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TRANSCRIPT FOLLOWS:

Stephanie [00:00:15]:

Hello, everybody, and welcome to Dishing with Stephanie's dish, the podcast where we talk to people that are obsessed with food. And, Jason Derusha, I don't know how you feel about being introduced as being obsessed with food. I probably should start with that you're a very professional broadcaster first.

Jason Derusha [00:00:32]:

I'm pretty obsessed, though, so I think it works. I think it works.

Stephanie [00:00:36]:

Jason is the host of Drive Time with Derusha from 3 to 6 on WCCO Radio. And you may have known him from making the leap from being a TV news anchor to a broadcaster over in the audio space. You and I are are friendly. We, see each other at things and we chat and you've been super helpful for me in my freelance journey. But I just really wanted to chat with you about, like, how's it going? Most people, I think, see the idea of being on, like, the evening news and then going to AM radio as a step back. But I thought it was super fascinating for you, and I'd just love to see how it's going.

Jason Derusha [00:01:18]:

Well, thank you, and I appreciate you asking me. It is, I I had to get over my own sort of mental block as to whether or not this was a step back. And, also, like, is that even a relevant question? Like, who cares if it's a step back? Right? But, all of these things are sort of wrapped up in, oh, gosh. It just goes back to, like, when you're a kid. Right? Like, what was your vision of yourself? Is it okay to stop and say, like, I think I've achieved what I need to achieve? And that that sort of I don't know. It was an emotional decision for me because very much my identity was wrapped up in being the TV news guy.

Stephanie [00:02:03]:

Yeah.

Jason Derusha [00:02:04]:

And probably for my 1st year at WCCO Radio, when I would do events, I would I would, still, like, sort of struggle with how do I introduce myself. And even stuff like talking to my my, kids about you know, as an alum of Marquette University, when I was the morning news anchor, like, there was some prestige with that. When you are the afternoon radio talk show host on AM radio, It's just a little different for a younger generation. I will say this. Releasing yourself from sort of the burden of your own self expectations is incredibly liberating. And doing something because you wanna grow and you wanna challenge yourself and you want to be sort of okay at something and then get better, oh my gosh. Like, it has been so invigorating for me. I'm so glad I did it.

Stephanie [00:03:07]:

It's such a weird thing too because I came from radio and did then go to TV.

Jason Derusha [00:03:14]:

Yeah.

Stephanie [00:03:14]:

And and people act like TV is like the holy grail, but yet you've been doing something for 15 years over here. And the mediums are both broadcast, but the way you interact with people is super different.

Jason Derusha [00:03:28]:

Yes. Yeah. I've found you know, morning news and talk radio have a little more in common than when I was on the nighttime news. I remember when I was the Good Question reporter in the 10 o'clock news at WCCO TV. When I went to the morning show, all of a sudden, there was this much more personal intimate connection with the audience. And doing talk radio is like next level of that. Where on television, like, people got little glimpses into my life. And on radio, you know, all last week, and we're recording this in early September, but when when I was at the Minnesota State Fair, people were coming up to me wishing me good luck at dropping off my oldest at NYU because they knew this weekend I was going to New York to drop off my oldest.

Jason Derusha [00:04:17]:

Like, they just have that relationship with you, which is really fun. I mean, I think I've always had, maybe more of a personal relationship with the audience and, like, the traditional, you know, stand on mount anchor desk and deliver the sermon sort of TV news anchor that's never really been me. But it's just different when you have 3 hours to talk to people. You know?

Stephanie [00:04:39]:

One thing that's really struck me as a talk radio fan, and I have been for, I don't know, my whole life really from the time that my dad made me listen to WCCO in the 5th grade on the drive to school. I'm very impressed with how you handle this time that we're in where politics is so polarizing and people are just so feeling their feels all the time and really need to share those feelings with you. I just was noticing on, posts that you did that someone was mad that you weren't at the state fair on Labor Day and it's like, wow. People. But, also, I love the way that you you let people have their opinions, but you also don't let them abuse you, and I think there's a difference.

Jason Derusha [00:05:26]:

Yeah. Yeah. It's tricky. I mean, in TV news, I spent 25 years trying to get the audience to trust me. And part of that is, especially in morning news, you wanna be liked. Not that you shy away from asking tough questions, but you wanna do it in a likable way. That's what the audience wants. And here in in the talk space, it's it's hard.

Jason Derusha [00:05:56]:

It would be very easy if I were a left wing talk show host or a right wing talk show host, and then you just play the hits. You are essentially KDWB of political ideas. You play the top 40. You people know what you're gonna do, and you do it. And they like it. And people see in me what they want to see. So if they want to be mad at me and they are, Republicans and you're like you can make a line between Trump supporter I try to with Republican listeners. Like, look.

Jason Derusha [00:06:37]:

I am open to many Republican ideas. I'm not open to Donald Trump. Like, sorry. He's disqualified himself for me. That is not something I talk about a lot on the show because what's the point Other than making yourself feel, you know, good, I guess. I I I always think of my show as, like, the Thanksgiving table growing up where my uncle was, my uncle was a lawyer. He went to Madison. My grandfather was a hardcore Ronald Reagan Republican.

Jason Derusha [00:07:14]:

And everyone would duke it out, and everyone was welcome to join in. You're sort of expected to join in. And it was fine. Today, we've taken and I get it. Some of the issues we're talking about are very fundamental issues to different people. Right? It's it's a very white male sort of, privileged position to say, like, most of these issues for me are not life and death. But I also think it's not good for political discourse that we've turned everything into life or or death. And I don't I don't know that that what does that get us? Do we have better discussions? Do we have better participation? Do we have better policy because we've turned everything into a fundamental life and death, good or evil question? I I don't see a benefit to it.

