A Little Cooking, A Little Advice!

Propel Fitness Water with Gatorade Electrolytes, Zero Sugar, and Vitamins. Propel hydrates better than water to help you get the most out of your workout and get back to your best self. What propels you? Propel with Gatorade Electrolytes. This episode is brought to you by Netflix's new series, East of Eden. A bold reimagining of John Steinbeck's masterpiece following generations of the Trask family through love, betrayal, and the choices that shape humanity. Starring Mike Feist and Christopher Abbott as the Trask brothers and Florence Pugh as Kathy Ames, the complex anti-heroine determined to build the life she wants, no matter the cost. Watch East of Eden now, only on Netflix. Fall never arrives all at once. First the air, then the light, and slowly the things you love begin to find each other. A jacket meets a dress, a hoodie slips beneath a blazer, an old cap finds a new scarf. Because you don't simply step into the season, you create it layer by layer until it finally feels like fall. Find fall your way at Ross. Welcome to Cooking with Alex. We are going to make a white bean verde chicken chili. And this is one of the first times I'm cooking in this apartment, which is really sad. How long have you lived here? Uh, well, I've been here since August, but Dancing with the Stars, I didn't really have time to cook. And then, before that, it's always just in-between travel that I'm here. But it's Sunday, we got nothing else to do, so me, Asia, and Tyler are gonna have some chili. And I got this big pot. And we don't have a lot of countertop space, so we're gonna be also using my dining room table. But, here's all the ingredients. This is, like, one of my favorite things to make. I feel like I have a few recipes, and then I just rotate them. But this is just good, 'cause it's, like, I don't know, it's fulfilling, it's delicious, it's a little spicy. And it's just, like, I love soup, so it's, like, a comfort food for me. So, we get a rotisserie chicken, cannelli beans, green chilis, poblano peppers, onion, garlic, lime, jalapeno, salt, pepper, like, onion, garlic powder, cilantro, bone broth, and then chips, if you also wanna, like, scoop it with a chip. If you're feeling crazy. So, it's like a chunky soup. It's like a chunky soup. It's not, like, a full blended thing. Like, there's still some broth in there. We also, like, blend it up at some point. It's really the perfect meal. We're just gonna chit chat and cook. Let's do it. Yay! Are you excited, Nicholas? Are you excited? Yeah! Asia's so excited. She's never seen this much food out on the counter. So, we're gonna start by. This might be, like, a little bit bigger than it needs, but. We can always save that for sure. So, we're gonna put that on. And then, olive oil. Everyone's like, "Oh, do I have olive oil?" Yeah. It's seriously. I don't know what's going. I think there's olive oil back there. Oh, yeah. This is the good stuff. I just like the way that this, like, pours out of this whole thing. So, we're gonna. Actually, I should probably chop the things first. Let's talk and chop. Are you kidding? Asia, are you proud of me? So, we're gonna start by chopping up half of a white onion. What's happening? I feel like you're supposed to use this. But this is not that big for this, so I guess we'll use this. I don't know. I always cry when I chop onion as well. But. I've been just crying a lot recently in general. Now we can blame it on the onion. I love cooking and I wish that I had more recipes up my sleeves. Is there anything else that you cook, like, regularly that is, like, your favorite thing to cook? I wonder what that means. It's just getting hot, I guess. Anything else I cook regularly that I like to cook? I haven't cooked in so long, which is terrible. I feel like I used to cook at least a few times a week. I love. What is it? It's like spaghetti squash. I would always like to make that. There was a few, like, steak, like, summer salads that I would make. Just, like, good, easy recipes, like zucchini. I want to learn how to make, like, a good tofu something. Tofu? Yeah. You don't like tofu? Yeah, I'm not a huge fan. I like the texture of it. Miso soup has tofu in it? When I was a little kid, I used to call it "yellow chicken" because that's how it tasted. Yellow chicken? Jello? Jello chicken. You know how it's, like, kind of squishy? Yeah, I like that. So I have a bunch of "What Would Alex Do?" questions. Oh, yeah. Do you want to get into the first one? Yeah! We got some questions from you guys that we're going to answer. I don't even know if I'm doing this right. I always hate cooking online because everyone always has big opinions about what I'm doing wrong. And I'm like, at least, like, it's going to get there at some point. It's just taking a second. I mean, it looks good. Yeah. Let's do some questions while I start crying. The first one is about friendship breakups. How do you deal with friendship breakups? I recently went through one, and it's hard sometimes to make new friends and find a new friend group. What is the best advice for me to grow as a person and also have fun? Well, I guess there's a lot of elements to that. Once someone shows their colors of, like, you're not a good person or I can't trust you, I'm pretty good at