so into that: 7 quick things
including no-greens summer salads and the perfect pair of white jeans
Hi guys! How we doin’? Anyone have cyclosporiasis-induced explosive diarrhea?! I’ve got some recipes to help keep you out of that territory below.
My parents are both in town for the week, and Tavish’s first birthday is tomorrow! I’m trying not to cry just typing that. The good news is: having three older boys, I now know that it’s true what they say — it does, indeed, just keep getting better and better. But man, I love babies. I think having a baby in the house is one of the most special things in the entire world. So I can’t help but be a little sad that it’s already his first birthday. And what a year it was. I turned in my book manuscript, had a baby four days later, brought my five-week-old baby to my cookbook shoot, then powered through a kitchen renovation in order to shoot the family photos that are in the book in our actual house (versus in a studio kitchen) just a few weeks later. The first year of Tav’s life was a WILD one, that child has not known a moment of peace! And he is an adaptable, roll-with-the-punches King because of it.
Hope you’re all having a great week. Here are a few things I’m into right now.
My snack drawer’s working overtime this summer, supplying approximately half my kids’ caloric intake, which means I’m more grateful than ever for Thrive Market. With a few taps in the app, I can refill our snack drawer with my boys’ favorites, like meat sticks (Snack Mates beef and honey are their current fave), veggie sticks, The Good Crisp Company chips, and more. I love that all their products are pre-vetted against 1,000+ restricted ingredients like artificial flavors or colors, or synthetic dyes or sweeteners. Also very lovable: They’re running a huge summer sale right now! If you’re a fellow Thrive Market shopper, you can get 25% off thousands of top products — including tons of kid snacks! — now through July 19th. The site is membership based, so you pay $5 a month for access to their huge selection of well-vetted, low-priced groceries. If you aren’t already a Thrive Market member and want to be, click here to get $20 off your first three orders plus a free gift.
Summer’s THE time to eat fresh salads. If you’re steering clear of lettuces at the moment, might I recommend these delicious no-greens salad recipes? Farro fattoush, summer chicken chop, and show-off-y Greek salad. Oh, and my chicken panzanella!
I’ll be going live on Substack Monday, July 20 at 3 p.m. PT/6 p.m. ET to cook the cover star of Make It Fast: lasagna vibes turkey zucchini skillet! It’s one of my favorites from the 15-minute chapter and it makes great use of the bumper crop that’s abundant at farmers’ markets, grocery stores, and perhaps your own garden right now. Anyone can tune into the live! WTC Insiders, I’ll email you a playback of the live afterward, along with an early-access copy of the recipe.
Finding the perfect pair of white jeans is HARD — many pairs are oddly see through-ish and kind of… show the entire outline of your knee? This is the perfect pair of white jeans. Fitted in the right places, loose in the right places, stretchy but still very flattering. I love them very much and find myself reaching for them over and over again. Go down a size — trust me! They run large. I link Pistola denim so much that they gave me a discount code — CARO15!
From Molly from What To Cook: It’s Christmas in July at my house! All three of my boys’ birthdays fall within 12 days of each other this month, so we have an influx of new toys right now. I’m always on the hunt for high-quality kids’ toys for gifting purposes so thought I’d share a few of the biggest hits. All three of them (now ages 8, 6, and 2) have been playing with these suction-cup darts and this roll-up drum pad (that connects to headphones!) nonstop, and the older boys love their new KiwiCo engineering kit. Book-wise, my older boys have learned all sorts of things from The Dangerous Book for Boys — from coin tricks to how to find true north in the woods — and my 2-year-old keeps asking me to read “bugs! bugs!” AKA Du Iz Tak, the fun and funny book that Emma Straub recommended to us a few months ago!
How good do these very easy BBQ chicken sandwiches Jenny Rosenstrach just made sound?
We had Kate Strickler and her wonderful, wonderful family over for dinner last night (they live in Charleston but are escaping the heat in Santa Cruz this month) and wow, what a delight to be with someone who so deeply understands the exact phase of life I’m in. Four kids, online creator, family above everything while still being ambitious and wanting to grow our businesses and do big things. I served tamales, lemony dilly roasted cauliflower, poblano Mexican rice (I just sautéed two poblanos and a jalapeño then added rice and some Siete Mexican rice seasoning), steamed artichokes, and my summer chop (without the chicken). It was a perfect night!
I love Matt Rodbard. He is such a wonderful interviewer. I feel so lucky to have had a repeat appearance on Taste to talk about the new book!
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. hot honey peach and prosciutto tart, 2025
This is a sweet, teeny bit spicy, delicious tart that would be as at home at a gourmet restaurant or in a Tuscan villa as it will be on your dinner table! I feel like I say this about every piece of summer produce, but peaches really are one of my very favorites. When they’re good they’re GOOD, and this dinner celebrates them being at peak harvest!
2. herby shrimp couscous bowls, 2024
These bowls hit all the right notes: juicy peaches, crunchy veggies, a quick-cooking protein, and a lemony herb sauce you’ll want to drizzle all over everything. Couscous makes this meal light but filling, and the whole thing comes together fast — in no more than 45 minutes! Serve the components separately so everyone can build their own bowl — it’s easy, kid-friendly, and great for a crowd.
3. tiny tomato pasta, 2023
Tomato season is peaking — make this while the tiny ones are at their sweetest! Cherry tomatoes melt into a silky, garlicky sauce that clings perfectly to any pasta shape. No chopping required if you don’t want to — tear your basil by hand or snip it with kitchen shears, and use pre-minced or frozen garlic instead of fresh.
4. sunshine pasta, 2022
And another exceptional tomato-filled pasta! We included this one in Monday’s no-cook recipe roundup, so it may sound familiar. You let tomatoes sunbathe with shallots, lemon juice and zest, basil, salt, and pepper — come back in a few hours and you’ll have a delicious bruschetta-style sauce!
5. marinated grilled veggies with burrata, 2021
This vegetarian dinner is peak summer eating and a great way to use up whatever vegetables you’ve got or can find at the farmers’ market! In this recipe I introduce you to the idea of reverse marinating, which is the key to insanely flavorful grilled veg. We also bring in creamy burrata, putting this meal over the top. Throw some chicken thighs or skirt steak in the mix to add more protein!
A What To Cooker recently told us that she takes this weekly tour through the recipe archive and turns it into her meal plan for the following week. Genius! We send monthly meal plans that are really thought out and include a grocery list, but these archive roundups basically serve as meal plans in their own right — five perfect, seasonally appropriate recipes!
Chomps, Lesser Evil, Good Pop, Waterloo, Olipop, Hippeas… there are so many great brands included in Thrive Market’s summer sale. Click here to join now!
I hadn’t seen those Pistolas yet - love them on you!
Hell yes, bugs forever!!!