Jason Derusha [00:08:06]:

So I try not to do that on my show.

Stephanie [00:08:09]:

I have noticed a change in you from when you first started broadcasting on the station, and I thought this was interesting because as a TV newsperson, you weren't supposed to have a lot of personality. You were supposed to be fairly impartial and just like a blank slate of

Jason Derusha [00:08:27]:

Yeah. The news for you. Star. Right? The news is the star, not me.

Stephanie [00:08:32]:

And I think it took you a little while to find your rhythm of how what to push, what buttons to push, how hard to push. And I'm really, pleasantly surprised and encouraged of the progress that you've made. I think you're just doing great.

Jason Derusha [00:08:48]:

It it's so nice, it's so nice of you to say that. I have had a tremendous coach at the radio station, and the thing I miss most about TV is the team. And I was more I don't know. I coworkers called me the CFO of our morning show. Mhmm. And that stood for chief feelings officer. My job was to sort of keep the trains on the track and make sure everyone felt heard and validated. And I didn't always tell people they were right, but they always were heard.

Jason Derusha [00:09:24]:

And so my job was to lift everybody else up. Well, in radio, it's just it's me and a producer. That's it. And we have a a brand manager who's, like, a program director of WCCO Radio, Brad Lane. And he's been tremendous, you know, and you can talk to any of my managers over the year. I've always have good relationship with managers, but I generally don't like to be told, what to do. Typical, media Broadcaster. Broadcaster.

Jason Derusha [00:09:55]:

Right? But in this case, like, I needed guidance. I needed coaching. I didn't really know how to do this. I I knew how to host, and I knew how to interview, but I didn't really know how to navigate talk radio today, which is different from talk radio 10 years ago. 10 years ago, if you could frame the issue well, people would call in. Today, people react to talk radio sort of like they do a a Facebook status update. They wanna know your take, and then they'll react.

Stephanie [00:10:24]:

Yeah.

Jason Derusha [00:10:25]:

Well, that took me a lot of work because, you know, do people really wanna hear my take? Is my take valid? Do I you know, it's all of those issues. And even as someone who's always had sort of an outsized personality in town, I still had that doubt of, like, do I really do I know what I'm talking about? Why are people really and he the the way Brad phrases it is he's like, what is your show about? What is your show about? And a lot of people ask me that. What is your show about? Which is such a funny question because you and I both, like, grew up listening to talk radio. So, like, I grew up in Chicago. WGN talk radio was part of my life. And then there was an FM talk radio, the loop in Chicago. That was more comedians, a little more edgy, a little younger. And you're like, talk radio is about well, fundamentally, it's about whatever the host wants to talk about.

Jason Derusha [00:11:25]:

So, like, you know, your show that you do, what is your show about? Well, like, the subject matter is food, but, like, it's really about your lens, what you care about. And that seems so egotistical. You're like, oh, it's all about me? Yeah. But it kind of is. Right? That's kinda what it is. So I it took a while for me to learn that. It took honestly, I would say it took a year of doing it 5 days a week until I really got comfortable with it. And I still feel like I'm good, not great.

Jason Derusha [00:12:01]:

Whereas after 25 years of TV, not being arrogant, but I think I was great. Yeah. And so it's kind of fun to not be great at something and learn it. I've enjoyed that.

Stephanie [00:12:14]:

Yeah. And I think it's revealed a lot about you as a person, that is hard to tap into and to be vulnerable and to let people see that side. Particularly, you know, we're performing these shows in a really polarizing time and in a time where people just they go after you. I mean, the amount of personal attack that hosts receive on something as benign as a food show, it's real.

Jason Derusha [00:12:46]:

I'm surprised by it, to be honest. And I'm a very online person, so I shouldn't be surprised by it. But, what's happened, and certainly you get it from people listening to you, but the people who actually listen, get it for the most part. Like, there's some attack, but mostly the listeners I don't know. All during the fair, I have people coming up telling me that, like, they disagree with me politically, but they really like how I do my show, which that's the best. Yeah. But part of the challenge with the digital world and the social media world is, you know, like, I I said this to someone this morning. How much of my energy am I supposed to spend on someone who doesn't listen and never will listen? So all day, every day, both the Republicans and the Democrats run against the media right now.

Jason Derusha [00:13:41]:

The media is the media where's the media? Why doesn't the media say this? Why is this the headline? Why are you framing it this way? Media, media, media, media, which is sort of interesting considering, supposedly, no one cares about the media anymore, and no one lets no one reads, no one subscribes, no one so you're like, but but it's a great boogie, man. Right? Like, if you run against the media, you don't have to confront the fact that your candidate maybe sucks. Right? Like, it's my fault. And that's been a bit of a challenge for me to figure out, like, obviously, I want to convince people to give my show a chance, but I think most of the people who are engaging in sort of a negative way, are not convincible. Right? Like, they're not so how much of my energy am I supposed to spend on that? I don't know. It's a bit of a challenge.

Stephanie [00:14:34]:

Well and I do think they listen. I think that people love to have feelings and emotions. And if they're not sure where to have them or they are in a place in their life where they're lonely or they're othered or whatever the case may be, I think sometimes people tune in just to feel something because they feel empty inside.

