Nutrition Experts Podcast Episode 25 Everyone Starts Somewhere So Stop Stressing About It with Julie Harrington

Nutrition Experts Podcast

Julie is the Registered Dietitian and Culinary Nutrition Chef behind her website www.julieharringtonrd.com based in New Jersey.

Cooking has always given Julie joy because of its powerful ability to connect people together. She was always intrigued by the way food can impact your health and decided to follow my passion to dive deeper in learning through culinary school and becoming a registered dietitian.

Prior to starting my business, Julie worked as a supermarket RD, providing nutrition education right in the grocery store. Now with her own business, she works with individuals one-on-one to help nourish their lives through nutrition & cooking education. Julie also partners with like-minded food brands and organizations through recipe development, food photography, nutrition communications, and media work.

Julie’s passion is to educate others about nutrition through food and giving them the tools they need to build confidence in the kitchen. It’s her mission to help everyone appreciate all the delicious ways foods can be prepared so everyone can fall in love with it again and again.

Along with being a cookbook author, most recently, her recipes have been featured in SHAPE, Huffington Post, US News & World Report, and Healthy Aperture.

Along with running her own business, Julie is the Culinary Nutrition Manager of Living Plate, where she teaches cooking classes and involves culinary instruction with nutrition education for community events and corporate wellness programs.

Mathea Ford: [00:00:27] Hi there! It’s Mathea! Welcome back to the Nutrition Experts Podcast. The podcast featuring nutrition experts who are leading the way using food starts today right now with our next guest. It’s great to have Julie Harrington on the show today. Julie welcome to Nutrition Experts. I’m excited to have you on the show today and share your expertise with my tribe.

Julie Harrington: [00:00:50] Thanks so much for having me. I’m excited to be chatting with everyone.

Mathea Ford: [00:00:53] Great! Julie, I love what you’re doing you’re a chef and a dietitian. And of course being a foodie that I am I think that’s the best combination but can you tell my listeners a little more about you and what you do?

Julie Harrington: [00:01:06] Yep! So I am like you just said I’m a chef and a dietitian and that’s a little unique in the nutrition world. I went to Johnson Wales University and my degree is in Culinary Nutrition and then I went on to do my Dietetic internship. What I really have a passion about is educating about nutrition through food. So, what is it taste like? What is it look like? How can we make this to fit in with my nutrition? That’s really where my passion is what I do is I am a Culinary Nutrition Consultant. I have my own website and business JulieHarringtonRD.com where I write recipes, provide cooking tips and nutrition education. I do a lot of recipe development for myself and other brands and use a little bit of freelance writing and media work. My main thing that I really love to do is teach cooking classes. They’re very hands on and it really gets everyone involved and then I do some presentations in the community and some corporate role as well. So, a little bit of everything. So, when everyone asked me like “what do you do?” Ahmmm “A lot!”.

Mathea Ford: [00:02:15] Yeah! Where should I start?

Julie Harrington: [00:02:17] Yeah!

Mathea Ford: [00:02:17] Awesome! So, Let’s start with talking about being in the kitchen because I know that people tend to sometimes avoid cooking because either they didn’t do it when they were a kid; they didn’t see their parents doing it and that type of thing so they just lack confidence in their skills. What are some things that people are typically concerned about in the kitchen and how can they improve their confidence with those?

Julie Harrington: [00:02:45] So, a lot of the times this is what I really break down that barrier in the cooking classes as building that kitchen confidence back up. Because everyone starts somewhere. So, you have to just be confident of where your starting point is. What do you want to accomplish? Kitchen confidence can mean a lot of different things for many people. What happens is I ask some like “What do you want to start with? Do you cook at all at home? Do you own any kitchen equipment?” There’s some people who don’t even own a chef knives in their kitchen. That’s one barrier that we need to break. How you are going to start cooking if you don’t have the cutting board and a knife to start chopping. So, really just starting small and start where you’re at. I have some people who are really involved in the kitchen and they’re just looking for new ideas and new meal prep methods or recipes to work on. But if you’re starting with someone who doesn’t go grocery shopping on a weekly basis, relies on take out where can we start small to slowly incorporate these new kitchen habits and this kitchen confidence that you could actually make these the home.

