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Dishing with Stephanie's DishHost of Emmy award-winning TV show Taste Buds with Stephanie, Author of "True North Cabin Cookbook," blogger at stephaniesdish.com, radio host of "The Weekly Dish", podcaster at "Dishing with Stephanies Dish" and contributor on Fox 9s The Jason Show. Author: Stephanie Hansen - @StephaniesDish
I talk with Cookbook authors and Makers obsessed with food stephaniehansen.substack.com Language: en Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
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The Happy Hostess - Kristie LaLonde
Friday, 12 September, 2025
The "Happy Hostess Cookbook Party" is an online community focused on cookbooks and hosting, led by Kristie LaLonde. It's part of the larger "Happy Hostess" brand, which includes the “Happy Hostess Podcast” and other resources for aspiring and experienced hosts. The club focuses on exploring recipes from various cookbooks, often accompanied by themed events and discussions.Kristie has so graciously planned to feature the “True North Cabin Cookbook” for her October club. The club meets via Zoom for all members. It’s a monthly subscription for an orchestrated “cook along”thats fun and approachable for all levels of cooks interested in joining a community.Stephanie’s Dish Newsletter is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Episode Transcript Follows:Stephanie:Hello, everybody, and welcome to Dishing with Stephanie's Dish, the podcast where we talk to people in the food space. Many times cookbook authors, other times makers. And this particular episode, we are talking to Kristie LaLonde. She is the Happy Hostess Collective. And Kristie and I found each other through a listener of my radio show. My friend Jilly in Minnesota is. She's. We call them Dishers weekly.Stephanie:Dishers, that's the name of the radio show. And Jilly's been a Disher for over 18 years. We've had the show and I think she's listened as long as we've had it. And she reached out to me because in my sub stack, I have a Sunday newsletter and I did a whole thing about entertaining and how I love when people just entertain and people make entertaining so complicated and it doesn't need to be. And I offered to give around a cookbooks to people that have cookbook clubs because I think they're so fun. And Jilly replied and said, I have this great cookbook club. We would love it if we could win your books. And she is part of the Happy Hostess Cookbook Club.Stephanie:So they won. Jilly got the books. I sent books to all the people in the cookbook group that Jilly's in. And Kristie is the leader of the Happy Hostess Collective, Kristie, welcome to the program. I'm delighted to have you.Kristie LaLonde:Thank you. I am so excited to be here.Stephanie:So explain to the audience what the Happy Hostess Collective is and all the different avenues that you have for fostering your love of cookbooks and clubbing.Kristie LaLonde:Well, I am on Instagram as Happy Hostess Collective, but for our cookbook club, it's actually called Happy Cookbook Party because I couldn't really think of a good name. It's not a great name because it doesn't really let you know it's a cookbook club. But we. There's a lot of emphasis on party in it. So basically it's a cookbook club, but instead of meeting in person, most of the time, we are meeting twice a month on Zoom and we are cooking together from one cookbook, which we usually choose a cookbook and stick with that cookbook for like three to four months, depending upon how robust the cookbook is.Stephanie:And people come from all over the country and tell me, like, how do you logistically do it? Do you have like, you know, 30 people on a Zoom or how does it work?Kristie LaLonde:Actually, we do have. We are on Zoom and basically what happens when we pick a book? I will go through and kind of we have a Facebook Group. And so I ask everyone either which recipes really look good to you that you're wanting to try.And then I look through all of those and make sure that they can fit within the hour to hour and a half timeframe of our Zoom Cook along. And then I make a schedule for the next three months and it's printable. I send it to them so they can print it out. And then every. We meet twice a month, so every two weeks, basically we meet on Zoom and I send them grocery list ahead of time for those two recipes that we choose. Sometimes it's three when we throw in a cocktail in there. Yes, especially we usually meet at noon or 4, so the 4 o' clock ones a lot of times have the cocktail. But so we all just meet in one Zoom meeting and we all cook and I'm kind of leading it, but everyone else is talking just as much as I do because we've gotten to know each other so well and it's so fun because we really learn from each other because we have some like expert bakers and we have some people like me that not expert at all in baking.Kristie LaLonde:And so. And like we have some really strong florists and there's. We just learn a lot from each other. And every once in a while we also do like a tutorial on a different thing that would have to do with being a hostess. For example, we've done flower arrangements that mimic the ones we saw in one of our cookbooks. We've done hostess gifts, like kind of homemade, cute little hostess gifts at Christmas time. So it's a wide variety of things. It's been strange.Like a lot of things