It's Your Job to be Happy, Not to be Rich | Celebrity Chef Carla Hall

*This transcript was auto-generated*

Carla Hall: There are no mistakes in the universe. You cannot miss it, but the only thing that you will miss is not doing it, not betting on yourself. And the thing is I, because I went through all of that, when I come to something that I don't know, when it comes to something that I feel in my heart now, I have so many examples of say, girl, if you don't do it, you can do it later or you can do it now, but you will do it.

Kim Gravel: Do it now. You will do it. Oh, girl. Somebody needs to hear this.

Opening Introduction: Let's just go on and spill the tea. This is The Kim Gravel Show. This is one of the realest persons I've ever met in my darn life. You gotta watch this. My mission is to encourage every single woman, we're here to lift y'all up. There's no one more effective than moms. You mess with the bull. You going to get the horns. I need coffee. I need Jesus and I need therapy. If you can bring a smile to people's faces, why would you not? We love our kids. We love our husbands. What a blessing. We're gonna dedicate this to you in finding your superpower. Okay girl. True confidence is knowing who you are and why you're here.

Kim Gravel: Hey y'all, Kim Gravel here. This is The Kim Gravel Show. And this season we are talking about leveling up our life and stepping into our purpose. And we're going to do that right now. And we're going to do that together. Wait till you see. Who we've got on the show, Carla Hall, you are going to know her from TV, from all her cooking, from all her, amazing shows that she hosts and is a part of, but what I love about Carla, Zac, cause see I met Carla at the Tamron Hall show not too long ago, we were both there, I was promoting the book and she was promoting her QVC line.

Didn't know it. Just ran into it. I didn't know that either. I didn't, I didn't either. I mean, I knew she had a lot on QVC, but I didn't know she was going to be there and we hit it off instantly. It's Carla's zest for life and food and love that I think people connect with so much. She's such a positive person, has a lot of energy, but at the same time, she has a reason that she does what she does.

Wait till you hear her story and how it came about. Zac, have you ever seen Carla?

Zac Miller: I was a big fan of Carla, on Top Chef. And it's actually really funny because Carla's one of those people who is like, I think, like more famous than she is in a way like my, the, Mike, the show is like, Oh my gosh, I love Carla Hall.

And like, you know, my wife is like, Oh my gosh, I love Carla. I love Carla. Like everyone knows who she is. And she's just so amazing. And she has, like, she's so filled with life, but she's had.

Kim Gravel: She's so authentic, Zac, and she's so real and wait till you hear her story and you're going to be encouraged.

You're going to be uplifted. You're going to learn about Carla, but you're also going to be inspired yourself. So, don't go anywhere right after this. Carla Hall.

I just want to say a big thank you to everybody who's reached out to me about, the book Collecting Confidence. My new book that is just been such a blessing to hear from you. It's been a bestseller and it's. And more importantly, it's the messages I'm getting that has touched your life is really, you, you have no idea that is true success to me.

If you've taken anything, any nugget, any truth out of that book and applied it and related to it in your own life, I say, thank you. Zac, it's just been so amazing to hear people say to me, Kim, this book touched me. That's why I did it is that I want everyone to walk in their collected confidence. So you can start where you are and become everything you're meant to be.

Doesn't matter your age, doesn't matter, what you look like, where you come from confidence is right there for you and can everything help you be everything you're meant to be. Thank y'all. I love you. Oh, get ready. Get ready. Get ready. Get ready. Our guest today, she went from accountant to model, to author, to chef.

 She's a TV star. She was the TV star of Top Chef. She was on The Chew, one of my favorite daytime shows of all time, and is a fixture on the Food Network. Her latest cookbook, Carla Hall's Soul Food, is an everyday celebration and was published in 2018 and is one of the best selling cookbooks on every list out there.

I love this about her though. She's actually worked as a caterer, a teacher, a private chef. She's a keynote speaker. Y'all welcome Miss Carla Hall.

Carla Hall: I'd like to package that up in a to go box.

Kim Gravel: Please. We're gonna send it right to you. Isn't that fantastic? Super. All super. You deserve the biggest intro, Carla, how are you now? Can I just say real briefly, Carla and I just recently met in person on the Tamron Hall Show. I was so glad to see you that day.

I was like, oh my God. Cuz I knew you had the new line coming out on QVC and it's like uber successful and I'm like, I wonder if she knows if I'm on QVC. I'm going to go just attack her and meet her and see if she, if we can connect. And it was instant, instant kinship.

Carla Hall: 100%. It was instant because the day that I launched on March 22nd, I was at QVC and I was looking at Mary and I saw you on screen.

I'm like, who is that?

And I was, your energy popped off the screen. I was like, whatever she's selling, I want to buy. I mean, it was seriously, I was like, sold!

I got, you know, yeah, you have your phone.