Mathea Ford: [00:03:50] So, it’s really helping people to understand that there is a system, a process. Do you work with them on understanding recipes or how they work?

Julie Harrington: [00:04:00] Yep. So, I always say “Your recipe is a guide. You can put your own twist on it.” I have some people come to my classes that follow the recipe to a T to exact measurements at all times but I have some people who want to adjust their recipe based on their preference and it’s all about how you want to cook; how do you enjoy the experience. “Are you not confident enough to make those changes?” And that’s fine. I have some like friends says “My sister is super type A.” So, when she looks at her recipes she needs to follow it exactly whereas I’m a little bit more free spirited and I’m like “Ohh! A little pinch of that! Or maybe too into cooking time a little bit. I would like to add a new ingredient in there.” So it really depends on what your style is too.

Mathea Ford: [00:04:40] Me it’s usually like I look in the drawer and in this cabinet and I don’t have that spice so I’m like “what spice cannot be used that will fix it it will be the same…

Julie Harrington: [00:04:52] Exactly! And then sometimes it’s like the end of the week and you have random ingredients and you feel like you’re on an episode of Chopped. What can you do when you can’t get your ingredients.

Mathea Ford: [00:05:02] Yeah! Yeah! Chopped! Oh yeah! Thinking about that. Thinking about like knives, cutting boards, equipment to have in the kitchen, what are some basic things that people need to have or should have in their kitchen to be able to make most recipes? Equipment?

Julie Harrington: [00:05:20] You just need the essentials. So, a cutting board. Really the two knives that I do recommend everyone having is a utility or chef’s knife and a paring knife. We don’t need all those different like boning knives or Soulé knives. If you really.. You don’t need those fancy things you could accomplish that same task with a chef knife and a paring knife. I would say cutting boards are going to be doing some chopping. A couple different sizes of pots and pans. Keeping it super basic. You don’t a fancy pizza cutter. Just one woman was like “well, I don’t have a pizza cutter” and I’m like “a knife can cut that.”.

Mathea Ford: [00:05:59] Yeah! Yeah! They cut it before they invented the pizza cutters.

Julie Harrington: [00:06:02] Exactly!

Mathea Ford: [00:06:03] Yeah! So, that’s good to know that you can get started with just simple equipment. So, with meal prep if you’re thinking about getting your meals ready for the week or that type of process if you’re thinking ahead instead of like opening the door to the fridge and going “oh! I got chicken and broccoli. Okay. Get rid of jiggling broccoli. How do you make it easier. So I do offer meal plans as part of my services so if you really want to take the guesswork out of everything i pre populate a full meal plan for meal and degenerates into our grocery list you’re also able to customize. You can choose us. It is now based off of preferences or how many times you know you’ll be cooking. So, that’s always an option. But then when people tell me they never a meal plan or prep I’m like “Do you ever go grocery shopping? You are a meal planner.” Because you have to think about something that you want to buy to put in your kitchen. So, maybe you’re not thinking of the next step of “What am I going to make with that?” And that’s okay. But starting that wheel of thinking of “these food are going to be my kitchen. I bought a chicken. I want to make something with chicken.” You’re starting to me in a little bit. So, now what are the steps? The simple steps that you could maybe take to get it prepared a little bit more easily for the week? So, I work with a lot of clients and community presentations explaining that. That you don’t have to spend your whole Sunday making this grocery list and Googling and Pinteresting all these different recipes. Just finding ways to make it easier for yourself and having yourself ready to go for the week.

Mathea Ford: [00:07:38] Yeah I always have. As you said, we always think about trying to make just make sure that I have the basics in the kitchen and that they’re ready where I can use them instead of always planning meals because things always come up or I just…

Julie Harrington: [00:07:56] Or you get really good ingredients at the grocery store too. Like you fill up that were off your whole meal for that night.

