WATCH: Lentil dish lands New Dundee food blogger starring role in pulse program

Adam Heard wants people to stop being afraid of their kitchens.

In fact, the food blogger fromNew Dundee says he wants you to "get out of the drive-thru and get your ass in the kitchen."

• LISTEN:New Dundee food blogger gets chance to work with chef Michael Smith

"There's so many people out there that over complicate food in general," Heard said. "They think, 'Man, that looks great on TV but there's no way I could make that.' And it's probably a lot more simple than they think it is, and it's going to be a lot more nutritious, it's going to save them money, it's just so much better for everything for the economy, for the environment, for your body for people to actually cook at home."

'This is the show'

Heard recently had the opportunity to up his food blogging game by getting tips from Canadian chef Michael Smith asone of five bloggers to win a contest to work with the celebritychef. Part of his prize wasto go to Prince Edward Island and cook in Smith's test kitchen. It was all filmed and portions of his experience were put online at lentils.ca.

He said getting to cook in Smith's kitchen was an incredible experience.

"Immediately, I could see how legit everything was. So it was, 'Oh boy, this is the show,'" he said.

Heard saidfor thefirst take, the show's producers sent him in cold. He didn't know where the knives were or even where to plug in his food processor.

"My favourite moment was when that was over," Heard said. "The rest of the day continued on a much more light, happy note."

Share his passion

Heard saidSmith was "the pro of pros" and was generous with his time."If I had a question, he was right there with me," he said.

As for Smith, he said Heard worked well with the show's production team, and didn't flinch in front of theeight cameras focused on him.

"I think the definition of a star in any media is your ability to share your passion with your audience, to make us believe in you. Every one of our winners exhibited that quality," Smith said in a release about the contest. "Adam's love of being his family's cook really resonated with me."

Romantic dish

2016 is the International Year of Pulses and that was the theme for the contest, run by lentils.ca. Smith himselfis an ambassador for Canada's Year of Pulses. He calls the legumes "nutritional superstars" andadvocates the use of pulses in home cooking.

• Get the recipe on lentils.ca

For his contest entry, Heard put together a video showing him making a much loved family recipe.

"There was a little bit of a romantic story with the recipe that I actually submitted," he said.

"The dish that I prepared was what I call firecracker chicken with lentils and riceand the lentils and rice portion is actually a traditional Indian kitchari, which was actually my wife's grandmother's recipe. And it was one of the favourite dishes, actually the first dish that I had from her that I really loved, and it was probably my first Indian food that I'd ever had back when we were teenagers."

New web series

Heard said he's pleased with thefinal result."They made me look good," he joked.

And said it has inspired him to do more for his own YouTube channel and blog.

He said he would love to one day have his own cooking show, but for now, Heard is working on a new web series, which he hopes will in turn inspire more people to get into their own kitchens.

"Sometimes, you'll watch a video and maybe it is overcomplicated, but you can probably simplify it and use related ingredients, and that's what a lot of people don't know," he said. "So they pick up the phone and order a pizza or they throw a burger on the barbecue when they could have awesome blackened chicken with peanut satay sauce, which sounds complicated, but is actually very, very simple and nutritious and delicious."