just, like, cutting them out. But it's hard when you lose a friend either way. Like, just maybe you grow apart, you're in different parts of your life. Like, it doesn't necessarily have to be something bad. Like, sometimes you just lose friends. Sometimes you move away from friends. Like, here, I will say, I have friends. I know people, but, like, I was even thinking about, I want to go see, like, Queen Heights. But, like, I know girls from, like, partying, but I feel scared to text them and be like, want to go see a movie with me? And, like, what if they, like, they probably have their own plans and their own friends, and they've probably already seen it with their friends. So I don't want to, like, bother people. So I think, like, reaching out to new people has been a goal of mine and something I want to work on. But there's also something nice about, like, spending some time with yourself. So I've also been trying to enjoy that recently. I always say, like, find people that are, like, doing the same things you like. Like, if I'm at my workout class, whatever, just, like, chit-chatting with people before or after, like, finding people that like the same hobbies, I guess, as you do, I think is a good way to meet people. Just talking and introducing yourself, like, it seems a lot scarier in the moment, but even when you're in, like, big groups of people, I always used to, like, be scared. Like, if we're at, like, a party or something and there's, like, another, like, big friend group there, like, I always got scared to, like, talk to them. But then I always feel like then you end up just looking like a bitch if you're not going up and introducing yourself, so that's been something I've been working on and doing as well recently, but I think, like, friends come and go, and I mean, some friends come and go. Put yourself out there. Uh, I don't want the fire alarm to go off. It seems like it's a little hot. It's a little too hot. Wait, the fire alarm's, like, gonna go off. Ugh! Oh my god, I can't see from the under. Okay. Wait, it's, like, really steamy. And I can't see. What went wrong? It was too hot, you think? Yeah, it might have been too hot to put the oil in. Well, this is going great. It is burning. The oil's burning? Yeah. Okay, well, we're gonna have to start that over. It smells like a fire. And I can't see from the onions. Asia! What did I do? What did I do, girl? Yeah! It's a little smoky in here. I mean, seriously? Something's wrong with the pot, I think. Like, why does that just not look right? Yeah, let's turn this down. So you're gonna start with a low simmer. Not a big flame. Much better. Low simmer. You're gonna put your onion in. So on a very low heat, we're gonna let that cook. Now, on to garlic. All right. So the next question is titled "Long Distance." Ugh. I've had a boyfriend for almost two years now, and we've been long-distance the whole time. I recently have been feeling like I've been outgrowing him as a person as we both are getting older. I also think there's someone who may be sparking my interest because we are more similar. I'm a chronic over-thinker, and I feel bad. What would Alex do? Alex would follow how you feel. And, like, that's really sad, and two years is a long time to be with someone. Ultimately, if you're not feeling it, you, I think, will know that in your gut, and I think it's important to go with your gut instincts. And, like, I think, like, two years if you're not with someone in person and you're doing long distance and you don't know like maybe when that will end. I think that could also be just really tricky. And I don't know, I think Alex would follow her gut and just go for that feeling. Like you shouldn't be having, you definitely should not be having feelings for someone else if you're in a relationship. So that's not a great sign. And I think the fact that you're even like asking is telling, so I think even though it might be hard, I would say go with your gut and break up. - Let's do a little more fun of a question in this next one. - Yeah. - Oh, it's about Netflix. - Oh. - How is shooting a reality show? How is it different than you expected? Is it different than shooting the vlogs? And what's been the most surprising thing since you've started? - So shooting for my family's reality show has been really fun, but it's definitely been like a learning lesson. And there's been a lot of like, I've been overthinking a lot just because it's something new. And I think the biggest thing is like, I don't have really the control with it. One thing I've been thinking about too is like, there's moments where like, I'll say something and be like, well, you know, like that really pissed me off. But like, I see the side of that they're coming from and whatever, and I'm like, definitely like the parts where I'm like saying nice things or like retracting what I'm saying. I'm like, that's definitely probably not getting in the edit. So I think it's just scary, like how things can be edited and portrayed. And like, that's at least what I've heard from a lot of people, but it is really fun. And I was worried at first of like, how much more can you guys even know about me? Like, I just feel like I share everything. And then once we really got into filming, I was like, oh, okay. Like, this is