Mathea Ford: [00:08:03] Right. You can’t call for pizza just because you don’t have onion.

Julie Harrington: [00:08:06] Exactly. Exactly.

Mathea Ford: [00:08:09] So, what does chefs know that other people don’t know about meal prep?

Julie Harrington: [00:08:13] You can cheat! You don’t have to buy everything fresh and like so for example sometimes I buy pre-cooked grains like the frozen Quinoa. If I don’t know like I’m no I’m going to be limited on time, I might buy it or I might prep the whole bag of Quinoa in advance so we have Quinoa for the week but they make frozen Quinoa and frozen brown rice and all these different frozen grains now. So, that really takes out the work there. Another little cheat method I do by the pre-portioned salmon fillets sometimes or the pre-portioned pieces of chicken. So, I only have to take out what I need. Little things like that you’d have to cook from scratch all the time. A lot of my meal prep tips come from just getting things started. It’s not necessarily cooking all your meals for the week. I actually don’t recommend that. You see these like pretty pictures on Instagram or Pinterest of these people. Pre-packaging and pre-portioning all their meals. It looks fantastic. Great but after eating the same thing over and over again each week you’re going to get bored of that food and what if you’re not in the mood for that food anymore? The ways that I like to say is like start the prep process because think about the brocolli that you buy you buy ahead a brocolli and now comes to be Wednesday evening that had a brocolli staring me in the face still wrapped themselves say with a rubber band around it and you get home from a long day. What’s going to happen on that broccoli? Probably, its going to stay there. So, the day you buy it, I trim it into the florettes, I wash it and then it’s ready to go in a produce bag. These little mesh produce bags I really love because they’re breathable and they’re not going to trap a lot of moisture in there and turn your produce quickly after you washed and prep them. So now, that brocolli Wednesday it’s trimmed in florettes. So now, that can be turned into a stir fry. You can easily steam it. You can just throw out in the planter roast. And he just took out all that prep time during the middle of the week.

Mathea Ford: [00:10:10] Yeah! It’s just that you’re not even knowing what you’re going to use that broccoli for but you know you need it in this condition in order to do the next thing.

Julie Harrington: [00:10:19] I did with a lot of lettuce, any of like the produce. Because that does take some time. We do have to trim things or maybe even throw a marinade in a mason jar that it will eventually go into something maybe chicken or tofu or some salmon but that’s just kind of a general Asian style marinade that I just threw in a mason jar. Oh go on something.

Mathea Ford: [00:10:40] Yeah! Or like I’ve cut up onions ahead of time. Dice them up, keep them in the freezer. And then when I’m already use them they fall fairly quickly. Same thing like green peppers. So …

Julie Harrington: [00:10:52] Oh It totally belies your freezer. So,again last week about raspberries at the Farmers Market and I didn’t go through them fast enough. Don’t waste them just freeze them and then come back to them later.

Mathea Ford: [00:11:05] Yeah they can. They’re so small they thaw easy or you could put them in a smoothie or something. So, that all can build up your confidence if you know you have instead of going “I’m not ready.” You can be like “Okay, I’ve got the ingredients here. Let’s look at them and make something. And the key is having your environment set up for that. If you don’t go food shopping for not putting these foods into your kitchen then how do you expect to do anything?. You’re going to open an empty fridge!

Mathea Ford: [00:11:35] Thinking about different ingredients that people use like we’re talking about raspberries and broccoli and that stuff what’s an ingredient you use a lot that other people would be surprised by?

Julie Harrington: [00:11:48] Two ways to answer this question. What I would like more of the culinary ingredient that I like to use a lot is chick pea miso. So miso is usually a fermented soy bean but this is fermented chickpea and they use it a lot to thicken sauces instead of making your Roux. And it also adds a really nice savory kinda taste to your dishes. That as come in, I use it in soup recipes though too instead of using broth sometimes because they’d always have it on hand and it’s fermented product. So, it has those benefits of probiotics. Unfortunately, when you heat it those probiotics get killed off. But I do use also in dressings to thicken up like a vinaigrette. So, that is not heated so that actually keeps those probiotic benefits. So, that’s normally got a unique culinary ingredient but a lot of times people are surprised that I do use boxed pancake mix. I’m not going to lie. I honestly love this whole grain Kodiak cakes. Have you ever tried that?

