The Dinner Plan

If you looked in chef Claudette Zepeda's fridge, you’ll likely find the sauce she needs to turn a Costco rotisserie chicken into quick weeknight enchiladas for her kids, but there are a few more key flavor boosters, which she tells us all about in this episode of The Dinner Plan. Claudette shares some of the techniques and iconic Mexican dishes highlighted in her new cookbook, Cooking the Borderlands, plus the story of her attempt to recreate the original Caesar salad to the exacting requirements of the family that owns Caesar's Restaurant in Tijuana, where the dish originated. Head over to TheDinnerPlan.Substack.com for a free recipe preview and a chance to win a copy of the book.___Thanks to this week’s sponsors:TCHO Chocolate: If you’re a chef, baker, or maker in the sweets business, request a chocolate sample at TCHOpro.comMade In Cookware: Visit madein.cc/dinnerplan to unlock your discount offer.Straus Family Creamery: Find Straus organic ice cream at Whole Foods nationwide or at strausfamilycreamery.com. Masienda: Use code DINNERPLAN15 for 15% off ingredients and cookware at Masienda.com.

Meal prep is much easier when you're grilling, and Noah Galuten's new cookbook, Grill Time!, will inspire you way beyond boring containers of plain grilled chicken. Noah offers fun ways to season grilled vegetables, smart salad inspiration, and the trick for turkey burgers that never dry out (and don't fall apart either). In this conversation with The Dinner Plan host Maggie Hoffman, Noah shares lots of advice, including how to grill sausages without making them burst, how to grill chicken breast that's evenly cooked, and how to think about grilling over the weekend for easy weeknight meals in the days ahead.Get two free recipes from the book (and a chance to win a copy of Grill Time!) over at TheDinnerPlan.Substack.com.____Thanks to today's sponsors:Made In Cookware: Head to madein.cc/dinnerplan to unlock your discount offer.Find The Flavor of Fire from Chronicle Books wherever you buy cookbooks. Tastemade Cooking: Go to tastemade.com/dinnerplan and use promo code DINNERPLAN for 40% off an annual membership. Be sure to redeem promo code online before downloading the app.

If you’ve been watching Next Gen Chef on Netflix, you’re probably curious about what it's really like to go to school at The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park. Brigid Washington’s new memoir, Salt, Sweat & Steam, is set at the same culinary school as the Netflix show. In this episode of The Dinner Plan, Brigid recounts her kitchen triumphs and failures—and what she learned from things not always going right. For an easy dinner recipe from Brigid, head to this week’s newsletter at TheDinnerPlan.Substack.com._____Thanks to today's sponsors:Rouxbe Online Culinary School: Get 30% off your first course with code DINNERPLAN30 at Rouxbe.com/dinnerplanDirty Labs: Use code THEDINNERPLAN to get 15% off your first order at DirtyLabs.comMade In Cookware: Head to madein.cc/dinnerplan to unlock your discount offer.

In her new cookbook, Ammazza!, chef Hillary Sterling writes that “a scathing NewYork Times review left me with so much self-doubt that I stopped creating new dishes for fear of judgment and failure.” In this episode of The Dinner Plan, Hillary talks with host Maggie Hoffman about how she lost her confidence and creative drive in the kitchen, and how she found her cooking creativity again. If you’ve ever struggled to come up with dinner ideas night after night, this episode is for you; Hillary shares her go-to easy spring dinners, her favorite cookbooks from a vast collection, and her no-boredom family-friendly meal prep method. For pasta recipes from Hillary and a chance to win the book, head over to The Dinner Plan’s newsletter at TheDinnerPlan.Substack.com.__Thanks to today's sponsors:Rouxbe Online Culinary School: Get 30% off your first course with code DINNERPLAN30 at Rouxbe.com/dinnerplanMade In Cookware: Head to madein.cc/dinnerplan to unlock your discount offer.TCHO Chocolate: If you’re a chef, baker, or maker in the sweets business, request a chocolate sample at TCHOpro.comFind Cake Picnic from Chronicle Books wherever you buy cookbooks.Society Insurance: Find your agent at SocietyInsurance.com