definitely a lot more than people are used to seeing. And it's really crazy because when there's an issue, like you not even just like talking like, oh, this person pissed me off. Like you have to like go up and like talk to them and figure out the issue, which like usually I feel like sometimes like we'll just sweep things under the rug and we're like, eh, you know, like let's not disturb the peace of the family. But like, it is good. Like it's kind of like we're in family therapy. Like you've really got to talk through all the issues and like have conversations face to face with people. But like, it's also been scary. Like it's kind of scary to confront people about how you're feeling. So it's been really fun. And I think it's so far been really good at just portraying like the behind the scenes of everything in like my life, my family, business, relationships. Like it's been fun, I guess, to like capture all those moments that like sometimes I normally wouldn't share, like things that happen in real time or like I'll receive a text or see something and like just the raw reactions to it. But it's just scary. I think like the more you share, the more room there is for like judgment and like I'm not perfect and I know that. So I think just like, preparing myself just like that I know I'm going in and being honest and just gotta stay true to myself and hope people like it or they may think I'm crazy. I don't know. Just everything that's been going on in my life the past few months is obviously covered 'cause we've been filming. And I think certain like discussions with certain family members, I would say to like me and my stepmom have been having to have like a lot of conversations and like our relationship and it's been good. It's been scary. There's like also been drama with that. It's just, it's a lot, but I think everyone hopefully will like it, but it's just crazy. Like I can't imagine it, how it all comes together. - All right, I have another question. I've really been struggling with anxiety recently and I feel like it's impacting my day-to-day life. I have a lot of other things going on, which is also making handling the anxiety even harder. I've tried therapy, journaling and breathing techniques, but nothing seemed to work. I'm scared to ask my doctor to put me on medication, but I really feel like it would help and don't know what to do at this point. What would you do? - I mean, what I did do was go on medication. And I think that was something that was suggested to me. And in the beginning, I'm on Lexapro, been on like 10 milligrams of Lexapro since I've been 14, which is crazy. And I was so reluctant to do it at first. And I was like, there's no way I don't need that. But it really did help me like there's just sometimes like it's chemical imbalance in your brain. So it's hard like even if you're doing these other things to make the anxiety better, like sometimes there's just like something off internally. Different medications work for different people. There's different side effects people have. Like I have truly had like a very good, pleasant experience. I didn't really have that many side effects. It's hard 'cause I've been on it for so long that I don't know like what it would be without it. But you can always, get on medication. You can switch. You can get off of it. Like just because you're doing it doesn't mean you have to commit to it for the rest of your life if you don't want to. So I think just knowing that, but it did really, really help me and it can feel really scary. And there feels like there's like a stigma around it at times. But like, honestly, a lot of my friends, a lot of people I know are also on medication for anxiety, depression, and OCD, whatever it is. And I am in favor of it, but I'm also not a doctor. So I'm not gonna really tell you what to do, but that's just what Alex did. We are gonna put the poblano peppers on a separate pan to cook these and sear them so that we can peel the skin off, chop them, put them in the soup. Me sear you. We're gonna add in some jalapeno. Those look spicy too. - Wait, really? Why? How do you know? - I mean, I could be wrong, but I thought the more seeds, jalapenos. - Seeds, yeah. - And that top looks like it has a lot of seeds. - It does. Do you like spicy? - I do. - I love spicy. I need to do some research on how to properly peel the skin off the poblano peppers, because every time I've made this recipe, I don't think I'm doing it correctly 'cause it kind of comes off like in chunks. So we're gonna do some quick research. We're gonna do some quick research on how to do that. Let's add in the jalapeno. All right, so these, I just usually let these sear and then try and like pull the skin off, but I feel like there could be a better way. So we're gonna ask Candy Dandy co-pilots. So I'm pulling up Microsoft co-pilot. There's Miko. - Hey there, Alex. What's your question? - Of course, ask away. What's on your mind today? - So I'm cooking poblano peppers on the stove right now. I'm searing them and I want the skin to peel off properly, but every time I try to take it off just with like a fork, it doesn't come off all the way. It comes off stringy. So do you have a better way to get the skin off of the poblano peppers? - Oh yeah, definitely got a tip for