Y’all know how much I adore Melissas Produce! They are not only a wonderful company, but their employees and chefs are all top-notch people. Our relationship with them has been a tremendous blessing. When I was working on both cookbooks, they were right there with offers of fresh produce during recipe development and then when we published, we had the amazing opportunity to do a media lunch with a room FULL of incredible bloggers, journalists, you-tubers and radio folks. It was a very humbling and thrilling experience.
If you’ve followed along on social media for a while, you know how it works. We (food people) get to go to Melissa’s for a meet and greet with cookbook authors. They sign their cookbooks, we get to chat with them personally, eat a great menu of dishes from their cookbook, brilliantly prepared by the Melissa’s chef team and then watch a demonstration from the Author of a recipe or two from their book. It’s exciting! To be on the other side of the table was surreal. I can’t even begin to describe it… here was our view right before people came in…
Thoughts running through my head at the time were: “What if I misspell someone’s name? Please don’t let me misspell someone’s name! Is there lipstick on my teeth? What if my brain goes completely blank when I do the demo?” GAHHHHH! I am pleased to tell you, none of those things happened. Whew!
It’s not easy to make a lunch with 10 dishes for 30 people in an Instant Pot, so Jane and I made the Teriyaki Meatballs, Greek Millet Salad and Double Chocolate Cheesecake at my house before the event. The Chef Team at Melissa’s did the rest and I can’t even imagine what their kitchen looked like in the days before the event! Crazy!!
Yes, those are the same Teriyaki Meatballs I posted a few weeks ago. Grab this amazing recipe HERE. Also on the menu were: Rib Sticking Chili, Black Bean Soup with Cilantro-Lime Cream, Tacos el Pastor with Pineapple Salsa, BBQ Baked Beans, Cheesy Au Gratin Potatoes, Sweet and Sour Pork and for dessert, Double Chocolate Cheesecake! So many delicious Instant Pot options!
During our demo, we got to share how to make our Millet Greek Salad, thanks to our friends at Bobs Red Mill for providing Millet for everyone too! Did I mention we also were blessed to give away TWO brand new Instant Pots as well? It was an amazing time!
We are so grateful to Melissa’s for the opportunity to share our cookbook with everyone! Hmmm… after seeing our pictures, I think we should rename our Book Tour to “Freckles and Red Heads!” What do you think?
Here are a few more pictures from the event!
Have you tried any of the recipes from our book? We’d love to see pictures or hear all about it! Use the hashtag #gfipcookbook Looking forward to seeing your favorites!
What a fantastic event and what an amazing cookbook you two wrote. Twice!
Thank you so much Jenni! We had a wonderful time!