Mathea Ford: [00:12:50] No I have not.

Julie Harrington: [00:12:51] They’re really good and they’re just so convenient sometimes when I just want to make a quick like pancake or waffle or mash on a banana or something with it but it really just saves a lot of time.

Mathea Ford: [00:13:02] Yeah we use… Well, I’m in Oklahoma but we use Nesquik or Pioneer brands but to make pancake mix you don’t have to I guess you don’t have to have self rising flour because you can use baking soda, baking powder type stuff.

Julie Harrington: [00:13:17] On a weekday I’m not really in the mood to do that from scratch.

Mathea Ford: [00:13:21] Yeah.

Julie Harrington: [00:13:21] I’m not ashamed about it. Like I use these cheat methods all the time. People are like “You don’t cook from scratch all the time?” I’m like “I’m human. I have a busy life like I’m still eating great foods, nutritious foods it’s just I’m taking all these shortcuts.”.

Mathea Ford: [00:13:33] That’s an excellent methods to give people that it doesn’t matter if you use a few little things that help you if it’s going to mean that you’re going to at the end of the day eat more nutritious meal because you made it at home and you control the ingredients and you tailored it to what you wanted it.

Julie Harrington: [00:13:51] People feel a lot of guilt around food and we need to break that barrier if you’re fueling your body. I have one client recently like ashamed that she was using frozen vegetables and I’m like “Why? Frozen vegetables are fine! They are flash frozen. They’re actually locking in the nutrition” like I always want to focus on the food positives. There’s always a positive that comes as fueling your body and of course a vegetable it’s nutritious or why you feel guilty about that?

Mathea Ford: [00:14:17] Yeah! And you can have an all year long in they’re lower sodium.

Julie Harrington: [00:14:22] Exactly! Keep them stocked in your freezer to have them at any time.

Mathea Ford: [00:14:26] Yeah but I couldn’t understand how culturally maybe if she grew up that different. Any ideas for thinking about ingredients like shopping at Farmers’ Markets? You got any tips for people if they want to go to a Farmers’ Market how they might find good food?

Julie Harrington: [00:14:42] Pretty much anything you find in a farmer’s market is really great because it’s all going to be seasonal. Eating in season is really great to add variety to your diet when it changes each season. So, that’s always awesome and usually very affordable because it’s in season it’s readily available. It’s really coming from a short distance of travelling. I usually stock up a lot and then figure out ways to either freeze it or make it last a lot longer. So back to the berries, berries are so much more affordable this time of year, fresh berries. So, I usually buy like a big bulk fan of them and I’ll freeze them. Strategy now is to freeze them that I always tell everyone to do as you wash them and you dry them; find a sheet tray but put a line of parchment paper down first and then freeze them all in one layer. So, once they’re fully frozen then put them into little baggies or containers to put in your freezer. This prevents them from all clumping together and then you just have one big mass of berries or something all stuck.

Mathea Ford: [00:15:49] Oh that’s great! So then you can just take out a smaller amount instead of having the whole chunk. So, as long as you do it pretty quick you freeze them and then you take them out put them in the bag. They’re not getting the freezer burn or…

Julie Harrington: [00:16:01] Correct!

Mathea Ford: [00:16:02] Any sort of damage?

Julie Harrington: [00:16:02] Uhuh!

Mathea Ford: [00:16:02] Ohh! That’s a great tip! I love it! You have to spend that time right after you get home from the farmer’s market, get them cleaned up and freeze them and you’re ready to go for later.

Mathea Ford: [00:16:14] I have even done that with vegetables as well. People only think about that for fruit. I had a lot of zucchini leftover last week too that was starting to turn so, I chopped it up, I steamed it and I let it cool and then I did that same freezing process. And so the steamed zucchini I added it into a soup, I already threw it into a smoothie. I know if that is common with zucchini in the smoothie but its actually delicious. But you can turn your vegetables in to new ways as well.

