TODAY Show cohost and America’s favorite weatherman, Al Roker, and his daughter, Courtney Roker Laga, join Zibby to discuss AL ROKER’S RECIPES TO LIVE BY: Easy, Memory-Making Family Dishes for Every Occasion. The father-daughter duo discuss the joys (and challenges) of working together on this project and then delve into the sentimental value behind the recipes and the nostalgia tied to their favorite foods—like apple butter! Courtney highlights her experiences as a chef, recipe developer, and new mom, while Al reflects on food as both a celebration and a family bonding experience.

Transcript:

Zibby: Welcome, Al and Courtney. Thank you so much for coming on Moms Don't Have Time to Read Bugs to discuss Al Roker's recipes to live by, easy memory making family dishes for every occasion. Thank you. Yes. So exciting. Okay. First of all, I have to know, collaborating on a book project with a daughter or a dad, like what is that like?

Were there any conflicts? How did you go about it? I, you know, the dream, it would be a dream to do a book project with my own dad, but I don't know. I don't know if we can do it. 

Courtney: Oh man, in my mind, of course, dream project, right? Like you're with your father. I'm super blessed that I was able to do this with him.

There was a little bit of conflicts, I guess. 

Al: What were the conflicts? 

Courtney: Conflicts as in, you know, he's a busy guy, right? He has a full schedule and you have deadlines. So I think I was very, um, Plus she and Matt asked, but you know, there was a point also where he was sick for a little bit. I think that was before the complex when we were sick.

Yeah. Yeah. So I, I, I obviously didn't push him during that time. I kind of thought in my head, maybe we shouldn't even do this because, you know, he was in the hospital. 

Al: Yeah. But, but the, the, here's the thing, I'm very laissez faire. about, about, uh, these, these sort of things. So I, I don't get too, uh, worked up.

I figured it'll work out. And, uh, you know, Courtney was like, no, we, you, I really need you to do this because we have deadlines. And I'm like, yeah, yeah. Uh, cause I look, I do live TV and somehow it all works out. It shows a book is a little different. So, and especially, uh, a cookbook because, you know, it's not just, You know, writing something down.

It's, you know, she's developing recipes and then, you know, we got to pick out the recipes and then we got to photograph the recipes and, you know, and then you got to write about the recipes and 

Courtney: it's a process. So she's 

Al: like, come on, you know, but, and I'm like, you know, and when Deborah, my wife to say, he's not responding, you know, and it's like, and Deborah's like, welcome to my world.

But it got done. Yeah. 

Courtney: It was like little conflicts. Nothing like huge. 

Al: Yeah. There were no explosions or anything like that. 

Zibby: Did you debate which recipes to include and which not? Did you make anything and you were like, that doesn't taste good, forget it? 

Courtney: No, not really. I don't think so. We sat down one day, I think for like an hour, hour Two hours and just I had a list of you 

Al: actually had me for two hours.

I stayed. 

Courtney: Yeah, you stayed Long list and we chose what we wanted and crossed out stuff we didn't want so Yeah, we agreed with pretty much. Yeah. 

Al: Yeah, I think so I think it was because look the recipes are based on you know What i've made that and also stuff that my mom made and stuff My wife, Debra's mom and Courtney's mom, uh, Alice and, and, and grandparents, friends who come over who, you know, we have a very diverse group of friends and we've been very fortunate.

Courtney has worked in, in the restaurant industry and I've, we've had people from the today show come on and kind of befriended us. So it was, it was a nice. I think a nice combination of family recipes and professional recipes and uh, but, but, you know, look, a lot of the credit goes to Courtney because, you know, a lot of these recipes were not written down and so she had to kind of, 

Courtney: Let's go off of like, remembering from taste, right, or listening to him on what he remembers from taste.

So, it was a lot of cooking, a lot of repeating recipes over, and I was eight months pregnant during that time. Oh my gosh. So she 

Al: birthed a baby, birthed a baby and a book. 

Zibby: Wow, a well fed, well fed baby, so that's great, because starting out on the right foot. And husband. Well fed husband too. Yes. Yes. So you're just making everybody happy.

Yeah. Who says moms don't have time? It's perfect. Speaking of making time, I was really struck by the way, Al, when you were saying that you used to make a hot meal for your son before, even though you were leaving the house at four and you would leave it in the warmer so that he had a hot meal when he woke up.

That is like putting the rest of parents to shame first 

Al: of all. No, no, not really. Listen, no, not, not at all because here's the deal. Everybody does what they can when they can. And, you know, I, so I'm not there in the morning to, you know, when he was waking up. Uh, you know, unlike, it was different with Courtney for her early years because, uh, I did local news, the five, six, and 11.

