the frozen aisle with her new home style Macaroni and Cheese.
It's really delicious, Dolly approved recipe of pasta and Asamy

(01:30):
cheese sauce made with real cheddar cheese. And she also
has a couple of new desserts, her decadent Chocolate Pie
and original whipped cheesecake.

Speaker 1 (01:39):
Oh man, you're killing me so delicious.

Speaker 2 (01:44):
Chocolate pie is chocolate fudge with powdered sugar, and the
cheesecake is a cream cheese and buttermilk filling. And the
Graham cracker crust actually has molasses in it. And the
best part is these are just desserts you can pull
out of the Freezerah, get your fork and you are

(02:04):
good to go and.

Speaker 1 (02:05):
Take all the credit.

Speaker 2 (02:06):
Oh my god, yeah, exactly, that's how it's done.

Speaker 3 (02:10):
I'm just going to put it on a plate at
my next party and say, hey, I made this.

Speaker 2 (02:13):
That's right on a fancy play. Nobody's going to know
right there, know you're amazing and you would just kick
it up a not.

Speaker 1 (02:20):
We're talking with Lisa Elis from ConAgra.

Speaker 3 (02:23):
Lisa, this is really cool because our listeners will have
an opportunity to come to kind of an open house
that you're having this weekend at the Conagrea campus. And first,
if you can kind of describe where that is. In second,
tell us what's going on on Saturday and Sunday.

Speaker 2 (02:36):
Right ConAgra Brands is located downtown. We're just south of
that new brickline development around Heartland of America Park. We've
been here for many, many years. We've been a long
time downtown anchor employer. The exact address for the building
that you want to come to is seven oh seven
ConAgra Drive. Look for the Chef boy Orty statue out front.

(02:58):
That's a great place to get some selfies. And so
we're going to open up our research and development kitchen.
And many probably don't realize that all the work that
it takes to bring your favorite and iconic brands to
life happens right here in Omaha.

Speaker 1 (03:15):
That'd be a great job to work in a research
and development kitchen.

Speaker 2 (03:20):
A tough job when folks come down to ConAgra this weekend,
we're going to let them in that research and development kitchen.
They're going to see members of our culinary team and action.
They're going to be pairing some cupcakes from Duncan Hines
Baking collection, the Healthy Choice Power Bowls. So if you
have you know, a foodie or a budding chef or

(03:42):
just like to eat, have them come down. They can
talk to our chefs and they can tell more about
what they do and why they love what they do.
And we'll also have some snacks, and you know, we
know it's going to be another hot day, but then
it's going to be August. We'll have some water for
everyone too, and it should be just a really neat event.

Speaker 1 (04:00):
We'll put this up on our Stephngina page at thecat
dot com. Circling back to Dollie, is Dolly hands on
on some of this stuff or does she just kind
of turn it all over to you?

Speaker 2 (04:10):
You know, we have some of my colleagues do work,
you know, partner with her and her team to bring
those recipes to life. And although I've never met her,
definitely on my bucket list, I can tell you she's
just as genuine and perfect as we know her to be.

Speaker 3 (04:28):
That's awesome. It sounds like so much fun. And again
our listeners want details, they can go to our Stephngina
page at thecat dot com and find out how you
can get some free samples. That sounds so fun.

Speaker 2 (04:38):
Thank you so much, Alisa, Thank you to see it
this weekend.

Speaker 1 (04:40):
You bet you take care, Lisa, you do.

Speaker 2 (04:42):
Bye bye, bye bye