Jason Derusha [00:14:59]:

Yeah. Yeah. And you get I don't know. Like, I always try to remember that there are and the same is true of callers or texters on radio. There are a lot more people who are listening, who are lurkers. Right? Like, that's what we would call them on Facebook or Twitter, the lurkers. So by modeling sort of reasonable, friendly, but passionate discussion, I think there's some benefit to that for the people who are observing and don't wanna jump into the mess.

Stephanie [00:15:34]:

Do you ever think about getting off Twitter? I know a lot of media personalities have.

Jason Derusha [00:15:39]:

I do. I do. But, mostly, I enjoy it. Like, mostly, I get positive interaction out of it. I've started to curate it a little more. Like, I mute a lot of people that you know, if I feel someone getting my blood pressure rising, I'll just mute them. It's okay. Like, they don't need, like, block.

Jason Derusha [00:15:58]:

I don't need to do that. But, like, I and people who I have a policy, if you call me or my family a name, you just get blocked. Like, there's no I don't need that. So I I do think about it. It is one of those things where you're like, the upside of something like Twitter acts. The upside is you get a lot of audience. I have, I don't know, 80,000 followers there. Certainly, most people don't see all of that stuff, and who knows how many are are relevant.

Jason Derusha [00:16:33]:

But, you know, a a normal tweet of mine might get seen might get, you know, 10, 20, 30000. Like, that's pretty good.

Stephanie [00:16:42]:

It's also so immediate when you're on the air. Like Yeah.

Jason Derusha [00:16:45]:

You need. For show, it's amazing. Like, what I I never think about leaving. I think about and I have adjusted what I will post about, just because it's not really fruitful for the most part. And you think, like, is my voice needed on this topic? Not really. Like, so do I need to weigh in on a lot of political type things? Not really. So I I've sort of, cut down on that. But you're right.

Jason Derusha [00:17:15]:

Like, from a listening standpoint, from a breaking news standpoint, it's amazing. It's unparalleled, frankly.

Stephanie [00:17:22]:

Yeah. I would agree with that. You took a weight loss journey, and I think you lost £40 last I checked.

Jason Derusha [00:17:29]:

Yeah.

Stephanie [00:17:30]:

And you've always been someone in the food space. Did that feel conflicting for you to do the weight loss route and at the same time be championing and talking about all the food?

Jason Derusha [00:17:44]:

Yeah. I mean, people ask me all the time. They're like, how do you eat this much? I'm like, well, I'm, you know, I'm sharing. I'm taking bites or whatever. I do think about it. Right? I think the reason that I lost weight was so I could live, not so I could hide. And so I don't really feel conflicted about that. The truth is, though, could I have lost that weight by eating out 4 nights a week? Probably not.

Jason Derusha [00:18:13]:

Yeah. So it is a challenge of eating out. I certainly am a little more careful now in how I order. And the way we used to, you know, some of this, like, COVID has changed it, but a normal night for us back in the pre COVID days would be you go somewhere for drinks, go somewhere else for appetizers, go somewhere else for a main course, and go somewhere else for dessert and drinks. And thinking about that while I was on the weight loss journey, like, I was probably eating 4000 3 or 4000 calories a night just in that. Like, not lunch, not breakfast. And so that's not sustainable. But can I do that occasionally? Sure.

Jason Derusha [00:18:53]:

Yeah. Why not? So I I the biggest thing I was conflicted about is the weight loss journey that I took. You know, I've always been, like, sort of an organic whole foods farm to table type eater. But to lose weight, quickly and sustainably, it's difficult to do it on whole food. It just takes a lot longer. Now I was eating whole foods. It wasn't like a liquid diet or anything. But, like, it is success breeds success.

Jason Derusha [00:19:21]:

And when you start when you lose that £10 in 2 weeks, you're like, oh, I can do this and then do it. Like, for me, I needed that. Other people, you know, maybe you can lose £40 in 2 years and do it by eating more salads and be more careful. But, like, getting the protein you need and the nutrients and all of that, it's it's just difficult if you go on a severe calorie restriction diet. It's difficult.

Stephanie [00:19:45]:

It's interesting too. I think for what we're seeing in the media now, like, everyone not everyone, but a lot of people are on the weight loss drugs and taking the shots. Many people are talking about it, many people aren't. Some are talking privately. And as someone who's a bigger person, like I'm not obese, but I'm a size 12 or 14 usually. I think about like, can I manage my weight with a magic, like, pill and No? Do that? Like, that feels like it could be amazing. And then they're also finding that with the reduced inflammation, people are happier or less depressed Yeah. Or sex.

Stephanie [00:20:27]:

It's like, oh my gosh. Is this the miracle drug? But then at the same time, as people who champion the food space, can you make food the the devil in that situation and still talk about it? It's it's something I both my radio partner and I have talked about a lot.

Jason Derusha [00:20:46]:

It's tricky. Right? Like, I am cheering for small business. I'm cheering for creativity, for innovation. So I'm cheering for that. Food is and I love food. We love, eating out. We love the experience of it. But food is really I mean, food is the vessel for all this other stuff.

Jason Derusha [00:21:13]:

Right? So is it do I love, love, love the particular dish, or do I love the experience? So I think, like, you know, you and your radio partner, Stephanie and I, I think the 3 of us have sort of a similar approach as to what makes restaurants, fun and what makes eating out fun. And it's really it's more the social experience, the room, the way you feel, the people you're with. Like, yes, good food, technique, all of that matters, but the other stuff matters more. And so when I was losing weight, my wife and I, you know, we had to sort of radically reenvision what we're gonna do for fun. So because we knew, like, you know, what would we do on a Saturday if we had a day free? Like, go to a maybe go to a a tap room or maybe go to a bar. It's like we can't do that. So we're like, alright. Let's go for a hike or, you know, you're trying some different stuff.

