10 of Ina Garten's Favorite Store-Bought Shortcuts + 5 Life Lessons I've Learned During 7 Years of Full-Time Freelancing
Catch up on 23 brand-new stories including brilliant recipes and insights from celebrity and local chefs (who are celebs in my eyes!), plus a travel mindset that will level-up your vacations forever.
Welcome to the final Monday of January!
The world might feel unpredictable and scary right now, but as I’ve been chronicling my delights in my Notes app, I’ve been noticing so many little reasons to be joyful lately.
The pink edge of the sky just before sunset, which is now closer to 5:30 p.m. (Spring is less than 2 months away!)
The way conversation evolves into deeper topics as potlucks and dinner crawls progress.
A hug that makes you feel certain they’re using all of their muscle, including their heart, to deliver it.
Interviewing brilliant food minds who are generous enough to share their trade secrets about how to make soup so good, I wish I could swim in it.
Wearing a sleeveless dress and realizing it’s far more fun to do now that I can count muscular, growing arms as an accessory (rather than underfueled ones that are just trying to get by).
When a dear friend gets inspired enough by your trend research that she dreams up her own beautiful creation that riffs on the theme.
This excerpt from one of my daily meditations in Journey to the Heart: “Let the universe bring you all the healing you need. Let the universe bring you alive. Awaken to the world around you, and you’ll awaken to yourself.” — Melody Beattie
I’m an eternal optimist, and count my lucky stars frequently. But when I was reflecting at the end of last year, I realized that I had allowed the news cycle and political negativity (especially since 2020 or so) to really sweep away more of my energy than it deserved.
Setting up a healthy boundary to steer clear of news sites, shows and podcasts for the most part this year has been such a welcome respite. In tandem with keeping a diary of delights, I’ve been feeling much more hopeful and in alignment with my word of the year: “trust.” What is one thing that delighted you this weekend? I’d love to hear about it in the comments!
What to Read…
Anything related to Ina Garten continues to be a *hit* for many of the brands I contribute to. I certainly can’t complain that this gives me the perfect excuse to enjoy a deep-dive through the Barefoot Contessa’s cookbooks, online recipe archives…and even her pantry! (Not literally, but a girl can dream of cooking with Ina. 🤩 Sharing a meal or interviewing her is actually an item on my 40 Before 40 Bucket List, especially after devouring every page of her memoir!)
In the 23 newly-published features below, you can learn about the semi-homemade staples Ina trusts and take a peek at 7 of my go-to little luxury pantry staples, starting at $11. While worcestershire sauce isn’t on that list, it is the unexpected—and awesome—secret ingredient in a banana bread recipe I tested and tell all about in the final BHG piece below.
Lastly, if you haven’t checked out my local dispatches about our culinary aces and the past, present and future of Des Moines dining, be sure to peek at the Catch Des Moines content. And before you book your next adventure, see “What a Trip,” the dsm Magazine feature inspired by how my friend and travel advisor Whitney, has totally transformed the way I think about vacations—and life.
Better Homes and Gardens: Ina Garten Says “Store-Bought Is Fine” to These 10 Ingredients
Better Homes and Gardens: Julia Child, Ina Garten, and I Swear by This 1 Trick for the Best Potato Salad
Better Homes and Gardens: I Tried Ina Garten’s Risotto Hack—and I’ll Never Go Back to the Stovetop Method
Better Homes and Gardens: 7 Little Luxury Pantry Staples That Have Inspired Me to Cook More at Home
Better Homes and Gardens: I’m a Food Writer, and These Are the 10 Best High-Protein Frozen Meals I've Tried
Better Homes and Gardens: I Tried the Viral Chicken Crust Pizza—It’s Good, But This 1 Swap Makes It Mouthwatering
Better Homes and Gardens: How to Peel Dragon Fruit Perfectly Every Time—No More Messy Mistakes
Better Homes and Gardens: How to Find the Best Vintage Recipes, According to Milk Bar's Christina Tosi
Better Homes and Gardens: Onion Boils Are a TikTok Favorite—Steal Our Test Kitchen’s Secrets to Perfecting Them
Better Homes and Gardens: These Are Our Most-Clicked Recipes of 2024
Better Homes and Gardens: How to Make the Best Banana Bread Using This One Unexpected Ingredient
Allrecipes: Gordon Ramsay’s 1-ingredient Recipe Is So Brilliant, I’ll Be Making It All Winter Long
Allrecipes: Ina Garten’s Favorite Recipe to Make on a Cold Day Will Help Get You Through Winter
Allrecipes: The Pioneer Woman Says Her Cinnamon Roll Recipe Is 'One of the Best Things You’ll Ever Eat'
Allrecipes: Giada De Laurentiis’ 3-Ingredient Dip Is My New Favorite Party Trick
Allrecipes: Meet Minestrone Casserole: The Shockingly Easy Pasta Bake I’m Making All Winter Long
Allrecipes: I Asked 6 Chefs for Their Favorite Pizza Chain, and These 2 Tied for the Top Spot
Allrecipes: I Asked 4 Chefs for the Best Cold Sub Chain, and There Was a Clear Favorite
VERANDA: How European Ovens Became the Ultimate Status Symbol in Design
Catch Des Moines: Des Moines' Secret Recipe (see page 38 through 43)
Catch Des Moines: Side Dish
EatingWell: 5 Mediterranean Diet Foods That Are in My Shopping Cart Every Week, According to a Food Writer
dsm Magazine: What a Trip
What’s Inspiring Me…
Reflecting on Entering Year 7 of Full-Time Freelance Life
I had to triple-check my math, but it’s true: After making the decision to take the leap into full-time freelancing during a Whitney-planned solo trip to Costa Rica in late 2018, I started my first day of entrepreneurship on January 1, 2019. This means that I’m a few weeks into my seventh year of owning my own business, which still feels wild to admit!
