Caroline Manzo's 3 Essential Tips for the Home Chef

Caroline Manzo — The Real Housewives of New Jersey alum known for her family Sunday suppers — has been sharing a lot lately about what food means to her. For one thing, she recently described finding comfort in the "healing" property of food as she recovers from surgery. And for another, she also opened up about how "deeply rooted" food is within her family's very "soul."

She described the latter topic recently during an appearance on the Kitchen Chat podcast, where she also shared the three top tips she considers to be essential guidance for any home chef.

Specifically, Caroline's top cooking — and life! — tips for the home chef are...

First, "Do what you love." Beyond that, "don't be intimidated" in the kitchen (or anywhere else for that matter). And last, she advises from her own experience: "Let your food flag fly — serve with flair!"

Amen to all that. And for good measure, we'll toss in a couple of bonus tips we also learned over the years from Caroline and her foodie fam: Make one great batch recipe to keep in the fridge to eat all week... and a little ice cream for dinner never hurt!