Jason Derusha [00:22:17]:

It's interesting as you age too. Right? Like, it's I can't eat the way I did 10 years ago.

Stephanie [00:22:23]:

And, also, like, I became recently aware, which why it took so long, I don't know, of, like, that what I view as fun is always food related. It's always my go to thing, and I

Jason Derusha [00:22:36]:

don't Yeah.

Stephanie [00:22:37]:

I don't think about, like, oh, let's go have a bike ride. I think about let's go have a bike ride to this brewery or this orchard or it's like the destination, not the journey.

Jason Derusha [00:22:47]:

We're trying to, like you know, we went to a a show at the Guthrie a couple weeks ago. It's like, oh, and we loved it. And it's like, okay. Let's, like, let's remember to kind of, you know, Yeah. Sprinkle the other stuff into.

Stephanie [00:23:03]:

I want to, just thank you for some of the folks you've had on Derusha Eats. I was, thinking about Manny from Manny's,

Jason Derusha [00:23:11]:

Tortoise. Yeah.

Stephanie [00:23:13]:

25 years, Manny Gonzalez has been over there doing the work, and I was just really taken aback when he said he'd never been on the radio in 25 years. And I thought, well, good for you for having him on, and, wow, why did it take us so long? You just there's so many great voices out there and so much more to our food scene than the typical, you know, James Beard award winning chef. Right?

Jason Derusha [00:23:38]:

Yeah. Yeah. It that was a lesson I learned in my TV years of doing stories on restaurants. The audience resonated with, like, the neighborhood pizza place a lot more than the James Beard award type place. And, like, I don't know. I think about that often. Right? Like, people get more jazzed about mama's pizza in Saint Paul or Latah Latifs in

Stephanie [00:24:06]:

Plymouth. Yeah.

Jason Derusha [00:24:07]:

Where they've got, like, the diamond it's sort of the diamond shaped cut. You know, people resonate with that more, and that makes sense. Right? Like, it's the reason The Cheesecake Factory back in the day was, like, the biggest restaurant opening of that year. Yeah. Because, people don't like feeling dumb. They don't like looking at menus where they don't know what the ingredients are, or they don't know how to say it. And neighborhood pizza places are awesome. Right? Like, they support the softball teams, and they support the youth, soccer teams.

Jason Derusha [00:24:44]:

And so I've always tried to give those guys a voice. It is it is a balance of, like, how do you keep it? So what really helps me is my producer, Dan Cook, does not care about restaurants at all. He doesn't care. He is mister meat and potatoes. He doesn't know anything that I'm talking about. And so when I do an interview where he's like, oh, that was really interesting. Like, he loved the Manny Gonzalez in the interview. And you're like, okay.

Jason Derusha [00:25:13]:

That's really what I'm trying to do. So I I do think about that a lot. Like, I definitely light up with the classics more. So, like, the Bilkoslag from Jack's

Stephanie [00:25:26]:

Game Fair. That was a great interview too.

Jason Derusha [00:25:28]:

Like, the though those ones, always sorta get me going. So it's something that I think about. Like, this month, we're gonna have, Murray's, Tim Murray, and we're gonna have JD Hoyt's. But we're also gonna have a case, Johnson who just, has this, you know, chicken tenders type Yep. Restaurant. So, like, I try to think, you know, can we have more women on? Can we have more people of color on? Do we have the classics who don't get the love on? Like, I'm always trying to think of that stuff.

Stephanie [00:26:08]:

You do

Jason Derusha [00:26:08]:

have the new new the new new new, I always get nervous about on broadcast. Because if you're reading my stuff in Minnesota Monthly, you opt in. If you're going to a new place, you know. Like, Jason may love it, and you may go on another day, and it might be a train wreck. And that's sort of buyer beware. If you go to a place in the 1st 2 or 3 months, that's gonna happen.

Stephanie [00:26:32]:

Do you feel like a food reviewer? I mean, that's your title technically in Minnesota Monthly, but I feel like you carved out this other seat for yourself.

Jason Derusha [00:26:41]:

Yeah. I always feel a little awkward considering myself a critic. I mean, it it's the easiest way for people to understand it, but I'm not doing as much reviewing anymore. And part of the problem with reviewing versus recommending is that to really critically review a place, you need to go 3 times.

Stephanie [00:27:05]:

Absolutely.

Jason Derusha [00:27:06]:

You just do. It's not fair to roast somebody. And I can write a review and do the old, you know, crap sandwich with, like, this was good. This was good. Oh, this needs a little work. This was good. And I feel okay doing that on one visit, But, you know, mostly people wanna know where to go and what to order. And so, because I don't have the budget to really adequately review, you gotta do what you can do.

Jason Derusha [00:27:38]:

So,

Stephanie [00:27:38]:

like, I company is gonna send you 10 times like they used to send Ruth Reichl at the New York Times.

Jason Derusha [00:27:44]:

So I just try to carve out my area. I think people know that I'm honest. I'm not gonna deceive them. I'm not gonna puff up a place that's not good. But if I never talk about a place, you probably know why.

Stephanie [00:27:58]:

Yeah.

Jason Derusha [00:27:58]:

Like, I don't like it.

Stephanie [00:28:00]:

Yeah. And it doesn't help sometimes, I think, either to pounce on a place once everyone's identified that it's not great.