So I was home during the day. So I got up with her breakfast, you know, uh, when she was in preschool, you know, take her to school, pick her up, uh, drop her off, and then, and then head to work. So. The, the, the breakfast part, and let's face it, breakfast isn't that tough. Uh, so. No, it's still. It's time. It's, it's, it's, it's 10 minutes and boom, and there's, there's a little thing.

Okay. I can't be here to tell you I love you, but here's a little, here's a little food love. It's true. 

Zibby: Well, I mean, so much of food and feeding a family is about emotion, right? We have the recipes, but you can tell in your book, they're infused with story, family, tradition. Like there's so much more than just the ingredients and taken together.

It's what makes a family come together and you wrote about this really nicely in the story too and how your mom was just able to whip out meals for as many people and you set such a scene of her in the kitchen with her simple tools and just like, here it is, we can do it. So I feel like it's inspiring to other women.

parents or busy people out there that you don't have to have a six burner fancy stove. Like you just need heart and dedication and a few ingredients and you can make a meal and a whole experience, which will be the things you remember. 

Al: Yeah. You know, look, I mean, I think the only utensils my mom had, I mean, you know, that we would talk about today, I mean, this was even before food processors, you know, she, she had a KitchenAid mixer and that was pretty much it.

You know, uh, and I don't even think it was a KitchenAid mixer, to be honest. I can't even remember what it was. But, you know, and, and, uh, it, uh, and there was, there was a Hamilton Beach hand mixer. I remember that. And that was, that was pretty much it. You know, they had this kind of crummy wall stove and, you know, uh, uh, uh, you know, a Frigidaire refrigerator.

And that was it, you know, and, and somehow she was able to feed, you know, when on Thanksgiving, I don't know how many people, 10, 12 people, you know. Is it the 

Courtney: same KitchenAid I grew up in? 

Al: Yeah. 

Courtney: Oh, wow. 

Al: Yeah. We didn't, it was a 

Courtney: nice kitchen. 

Al: It was a nice, it was a nice kitchen. It was cute. It was, it was. Listen, it was a, a nice average, but you know, today kitchens are like these designer things, you know?

And it was a nice kitchen, but it was small. I mean, it's, yeah, small, small, that tiny little kitchen. So, but you know, everybody. Today, kitchens are bigger, and they're kind of wider, they're kind of, the new family room is kitchen, and that's, you know, that's kind of what, you know, Courtney's grown up with. And, and so that's why I think food and family today is such a big deal, because it's, you know, we just aren't, we're all in the same room, cooking, talking, yakking.

Yeah, he pretty much summed it up. 

Zibby: Sometimes I don't even know if it's worth it, you know, like in the mornings, like making Smoothies and like all this stuff with fresh ingredients and I like put it in, I have four kids and I like put it in front of the two younger kids and they like barely look up and I go, okay.

And I'm like, this totally bombed. Do you know, like, why do I bother? But then I realized some of it is for me. And like, even if kids don't take what you're giving, that's like parenting in a nutshell, right? You have to just keep putting it out there and see what happens. 

Al: That's it. That's it. And listen, to me, breakfast really is the most important meal of the day because to me, it, it kind of, I don't know, it sets you up.

Uh, you know, we have a waffle recipe, some pancakes, but waffles to me was, uh, growing up before there were Eggo waffles, there were like these frozen downy flake waffles. They were square and you put them in and yeah, exactly. And I remember seeing on TV, there was some show and, The mother was making waffles and I was like, wait, they don't come out of a box from the bake these.

And I, I remember I, it is crazy what you remember, but I remember thinking I, when I grow up, I am never going to eat another frozen waffle in my life. And, and that's, and, and I, I love the waffle, the waffle to me is even more than the pancake. The waffle is just, there's something, not the Belgian waffle.

Those are too big. The nice, just a square, you remember that square waffle maker I got, the magic chef? It's like 30 years old, but it makes perfect 

Zibby: waffles. That's why the Hampton Inn is so great. They have that waffle maker. Have you ever been there? You've probably never been there. 

Al: Oh no, I've been there.

You pour it 

Zibby: in and then you flip it upside down. There it is. 

Al: Amazing. There you go. It's like 

Zibby: magic. It's a hot waffle. Yeah, we had Eggos this morning, but that sounds great. You know, 

Al: the waffle is the perfect transport system for, for butter and syrup. It's got the little, 

Courtney: it's got the 

Al: little squares and cups that the, the, the melted butter and the syrup, the pancake, 

Courtney: it just falls 

Al: off unless 

Courtney: you cut into it and then it goes and then you got to cut and do the waffle.