you. Once you've got those peppers nice and charred, pop them into a bowl and cover them up with some plastic wrap or just a lid for a few minutes. Let them steam a little. That steam helps the skins loosen up and then they'll peel off way easier. So give that a shot and hey, let me know how it goes. - Oh, okay. Thank you, co-pilot. - Absolutely, you got it. And hey, if you run into any other kitchen puzzles, feel free to toss them my way. - Thank you. - You're welcome. Always happy to help out. If anything else comes up, just give me a shout. In the meantime, enjoy your cooking and have fun experimenting. - Bye. Okay, wait, that was actually crazy. So put it into a bowl and cover it with, - Plastic wrap? - Yeah. And or just a container that has a lid. - I don't have that. I'm gonna let those cook. And then I guess we can put them in a bowl like this. - Yeah. - I'm gonna do some seasoning in the pot while we wait. Oh, did not mean to do that. - I have another question. This is a fun one. What are you most excited for in 2026, personal and professional? - Hmm, in 2026, professional, something really fun and exciting coming that I've been working on for since I graduated college. So three years, two and a half years. And then I'm excited for my personal growth journey that I think I've been on. I've been in a really like uncomfortable, I don't know, I just feel uncomfortable right now 'cause there's been like change and I know that comes with just ups and downs. And I feel like I've just been like mentally like spiraling, but I feel like it's gonna be good for me and it's a journey I wanted to embark on. So I'm looking forward towards the end of the year, feeling a lot more mentally stable and just having like a clear mind and a clear vision. I'm looking forward to getting there and I'm happy that I took this uncomfortable time for myself. - I don't know if you're supposed to do that, but-- - I don't think I was. Don't do that. Don't try that at home. You know what I do know what I'm supposed to do? Cover these poblano peppers. Thank you, co-pilot. So we're gonna let those sit. And now while we do that, I'm gonna check what in the world I did next. We're gonna open up all these beans. Beans, beans, that good for your heart. Okay, so first these are these little like diced green, green chili beans, green chili beans. chili peppers diced. Holy hell. Then we have cannelli beans. We're also going to toss those in. Yay. Oh, just the whole thing? Yeah. Okay. Why are these like frozen? So the next question, I feel like you've kind of already covered this. Who are you when no one is watching and how do you protect that version of yourself? Oh, that's a great question. Who am I when no one's watching? This morning I was screaming, belting in the car, singing to music. Like who am I when no one's watching? I don't know. That's like a big moment of self-reflection. I don't know how to answer that. I would say that like, I don't know. Like this version of me is like the version you would get like me hanging out with my friends and alone. Like who am I when I'm alone? Sometimes I'm crying. Sometimes I'm happy. I feel like, I mean, obviously I only see you when I'm with you, but I feel like when I'm rolling and when I'm not rolling, there's nothing that changes. Really? Yeah. That makes me very happy. Yeah. I mean, sometimes I would say like I have a little bit of like a resting like bitch face like I'm like so maybe that's me but like when I'm not talking I sometimes look miserable and I wish I had like a resting happier face but that's just not always the case yeah I would say like this version on the vlogs like it's just nice and probably like how you guys would know me the best because I think just like I mean you're just like sitting down chatting with me and I'd say like the goofy moments are definitely like very true to me and just not like so serious that was a good like question of self-reflection you want some chicken you want some chicken yes let's show everyone how good you are sit puff yeah that's a good girl that's a good girl okay now we have to add do you think these are ready it's been a few minutes let's see I don't know like what's the best oh wow it's coming off pretty nicely we'll do the next one better why do you need to take off the skin just because it's like burnt and it's fine you know you don't need to but just kind of like gets clumpy in the soup so you take off the skin then do you dice these ups too or are they bigger chunks yep so we'll dice these up and then put them in the soup here's a fun question oh wow this is coming off a lot nicer okay that was that was easy that was good at this moment what is your current skincare routine in the morning I use a cleanser azaleic acid and then a moisturizer and then at night I use a cleansing bomb I'll double cleanse at night so I use like a oil-based cleansing bomb and then I use a cleanser I use this mandelic acid serum which is insane for my skin and then I use a moisturizer so I have learned to like keep it more simple I think like because I've always had very very bad acne prone skin and did Accutane three times and my skin got bad after doing it even the third time I just like learned to take it a little bit more simple with my skincare and use ingredients that like