Discover the Exciting Highlights from Jyll Everman’s First Appearance as the New Host of ‘Fox 11 Living’!

GREEN BAY – Jyll Everman made her debut on Monday as the latest host of WLUK-TV’s “Fox 11 Living,” and although she’s a master with a chef’s knife, you will never see her using one on a green bell pepper.

A culinary expert for almost two decades, Everman enters the recently redesigned studio kitchen that was formerly occupied by Amy Hanten for 16 of her 33 years at the network. Following her announcement to leave in August, Hanten expressed her emotions as she concluded her time on the show on December 20 to dedicate more time to her new spouse, children, and elderly parents.

Everman is just the second host of the cooking and lifestyle program that began in 2008. She’s already a well-known figure in northeastern Wisconsin as a former guest on the show, a co-owner of the Gather on Broadway event space in downtown Green Bay, and a finalist on the Food Network’s “Food Network Star” in 2011.

To formally introduce herself to the audience, Everman was accompanied by Abby Destree, a “Fox 11 Living” producer for 14 years who is now taking on a larger presence before the camera for a show that, alongside cooking segments, will also encompass trends, tips, and life hacks.

They’re both “Green Bay ladies,” as Destree labeled them. Everman is an alumna of Southwest High School; Destree finished her studies at West High School. They are also both wives and mothers with young sons.

Here are a few additional tidbits we learned about Everman during her inaugural show:

She has an aversion to green bell peppers — not even slightly.

“I detest — detest — green bell peppers. If a guest decides to bring them, fantastic, they can bring them along. You will never see me prepare a meal with a green bell pepper. I feel as if the devil himself created them,” she remarked.

The same applies to truffle oil.

The other item viewers will never observe her reaching for in the “Fox 11 Living” kitchen: truffle oil. She’s not a supporter.

She mentioned that the women in her Gather on Broadway kitchen like to tease her that they plan to serve her green bell peppers drenched in truffle oil.

“I can’t imagine anything worse. I’m not going to lie,” she stated.

She can dice garlic at lightning speed.

With a collection of recipes amassed over 20 years to choose from for the show, figuring out where to begin was a challenge. She opted for Asian chicken lettuce wraps for her first official meal as host.

This was an opportunity to showcase her exceptional skills with a blade. Rather than using a garlic press, which she finds too cumbersome to clean afterward, she prefers to finely chop her own cloves by hand. She illustrated her preferred technique of rocking the knife forward on the center of the cutting board to chop, swiftly becoming a blur of activity. It’s a “little dance move” she employs for chopping most ingredients in her kitchen.

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Prepare to hear her say ‘MITG’ frequently in the kitchen.

Everman informed viewers that they will hear her repeat certain phrases regularly on the program. One of those is “MITG,” which stands for “Make it taste good.”

“I worked alongside a rather irate chef in Los Angeles who would shout at me, ‘Make it taste good!’” she recalled, “and it has forever remained in my mind.”

Her family includes a one-year-old puppy that is ‘a total nutcase.’

She shared a family picture featuring her husband of nearly 18 years, Tommy, and their children, Jack and Luke.

“And the maniac in the center is my new puppy, a Bernese mountain dog named Bubba, who has both destroyed our lives yet enhanced it significantly. But he’s a complete nutcase.”

She uploaded a couple of amusing videos on her Facebook page earlier this month, depicting the struggle of getting a cold-loving dog breed originally from Switzerland to come inside from the snowy front yard.

“Fox 11 Living” is broadcast at 10 a.m. on weekdays. The show has established new social media accounts: Facebook.com/fox11livingwluk and @Fox11Living on Instagram.

Everman and Destree invite recommendations for community spots to highlight on the show and types of recipes to showcase in the kitchen by emailing Living@wluk.com.

Kendra Meinert is an entertainment and feature writer at the Green Bay Press-Gazette. Reach her at 920-431-8347 or kmeinert@greenbay.gannett.com. Follow her on X @KendraMeinert.