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The Daily Dish The Real Housewives of Orange County

Gina Kirschenheiter Reveals the “Secret” She’s Been Hiding “For So Long”

“I don’t tell anybody from back home,” the RHOC cast member said.

By Abby Feiner

Gina Kirschenheiter is the first to admit she doesn’t spend much time cooking at home these days. 

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After joking about her high DoorDash bill on Season 17 Episode 6 of The Real Housewives of Orange County, Gina later explained on Episode 8, “I realized I can cook, I just don’t like it.” 

However, that doesn’t mean she doesn’t have culinary skills. During a conversation about cooking during the July 26 episode with her boyfriend, Travis Mullen; her ex-husband, Matt Kirschenheiter; and Matt’s girlfriend, Britt, the latter reminisced about a “really good” meal Gina made two years prior. 

“That was the last time she cooked!” Travis joked. 

“It was like real Italian pasta,” Britt said, to which Travis quipped, “‘Real’ Italian’s a relative word. I think real Italians would be offended calling that a real Italian [meal].” However, Gina exclaimed, “I am a real Italian! I’m not a fake Italian!” 

It seems the conversation inspired Gina to make dinner for her and Travis, and the two later headed to a local Italian market to pick up ingredients. “When’s the last time I made you a proper meal?” she asked, and he jokingly replied, “Like our third date.” 

When the time finally came for Gina and Travis to sit down for dinner, Travis was immediately impressed. “It smells good, babe,” he said. “It smells, like, really good.”

Their meal for the night was chicken parmigiana, stuffed artichokes, garlic bread, and pasta, but as Gina shared in an episode interview, one part of the dinner wasn’t exactly homemade. 

Gina Kirschenheiter reveals her cooking “secret”

“I don’t tell anybody from back home that I buy jarred sauce,” she said, laughing. “I have been hiding this secret for so long. Hi, I’m Gina, and I buy jarred sauce.”

Chicken parmigiana in a pan.
Artichokes cooking in a pot on the stove.

Although Gina may not cook often for Travis, in the video above, she explains that it is something she likes to do with her kids. While showing her large kitchen island, Gina shared, “We cook together a lot. That’s something I really do enjoy doing with my kids, is cooking with them. When you cook with kids, you definitely need space to do it, so [the island] is a great feature of this house.”

Now Gina has even more space for cooking when the mood strikes. In 2022, Gina opened up to BravoTV.com about renovating much of her house, including extending their kitchen island to “three times [its previous] size.”

“The kids have more space to spread out, and it’s made it more of an entertaining space,” she shared. “Which is really nice, ’cause I can have people over and host and entertain.”

Check out the video above to take a tour of Gina’s home. 

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