She’s been your go-to nutritionist for years, and now Joy Bauer is showing you where all of the magic happens while dishing out her favorite Thanksgiving recipe.
As part of our original series “At Home with TODAY,” the TODAY nutritionist is inviting you inside her favorite room in her New York home of 13 years — her kitchen.
“It’s a no-brainer that a nutritionist is going choose the kitchen as her favorite room,” she told TODAY. “But I’ve been the mad scientist in the kitchen forever. It’s my hobby, my therapy and my passion.”
Aside from her personal love for food, we can see why Joy loves to be in the space. The sun-drenched room is full of color with its vibrant red walls. It also serves as the connecting piece to the music room — where her son, Cole, loves to play piano, guitar and write music — and the living room, a favorite hangout spot for her two daughters. With the open layout, Joy gets to be in the middle of all the action.
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“I’m literally in the midst of everything,” she said.
The kitchen isn’t only the heart of the home for Joy’s family and 4-month-old dog, Gatsby, but for the extended family as well. Two of her siblings live in the same neighborhood — only doors away from Joy — so it’s always a party at the Bauer house.
“Everyone comes here to eat,” she said. “Everybody knows Aunt Joy is always cooking up a storm.”
The extra mouths come in handy, too, as her family serves as taste testers for her new recipes and flavors for her healthy snack line, Nourish Snacks.
“The deal is two out of three kids needs to give a recipe a two thumbs up in order for it to be worthy of the show, social media or my book,” she said. “There is where it all happens.”
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It’s also where a lot of messes happen, Joy admits.
“I’m as creative as I am messy,” she said. “But the results are good.”
While lots happens in her kitchen, Joy says her favorite memories in the space are of time cooking with her children when they were younger.
“I used to give each of them their own special night where they would plan, prepare and present dinner with me,” she said. They would create a menu, join Joy for the grocery shopping and make each dish from start to finish.
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“It was great because it gave them an appreciation for the value of food, both from an enjoyment standpoint and the health benefit as well,” she said. “I have great memories going on in that kitchen.”
While Joy and her family will be sitting down to Thanksgiving dinner at her mother-in-law’s home this year, she’s already making sure to whip up some of her favorite holiday dishes, including her famous mini pumpkin pies, which are guilt free at under 200 calories each.
“My kids actually request them year around,” she said. “Everybody fights over the leftovers at Thanksgiving.”
Check out more At Home with TODAY posts here.