Jason Derusha [00:28:07]:

No. And there is I I think there is a space for, like, informed recommendation. Right? We have, like, the TikTok, Instagram world of, like, this is open. Whoo. Like, you have that. And that has its usefulness too. Like, people like to chase that. That's fun.

Jason Derusha [00:28:23]:

But I try to be like, alright. I'm gonna I'm gonna give you an informed recommendation. It's not quite a review. I don't know. I I I try I try. It's a it's a tricky thing. Right? Like, what does the audience want? Do people people always say they want critical reviews, but, like, just not about their favorite place. Yeah.

Jason Derusha [00:28:46]:

Exactly. People really want critical reviews. I I don't know.

Stephanie [00:28:51]:

I don't know. What's next for you? You've launched your substack. I've got 10 minutes left. And in that 10 minutes, I wanna know what's next and also the most embarrassing thing in your refrigerator.

Jason Derusha [00:29:07]:

So what's next? For for me, I am hoping to launch, like, a more unified brand. I have, like, all of these different things under my umbrella, and none of it looks the same. None of it has the same logo. Not you're like, what are we doing here? So I I like to unify things a little bit. You know, the Substack, you sort of inspired me to switch over to Substack from doing, like, a Mailchimp email I was doing. I've loved that outlet. So that's been really fun. You know, trying to figure out, like, Minnesota Monthly pays me to write.

Jason Derusha [00:29:47]:

Like, I gotta write for them. Like, I'm not saving it all for the newsletter. Like Yep. How do you make that work is something that I'm sort of working on. But I would like the other thing that I would like to launch, and I do release my restaurant interviews in podcast form. And over the next year, I I sort of wanna figure out, like, what is the right way to do that. Should I be you know, I experimented. I did an interview with Sameh Wadi where we taped it ahead of time instead of doing it live on the radio.

Jason Derusha [00:30:18]:

And so I spent 45 minutes with him asking questions, and so it was a longer podcast, and I think people like that. So trying to figure out, like, how do I do the radio? You know, I'm doing 3 hours of radio a day, so it doesn't leave as much free time as, you know, my family jokes that I work 3 hours, but you're like, well

Stephanie [00:30:38]:

An hour and a half of prep for every hour on the radio.

Jason Derusha [00:30:41]:

It takes a little bit of reading and planning and all of that. So that's you know, I I the the concrete plan is relaunch jason to russia.com. There's that website was built, like, 8 years ago. I'd like to freshen that up. So brand refresh, website refresh, those are the big plans for the next year. Try not to get fired during this political stretch. Don't get canceled. All of

Stephanie [00:31:10]:

those things. What's embarrassing that's in your fridge?

Jason Derusha [00:31:13]:

Oh, what is embarrassing that's in my fridge? There's currently a bottle of Kirkland, sparkling rose in my fridge.

Stephanie [00:31:23]:

But it is kinda good.

Jason Derusha [00:31:25]:

It's kinda good. I, you know, I mean, that's a little embarrassing.

Stephanie [00:31:30]:

That's funny.

Jason Derusha [00:31:31]:

Yeah. Yeah. That's probably that's probably the most embarrassing thing in there right now.

Stephanie [00:31:37]:

You know what else is kinda interesting about you? And I work for freelance myself. Mhmm. So I'm 1099 everywhere I work. And I see myself as my own company, my own brand. I also see you as seeing yourself like that, and that's interesting to me and a shift for you.

Jason Derusha [00:31:56]:

Yeah. At some point, that might be where it goes. I will say, like, as someone sort of new to the side hustle world, it's exhausting.

Stephanie [00:32:07]:

Yeah. It's really hard.

Jason Derusha [00:32:08]:

Like, you're pitching yourself all the time.

Stephanie [00:32:11]:

It's very hard.

Jason Derusha [00:32:13]:

And, you know, trying there's something to be said for, like, every 2 weeks. Like, the check comes. Yeah. The regular job. It's kinda nice. So when you're, you know, when you're pitching yourself a lot for a $1,000 here or for a trade out, like, oh,

Stephanie [00:32:36]:

okay. Free meal.

Jason Derusha [00:32:39]:

Yeah. You you know, I don't do a ton of that, but, like, it it does get exhausting. And then you have different you have different clients who have different needs. So, like, you know, one of the things I'm struggling with right now is there's a there's a restaurant owner who owns, I don't know, 5 or 6 different local restaurants. I love these restaurants. So he asked me about, like, doing influencing for him, doing a little digital campaign. And the trick is, like, at what point, like, if I'm getting if I'm getting paid, like, how many restaurants is that okay for? Like, do people start doubting my reviews? Does that or my recommendations? Like, how do you keep integrity in what you're doing, but also, like, keep the lights on so you can

Stephanie [00:33:30]:

do it? It's a it's a line, and I don't have the answer because I've struggled with it myself. All I can say is if you are approaching it with integrity, but I don't know. When someone sells an endorsement for you on the radio station, they're making $80 and, you know, you're making $5,000. Right. So

Jason Derusha [00:33:52]:

Right.

Stephanie [00:33:52]:

I I did an endorsement for Certix, which I know you've done. And people still I mean, people will associate me with Certix till the end of time.

Jason Derusha [00:34:01]:

Yeah. Yeah. And it's

Stephanie [00:34:03]:

great because I love the family and I that's why I did the project that I did because I really enjoy them as people and stewards of northeast. But, yeah, it does close doors, and, you know, was it worth it? I don't know.

