Rachael Ray hopes you'll think of animal shelters during this time of the year.

"We try and remind people If you're out cooking and thinking about cookbooks, fill up your food bank. And we still send that message, but this year, we're adding on the message, please try to fill up your shelters with love and a little bit of free time," she told PopEater during a stop on her book tour for 'Look & Cook.'

"A can of food for people, a can of food for dogs," she said. "It's a nice message."

Ray has her own pet care line, Nutrish, profits from which go entirely to help no-kill animal shelters -- and it's been an important cause for the star. "It feels weird. I'm a waitress from upstate New York and I have an extraordinarily blessed life. It feels weird to go out in the world a receive a lot of love without figuring out how to make that math work out and give back."

The TV cook's tour includes pop-up adoption sites for rescue animals in every city she visits.