how/when i managed to write another cookbook

while pregnant with my fourth child and moving

THANK YOU, thank you, thank you for your excitement and hype and love surrounding my upcoming book, What to Cook When You Don’t Feel Like Cooking: MAKE IT FAST. Like I said on Monday, I am truly so excited for you to cook the new recipes. They’re my hackiest, most delicious work yet, and I promise you will be able to fit them into even your busiest days!

I’ve gotten hundreds of DMs this week asking how I managed to write a cookbook while also pregnant with Tavish, while also moving and renovating our house. “DO YOU SLEEP?!” was a common question, too.

Though overall I’ve been trying to prioritize getting more sleep over the last few years, there were definitely some weeks last year when sleep took a backseat. I was in peak recipe development mode for the book last spring, so I was about midway through my pregnancy. It honestly kind of worked, because I wasn’t getting great sleep anyways due to the baby rolling around in my stomach — I’d take advantage of that sleeplessness by typing out the ideas rolling around in my head!

I turned in my manuscript four days before Tavish was born. I’ve always worked well under the pressure of a deadline, and the fact that I had two very big deadlines stacked one on top of the other was probably the biggest motivator I’ve ever felt. I had to get this book written because a book deadline is a book deadline. But I also had to get this book written because I wanted to be fully focused on Tav when he was born, not trying to write new recipes while also breastfeeding a newborn around the clock.

7-week-old tav came along for the photo shoot in september!

There were other factors at play, of course — moving to a new house that would fit our family of six, renovating that house, taking care of my other three kids, and making sure that this newsletter continued to grow and deliver top-quality recipes and content.

Reflecting back on 2025, I’ve identified a few things that were pivotal in getting it all done.

1. I kept George’s favorite quote in my ear. I’ve talked about this before, but anytime I get overwhelmed by a big goal or busy week, my husband, George, who’s a former Navy SEAL, says: “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.” It grounds me every time I think about it. How do you write a cookbook? One recipe at a time. How do you write a newsletter? One word at a time. How do you move homes? One box at a time. How do you renovate a house? One micro-project at a time. How do you make it through the day when your kids are being challenging? One minute at a time. There is no shortcut to creating something you’re proud of, you have to keep making progress and moving forward a tiny bit at a time, and — this is key! — take lots of deep breaths and remind yourself that you have what it takes to get it done.

2. I relied on other people. I think one of my biggest strengths as both a working mom and entrepreneur is that I am not a micromanager. I find people who are excellent at what they do, and I give them space to flex their skills. Whether that’s my business team (including Molly, who does a ton of the production on this newsletter and became full-time here last year; Jillian, who helps with content production, my inbox, and a million other things; and Adam, who manages partnerships), my best friend Lily, who designed our house and took point on all of my home-related partnerships, or my family’s support system (like our beloved sitters Tannia and Quinn). I give feedback and steer the ship, but I am in no way involved with every micro-decision along the way. The one exception to this rule is the renovation process. With Lily in NYC, I quickly learned that I had to micromanage our contractor and all the subcontractors or things would not go to plan.

3. I opted out of some great/fun opportunities. I missed two fun girls trips, I opted out of a wedding, and I said no to several really, really cool brand trips (to Paris, ugh!!) because I just could not do it all. Saying no to every single one of these things was truly painful, but kept me from fully burning out.

4. I automated many of my Instagram DMs. Every time I share a new What to Cook recipe on Instagram, I get hundreds of comments asking for a link to the recipe. I genuinely love it, and want to share my recipes and this newsletter with absolutely everyone in the world who is interested! But manually replying to each comment isn’t realistic — nor would it be a smart or efficient use of my time. To be able to both share the links and not be glued to my phone, I use Manychat, an automation tool that solves this very specific problem without adding complexity to my workflow. When someone comments a keyword on a recipe reel that I post to IG, the recipe link is automatically sent straight to their DMs — even when I’m offline. It’s Meta-approved, very simple to set up, and helps more people get the recipes (or cookbook pre-order link, in the case of my reel on Monday!) that they’re asking for without me living on my phone. This might feel like a niche tip, but if you are a business owner or creator, I cannot understate how helpful this automation has been. Thank you to Manychat for sponsoring this week’s So Into That, and for letting me take back many hours of my time while also growing my business! Use code CARO to receive one free month of Manychat PRO when you sign up through this link.

