Interview: Tiffani Thiessen Invites Viewers to Dinner at Tiffani’s

Tiffani Thiessen is best known as an actress from her roles on the series Saved By the Bell, Beverly Hills 90210 and White Collar, but tonight, she invites us into her kitchen as she prepares delicious meals for her friends and family.

It turns out the native Californian can cook as well as act, so the Cooking Channel gave her the chance to show off her skills on Dinner at Tiffani’s, returning for its second season.

People today have such busy schedules, they don’t always have time to prepare a big meal. What do you suggest  as a quick go-to meal?

I would say probably tacos, because it is my kids’ favorite and you can make it really fast. I tend to like to marinate my meat, but you don’t have to. You can also throw chicken or beef in a slow cooker in the morning, so it’s actually done by the time you get home.

Your son Holt is 7 months old now. Are you making your own baby food? 

Here’s the thing. To me, it’s all about the time, and if I have the time to do it, of course. I did it for Harper and I’ll do it for Holt, as well, but there’s not going to be a time where you won’t see me with an organic food pouch, because it’s easy and it’s quick, and working moms have very limited time.

Which chefs or cooks do you watch on TV?

Definitely Rachael Ray. Curtis Stone is a friend of mine, and I’m a fan of his. I could not love his Los Angeles restaurant [Maude] more. I’m a fan of Bobby Flay‘s as well, and the Barefoot Contessa, Ina Garten, of course. The classics.

But I watch diverse types of cooking shows, like, Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. I watch so many different things because I just love food and many different aspects of it.

Tiffani Shares Her Recipe for Salted Caramel Brownies

I have kitchen envy. There is a layout of your kitchen online and it is beautiful. I noticed you have a cookbook collection. Do you use them just for inspiration, or do you actually ever follow them? 

I do follow them. Sometimes I’ll change them up a little bit. I use them for inspiration. I actually wish I had more time to sit down and read them and really look at them. At this point, the last six months, they’ve been more of collecting and just sitting there because of the new baby. But I do. It’s almost like when you travel, or architecture, or whatever, it’s inspirational. It can inspire you to do many different things, whether it’s cooking, or wanting to redo a room in your house, or dress a certain way.

Do you have favorites? 

I do. I do love Curtis Stone’s new book. I think it’s amazing. I bought Bobby Flay’s, which I’m actually really excited about. I do like Gwyneth Paltrow‘s. Both of her books are very nice. I like the food in it. The photography. 

For me, I’m such a girl, and I like aesthetics, so to me it’s not just the recipes; I do like the presentation of a book. There’s a great book called 20 Dinners that I really, really like that is beautiful. I’m a huge fan of Sweet Paul.  We’ve become chums. I consider him definitely somebody that I look up to. I like that he’s such a DIY-er. I love his style, his aesthetic, and I love his book. I get his magazine every month.

So last season, you had several of your old castmates as your guests on Dinner at Tiffani’s. Do you know who your guests are going to be when you come back? 

You’ll definitely see old co-stars again. You’ll see some repeats from last season. You’ll definitely see a ton of new people as well. You might see somebody who I think a lot of the fans are going to want to see. Mark Paul Gosselaar definitely comes onto the show. And I think a lot of people have been wanting to see him.

Most actors are lucky to get just one series, but you’ve had three successful series. How blessed do you feel with that? 

Are you kidding? I feel very blessed. I say that all the time. Every day I wake up feeling pretty blessed. Having healthy kids and a great husband that I actually enjoy and love, it’s like a rarity. We’ve been married 10 years, and I’ve been able to stay in this business and enjoy this business that I’ve been doing since I started in 1989, and a lot of people don’t have that kind of story. So I feel extremely fortunate; yes.

So are you ready to do another series if one would present itself? 

Yeah. We literally just wrapped Season 2 of Dinner at Tiffani’s, which was great, but yeah, I’ll be ready to start looking at work again, as well as probably going back to do another season again in the spring for the Cooking Channel. But acting is my first love. I will never give that up until someone doesn’t want to give me a job anymore. I love it.

Dinner at Tiffani’s premieres its second season on Wednesday, Feb. 3 on the Cooking Channel.