Kim Gravel: Oh girl, I've tapped that out. Yeah, I've tapped that out with me. Alright, so Carla, listen, let's, we gotta talk because there's so much, you're talk, you've done so much, girl.

I mean, where have you not been and what have you not done?

Carla Hall: I have not done race car driving yet.

Zac Miller: Yet. Yet. Now see Carla, you're speaking it out in the world. It's gonna, you're gonna happen in a race car. Hundred percent.

Carla Hall: I have not. What was I gonna, I haven't jumped out of a plane.

Kim Gravel: Oh, well, let's not, I don't know if I, okay.

Zac Miller: Kim's a big, big fan.

Carla Hall: No, but I, you know what? So do you know Enneagrams? I'm a seven and it, it's called the,

Kim Gravel: I'm an 8.

Carla Hall: Oh, I have a wing 8. It makes so much sense. I'm a seven.

Kim Gravel: Wing 8.

I'm wing 7. So we're, we're, we're like this.

Carla Hall: We are a bot. We are literally a bot. We are complete. We are complete.

And so I don't mind starting over. I don't mind not knowing, but I'm curious about a lot of things. I know sometimes what stops people is the fear of the unknown, where I am propelled by the unknown. You know, and, and so I see it as an adventure. I see it as an adventure. And my motto is say yes, adventure follows then growth.

Kim Gravel: Ooh, nice. Say yes, adventure follows and then growth. You, this was, I did not know this about you because I mean, I see you as the chef, I see you as this, you know, very accomplished. you know, TV star in the, in the culinary world, you didn't go to culinary school, Carla, until you were

Carla Hall: 30? Yes, correct. I was thirty.

Kim Gravel: How did that all happen? Can you give us your journey, you know, of how that happened?

Carla Hall: So, I wanted to do theater. I did theater from 12 to 17. I know you can't tell. I'm a little shy.

No, seriously, Kim, y'all, y'all, y'all, you're laughing Zac, but I was super, super shy up until 12 and I saw my first play, Bubbling Brown Sugar on Broadway.

My uncle was in the chorus and I went home and I was saying one of those lines as one of the characters. For a month. And my mom was like, Oh my gosh, what am I going to do with this girl? And one of her friends said, put her in theater. And she found a theater camp at the YMCA. And I went to the theater camp and it was like, you couldn't even, it was like this, the box was shattered.

So theater really saved me, I think. And so I then was part of the Nashville Academy Theater in Nashville, Tennessee, obviously. And and then I wanted to go to a conservatory and I didn't get accepted or my acceptance was deferred at Boston University. That rejection sort of shut me down and I went and about phased to accounting.

So then I did accounting. So in accounting, they're like, okay, if you're going to do this, they're pushing public accounting. Take the CPA exam. All right. And now I'm working for price warehouse in Tampa, Florida, and I'm, I'm going to be sitting for the CPA exam. And then all this time I'm like, oh my gosh, I hate my job.

I want, I don't want to be 40 and hate my job. So I did another pivot, but I continue to study for the CPA exam. While I was over in Paris and I had one telephone number and a girl I didn't know. And I went to Paris with that one telephone number, couldn't speak the language. I had 10 words of French and thought I was gonna starve cause I didn't know how to, I, I was ordering food that I didn't know how to pronounce and they wouldn't give it to me until I got it correctly.

And, you know, crossaint dub played coming from Nashville, Tennessee and they're like crossaint dub.

Kim Gravel: Not only did you not know the language, but then you had a different dialect altogether. You know what I'm saying? They couldn't even understand that. But look, you know, Carla, you're telling me all this and I just had this massive aha moment in my head because. Your calling finds you, yes, even if you make a mistake, I've got cold chills when I just said that because somebody needed to hear that because you said that one rejection made you go into a completely clearly you're brilliant, but like accounting, I could, you need to be with people, not numbers, you need to be.

You know what I'm saying? You're, you're, you're light, you're joy, you're happy, you're entertaining, like, but it found you, Carla, at 44, when you went on Top Chef, that changed your whole life. Y'all, I'm getting cold chills. Somebody needs to hear this, Carla.

Carla Hall: No, 100%. There are no mistakes in the universe.

You cannot miss it. But the only thing that you will miss is not doing it, not betting on yourself. And the thing is, I, because I went through all of that, when I come to something that I don't know. When it comes to something that I feel in my heart now, I have so many examples of say, girl, if you don't do it, you can do it later or you can do it now, but you will do it.

Kim Gravel: Do it now. You will do it. Ooh, girl, Somebody needs to hear this.

Carla Hall: I mean, it is a blessing. Nothing is also lost. Every single thing that I've done, I can still see the benefit of doing that thing. Accounting, going to Paris. You know, working, at a lunch delivery that I started a lunch delivery service, but when I was in London modeling, I ended up working at a sandwich shop, right?