have come our way. We had, we were offered to have a Vector cocktails. It's like a cocktail mixer. They offered to do a, a cook. I mean, like a cocktail class for us. It was super fun. They sent us all their mixers and it was great. So we've got a chance to do a lot of stuff.Stephanie:So what is your background and how did you land here?Kristie LaLonde:Well, I have always loved cooking and entertaining, even when I was little. Like, I remember I had one of my cookbooks was like the MAD Magazine cookbooks. I don't know if you remember MAD magazine, but they had like a holiday thing and I just loved it. I remember pouring through that and it's crazy because I do that now, obviously with grownup cookbooks, but. And so that just kind of. Well, and then when I was very young, I was the maid of honor in Three Weddings in one year. So I had a crash course and had a host parties for grownups, and that was very fun. But.Kristie LaLonde:And I'd always really enjoyed the ideas of parties as well. Growing up, my parents were my mom. My father was in an industry where there were lots of fancy, fancy famous parties.Stephanie:Yeah.Kristie LaLonde:Because we live in Kentucky, so the derby parties. And.Stephanie:Yes.Kristie LaLonde:So I would, like, hear them, like, sometimes they would be on the farm that we lived on, like in the party barn. And so, like, I would hear the parties, and I just was kind of fascinated with all of that, and it just kind of snowballed from there.Stephanie:But you on the Happy Hostess Collective on your Instagram, you chronicle a lot of these parties and you have, like, beautiful flower arrangements. And I mean, honestly, the south is just like, I don't know why, but you guys are known for just these over the top, beautiful flower arrangements, beautiful parties, beautiful outfits. In the north, everything feels a little more, like, rustic and just a little more outdoorsy. But, like, the south just feels like China and silver and so beautiful.Kristie LaLonde:Yeah, you know, there's a little bit of everything for sure in the south, but we do tend to go over the top. That is. That is definitely the case. Which makes it fun, though. But. And I love a big theme. It can. It's a lot of fun.And whether it's rustic theme, but it's just like kind of go all in on it. It makes it a lot of fun.Stephanie:How did you figure out, like, I think it's pretty cool that you have this whole cookbook club happening via Zoom. So there's technology there. Right. And then you also have, like a Facebook group. You really use social media to drive a lot of this engagement. It is a paid subscription, which I also think is cool because sometimes if you have to pay for something, you value it a little bit more or you make time for it in your schedule. How did I learn all the technological pieces and have you just learned by trial and error?Kristie LaLonde:Well, fortunately, Zoom is fairly easy to use. And especially after Covid, everybody knows how to use Zoom, thankfully. But actually, I started an E commerce store, like, before people heard of the word E commerce.And I am not techno, very technologically advanced, but I am willing to figure out whatever it is if it makes it possible for me to do what I want. And I really wanted a. A China and dish store, which. Big surprise. So that I had it. No, I don't. I had it for almost 14 years. I think that's, like, my dream.Kristie LaLonde:Oh, it was so fun. And it stopped me from buying all the dishes. Because I had all these gorgeous dishes. Like in a warehouse. Yes. But it's a really heavy, breakable object and not so fun to ship after a while. So I transitioned out of that and wanted to do something that didn't require shipping.Stephanie:And this is brilliant because you've got new friends from all over the country. It could be all over the world.Kristie LaLonde:I suppose it definitely could be. There happens to be just the country right now. We are a small group, but it is a really fun group and it's been a great community. And I really wanted something to tie in my podcast to make it and make it smaller. Well, obviously with the podcast, it's only me or myself and a guest, so I really wanted to be able to, like, get to know my listeners better, and this was the perfect thing.Stephanie:How did you get into podcasting? Because you've have had over a hundred episodes all about this topic of hostessing.Kristie LaLonde:Basically it was the sick of being shipping things. So I thought, okay, well, we could start the podcast. I wasn't really sure what direction it was going to take, but I thought that it would be a good avenue for me to get started. And it kind of led to this.Stephanie:One of the topics that was on your recent podcast that I was kind of interested in, because I think the. It has changed so much since COVID is the whole idea of having a party and the RSVP list. People in my experience tend to be very late at responding to things. And even like, we're finding that restaurant reservations people will make four reservations and cancel three with really no thought about it. Like, it's just we're in a very quick societal change. And you talked a lot about how to get people to RSVP, how important RSVPs are. What were some of your tips there?Kristie LaLonde:Well, it's. It sounds a little old school, but one of them was to actually have a physical invitation delivered to them.Stephanie:Amen. This