Jason Derusha [00:34:16]:

Right. Yeah. It's a little tricky just trying to figure that out. And, like, if I were not writing for Minnesota Monthly, then I wouldn't even worry about it.

Stephanie [00:34:27]:

Yeah. It would be different for sure.

Jason Derusha [00:34:28]:

But, like, in the Minnesota Monthly thing is, opens a lot of doors for me. Right? When you say you're the food writer, I mean, how many food writers are there for regional magazines across the country? 15? 10? I know. There are not that many. So, like, so that's sort of a job where it's like it pays for itself. Like, who cares that I don't get paid that much for it? It opens so many doors. So but then if you're not gonna cash in on those doors opening, what are you doing? So, like, trying to figure it all of that stuff is I spend a lot of time thinking about that.

Stephanie [00:35:06]:

Me too.

Jason Derusha [00:35:07]:

Yeah. Just trying to keep integrity and also, like, make things worth your time.

Stephanie [00:35:14]:

And with that, as my free Zoom subscription is winding down

Jason Derusha [00:35:19]:

That's right. That's all that's all we're doing. How many free like, I edit my video on a free video editing? Yes, sir. We

Stephanie [00:35:28]:

have 3 minutes left to wrap it up.

Jason Derusha [00:35:32]:

That's right. I invoice using Google Sheets.

Stephanie [00:35:35]:

Yep. No. I I know.

Jason Derusha [00:35:36]:

My accounting is like my emails and try you know, it's all a train wreck.

Stephanie [00:35:41]:

Yes. It is. But it's been super fun to spend time with you and just to I wanted to just tell you you're doing a good job and Thank you. Tell you I've noticed that there's growth happening and that I think what you did took a lot of courage, and I've been a a fan. And I it's

Jason Derusha [00:35:58]:

fun listening. That means a lot, especially coming from you because I just respect kind of the way you have conducted your business and figured all of this out. And, I think both of us sort of follow what we think is fun and then hope the business type things sort of follow. Yeah. It's worked out okay, I think, for both of us.

Stephanie [00:36:19]:

So far so good.

Jason Derusha [00:36:20]:

We'll knock

Stephanie [00:36:21]:

on some wood that we're not both fired in

Jason Derusha [00:36:23]:

the middle of the day. That's right.

Stephanie [00:36:25]:

Alright. Thanks, Caitlin.

Jason Derusha [00:36:27]:

Thanks, Stephanie.

Stephanie [00:36:28]:

Okay. Where do you want people to follow you?

Jason Derusha [00:36:32]:

Instagram is good. Instagram or Facebook is probably the best way. Right? Like, they can get my my radio show podcast is everywhere, so we upload every segment and all of that. So those are probably the best.

Stephanie [00:36:46]:

Alright. Well, thanks for being on, and I really appreciate your time.

Jason Derusha [00:36:49]:

Thanks, Steph.

Stephanie [00:36:50]:

Okay. Bye bye.

Jason Derusha [00:36:51]:

See you.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit stephaniehansen.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode of "Dishing with Stephanie's Dish," we had a delightful conversation with the talented cookbook author Kelly Jaggers. She shared her insights about her latest creation, "The Ultimate Meal Planning for One Cookbook," and her journey as a cookbook writer.

Kelly's passion for creating recipes perfectly scaled for one person's enjoyment shines through her work, making her books a treasure trove for solo diners. She has 4 books currently in the “Cooking For One” series including:

Join us as we delve into Kelly's culinary background, her inspirations for writing cookbooks, and her love for food, hockey, and dogs. So, grab a cup of your favorite beverage and join us in this engaging conversation with Kelly Jaggers.

COOKBOOK GIVEAWAY

I have two copies of this cookbook to give away. To be included in the giveaway, send me any comment here, and I will contact the winner via email and mail the book to your home.

FINAL TRANSCRIPT:

Stephanie [00:00:15]:

Hello, everybody, and welcome to dishing with Stephanie's dish, the podcast where we talk to cookbook authors and people generally obsessed with food. Today, we have a cookbook author, and it is Kelly Jaggers. Welcome to the program, Kelly.

Kelly Jaggers [00:00:27]:

Thank you so much for having me.

Stephanie [00:00:29]:

Yes. So you wrote something that I find really fascinating. It's called the ultimate meal planning for 1 cookbook, and you previously wrote the ultimate Mediterranean diet cookbook for 1. Mhmm. What got you into, like, cooking for 1 person? Because I did notice that you're now married.

Kelly Jaggers [00:00:49]:

I am married. So just because I'm married doesn't mean I don't understand the, ins and outs of what people who are solo might need. Yes. I do spend a few days a week at home by myself. My husband works. Sometimes he travels. And on those dates, I'm just cooking for me. I don't have kiddos, just me and the dogs.

Kelly Jaggers [00:01:06]:

So it was important for me to learn how to scale down recipes so that I could enjoy them just for myself without having excessive leftovers. And that just really parlays well into the book series that I've been working on, because it's kind of a I wouldn't say so niche, but kind of overlooked audience for cookbooks.

Stephanie [00:01:23]:

For sure.

Kelly Jaggers [00:01:23]:

Thinking right. They're thinking about families, married couples, people with loads of kids or planning for parties. But what about those people who are, for whatever reason, cooking for themselves because maybe they're single or they have a spouse or an SO or a partner who works multiple days away from home or maybe they're on a special diet from an SO. And so, like, they're planning just for themselves.

Stephanie [00:01:44]:

Yeah.

