Welcome to Dishing Up Nutrition, brought to you by Nutritional Weight and Wellness.

I am Teresa Wagner, a registered and licensed dietitian and the head cook for my household of five.

During this time of COVID-19, I have been spending a lot of time in the kitchen, cooking for myself and my family.

And while I choose to do this even in non-COVID times, it doesn't always

mean I enjoy it and happily do it. It can be a major chore and kitchen fatigue is something I struggle

with. I'm always looking for ways to make this important part of life less of a chore and more

efficient so that I'm not in the kitchen and grocery store all day, every day.

Joining me today as my co-host is Marianne Jurege, who is an actual chef and probably does

love to spend her days in the kitchen. But like the rest of us, she's got a busy life. And while

cooking brings her great joy, she also needs shortcuts in the kitchen so that she can

take care of the other obligations in her life. Welcome to the show, Marianne. Thanks, Teresa.

I'm happy to be here. And you are right. I do enjoy being in the kitchen. It's one of my favorite

places to be. But I know that for many, it's a little more challenging. So today,

whether you're cooking for one like me or a family of five like Teresa, we hope to offer some

kitchen shortcuts that will make it a little bit easier and will be a little bit more efficient.

So as Teresa said, my name is Marianne Jerez. I'm a chef and a culinary nutrition educator with a

company called the Cook's Cure. And really, I think of myself as a personal trainer in the kitchen.

And I have partnered with nutritional weight and wellness to help create some cooking classes,

develop recipes, and of course to be here with you today

and talk about how we can learn the skill and create the habit of making balanced healthy meals

a little bit easier.

Now we often think of cooking as a hobby, but really it's a life skill that takes a bit of

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