one-bowl chocolate chip pumpkin bread

one-bowl chocolate chip pumpkin bread

plus 6 ways I get my greens in every day, the $8 shirt I’m loving, and more

Caroline Chambers

Oct 21, 2026

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There’s finally a chill in the air in Carmel Valley, and I’ve been hit with the urge to BAKE. I whipped up a one-bowl pumpkin bread with chocolate chips over the weekend and it really, really hit the spot. I had to shoo my kids and George away to get some of it for myself! We are all obsessed.

The recipes I send you on Saturday morning will always be complete-meal dinners — that has always been and will always be the main gist of this newsletter. But it’s fun to share some other things I’m cooking, too! So keep reading to get the recipe for my new favorite baked good!

But first, a few other things I’m into right now.

We love a leafy green here at What To Cook. They’re full of fiber and nutrients. They’re good for your gut. They help you feel happy! If a WTC recipe doesn’t inherently include a green (though most do!), we always include “gimme some greens” as a note, with at least one way to easily add a green to the plate. We. Love. Greens!!!!

Here are my favorite ways to get some leafy greens in every day:

Stir chopped-up spinach into any soup, curry, creamy pasta, or casserole-y dish.

It easily wilts into any hot dish and takes on the flavor of whatever it’s in. Even if it’s not part of the recipe, add some whenever you need some greens in your life!

Make a good-all-week salad.

The

”salads” portion

of the recipe index now highlights my “good-all-week” salads, AKA “fridge salads,” AKA salads that are sturdy enough to hold up dressed for multiple days in the fridge. Have you made the

apple chicken farro salad

yet!? I cannot quit it. I also just bought lentils to make the

dilly kale lentil feta salad

!!!

Stuff a bunch of spinach into a smoothie.

Spinach is my favorite leafy green for smoothies. I find that it blends in much better than kale or any others! My kids absolutely pound spinach in smoothies.

Make a snack salad

. If I realize I haven’t eaten anything green all day, I’ll make a little snack salad with pre-washed mixed greens, some nuts, and whatever dressing is in my fridge. Click

here

for a printable PDF of homemade dressings!

Make hella green pasta.

Our kids, and so many of your kids, are obsessed with

this pasta sauce

. Call it “hulk noodles” or “monster noodles” or “grinch noodles” — whatever they will be into. In

WTC the book #1

, you’ll find a simpler version of that recipe on page 111 (we use one green instead of two and skip toasting the garlic).

Stock your fridge with hella green SOUP

! If you have

Make It Fast

, turn to page 163 and make hella green soup! I wrote that recipe after hundreds of you told me that hella green pasta sauce is so good that you sometimes eat it like soup, ha!

I’m lucky to live less than a mile up the road from the Earthbound Farm Stand (which is a must visit if you ever find yourself in Carmel Valley), but

Earthbound Farm

sells their pre-washed, ready-to-eat organic greens all over the country! I had friends in town from the east coast over the weekend, and when we drove past the farm stand sign they were like, “Wait, is that the lettuce I buy?!” Yep! Their

baby spinach

is always in my fridge, and I love their leafy green mixes and salad kits, too. They make getting your greens in SO EASY.

Thank you to Earthbound Farms for supporting So Into That and for making consuming leafy greens so convenient!

What are your favorite ways to get your greens in?!

Leave a comment

A few more things I’m into right now!

My kids had fall break last week, so we road-tripped to

Alisal Ranch

, an all-inclusive working dude ranch and family resort in California’s Santa Ynez Valley. We rode horses, fished (they caught so many fish, and the staff teaches kids how to do it!), did archery, had cowboy campfires, and rode the hay wagon up to the top of the mountain for the iconic Alisal cowboy breakfast. There’s a pool, arts and crafts cottage, tons of room for kids to roam, and the food is fantastic! Highly recommend for a really fun and active family trip.

Alisal hosted my family, but, as is always the case with hosted stays, I have no obligation to share if we didn’t dig it. But wow, we loved it so much —

and they gave me a 30% off code to share with What To Cookers.

Use

this

link, and the code is Caroline! This is not an affiliate link, I’m just excited to get to share a discount for a really special hotel.

I’m running a fun giveaway with

Katie Couric

in her

Good Taste newsletter

.

Enter here

before November 9th for a chance to win a copy of both of my What To Cook cookbooks plus a free annual subscription to this newsletter!

I bought a few of

these $8 T-shirts

to wear hiking, and now they’re all I ever want to wear with jeans, too! I especially like the light heather gray and white colors. TY to

Sara Tane

for teaching me about them when she stayed with us to cater

my book party

in July!

I love these Lunya washable silk pajamas

. They’re so cool and crisp for a hot sleeper like myself.

DIY Halloween decorations

! Give your kids construction paper, a marker, and some scissors and let them cut out ghosts and tape them all over the house.

From Molly: Oh my boys did this too, but with bats!

Every week, we dig into the What To Cook archives to see what we were cooking this time in years past — the recipes worth bringing back into your rotation and adding to your meal plan for the week ahead. Seriously: Let this be your meal plan next week!

1.

good mood chicken and bean soup

, 2025

I adore this soup. It has three kinds of beans, shredded chicken, sun-dried tomatoes, some cream, kale. So much protein. So much fiber. So many greens. Chef’s kiss!

2.

wontons and veggies in curry broth

, 2024

A 15-minute masterpiece starring frozen wontons! This is the epitome of an

I do not feel like cooking tonight

meal. It’s also a perfect example of the “stir some chopped-up spinach into any hot dish” tactic mentioned above.

3.

sheet-pan gnocchi with sausage, brussels, mushrooms, and burrata

, 2023

Here’s the OG sheet-pan gnocchi that last week’s

Trader Joe’s pumpkin gnocchi sheet-pan dinner

was a riff of!

4.

pasta e ceci

, 2022

This pasta with chickpeas was a guest recipe from the lovely

Colu Henry

and is cozy, stewy, and filled with wilted greens. It’s perfect for a cold, dreary day.

5.

turkey cheddar meatloaf

, 2021

If you loved the nostalgia of the

pork chops with creamy mushroom sauce

, you’ll also love this lightened-up modern-day meatloaf served with simple mashed sweet potatoes!

Makes 1 loaf

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