whole, like, you're gonna send me a digital something, it's fine. It's great as, like, a reminder, but I just. I don't think it's the same as, like, getting an actual invitation to something.Kristie LaLonde:I agree. And for one thing, it's. It's less likely to be forgotten because a lot of times they put it on the refrigerator or somewhere they can see it. And then also, like, it's shocking when you get something in the mail that you. That isn't a bill today, you know, so it's. It seems more special.Stephanie:This is kind of a weird aside, but I used to run a direct mail company. So I love direct mail. And the number one growing category for direct mail is 18 to 34, because they love getting offers in the mail. Because getting mail feels so special now and so unique.Kristie LaLonde:You're kidding.Stephanie:No, it's like it's coming back.Kristie LaLonde:That is so interesting.Stephanie:And the catalog companies have always had a robust business using the mail. They've maybe pared down their catalogs a little bit, or they might have specialty offerings, but people are still sending a lot of catalogs.Kristie LaLonde:Oh, goodness. Well, I'm so glad because I just thought I was like, old school because I really like to have books in my hands. I like. I like getting catalogs if it's from a business that I like. I thought I was the only one that.Stephanie:No, you are not. What other kinds of trends are you noticing in just entertaining in general, good or bad?Kristie LaLonde:Well, catching on. One that I did recently, I did a small series on baby showers. And. Wow. Things have changed since I was having babies, for sure. Like, drastically. Some. Some things I think are good.Kristie LaLonde:Like, for example, a lot of times they're co ed now, which was just a trend that had just barely started when I was having children. And I think that's fun and interesting, for sure. Um, but I do also think that they have gotten, like, kind of out of hand a little bit. And I love going over the top, like I said earlier with a party, so I'm. I'm never gonna, like, shame anybody for that. But it seems like with social media coming in, that everyone is seeing these highlight reels from very sophisticated baby showers.Stephanie:Yeah.Kristie LaLonde:And so I kind of camped out in baby shower groups for, like, a good month, like, trying to prepare for this series. And. And it was kind of sad, really, because people were so. A lot of people, not everyone, of course, but were so sad because they didn't have enough people to invite to have an almost wedding, like, baby shower. Like, it was. It was. And they felt defeated. It was just.Kristie LaLonde:It was kind of disheartening. And I mean, you could tell that they really thought that it was normal that people had to rent out a venue hall in order to have a baby shower.Stephanie:Yeah.Kristie LaLonde:Which is not the case at all.Stephanie:And like, just making diaper cake is still pretty fun, isn't it?Kristie LaLonde:Yeah, absolutely. I mean, so, I mean, yeah, it's. It's really different. It's. It's almost. And it's a whole different vibe from a lot of people. And the thing is, I've not seen this in person, so I don't want to say that everyone's like this. Maybe it's just the vocal people on Facebook, you know, but it seemed a lot more like, this is my party.Kristie LaLonde:This is my. My thing, as opposed to, you know, someone hosting it for you.Stephanie:Yeah. Yeah. Well, you haven't. Have you watched the Mormon Housewives?Kristie LaLonde:I haven't.Stephanie:Okay, good. I don't. It's like, so bad. It's good. So wrong. Right. So I don't really want to, like, encourage anyone to do it because that sort of guilty pleasure. But they have these big over the top and they have a lot of kids and they're all women under 30.Stephanie:So they do have these big, like, over the top baby showers and the baby hills and the baby moons. And honestly, it's just. So if we get to the idea of just like, entertaining, I think people get so hung up on that they have to have like this special meal or that they have to spend all day in the kitchen. What would be like, some of your tips for getting you to entertain? More like, barriers to overcome, I guess.Kristie LaLonde:Well, I think first and foremost is to really focus on your mindset and think about why that you want to entertain. And usually it's because you want to make memories and have connections with your friends and family. Do you want to make memories and those are awesome reasons, or you want to celebrate someone, you know? And a lot of times when we start thinking about entertaining, sometimes we can get a little nervous that maybe I'm not good enough cook or I'm. My house isn't big enough or I don't have enough people to invite, for example, the baby shower. And I really just recommend very first thing to do is to flip your mind and be focused on your guests. Like, what do you want to do for them, how do you want them to feel? You know, obviously you want them to be. Feel welcomed in your home and that sort of thing. So if you could just focus on the.Kristie LaLonde:The guest, you usually can stop all the negative chatter in your mind because you're not focusing on yourself. And then also, most importantly, don't do everything yourself. You don't have to cook everything. You don't have to cook at all if you don't want to. You know, that's why caterers exist. Even if you only cooked