Culinary Specialist Jamie Piette

Meet Taste of Home Culinary Specialist, Jamie Piette!  Jamie is part of the Taste of Home Cooking School management team and is based out of Greendale, Wisconsin.  A few times a year, Jamie gets the opportunity to share her excitement for food and cooking at select Cooking School events across the country.

She and her husband live in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and enjoy hiking, biking, and spending time with family and friends.  To learn more about Jamie, take a look at some of her answers to questions below!

If we were to open your refrigerator at home, what would we find?  You will always find lots and lots of vegetables!  My husband and I receive a weekly produce share from a local, organic farm.  We eat vegetables at every meal just to keep up.  We also always have stocked:  fresh squeezed orange juice, French Vanilla yogurt, eggs, whole wheat Naan bread, and Pepper Jack cheese.

Tell us something about yourself that very few people know?  I was a certified personal fitness trainer for five years.

Do you have any special holiday traditions?  What foods were cooked for celebrations or special events? I love the holidays, especially Thanksgiving and Christmas.  My grandma makes all of the traditional Thanksgiving foods, including turkey & gravy, stuffing, sweet potatoes, green beans, creamed corn, and biscuits.  Delicious!  A special memory of my mother-in-law is that she hid a green pickle ornament in the Christmas tree.  The first person to find the ornament on Christmas Eve received a box of chocolate covered cherries.

What was your favorite food growing up?  I had very sophisticated taste… Cracklin’ Oat Bran cereal and Rice-A-Roni.  I’ve never met a bag of chips that I didn’t enjoy.

When did you start cooking?  Who taught you to cook?  I have always been into fitness and originally learned to cook healthy meals to fuel my workouts.  After I started working for Taste of Home, I learned more about incorporating delicious flavor and new techniques into my recipes.  My husband told me that I can never leave this job, lol.

Do you remember your grandmother’s cooking?  What was her specialty?  I didn’t get to see my grandmother very often because my family had moved when I was young.  But, when we did visit, my grandmother made sure to make all of our favorite dishes.  She always made me green bean casserole.  Her most memorable ingredient:  LOVE!

What is the best thing you ever ate?  The best meal I ever at was at Umami Moto in Milwaukee, WI – the Kobe Beef Sliders as an appetizer, followed by Sea Bass with tangy miso, bamboo rice, and yuzo for my entrée.  Pure deliciousness!!!

Who was the cook in your house growing up?  What was your father’s/mother’s favorite dish to make?  I was spoiled; my mom made big dinners for our family every night that always included meat, potatoes, vegetables, and dessert.