Homemade Bircher Muesli

The holidays are closing in on us fast, and my pants are already snug (mashed potatoes, I’m looking at you). I’ve been perfecting this Bircher muesli recipe since I finally figured out how to make overnight oats tasty.

If you are looking for ways to keep your cravings and energy level in check this holiday season (who isn’t?), I hope this Bircher muesli recipe will be a big help. It’s basically overnight oats with fresh apple and applesauce, oats, raisins, nuts and nut butter. It’s a healthy make-ahead breakfast that tastes like a holiday treat.

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Simple Gluten-Free Apple Crisp

Exciting news! My cookbook, Love Real Food, is nominated for Goodreads’ Best Cookbook award! If you have a moment, could you please do me a big favor and go vote? There’s only one day left, and I’d be thrilled to make it to the next round.

Cookbook aside, we need to talk about this apple crisp. It’s a revised version of a recipe that’s been on my site for a few years. Ironically, when I published this crisp three years ago, I had just attended two Friendsgivings over the weekend. That is exactly what I’m doing this weekend.

I’m already running late, I’m celebrating with the same good friends, and I’m sure to overdo it on the mashed potatoes and pie. Some things never change.

This apple crisp is gooey on the inside, and tender but crisp on top. It’s made with wholesome ingredients, like old-fashioned oats, almond meal, pecans, honey, and of course, lots of apples. This is my favorite apple crisp recipe, and it just happens to be gluten free.

This crisp turned out great for me when I made it a few years ago, but I’ve heard that it didn’t turn out as well for some of you. This stuff keeps me up at night, so I’ve retested and tweaked this recipe, and it’s now better than ever.

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Steel-Cut Oat “Risotto” with Butternut Squash and Kale

This post is sponsored by The Quaker Oats Company.

Risotto with oats? I’d be skeptical if I were you, but let me tell you—I’m pleasantly surprised by how much I love this twist on risotto. Traditional risotto is time consuming, rich and delicious, but doesn’t have much to offer in the nutrition department.

I’ve learned how to make a baked version with brown rice and lots of vegetables, but it still takes a little too much time to qualify as an easy weeknight meal.

Enter steel-cut oat risotto! Also known as, another way to use up those steel-cut oats in your pantry. Like arborio rice, steel-cut oats get nice and creamy when cooked.

Unlike brown arborio rice, steel-cut oats require about 25 minutes on the stove, with minimal fuss. Steel-cut oats are 100% whole grain and are a good source of fiber, so this risotto will stick with you.

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Lucille’s Mashed Potatoes

It’s about time I introduced you to my family’s mashed potato recipe! Meet the only mashed potatoes I ever want to eat. Every Thanksgiving, my mom opens up a 1970s church cookbook called “Thyme to Cook” to make them. They’re called “Refrigerator Potatoes” and the recipe cites three authors, with my great-grandmother Lucille listed third.

I’ve come to call them Lucille’s mashed potatoes, so that’s what I’m calling them today. For several years now, I’ve contemplated how to offer a “Cookie and Kate” version of these mashed potatoes (as in, a healthier version). But why mess with a good thing? We’re talking about a traditional holiday recipe that I enjoy twice a year, on Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Let me tell you, these mashed potatoes are worth it. Lucille’s mashed potatoes are creamy and dense, tangy and irresistible. They are all of those things. Here’s what they are not: light, fluffy, milky or watery. Lucille’s potatoes are everything that I want mashed potatoes to be! Nothing more and nothing less.

Lucille’s recipe calls for cream cheese and sour cream, rather than milk or cream. The cream cheese helps fortify the mashed potatoes, so they reheat beautifully. That’s why the recipe struck church lady gold—it’s delicious and you can cross the mashed potatoes off your list a day or two in advance.

This year, I decided to share recipe as is, with some of my notes added for clarity. I’ll breakdown the ingredients, too. But first, can I tell you a little bit about my great-grandmother Lucille? She was a special lady. Brilliant, too.

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Pumpkin Pancakes

Happy Sunday! I’m sharing these fluffy whole wheat pumpkin pancakes too late for breakfast this morning, but the recipe has actually been available here since 2010. It’s one of my oldest recipes! These pumpkin pancakes inspired my fluffy vegan pancakes, gingerbread pancakes, and both of the pancake recipes in my cookbook.

I never felt like the old photos did these pancakes justice, so I’m sharing the recipe again today. I also updated the recipe notes with details on how to store and reheat leftover pancakes, how to make these vegan and/or gluten free, and added nutrition facts.

When I was little and my dad was in charge of dinner, we always made pancakes. Pumpkin pancakes for dinner, anyone?

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What to Cook This November

November already?! This month, we lost corn, cucumber and eggplant from our list (although I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re still growing somewhere). Cooler evenings call for cozy fall comfort foods and roasted veggies, so I’m stocking up on winter squash, sweet potatoes and hardy greens. What are you craving this month?

I have lots of links and recipes to share with you today, so I’ll keep this short. I wanted to point out, though, that I’ve updated the shop with some new favorite kitchen items, etc.! You can always access it in the sidebar, below my picture.

Updates on Love Real Food:

• Alana made my tahini kale Caesar salad
• Kristan made my easy carrot cake
• Sarah made my carrot cake breakfast cookies
• The book made PopSugar’s Best Healthy Cookbooks of 2017
• Nearly 300 reviews on Amazon! Thank you so much!

More updates and links:

• My interview with Dishing with Delishes (podcast)
• On ghosting: I Didn’t See Your Text (podcast)
• Taking notes: How Can I Train Myself to Want Less Stuff?
• So good: Halloween Dog Parade
• How I Get It Done: Melissa Clark
• Reporting back on my new natural beauty favorites from Follain (affiliate links): I’m absolutely loving Ilia’s Multi-Stick in “At Last”, W3ll People’s Altruist Foundation Powder in color #12, and RMS Beauty’s “Un” Cover-Up Concealer in color #11

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How to Make Applesauce

Forget everything you’ve ever disliked about store-bought applesauce. Homemade applesauce is another animal. It tastes like the inside of an apple pie!

Homemade applesauce is a healthy and delicious snack on its own. Don’t stop there, though. I love to serve it with ice cream like it’s an apple crisp. Pile homemade applesauce onto toast with almond or peanut butter. Swirl it into your oatmeal.

Layer applesauce between yogurt and granola for an apple parfait and people go wild. The apple crisp parfaits in my cookbook were a favorite with my recipe testers.

I use maple syrup (or honey) instead of plain sugar to naturally sweeten my applesauce. Bonus? With liquid sweetener, you can easily add more to taste at the end, so you won’t risk ending up with too-sweet applesauce. If you’re a fan of tart applesauce or if you’re using particularly sweet apples, you can leave out the sweetener altogether for no-sugar-added applesauce.

I like my applesauce on the chunky side, but you can blend it smooth if you prefer. Since this applesauce is thick, I found that my food processor does a better job of blending than my immersion blender.

Bottom line, this applesauce is a fun and easy recipe to make. It’s apple season, so let’s get to it! If you have extra apples, check out my apple steel-cut oatmeal and apple muffins. More apple recipes here.

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