By Alexa Wagman

In the HBO series Sex and the City, Carrie Bradshaw—played by Sarah Jessica Parker—famously quips, “I keep my sweaters in my oven.” Although most women in New York City don’t actually use ovens as storage, the message, though comedic, isn’t far from the truth. Apartments in New York City are small, kitchens are tiny, counter space is limited, and storage is minimal. Still, many women love to cook and entertain.

Melissa D’Arabian is the recent winner of the fifth season of The Next Food Network Star, the new host of the network’s Ten Dollar Dinners and the mother of four young daughters. On her new show, she cooks up delicious meals and offers helpful tips to save time and money in the kitchen, all while keeping within her $10 budget. Melissa generously shared her experiences on the show, details about her new television series, and offered helpful advice for women cooking and living in New York City.

What advice would you offer to novice chefs?

Most novice chefs are afraid to experiment. Try to master some recipes from a cookbook. Stick with familiar preparations and change the flavor profiles or use familiar flavor profiles and a new preparation. For example, if you know how to cook chicken piccata (chicken, lemon, capers, etc.) you can easily recreate the dish using the same flavors and ingredients and roast the chicken instead.

How did you end up on the show The Next Food Network Star?

I was teaching women in the Dallas area about cooking with limited equipment. At the time, I was already working on a video on homemade yogurt and I noticed that Food Network was asking for video submissions for The Next Food Network Star. I submitted the video to producers and was selected! I love to connect with other women and the show is a great extension of what I was already doing on a local level in Dallas.

What’s the most exciting part about having your own show on the Food Network?

I love bringing my experiences—being a stay at home mom, a career woman, and a wife—to other people. I love to share war stories about cooking and entertaining. Food Network simply increases the number of people that I am able to reach.

How did you originally come up with the idea for the show?

All of the recipes come from my kitchen. I’ve served these recipes to my children, my husband, my family, and my friends. Even before the opportunity to be on The Next Food Network Star presented itself, I used to talk to women about how to make meals and save money. I’m the crazy woman in front of you in line at the grocery store with the thick coupon books. Ten Dollar Dinners is a forum that allows me to share my advice with a much larger and broader audience.

How do you manage to remain within your $10 budget without sacrificing quality?

You need to remember three things when cooking on a budget. First, learn how to buy ingredients and how to shop right. Look at what’s on sale, what coupons are available, what’s seasonal, etc. Second, learn how to leverage your ingredients. Select recipes that highlight expensive items and leverage the inexpensive ingredients. Third, don’t waste any of your ingredients. That is the number one rule of eating on a budget. Even if it was an inexpensive ingredient, as soon as you waste it or throw it away, it becomes a very expensive ingredient.

What cooking shows do you personally like to watch on television?

I love all the different shows on Food Network. I really love Iron Chef America—I could watch it for hours and hours. I also enjoy all of Giada’s shows—Giada at Home and Everyday Italian. Right now, my big TiVo’d show is The Next Iron Chef. I get anxiety for the contestants when they’re under a time constraint to make a dish. Now that I’ve been there, I understand how much pressure you feel!

For women living in New York City, what advice can you offer about cooking, especially on a budget?

I lived in New York City for a short time when I was a young professional. I’m familiar with the challenges of cooking in Manhattan apartments and especially cooking on a budget. The main advice I can offer is this—don’t stress too much about the ingredients and the price of the ingredients. Whatever you buy in stores will be less expensive than eating out or ordering in. Plus, it’s difficult to spend more than $10 on ingredients to cook a meal for one person. It’s also not just about the price, it’s about eating healthy, feeling good, and enjoying the cooking experience.

Since most Manhattan apartments do not have a lot of storage space, review the contents of your fridge once a week (Sundays are always a good day for this). Write down what leftovers and open ingredients you have left. Sour cream, for example, is an item I often use sparingly. Check for expiration dates and move these items to the front of your fridge. Plan meals for that week that incorporate these leftovers and use them up! As a side note, white beans are a single person’s best friend (canned or dried). You can mix them with high protein pasta and create a very inexpensive, healthy, and tasty meal.

If women in New York City only have a handful of kitchen instruments/utensils/appliances, which ones can’t we live without?

There are really four things a novice and experienced chef can’t live without. First, you must have a great quality chef’s knife for chopping, slicing, dicing, etc. Second, you should have a good paring knife. You really don’t need those large sets of knives. Third, it’s important to have a good quality stainless steel all clad skillet that distributes heat well. You can also put the skillet in the oven—start browning something on the stovetop, throw it in the oven, and walk away. You don’t need to babysit it. Lastly, you should have a microplane (grater/zester) for lemons, hard cheeses, garlic. Lemon zest in particular is a great flavoring. You can use the lemon juice then zest it up and put the zest in the freezer for later use. You really can get the full use of the lemon.

What are your favorite restaurants in New York City?

I really love Scarpetta. They have a great polenta dish. Bobby Flay’s restaurant, Bar Americain, is also excellent. I went to the restaurant last year for my 40th birthday with my husband. I love the potato chips with blue cheese and the duck two ways. It was a bit of foreshadowing in that I ended up cooking for Bobby Flay a year later at the Food Network New York City Wine & Food Festival. I can say with certainty that Eric Ripert’s restaurant, Le Bernardin, is by far the best seafood and fish I have ever had. That’s definitely not a $10 dinner type of place; it’s more like $10 a bite!

What lies in the future for Melissa D’Arabian? Do you hope to open a restaurant someday?

I’m currently working on season two of Ten Dollar Dinners. The new season starts on January 3rd. I have tons of promotional opportunities that come along with it. My plate is really full right now. In terms of opening a restaurant, it seems pretty unlikely. Never say never, but it doesn’t fall into my list of dreams right now. I’m really interested in cooking for people and bringing my experiences to life in the kitchen. I learned, through challenges on the show, that I’m not a great caterer. But, I also learned that I’m a really fantastic home cook.

For more information go to www.foodnetwork.com/tendollardinners for more recipes, videos, and information about Melissa.