one thing that was like a signature dish, then you might. It's. It's like you did cook.And so I really think that trying not to do everything and focusing on your making your guests feel welcome are very important.Stephanie:I figured out late in Life how easy it is to cook fish for a crowd. And that seems like a weird thing, but, like, if you get, like, a whole side of salmon or poach a whole fish or you even have slabs that you're just putting under the broiler, you can have, like, any salads prepared in advance. You know, you can have vegetables prepared in advance, you can have a cheese platter prepared in advance. And then really, like, the only thing you're cooking is this side of salmon or you've got a sauce that you've already made. I was always so afraid to cook fish, and once I kind of got over that hump, I was like, wow, this is actually pretty easy. I can cook a whole side of fish. I can feed 12 people off of it, typically, if I get a big enough one. And with all the sides and everything, everything's already made before they even get here.Kristie LaLonde:That is perfect. And that's like the perfect example of what we're trying to do in the cookbook party is to get people to increase their repertoire of things that are very easy to entertain. Because there are some delicious recipes that we make that would be a nightmare if, you know, for entertaining, you know, they take too long, they need to be done at the last minute, that sort of thing. But if you like, for example, the fish, you know that all. It kind of meets all the requirements. You don't have to do it at the last minute. It's easy preparation, and we want to gain. It's like our entertaining arsenal.Kristie LaLonde:Kind of find those recipes, find ways of doing things that make it simple, where, you know, if, like, for example, things that can be cooked the day before and just reheated, like carnitas, like the meat and that type of thing. Yep. There's just lots of them. And. And we can all have our own little personal style when it comes to that. You know, that's what makes it fun is, is everyone seems like they have their own signature dishes.Stephanie:What's a go to Kristie LaLonde signature entertaining dish?Kristie LaLonde:Well, I just mentioned one of them, carnitas. I love them. They are not. They are kind of time consuming, but it is completely make. You can make it whenever you want, and it tastes great the next day reheated. It's one of those things that, you know, can taste better, even better the same day, and people love them. Everyone seems to like them. So that's one of my go tos.Kristie LaLonde:And then also like, oh, gosh, I can't even remember what I call them now, but they're like the white cream chicken, Chicken enchiladas.Stephanie:Oh, yeah.Kristie LaLonde:Because they can totally be made ahead of time, and all you have to do is put them in the oven, and then, you know, you can make sides easily. A lot of times, actually, with both of those things, I used to. I don't need to now, but I didn't have a good refried beans recipe that I liked, and rice is one of the few things that I really, really struggle with. I need to buy a rice cooker is what I've been told, but so I would just order from the restaurant that's around the corner, baked beans and rice, and then serve that with them. So it was, like, liked. It was homemade. It's in my dish. It looks homemade.Yeah.Stephanie:Time saving. An instant pot is also really helpful in the rice department. If you. Oh, I mean, I make rice in my instant pot. It is a rice cooker. It's a pressure cooker. Rice cooker. It cooks everything.And then also I make risotto in there too.Kristie LaLonde:Oh, wow. I did not know that. Actually, the carnitas is one of the few things I use my instant pot for. So now I got something else.Stephanie:Oh, yes. I'm a big instant potter. In fact, one of the Facebook groups that we run for our radio show is called the Weekly Dish Instant Potters. Oh, some really great recipes there that people have shared or linked to. It's an open group, but I. It's. If you're an instant potter, and I still am. I still love my instant pot.Stephanie:I do my slow cooker, too. You can slow cook in an instant pot, but I also have two other slow cookers because I'm somewhat obsessed with that, but really helpful and easy. Is there a cookbook that you've used on the cookbook Club journey that you really were like, wow, this is a great, entertaining cookbook?Kristie LaLonde:Yes, for sure. And most of the ones that we choose have an entertaining bent to them, typically just because of our interest in what we're trying to accomplish in the group. But Love Welcome Serve by Amy Hannon. Like, really blew my socks off. Every single recipe that we tried just seemed to be over the top, delicious. It was really phenomenal. Like, we've enjoyed all of our books, for sure, but this one, it just really. I was blown away, and I had been told and that it really was such a good cookbook, and I finally caved and put it in there, and I'm so glad that I did.Stephanie:Yeah, I'm looking at it. It looks delightful. It's got kind of an Ina Garten feeling to it.Kristie LaLonde:And she is just a very genuine, kind, hospitable person. She really. She definitely has the mindset. Like, even when she's talking about making little notes, you can just see just. She has such a hospitable nature.Stephanie:And then the recent cookbook