Al: Boom. 

Zibby: The art of the waffle. And Courtney, you're obsessed with apple butter. I'm glad you put that recipe in because I kept reading about it and I was like, how do I make apple? But I mean, it sounds obvious, but I love it. 

Courtney: Have you been to Sarah Beth's? Yes. Yes. Right there. Apple, like growing up that I would do sausage.

I put it on sausage, waffles, pancake. It's so good. So that's inspired the recipe. And it's 

Al: funny because Courtney didn't even, until we started doing this, didn't even know. My mother used to, we used to have apple butter, you know, growing up and then, you know, it kind of went away. And so we both have this, this childhood connection to apple butter, but a different completely, you know, for Courtney, it was, you know, going to Sarah Beth's and, and, and having it.

And for me, it was around the kitchen table and, and, and apple butter. 

Zibby: What did you two have for breakfast today? Nothing. I haven't eaten anything. Uh, 

Al: I, I have a tradition at the show that I now have kind of, I'm kind of locked into. I, I stop at a bagel place that's literally right around the corner from my house.

And I now I'm up to bringing four dozen bagels for the crew, but they're, they're hot out the oven. They're hot bagels. And now the crew has taken to bringing toppings and different condiments Like there's one guy matt who goes stops at this place near in queens to bring, uh, bacon cheese cream cheese Scallion cream cheese, a salmon cream.

So, so that's, that's what I had for breakfast this morning. 

Zibby: What did you have? I just had a scone, actually. 

Al: No, 

Courtney: scones are good. 

Al: Did you see that Larry David episode? To me, scones are like if a bad dry biscuit and a cookie had a baby, you know. 

Zibby: It was not the best, I have to say, but my husband wanted to stop somewhere for coffee and I was like, I should get something.

So I got a scone. 

Al: To me, the biscuit, scones, see again, whatever the Brits had, we've made better, you know, it was a scone, but then we have, you know, buttermilk biscuits, there's so much better. 

Zibby: They are, they really are. So in the book you write about your gastric bypass operation and sort of your lifelong history with obesity and all of that and even how some emotional times in your life caused you to gain some of the weight back and you have to sort of be cognizant of that as everyone does, right?

So the recipes in the book are not exactly the most, like, you know, it's not all green juices, you know, these are like, So, how do you, like, some of them, like the cinnamon buns and the, you know, chocolate chip pancakes and, um, macaroni, I mean, these are, like, rich dishes. So, how do you think about the food in the book relative to, like, you know, being aware of, you know, all the risks of eating and all of that?

Al: Well, I think, you know, uh, it kind of goes almost back to my childhood where food was celebratory, you know, so, so a lot of these recipes are not made to have every day, you know, or, you know, and, and I wonder if it's taken me a while to learn this, but it's, it's all on the table, but it's about how much of it do you eat?

You know, do you really need to eat the whole thing? No. So it's a small portion, but you've gotten that. You know, somebody told me once, and it's really true. When you think about your first bite of your favorite food, how great is that? Oh my gosh. Then the second bite, it's still good. Not as great as the first, but still good.

Well, by the time you're at the 10th bite, It's kind of leveled off. So, you know, if you have a small portion, you enjoy three or four bites, we're done. Moving on. 

Zibby: Yeah. I found that to be very hard when it's something really good. No, it's true. I mean, I can, I'm on Manjaro now and it's like changed my life, not to make this an ad, but now I can do it because I literally am like, Oh, that satisfied me.

I can move on. But before that was not in the realm of possibility, even though I would have liked it to be, you know? So 

Al: true. I think with a little training, it, uh, that's not to say, listen, you're not gonna go off the rails every now and then, you know, you're, you're going to, but again, if it's, you know, that and then you get back on the horse, everything's good.

Yeah. 

Zibby: And Courtney, tell me a little more about your training as a chef and your experience and where you're taking that. Your Instagram is so awesome. So I've 

Courtney: been cooking for about like three years. 14 years. Cooking for about 14 years. I've cooked in some restaurants for a couple of years. I was at Google for a little bit and then I got kind of burnt out.

You know, I wasn't with my family for holidays for a number of years. So I went into recipe development for a kitchen appliance company, cooked for a little bit, recipe development. That's my focus right now. Um, I do Personal. I'm a personal chef on the side for a couple of clients, but my real passion is restaurant company called tiny spoon chef.

They're great, but I was explaining my real passion is recipe development. I've done food styling. I'm all about the social media content creator food. thing. I didn't have that growing up, so I'm like in it now. I'm obsessed. I mean, there's huge careers out of it, so maybe something in the future towards that, but.

Amazing. 

