I didn't actually know what a treasure 'The Great British Bake Off' was, so I just thought, 'oh it'll be fun to do that, I'd like to do that.' Then when I went and had to have an audition and meet Paul Hollywood, I suddenly thought, 'this is really important.'
That's what we do on "MasterChef," on "Junior." No school teachers, no parents, let it go. You're going to go on a challenge. We're going to go to hell and back, and we're going to have some bumps.
On 'Sweet Genius,' you have to be tough with the chefs, but my goal was to guide them and choose the genius who will win $10,000 - not a bad sum at all for one day's work.
My zero-stress way to host a gathering: Make the guests do the cooking.
Something I didn't even know was on my bucket list has been achieved. I have cooked Thanksgiving dinner with Martha Stewart. I vow to follow the gospel of her teachings and do my very best in the remarkably less glamorous kitchen of my own home... without the luxury of magically appearing prep bowls filled by a staff of sous chefs.
After making the finals of 'Celebrity MasterChef' I know how tough cooking under pressure can be.
I created 'Dinner: Impossible' with a guy named Bryan O'Reilly and I shot the pilot as a 30 minute show and we sold it.
I recall my mum tried to teach me how to fry chicken once, and I almost burned down half the kitchen... I don't think I have the patience for cooking.
I think a lot of people have a misconception of what the kitchen is about, but you know the grueling part of it is also the pleasure of it. That's why I think you have to have a certain mentality to understand what that is and be able to handle it.
It's a challenge to demonstrate that you can prepare some really interesting food with humble ingredients.
After two undefeated seasons of 'Worst Cooks in America,' I'm ready for a third. Going against Bobby Flay takes the challenge to another level, but I'm ready to whip these contestants into shape and the winner is sure to be from Team Burrell.
I love a good challenge of looking with new eyes at a tried and true recipe in my recipe Rolodex.
I think no one would dispute that 'Chopped' is a highly athletic television show.
I try to cook dinner, but it's difficult when I'm working.
Cooking is not effortless. To get a recipe that feels effortless is really hard.
Once in a while I'll order an omelet, 'cause I'm not very good at making omelets.
Those places I don't understand, just doing bad food. It takes some doing. Making good pasta is so much easier than making bad stuff. It actually takes quite an effort to make poor linguine pomodora.
At the end of the week, my husband and I do a leftovers dinner, where we have to use whatever's in the fridge. It's sort of a game.
I attempted to beat a Michelin-starred master chopper at prepping vegetables and making stuffing. He was doing it by hand, I was using a blender. It was bloody close too, he just beat me.
I didn't open a restaurant, but I did go to a few cooking schools. It was too much like hard work!
My personality, when tasked with creating meals, goes something like this: Is there a way we can make this more difficult? Because let's do that. I don't mean to complicate things. It's just - why buy pre-packaged potato salad when you can spend your morning boiling potatoes and flipping out because there's no dill in the house?
Some guy invented Vitamin A out of a carrot. I'll bet he can't invent a good meal out of one.
I don't cook, 'cause I don't know how to cook.
I am the MacGyver of cooking. If you bring me a piece of bread, cabbage, coconut, mustard greens, pigs feet, pine cones...and a woodpecker, I'll make you a good chicken pot pie.
My daughters think I am a terrible cook, but I try really hard. I would really like to be a better cook.
