Kate Walsh shares Thanksgiving traditions, food hacks
Kate Walsh loves to cook, and anyone who follows the former "Private Practice" star on Instagram knows that she loves to spend time with her family. It comes as no surprise, then, that the actress is a big fan of Thanksgiving. She talked to CBS News about her family Thanksgiving traditions, her kitchen hacks for Thanksgiving dinner and how thankful she is to have gone on an Operation Smile mission earlier this year.
You're a big foodie, but you like to take some shortcuts when you're cooking, and now you're partnering with Boston Market to tell fans how they can do the same. What's your secret?
It's nice to have extra help and be able to get good food -- it has to be good -- and everything at Boston Market is good. It's a no-brainer for me to partner with them for the holiday season and -- bonus points -- they are doing this thing called Giving Tuesday on Dec. 1, and whoever on social media tweets #bostonmarketgives, they will put one dollar toward Operation Smile, so it's awesome. They're giving up to $5,000 and we really want to get those people in social media involved.
What are your go-to kitchen hacks for Thanksgiving?
I'm giving away my trade secrets. I get mashed potatoes and stuffing. I like to stuff a bird but get more stuffing from Boston Market. You can make it your own and add cheese or mix some garlic in or get their mashed potatoes and drizzle some truffle oil over it. There are some things I order from them, too, but never make myself, like creamed spinach.
You and your mom are very close; you post a lot of photos of her on social media. What are her signature dishes?
I love my mom. She's pretty amazing. She's Italian-American so any kind of pasta she makes incredibly. When we were little, she'd make Italian pasta with bell pepper and potatoes in a pan. She makes chicken cacciatore and roast chicken but she and my grandmother have great recipes for chicken cutlets. If you do order your turkey, whether you get it from Boston Market or another market, a great thing to do is make turkey cutlets the next day with the white meat.
Do you have any holiday traditions in your family?
At the big holidays, I love having friends and family together. I love having a big group of people and in Chicago, when I didn't have my family there, I'd have a big Thanksgiving for my friends or go to a friend's family house and be part of their Thanksgiving. It's such a great time of joy. There's no pressure. I watch football and that's it -- maybe go see a movie.
You work with Operation Smile, and you recently traveled with them. What was that like?
I went on a mission. I've been working with them for four years and I went on my first mission to Chiapas, Mexico and it was really incredible. The great thing about Operation Smile and the reason why I love working with them is that it only takes $240 to repair a baby, child or adult's cleft palate. It's an hour and their lives are significantly changed and saved in many cases. With babies, they can't breastfeed and get proper nutrition and older kids, if they don't have doctors in their village, get shunned by their community. In addition to surgery, they do follow-up care.
What was it like to meet the patients?
It was incredible. The babies are so sweet. It's an emotional thing, you can imagine, their parents handing over their infant or 2-year-old and it's even more moving when you see older girls like a girl I met named Rosa ,who was five or six, who had a cleft palate. She wore a surgical mask over her mouth and she was shunned by her community and to see her life change was very emotional.
I saw that you posted a picture of Bernie Sanders on Instagram a while ago. Is that who you're voting for?
I haven't officially backed anyone, but I follow him and Hillary Clinton on Twitter. I haven't come out and officially backed anybody; I'm waiting it out. I'm a huge fan of Senator Sanders, for sure, and Mrs. Clinton. It sounds funny to say Mrs. Clinton -- she's really Hillary, to be honest.
What other projects do you have in the pipeline?
I have a couple films I did and fun things -- charity stuff -- I'm going to do "Hollywood Game Night" for NBC and that's it. I'm traveling, hanging out with my family and reading a bunch of scripts to see what's next.
Do you still keep in touch with your cast mates from "Grey's Anatomy" and "Private Practice"?
I do. Yes, I do, a lot. I met with a few of them last weekend. From "Private Practice."..."Grey's," too, but I spent more time with the cast members of "Private Practice."