Zibby: And do you find time to read, either of you? I have a 15 month old, so it's very 

Courtney: difficult. Unless like right before bed, you probably, I mean, you, you've 

Al: been doing a lot of reading. It's just, you know, duck, duck, moo,

and wheels on the bus. But which is it, I will say the greatest, this, her daughter, Skye is just the happiest baby. And she really does enjoy being read to, uh, although I'm, there are a few kids who don't, I guess, but because she's my granddaughter, I think she's just the most attentive and like a, like a sponge she's taking.

But yeah, I do read. I like, I love reading. My mom was a voracious reader. And I think I, I inherited, plus I wasn't a very athletic kid, you know, chunky and, you know, not athletic. So my escape was, was, uh, the New York city public library and reading. So I, yeah, and I still do. I love, I love, I just finished, uh, Colson wise heads, uh, manifesto and just read, uh, you know, Eric Larson's the, uh, demon of unrest.

About the run up to the civil war. So yeah, I love it. 

Zibby: Amazing. What about you? Have you read anything great? Oh, aside from your cookbook, I am reading a book right now, it's called Like Mother, Like Mother. Oh, no! Yeah. It's really good. It comes out October 29th. And I just saw news yesterday, it's like adapted for, it's being adapted for a movie and I was like, oh no, but I thought I like discovered that, you know, but it's good.

Susan Meester or something. Yeah. But a family, actually a family in news. The woman, the matriarch was head of the, the equivalent of like the Washington Post. Fictitious. Fictitious. But anyway, whatever. Do you two have any more collaborations planned? And are there fun things in store for people who come out and see you on tour?

Al: Well, this act for the most part, I would say, because, you know, it is kind of funny because you, I think it goes both ways in a sense that you see your kids as your kids. And I think As a kid, you see your parent as your parent, and you know what each one does, but usually there isn't a nexus of the two, so we've already done, we did the Charleston Wine and Food Festival, 

Courtney: and 

Al: I think, even though Courtney's done stuff like this, I think it was a bit of a Shock to her to have to deal with me

Courtney: in my head. I've developed a lot of patience. Yeah. And then you have a bunch of people in you. So you have to hide it inside. So 

Al: he just doesn't know is the problem is. She doesn't know what I'm going to do. 

Zibby: Mm. 

Al: Because I don't know what I'm going to do. It's, it's kind of improvisational theater. Yeah. So it's, you know, so I think by the end of this, we're either going to be really, really close or she is going to want to kill me.

She's gonna, she's going to pay somebody. This is gonna be on an episode 2020. Oh my gosh. Yeah. . 

Zibby: Are we taking bets? I might wanna put my money one way or the other, but I, I dunno. 

Al: I dunno. It's early still. I, yeah, it's early. . 

Zibby: My husband is wondering, because we were chatting right before this. When you say lan, I'm sorry, you've probably been asked this a thousand times, but you know the whole neck and neck of the woods thing.

Yeah. How did that come about? And do you get tired of saying it and all of that? No, 

Al: no, no. It was, it was when I first started filling in for Willard Scott on the Today Show, I was saying like the first couple of hits and I was saying a different thing and the director, uh, got in my ear and he said, listen, you've got to say the same thing every time because that's the only way stations know to cut away.

Zibby: So I don't 

Al: know what that cue is. So my, my mother's father used to say, Oh, grandson, what's going on in your neck of the woods? You know? And so I remember that. And so I thought, okay, I'll go with that. Kind of an homage to, uh, Pop Smith. 

Zibby: Oh, that's so nice. And of course your book is an homage to your family members as well.

And the whole like dedication in the beginning, and it's so nice how you're bringing in everybody who kind of made you both who you are. It's really lovely. 

Al: Well, you know, it's, uh, you, you are, you're, you're, you know, the wiring's been put in by, you know, all these people, but then, you know, different circuits are added, you know, by family and friends, and so, you know, you like to kind of, uh, uh, you know, remember those people, give them, give them their props, you know, you're like, like, on Courtney's side of the family as well, and, you know, my wife, Deborah's, you know, a lot of these folks didn't, a lot of the, the, the matriarchs didn't write stuff down.

Mm hmm. And I also think some of it was, I'm not going to tell you. This is my, Oh, it's this and that. And then, yeah, but how much, you know, we'll get it in. So, you know, but I, I really am grateful that because this book would not really seriously would not have happened if it hadn't been for Courtney's persistence, because I was like, I'm fine, whatever, you know, because she would, I, I, and I, when I look back at it, you were, I was fairly obtuse about her hints during the pandemic.

