Celebrity chef, one-time model, and TV personality Carla Hall knows a thing or two about celebrating food and family. Blasting News caught up with the affable "The Chew" co-host and "Top Chef" alum on Nov. 13 to chat about her family's holiday traditions, her ongoing "Dancing with the Stars" aspirations, and her involvement with the Gift My Gathering campaign.

Carla Hall promotes Gift My Gathering giveaway

For the 2017 holiday season, Hall joined forces with T.J.Maxx, HomeGoods, and Marshalls to promote Gift My Gathering, a contest which will allow five different families across the US to celebrate what Hall called "a custom family gathering." The winners will receive a holiday party tailored to whatever the families want, from food to decor and more, all done with the help of a team of experts.

For a chance to win, consumers should visit giftmygathering.com and share what makes their families the greatest gifts of all.

With the holidays on the brain, Hall also touched on some of her own seasonal favorites. She shared that one of her favorite holiday traditions involves food, which isn't much of a surprise given her background. She compiled her grandmother's tried and true recipes so she could pass them down to younger family members. When the time comes for the next generation to host Thanksgiving dinner, they'll have not only the recipes but an historical link to the dishes they prepare.

One of Hall's most treasured holiday recipes of all --and one of her biggest holiday meal must-haves-- is a very special five-flavor pound cake.

"My granny would make this pound cake and... send it to my sister and I and to my cousins. She would wrap it in plastic wrap, wax paper, newspaper, brown paper... it felt like 10,000 pounds," she recalled. "But then when we opened it we knew we were getting to the cake when all the sudden... all that butter and the flavors would just come up in my nose and [sigh]." To give the cake a seasonal touch, Hall uses a fancy platter and tops it with a lemon glaze and candied cranberries.

'The Chew,' 'Dancing with the Stars,' and reality TV aspirations

Hall also took a few moments to chat about her roles --or desired roles-- in several reality TV shows, from "The Chew" to "Top Chef" to "Dancing with the Stars." When it came to "The Chew," Hall tabbed iconic actress Carol Burnett and dancer Mia Michaels as the celebs with whom she'd most like to share a segment on a future episode.

She dished that she's still interested in competing on "Dancing with the Stars," and shared that her love of the show is rooted less in the competition itself, and more in the personal transformations the contestants undergo. "It's not about the dance. It's just about giving into learning and doing something new," she said. So which talented "DWTS" pro would she most like to work alongside? At six feet tall, the former model took a practical approach with her response when she said "I need someone tall. Maks [Chmerkovskiy] could be an option... Keo [Motsepe] could be a good option, too."

Finally, she reflected back on her two "Top Chef" appearances. She enjoyed seeing "so many talented chefs share their perspective on food" but cautioned potential future reality TV cooking show contestants against being overly influenced by other chefs.

"You learn a lot from other people, but you have to remember what you have to give as well. A lot of times you see a bunch of people and you think 'I like that, I like that, I like that better than what I do' and you forget what you do naturally and what your gift is. I definitely learned to appreciate what I did."

For more information on Gift My Gathering, visit the campaign website. Viewers can catch Carla Hall on weekdays on ABC's "The Chew." To hear the full interview between Hall and Blasting News, watch the video linked above.
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