I am a big fan of the Zac Brown Band! I absolutely LOVE their music. Chicken Fried is definitely one of my favorites, but Whatever It Is runs as a close second. Did you know the band has their own cookbook filled with their favorite Southern Cooking recipes?  The Southern Ground Cookbook is filled with removable index cards with 27 delicious recipes including Southern Fried Chicken, Farmer’s Fried Green Tomatoes, Southern Black Eyed Pea Fritters, Pocket Knife Coleslaw, and Revival Peach Cobbler. The cookbook is also filled with poems, song, stories, and images from the band. The band sells the cookbook on their website, but you can get your chance to win your own copy right here on Megan’s Munchies.

Here is how you can win:

• Leave a comment telling me your favorite Southern cooking recipe or your favorite Zac Brown Band song.
• Earn an extra entry by becoming a fan of Megan’s Munchies new fan page on facebook and leave a comment letting me know.

Entries will be accepted until Friday, September 17, at midnight.

I have always loved browsing recipes, whether it be in magazines, cookbooks, or on the internet. I have printed out and bookmarked so many recipes that I have found on various recipe sites and blogs. MyRecipes.com is a site that I discovered just recently. The site has 35,000+ recipes and many health and food related articles.

Last Monday, I had the privilege of interviewing Holly Johnson Grainger, Food Editor for MyRecipes.com. What an amazing job she has! I would love to trade places with her for at least a day and experience her life as a food editor. I enjoyed talking to Holly and learning all about MyRecipes.com. Enjoy the interview!

Q: What are your daily job responsibilities as a food editor?

A: I am a Dietitian, and I oversee the Healthy Diet channel. I write articles and freelance articles to be written. Right now, I am also overseeing the seasonal Grilling channel. I am involved in the media and public relations aspects of MyRecipes.com. I do television and radio spots to share recipes and discuss food/health topics. Recently, I did a spot on CNN about getting enough water.

I am also involved in the on site taping of the Dinner Tonight videos. We have an all digital studio kitchen, and we spend 2-3 days taping. In a typical day, we usually tape 10 episodes in a row.

Q: Where do you find the recipes that are featured on the site?

A: All the recipes are kitchen tested and come from magazines, especially those within Time Inc., including:

• Southern Living
• Cooking Light
• Coastal Living
• All You
• Health
• Sunset
• Real Simple

Q: What elements are the kitchen testers evaluating?

A: We have three tests kitchens on site with at least 10-12 staff members in each. They are evaluating a variety of aspects when testing each recipe. The following are some of the characteristics that the testers evaluate:

• Overall taste and flavor
• Ease of preparation
• Accuracy of cook time
• Seasonality of ingredients
• Cost – Is it budget friendly?
• Number of ingredients
• Possibilities of making the recipe easier

The main goal of the kitchen testing is to make sure the consumer has the best possible experience with the recipes, and that they can trust that the recipe will produce a satisfactory result.

Q: I recently found out that I have some food allergies. I also work with children with Autism who have shown progress after adopting allergen-free diets. Does the site include any allergen-free recipes for people who have restricted diets?

A: We have an entire page dedicated to the Gluten Free Diet. All 35,000+ recipes on the site were analyzed to find 2000 recipes that were gluten free. The site also features several articles focusing on gluten free diets, including Gluten Free Diets and Autism. With regards to other allergies, an advanced search can be done on the site to search for recipes that exclude certain food categories.

I hope you enjoyed the interview and that you will visit MyRecipes.com soon!

Thanks to Holley for taking the time to talk to me and for sharing all the wonderful information about her job and MyRecipes.com.