Single moms and college kids have a lot in common. We’re both broke, pressed for time and binge drink to forget about our problems. I’m kidding about that last part. You guys aren’t old enough to drink. -Monti Carlo’s opening to the pamphlet she created and handed out for her cooking demo at TCNJ
Fox’s Masterchef 3 contestant Monti Carlo visited The College of New Jersey last Monday for a cooking demo in the new Education Building. Monti demonstrated simple recipes for college students to try using the two kitchen appliances to live by: a microwave and a George Foreman grill.
The single mom’s down-to-earth character portrayed on Masterchef as well as her radio talkshow, 103.9FM, showed through the moment she entered the lecture hall with her 3-year-old son and cooking sidekick named Danger, along with a longtime friend she’s known since they went to school together in Puerto Rico. She championed through a video interview prior to the demo while Danger tugged on the back of her pants and played with her shirt. Upon realizing she forgot to pack a cutting board, Monti crafted a makeshift board out of an upside down cooler top and parchment paper. She knew how to keep her cool.
Monti says she didn’t even watch the Fox cooking show before she decided to try out as a contestant. Up against her competitors who had far more professional training than she did, she beat the odds and eventually made it to the top five in the competition.
Monti, who also hosts a Youtube series in Spanish with her son called “Cooking with Peligro,” says she always cooks with her son in mind.
“If it doesn’t taste good, he’s not going to eat it,” she said on the importance of nutrition versus taste. She believes that both are necessary for the dishes she cooks for her son, and says she’s enthusiastic about food that is natural and organic.
“With all of the chemicals and processing going on in foods, we’re all going to grow a third nipple,” she says.
The recipes she showed at the demo included natural ingredients and dishes such as French Toast That Won’t Kill You, Best. Oatmeal. Ever., Quick Breakfast Sandwich, and Filet Mignon and Asparagus with Hollandaise Sauce.
Monti is now working on publishing a cookbook/memoir in which she shares the personal experiences she went through while she was on the show and after she got home. A painful divorce and eviction from her home forced her to get back to basics and focus on what’s important: providing for her son the best way she could with the simplest of necessities.
“Cooking was my saving grace, which is why I believe that awful things happen to you so that really beautiful things can happen to you.”
Follow Monti on Facebook and Twitter (@MC3MONTI) and check out her website Slap-Yo-Momma.com