And then that informed when I came back to D. C. after that, to start a lunch delivery service. Using all the things that I've eaten and was experiencing in London. So nothing is wasted.

Kim Gravel: Nothing is wasted and it's never too late. You know, when you, when you decided to go be on top chef, how did that all come about?

Because everybody remembers you from top chef. And then we got to talk about the chew. Cause that was my favorite all time show and I, they should never cancel. I mean, it should never gone off air and we'll talk about that in a second, but. Like, what made you want to go and say, you know what, I'm going to be, I'm going to try on Top Chef because you didn't actually win Top Chef, did you?

You were runner up.

Carla Hall: No. And this is why I tell people you don't need to win, but this is how Top Chef came about. I had a long, Christmas season. I was sitting on the couch and that's when I just, just, just binge and, you know, let the TV do its work, you know, and I was watching Top Chef. From season one to three and season four was about to start.

And then a friend called me and said, you, you should do top shelf. I said, yeah, that'd be great. That'd be so much fun. I literally had just found out about the show. Then one day, my sous chef came in and said, I had a dream. You were on top chef. So when I got home that day, I had a call from magical L saying, Oh, Hey, we're from magical elves and would you like to audition for top chef?

I thought it was a prank call. I wasn't gonna call them back. So then I had it on my cell phone. I had it on my home phone and they couldn't, they said, Oh, like Don to scoff. Yeah, but they sort of messed up the name and everything that In my world was just coming together. And that's how I got on a woman named Catherine Newell Smith gave them my name and I didn't even realize it.

And I went to her for a reference, not knowing she was the person who gave them my name. That's how connected we are. Like in this universe, when you're meant to do something. Right. And it'll find you. But look, check this out. So here I am, I'm up there at CIA for my interview and I go in, they don't say anything.

I'm like, okay, I'm going to go home now. I can't have to take a train from DC. I am in the train station and I am looking at my phone. I had a message. I was going to call my husband and say, Oh, I have a message. Let me get that before I leave because I'm going to get on the train. And it was them asking me to do a call back.

Now, I was 20 minutes from getting on that train. Instead, I turned around and went back. Can you imagine getting that message on the train? Stop! Stop the train! Stop the train!

Kim Gravel: Oh my gosh.

Carla Hall: Every single thing was just like, I am supposed to be here.

Kim Gravel: Right. But you're, you're, you're 44.

Carla Hall: I was 44.

Kim Gravel: Like so many people, so many people say, I have so many women say to me, I can't do this.

I'm too old or I'm too this, or I'm just a mom or I'm just, you know, I'm just a, and then you fill in the blank. You are 44 Carla. You were heading into your prime of your earning potential, your brand building, your TV career as a CPA. Slash chef slash restaurant. Did you have a failed restaurant as well?

Carla Hall: I had that at 50 something. Yes. Yeah, I sure did. No, but look, look, this is the thing. I think a lot of people, especially women and I, and I will be 16 next year, girl. I will be celebrating the entire year.

Kim Gravel: You do not. I swear. You look like you 42.

Carla Hall: Look, it's all melanin and all the things, but, but think about it.

And I want to bring up Tina Turner, even though she was a singer, she sort of recreated herself at 41. Right. And so life is not over when you can honestly reign in your wisdom of all those years. I think we're, we're grown to think, Hey, life is going to be over. You're doing you're in the thing, which is what I thought.

I said, I don't want to be 40 and wish I had it because at 40, I figure out, I think I would have figured it all out, but at 40, I have the wisdom to. Take more chances with all of the things that were in front of me and to be able to see them as opportunities. And I think by not taking that, chance on yourself, by betting on yourself, you're wasting all of that wisdom that you accumulated over the years.

Kim Gravel: And you could have been getting busy about it earlier. Do you know what I'm saying? Like, like bet on yourself now. So, so then you go to the Top Chef and then comes the Chew. Now, for those of you who missed the Chew, should we start writing letters now and say, bring it back, bring it back. That was one of the best shows on daytime TV ever.

Carla Hall: It was amazing. It was so much fun. Seven years. I think it was something like seven years, 1200 shows or something like that. I've been saying 2,500, but I think it's only 1200. Cause you know, hyperbole once you get away from it. But, one of the things that it, it felt like 2,500, but it was, but I tell you, it was so much fun.

So I was asked to do Top Chef All Stars in 2010. I was like, oh my God, I don't, I don't wanna do it. I don't wanna do it. The producers called me three times and I said, finally, I said, and one of the producers said, make it part of your business plan. And I was like, huh? Because before me, I was just doing it for a Lark.