Mathea Ford: [00:16:43] Great! Those are great tips! I think also going to a farmer’s market you get to talk to the people who grew the food or who are close to growing the food. And you can even learn more about different food in your area that you might be interested in. So, you may see something that you don’t see normally in the grocery store. You see it, you’re willing to try it and you’ve gotten a little more variety in your diet.

Julie Harrington: [00:17:07] Oh I totally agree! And it’s so nice to talk to them because they’re so passionate about what they do. And you just see that excitement and they are so proud of what they produced and what they’re providing that’s now going to be on your kitchen table.

Mathea Ford: [00:17:21] So knowing that you do a lot of meal planning, what are some meal planning strategies that you can share with the audience?

Julie Harrington: [00:17:29] So, again back to the you don’t to have every single meal figured out, just kind of have to think of different categories so I usually think about three dinners that incorporate a certain ingredient and how I can utilize the other ingredients to make other meals. So, for instance like that pack of Quinoa, I’ll make Quinoa purposely want to put it with maybe the salmon. How else can I use that Quinoa later on? Oh! I threw it on a salad for lunch or I actually mix it with oatmeal for breakfast. So, different ways to utilize that one product. You don’t have to eat a brand new thing every single day.

Mathea Ford: [00:18:07] When I managed the kitchen I would always write the menu and we would use the same chicken breast for five or six different meals. I wasn’t going to go buy you know bone in chicken, this type of chicken, that chicken just chicken breast and use it you know five 10 different ways or same thing with cuts of meat typically you know you can kind of cross. Use them in different recipes.

Julie Harrington: [00:18:33] Yeah definitely! Don’t be afraid to utilize leftovers. Another example recently. I made just a grilled chicken for one meal and that turned into two more meals – added to a salad for lunch and then we also cut it up and put it and made chicken quesadillas another night.

Mathea Ford: [00:18:51] Yeah! We had turkey last night for dinner and I was thinking I’m going to shredd that Turkey up that’s left and make like a little like you said like a sandwich type thing. So, how does meal planning even just doing the small simple changes how does that help someone to eat healthier?

Julie Harrington: [00:19:08] I think it takes away the stress around meal meal time just because you’re preparing your environment for you’re just preparing your environment. It’s like walking into a sporting game without any equipment on for that sport. You’re kind of like just winging it and like you’re going to get injured or you just kind of out in the open. What do I do now? So, the same thing goes to your kitchen environment and you want to have things stocked up so you can feel comfortable like walking in after a long day and I can put something together for dinner and just making sure that it’s something that you enjoy too. When people tell me “Oh! They’re meal prepping and they hate what they’re making. Why are you making it then?” Don’t force yourself to do something you don’t enjoy and you don’t like focus on making sure the meals are delicious something that satisfies you too. If it’s not satisfying you that’s not going to do anything good for you long term because you’re going to feel deprived.

Mathea Ford: [00:20:02] Yeah! You’re not going to want to eat that long term and you know thinking of healthier diet and we’ve talked a little bit about farmer’s markets and stuff and I know you help people focus on a more plant based diet or plant focused diet. Can you talk a little bit about that and how you can help people incorporate that more into their menu without necessarily being vegetarian?

