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My Dr. Oz Debut *WITH VIDEO*

So yeah. I was on the Dr. Oz Show! It was a whirlwind, really. They reached out to me on Saturday about this healthy recipe contest to make over my city’s favorite comfort food with a chance for my video to be featured on the show.

I don’t do much “for a chance” — who has time for that? But I figured it wouldn’t take much to throw together a quick video, and hey, Philly Cheesesteaks are right in my wheelhouse!

They wanted to hop on the phone on Sunday, but I don’t work on Sundays and we were busy so I put them off until Monday. On Monday morning, I got the details, went to the store for ingredients, and we shot some video footage that night and sent it off.

Tuesday they called and wanted to know if I could be in NYC on Wednesday.

Wait. What? YOU WANT ME? I just thought you wanted my video!

No, they wanted me. So I cleared my calendar and they arranged for a car service to NYC.

Later in the day on Tuesday, I found out they wanted me to actually MAKE the food and bring it with me. Okay, fine, except for one small detail.

WE WERE IN THE MIDDLE OF A BLIZZARD.

By some stroke of providence — I’m Presbyterian; we don’t do luck, and really, this HAD to be divine intervention!! — I happened to have TONS of chip steak in my freezer from the side of beef we just ordered. I didn’t specify the cuts of meat I wanted; they just so happened to include a bunch of chip steak in this order. And it was sliced REALLY thin, practically shaved, like cheesesteak meat should be.

I put out an SOS on Facebook to see if any neighbors had onions and peppers on hand, and they did! (Thanks, Kim!!) I sent a reluctant child down the street in the snow to retrieve them. The producers procured the cheese and buns since they didn’t require any home prep, and somehow the cheesesteak came together!

Wednesday morning, my car arrived bright and early, and I set off to NYC with a few wardrobe changes along with a bowl of cooked cheesesteak meat and veggies in my bag. It’s a wonder we didn’t have a passel of dogs chasing us down the street.

on the road to dr oz

(Yes, that is my son, shoveling snow in 15 degree weather without a coat on. Teenagers.)

When I got to the studio, everyone was fabulous. The producers were all friendly and down to earth, and they clearly value us and what we do and tried to make us comfortable and give us a fun experience.

The other two bloggers in the “contest” were really sweet too. We had fun comparing notes and getting to know each other in the green room while we waited for our turn on the show. Here I am with Hannah.

JL and Hannah

We had our hair and makeup done, we went over what we were going to talk about so we were prepared when we got on stage, and finally it was our turn to go on!

I wish I had pictures. There just wasn’t time.

It’s not a live show, so before our segment, we were able to go on stage and see the set-up and to meet Dr. Oz. I was impressed that he took the time to meet with us first. You never know if what you see on TV is what you’ll get in real life when you meet someone, but he seems like a truly nice person. The studio was small, but the audience was charged up. The next thing I knew, it was show time!

My husband managed to take the video from our DVR and get my segment onto YouTube. You can view it here.

Also, my cheesesteak recipe is featured as Recipe Of The Month on the Dr. Oz website.

For those too impatient to watch a video (I feel your pain), the end result is . . .

I WON!

And the prize? My own recipe column on DoctorOz.com for a year.

So yeah, I guess I’m glad I decided to throw my hat into the ring!

I find out more today about what that entails, but I’m pretty stoked. It’s the perfect companion to my cookbook project, wouldn’t you say?

Here we are on our way out the door after we were all done!

JL C Hannah

Meanwhile, I’m back home trying to keep all my balls in the air. It’s been fun, but exhausting. I’m the kinda girl who would much rather curl up in front of the fire and read a good novel than jet set up and down the East Coast, although I won’t tell you it’s not a kick every once in a while. I will never cease to be amazed at the fun opportunities this blog brings my way.

I’m coming up on my 8th anniversary. EIGHT YEARS of blogging. It’s pretty crazy to think about! I can’t wait to see what the rest of 2014 has in store!

Join The Conversation

28 Responses

  1. Congratulations! So fun. But I have to comment on the way he was clutching your hands at the end. It was kind of creepy! Made me laugh. Good Job!

  2. How exciting! Congratulations! I watched it yesterday and even got my 16 yr. old to watch. She was excited because she “knew” someone on TV. I have to try the recipe. What did the gal from California think of this cold weather?

  3. I’m guess I’m lucky that I’m way out here in the Pacific time zone because after seeing your Facebook yesterday I quickly set the DVR and was able to record the show. You did fabulous! Congratulations on the win, too.

  4. So excited for you! As someone who has read your blog for just about that long, I love to see how God has grown you and is using you! Congratulations on your column. That is so awesome!!!

  5. Well I’m so proud of you 🙂 Now I understand about the process — of course they wanted you! You’re adorable 🙂 And you WON!!!! Now … do you have to write even more posts to supply his website? I know you’re up to it! How exciting that was!

    1. LOL. You’re sweet, but I’m 41 years old. I think I left “adorable” behind a few years ago! HA!! Hannah…. now SHE is adorable. I think everyone actually did really well and my recipe was probably the least inventive of the 3, so methinks it was more about the cheesesteak being Dr. Oz’s favorite food than my recipe being any better than the others. Still, I’ll take it! I’m thrilled to be featured on his website. They tell me that his fans really do use his recipes as a resource, so hopefully it will help bring a few new readers my way. They promised to link to my blog on my posts. They will be recipe posts, so that’s easy, right!? I will probably use some from my blog. I don’t think they have to be new. And it’s just one a month for one year.

      1. I think they all looked good but I think yours was the most “user friendly” if that makes sense. Of the three, I’d most likely be able to make yours. The nachos looked delicious but when she was explaining ALL that went in to making them all I could think was “no way!”.

  6. Congrats! Love your blog and look forward to your columns with Dr. Oz. That is a great opportunity! You are such an inspiration to me in my eating healthy journey, and I also love your down to earth fashion and beauty advice!

  7. Congratulations! This is probably a stupid question but when I go to get ingredients for this will the steak actually be labeled as “chip steak”? I can’t recall seeing this before but I don’t buy a ton of beef. Looking forward to trying this recipe. 🙂

  8. Jo-Lynne! Loved watching you on Dr. Oz! (Mom called to make sure I didn’t miss this fun news.) And can’t wait to buy your cookbook. Sending cheers and congrats from NC!

  9. Congratulations, Jo-Lynne!! You’re a celebrity!!! What an experience … and congrats on your recipe column win. Busy year for you! Blessings to you from Wisconsin!

  10. Not surprising. You do deserve this opportunity. You’re bloggings have seemed to me to be impartial and thoughtful and smart.

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