I was just doing it for a personal experience. I wasn't thinking about it fitting into my life. And so at the time, you know, so at the time. I, I really didn't wanna cater anymore and I was trying to figure out what my next chapter was going to be. And I said, okay, you know, I think I'll, I just wanna do cookies, tiny cookies.

And when he said that, I said, oh my God, I'm gonna go on Top Chef just to tell people I don't cater. Don't call me for catering. I don't cater.

I was like, you know, I'm a recover caterer. Right? And that was the only, I've been there, done that. That was the only reason. That I did it girl. Cause a food mover.

So when I go on and then I had, one fan favorite, that's when they were looking for people for the two. So one opportunity fed into the other. And so I did the whole thing and they called me and it was a whole bunch of people, 200 and some people, they didn't ask me, they shot the pilot. They were working on it a year.

And then, it came up the Top Chef, I won fan favorite, and that's when they brought me in. And the five of us were together for 20 minutes when they announced us as the cast three days later. Boom, boom, boom.

Kim Gravel: And it was, it was kismet. It was magical. It was, it was a kindred spirits of sort, that show.

It was high level. It was elevated. You guys were really had a lot of chemistry. Your philosophy in life is something that your grandmother advised you from a young age. You know, she said it's your job to be happy, not rich. Do you think that's what you live your life by? I love that.

Carla Hall: 100%.

Everything I do. When people ask me, how is it that you have so much energy? I said, I have a good picker. I wouldn't be here if I didn't want to be. I, I don't say, I don't say yes to anything.

Kim Gravel: You got a good, what? Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. You got a good, what?

Carla Hall: I have a good picker.

Kim Gravel: You got to lean into that babe.

Lean into that. Tell everybody what you mean by that.

Carla Hall: What I mean is my gut, I trust my gut. My whole team is used to trusting my gut and it will say, yes, I should do this. No, I should do this. I have to like the people I do business with. I have to walk like, and this started with catering because I used to cater because I thought that the client had the power to choose me and I realized, no, I can choose you too because you want me to feel good about your job.

If I don't feel good about making your food, it ain't gonna be good. So it is a mutual thing. Anybody who is in business, you get to choose your client.

Kim Gravel: Come with that. Right?

Carla Hall: And we feel like they have to choose us.

Kim Gravel: It's a mentality. Don't you think that applies Carla to relationships? It applies to business.

It replies to parenting. It applies to friendships. It's like, what is it about sometimes as women, especially women that we feel like we don't have that power of choice, but we do.

Carla Hall: And when you step into that power, your world changes. You are, you are acting with resentment because there are times where Somebody will ask me to do something and I'm like, I'm going to be tired. I'm not going to be in my best mood, but people are like, you're always happy. No, I'm always happy because I want to be there. You, you don't want to see me when I'm hungry and tired and resentful for taking this job. That is not, that is not a good look.

Kim Gravel: Carla, you have just spoken into my life and I know everybody listening in a big way right now, because I.

You just don't need to say yes, just to say yes, or because you're desperate.

Carla Hall: And a lot of times people will say yes, because one, they think if they say no, that person isn't going to come back. If your price is your price and then like, Oh, I can't afford that. And you start, you know, bringing down your price.

It's like, I'm like, Oh, okay, well, you know, I'll still be here.

Kim Gravel: Call me when you can. Y'all, that, we can just totally end the podcast on that because that is such a mind blow. I hope everybody understands what she said because her grandmother said what?

Carla Hall: It is your job to be happy, not to be rich.

Kim Gravel: Right. Don't you think the riches follow when you're in the happy place?

Carla Hall: The riches follow. And I mean, so Kim, even when I look at you, when I look at you on television and you're selling things and we were talking about your business and how it's grown in five years. Right? But your authenticity and when I look at you and what you're projecting from the screen.

You would not project that if there was, like unhappiness or resentment. That's, I mean, all those things, the, the, the pride that you feel and the joy and confidence that you feel in your products, that's what sales.

Kim Gravel: That's how you come across. You come across with such confidence. And it makes me feel like, okay, I feel more confident in your presence.

And I think that comes from this whole philosophy that you're walking in what you want to do. I mean, to me, I got cold chills. The whole thread of your life is that. You've just, you've pivoted, you've, you've tried things. You've let your gut guide you. And is that why you're so confident, Carla? Because you really are

Carla Hall: No, lemme tell you right now, I can stand right here or sit and tell you I am good at what I do and I know that I'm good at what I do.

You are, and I'm worth every penny that I get from what I do. But it was a process. And when I was on the two and I just did this podcast, just did a, a thing, where we were talking about. My heart lessons and when one of the executives said, look, you aren't as good as the guys and maybe it's because he couldn't articulate when he really needed to say to me, but.

It was, it was, it was really harsh, but. What it did to me, frustration is the ability to do work. What it helps me do was to say, wait a minute, let me call a meeting and let me go and talk to these producers. I was, I was so upset by that, but I also, I had to do other things and. And when he, he was the messenger for my lesson.