Julie Harrington: [00:20:24] Yes definitely. So, I like the yes I’d definitely say that as well plant focused is it doesn’t mean 100 percent plant based but everyone can use a little more plants within their daily routine. A lot of times we talk about when we talk about plants people automatically only assume vegetables but we hear we’re talking about the fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, seeds any plant product, whole grains or just regular grains in general. And I always like to challenge everyone to start with at least 50 percent of your plate being focused on plants and then try to even get to 75 percent of your plate focused on plants. So, different ways you can go about doing that is I don’t really like to say sneaking them in because I don’t like that kind of has a negative tone to it that you’re kind of hiding them. Kind of them where you can. Going back to that pancake mix that I like to use. I like to boost it up a little bit instead of just having the pancakes because I know that one can pancake using the batter is not going to satisfy me because there’s not enough fiber in there. So, I mash up a banana, I may add some blueberries in there. I like to smear some peanut butter on it instead of using maple syrup because now you’re incorporating more food groups and you’re also incorporating more plants and you have a more well balance meal out of it. So, the same thing goes for any meal. How can you fit in your plants without really needing to put any more effort in something that is enjoyable for you. Smoothies are such an easy way to add more plants. You can add more veggies into it, you can add chia seeds or flax seeds. First, another plant source focusing on again your dinner plate. A lot of times we lead with like when people say “what’s for dinner?” Everyone usually always leads with the animal source of protein “Oh! We’re having chicken!” Okay, but what else is with that? Let’s focus on the plants because a chicken shouldn’t be the star of the plate. That should maybe only take a little section of your plate but the rest can be focused on those plants.

Mathea Ford: [00:22:24] Once you start eating different plants and eating them more often you start to really enjoy them and the ways you can cook them. So, I love that.

Julie Harrington: [00:22:33] And also too adding more variety. What happens a lot of times too is we get stuck on the same things. Of course if you’re just munching on an apple every day for an afternoon snack like get that’s going to get boring after a while. But what if you’re not ready to change to a new piece of fruit? How many varieties of apples are there when you walk to the grocery store? Maybe even just trying to switch off the variety that you’re having.

Mathea Ford: [00:22:57] It’s a good tip. Speaking of the grocery store, when you’re grocery shopping I know you do probably a decent amount of this as well. Do you think it’s better to shop once a week or more often and how do you navigate the grocery store?

Julie Harrington: [00:23:14] I love this question because before I started my own business, I worked as a supermarket dietitian. So, my job was in the grocery store. I feel like I can navigate any grocery store really while now being in that kind of environment. So, when we’re talking about grocery shopping I really do recommend shopping at least once a week to get all your essentials for the week. I typically go maybe twice even three times a week just because my work requires me to where I’m like developing a recipe, I always need to buy some different ingredients and then what’s a typical day of pattern I’m needing. Navigating the grocery store, there’s all those things of saying “Oh only shop at the perimeter.” I don’t really agree with that. There are so many great things up and down the aisles as well. People always say “only the processed foods in the aisles” but processed is another word that we really need to start adding more of a positive twist. Not all processed food is created equally. There’s actually according to the FDA standards there’s all different levels of what processed foods are. So, peanut butter for example, that technically processed food. They’re taking peanuts, they’re grinding, they’re packaging and that’s processed. Your tuna, same thing but then also there’s the ultra processed foods that I don’t even know half those ingredients are. So, that’s a processed food as well. But all those items are in aisle so I don’t say skip the aisles. Really learn how to read a label properly working with a dietitian. A lot of dietitians offer grocery store tours so if you’re really confused maybe take that up as an option. So many times we are set in our ways we’re set in our same pattern of shopping at the grocery store. And I noticed that firsthand when I started working there. How many times you walk by all these great products but you don’t even notice them because you’re so on autopilot to get your grocery shopping done. Kind of take a moment. Maybe find some new food or new items that can appear in your grocery cart. I have a series called grocery store finds. Every month, I highlight about five products that just appeared in my cart. Just to say and to show people “Oh! This is the new products I found you might like it too.”.

Mathea Ford: [00:25:31] So, when you’re thinking about navigating the store, how do you recommend people go through? Because I’ve heard different things like do the produce last, like you said don’t do this in our aisles that type of thing but… So, how do you when you think about navigating, where do you recommend to start and kind of go through?

