For the grand finale episode of this season of the What To Cook show, I bring you a fajita feast! We’re headed to my backyard to grill up the most delicious summer spread of hanger steak, shrimp, and veg for fajitas, plus we’ll make a creamy charred jalapeño sauce and corn on the cob to finish off the meal. In this episode, you’ll learn about… * Grilling over direct vs. indirect heat * Using your intuition when you’re grilling a bunch of food that has different cook times * Cutting against the grain to make steak SO much easier to chew * How to prep all sorts of peppers * Much more!! I absolutely loved filming this first season and getting to SHOW you many of the things I tell you about all the time in the newsletter. Also to show you that my kids are in and out of my kitchen at all times trying to introduce me to lizards and climb on the counter and crawl at my feet. If you have kids, your cooking process likely looks similar, and I want you to know that we’re in it together! Have any of you become Cometeer diehards like me?! The fact that I can make myself a coffee shop-grade cup of coffee or iced latte at home in about 15 seconds flat has TRULY improved my life. Cometeer is what to make when you don’t feel like making coffee (or spending money at a coffee shop on a daily basis), and if you appreciate the ease of WTC recipes, I know you will love the ease of their product, too. THANK YOU, Cometeer, for supporting this show, and for fueling me with your delicious coffee every day! If you haven’t tried it yet, you must. Remember to go to cometeer.com/caro to get $20 off your first order! OK, that’s a wrap on this season of the show! Thank you SO much for watching. I’d love any feedback you may have. Did you like the longish-form format or would a shorter show be easier to watch? Would you be interested in watching more entertaining-style content, or anything else!? As always, I’ll be back in your inbox tomorrow with the recipe itself, including a bunch of notes and substitutions. Happy long weekend! xx Caro Click here to watch this episode on YouTube! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit whattocook.substack.com/subscribe

Hi! Woah. I leave for the East Coast to start my Make It Fast (please for the love of ME, pre-order it!!!) book tour in less than 48 hours. My literary agent just called to check in on my mental state and I’ll tell you what I told her— I’m honestly feeling great. I haven’t started packing, but I’ve got a million outfit options strewn about my closet, and I’ll get there eventually. The flights are booked and the hotel reservations are made. It’s go time, baby. I’m also thrilled to announce that I have officially entered phase 5 of the creative process: With my last book, I was firmly still in phase #4 (“I suck”) until the book had actually been published and all of you started to cook from it and share your photos and reviews and love of the book. But with Make It Fast, I hosted a party and gave the book to my friends and family two weeks before pub day! I created an Illegal Bookclub and roped in my friends all across the country to share advanced copies of the book with their communities! And, comically, Indigo (the main Canadian seller of the book) accidentally sent all of the pre-orders like two weeks early, so all of the Canadian What To Cookers out there have had their books for a week now! And Canadians are so nice — they are sending so much positivity my way! So there are a LOT of people out in the world, people who I love and trust, who have already seen it, and cooked from it, and told me how much they love it. Thus launching me into phase #5 (“this might be ok”) a few weeks earlier than my last book publishing cycle. I guess, if I’m being honest, what I’m saying is that I require external validation to feel good about my work? Is that pathetic? I don’t think so. I think it’s a real, honest part of most (all?) people’s creative process. It feels really scary and vulnerable to launch a piece of work that you’ve worked so hard on out into the world. It feels a little bit like dropping your deeply feeling, sensitive, absolutely incredible child off at Kindergarten for the first day of school. Will he make friends? Will the teachers understand how creative and kind and cool he is? Will they be patient with him and let him finish his art project because he really doesn’t like when he doesn’t get to finish his art project? Will the world love him as much as I do? This analogy is not random: I am dropping my deeply feeling sensitive child off at Kindergarten for his first day of school tomorrow, and the jitters and unease of that feel so akin to publishing a book. By next