Kelly Jaggers [00:01:44]:

So lots of reasons why you might just be cooking for yourself. So it's not just because you're a single, although you probably maybe you are. That's also fine. Like, I don't judge. Whatever. So, yeah, it was important for me to kind of, kinda fill that gap and to help, to fill out that market a little bit.

Stephanie [00:01:58]:

I feel uniquely, interested in this topic after just having spent 2 weeks with my mother-in-law who's 92, and she still does all her own cooking. And every time I was gonna make something, she acted sort of horrified at my portions because she's used to cooking for just herself. So she's always really keenly in tune to not cooking too much so she doesn't have to eat the same thing for 5 days.

Kelly Jaggers [00:02:25]:

Exactly.

Stephanie [00:02:26]:

Yep. Because leftovers are a problem when you're when you're single.

Kelly Jaggers [00:02:30]:

I mean, leftovers are great for 1, maybe 2 meals, but, like, five meals of lasagna in a week or 5 meals of, whatever it is that you've made. Yeah. It can get a little get a little depressing. Right? And it makes you not wanna cook, make you wanna reach for a takeout menu, and that's so expensive. So you're wasting food, spending more on maybe delivery or takeout than maybe you've planned for in the budget. So why not think about meals that are scaled for 1 to 2 portions? I think that makes a lot of sense for people who are thinking about their budget, thinking about ways to reduce food waste, which is so important too. Right? Food is so expensive these days. If you go to the grocery store, it's so high.

Kelly Jaggers [00:03:09]:

I don't wanna be throwing that food away. I'm gonna eat what I bought. So I wanna plan for meals that I can make, just in the portions that I want.

Stephanie [00:03:16]:

Your book is beautifully done in lots of ways. So Thank you. First of all, the design of it

Kelly Jaggers [00:03:23]:

Yeah. Yeah. I love They did such a wonderful job with it. It's so, so pretty.

Stephanie [00:03:29]:

It's pretty. It's simple. It's easy to follow. You have pictures for most of the recipes. You also have, like, calorie counts, fat, protein, carbohydrates. So if someone is watching their calories, that's really helpful.

Kelly Jaggers [00:03:45]:

Yeah. Yeah.

Stephanie [00:03:45]:

We've got it also broken down into proteins, which we're kind of obsessing these days about if we're getting enough protein. So I loved that. Yeah. I also really liked the size of it and the paper, and it just feels like a manual I can pop in my purse and, you've got shopping lists, meal plans. It's really quite well done.

Kelly Jaggers [00:04:08]:

Thank you. Thank you. It's, it was a labor of love. I think that the most challenging part of the book was the meal plans is coming up with the 8 weeks of meal plans and the shopping lists because I wanted to make sure that the meal plans included a variety of recipes from the book. Nothing was too, like, Mexican every single night or, like, chicken every single night. I wanted to make sure there's plenty of variety. And to give an example for people who maybe have never sat down to meal plan before to say, like, this is what you can do. These are the kinds of recipes you can plan for.

Kelly Jaggers [00:04:37]:

This is an idea of what your week might look like, but feel free to plug and play. Right? Like, oh, I'm not such a big fan of this recipe. I'd rather have this. And you can just plug it into the meal plan and make it easy for you to customize and individualize so that as you start this meal planning journey, you have these great tools and you can just kind of utilize the week over week for yourself.

Stephanie [00:04:58]:

And the prep list too were really thoughtful. I think when you're cooking for because I do cook from 1 a lot, actually, 2. Mhmm. In my food life, because I'm doing recipe development, I'm, you know, usually making recipes for 2 to 6. Yep. But my husband in the summertime lives at our cabin for the most part. So I am cooking for myself a lot. And if I'm not eating recipe leftovers, which usually I end up giving to my neighbors because I don't really wanna eat what I just cooked.

Kelly Jaggers [00:05:29]:

I don't know why. Completely understand. I'm the same way.

Stephanie [00:05:31]:

I'm a

Kelly Jaggers [00:05:31]:

first creature. It. Cooked it all day. I don't wanna consume it. I get it.

Stephanie [00:05:35]:

I photographed it. I'm just saying

Kelly Jaggers [00:05:37]:

with it all day, and I just don't want it. Yes.

Stephanie [00:05:39]:

So I'm, like, always running around the neighborhood, like, who needs food?

Kelly Jaggers [00:05:43]:

Who's hungry? I have I have meals. Please take these foods from me.

Stephanie [00:05:46]:

Yes. So, like, then I'm just myself and I'm like, oh, well, okay. What am I gonna just make for myself? And I always end up making too much. So then I've got, like, food and I again, I'm very conscientious about food waste too. But so I really enjoyed, the way that the book was put together. How did you get into cookbook writing? Were you a blogger first?

Kelly Jaggers [00:06:08]:

I was. I was. So, I had a blog. It still exists out there. I'm not updating it, obviously, but it was evil shenanigans.com. The shenanigans are evil because they're good for your taste buds, but maybe not so great for your waistline. And I started working on that blog when I went to culinary school. I was going to culinary school to become a baker.

Kelly Jaggers [00:06:26]:

I wanted to open my own bakery. I had these really grand plans. And I walked into bakery pastry management, one of my last classes for my degree, and the teacher came in and she's I'll never forget. She said, first thing she said before she even introduced herself was 90% of bakeries fail in the 1st year. It's about a $1,000,000 total investment. And I was like, and with that, I'm out. I am risk averse. I I know how hard it is to earn my money, and I was not interested in that.

