It happens all the time.

Jayni Carey, host of “Jayni’s Kitchen” on Sunflower Broadband’s Channel 6, will be buying groceries and other shoppers will stop her.

They typically offer their compliments on her 2-year-old cooking show and ask for Carey’s advice on buying a good cut of meat or how to pick a ripe piece of fruit or vegetable.

And that’s fine with Carey.

“It’s very positive, and people are really nice. I enjoy cooking, and it’s one of the things that comes along with doing the show,” she says.

It’s no surprise that Carey is recognized around Lawrence. After all, her half-hour program began in March 2001, and new shows and replays have been running several times each week since its debut. In fact, the 100th episode of “Jayni’s Kitchen” — a benchmark for any television program — made its debut Tuesday.

“It’s exciting. It’s amazing that we’ve reached 100 shows already, and it’s still fun. I’ve still got a lot of ideas, people who are on my list of guests, a lot of recipes to do,” she says. “It’s probably the most fun I’ve ever had.”

Sunflower Broadband is owned by The World Company, which also owns the Journal-World.

Since launching her show, Carey has become something of a celebrity to local cooking enthusiasts. She is to Channel 6 what culinary stars Nigella Lawson and Emeril Lagasse are to the Food Channel: a gourmet guide and camera-friendly expert in the kitchen.

Carey has cast a wide net in choosing guest cooks and topics for the show, inviting both amateurs and food professionals alike to step behind her Viking stovetop and educate viewers.

Her more than 40 guests have included folks from among her friends and neighbors, restaurateurs, cookbook authors, child chefs and experts from the world of food and wine.

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Her show topics have ranged from “Wood-fired Pizza with Artist Louis Copt” to “A Taste of Louisiana Cooking with Dentist Jim Otten” and “Celebrate the Chinese New Year with Professor Pok Chi Lau.”

Along the way, Carey’s helped promote local, food-related events like Cottonwood Inc.’s “Salute: A Festival of Wine & Food” and the Lawrence Jewish Community Center’s annual Blintz Brunch.

“We try to always be seasonal and on top of trends, to cover the holidays and all sorts of events,” Carey says.

“We try to do a little bit of everything. That’s what keeps it fresh and fun.”

Memorable meals

Carey is a natural to serve as host of a cooking program, because preparing food has always been her passion.

“When I was a kid, I had a kitchen set up in my bedroom with an Easybake Oven, a sink you could put water in and a cardboard-box ‘refrigerator.’ I had my grandfather’s china cabinet and a real set of china,” she recalls. “Everything worked except that darn refrigerator.”

Carey would bake cakes, muffins and pies in the miniature oven, and roast crawdads in a little butter over a fire in her back yard.

Her love of wonderful food blossomed as an adult. She and her husband, Frank Carey, the director of technology at Kansas University’s School of Education, have co-written two cookbooks.

“The Kansas Cookbook: Recipes from the Heartland” was published in 1989 by the University Press of Kansas. It has sold more than 31,000 copies and is the publisher’s third all-time bestseller.

“The Easier You Make It, the Better It Tastes” was published in April 1994 by Better Homes and Gardens Books. It was the publisher’s first venture into cookbooks authored by writers outside its own organization.

In 1994 and 1995, the Careys appeared on many television and radio shows in the Kansas City area to promote their second book. They also traveled to New York to appear on “Robin Leach’s Cookbook Central,” a TV program on the Food Network.

From 1992 through 1994, the couple were regular guests preparing their favorite dishes on “Something Beautiful,” a nationally broadcast cable television show produced in Kansas City, Mo.

Inspired by culinary adventures during their trips to France, the enjoyment of memorable meals is an important part of the couple’s life.

“Frank and I cook together every night, except Friday, when we go out to dinner. We also entertain. We have a large circle of friends who enjoy food and wine like we do,” she says.

Fun and creative cooking

Carey alternates between hosting “Jayni’s Kitchen” with a guest cook and doing shows by herself, featuring recipes she has developed.

Her guests seem to like doing the show as much as Carey does.

“It’s great — it’s a lot of fun,” says Sandy Praeger, Kansas Insurance Commissioner and a Lawrence resident.

“She really focuses on her guests and draws them out. She makes them feel relaxed and comfortable. For me, cooking is fun. And that’s the message her show gives.”

Praeger has appeared on Carey’s program twice: once with her husband, Dr. Mark Praeger, a general surgeon, in a show about grilling steak; and, more recently, in a show titled “Weeknight Favorites with Insurance Commissioner Sandy Praeger.”

Dr. Jim Otten, a cosmetic and restorative dental surgeon in Lawrence, cooked up some of his favorite creole and cajun dishes on a show earlier this year.

“It’s really great how Jayni brings in local, regional and national figures — some interesting and diverse people. I think it’s a great show and a real asset,” he says.

Dave Billings, an appliance consultant with Factory Direct Appliance, 4931 W. Sixth St., one of the show’s sponsors, appeared with Carey last fall in an installment called “Wild Things: Cooking Wild Fowl with Dave Billings.”

An amateur chef and friend of Carey’s, Billings showed viewers how to prepare goose injected with apple wine and duck with black raspberry sauce.

“I like the show, and I like the fact that she has on so many different guests. I highly recommend to anybody that might get invited to be on it: Don’t pass it up,” he says.

Carey explains her reasons for doing the show.

“I’m interested in cooking and people who cook. We want to bring something to viewers at all levels of cooking. My goal is to get people into the kitchen, to show them how much fun and how creative it can be,” she says.

“I hope that it encourages people to get up and make something for the people they love.”