Wednesday when I send this newsletter, Make It Fast will be in your kitchens, if you’ve pre-ordered (have I mentioned I’d really love it if you could pre-order?). I’ll have already been on Good Morning America two mornings in a row (bless them, what an invitation!), spoken with Jenna Bush Hager in front of an audience of you in Brooklyn, yapped with Dan Pelosi in Boston, chatted with Kerry Diamond in DC, and I’ll be en route to Charlotte where I’ll be in conversation with our very own Molly from What To Cook. I am excited, and I am nervous, and just like I’ve been telling my five-year-old, it’s OK to feel both of those things at once. And Phase 6 (“this is awesome”) is just around the corner for both of us. There are lots of other book tour dates — check them all out here! Today’s So Into That is sponsored by FP Movement. We’ve talked about our love for their Carpe Diem shorts many times before (a truly perfect athletic short at a very good price point!), but FP Movement has many more athleisure pieces we love. From Molly from What To Cook: I’m on vacation at the beach this week and have been living in this dress and shorts combo when I’m not in a bathing suit. It’s so so comfy and easy to throw on for beach walks — it’ll also be great to wear on the sports sidelines when it’s 100 degrees outside. I’m a shortie (5’3”) and had to shorten the straps a tiny bit (worth the effort!). We also love these biker shorts with this boxy short sleeve and this oversized long sleeve! * Dr. Becky invited me to plan the menu for a REALLY special dinner celebrating Good Inside Baby on Monday in LA. I got to hang with MALLY K. GOLDMAN and Megan Roup and Elaine Welteroth and so many incredible, smart women who make motherhood safer, more fun, stronger, and more fashionable. The dilly feta salad with feta brined shrimp, flank steak with elote salad, and bbq chicken are all straight from the book! My menu concept was elegant California BBQ and I think we nailed it! PS If you’re in LA, Heirloom catered and they rule. PS because I know you all want to know, Becky is awesome IRL. She is a fellow insomniac romance book lover, she values her female friendships so highly and they come up in conversation all the time (this is always a green flag for me when I meet new people), and she’s just so incredibly smart, insightful, and cool. This is not sponsored but we’ve swapped codes for each other in the past and my Good Inside code still works — you can use code WHATTOCOOK to get 20% off a subscription to Good Inside if you could use a little parenting assist (like with how to get your deeply feeling kid to dread the first day of school less!). * I recently worked with Groundwork to hire a new team member (woohooooo, Meg!) and it was such an incredible experience that I wanted to share. Three in four U.S. workers are also caregivers, and as that caregiving work collides with mid-career years, most end up forced to choose between staying all in at real personal cost or stepping away entirely — becoming a hugely qualified, "off-market" talent pool that's actually eager to work, just on slightly different terms. Groundwork connects people like that with employers building smarter, more flexible teams. In my case, I knew I needed help in a certain space but had no idea how to define the role or find the right person. They sat down with me, helped flesh it out, wrote the job description, sourced candidates, and ran interviews, and took it all off my plate. And brought me the most INCREDIBLE CANDIDATES! Like lights out brilliant women. If you're a small business owner stuck in hiring limbo, or you're job hunting and sick of the LinkedIn black hole, Groundwork is worth a look. * From Molly: A go-to breakfast of mine this summer has been avocado toast inspired by some Caro made for our team last time I was in Carmel. Mashed avocado seasoned with salt and pepper, slathered on a thick slice of GOOD toasted sourdough, and topped with chili crisp, pickled red onions, flaky sea salt, and fresh cilantro. So good. * From Molly: I’ve been slathering on this body oil after time in the sun this week — it’s very luxurious feeling and makes my skin glowy! From Caro: Oh I love this too!!! It really does not make you feel oily at all, it absorbs so nicely. My publishers are dropping a few more advance reader copies of Make It Fast in the mail to some of my media/Internet friends this week, and I told them to save some for WTCers!! We are going to mail three of you a copy of Make It Fast, along with a Butter Pants spatula and a Caraway kitchen timer! To enter to win, comment on this post with the meal you cook most often when you absolutely do not feel like cooking. It doesn’t have to be from scratch! For example, mine has historically been frozen dumplings and peanut sauce, and Molly’s is pasta with Rao’s marinara and frozen meatballs. Comment between now and August 10 — we will randomly select three winners next Tuesday, August 11, and alert them by Substack DM! Every week, we dig into the What To Cook archives to see what we were cooking this time in years past — the recipes worth bringing back into your rotation. Here’s this week’s lineup. 