Kristin Cavallari's New Cookbook Has Simple and Quick Recipes Parents Will Love

Kristin Cavallari says she’s at a point in her life where she’s no longer trying to control everything. That hasn’t always been easy to do while running a successful business—Uncommon James, her jewelry, beauty, and home brand—being a mom, and living in the public eye, but Cavallari has been learning to let go and let life unfold. 

“I'm just in a better place in my life; I'm happier and more peaceful,” says the TV personality, who appeared on Laguna Beach and The Hills. “I think that spills over into every area of your life.” 

One of those areas is her cooking. The mom of three—Camden, 10, Jaxon, 8, and Saylor, 7—released her latest cookbook, Truly Simple: 140 Healthy Recipes for Weekday Cooking, which is more lax than her previous two bestsellers, True Roots and True Comfort. Those recipes don't include any flour, sugar, or white salt. While Truly Simple is still health conscious, it’s not as rigid. What’s more, it focuses on recipes that are simple (just as the title implies) and not very time-consuming—two requirements most parents need. 

“These are what I make on the weeknights when I'm running around balancing all of my kids’ schedules,” she says. “I really stand by the fact that if I can make these recipes, anybody can make these recipes, because I am in no way, shape, or form a chef; I'm just a mom who loves to cook.”

The cookbook includes recipes like gluten-free cheddar buns, pizza frittata, Tuscan spaghetti squash casserole, and balsamic roasted chicken, along with desserts like gluten-free cold brew brownie cookies and skillet carrot cake.

While Cavallari created all these new recipes on her own without a chef’s help like in her previous two cookbooks, she had three tough critics along the way: her kids. “I gotta say, they're the best taste testers because they are brutally honest,” she jokes. “They had no problem telling me they didn't like a recipe which is great. I mean, that's the feedback that I wanted.”

They also inspired some of the recipes to boot, especially her son Jaxon. He kept coming home from school with pre-made packaged oatmeal creme pies and Cavallari remembers pleading with him to stop eating them. One day they made a deal. ”He was like, ‘I’ll throw it away right now and I will stop eating these if you make them,’ and I said, ‘OK!” she says. “So, we created the oatmeal cream pie recipe.” 

If you follow Cavallari on Instagram, you’ll often see her cooking all her favorite recipes in her Tennessee home. It’s not unusual to see her kids helping out too. In fact, they love to, especially her sons. “I've just kind of created that environment for them to be in the kitchen,” says the Back to the Beach with Kristin and Stephen podcast co-host.

Cooking has always been a focus for her as a parent. “My main role is being Mom and part of being Mom for me is making dinner almost every single night,” she says. “It's important to me; it always has been.”

But followers also catch a glimpse of her life outside of being a parent. Whether it’s showing off her latest Uncommon James collections, her fashionable outfits, answering fan questions, or traveling with her best friends, Cavallari has created a life where confidence seems to be front and center. 

She’s been open about not rushing to do Botox or other types of injections. “My lines don’t bother me, they really don’t,” she says. And on a recent vacation in Stockholm, Sweden, she shared an Instagram photo in a bikini with the caption, “but she’s a mother,” poking fun at people who criticize moms for continuing to embrace all of their sides. 

“There's definitely a rebellious nature to me; I've always been like that. And so, it seems as though anytime I post a sexy photo, I get a lot of hate for it. I just don't think because I'm a mother, I have to lose that part of me,” she explains. “There are so many sides to my personality and yeah, being a mom is the majority I would say; that's the main focus of my life, but that's not all of me. I have a lot of sides, as do most people, and I don't think becoming a mom means that you can't feel good about yourself and be sexy. I work out really hard. I eat really well. I take care of myself and if I want to post a picture in a bikini, I think that that's perfectly OK.”

Facing criticism comes with the territory when you’re famous, but it’s also been a big lesson for the former reality star. “Your reaction to my photo is about you and not me,” she says. It’s this attitude that’s helping her live what she’s calling a tranquil chapter of her life, and being open to possibilities—even a cooking show in the future.

“It's like a weight has been lifted. I'm just able to relax into life, and just be more present,” she says. “I'm enjoying the ride rather than trying to control everything all the time."