THE WHAT TO COOK SHOW: surf and turf summer fajitas

Hi! In this week’s episode of the What To Cook show, I’m making a deconstructed version of my favorite sushi roll and adding a secret summer ingredient to the mix! Watch this episode to learn how I get my kids to eat oatmeal, how to perfectly sear tuna, what the delicious secret ingredient is, and much, much more. Tomorrow I’ll be back in your inbox with the recipe itself, including all the notes and substitutions you expect here at WTC. Not a paid subscriber? Upgrade now to get this sushi-night-at-home recipe along with a new recipe every single Saturday morning — plus access to a HUGE archive with hundreds of complete-meal dinner recipes — for just $50 a year, aka less than an Uber Eats bill for ONE sushi night delivery.

Hi, happy Friday! We’re back with episode SIX of the What To Cook show and today I’m cooking an easy peasy, absolutely delicious pasta. It’s pasta alla vodka, but we’re adding fresh in-season tiny tomatoes to the mix plus the spicy flavor bomb ingredient that I introduced in episode one of this series, Calabrian chili paste! I have excellent news: we are indeed publishing this recipe during Sungold season. So if you can track them down at your farmers’ market or grocery store, I highly recommend it. Do any of y’all grow Sungolds in your home garden? Give us your tips, if so! I set out to cook this pasta in 20 minutes. Watch to see if I can beat the clock! A full written recipe for this Calabrian chili cherry tomato alla vodka will land in your inbox tomorrow morning along with all the usual notes and substitutions we provide here at WTC. If you aren’t a paid subscriber yet, upgrade now so that you get it!

Based on reader feedback, this recipe has been retested and updated since its original release and this show was filmed! Click here for the new and improved recipe. In this week’s episode of the What To Cook show, I’m demoing my new one-pan green chile chicken and corn rice bake that will land in your inbox tomorrow morning! This dinner showcases the spirit of the “Walk Away” chapter in my new book What to Cook When You Don’t Feel Like Cooking: Make It Fast (OUT NOW and on sale, if ya haven’t heard!!). The recipes in it all require very little hands-on prep time, then have a longer cook time, letting you walk away from the kitchen and go do something else entirely. There are recipes that simmer, braise, roast, bake, and slow-cook for anywhere from an hour to, in some cases, four hours, and you don’t need to babysit a single one! In this walk-away-style recipe, we are popping rice, corn, chicken, diced green chiles, salsa verde, stock, shallots, and seasonings into the oven and return an hour later to find a cozy and delicious chicken, corn, and rice feast. Bonus points that your house will smell incredible while it cooks! Once you cook it (again, the full recipe’s coming tomorrow!), report back! I want to hear how you spent your hands-off time while dinner was in the oven!!! Did you read a book? Watch a show? Go for a walk? Pick some weeds? Break up fights between your kids?! Give us recs if you’re reading or watching something good right now! Links to a few things I mention in the episode: * Melty zucchini pasta * Tiny tomato pasta * 15-minute peanut noods * If you like the sound of “cook once, eat multiple times,” here 5 cook-once, eat-twice ideas * And here’s how to make lime pickled red onion! Click here to watch this episode on Youtube.

It’s time for EPISODE 4 OF THE WHAT TO COOK SHOW!! And because it’s PUB WEEK (!!!!!), today’s recipe is from the 15-minute chapter of Make It Fast! But I wanted to make it a little bit more show-off-y, so we’re leveling the recipe up in a few different ways, using the “Extra Extra” notes from the cookbook — AKA the tips that will teach you how to make the recipe a little extra! In this BBQ chicken and peach chop, we’re going to double the dressing and use half of it as a marinade for our chicken. We’re then going to grill that chicken along with fresh corn on the cob and peaches. AND we’re going to let the black beans marinate in the salad dressing for a bit, infusing them with flavor. The full recipe along with the inspo for this salad, how this version compares to the one in the book, and all the usual notes and substitutions will be in your inbox tomorrow. Want in on the full recipe? Upgrade to a paid subscription now so that it lands in your inbox bright and early tomorrow!!!

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 overs