I recently asked you for your questions, feedback, and topics you want to hear more about and you gave me a ton of great ideas.

One of the most common questions was a version of, “So what’s your deal? What’s your background, and what exactly do you do now?” Good question. How did I wind up as a recipe developer/cookbook author/whatever-I-decide-to-call-myself-that-day? You’re about to find out.

In this first solo episode, I share my “villain origin story” along with, of course, a few of the things I’m into right now.

I talk about where I come from, how I met my husband George, my crazy idea to start a catering company in San Diego, working in a test kitchen, and how that evolved into what I do today.

Next solo episode, I’ll get into the nitty gritty of what my day-to-day looks like as a full-time creator, including how I make money, what I love about my job, what I don’t love as much, and my goals for 2024 and beyond.

I also get into:

* Is a few days apart occasionally a good thing for married couples? (yes)

* The small but *wonderful* change I think you should make to your kitchen (possibly my favorite part of the renovation…?!)

* How I learned to write recipes that people can clearly read, understand, and cook from

* The story behind my “Just Married” cookbook

* How COVID lockdowns inspired What to Cook When You Don’t Feel Like Cooking

* My weather-related So Out On and my IRL LOL of the week

* How to make an egg quesadilla with chili crisp

* My cookbook… coming soon!

Links:

* Kate Hutchison, the interior designer who designed our home

* Red Clay Chili Crisp (code CARO15 should work)

* Book Lovers by Emily Henry

* Food writer and cookbook author Melissa Clark

* My fave former boss, Ben Pote, has a restaurant in Greenwich, CT called Wildacre Rotisserie. Go visit him!

sign up for my weekly "complete meal" recipe newsletter HERE 🍳: https://whattocook.substack.com/

Peloton classes have made me a much happier and less anxious person. As you’ll hear in this episode, I wish there was a government grant that gave all new mothers Peloton bikes upon the birth of their first child. Being able to exercise and boost those endorphins while the baby is sleeping has been a total game changer for me.

And of their many great instructors, is my absolute favorite. 

Emma’s teaching style is exactly what I look for: encouraging, but not too over-the-top. Her mantra is “progress, not perfection,” which seems appropriate, especially in this phase of life and this time of year (holidays = lots of stress and sugar).

In this episode, Emma shares her tips for staying active when you don’t feel motivated; which Peloton classes she actually takes; her “lazy girl ramen” recipe (she’s a bit of a recipe developer herself, her Substack is fabulous and worth a follow!!!), and much more.

We also get into:

* Teaching ourselves to drink water after being raised by parents who NEVER do

* Our guys stealing our skincare products

* Our shifting relationships with caffeine

* The surprisingly important role our pets play in our lives

* Finding a fitness community (Peloton #whattocookcrew, stand up!)

* “Throwing in an egg” for protein

* What made us laugh out loud this past week

Links: 

* Emma's book, Live Learn Love Well

* Her Substack newsletter, The Love List

* Emma’s Peloton profile

* My Peloton name, if you want to be friends! @caro_chambers

* Jones Road Beauty’s Miracle Balm

* LMNT electrolyte hydration packets

* Lanniege Lip Mask

* Belkin 3-in-1 charger

sign up for my weekly "complete meal" recipe newsletter HERE 🍳: https://whattocook.substack.com/

Amanda Hesser founded one of my favorite food and lifestyle brands, Food52. It’s one of my go-to sources for recipe and gift inspiration… and what’s crazy is that building that hugely successful company is just a small part of Amanda’s life story.

She was also a food writer and editor at the New York Times for many years, and she’s written cookbooks and a memoir called Cooking for Mr. Latte which I just love.

Today Amanda and I talk about what she’s into right now (padel, anyone?), what she’s out on (do sweatshirts really need to be cropped above the belly button?), and the time she may or may not have taken her kids on a prison tour on one of their birthdays.

We also get into:

* The recent habits that have been improving both our day-to-day lives (mine is a lot more superficial)

* Amanda’s ideal sneaker

* How we dress when working from home

* Her brilliantly simple go-to meal when she doesn’t feel like cooking

Links: 

* Food52

* Food52’s Instagram

* Amanda’s Instagram

* Rachel Comey jeans

* Adidas Women’s Ultraboost shoes

Interested in my weekly "complete meal" recipe newsletter? Head over to whattocook.substack.com to sign up.

The day I announced this podcast, the DM’s started rolling in. “You have to get Katie from Beach Reads and Bubbly on the podcast!” I was already all over it, I love Katie as much as all of you!

I get a ton of my book recs from Katie’s page, @beachreadsandbubbly, but more than that, I’ve fallen in love with her down-to-earth, bubbly personality. We had so much fun chatting, after we stopped recording we kept chatting for hours.

So today, we get into all things reading, romance books, working / parenting from home, and how we became internet girls (I promise to never say that again LOL).

