What To Cook

Every time I mention I went to boarding school, people are like "WOAH WOAH WOAH, please explain!" So here's a primer on boarding school, why we loved it, what was hard, and why we think our friendship is still so strong despite not having lived in the same place for more than 15 years.   We also get into:* A basic, 101-level intro to boarding school * Different “houses” on campus and their reputations * A typical day* Sneaking out, making out, and navigating the “strike” (disciplinary) system* What I was like in...

Cameron Rogers is a longtime friend and OG food/mom content creator who played a crucial role in helping me open up about my life online.True to her Freckled Foodie roots, she still develops recipes but these days you’re more likely to find her talking about motherhood, overall physical and mental health, and how they’re intertwined.So in this episode, we catch up about how to divide the labor of running a household and raising kids; our thoughts on the transition from one child to two; identifying what makes you anxious and crea...

The response to Sohla’s episode, where we both shared a few things that our husbands have done to make us feel supported postpartum, and shared several elements of postpartum recovery that we wish we’d had a heads up on, was insane. Countless older moms, brand new moms, soon-to-be-moms, all the moms, wrote me to thank me for sharing the real deal about postpartum.But the #1 thing I heard was “I wish my husband had done that” or “I wish my husband had known to help with that" kinds of comments in regards to Sohla and I sharing...

If you’re on Instagram, I can almost guarantee you’ve seen Caitlin Murray. She has a way of expressing exactly how many moms feel in the day-to-day grind while making you laugh out loud in the process.After I barely get through today’s intro (happy birthday, Mattis!), Caitlin and I talk about why we’re both out on extreme diets and restrictions and prefer a “damp” approach to alcohol these days… with the occasional full send.Plus, we talk about decisions about whether to have more kids, and how she knew her family was complete a...

I first discovered Sohla El-Waylly in the early days of the pandemic, when Bon Appétit Test Kitchen videos were all the rage. She was by far my favorite contributor to that series, and now that she’s promoting her own cookbook and recently became a mom, this was the perfect time to catch up with her.So today, we talk a bit about “Start Here,” the A to Z guide that took Sohla 3 years to write. She also shares her go-to meal when she doesn’t feel like cooking – a surprisingly common feeling for a recipe developer. ...

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 tal...

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, especiall...

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 swe...

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...

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...

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 te...

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 chi...

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! 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’m so honored to share my friend Anela (click to follow her on Instagram) with all of you today. Anela is a content creator and food writer who is publishing a book with National Geographic about Black food history in the United States. In today’s special chitchat, she gives us a brief and thought-provoking peek at her work.Her book is going to rock, but her subscriber-only community is how you can learn more from her today. As we discuss in our interview: What To Cook When You Don’t Feel Like Cooking teaches you *how* t...

I recorded this about a month ago after we went to Mexico for the wedding of two of our friends who we met when they were George’s classmates at Stanford. I wound up not sending it that week because I had holiday content to share, so wanted to send it now.Like us, many of George’s classmates have become parents since graduating in 2017. Thus, the weekend held so many great conversations about balancing parenthood with busy careers, entrepreneurship, and co-parenting when both parents have demanding work schedules. One particular conversation with our friends Carl...

*Spoiler alert: if you’re related to me, stop reading if you don’t want to know what you’re getting for Christmas! Seriously mom, stop reading. Also - there are affiliate links in this post.*I am very curious to see how the whole “none of your holiday gifts are going to arrive on time!” panic of 2021 plays out — but out of an abundance of caution, I am jumping on the bandwagon and tackling my holiday shopping over the next several weeks.I always start my *gifting process* by making a list of the people I nee...

Susan Spungen is an absolute legend in the world of recipe development and food styling, and I have the extreme pleasure of welcoming her as a guest here this week to share her fabulous Caramel Apple Crisp recipe with us. Susan was the mastermind behind all of the food styling in two of the greatest food movies of all time — Julie & Julia AND It’s Complicated. Meryl Streep’s dreamy Santa Barbara kitchen and bakery in It’s Complicated — that was all Susan.But it’s not just movie magic — she’s also written multiple cookbooks, she h...