1. salmorejo, 2025 Oooh, this is such a good one. Traditional salmorejo! From José Andrés! If you have boatloads of ripe tomatoes that need to be used up, make this creamy chilled tomato soup. It gets its creaminess in part from blended artisanal bread, so if you have any leftover sourdough from this week’s summer shrimp panzanella, use it here! 2. skillet cheddar turkey burgers, 2024 Juicy, cheesy turkey burgers seared in a skillet and served with a tangy, punchy burger sauce — this recipe (which is an excerpt from What to Cook the book #1!) is just so good. Go classic with buns, or shake things up and make sliders for a party, meatballs for dipping, or crumbled patties in pita for lunch the next day. 3. turkey meatballs with corn butter rice, 2023 These juicy turkey meatballs are packed with flavor, but the real star of the show is the buttery corn-studded rice. It’s sweet, savory, summer perfection. While you’re cooking, double the meatballs and freeze half for later — future you will be thrilled. 4. healthy (or not as healthy…) corn chowder, 2022 Sweet corn gets blended into a creamy, cozy chowder that tastes like summer in a bowl. Keep it light with coconut milk, or go richer with heavy cream — both versions are equally delicious. Make it on a Sunday and thank yourself all week — it reheats beautifully and somehow tastes even better on day two. 5. sheet-pan crispy pork chops with fennel and peaches, 2021 These roasted peaches are iconic — soft, jammy, and caramelized at the edges. Add in sweet, roasty red onions and fennel, plus golden, crispy pork chops, and you’ve got an easy dinner that feels delightfully fancy. The method works just as well with chicken breasts or sausages if that’s what you’ve got. We use affiliate links when sharing product recs, which means WTC may earn a small commission off of purchases you make through those links. This does not cost you anything extra and is a way to support the production of and team behind What To Cook. Sponsorships are another way we partner with brands that we authentically love and can personally vouch for. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit whattocook.substack.com/subscribe

I mentioned earlier this summer that I have been working on something BIG and it’s finally time to share what that something is: I’m launching a show here on Substack!!! What To Cook is (for now!) an eight-episode series that takes you inside our home, right into the dinnertime fray. In each episode, I race against the clock to prove that my recipes truly take the amount of time I say they do, even when your kids are acting absolutely bananas. It’s chaos cooking at its finest. Every single recipe in this first “season” takes 30 minutes or less of active cook time, just like in my upcoming book, Make It Fast. On Fridays I’ll share the new episode, then — like always! — the recipe will hit your inbox Saturday morning. I had so much fun making this for all of you, and I can’t wait to share the first episode with you tomorrow!! xx Caro PS, I got to work with an incredible team on this and I’d love to take a moment to thank them here: * My Substack darlings: Dan Stone, Hanne Winarsky, Michele Dale, Ariel Swedback, Nish Bhansali, Hamish, Jai and Chris, and all of the other Substackers behind the scenes, for believing in me and What To Cook and helping me make cool things for 5+ years now! * A New Media: Jana and Chitty, for gathering the most wonderful team of individuals to make this thing happen. * Jake and Meredith (and their son, Gamble, who attended one day of the shoot and my children adopted): My video + editing powerhouse. Adore you guys, thank you for making magic out of complete chaos. * Jess Mills: My dear friend who said yes when I asked her to be the food producer having never ever done anything like this before (she is an incredible artist, in fact!) — thank you, thank you, thank you for being a part of this and sorry I made you be onscreen so much and didn’t tell you that was a part of the gig hehe. * Zach: Your video skills rule but your willingness to do dishes and play with my children cemented your place in my heart! Do you still have the friendship bracelet Calum made