Roast Chicken and Potatoes with Amy

“Get into the kitchen, find out what your comfort level is, and feed your soul.” 

I love things that come in trucks. Food trucks. Ice cream trucks. Did you know that there is such a thing as a dog treat truck?? There is! And my friend, Amy, owns one! 

Amy is so wonderfully thoughtful and wise. She is a dog magnet. She is my sole-sister (run group friend) and our Sunday hiking ritual is one of the main things that has gotten me through this challenging year. 

In this episode, Amy and I talk about what cooking and baking has meant to her through the years. We discussed Amy’s formative experiences in the kitchen, including cooking hotdogs over the coal furnace with her dad and learning how to make sour cream crumb cake and Hello Dollies from her mother and grandmother. We explored her comfort food of choice: roasted chicken and russet potatoes! Amy likes to get her chicken from Riverbend Heritage Farm in Denver, NC. She shops local whenever possible, and we discussed the benefits of doing so this episode. 

Amy has a degree in hotel and restaurant management; she has also worked in the pet industry for many years. In this episode we discuss the evolution of her passion, which started with loving on the dogs dropped of at the farm across the street from where she grew up on in PA and blossomed into opening her own pet shop in New York City. She worked as a vendor and sales rep for many years on the west coast, eventually starting her own line of dog treats. Upon moving to Belmont, NC in 2018, Amy used her innovative, entrepreneurial spirit to start her current business, Simply American Dog Treat Truck. Amy and her dog treat truck can be found on Saturdays at the Mount Holly Farmer’s Market, as well as many other neighborhoods around the Charlotte metro area. 

We discussed strategies for cooking treats for animals, and Amy is a real expert when it comes to this. In fact, she is fondly known by the members of our run group as the “dog lady” because dogs love her so much. Make sure you are following Amy on social media to ensure you don’t miss any of her upcoming events, and bring your pup by the truck for some yummy treats! Simply American Dog Treat Truck is the joyful COVID silver lining we have all been waiting for.