Just like how travel teaches me countless lessons about myself and the world, this industry does, too. I peeked back in the What’s Good archives to round up the other nuggets of career wisdom I’ve shared along the way, and am dropping them below in case you’re new here or would be interested in a refresher:
Thanks to some incredible mentors, a stellar business coach, some quality therapy, plenty of self-reflection and simply “putting in the reps,” I’m finding even more fulfillment than ever in my work. When I was in high school and college, I dreamed of landing in a career that I was excited to pursue. Well, 16-year-old Karla, I’m thrilled to tell you that by the time you’re 37, you’ll be Sunday Scary-free and will frequently be jumping out of bed in the morning looking forward to learning, connecting the dots and telling stories that add a little more light to this world.
In the past couple weeks, I’ve hopped on the phone with three women who are either finishing up their journalism education at college or hoping to level-up their writing careers. Those conversations have allowed me to reflect even more deeply on other things I’ve discovered and wish I knew at the outset. No matter what field you’re studying or employed in, I hope these might resonate!
Just because every hour could be a billable hour doesn’t mean that it should be. When you work from home, report to yourself and are blessed to have more than enough business to build an extended to-do list, it can feel tempting to keep working well outside the bounds of normal business hours. “Sure, I could watch an episode of House Hunters,” I’d think to myself during my first or second year. “Or, I could have that on in the background as I write another story and make another $X.” In fact, it took me 9 months into year 1 to take a full day off—and I had to fly to Peru to make it a reality. 🫣 As someone who had more money scarcity than she realized, initially, this was a slippery slope. But the next lesson helped me get a handle on this before work took over for too long.
Determine what’s worthy of your “yes.” In addition to defining what “enough” looks like for me financially, I flipped my mental script that motivated me to default to “yes.” By creating a list of the qualities of work that I loved and looked forward to, as well as a list of the features I didn’t enjoy as much, I was able to pinpoint which projects are truly a “hell yes.” I discovered that passing on anything that felt forced or couldn’t meet or beat my rate (either financially or in passion points) allowed for more space to take better care of myself and fill the “yes” category with more clients and adventures that lit me up.
Look for the story within the story. Curiosity is one of my most dominant core values, which has been such a boon as a business owner and a journalist. The psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi wrote in his book Creativity that “when we live creatively, boredom is banished and every moment holds the promise of a fresh discovery.” I think the same holds true when we live curiously, and some of the best opportunities are hiding in plain site when we’re present. What is the story, product, creation, recipe or event that hasn’t been told, sold, shared or hosted—or done so with your unique spin? A fresh, one-of-a-kind, new story (or offering, no matter your industry) is a valuable gift to the world—and is something a robot could never create.
We’re all making this up as we go along. During school, and even early in my career, I would look around and think, “Wow, all of these adults have it figured out.” I assumed they all had 10-year plans that they followed and conquered, and that they had a definitive path forward that allowed them to feel self-assured and secure. Corporate life somewhat sets us up to believe there is a straight diagonal line up. A paved road. A safe way. Over the course of the last 6 years, I discovered—and now frequently admit to younger folks—that none of us know what we’re doing. Now, if you have a multi-year plan and following it feels fruitful, that’s incredible. But I just mention this to reinforce the idea that life is just a series of “next best steps” and even the people we admire most are just improvising and doing their best. Me too.
Be human. When I opened my computer on the morning of January 1, 2019, I was struck with a strong pang of loneliness. I figured since I was now a “free agent” who was a one-person team, I’d have to go it alone. Little did I know that I never, ever had to. In fact, I’ve been lucky enough to form dear friendships with many folks who I’ve never met in the flesh simply by being human together rather than transactional during emails, phone calls and social media interactions. Life can feel extremely rushed and fairly impersonal…if we let it. It can also feel bonding and beautiful if we invest the time and energy to allow it to be so. Something as simple as introducing an email asking about a dish you saw that person post about on Instagram or filling them in about the concert you saw with your sister grants permission to be human together. And that’s such a lovely gift.
I couldn’t make any of my stories possible without a wide web of team players, many of whom are reading this. So if you’re an editor who has assigned and published a piece, a PR person who has connected me with one of your experts or destinations, a pro who has generously shared wisdom directly in interviews or an individual who has read or “liked” even a single piece, thank you! I can’t wait to see what the future has in store for us, and I’m excited for the next best step.