And so a lot of times we will have a personal attachment to the messenger because I still had to get to that point of without him saying that. I wouldn't have gotten to my authenticity every single day. My prayer was authenticity. And so really what he was saying was, you aren't as comfortable in your own skin as the guys are.

And when I had, when I called that meeting and child, I was crying. I was saying all the things, cause I just knew I was going to get fired up to this. And so I said, let me not sit at home and say, I wish I had to say it. But, and then when I finished all of that, he was like, all right, you ready to get to work.

And basically I was ready to step into who I am, right? And a lot of times, even on the other side, so a lot of times we may want, we may feel like we want to say something to somebody and we don't say it because we're like, we really don't want to hurt their feelings. But when you do that, you deny that person that lesson, the thing that they're supposed to hear to propel them to do the thing.

Right? And so it's, it's, I don't. I have learned not to take it personally when the lesson or how the lesson comes to me, but I'm grateful if I make it to the other side, I'm better than I was. When I was hurt or in angst or whatever. Now I'm gonna tell you this. When somebody says something to me, and it may be hurtful, I'm like, oh, hold on one second.

I check in. If I don't feel anything about it, that's a child that's not mad. That's, that's not for me.

Kim Gravel: That's that gut. That's that gut check. When they say something, oh, I don't know if this is for me. This might be against me. I need to back off from that and let that just go in one ear out the other.

Oh, and you got to be able to discern that difference. How do you do that? How do you discern that?

Carla Hall: I think it comes from when you were going through those hard lessons. You checked in and, and when I tell you the first three years of the chew I had, my stomach was in nuts and gnarly, and it was painful.

It was like I had a stomach ache. It was painful. And I was like, oh my God, this, it was the hardest thing. And, and then it, it became less and less and less. And so using that, and so I know now from listening to my body, listening to my spiritual. sense by voice, what that feels like when I have a lesson. So you have to learn to use that muscle.

I've been using it for three decades. So, and I've learned to use that muscle and to tune in because it is for me. Anything that happens to me happens for me.

Kim Gravel: Oh let me ask you this, because I'm so glad you're part of the QVC family with us. It is a family. You'll, it's just, it's an amazing place to be. You got to be able to bring it, right? No joke. It is no joke. And, and it is a, it is a fake reader. I mean, people know authenticity there. You can't fake it till you make it.

You just have to be who you are. It's live TV. You know, you've done a million TV shows. So tell me about your line. I love the fact that it's called Sweet Heritage. I know the story behind it, but can you share it with other people? Because it's absolutely beautiful.

Carla Hall: Well, I really want it to, when I think about cooking and I think about how I started cooking, it really was about my grandmothers, Freddie and Thelma.

Kim Gravel: My grandmother was Thelma too.

Carla Hall: Stop it.

Kim Gravel: My grandmother was a Thelma too. Yes, honey. Grandma Thelma Hardy. All right.

Carla Hall: Yes. I even called my chicken Thelma at the restaurant because my grandma's chicken was so good.

She was my mascot. Our mascot was like the chicken Thelma. Yes. Yes. I love it.

So my whole thing is about heritage and joy and love and, and bringing all of that together and, and, and learning how to cook with love and live with joy, but also honoring my heritage.

Food holds so much of our culture. And so I knew that I wanted my, my motif or my, my logo to have those ochre flowers to remind myself of my ancestors in Africa. And yes, to anybody else that made this look like a flower, but they mean something to me. So all of my things are charged with my ancestors and my grandmothers and all of that.

And I wanted the colors to be bright. And just when you have them in the kitchen. You're like, Oh my gosh, this just sparks the place up. Right. And then also I, I got to work with the engineers. I got to, and I, and I, I didn't realize how much I was going to enjoy that process to say, you know, I like that, but I think the handles need to be a little bit bigger because I have big hands and I, and I want these colors like all of that, all, usually people sort of outsource that part.

And I am very much involved because that's how I think that's how, and, and, and when I am up there, and it took four years, when I am up there and I'm talking about these things, I am so happy and proud because this little baby was impregnated for four years. Right. You know, And

Kim Gravel: it's like giving birth.

It's like giving birth.

Carla Hall: It really is. And let me tell you, talk about the QVC family. Everybody has just, just taken me under their wings and they've been so supportive and, and just sort of saying, Hey, Carla, we got you. And. I never feel alone by being on camera with any of these personalities. And it's just, it's just been wonderful.

Kim Gravel: Well, and everybody loved it. It's a huge hit. I'm just going to give a little shameless plug because your immersion blender is so Honking good. I'm not getting you child. That thing is powerful. I bought three of them and it girl, I think I could, I don't, I think I could wash my clothes with it. I mean, I think I could just put it in a thing of water and wash the car.

