Last night, I had the incredible privilege to appear on my friend Kym Whitley's reality show, Raising Whitley on OWN, the Oprah Winfrey Network! Kym and I met in November at the taping for the Young & Hungry pilot (she stars as Yolanda, housekeeper extraordinaire). At the taping, Kym told me about her 2 1/2 year old son, Joshua and her struggle to find healthy, easy-to-cook recipes for the two of them to enjoy together. Joshua has a lot of allergies, and Kym doesn't have a lot of cooking experience, so she was faced with a challenge. A few weeks later, Kym called and asked me to come down to LA and give her a cooking lesson.

 

I arrived with groceries for some healthy, fun food, and copies of my books, The BrokeAss Gourmet Cookbook and Pizza Dough: 100 Delicious, Unexpected Recipes, to help Kym continue to cook after I left.

Together, we made three simple recipes: 

Crunchy, easy Brussels Sprouts Chips

My Basil-Feta Turkey Burgers (minus the feta)

And this delicious applejuice-sweetened Blueberry Applesauce. (I'll get to the recipe shortly.)

It was incredibly fun! We made some delicious, simple food and I got to teach Kym the joys of the immersion blender (the best budget appliance a cook with little space and money can own!) Kym is one of most warm, generous, talented people I know, and she kept me laughing and smiling the whole time, as did Joshua.

Read on for the applesauce recipe (which, by the way, is just as delicious with pork loin and potato pancakes as it is on its own), and check out your local listings to tune into next week's season finale of Raising Whitley!