Courtesy of The Cooking Mom on Facebook
For years, people in the northeast Wisconsin media market woke up with Amy Hanten on Green Bay’s WLUK-TV Fox 11’s “Good Day Wisconsin.” One day when a chef cancelled an appearance on the show, Hanten offered to make a family recipe for the segment. Soon she was regularly doing cooking demonstrations on the show; during commercial breaks, she’d leave the anchor desk to chop vegetables and make other preparations for her cooking segments. She ultimately got her own live cooking show, “Fox 11 Living with Amy” and developed her brand, The Cooking Mom, with a website full of recipes, a blog, cooking tricks and tips, a newsletter and more.
Hanten’s show is on temporary hiatus during the pandemic. On St. Patrick’s Day, she began taking her demonstrations to Facebook Live, where she prepared the corned beef and cabbage she had planned to make for that day’s show. Daily at 3:30 p.m., she prepares easy and approachable recipes in her own kitchen. Through Skype, she also demonstrates recipes for viewers of “WakeUp,” Milwaukee’s WITI Fox 6’s morning show, as well as for segments on stations in Minneapolis, Chicago and other cities.
With a passion to get people cooking, Hanten develops quick, easy, approachable recipes with common ingredients that can be made on a budget. “I’m not a fancy chef. I learn from chef friends, but I keep it real. I’m a busy lady; I raised two kids, had a full-time job and wanted to make getting dinner on the table as easy as possible,” she says. “I’ve got lots of secrets, tips and tricks.”
Many of the recipes she features take less than 30 minutes to prepare. Some are family recipes and she’s constantly testing new recipes with a seasonal angle. As a big Packers fan, she has many dishes for football parties and entertaining that can be made without having to spend all day in the kitchen. One can find recipes for appetizers such as artichoke bites; slow cooker favorites like sloppy Joes; dinners like skittle tortellini; as well as breakfast ad brunch foods; sandwiches; drinks; and more.
Her tips include suggestions like cooking a beef roast and turning it into several different recipes like hot beef sandwiches, burritos or soup. She notes that many grocery stores have hams left over, since social distancing prevented people from doing large Easter dinners. “That can be turned it into scalloped potatoes and ham, ham and pea soup, or more,” she advises.
She adjusted her offerings during the pandemic isolation to feature more kid-friendly and budget conscious recipes with simple ingredients. “Even though we’re stuck inside, meals and dinners can be delicious,” she says. “I’ve got an easy alfredo sauce recipe, or one for spaghetti carbonara that will wow your family with something that seems fancy but doesn’t take all day.”
People are doing a lot of baking during the Safer at Home isolation, and Hanten has many dessert recipes, including her family’s favorite banana bread recipe that calls for making the batter in a blender.
Filming a daily live cooking show from her own kitchen has been a learning curve. “My kitchen is getting a real workout. There’s a lot of cooking going on, and lot of cleaning! One Facebook Live was shot sideways by accident. But I haven’t burned anything yet, and no kitchen fires!” she laughs.
Hanten started leading culinary vacations. Her first one this past September took a group of 35 people to Tuscany, where travelers spent time with Italian moms in their kitchens and learned how to make pasta and bruschetta. She has more trips planned to Jamaica, Ireland and Germany.
Most of us are looking forward to summer get-togethers in a post-pandemic world. Since Hanten is getting lots of positive feedback on her Facebook Live demonstrations, she will continue those after the Safer at Home order is lifted, so watch for her summer recipes and grilling techniques.
For more information and to sign up for The Cooking Mom’s newsletter, visit thecookingmom.com. The Facebook Live cooking videos are shown daily at 3:30 p.m. on facebook.com/thecookingmom.