We also get into:

Why she thinks romance is having a moment

B.R.A.D.’s (Beach Reads After Dark) ;)

The origins of Beach Reads & Bubbly, which started as Katie’s side hustle and is now her full-time gig

The Magnolia Parks Universe book series and associated fashion Instagram page

Our literary pet peeves

Why we’re obsessed with the author Emily Henry

Katie’s bread saw

My favorite T-shirt

How Travis + Taylor + Instagram’s algorithm = I’m now a sports fan?

The romance-novel-esque story of how the Miami Dolphins’ coach met his wife

What Katie cooks when she doesn’t feel like cooking

Links:

Katie’s Instagram

Beach Reads & Bubbly blog

My tee obsession - the Perfect White Tee

Ballerina Farm

Magnolia Parks Universe Closet Instagram page

Anela Malik is one of my favorite internet (and real-life) friends. There’s no one who I respect more when it comes to telling beautiful stories with video, and as you’ll see in this episode… she’s so much fun and hilarious, too.

Today, we laugh a lot talking about our shared love of smutty books, and Anela opens up about the past year in which she went through a divorce and wound up doing a lot of therapy, self-love, and intention-setting as she re-enters the dating world and a new phase of life.

We also get into:

* Her visit to a food festival that ran out of food (yikes)

* Why Kindle Unlimited is the best/worst thing in our lives

* A surreal family story she documented on a trip to Japan

* A rapid fire “So Out On” segment

* Her philosophy on creating content about food, creativity, and travel

* Her mindset toward dating and love after divorce

* The TikTok trend that made her LOL, IRL

Connect with Anela:

* Instagram

* TikTok

* Feed the Malik

Connect with me:

* Instagram

Enjoyed this episode? Learn more at at whattocook.substack.com. That's where you can sign up for my newsletter, What to Cook When You Don't Feel Like Cooking.

It's exactly what it sounds like: one craveable, "complete meal" recipe delivered to your inbox every Sunday morning.

Deb Perelman is the OG queen of food blogging — she started Smitten Kitchen in 2006 and has grown it to the absolute behemoth that it is today.

In this episode, Deb made me giggle my pants off talking about our husbands’ cooking styles, the cheeky comment her 14-year-old son makes when she orders a drink, the food video trend that she wants to end in 2024, and much, much more.

We also get into:

* Deb’s current dirty gin martini kick

* How her content has evolved since starting Smitten Kitchen in 2006 (!)

* Why teaching your kids to cook is better in theory than practice

* The one thing from cooking videos Deb’s “so out on”

* The fact that Black Friday/Cyber Monday lasts a month now

* The wacky documentary that made Deb laugh this past week

* Her go-to meals when she doesn’t feel like cooking

Links:

* Deb’s Instagram

* Deb’s TikTok

* Smitten Kitchen

* Deb’s Cookbooks

Enjoyed this episode? Follow So Into That on your favorite podcast app, or watch the video version at whattocook.substack.com.

That's where you can sign up for my newsletter, What to Cook When You Don't Feel Like Cooking.

It's exactly what it sounds like: one craveable, "complete meal" recipe delivered to your inbox every Sunday morning.

Emily Oster is my motherhood messiah. I consider myself to be a pretty relaxed mom, but I certainly didn’t start out that way. Emily’s data-based parenting approach is to thank for that.

Anytime I’m starting to bug out about whether sleep training is going to mess up my baby for life, or if my kid is going to go to college only eating chicken fingers, or whether letting my kids watch an extra hour of TV is going to turn them into ding dongs — there’s Emily, giving me the data-backed reasons why I should chill the F out and just enjoy the ride.

Emily is the author of three data-based books on pregnancy and parenting as well as the newsletter ParentData, and in the very first episode of So Into That, she teaches us how to pull off soft pants at work, and how to relax as parents.

We also get into:

* Why Emily thinks moms are so anxious about everything these days

* Is sleep training messing up our kids?

* Is baby-led weaning a cure to picky eating?

* Whether the kids enrolled in every single extra-curricular are going to be the most successful

* What Emily’s “so out on” right now

* Our IRL LOLs of the week

* What she cooks when she doesn’t feel like cooking

Links:

* Emily’s newsletter

* Emily’s books

* Emily's Instagram

* The Athleta pants Emily’s so into

* The ones Caro’s so into

* The really nice thing that the cup company that Caro now feels bad about picking on did

Sponsor:

* Skout Organic kids snack bars (Code: CARO for a discount)

If you liked what you heard in this episode, follow So Into That in your favorite podcast app or learn more at whattocook.substack.com.

It’s official y’all… I’m joining the podcast game.

Above, you’ll find a quick rundown of what this show’s going to be all about.

My first episode with special guest Emily Oster drops today at 12p Eastern Time.

I’ll send out an email around then with all the links where you can watch/listen!