spotlight on: Caroline Chambers
secrets to cooking when you don't feel like it
when I think of someone who makes cooking fun and approachable, Caroline Chambers immediately comes to mind. she's the friend we all wish we had in the kitchen (I mean…when are we cooking together, Caroline?!?) – warm, funny, and somehow always making things look easy (even when she's got 101 things on the go).
she knows exactly what it’s like to stare at your kitchen and think, “ugh, I just don’t feel like cooking tonight!” in fact, that’s where her cookbook and Substack, What to Cook When You Don’t Feel Like Cooking, comes in. Caroline is the Substack queen and has built a community of over 267,000 home cooks who rightfully trust any recipe she creates.
if you’re looking for no-fuss dinners that taste like they took hours (spoiler: they don’t), Caroline is your girl. as a mom of three boys, she has mastered the art of turning low-effort meals into a hit for the whole family.
from hacks for picky eaters (parents, we NEED these), to genius substitutions for any ingredient you may be missing, Caroline’s recipes are equal parts practical and fun. and when it comes to juggling it all, she’s refreshingly honest about what it really takes to make it all work – read on to find out!
time to dig in with Caroline Chambers.
xo,
e
spotlight on: Caroline Chambers
Eden: "What to Cook When You Don’t Feel Like Cooking," is so relatable. What made you focus on that for your cookbook and newsletter?
Caroline: I'd been a freelance recipe developer for years, a job that I fell into because I loved cooking so, so much. All I wanted to do, all the time, was cook! But then I had my first son. And suddenly...I was tired. And overstimulated. And hungry. And I never felt like cooking. Finally, I understood all of my friends and family who would always tell me that they never felt like cooking at the end of a long day. So I started sharing the types of recipes that I, as a new mom and pregnant with my second, could manage to cook at the end of a long day or working and mom-ing. How often are you like, "ugh, I don't feel like cooking tonight.” So, so often, right? These are the recipes for those nights.
E: How has being a mom to three boys changed how you come up with recipes? Any family moments that inspired a dish?
C: I get better and better at my job with each child that I birth, because I have less and less time and energy to spend on cooking and cleaning. My recipes get quicker and hackier, and I get better at providing substitutions because all three of my kids have different foods that they don't eat. A big part of the newsletter is that I provide a substitution for every single ingredient. This started as a pandemic thing, and then I kept it going because the vegetarians and gluten-free folks loved it so much, and now it's also a huge helper to moms of picky eaters everywhere. Also, just a huge help to people who hate going to the grocery store because they forgot to buy one ingredient…there's always a sub lurking in your fridge or pantry!
E: How do you juggle your business, being a mom, and still having time for yourself? Also, what does time for yourself look like?
C: Lots of help. When I was first building the business, I had no childcare (pandemic lockdown), no employees, a toddler, and was super pregnant with #2. I was flailing, not sleeping, not exercising. Not the key to success. The old "you gotta spend money to make money" adage is so true – once I staffed up, and started outsourcing the parts of this job that I don't love, I was able to focus so much more energy on expanding the newsletter, doing really fun creative projects, and less time on the minutia like building grocery lists, dealing with sponsored content negotiations, etc. Having a team of people supporting me in my personal and professional life is the only way that I can make it all work, and I am very open and transparent about that because I never want someone to look at me and say "How does she do it all?!” That is an illusion. No working mom is doing it all and thriving. You need a village. Oh! And having time for myself: at least 3 mornings out of the week, right after drop off, I work out with friends. We either go to a class or go hiking. I'm at my desk by 10 am, and I've gotten those friendship endorphins that I need! Right now, I don't do a lot of social activities at night because it's the only time I see my kids, so I get it in during the day. That way, it cuts into work versus mom time, which I like.
E: Many of your readers are busy parents or new to cooking. How do you make recipes easy without sacrificing flavor or fun?
C: SAUCES! And seasonings. Everyone thinks you have to marinate meat overnight, sear it perfectly, or have some complicated technique to make food taste great. That's such BS. A weeknight meal can be meat and veggies roasted on a sheet pan at the same time, served with a really perfect sauce (that you whipped up in the blender while the food was roasting) and it will knock people's socks off.
E: What’s your advice for home cooks who feel stuck or too tired to cook? Do you have a go-to meal for those days?
C: I actually have a whole section in the front of my book titled "How to make yourself feel like cooking even when you really, really don't feel like it". Call your mom while you're cooking. Listen to a really good audiobook. Take your mind off of the cooking itself, distract yourself with something else. Don't delude yourself into thinking that you're going to have a “Julia Child goes to France” moment and suddenly love cooking. Convince yourself that you can multitask and actually not hate cooking if you're getting something else done at the same time.
E: You're the Substack queen – what are your tips for building and connecting with your audience? What do you like about Substack in comparison to other platforms?
C: I love Substack. I love that it's a platform for authors. Instagram can feel so hard to figure out – I'll spend 10 hours on a video and only my mom will like it, and then I'll spend 45 seconds on a video and it'll go wildly viral. Substack is a much more predictable effort-to-reward ratio. I know when I work my ass off on a post (like the easy-but-fancy holiday menu that I'm sharing an excerpt from here!), my people are going to love it because I've talked with them in the private chat about what they need, what they want, how I can make it a better experience for them. I love keeping my audience really involved in the content we put out – what do they want to see? What do they want to engage with? I talk about my newsletter a lot on Instagram, and my paid Substack subscribers know that they are my VIPs – if they need help with something they'll literally DM me, "Hey Caro, I'm a paid sub, can you give me advice on what to serve at my daughter's bday next week". I get back to those DMs immediately – they are my paying customers! I love all of my followers, but there's an added level of appreciation for those who are willing to pay for my work and I let them know it.
cider-braised roast (from Caroline’s new ‘easy but fancy’ menu)
Servings: 6-8
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 4 hours (1 hr per lb of meat)
ingredients
1 (roughly 4-pound) boneless beef chuck roast
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 medium or 2 large yellow onions, sliced
1 cup apple cider
Finely chopped fresh parsley
directions
Preheat your oven to 325°F.
Place 1 boneless beef chuck roast in a baking dish (like a large Pyrex) or Dutch oven. Season generously with kosher salt and pepper (1 teaspoon salt per pound, 1/4 teaspoon pepper per pound. Thinly slice 2 large (or 3 medium) onions and place the onions all around the beef. Pour 1 cup of apple cider around the beef.
Cover (with a lid or foil) and bake for 1 hour per pound of meat, rounding up to the nearest half hour. So, 4 hours for a 4-pound roast.
Let the meat rest with the lid off for 10 minutes.
Using two forks, shred the meat into large chunks — I like to serve people large chunks so that they can experience the tender shreddable moment themselves, versus a pile of fully shredded meat. If the roast isn’t shredding easily, cover it and put it back in the oven for 30 minutes. (Yes, cook it for longer if it’s not tender and shreddable yet!)
Serve the beef over mashed potatoes and sprinkle with finely chopped parsley to give it some color and freshness.
Follow Caroline on Instagram, Substack, and buy her book.
xx
e
This recipe looks AMAZING!!