'The Next Food Network Star''s Melissa Talks To ET About Her Win

Sunday night Melissa d'Arabian beat out Jeffrey Saad to become "The Next Food Network Star." Now she talks to ET about her prize: her very own Food Network TV show -- "Ten Dollar Dinners with Melissa d'Arabian."

ET: How surprised were you when your name was called?

Melissa d'Arabian: You know what? I always have to imagine the success, so in my mind, I was clear on why I really should win. But I tell you, hearing my name, there is nothing that could prepare me for that. I was surprised in all the best ways.

ET: Did you go out with your family and celebrate.

Melissa d'Arabian: We were actually at a viewing party in Kirkland, Wash. [Melissa recently moved there from Texas], and at the end of it, my kids -- the oldest is four -- normally go to bed at 7 p.m. and it was 8:30 by the end of it, so my kids were so tired. We went home and put the kids to bed, which is lots of fun when they are tired and crabby. They had no interest in who was "The Next Food Network Star." We were a mom and dad last night. I wouldn't have it any other way.

ET: How do you juggle with four young kids? In fact, how did you manage to film "The Next Food Network Star?"

Melissa d'Arabian: Shooting "The Next Food Network Star" was probably the biggest challenge because that was the biggest chunk of time without coming home and talking to my kids. That was an unusual one-time investment, which is why I really thought it through before I sent in my application.

ET: Can you talk about what having the show means to you?

Melissa d'Arabian: What a great opportunity. I came into this in the first place because I love sharing with my girlfriends, swapping war stories from each others' experiences, so to me this is an extension of that. I am telling you this has exceeded my dreams.

ET: What else can you tell us about your new show?

Melissa d'Arabian: "Ten Dollar Dinners" is not just about budget cooking. I don't want to feel like I am scrimping. I don't want to save money and feel bad about it. I want to feel empowered. I want to impress people when I save money. I want to be able to say, "I made this dinner for $10" and I want people to say, "no way." My promise to the viewers is for $10, I am going to make you a great meal for a family of four. But the food has to be fantastic. It starts and ends with the food.

I also hope that people get some takeaways that don't have to do with my recipe. I hope they can learn a few tricks on how to save money every time they go to the grocery store, some cooking technique they can use for other recipes, or some tip that sticks in their mind when they are in the kitchen or at the grocery store, and they go, "Oh, I can do that." I really hope that "Ten Dollar Dinners" will drive home a lot more than just budget cooking. I think people will be surprised. I think even people who don't need to be on a budget will want to make my recipes.

ET: On the finale, it appeared as if your show would be "Kitchen Solutions"?

Melissa d'Arabian: "I love that Alton Brown brought up that I am about surviving in the kitchen and coming up with kitchen solutions that have passed the nitty gritty test. I think you are going to see a lot of that: real-life solutions in that survival sense. These are recipes that I have used in the kitchen, but we have added another layer that makes it fun for me to have this $10 promise. I am going to do all those things and promise you I will do them for $10 or under.

ET: Can you talk a little bit about how your mom taught you to cook?

Melissa d'Arabian: My mom loved to cook and we did not have a lot of money growing up. She was the first person who taught me about budgeting because we had to do it. We made everything pretty much homemade because we had to. So that is where I developed that love for cooking and for cooking on a budget. I have to say, even those periods of my life when I did not have to pay attention to budget, I did. It doesn't mean I don't splurge; it doesn't mean I don't have my treats, but who doesn't want to save money if they can?

I think my real love for cooking came from the mother-daughter teas that we started having when I was about five. That was our big, annual party around the holidays. We would just cook and cook and cook for that party and that became a big tradition for us. Then when she died, of course, I stopped having those, but when I had my own daughters, I revived the tradition. Now my daughters and I have the mother-daughter teas.

"Ten Dollar Dinners with Melissa d'Arabian" premieres Sunday, August 9th at 12:30pm on the Food Network.


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