thai-ish steak & noodle salad
 I keep a running list of recipe notes and ideas, and I use it for inspiration for our recipe here nearly every week. One note that has been staring me in the face begging for me to tackle it for years is the Hillstone Thai Steak and Noodle Salad. If you’re not familiar with the Hillstone Restaurant Group, I’m sorry, because they are legitimately the best restaurants on planet earth. Everything they touch turns to gold, and while they are a large national restaurant group, they manage to make each location feel unique and special. I deviated a bit from their recipe to make a version that is simple for a home cook to whip up on a weeknight (so, to WTC-ify it), and although there are still noodles to boil, steak to marinate and grill, and a few more ingredients than I usually like to use involved, we definitely still succeeded in making a restaurant-worthy dish on a weeknight time budget. Hillstone also uses filet mignon in their recipe, something that I found absolutely not worthy of the expense, so I used good ole cheap-o chuck steaks and loved it. Any cut of steak, chicken, shrimp, or salmon would also be wonderful here. If you’re able to marinate your steak for a few hours in the fridge (between 6 and 24 hours is ideal), do it! But if not, even a quick 30-minute marinade at room temp will be delicious. I am absolutely in love with this meal — might be my favorite recipe I’ve written so far in 2024! — and I would like to take a bath in the dressing. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did. My five and three-year-old are in a super picky eating phase, but I was able to easily deconstruct this recipe to suit them. I pulled out some plain spaghetti and tossed it with butter and Parm, served it with six pieces of steak each, a few pieces of mango, and some cut-up carrots. They did not touch the carrots. They devoured everything else! In case you skimmed over the word “grill” a few paragraphs ago… we’re grilling today, guys! It’s the first recipe of 2024 that calls for the grill, so it’s time for me to remind you that last year I wrote a deep dive on how to grill — including how to CLEAN YOUR GRILL(!!), how to prevent flare ups while grilling, how to keep your meat from sticking, what grilling tools I consider to be essential, and so much more. If you’re not a 100% confident griller, click here and read it! And if you don’t own a grill or don’t feel like grilling, just use a cast-iron skillet or grill pan instead. In this week’s episode of So Into That, I talked to Jessa Hastings, the author behind the Magnolia Parks Universe — one of my absolute favorite book series. In addition to answering all of my burning questions related to the series, Jessie talks about her creative process and what she’s into and out on at the moment. We also share the scoop on our names — Jessa vs. Jessie, Caro vs. Caroline — which share a funnily similar origin story. She’s an overall incredible human, and whether or not you’ve read the books, I hope you’ll listen to get to know her, if you haven’t already. Serves 4 Cook time: 1 hour Tools: Blender (or a food processor, if you don’t have a blender) Chef’s knifeCutting boardZiploc bagPotColanderLarge bowlGrill or grill pan or cast-iron skilletMeat thermometer Blender (or a food processor, if you don’t have a blender) Blender (or a food processor, if you don’t have a blender) Chef’s knife Chef’s knife Cutting board Cutting board Ziploc bag Ziploc bag Pot Pot Colander Colander Large bowl Large bowl Grill or grill pan or cast-iron skillet Grill or grill pan or cast-iron skillet Meat thermometer Meat thermometer