you? * Jillian and Molly and Adam: For doing all of the things to make this crazy train not fall off the tracks. * Cometeer team: For answering the call when I said I’m obsessed with your coffee, you are the coffee equivalent of my recipes, so want to sponsor a show about cooking in the midst of utter chaos?! I’m sipping an Intelligentsia French Roast right this minute :) Every episode of What To Cook will star the complete-meal dinner recipe I’ll be sending to paid subscribers the following morning. If you want access to all eight recipes I’ll be showcasing in this series, upgrade to a paid or Insiders subscription here! Let’s cook together — one chaotic kitchen to another ❤️ This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit whattocook.substack.com/subscribe

Thanks to everyone who joined for today’s Substack live cooking demo — if you couldn’t make it, find a full replay above! In the demo, I cooked smoky mole chicken enchiladas with lime crema, a recipe that turns a few humble pantry staples (peanut butter, chocolate chips, tortillas, tomato paste, spices, and chipotles en adobo!) into a delicious weeknight dinner. The only fresh ingredients you’ll need are chicken breasts, white onion, a red bell pepper, some shredded cheese, sour cream, and a lime! Recipes that rely heavily on pantry staples are easy to make on nights when the fridge is mostly bare — they can also be more budget-friendly, since the cost-per-use of ingredients like peanut butter and spices is often quite low. Thank you to Thrive Market for sponsoring today’s live cook-along, which allowed us to make it free for all subscribers! Thank you also to Thrive for making it so very easy for me to keep my pantry stocked up with high-quality ingredients (at an excellent price point!). In addition to pantry staples, Thrive is my go-to source for kids snacks and clean home products — I love that everything they sell is free from more than 1,000 artificial, synthetic, and GMO ingredients. I also LOVE their app and use it to immediately add ingredients to my cart as soon as I finish them, so that I don’t have to write them down or try to remember later. Sign up here to get 30% off your first order (STOCK UP!) and a free $60 gift. Now’s a great time because everyone — new and existing members — can get 25% off many products right now during their Friends & Family sale, which runs through Thursday. Also FYI that new-to-Thrive What To Cook Insiders get $100 off their first four orders! While we’re talking pantry staples, here are a handful of ingredients that pack a TON of flavor that I always keep on hand. We’ve linked WTC recipes to cook with each! * Coconut milk — Coconut milk’s a great dairy-free sub for cream that you can use in curries, smoothies, and soups. In my house though, it’s most often used to make coconut rice! * Chipotles en adobo — We used these smoky, spicy peppers today for our mole chicken enchiladas! You can also use them for chipotle black bean enchiladas and cheesy chipotle shrimp tacos. Rarely does a recipe use the whole can, so store your leftover peppers and sauce in an airtight bag in the freezer. * Creamy peanut butter — My house is never without a jar! Again, we used it here in our mole sauce, but I also love mixing it with soy sauce, rice vinegar, and honey for a peanut sauce to serve on noodles or alongside potstickers. This peanut veggie curry is delightful, as are PB&Js, apples with peanut butter, smoothies bulked up with PB… the uses go on and on! * Curry paste — Curry paste packs SO MUCH flavor into just one spoonful! Keep your pantry (or fridge, once you’ve opened it) stocked with red curry paste (Mike’s is my favorite) and you can cook thai chicken chops, one-pot pumpkin chickpea curry, and thai tofu curry noodle soup! * Jarred marinara/tomato sauce — You could make a homemade marinara… or let someone do it for you! I’ve written many recipes with store-bought jarred marinara/tomato sauce listed as an ingredient because if you get a high-quality brand (my favorite is Rao’s), it really does taste homemade and will save you so much time and effort. Stock up on a jar to be able to cook 30-minute chicken Parm meatballs, messy meatball sliders, shortcut shakshuka, and 5-ingredient eggplant marinara. What flavor-bomb ingredients is your pantry never without?! For a complete rundown on what I consider to be a perfectly stocked pantry, click here. And for a fun take on this topic, read “If My Pantry Were to Disappear, Here’s What I’d Restock Immediately” — a Bon Appétit article written by Alaina Chou that I recently weighed in on! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit whattocook.substack.com/subscribe