Anna Stockwell literally wrote the book on how to host dinner parties—it's called For the Table and it's great. So it's no surprise that she has great hosting advice to share in this episode of The Dinner Plan, including how to juggle a full weekend of meals when you have houseguests visiting. She also shares tips for enhancing easy dinners, simple desserts, and evenings with friends with one key ingredient: butter. In the process of writing The Butter Book, Anna learned tons of butter history, plus which brand of butter is worth the price (and how to get the most out of it), tips on how to make browned butter (don't use that cast-iron skillet!), how to make molded butter shapes, butter boards, and butter mountains for a party, and how to make the world's best buttered pasta for kids or adults. Get the recipe on this week's newsletter at TheDinnerPlan.Substack.com. And don't forget to enter our big spring giveaway!___Thanks to today's sponsors:Dirty Labs: Use code THEDINNERPLAN to get 15% off your first order at DirtyLabs.comMade In Cookware: Head to madein.cc/dinnerplan to unlock your discount offer.Find Not from Concentrate wherever you listen to podcasts and at CatherineSmart.Substack.com

Alana Kysar has always needed to be flexible in the kitchen: In Hawaii, most ingredients are shipped from thousands of miles away, and sometimes you simply can't get what you were hoping for. But her new book, Aloha Veggies, goes even further, celebrating Hawaiian flavors but without ahi, shrimp, spam, or beef. In the 100th episode of The Dinner Plan podcast, Alana shares how she figured out vegetarian versions of her favorite Hawaiian foods—and the dish that finally convinced her skeptical mother that the project was a good idea. Get a preview with two of Alana's recipes on this week's newsletter at TheDinnerPlan.Substack.com.____Thanks to today's sponsors:Dirty Labs: Use code THEDINNERPLAN to get 15% off your first order at DirtyLabs.comMade In Cookware: Head to madein.cc/dinnerplan to unlock your discount offer.

Isa Chandra Moskowitz has been writing about vegan cooking for decades now, and so many vegans and vegetarians have learned to cook and bake from her many cookbooks. In this week's episode of The Dinner Plan, Isa shares a peek into her new book, which focuses on truly quick vegan dinners—meatless and dairy-free weeknight dinner ideas that work even when you only have 30 minutes. Isa explains how to choose a plant based protein, how to make the ultimate hearty vegan sandwich, and all the ways she's learned to speed things up in the kitchen over the course of her research and recipe development for this cookbook. For a peek at The 29-Minute Vegan including two free recipes, head to TheDinnerPlan.Substack.com.___Thanks to today's sponsors:Rouxbe Online Culinary School: Get 30% off your first course with code DINNERPLAN30 at Rouxbe.com/dinnerplanDirty Labs: Use code THEDINNERPLAN to get 15% off your first order at DirtyLabs.comMade In Cookware: Head to madein.cc/dinnerplan to unlock your discount offer.

Trinity Mouzon Wofford doesn’t want to be locked into meal planning. Her advice: get into the routine of putting together a base layer of component cooking, transforming raw ingredients into something that's easily assembled into a salad, a soup, a rice bowl, or a pasta. In this episode of The Dinner Plan, Trinity urges home cooks to relax into the process of doing some things by hand on a slow day, so our quicker meals can build on that foundation. What kinds of dinners does she assemble? Trinity answers that, and shares her go-to summer entertaining menu, her method for cooking more flavorful beans, and the best soup she's ever had in her life. Get the free recipe of the week—Trinity’s easy broccoli pasta recipe from Eating At Home—on TheDinnerPlan.Substack.com.___Thanks to today's sponsors:Dirty Labs: Use code THEDINNERPLAN to get 15% off your first order at DirtyLabs.comMade In Cookware: Head to madein.cc/dinnerplan to unlock your discount offer.Find Tanya Bush’s Will This Make You Happy wherever you buy cookbooks.Watch I Changed My Mind with Dan Souza of America's Test Kitchen on Netflix or listen on your favorite podcast app.