Everyday Macaroni

What if something as simple as eating a birthday cookie was a major milestone for your child? For most families, cookies, birthday cakes, and holiday dinners are just part of life. But for Kate Cherry and her family, figuring out what her son could safely eat became a years-long journey filled with medical mysteries, food restrictions, difficult decisions, and a whole lot of determination. In this...

What do soybeans, holiday traditions, mashed potatoes, and starting a business in your 50s have in common? We're spilling ALL the beans in this episode of Everyday Macaroni! Join Joy as she chats with Attessa Bradley, founder of Standing Tall Foods, about turning a lifetime of experience in the natural and organic food industry into a brand-new entrepreneurial adventure. After nearly 25 years in t...

How old is that thing in the back of your refrigerator? And more importantly… are you gonna eat that? This week on Everyday Macaroni, Joy sits down with Jordan Robinson, creator of the Anxin app, to talk about food safety, food recalls, restaurant inspections, mystery leftovers—and why the old-fashioned sniff test may not be quite enough anymore. With a background in cybersecurity, Jordan had an i...

What happens when someone who was donor-conceived grows up and decides to become a donor himself? In this episode, we sit down with Daniel Bayen—better known as Donor Dan—founder of the Open Donor Association. Dan shares what it was like being raised by a single mother by choice, growing up knowing he was donor-conceived, eventually building a relationship with his biological father, and discoveri...

What can courtrooms, Charles Dickens, Winston Churchill — and a round of golf — teach us about human nature? We sit down with longtime attorney, elected court official, veteran and author Jon Gegenheimer to talk about his fascinating journey from the courtroom to writing fiction. Jon shares how his experiences as a military intelligence interrogator and attorney have shaped his storytelling, why r...

What does it mean to intentionally raise a child for the life you hope they will lead? In this powerful conversation, Nathaniel “Nate” Turner shares the deeply personal story that led him to create the “Life Template,” a framework for parents to intentionally design the lives they want for their children. Nate, a financial services entrepreneur and advocate for intentional parenting, reflects on g...

If you’ve looked at plane ticket prices for your family vacation and thought, “maybe next year,” this episode is for you!  Our guest is Linda King, founder of The Smart Travelista, author of 14 books, travel writer, blogger, former travel agent, and banking professional who's made it her mission to help families travel the world for less. Linda combines decades of travel experience with smart mone...

What began as a conversation about family, travel, and podcasting took an unexpected turn when we discovered we were both navigating the recent loss of our dads. In this heartfelt episode, I sit down with fellow podcaster and travel advisor [Guest's Name] to talk about the journeys that shape us—both the ones we choose and the ones life hands us. Together, we share honest reflections on grief, fam...

Happy 250th America!  On this episode, we thought we would celebrate our nation’s birthday by talking about the one thing more American than apple pie, dads, families and kids playing sports!  Our guest is a dad, coach and author with a philosophy on parenting that centers on grit and resilience.  Stephen Clifford’s series of children’s books teach lessons designed to instill values and character...

What makes a home?  Is it the location?  The square footage?  The security of knowing your family is building wealth?  Or is it the place where your family puts down roots and makes memories?  Maybe it’s both!  In this episode, we discuss using financial strategy to purchase a home with our wonderful guest Zhara York.  Her advice and perspective on financial strategies for buying the home of your...

Have you ever wanted to travel the world but you felt a little uncertain about leaving your comfort zone?  Are you curious about other cultures but afraid you might not understand the language in a far-flung country?  Have you thought about striking out on your own for a bucket list adventure?  If so, this episode is for you.  Join us as we chat with the co-hosts of Rhythm & Roam, a podcast ab...

Have you ever known anyone who was adopted?  Maybe you have but you didn’t know it.  In fact, maybe the person who was adopted didn’t know it either.  In this episode, we are taking a deep dive into the fallout of adoption.  On the one hand, the adoption process can be a beautiful way to build a family.  On the other hand, it can leave the parties involved with a difficult set of issues to work th...

