Grains and Pasta
Fresh Artisanal Pastas from Dumpling and Strand, with Squash Blossoms
I rarely get that excited about a new product coming to market. Most of the time, it takes me months to get around to trying new things, in part because of my recipe testing queue. But fresh artisanal pastas might just get my attention. Even as I am working on holiday...
Whole Wheat Bao with Black Bean Tofu, The Steamed Bun for Everyone
Bao are hot right now. At least if you pay attention to all the chatter about places like Momofuku in NYC. Bao are simply Chinese steamed buns, and they come in many forms. The folded bao that they serve at places like Momofuku are made with a fluffy, sweet white...
Ochazuke-Japanese Rice and Tea Bowls
Long before Chipotle offered a taco bowl, Panera introduced Broth Bowls, or bloggers lit up the pages of pinterest with snaps of acai bowls, there was Ochazuke. Ochazuke, the great bowl of food that may have started it all. Ochazuke is a traditional Japanese dish,...
Maple, Avocado and Berry Breakfast Bowl
I'm living the bowl life, these days, as my new book, Great Bowls of Food, has just launched. It's exciting, as the book has had a nice review in the Star Tribune, I've talked about it on the radio, and I have many more TV, radio and podcast appearances lined up. The...
Roasted Ramps and Red Rice in Ramp and Hazelnut Pesto
The world can be divided into two camps. Folks who look forward to ramp season like it's Christmas morning, the Superbowl and the premiere of Game of Thrones all rolled into one, and the opposing group, who say, "What are roasted ramps?" You though I might go...
Miso Soup For Breakfast-One Way to Eat Your Oats
It's funny, how memories come floating to the surface when you taste something that triggers them. Like when I took a sip of miso broth the other day. Years ago, I worked with a guy who was partying hard by night, and baking bread by day. He'd limp in, pale and shaky,...
Playing with Purple Corn in Cornbread, Grits, and Chips!
It's funny how you find out about things. In October I attended a conference of the American Cereal Chemists International. Let's just call it "grain nerd heaven." Cereal chemists from all over the world were sharing technology and research, and there was an exhibit...
Roasted Squash and Whole Wheat Pasta, Perfect for Fall
Everybody loves pasta. October is National Pasta Month, as if we needed any more reasons to love our noodles. But for many people, the default setting is white flour spaghetti, macaroni, or lasagna noodles. Perhaps you are one of the people who tried whole wheat pasta...
My New Book, The Whole Grain Promise is Here!
I'm so proud to announce that my seventh book, The Whole Grain Promise, More Than 100 Delicious Recipes To Jumpstart a Healthier Diet (Running Press, $19.95), hits bookstore shelves on October 6. If you haven't noticed, whole grains are at the core of my cooking. I...
Farro with White Beans, Kale and Orange, Ancient Grains for Dinner
September's the in-between season, when we might be languorously savoring a golden Fall day, or we might be clutching our sweaters just to keep the brisk wind from chilling our bones. It's Nature's way of giving us a little nudge, to let us know that Winter is Coming....
Marinated Heirloom Tomato, Hazelnut and Basil Pasta, No-Cook, Yes Please
I don't grow very many tomatoes, but the ones I do get are very, very special to me. During this brief end of summer heyday, my 10 assorted heirloom tomato varieties ripen in waves, giving me these meal-sized assortments of tomato heaven. Today's haul was about three...
Simply Vegetarian Thai Cooking by Nancie McDermott
Vegetarians and Thai food are a match made in heaven. Thai food is a go-to for the meatless crowd, because it is so packed with flavors and textures that don't rely on animal foods. Rich coconut milk, tangy lime, lemongrass and tamarind, tongue tingling ginger,...
The New “Hot Grain” and Millet Sushi with Avocado
I always love trend predictions at the beginning of each new year. Full of optimism and certainty, brave journalists try to let us know what we will be doing in the coming year. Will cronuts and cake pops fade away? Will bone broth surpass juicing? We all want...
Oat Rageous! Kathy Hester Goes All Oats All the Time!
I always thank the good people at Cheerios for getting the word out about oats. You can love or hate the commercials and the cereal, but they have done an amazingly thorough job of letting everyone know that oats lower cholesterol. But too many people seem to...
Nasturtiums, Beautiful, Edible, and Easy to Grow
I love planting nasturtiums in my flower box. They start easily from seed, and quickly billow up and spill over over the sides of the box, trailing in a colorful show of flowery energy. Their leaves are shaped like little lily pads, lifting their faces to the sun. I...
Win a Case of Whole Grain Goodies! It’s Whole Grain Sampling Day
Welcome to Whole Grain Sampling Day! Thanks to the Whole Grains Council, I have a big box of tasty whole grain foods to sample, and if you enter, you might win the very same treasure trove! Enter to win by posting in my comments: tell me why you love whole grains...
Gluten Free Pasta Potluck! Free Book Giveaway!
Welcome, gluten-free diners, and the people who love them! You have been invited to this virtual meal to sample all the ways that I've found to make pasta accessible for gluten-free people. And, if you comment, you might win a free copy! You see, my new book, Gluten...
Spaghetti Squash, It’s not Spaghetti
There is a phenomenon that occurs when we make one food a stand-in for another food. Think carob for chocolate, or broccoli stems in place of avocado in Guacamole. We take a perfectly blameless food and put it in place of another, usually beloved and somewhat decadent...
Resolve to Switch to Whole, with Nutty, Satisfying Brown Rice Pasta
Spaghetti with Cauliflower, Carrots, Olives and ParsleyCongratulations. You survived the holidays! I hope it was happy, whether you were warmly wrapped in the bosom of family, or doing it your own way with your family of choice, it is now over. Did you make some...
Sage-Quinoa Sweet Potato Croquettes for the Holiday
The Holidays are here again, and it's time to navigate the big meals with all our mixed diet-styles. I'm convinced that some day we will look back and say, what was so hard about that? The folks who lament the difficulties of having their vegan sister and...
It’s Apple Salad Season
There is something I have learned about Minnesotans. When a Minnesotan makes it big, whether it's Loni Anderson, Bob Dylan, or somebody getting on The Voice, we all claim them and root for them. Even if they moved away after third grade, or like Dylan, kind of...
Grilled Quinoa-Avocado Filled Collard Rolls, Greens Inspiration
Sometimes inspiration comes in strangely circuitous ways. I was teaching a class the other night, and my menu included the Lentil Rice Rolls with Taratoor Sauce from my first book, The New Whole Grain Cookbook. It's funny, I've created so many recipes over the years,...
Smoked Tomatoes on the Grill: Sweet Summer Umami
End of summer brings an embarrassment of riches, as the farmer's market and garden offer heaps of ripe produce. Melons, corn, zucchini, greens, and of course, tomatoes. These tomatoes are the best we will have all year, brimming with juicy vine-ripened flavors. Real...
The Upside of a Sad Meal, A Recipe
It was a spectacularly bad day. A close friend died unexpectedly, leaving me alternating between feeling fine and being hit with the realization that I would never see him again. Lightning bolts of grief kept punching a hole in the thin veil of normalcy that came from...
The Greens That Don’t Need Any Lemon
You can tell that I live in Minnesota, since I am writing about cooking with sorrel in June. In most of the country, spring sorrel has bolted or been eclipsed by the seductions of basil. My sorrel plant, probably a french variety, has been chugging along in the back...