that you guys are doing is the. Is it Brunch with Babs?Kristie LaLonde:Brunch with Babs is her account, but the book is called Celebrate with Babs.Stephanie:Okay. And Babs is like everybody's favorite grandma. Her daughter, I think, worked in lifestyle television and has helped her create this really unbelievable social media presence and following. What is it about her books that attracted you?Kristie LaLonde:I. Well, she organizes her cookbooks in the way that I always enjoy, and that is by party or event. I love cookbooks that are organized that in that fashion. And I'd heard good things about it, and so we thought we would try it.Stephanie:Yeah, she's really. I think her recipes are really great. She's not too fussy. She has some that are more complicated than others, but she does a lot of, like, semi homemade kind of things too. Don't you wish that Sandra Lee from Semi Homemade would come back?Kristie LaLonde:Oh, I know. I. Oh, I loved, loved, loved her show because of the party aspect. I absolutely loved it. And we have enjoyed Celebrate with Babs for sure. And you're right, there are a lot of, like, one recipe will be, you know, kind of complicated like you said, and one will be semi homemade. Today at 4. Today we have our.Kristie LaLonde:What's our second to last cook along in Celebrate with Babs. And the theme today is looking forward to fall. So we're doing her new pond chili and then we're doing Mrs. Williams peanut butter bars. So.Stephanie:Yeah, delicious.Kristie LaLonde:Yes, that will be good for dinner.Stephanie:Yes, it will be. It makes me think of my pumpkin spice espresso martini that I'd like to have with that.Kristie LaLonde:Oh, that sounds good. Oh, that sounds so good.Stephanie:Yeah, I'm obsessed with pumpkin spice. And my. My second book is kind of geared from October through April, so more fall time. And I really, I. When you go to get like a pumpkin spice something, it's usually full of such gross ingredients. And I was like, okay, we could make pumpkin spice flavor with pumpkin, right? And spice, like, it wouldn't be that hard. So I made a pumpkin spice cream and then used it in different recipes. And the espresso martini with pumpkin spice was delightful.Kristie LaLonde:Oh, that sounds amazing. Espresso martinis are one of my absolute favorites.Stephanie:Me too. Me too. Well, it's been super great to chat with you about entertaining, Christy. How can people follow you and what's the best way to join if they want to join the cookbook club?Kristie LaLonde:Well, our website is happy cookbookparty.com and I'm on Instagram at Happy Hostess Collective, if you have a question about anything. And I am excited to announce that we are doing one of your cookbooks starting in October.Stephanie:Excellent. That's right on time.Kristie LaLonde:Yes. I'm so excited about it. I can't wait, because this is totally different. I love that we, you know, we've done a lot of Southern cookbooks. Like we did Pizzazzerie and the Southern Living Party Cookbook and a couple others. And then we kind of moved over to the Midwest of it was celebrate with Babs. And so yours will be a perfect fit.Stephanie:Thank you. I'm excited to have you guys do it. And I hope I can find pop in and say hi while everyone's cooking, because that sounds kind of fun.Kristie LaLonde:Oh, I would love it. I would love it. And I would like to offer your listeners, if they want to join us, they can use the code SD50, and they'll get 50% off their first month's membership.Stephanie:That's fun. And how much is a membership generally? Is it 22?Kristie LaLonde:It's $22 a month. Yes.Stephanie:Okay. I love it. That's great. That's fun. It's a good little, like, date night for yourself to do something fun and unusual that you maybe haven't done before, right?Kristie LaLonde:Yes, it is. And it's, you know, I know you not for you, probably because you're immersed in the food industry, and I know you're so big on local, which I love about your cookbooks. I love reading the little stories about the local people. But, you know, a lot of us don't have, like, I love to entertain, and I do have friends that entertain, but I don't have people necessarily close to me that just love it as much as I do and really want to learn. And so it's awesome that I get to hang out with these people all over the country that really do love it as much as I do.Stephanie:Yes. Well, we'll put all this information in the show notes, and you and I will connect on when we want to have the podcast distributed so that people can join. And it was really great to spend time with you. Thanks to Jilly in mn, my favorite Instagram friend and weekly disher who hooked us up. Kristie. I'll connect with you after this podcast by email, and we'll get all the details set up, but thanks for watching, for helping launch my book. It's awesome.Kristie LaLonde:Well, thank you. I appreciate the opportunity.Stephanie:Yes. And we'll talk soon. Thanks for being a guest today. Oh, and I want to shout out your podcast real quick because we'll put a link to that, too.Kristie LaLonde:Thank you. It's called Happy Hostess.Stephanie:Okay. It's really great. You have a lot of episodes on hostessing and fun, entertaining ideas, so. All right, Kristie we'll connect in email.Kristie LaLonde:Awesome. Thanks, Stephanie.Stephanie:Okay, bye. Bye. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit stephaniehansen.substack.com/subscribe