were good for my skin and were gonna work because before I would just try to use like a million different stripy and harsh things and I thought that that's what would clear my skin but it did not are there any specific products that you like no no none none let's chop these poblanos I've been using the same products for over a year now so I've like found the skincare routine and I've just been sticking to it which has been nice because usually I'm a hopper I would hop around all the time and try a bunch of different things and don't think that was the best for my skin either poblano peppers are going in and then we can really start to have fun here look at this it's looking really good okay now that we have all these this is like the base I mean the amount of bone broth you use I guess is like how much soup you want to make I still feel like we can get more chicken out of here whoops whoopsie daisies right here here you go oops sorry we're gonna chop up some cilantro now maybe get a little bit more chicken going and we'll raise the heat a little we don't need anything to burn but we definitely want it to cook I'm gonna do like half of this as well you know what we're gonna add some spices while we're over here oh it's gonna be so good who's the best cook in your family best cook in the family is I don't know they all have like their different like my mom my dad and my stepmom Ashley are all amazing cooks and I feel like that's like a very big blessing to grow up with like a family that can cook well but they all have different things they make that are better like my mom makes linguine clams and the best Caesar salad ever it's like I I can't have any other linguine clams in the entire world because it's always a disappointment compared to my mom's and like that would be my death row meal is my mom's linguine clams my dad is really good at like steak he makes the best steak I've ever had like I prefer his steak over going out to any restaurant then Ashley is really good at lasagna like her lasagna and her meatballs I never liked meatballs I can't even describe like her lasagna and meatballs are so good I remember when my dad and Ashley first started dating she made us meatballs or something to take home maybe it was lasagna I don't know and we like brought it home and my mom was like like whatever we were like just try it it's really good and she was like pissed she was like she makes really good lasagna so yeah they all have like their different niches of what they're really really good at so we're gonna let that keep cooking we're gonna pull up some more chicken oh we're also gonna put lime in there too can't forget that this is like the most important part the lime the hint of lime it just really does something do you just squeeze it in or like do you put the whole um I squeeze it in I don't even know if I have one of those I love the like squeezers that tool sometimes I feel like you can't really get everything we're gonna try okay so we're gonna do four limes oh God let me see if I have that too I don't I definitely don't because I don't have anything here so I don't know why I think I have that I'm gonna get a fork I don't know if I've ever seen someone do it before yeah I feel like you just gotta get in there and twist it puncture and twist these limes are like a little a little hard okay one down this is a workout let's do a taste test wow it's really good but it definitely needs more lime you can't taste the lime at all so we gotta keep going this is the worst part oh that was bound out of it at some point Asia are you watching Mama Struggle awesome it better taste like lime after this you okay yeah I saw a hair on me I was gonna get it off let's see perfect delicious and we're almost done it's perfect because I have one more question from the WWAD are you moving to LA do you miss Miami what's your home base I'm trying to find a new uh city for myself well I do actually love it in L.A I feel like I've only really been here like in between traveling much and I feel like it does get a really bad rep here of everyone's like it's an evil city yeah you're gonna like lose your mind there or something and people think that's why I'm losing my mind but I'm just losing my mind not because of LA I actually feel like very at peace when I'm here like the weather's so beautiful it's so nice I feel like everything's like primarily healthy here so I have loved it here but with that being said I did also just get a place in Miami because I wanted to get a house for Asia me and Asia are gonna go there maybe by April April hopefully I don't know I guess like Miami versus here if you're looking for a place for yourself they just like offer different things I mean Miami is definitely a little more fun like if you want to go out Miami is a little bit better than here and you don't have to stop having drinks at one like in Miami that's just when you're going out and I would say there's always something going on in Miami like it always feels very very busy I think it can feel a little bit more like chill here so I guess it just depends what you want how are you gonna split up the time I don't know I have not made up my mind on anything yet so I'm not really sure and I'm not really sure where I call And I'm not really sure propel fitness