She says, you see, because my son, Nick and I were doing this thing, what we're cooking. All these people are responding and they keep asking about a cookbook. You should do a cookbook. Then it was like, we should do a cookbook. And I'm like, okay. And it was like, just going over my head, you know, finally she said, 

Zibby: I mean, it sounds like you're pretty lucky to have Courtney is my takeaway from the conversation.

And I feel like Courtney needs to be running the show. Yeah, 

Al: well, there's, listen, that's, that's the thing. I, uh, I mean, I, I'm fairly hands on in some things, but there are other things I'm very laissez faire about and, uh, just kind of like, well, whatever. And so, and so like dinner time. You know, my wife Deborah will always say, what time?

I'll say, what time do you wanna have dinner? And then she'll say, no, we'll share what time do you want? What time do you wanna have dinner? And I knows the same thing that at the end of the day, it's going be what time she wants to have dinner. It's always the same . And it's the, that's the biggest argument in our house is, is dinner time.

And so like, okay, just tell me what time you want to eat it. It's almost, it almost becomes. A roll reversal of the old trope about the the little woman at home waiting to make dinner I'm waiting to because I'm one of these people I like I I want when we sit down I want it to come off the stove. I don't want it just sitting This is why i'm timing it.

This is why I asked you what time and then you know It's not, and then, you know, it just, it just devolves. And then Deborah gets hangry and we get into a fight and it's 

Courtney: just. 

Al: Anyway. No, I, 

Zibby: I relate to that. I mean, I feel like sometimes I ask my husband what he wants for dinner just so he can say something so I can decide to disagree with it.

Right? Like, Oh, you do? Yeah. You want that? Yeah. Actually, no, let's do this. 

Al: So it's like, well, why don't you just tell me what you want? What time you want to eat? Then we can, we can move on. I don't care. 

Zibby: Well, at least it's nice to know it happens to everybody, so, so there's that. Okay, last thing, like, do you have any advice for people out there who want to try writing a book?

Al: Ooh. That's a Well, you, you really, you should really want to do it, you know, I mean, but why you want to do it? You know, it's, it's, I don't know. I, I just think That if there's something they say, right, what, you know, and you know, Courtney's a chef. She knows what she's doing. So that makes it a lot easier 

Courtney: and have a great team.

It's not just us. We had a great team also helping with everything behind the scenes, you know, because I feel like if you don't have a good team, sometimes there's arguing and back and forth. And we got along with pretty much everybody. 

Al: Yeah. The folks at Legacy Lit were lovely. And Courtney found the photographer, Amy Roth, who was terrific.

And by the way, You know, I wrote a couple of cookbooks like 25 years ago, I think, but back then the format for cookbooks was, you know, you had your recipes and in the middle of the book, there maybe was three or four pages of photos, like a select number of recipes. Well, fast forward to today, you gotta have a photograph for every recipe.

And, and so not only did Courtney design the recipes and write them, but she also styled all the food. For photographs and which look fantastic. 

Zibby: They do it looks mouth watering Really the whole thing. I it makes me very hungry just to just to look at it 

Al: And what the other thing that's kind of sweet is that courtney's palette even as a kid she had a very Courtney ate what we ate, you know, we didn't do a lot of, I mean, she liked mac and cheese, she liked chicken nuggets, all that, but that's not what we would eat, you know, it was more like if we went out, she might, yeah, she was eating sushi at three years old.

She had her own chopsticks at the local restaurant we had. And what's interesting is her daughter Sky has a fairly more savory palette than, than sweet. Yeah. You know, she likes, like we were in a diner in Jersey and I gave her half a lemon and she just kept sucking on it. 

Zibby: Kids will do anything. Yeah. 

Al: And that's the thing.

If you, if they don't, they don't know what they don't like at this point, you just air it. Eat this, you know, and then, although the only thing that I've noticed is it with broccoli. 

Courtney: Yeah, she doesn't like the top. 

Al: She doesn't like the tops. She likes the steps. She doesn't 

Zibby: like the tops. Yeah. 

Al: So, bam, 

Zibby: I got this.

Time for Skye to, you know, go up to the leaves of this little tree. 

Al: I'm looking forward to her getting, getting her that first little kitchen set, you know, that every kid had, you know. Oh, she'll love that. 

Zibby: Oh, well, maybe a cookbook next for, you know, how to cook with your kids or something. 

Courtney: Oh, well, if we do that, I'm going to put you in it because you just gave us an idea.

Please do. 

Zibby: In the acknowledgements, that's all I need. There you go. Okay. Okay. Uh, well, thank you so much to both of you for taking the time. I hope that the rest of the day goes well and I am excited to watch as you go all over and market this book. It'll be fun to watch. Thank you so much. Okay. Take care.

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