In the face of a closed door, she just figured out how to open it on her own.
Writing a book is no small thing. Anyone who has done it will describe the massive task from start to finish that is required, and that’s if everything goes according to plan. Carmel Valley author Caroline Chambers published her first cookbook in 2017 aptly titled Just Married: A Cookbook for Newlyweds, shortly after she wed husband George. Her second book, What to Cook When You Don’t Feel Like Cooking, comes out August 13. So much has happened in between the two books, including a pandemic, a stint as an Edible Monterey Bay contributor and the births of the couple’s three sons, Mattis (age 5), Calum (age 3) and Cashel (age 1). Recipe development has also changed.
“My first book, Just Married, was published in 2017. Back then, the market was so different, it was before Instagram and TikTok videos were the way people got information. In 2019, after my first son, the way I cooked changed drastically—no specialty ingredients, it just really transformed. So I came up with this concept of what to cook when you don’t feel like cooking. I wrote a proposal, pitched it to Chronicle [Books], but they said no because the climate had changed so much. Book publishers don’t spend the money on the marketing, you have to do it yourself. I was so disappointed, I had this great idea, but everyone said no. They all liked the concept, but I didn’t have a big enough platform,” Chambers says.
But that’s where an extra dose of determination and resilience came into play. During a time when many people were pivoting in so many ways, the pandemic became an opportunity for Chambers. Instead of giving up on her great idea, she spent all her “free time” growing her Instagram following and reaching new audiences through a Substack newsletter, which now has more than 155,000 subscribers. Eventually, those publishers who rejected her initial proposal started reaching out.
“I had just had my third son and my agent called me and told me that Union Square was really interested,” she says. “At this point I had turned my ‘what to cook’ concept into a newsletter on Substack and it became very popular there. I had ironically used it as my rallying cry to get new subscribers, as in ‘just subscribe to me here, screw publishers!’ And then all these publishers came knocking at the door.”
This turn of events is a great example of Chambers’ tenacity; in the face of a closed door she just figured out how to open it on her own. All while raising three tiny kids. It’s obviously not easy, but she seems to have the ability to take it all in stride and find balance amidst the chaos.
“The way that I think about how to structure my days is all about how to maximize time with my kids, while still having the career that I want and get what I want accomplished. So that means there are weeks that I don’t get a lot of sleep. It’s not something I recommend for longevity, but I know that I’m in such a crazy specific time of life. It is a unique moment in time with three kids in ages that are very needy of my time, and also a point in my career that is very needy for my time,” she says.
It’s a tricky balance and one she struggles with, but she knows that a stressed out, anxious mother is not good for anyone. For that reason, she tries to get in a hike at least four days a week. “I’m so much more creative and at the top of my game when I’m exercising, outside, spending time with friends. I play tennis many times a week. I’ve figured out those things are very important,” she explains.
Mostly, she cooks. She is always in the kitchen playing around with new recipes, for her newsletter and for her social media channels, which is very time consuming. She also has a weekly podcast that comes out every Wednesday, so she is doing regular interviews with a gamut of guests. And then there are all the phone calls, meetings, sponsored content and promotion of the new book. In Chambers’ words, “It’s a lot of moving pieces.”
Reflecting her jam-packed lifestyle, the new cookbook is formatted in an unusual way. “Instead of broken up by categories like ingredients, or courses, it is organized by time,” she explains. “There’s this audience of busy young professionals, busy parents, who can look at the recipes in terms of the time it takes to prepare them.”
There is also a table of contents that sorts recipes by typical ingredients, like chicken, beef, or fish, as well as by mood. For example, it might say, “what to cook when you feel like showing off,” or “what to cook when you are craving comfort food” or “when you don’t feel like cooking at all.” This approach is exactly how Chambers cooks. “This is my own life. I don’t go by chapter, I go by mood,” she says.
Let’s guess what kind of mood she was in when the following recipe came to be. It feels at once impressive, comforting and easy, hitting all the marks of one of those back pocket recipes you make over and over again. Which basically sums up Chambers’ work in a nutshell. She has generously shared this spiced wonder with us ahead of her book release, and it’s sure to grace your table whatever mood you might be in.
About the author
Amber Turpin is a freelance food and travel writer based in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
