Fox host Carley Shimkus sets her alarm for 1:15 a.m. to get ready for her show.
And if you think that sounds like hard work, she's also a busy mom to 10-month-old Brock and also wrote a cookbook this year.
“I drink so much coffee that sometimes I go to bed at night and I get excited when I wake up in the morning and drink coffee,” she told DailyMail.com.
The 37-year-old New Jersey native greets American households every weekday at 5 a.m., along with her Fox and Friends First co-host Todd Piro.
Known as a foodie within the network, Shimkus has now released a recipe book just in time for holiday cooking and given baby Brock his first Christmas experience.
Shimkus gave baby Brock his first Christmas experience (photo at Rockefeller Center in New York). 'Christmas approaching is really nice. We just took pictures with Santa and he's such a friendly baby and he goes along with everyone and smiles at everyone – but he had a complete meltdown on Santa's lap. I have some really nice pictures,” she laughed.
She and her husband, financier Peter Buchignani, gave birth to her first child, Brock, in February, and the TV star says the highlight of motherhood has been watching Brock develop as he grows and changes.
'Christmas approaching is really nice. We just took pictures with Santa and he's such a friendly baby and he goes along with everyone and smiles at everyone – but he had a complete meltdown on Santa's lap. I have some really nice pictures,” she laughed.
Cooking with Friends: Eat, Drink and Be Merry features more than 75 recipes drawn straight from the star's culinary repertoire. The dishes range from easy-to-make starters, to budget-friendly main courses and delicious desserts.
The beloved host told Dailymail.com in an exclusive interview that Cooking with Friends started as a long-running segment on Fox and Friends in which hosts join guests and reporters to prepare their favorite family meal – something that is “meaningful and special” to them. .
“It's just a cool way to see someone you normally see in a serious role let their hair down and cook something fun that they love to make at home,” she said.
Shimkus described the moment when Harper Collins approached her with the book idea as “coming full circle” because she was pregnant with her first child at the time, so she was cooking more at home and getting ready to make home-cooked meals when the baby was born. came.
She and her husband, financier Peter Buchignani, gave birth to her first child, Brock, in February, and the TV star says the highlight of motherhood is watching Brock's development as he grows and changes.
'Even when I look back at the pictures of him from four months ago, he has changed so much. It's cheesy, but it's true when they say it goes by so quickly even though it's only been 10 months,” she said.
Shimkus must combine her busy work life with motherhood. That's why creating a recipe book with fun, easy and affordable meals was so important to her.
Shimkus said food has always been a particularly important part of her life.
“My parents definitely put a big emphasis on eating together. When I was in high school it was an eye roll because you know what high schoolers are like. Now that I'm past that stage, I'm definitely going to do this with my kids,” she said.
'Meals were important and in terms of food in general, I eat everything and it's always been that way.'
Coming from a multicultural family, Shimkus also features a range of global recipes that reflect her upbringing.
The 37-year-old New Jersey native greets American households every weekday at 5 a.m. with her Fox and Friends First co-host Todd Piro (pictured together)
With a Puerto Rican mother and Polish-Lithuanian father, she grew up eating international dishes like her mother's 'Arroz con Frijoles' and her grandmother's apple pie.
Her mother grew up in a Puerto Rican neighborhood in Ohio and raised her own children on authentic recipes.
A common dish served at the family's dinner table was rice and beans and corned beef, which Shimkus said she was bored with as a child but eventually became a pregnancy staple and earned a spot in the cookbook.
Her father cooked Polish and Lithuanian-inspired dishes, such as pierogis, but decided he wanted to include Linguine with Mussel Sauce as a recipe for the book.
Shimkus featured fan favorites and iconic dishes from her Fox colleagues – including Steve Doocy, Rachel Campos-Duffy, Pete Hegseth, Brian Kilmeade, Ainsley Earhardt and Janice Dean.
She said it was hard to choose a favorite, but one of her own dishes stood out.
'My potato cake dish is really so tasty. The base consists of frozen potato cakes, so we are in no way talking about Michelin stars. And then it's just eggs, breakfast sausage, cheese – you pop it in the oven and put dollops of sour cream on top. It's so indulgent and so delicious,” the mother said.
Shimkus also gave a special shout-out to her BBQ deviled eggs.
As for her guests' contributions, the Fox news star said her fellow host Rachel Campos-Duffy provided the recipe for her lemon ricotta pancakes they made together on Fox and Friends.
Fox's meteorologist Janice Dean also offered up one of Shimkus' favorites: a “grilled donut.” The dish consists of a Krispy Kreme donut slathered in butter and placed in the toaster oven, which Shimkus said “just suits her personality.”
“None of the people who contributed are expert chefs,” Shimkus said. “They have that one recipe that they love and that is meaningful to them. If you're a Fox viewer, you watch these people on TV all day, so it's pretty cool to see them in a different light.”
The Fox and Friends host joined the network in 2009 after graduating from Quinnipiac University, where she earned a degree in broadcast journalism.
Shimkus worked as a production assistant at Fox Business Network – she was later promoted to associate producer.
She highly recommends that anyone still looking for a Christmas gift give her cookbook as a gift this holiday season.