5. I found other efficiencies, too. I starting using Duckbill, an AI-meets-real-human personal life assistant. I also set up subscription deliveries of house products like toilet paper and cleaning products, and groceries via Thrive, and our babysitters unpack those boxes and put everything away.

6. I batch worked. My development process is that I totally write my recipes, then test them, tweaking as needed along the way, then re-write the recipe with those tweaks, and re-test the recipe exactly as written. I had a lot of very achy-breaky pregnant days toward the end where standing on my feet to test recipes for eight hours just couldn’t happen. On those days, I literally sat at the kitchen counter (or on the couch with my feet up) as Jillian cooked through the recipes, and I worked on my laptop tweaking the ingredients or timing. Some days this felt excruciatingly inefficient, some days it felt funny and made us giggle a lot. It wasn’t a perfect system but, man, I can definitely say these are EXTREMELY efficient recipes written by somebody who was living the “I don’t feel like cooking” ethos!!

7. I took time offline. It’s not a coincidence that last year was the year I resolved to treat my smartphone like a landline. Especially when I have a ridiculous amount of work on my plate, I need time offline — which these days means off phone! — to recharge and be present with my family and friends and self. When I feel signs of burn out (I get irritated, snappy, or creatively drained), I listen, and I put my phone down for the night or weekend or week.

What are your strategies for moving forward when you have a lot on your plate?!

camera roll excerpts from last spring/summer

This really simple meal plan stars good mood chicken & bean soup for lunches plus a string of easy and delicious dinners: sheet-pan miso ginger salmon, chicken flautas, sheet-pan sausage, sweet potatoes, and apples, and 15-minute peanut veggie noods.

Every week, we dig into the What to Cook archives to see what we were cooking this time in years past. Here’s this week’s lineup.

1. sticky honey-ginger salmon and snap peas, 2025

A 30-minute sweet-savory salmon situation with tender-crisp snap peas and brown butter scallion rice. It’s light, satisfying, and full of flavor. WTCer Hannah said: “Omg this rice. And we couldn’t believe the sauce didn’t come out of a bottle!”

2. mob wife salad, 2024

An Italian chop loaded with salami, chickpeas, pepperoncini, olives, and the unexpected (but essential!) salt & vinegar potato chip topping. Prep it up to 12 hours ahead and toss when ready — it’s dinner-level hearty without turning on the stove. You can also put a pasta salad spin on it! See the “riff” note beneath the recipe for the how-to.

3. good soup, 2023

Veggie-packed comfort with harissa warmth and a lemony kick, this lentil and sausage soup is what winter dreams are made of. Don’t forget to finish your bowls off with a truly aggressive layer of Parm “snow.”

4. one-pot mushroom orzo carbonara, 2022

This one-pot vegetarian pasta tastes decadent but is SO easy to make. You won’t even need to pull out a colander. It reheats well, making it perfect for dinner or lunch prep — just add a splash of water to get things saucy again when you reheat it!

5. one-pot chicken tikka masala stew, 2021

This is precisely the type of meal that I’m craving right now as I look out the window at a snowy NYC. It’s a warm and hearty feast filled with chickpeas, chicken, kale, cauliflower, tomatoes, coconut milk, and rice. If you’re a fan of “twofer” dinners, cook this stew! It serves 6 to 8 so will keep dinner on your table a few nights in a row. Or, freeze your leftovers for future you!

I’m going live on Substack with WTC Insiders on Wednesday, March 4, at 1 p.m. PT/4 p.m. ET to talk more about MAKE IT FAST! If you’re an Insider and you have a question about the new book — like what kind of recipes to expect or how it’s different from WTC book #1 — or, if you have any questions about the cookbook writing process in general (or anything really), click here to submit a Q! I’ll be chatting through them during the live and sharing exclusive sneak peeks of some recipes from the book.

Speaking of sneak peeks… here’s a hot tip from What to Cooker Kristen:

“When I preordered the cookbook I noticed that one of the recipes shown on the preview pages is chicken parm meatballs with a new broccoli pasta. It just so happens that I was making the chicken parm meatballs tonight with a broccoli side! I followed the new recipe (felt illegal) and we all loved it, even the 2 year old! I’m very excited for the new book!”

We love seeing your sneaky early cooking! Click here for a few more sneak peeks that I shared during my visit to GMA earlier this week. And click here to pre-order a copy of MAKE IT FAST!

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