Here's the Sweet Reason Why Shannon Beador Does All the Cooking for Her Own Dinner Parties

The Real Housewives of Orange County mom — and entrepreneur! — Shannon Beador recently announced a new business venture: her very own prepared food line called Real for Real Cuisine, launching on QVC on April 18. (If you're keeping score at home... that's today. So congrats are in order, Shannon!) In the new healthy food line, each meal is a portion-controlled 450 calories or less.

The project has already afforded her lots of palpable benefits, including spending time in the kitchen with her family: "What has been fun for me as well is I've been putting a lot of time in the kitchen. I do love to cook, and to kind of try and figure out what my favorite recipes are and then forward it onto the chef, it's been a lot of fun. My kids, we've been spending a lot of time with the girls in the kitchen, having them try things. Is this a good one? Is this a bad one? So it's been nice.”

And in fact, it's spending time in the kitchen that remains one of Shannon's most cherished things to do. And that's why, she told The Feast, she cooks for groups in her own home; it's simply a labor of love.

"I always liked entertaining small groups. And I think on the show I say often if I have 25 people or under often the day I'll cook myself because when my friends or family come over, it comes from the heart when you spend the day cooking for them," she said. "And I enjoy doing that. I enjoy spending the day and then having everyone sit down... And they all appreciate the time that I took."

In fact, she'd much rather show that authentic love amid intimate groups, rather than call in an outside chef in the name of hosting a huge group at her home. "I'm not the big party person," she said. "but I always love to have a smaller, intimate group of friends.”

-Reporting by Laura Rosenfeld