Lights, camera, cook!

Preparing dinner in front of several TV cameras, crewmembers, directors and hundreds of thousands of home viewers would be terrifying for most people, but Robin Miller finds it stimulating.

Miller, AS ’86, hosts Quick Fix Meals with Robin Miller, a regular cooking show that airs on the Food Network.
Miller says she loves the “butterflies” in her stomach before filming because the nervousness helps her put on the best show possible for the viewers at home.

A psychology major at UD, Miller was not planning a career in the culinary spotlight. She took several nutrition courses in addition to her degree requirements and originally planned to pursue a career in sports medicine. She played on the varsity women’s lacrosse team all four years as an undergraduate and won the Division 1 title with the team her freshman year.
Her interest in both psychology and nutrition was the driving force that ultimately defined her career path. In 1998, Miller earned a master’s degree in food and nutrition at New York University.

But it was marriage, she says, that most changed her life. After receiving an extensive collection of new cookware as wedding gifts, she realized that she had no idea what to do with it all. The challenge inspired her, so she took a year off to learn how to cook. She says that she then felt overwhelmingly compelled to write her first book, The Newlywed Cookbook, based on that experience.

Without specific plans for where her writing would lead her, Miller started writing features for magazines on cooking and eating well, which then evolved into some TV appearances. Her own show on the Food Network soon followed.
Miller says she loves the variety and balance that her career provides. She films her show in New York City for several weeks at a time, and then has a block of time off to work on her recipes and her books. She says she revels in the ability to do different things all of the time.

Even with her passion for nutritious food, Miller says that taste will always win out over nutrition. “There is always a way to make something taste good and be healthy,” she says. “If a dish doesn’t taste good, then you’ll pick up something unhealthy instead. So, I figure out ways to make the healthy food just as, if not more, delicious than less healthy foods. Nutrition and taste can always go hand in hand.”

When trying to develop her wholesome and family-friendly recipes, Miller takes inspiration from a variety of sources. After seeing an interesting dish on another chef’s menu, she may try to modify it for the health-conscious home cook. Quite often, inspiration for a new dish strikes when she is simply looking through the contents of her own pantry before making dinner for her family.

The seasonal items at the local grocery store will sometimes inspire a new recipe idea as well. Miller says she loves going to the grocery store and picking out anything that looks especially good in the fresh food section, taking it home and being creative in the kitchen.

Many mothers have problems cooking a healthy variety of foods for children who are picky eaters and do not like to try new flavors. But Miller’s sons, Kyle, 7, and Luke, 4, are her “super-tasters,” she says. The boys were not adventurous with eating until Miller asked them to help her in the kitchen. Kyle and Luke use safety scissors to cut up herbs, help season the dishes and stir the food while it’s cooking.

Now, Miller says, the boys are always curious about what they have made together and are eager to try their culinary creations. They even traveled from the family home in Scottsdale, Ariz., to New York last summer to be on the show with her.

Miller is passionate about designing gourmet recipes that are easy enough for the everyday cook. Her goal is to create dishes that will come together quickly, using only ingredients that can be found in any grocery store. This allows her readers to have innovative and intense flavors in their food every day, she says.

Her latest cookbook is Robin to the Rescue. Miller says that the recipes are all done in her signature “quick fix” style, with lots of tips on how to prepare dishes in advance and “bank it”— prepare and freeze food for use later.
“I like to show people how to take a recipe and use five different ways to get it finished,” she says about her preparation alternatives.

While she was on a book tour, she says she was happily surprised at the number of college students who told her that her recipes and “bank it” tips saved them during their exam weeks.

“My style of cooking appeals to a wide audience of people. These are recipes for people who want delicious, healthy, home-cooked meals that they can make fast,” Miller says.

For others who would like a career like hers, Miller says, “It sounds like a cliché, but follow your passion. That’s what I did. If you love what you do, you can have a good time and make money. That’s when you’ll be successful.”

—Crystal Buck, AS ’06, ’08M