If you need help in the parenting department, this episode might be the one for you.  Sue Donnellan is a mom, entrepreneur, author and parenting coach who may have cracked the code on how to raise kids.  She developed her parenting philosophy as a military mom with 4 kids under 4 while her husband was serving in the military.  Sue’s story is incredible and her parenting philosophy may be just the...

Have you ever thought about writing a book?  Have you ever wanted to pursue a life of creativity?  Are you a mom who grew up in the Midwest?  Ha, just kidding about that last one.  This episode is for anyone who is interested in doing something in the arts, painting, writing or even… podcasting?  That’s right, we’re talking about more than just writing and drawing in this super fun chat! You can c...

It’s almost tax time and you know what that means… that’s right, it’s time for an April Fool’s episode!  We thought it would be a great opportunity for us to head back to our comedy roots and share one of our favorite episodes from when we were a new podcast, just getting started.  If you’ve been listening for a while, you will know that the original podcast used recordings from our nutty family d...

There is nothing like the anticipation of a family vacation to get our travel bugs going and with the summer travel season approaching, we thought it was high time we chat with a travel expert!  With stories of international travel spanning 66 countries, this chat with Joy Owens CEO and co-owner of Butler Travel, will thrill even the most seasoned traveler.  She comes from a family full of travele...

What if we told you there is a simple and effective tool you could use to help your child be happier, and more positive?  What if it was an easy and safe tool that only required a few minutes of your time every night and it could also help you, too?  What if you could learn to communicate better with your child so the whole family functions better? If you are interested in helping your child and y...

Having just celebrated Valentine’s Day, we thought we would keep the love flowing by talking about one of the subjects we adore, our dogs!  If you are a dog parent or you just love a furry little smile and a wagging tail, this episode is a love letter specifically to you.  We are talking with the delightful Emma Suarez Berumen, entrepreneur and co-founder of the Snout App, a new tool you can use t...

Just in time for Valentine’s Day, we thought we would have a fun chat with Lisa Johnson, high conflict divorce coach, advocate, author and podcaster!  If you or someone you know is navigating a difficult divorce, this episode is the one for you.  It is full of information about what it is like to go through a difficult divorce while helping your children stay grounded and happy.  We start with Lis...

Happy New Year!  We are starting off the year by giving you something to think about and possibly plan for, living the life of your dreams… in Europe.  Come with us as we chat with the lovely and adventurous Susan Richardson as she puts her dream of living in France in motion.  She is a delight to chat with so settle in and enjoy her tales of traveling throughout Tuscany and Provence over the holi...

Welcome to 2026!  Can you believe the New Year is upon us?  To kick things off, we thought we would offer a special tribute episode in honor of our dad Dwight Alford, aka The Badger.  In this episode, we tell some fun stories about underwear, (yes, the theme continues), including our favorite story about the time he got locked out of his house in his underwear.  That is a real wildlife thriller, f...

Three Wise Men and a Bag of Underwear - Holiday Blast from the Past For our last episode of the year, we are reposting one of our favorite holiday specials from 2022.  This episode tells fun stories about our dads and some holiday gifts featuring… you guessed it, underwear!  We want to thank you for supporting us and sharing some holiday cheer that we all could use right about now.  Happy holidays...

Happy Holidays!  This year’s holiday special is a delicious one.  If you are feeling nostalgic for a big family Christmas, we have just the guest for you.  Erica D’Arcangelo is joining us to talk about her big Italian family and their pizzeria D’Arc’s Pizza in western Pennsylvania.  We talk about Christmas dinners at the shop with 7 fishes, midnight mass and meatball sandwiches at midnight.  There...

As we get ready for Thanksgiving, I don’t think we could have a better guest on the show than Stephanie Cotsirilos, actor, author, lawyer and just a lovely person with so many amazing stories to tell.  While Stephanie says the themes underlying her stories are assimilation, displacement and injustice, I think if you look closely enough you will also hear something else.  You will see she is profou...

This episode is very important to all of us here at Everyday Macaroni because we have personal experience with complex kids and how they spice up the family dynamic, in such a good way!  Michelle Choairy is one amazing woman with an incredible story that begins in Brazil and is still ongoing as she is living in California, raising a family with a complex kid and embarking on her mission as an advo...