I mean, it is so good. I'm not getting you.

Carla Hall: Let me tell you about that. So I said, if I'm going to do an immersion hand blender, it has to be really powerful. Because I would never use them to pure braised soups because they're never powerful enough. And I like really smooth soups, right? So girl, I forget.

I forget how powerful it is. I can't tell you how many times I forgot that thing was powerful and I cleaned up splatter from all over my kitchen.

Kim Gravel: It's so good. It's the best one I've ever had. Cause I buy them and they die. You know, they like, like. I bought three of them. I bought two for gifts and everybody's like this blender is so Y'all go try the blender.

Trust what i'm telling you.

Carla Hall: And that's all the one you turned up the 10 You better stop. You better watch out child. Okay, girl.

Kim Gravel: I ain't got past three. What are you talking about? What are you talking about? I'm afraid of 10. I'm afraid of 10 No, it's so good the quality and my point is the quality's Do you have other things coming up?

Like what's the plan? What's the future? What's next?

Carla Hall: Yes. So I have, can I talk about it? Like I do have some other things coming up and I have color. So going into the fall, we've got this berry. So we have plum and the summer berry is coming in the fall. Mushroom is coming in the fall. So like a neutral palette.

I've got an everyday cooker that is coming in and it's a, it's an everyday pan stick and it has a steamer and look, check this out. I've had so much fun creating recipes for every one of my products. So if you get my products, at least five recipes per product, you have a whole cookbook. You have a whole cookbook when you get my products.

Because I make sure I have an electric knife coming out. I have a, a rolling pin with variable, little sizers and I'm doing one that's a half inch because when I did my petite cookies and I rolled them out and I had to half inch by half inch cubes, right? So all those things, I mean, I am, I'm so excited.

Oh, speaking of being hungry child, have you tried my hot chicken? The raw hot chicken. You better shut your face because it is so darn good. You, I mean, you, you got to get two packages because one of them, you're going to just be hitting somebody inside the head with the raw chicken.

Kim Gravel: No, you said hot chicken.

Zac Miller: Wait, what is it? It's hot.

Carla Hall: It's a hot chicken. It's hot, but it's raw. So you cook it at home and so it doesn't come cooked. It is hand butchered. It is free range. It is not injected. It is juicy. Like the skin has a yellow tinge it. When I say hand butchered, it's not going to come to you with all kind of flabby fat hanging off of it because somebody took a knife and cut that thing and it's a carved it out, carved it out, hand seasoned.

And cryo vac. So while that chicken is resting in that cryo vac, all those spices are going into it. And when I tell you it is so juicy and not injected, juicy and not injected.

Kim Gravel: I wish I could say the same about my face, but I can't.

Carla Hall: Kim, shut up, girl. Shut up, girl. So you're an, you're J, you're J and I. Juicy and injected.

And I'm injected. And I'm injected.

Kim Gravel: All right, girl, we, we got, we got to do something real quick before any, every guest we have. We do this thing called rapid fire, rapid fire questions that we just going to ask you random question. And I don't even have to tell you this because what comes up comes out. So just don't even think about it.

Just just bam, bam, bam. All right.

Zac Miller: She's ready.

Kim Gravel: Yeah, she's stretching. She's stretching. What is your baking pet peeve?

Carla Hall: Oh, my God. No salt in the sweet.

Kim Gravel: Ooh, nice. Mm hmm. Nice. That's a good little tidbit, too.

Carla Hall: We're always telling the bakers on the baking championship shows, you need more salt, you need more salt. Salt balances sweet, so things don't taste overly, cloyingly sweet. You need salt and acid. It's a balance. Some people overdo it with the salty sweet, you know, but okay.

Kim Gravel: I think I overdo it. I think I... Baking is always... To me, that's like a, a specific science. I'm not a good baker. Cause I'm a little, let's put a little of this. So it doesn't have to be exact.

Carla Hall: Yeah, but you, but there are some things you can do with that. Like a chocolate mousse, you know, you have some chocolate, you have some cream, you know, you can do that with that, like any kind of puddings you can sort of flow, you know, you can be like, willy nilly when it comes to, and even biscuits, if you use like a self rising flour, you can kind of be willy nilly cause you feel the dough, but when it comes to making things.

 Consistently the same. You really do need that. You need to respect the recipe.

Kim Gravel: Oh, respect the rest of it. That was my next question. What's the secret to making a great biscuits?

Carla Hall: Whisking your flour before you measuring it. Seriously. There's so many secrets. Whisk it. Yes. People don't know how to measure flour.

 I'm going to be working. I'm working on that too. I'm working on like the whole, so I'm so excited.

Kim Gravel: Oh my God. Do you make a biscuit mix? If you're making biscuit bakes, I'm about to come.

