47 episodes
- Feeling overwhelmed by your garden? Garden coach Jess Zander of You Can Do It Gardening joins Catherine to make the whole thing feel more manageable—and much more fun.
Jess explains how to prioritize garden projects, tackle invasive plants before they spread, choose native plants without becoming dogmatic, and make smart decisions about where and what to plant. She also shares why buying small plants can save money, how to divide perennials without being too precious, and why fall is one of the best times to plant.
Plus, Jess offers a refreshingly low-effort approach to fall cleanup, explains her delightfully simple method for planting bulbs by the shovelful, and talks about how gardening can calm a busy brain, spark creativity, and connect us to our communities and the people we love.
Find Jess, her virtual garden coaching, classes, guides, and newsletter at You Can Do It Gardening.
Not From Concentrate is distributed by PRX and produced by Catherine Smart, with audio and video production by Kevin O’Connell and Asia Garcia. Our associate producer is Allie Miller, and our theme music is by Kylie Daley. - What if the best thing you could bring to family dinner wasn’t a perfectly cooked meal, but a better mood?
Chef, cookbook author, and TV host Noah Galuten joins Catherine to talk about his new cookbook, Grill Time!, and why the grill deserves a place in your weeknight cooking routine. They discuss shopping according to what’s on sale, salting chicken or steak now and figuring out dinner later, and setting up groceries so they’re easier to use when your busy brain needs them.
Noah also gets honest about cooking through creative ruts, feeding young children, and the impossible pressure to make a nutritious family dinner without making everyone miserable in the process. Plus, he shares how he balances books, television, and his Substack—and how a YouTube project that didn’t take off ultimately helped lead to Barbecue: Smoke Out on Netflix.
It’s a funny, candid conversation about grilling, parenting, creative work, and letting go of perfection in the kitchen.
Find Noah on Instagram at @galuten and subscribe to his Substack, I’m Legally Required to Feed You. You can watch Barbecue: Smoke Out on Netflix.
Not From Concentrate is distributed by PRX and produced by Catherine Smart, with audio and video editing by Kevin O’Connell and Asia Garcia. Our associate producer is Allie Miller, and our theme music is by Kylie Daley. Back-to-School Lunches, Sheet-Pan Dinners, and Finding Joy in the Kitchen with Hillary Dixler Canavan
08/25/2026 | 41 mins.Back-to-School Lunches, Sheet-Pan Dinners, and Finding Joy in the Kitchen with Hillary Dixler Canavan
Hillary Dixler Canavan returns to Not From Concentrate as the show’s first repeat guest! Nearly one year after her first appearance, Hillary joins Catherine for a timely conversation about feeding our families, and ourselves, during the back-to-school rush.
They talk about letting go of picture-perfect lunchboxes, choosing foods children will reliably eat at school, and adding joy without adding much work. Hillary shares her genuinely life-changing trick for assembling and freezing sandwiches in advance, plus easy ways to bring protein and variety into packed lunches.
The conversation also ventures into cooking with kids, why project-based kitchen activities may be more manageable than everyday “help,” and the value of teaching practical cooking skills when children are ready.
Then Hillary previews Sheet Pan Month in her newsletter, What Are We Having? She and Catherine even develop a Green Goddess chicken, gnocchi, and broccoli dinner in real time. Finally, they discuss finding creativity through constraints, clearing physical clutter, and using audiobooks to make cooking feel restorative.
In this episode
Why a successful lunch is one your child can actually eat within the school’s allotted time
Letting go of elaborate, photo-ready lunchboxes
The difference between “school foods” and foods children will eat at home
Easy protein ideas, including mini Chomps, cheese, hummus, and beans
Low-effort ways to make lunch feel special with food picks, stickers, and notes
Finding genuine points of connection based on the interests you share with your child
Why cooking with kids can be easier as a planned project
Teaching age-appropriate kitchen skills without rushing the process
Establishing helpful structure around meals and snacks
Hillary’s forthcoming Sheet Pan Month
Developing a Green Goddess chicken, gnocchi, and broccoli sheet-pan dinner
Why a delicious sauce can make a simple meal feel restaurant-worthy
Making and freezing school-lunch sandwiches in advance
Using themes, limitations, and what you already have to spark creativity
Decluttering the kitchen before the school year begins
How audiobooks can transform dinner preparation into something worth anticipating
Hillary’s freezer-sandwich method
Assemble sandwiches in batches, return them to their original packaging or place them in a freezer-safe reusable bag, and freeze. In the morning, put a frozen sandwich directly into an insulated lunch bag. It should thaw by lunchtime while helping keep the rest of the lunch cool.
Freezer-friendly combinations include:
Ham and cheese
Turkey and cheese
Bagel with cream cheese
Cream cheese and jelly, with optional chia seeds
Peanut butter and jelly, where permitted
Audiobooks mentioned
Yesteryear
The Compound by Aisling Rawle
Ruth Ware’s mysteries and thrillers
The Searcher by Tana French
Find Hillary
Subscribe to What Are We Having? at whatarewehaving.substack.com.
Follow Hillary on Instagram at @hillarydixlercanavan.- What does it actually take to make local food more accessible, sustainable, and financially viable for the people who produce it?
Catherine talks with Erin Baumgartner, founder of Family Dinner, a farmers market delivery service that grew from bringing groceries to seven friends out of Erin’s Somerville apartment to serving 120 Massachusetts communities. Erin explains how Family Dinner uses data and predictive analytics to help farmers plan what to grow, reduce food waste, and reach more customers—and why buying local can have such a meaningful impact on the communities where we live.
They also talk about balancing our food ideals with real-life budgets and limited time, building a mission-driven business without outside investors, resisting shiny objects, and breaking intimidating goals into manageable steps. Plus: feeding kids without expecting perfection, making dinner from whatever is languishing in the fridge, and why creativity sometimes requires doing absolutely nothing.
Not From Concentrate is distributed by PRX and produced by Catherine Smart, with audio and video production by Kevin O’Connell and Asia Garcia. Our associate producer is Allie Miller, and our theme music is by Kylie Dailey. - What if the answer to feeling too busy isn’t making everything faster, but choosing one place to slow down?
Trinity Mouzon Wofford, founder of Golde and author of Eating at Home, joins Catherine to make the case for protecting mealtime in a culture built around convenience. They talk about taking a real lunch break, shopping at the farmers market and why it's work soaking your own beans.
Trinity also shares what she learned from building a wellness company during a period of explosive growth, separating her identity from her business and writing her first cookbook while becoming a mother. Plus, she explains “component cooking,” her practical alternative to traditional meal prep, and how a pot of beans, rice, pickles or a simple herb sauce can make home-cooked meals possible on even the busiest weeknights.
It’s a candid conversation about convenience, all-or-nothing thinking and why making time for food might be more radical—and more necessary—than ever.
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About Not From Concentrate
Not From Concentrate is a food podcast for busy brains from host Catherine Smart — a cook, writer, mom, and creative entrepreneur with ADHD. Tune in for conversations with chefs, authors, creators, and food lovers about sparking creativity, calming chaos, and finding joy in (and out) of the kitchen.
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