At this stage of her life, Kristin Cavallari is over the drama, drama, drama, drama. “I’m just letting life unfold before me, and this is the first time in my life where I’ve done that,” says the popular TV personality and Uncommon James designer, who first rose to fame on the MTV reality shows Laguna Beach and The Hills and now hosts the rewatch podcast Back to the Beach.
Cavallari’s sense of peace and maturity is evident in her third cookbook, Truly Simple: 140 Healthy Recipes for Weekday Cooking, out April 11. Whereas her first two cookbooks, 2018’s True Roots and 2020’s True Comfort, featured healthy recipes with a hefty number of dietary restrictions, her new release takes a more laid-back approach. It’s geared toward busy parents who want to put nutritious yet flavorful meals on the table, such as Cavallari’s sweet harissa cauliflower, crepes with honey lemon drizzle, and balsamic-glazed sea bass.
Shondaland recently spoke with the author and mother of sons Camden and Jaxon and daughter Saylor, whom she shares with her ex-husband, retired NFL player Jay Cutler, about how she keeps her kids safe in the kitchen, why she’s no longer afraid of sugar, and what it feels like to write a cookbook all by yourself.
CHELSEA GREENWOOD: Why did you want to do a third cookbook?
KRISTIN CAVALLARI: With the success of my other books, I knew I was going to do another. It was just about which direction I was going to take it. My publisher came to me about doing it completely on my own. In the past with my other two books, I worked with a chef. At first, I was scared. I thought, “There’s no way I can do it.” Then, I sat with it and was like, “Of course, I can.” I love a challenge.
I decided to focus on easy weeknight meals because, through the pandemic and where we are as a society, that’s what we want: quick, easy stuff that’s nutritious to get on the table for our family while balancing a ton of different schedules. That’s what I did. I am in no way, shape, or form a chef. I’m just a mom who likes to cook. This book is truly the one I’m most proud of because it was 100 percent just me.
CG: How is Truly Simple different from your other books?
KC: If people are familiar with True Comfort and True Roots, then they know I was pretty strict about the ingredients that I used there. I still use really healthy ingredients, and Truly Simple is similar to those two cookbooks. However, you never would have found cane sugar in my other two books. But in this one, there are a couple recipes that have it. I’ve just gotten a little more lax about what I’m putting in my body and bringing in my house. I just think it’s really where I’m at in my life.
CG: What did you find most challenging about writing on your own?
KC: Honestly, I think the hardest part was just wrapping my head around the fact that I could do this on my own because, for me, that’s vulnerability. In the past, I could maybe kinda hide behind the fact that I partnered with a chef on it or whatever. But this one is all me. Once [the outline] was set, I was just in my kitchen cooking and had the best time. Everything was flowing.
I did scratch some recipes because they didn’t turn out how I thought. There was a handful of recipes I had to make six or seven times. The gluten-free cheddar buns really gave me a run for my money. But for the most part, it was fun to be in my kitchen. It took me about four or five months. I would take my kids to school in the morning, and then I was just cooking all day. This was a nice departure because my life used to be so busy and hectic, so I did really enjoy the process.
CG: What’s your favorite recipe from the book?
KC: My favorite is the macaroni and cheese because nothing beats homemade mac and cheese. There’s two variations [with my] recipe: There’s the classic and the one with pesto in it. I’m such a pesto junkie. I could live on this stuff.
CG: Where do you get inspiration for your recipes?
KC: Truly everywhere. Restaurants, like True Food Kitchen. Maybe I’ll see something on Instagram or when I’m traveling. My kids inspire me too. My son Jaxon kept coming home from school with oatmeal cream pies that you buy at the gas station. I would look at the ingredients, and I’d be like, “Buddy, please, please, stop eating these.” He made me a deal. He said, “If you make me some, I’ll throw these away and stop eating them.” I said fine and came up with a healthy oatmeal cream pie recipe that’s in the book.
CG: Do your kids get involved in cooking? Do you have any tips for including children in the kitchen in safe ways?
KC: My kids love cooking with me, especially Jaxon. He’s really my guy in the kitchen. They’ll see these chefs on YouTube, and they’ll get in the kitchen and just start making stuff. I don’t let them use sharp knives yet. They can use a butter knife. It’s really just educating them with the stove and oven and everything. When they’re cooking, I’m always close by. But the fact that they’re in there just doing it is awesome, and I like giving my kids freedom in that sense. You learn just by doing it.
CG: What’s an easy way to elevate a simple dish to something special?
KC: I think you can elevate anything with a really good sauce. I have a chicken skewer recipe that’s really good on its own, but then there’s a bang bang sauce with it that takes it to the next level. I love all the salads, but what really makes them are the homemade dressings. You can’t beat a homemade dressing. It takes five minutes and is so worth it.
CG: The majority of your recipes are gluten-free. What’s your advice for preparing gluten-free meals that don’t feel like you’re missing out on anything?
KC: If you eat gluten-free, you can still eat carbs. If we do pasta at my house, for example, I’ll do a brown rice pasta, quinoa pasta, lentil pasta, and that’s been the message with all my cookbooks. I never have felt that I’m missing out on anything because I still eat everything. I eat cheese. I eat pasta. I literally eat everything. It’s just the types of food that I’m eating might be different than they were 15 years ago.
Chelsea Greenwood is a lifestyle writer whose work has been featured in InStyle, Teen Vogue, Self, Racked, Vulture, Brit + Co, SheKnows, and Vice. Follow her on Twitter @cpgreenwood.
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