Carla Hall: You know, I'm one of many few, one, a few biscuit queens, but look,

Kim Gravel: I love a good drop biscuit.

Carla Hall: So when you're making biscuits, anything, when you're biscuits or, or, or, cookies or cake, when you're measuring your flour, people just, this is settled into your cup. A lot of times they will take that cup and they're like, All in the bag and they come out with that pressed flour, you know, they're like one when that could be one in the corner.

 And so, and then you blind the recipe and then you wonder why sometimes your recipe is good. And sometimes it isn't. It's because you're not measuring the flower correctly. And so generally, what I do is I have people measure flour and then I'll say, okay, Hi. Now I'm going to put that in a bowl and now I'm going to properly measure your flour out of what you just measured and what you think is a cup.

whisk it. I'm going to spoon that flour into a measuring cup, scrape it off. And then nine times out of 10, I'll have two to three tablespoons left in that bowl. And so if you have two to three tablespoons, every time you're measuring a cup, Now it throws off the wet to dry ratio. So you're like, this is a bad recipe.

I don't like these cookies. I don't like that. I don't like that cake. When in

Kim Gravel: fact, girl, you just blew my mind. That's just, I have never heard that before. Oh my gosh. I've got one. It's going to throw you for a loop. What is the secret to a great online dating profile? Cause didn't you meet your husband on match. com?

Carla Hall: I sure did. Being honest, my girl, my name was Scrabble girl, and I didn't even iron my t shirt when I got there. And I, I mean, talk about being like goofy and nerdy and, my, my friends were like, you, you're going like that. I'm like, this is how I am 99% of the time. So he needs to see me the way I am.

 So, the thing is to be honest, don't try to trap somebody by being who you hope you are going to be because, you know, you, the real, you will show up and somebody is going to be disappointed. Right.

Kim Gravel: Mm hmm. So y'all keep it real. Keep it 100. Why do you gargle with coconut oil?

Carla Hall: Oh, to pull out all of the impurities in my mouth.

So okay, these shows, I'm gonna tell you, the baking shows, y'all, I take one for the team. Everybody say, Oh my God, you have to eat all those sweets. It starts out with 12 bakers. It's a lot of bakers. You have to eat. It's just a bite. 12 bites of anything is a lot. Even a piece of cake is like, maybe. Six bites.

So you're up 12 bites. You just sitting there eating two pieces of cake. So, and then I start to feel, a lot of like stickiness in my mouth. And so I do the oil pulling. And so it pulls that it's microbial. So it pulls in all of the impurities and you spit it out. And so it actually helps. It helps your sinuses.

It does all kinds of things.

Kim Gravel: Oh, I'm gonna do that. I'm gonna try that. I've heard about it. Who's your celebrity crush?

Carla Hall: Jamie Oliver, that's the first one that came up to my head. He's my celebrity, like, food crush. That's a good one. Idris Elba might be up in that somewhere too. Everyone Idris Elba.

Kim Gravel: He is very fine. I'll take that. Favorite junk food?

Carla Hall: Oh, hot dogs. Oh my god.

I was talking about it earlier. I love hot dogs. I mean, I

Kim Gravel: Oh, I love hot dogs. Me too. What is it? It's just so bad it's good, right?

Carla Hall: I'm trying QVC. I literally am saying, what about hot dogs? I have a whole chapter in my Carl Hall soul food with hot dogs. I have a whole chapter on hot dogs.

Kim Gravel: Okay.

What is your favorite topping on a hot dog? Because I have mine and it's not weird. It's just a little different.

Carla Hall: Well, first I take that you like, Zac is like weird. I'm like, it's weird. It's weird. First. I take the mustard on top of the hot dog and I spin the hot dog. So the mustard can go around the bread and the hot dog.

I do that twice. And then I come back with a little bit of ketchup and I do a smear, smear, just a, not a whole complete smear turn, turn. Then I put an, relish and a little bit of chopped onion. That is my go to straight up. Right there, right? Yes.

Kim Gravel: Well, I do slaw.

Carla Hall: Slaw is good. Was that was that an applause?

Zac Miller: That was an applause.

Kim Gravel: That was an applause for that. I'm going to tell you, you deserve the applause for the turn of the dog. I never thought of that. So you just kind of just go get it evenly distributed on the dog.

Carla Hall: Yes. And can I tell you this about me? I just want to share my weirdness. When I order a hamburger, I'm like, can I have a toothpick, please?

Because, when I get my hamburger, I cut it in half. The half that I'm not eating, I put a toothpick in it and put the cut side down. So that when the juice starts running out of it, my bun isn't soggy by the time I get to the next half.

Zac Miller: Wow, that's huge advice.

Kim Gravel: Oh my God, Carla, you have completed me.

You complete me.

Carla Hall: Wait, wait. So what do you put on yours? Just coleslaw?