water with Gatorade electrolytes zero sugar and vitamins Propel hydrates better than water to help you get the most out of your workout and get back to your best self What propels you? propel with Gatorade electrolytes Like why does this keep happening? I always make soup It smells delicious so now what we're gonna do we're gonna take some of the broth with like You want to get a good amount of like the beans in there so that it'll get a little bit chunkier blend Whoo And then We're gonna add our chicken It's gonna be so good Okay, so as we're doing this, we're gonna add Some seasoning we're gonna taste test it see what else we need to add And then I think we're gonna be good Oh, it's delicious It's spectacular. Okay, so now I'm gonna put it on low heat and let that just like sit for a second Like what all the ingredients? Mix together and while we do that, we're gonna clean a little bit Got a little crazy in here. Are you gonna have some Tyler 100% smells too good, right? Do you have anything fun coming up this month? Mm-hmm There's gonna be like a very good month. I hope lots of exciting stuff coming up I'm nervous, but I'm excited And then you have Coachella And then we have Coachella. Oh Hell, I'm excited for that. I don't think I have a This For Coachella, do you have any like fun fashion things you're gonna do this year? I actually just made a mood board of the outfits I want to do. I mean am I killing the cilantro by do this? I don't think so I have a mood board and I Have an idea. I have a vision and we'll see what works out What we can make Come to life and what we can find When going to Coachella with your friends and like picking out your outfits Do you guys ever like make sure you're the same vibe or anything like that or no? It's completely like Um, no, cuz I feel like we all kind of like have different vibes and different styles so not really but like usually before we'll like send our outfits, but So just to like see what each other's wearing not really to like Match to each other's vibes if you were to describe that mood board you made Do you have any words that you would describe it by textures? grunge Fringe, I don't know just like fun. Honestly, I hate when people like everyone's like Let's just wear like a tank top and jeans or like whatever That's what like the cool people are doing. It's like not cool to try but I'm like look, it is cool to try because It's Coachella. Like why would we wear to something like that's the point that's not the point but like That's what's fun It's like you get to experiment and like do something and wear stuff you wouldn't normally wear but I feel like the chill girl people always hate on the people who like dressed up or they're like they're wearing like a costume and I'm like, well, I want to wear a costume It's all starting to come together Almost there. I'm gonna clean this Are you so excited? Are you so excited? Yeah It looks real good. Is that a bedazzled? Sip marks. Uh-huh Isn't it cute? I feel like this if you filled this whole pot up it'd fill a large party or feed a large party Oh, yeah, it like can't really tell because the pot's so big like how much is really in there but I guess we'll see It's gonna be so good Here she is in all her glory It's a little hot, it's a little hot It's a little hot, it's a little hot Official taste test I wonder if it's like still too hot The flavors are it is a little hot but I don't really have much patience He's just like can I get some of that no mama You could get the chicken though so you're the kind of person that will just eat hot food and Burn the top of your mouth. Mm-hmm. I don't mean to but like once the food's in front of me, I can't wait Wow Is it spicy at all? Yeah, but not like spicy it's gonna you're gonna cry but it's definitely has a kick to it It's really good this is one of the best ones I've made I need you to try and tell me how it is Alright I'll do it Oh yeah it's just *coughing* I nailed it jalapeno It tastes really good. Yay Tyler approves. Okay. Well, thanks for coming and cooking with Al. That was so fun Let's do it again soon Let me know what you want me to make and let me know if you make this at home because it's really delicious and It's really easy Besides the parts that I messed up on Coca-cola for the big for the small the short and the tall peacemakers risk takers for the optimist pessimist for long-distance love for introverts and extroverts The thinkers and the doers for old friends and new Coca-cola for everyone pick up some coca-cola at a store near you This episode is brought to you by Netflix's new series East of Eden a bold reimagining of John Steinbeck's masterpiece following generations of the Trask family through love betrayal and the choice of that shape humanity Starring Mike Feist and Christopher Abbott as the Trask brothers and Florence Pugh as Kathy Ames the complex anti-heroine determined to build the life she wants No matter the cost watch East of Eden now only on Netflix I hate Mondays King's Hawaiian cinnamon swirl bite Taylor Hansen. Sure. I'll try one mmm Hey, let's get back to work, please Taylor Hansen's making my day way better with these new soft and swirly King's Hawaiian cinnamon bites Taylor Hansen. Nice try one mmm King's Hawaiian cinnamon bites. There's nothing like it