Kelsey Nixon’s Tribute to Her Mom
TV cook Kelsey Nixon has often given her mom, Kathy Nixon of North Ogden, credit for inspiring her love of cooking. So when Kelsey brought her along to a Utah signing for her new cookbook, I was glad to get a chance to talk to Mrs. Nixon. While Kelsey was chatting with fans and signing copies of “Kitchen Confidence,” I was able to interview Kathy about some of the experiences that fostered Kelsey’s love of food.
I thought it would make a great Mother’s Day story, and it ran in the print edition of the Standard-Examiner today, May 7.
“I cooked a lot when she was growing up,” Kathy told me. “The kitchen was the gathering place of our house. We had dinner together every night. We sometimes ended up eating very late, because the kids were involved in so many activities. But we always had dinner.”
“My mother worked full-time, and yet she came home and prepared a home-cooked meal nearly every day,” Kelsey Nixon said. “Instead of looking at it as drudgery, she considered it a hobby and almost therapeutic after a day of work. Her attitude and approach to cooking is what made me fall in love with cooking in the first place.”
The best conversations between mom and daughter happened while they were working together in the kitchen, Nixon wrote in her cookbook, adding, “She made the kitchen the most comfortable place to be in our home.”
But it takes more than just enjoying cooking to become a TV host, as was underscored when the BYU grad competed on “The Next Food Network Star.” She made it to the final four before getting eliminated. Rather than being discouraged over the loss, Kelsey took advantage of the experience and contacts she made with people like Bobby Flay. She was eventually offered a show, “Kelsey’s Essentials,” on the Food Network’s fledgling Cooking Channel. The show, which is produced by Bobby Flay’s Rockfish Productions, netted Kelsey a Daytime Emmy nomination, and recently moved to the Food Network. Now she seems to be everywhere — including the “Today” show, “Rachael Ray,” and People magazine.
“From the time she was a small child, she believed in herself,” Kathy Nixon said. “She was not afraid to experience failure and take risks — to shoot for the stars. And she was never afraid to miss.”
The pages of “Kitchen Confidence” are a fitting Mother’s Day tribute to Kathy Nixon, as there are many expressions of praise and appreciation. She noted that her mother “willingly tested and retested nearly every recipe in this book.”
The dedication reads, “For my family, especially my mom, for inspiring a love of food, and my husband, for always doing the dishes.”
Some of the recipes are similar to Nixon family favorites, “But Kelsey has taken them and make them all her own,” said Kathy.
For instance, Kathy’s classic roast chicken was jazzed up with warm spices to become Moroccan-Spiced Roast Chicken with Creamy Cilantro Sauce.
Another retro dish that got updated was Tuna Noodle Casserole — made without canned can of cream of mushroom soup.
“My tuna noodle casserole is not the one your mother or grandmother has been making for the last fifty years. And perhaps that’s a good thing!” Kelsey wrote.
She included her Sloppy Jane Sliders, famously panned by Martha Stewart when Kelsey was a contestant on “The Next Food Network Star.” (Martha, the surprise guest judge, said “I never eat that kind of food.”)
With refreshing candor, Kelsey shared the “Martha” experience in the recipe’s headnotes, adding, “Despite the anxiety I felt first serving this recipe, it’s been a hit among family and friends ever since, for its satisfying flavor and the story that accompanies it.”
During the “Kitchen Confidence” book signing at
the Gygi cookware store in Salt Lake City, the staff served several recipes from the book, such as Essential Yellow Birthday Cake with Vanilla Buttercream Frosting, Fennel and Sausage Stuffed Mushrooms, Sweet Pea Soup and Roasted Tomato Soup.
“She actually got her start here, teaching cooking classes, so she’s come full circle,” said Heather Smith of Gygi.
Now that Kelsey and husband Robbie Egan are parents to Oliver (who will turn two in June), she’s experiencing life as a mom herself. She’s found ways to include her family in her work, such as the episode of “Kelsey’s Kitchen that featured foods for Ollie’s one-year birthday celebration.
It’s also an advantage that instead of heading to an office every day, she can be home doing recipe development and other tasks. She pointed out that an entire season of “Kelsey’s Essentials” is filmed in three weeks. Last year, Kathy came to New York and for some “quality
time” with Ollie while Kelsey was filming.
Kathy told me that Kelsey’s sister, Kylie Nixon Whiting, recently moved to New York while her husband is in dental school. With a background in advertising, photography and graphic design, Kylie is working full-time for Kelsey.
She added, “Little sister is there to help, as things have started to get hectic.”
For past stories that I’ve written on Kelsey, check here, as well as:
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705386555/BYU-grad-Kelsey-Nixon-stars-in-cooking-show.html?pg=all
https://chewandchat.com/2012/05/kelsey-nixon-hosting-new-show-the-perfect-three.html
https://chewandchat.com/2013/08/why-viet-pham-lost-out-on-the-next-food-network-star.html
https://chewandchat.com/2012/04/pillsbury-bake-off-my-experience.html
http://www.standard.net/stories/2013/06/24/kelseys-back-essentials