Zac Miller: That's not that weird.

Kim Gravel: Coleslaw. I put chili. I put whatever it is, but I love a coleslaw. I love a slaw dog. See chili and coleslaw. I don't like my dogs too thick. I don't like, I don't like my dogs too thick. I like them. I like them.

Just they just, I like them plump, but I don't want to have to like, like break my jaw to eat it. I want it to go in. That's right. You know?

Carla Hall: A lot of times people think bigger is better and it's just not.

Kim Gravel: It's not. It's not. It's not. It's not, babe. It's not. Whoa!

Carla Hall: Zac, leave that alone. Leave that alone.

Kim Gravel: Let it, let it sit. Let it sit. I'm Just back away. A couple more questions. When you host the Worst Cooks in America, what is the biggest mistake people make when they're cooking?

Carla Hall: Oh, my God. When the pan gets hot and they have oil in it, they literally stand back, they're scared. And they go and they throw the food into the oil, I mean, and then splatter and then a fire starts and then they're screaming.

All right. I mean, they're like, they don't know how to moderate heat and they don't know how to season. And another thing when there's seasoning, they're so close to the food. They're like clump. I mean, the spot looks like polka dots instead of snow chat. It's yes.

Kim Gravel: We want snow, not polka dots. We want snow. All right. Anybody, this last question, anybody listening, Carla, what piece of advice would you give someone who said, I'm ready to pivot.

I need to make a change. What do I do?

Carla Hall: Listen to the signals. Once you make that statement, I want you to notice what people come into your orbit, what you start seeing. Right. Because those are clues. That's the universe saying, I heard you and we're going to get you there, but it's a process and you have to trust the process.

A lot of times people give up before the product before they're, they're done baking. So you have to bake in it and then you just have to, yeah, I can't so many people are like, oh my gosh, I almost gave up and then this happened. I'm like, it's happened because you did the work. But it's going to the universe.

Here's you. And here's an example. Your consciousness changes. When you get a new car, you know, you start seeing that car. Now, all of a sudden the cars everywhere, those cars are always there. You spoke yours into existence. You have it. And now you start seeing them everywhere. So speak your thing into an existence and see what shows up.

Kim Gravel: Yeah, just, that's the first step. Oh, Carla. I love you. Everybody go to Carla's Instagram. Carla P. Hall. Get her line on QVC. It's called Sweet Heritage. Check it out. The, immersion blender is everything. And her book is called Carla Hall's Soul Food. You are one soulful lady and I love you to death.

I'm so glad to be part of your QVC family. Thank you so

Carla Hall: much. I love you girl. I love this.

Zac Miller: Thanks for being here.

Kim Gravel: Okay, Zac. So many like practical tips and also nuggets of wisdom with Carla. I loved how she was like saying that she's just who she is. She's showing up as who she is and what her grandmother told her about, like, you know, pursue happiness, not riches. Yeah, that blew my mind.

Zac Miller: Such good advice. You see someone like Carla, at least I do, and I'm like, Oh, she's doing exactly what she needs to be doing. Like, she shouldn't be... Can you imagine her as an accountant? Like, that just makes, like...

Kim Gravel: Well, I'm sure she's brilliant, but it's like, girl, you were made for this. Right, you know, like...

But it found her again, and that's what I want to tell everybody watching right now. Whatever you have that you have in your heart to do, it's not too late. Carla was 44 before she even entered Top Chef. 44 years old. So wherever you are right now, just put it out there and get started. Take that one step and you'll be surprised how it will show up for you and find you.

All right. Till next time, everybody tell somebody about The Kim Gravel Show. If you want that little bit of encouragement and you want to share the love with others, we'd appreciate it. Cause we love you tuning in and listening. Till next time. I'm Kim.

Zac Miller: I'm Zac,

Kim Gravel: and we love you.

Carla Hall: I was like, I know this face.

Why do I know this face? And you know, menopause has you meeting with people every day.

Kim Gravel: Oh girl, I can't look right. I can't remember my own children's name, much less anything else.

Carla Hall: What? I can't remember my mama's name and I call her mama.

Zac Miller: It's like if you hover over her image, you can expand the frame in the upper right.

Carla Hall: She's big. All right. But she’s entitled to it.

Kim Gravel: I'm too big already. I mean, big. All right.

Kim Gravel: The Kim Gravel Show is produced and edited by Zac Miller at Uncommon Audio. Our associate producer is Kathleen Grant, the Brunette Exec. Production help from Emily Bredin and Sara Noto.

Our cover art is designed by Sanaz Huber at Memarian Creative and Mike Kligerman Edits the show and a special thanks to the team at QVC. Head over to kimgravelshow.com and sign up for our mailing list. Again, we can't do this without you, so thank you for listening, and we love you.