Julie Harrington: [00:25:51] I do recommend starting in the produce section. The groceries store is strategically set up in the way that it is for you to walk in and usually the first thing you go to is the produce department and you walk right into the produce department and there’s a reason for that. They want you to start getting a fresh produce but as a dietitian and a chef, I want you to really have your plants be the focus so starting with that fresh produce is fantastic. And then notice how you’re walking around the perimeter that’s where all of like you’re meat and your protein, your seafood department and then your dairy department. They want you had all those and not order because then at the end that’s when you get to the cashier where you’re putting all your cold stuff at the end. So, they strategically do that for you to shop that way. But I only just say start in the produce because again we want to be a little bit more focused and really just work up your grocery list. I don’t think there’s necessarily a foolproof method of we need to shop these sections first and last.

Mathea Ford: [00:26:56] So, do you ever do like the online ordering. I know that’s becoming more popular. Do you ever do that or do you think that’s a good idea?

Julie Harrington: [00:27:04] It really depends on the day, the week. I use the online grocery shopping a lot when I have my big cooking classes because number one and just saves me time. I don’t shop for a big family right now so I don’t mind doing my own personal grocery shopping on my own because it doesn’t take me that long but for busy families are online grocery shopping is awesome. At first, I was like “I like picking on my produce. I don’t want anyone else picking at my produce or I like picking out my meat or I’m very specific when it comes to certain things” but the grocery store near me does such a fantastic job. I just write little notes throughout my order saying for instance, like I got avocado the one day shop online. And I said please make sure that it’s ripe and ready to eat because I knew that I’d be needing it for a recipe the next day. I love it honestly because it saves you a lot of time and it really just depends on what your lifestyle is, what your preference is.

Mathea Ford: [00:27:59] I think it saves a little money too because you’re not walking up and down the aisles and going “Oh yeah! Maybe I should get, that maybe I should get that!”

Julie Harrington: [00:28:07] You can actually really stick to the grocery list. And also another cool thing about that is too that I come across coupons that I don’t even know were available at that moment or I’ll be shopping for something in they’re like “would you like to add this to dollar off coupon? Of course I will to save money!”.

Mathea Ford: [00:28:24] Yeah! Thank you. I always ask my guests what is their favorite food.

Julie Harrington: [00:28:30] Oh! This is always my hardest question to answer. But if there’s a food that I pretty much eat every day it’s peanut butter in some form. So I’m going to go with peanut butter as my answer.

Mathea Ford: [00:28:40] Okay! I’ve love peanut butter too it’s good. You like chunky, creamy or what?

Julie Harrington: [00:28:45] I always have both on hand. I honestly I guess I’m like a nut butter fanatic. I have right now I probably have at least four different jars opened.

Mathea Ford: [00:28:55] Well that’s very interesting. I just came back from the International Food Bloggers Conference and we saw some different foods. And one of them was a new nut butter that has sunflower seeds. It’s basically targeted towards people with peanut allergy.

Julie Harrington: [00:29:10] Is it sun butter?

Mathea Ford: [00:29:12] Sun butter! Yeah I think that is.

Julie Harrington: [00:29:13] Oh yeah! That one’s that I I used that in my kids’ cooking class a lot since there’s usually nut allergy.

Mathea Ford: [00:29:19] Yeah! That’s an awesome product that was really good. Does it have like Quinoa in it? I’m like crazy.

Julie Harrington: [00:29:24] There is one with Quinoa in it. That’s really cool.

Mathea Ford: [00:29:26] Yeah! So, There’s lots of varieties of nut butters doesn’t always have to be just peanut butter but yeah! I’ve just recently learned I did not realized that sunflower seeds are not necessarily like they’re okay for people with a peanut allergy. Julie, thank you so much for being on the podcast today. It was a pleasure to have you on the show. I know my listeners learned a lot about just different kitchen confidence, choosing different things and trying to spice up their diet a little. So, if listeners want to connect with you, what’s the best way to do that?

Julie Harrington: [00:29:59] You can find me directly from my website JulieHarringtonRD.com. I have a Contact page where you can directly e-mail me or on social media I am @chefJulie_RD.

Mathea Ford: [00:30:12] Great! Well guys, this has been another great episode of the Nutrition Experts Podcast. The podcast that is all about learning more so you can do more with nutrition in your life.

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