Kelly Jaggers [00:06:50]:

So now what do I do with this education I've acquired? I don't wanna work in restaurants. I didn't wanna have that kind of, like, you know, chef y lifestyle that that's not me.

Stephanie [00:06:59]:

The beer doesn't appeal to you?

Kelly Jaggers [00:07:01]:

No. No. I am a gentle soul. Soul. I don't think I could handle it. I would cry every day.

Stephanie [00:07:06]:

Yep.

Kelly Jaggers [00:07:07]:

So I I started writing a blog during my culinary school journey, and so I just kinda focused in on that for a while, trying to figure out, like, what am I gonna do? And about a year into working on the blog, I received an email from a publisher asking if I was interested in working on a book on pies. And I looked around and said, are you sure you mean me? And they did. And so I wrote my very first book, which was the Everything Pie Cookbook. And since

Stephanie [00:07:29]:

then had that. Yeah.

Kelly Jaggers [00:07:31]:

Yeah. Okay. Okay. Yeah. And so since then, I've written, a number of books for my publisher. I write roughly 1 a year right now. So I do the books and also the photography as well. So, on top of the books I write and shoot, I also shoot photography for other people's cook books.

Kelly Jaggers [00:07:46]:

So, so it's been a lot of fun. Yeah. Just like a nice little transition from, like, culinary school, I wanna be a baker, to now I write cookbooks and study food for a living, and it's the best, and I love it.

Stephanie [00:07:57]:

And you're not doing or you're not updating your blog at the same time, so your whole focus is really on your cookbook each year.

Kelly Jaggers [00:08:04]:

Yeah. Yeah. It it it's a labor of love. It's one of those things that, you've, I think, written a cookbook, so I think you understand. And developing recipes too. It's one of those things where I want them to be right. I want the recipes to work. So I do spend a lot of time working on the recipes, thinking about ingredients, studying what's trending, but also thinking about what will still taste good in 10 years.

Kelly Jaggers [00:08:25]:

So I want things to be up to date and current, but I don't want them to be so up to date that people are like, oh, we're so over this. You know?

Stephanie [00:08:31]:

Yeah.

Kelly Jaggers [00:08:32]:

So I spend a lot of time thinking about those things. So, yeah, that's that's what I do. I do photography. I do the cookbook writing, and then I also do, a little bit of light personal chef and catering work in town.

Stephanie [00:08:42]:

So Where do you live?

Kelly Jaggers [00:08:44]:

I live in the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex.

Stephanie [00:08:46]:

Oh, nice. I just, I, I was just doing a cooking demonstration yesterday from 1 from my cookbook, and there's an recipe in there for king ranch chicken that was my mother in law's from Houston. And, you know, I know in Texas, like, everybody knows king ranch chicken is like our wild rice soup. Yes. Yes. Exactly. Was just so impressed with this King Ranch chicken. And I was like, people, I did not invent this thing.

Stephanie [00:09:12]:

You know? This has been being made in Texas for some time.

Kelly Jaggers [00:09:15]:

It's called the king ranch. Yeah. It's from the king ranch, and it's, yeah. It's very, very famous in the state. We I think everyone grew up eating it that I knew.

Stephanie [00:09:24]:

Yeah. And it is delicious. So you can Very

Kelly Jaggers [00:09:26]:

tasty. Yeah. No. It's it's for that.

Stephanie [00:09:28]:

It's one

Kelly Jaggers [00:09:28]:

of those things you kinda can't go wrong with.

Stephanie [00:09:30]:

So And, you know, they were asking me all these intimate questions about, like, the tortillas and what kind and how long they last. And I just I thought, oh, this is when you write a cookbook, you're writing it in your own vacuum, essentially. And these are the kinds of questions that cooks have that I wasn't thinking about when I wrote the recipe. Yeah. So I'll get better on the second book about thinking about some of that. But I think with each book, you get better. Don't you think?

Kelly Jaggers [00:09:55]:

Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. It's it's, the first book's a challenge. You you kinda don't I hate to say you don't know what you're doing, but, like, you write recipes. You know how to develop recipes. But have you written a book before? No. No. I ended up writing my first book over the course of basically a week.

Kelly Jaggers [00:10:11]:

We had a snowstorm in Dallas that year, and it basically shut the entire city down. All the roads were frozen over. We were actually hosting the Super Bowl that year too, so it was kind of like this thing where I was watching the news where the they were like, can we even have it? It's all snowed in, and I'm like, it's

Stephanie [00:10:26]:

a quarter

Kelly Jaggers [00:10:27]:

of an inch of snow. It's so small. Yeah.

Stephanie [00:10:29]:

And we were laughing at all of you. Just like, oh my god. What is going on in Dallas?

Kelly Jaggers [00:10:34]:

Well, we don't have the infrastructure in place, and, also, we can't we drive aggressively. Anyway, so I ended up getting stuck at home for week. And I'm like, well, I guess I'll just work on the book. And so I did writing and testing and writing and testing that whole week. And by the time the week was over, I had about a 110 pies in my kitchen and in the fridge and freezer, and the majority of the book done. Like, it just was one of those things. And I was like, oh, how how will I ever write another one of these? This has been such a ordeal. But as you get into it and you learn, like, your own process, you it gets easier.

Kelly Jaggers [00:11:07]:

And you also think about those questions. Like, what do I do with the excess ingredients of this? And what will they do with these leftovers? And could they turn them into something else? And what suggestions do I have for substitutions, maybe for our vegan friends or for people who don't eat these kinds of proteins? Maybe you don't eat shellfish or pork. Like, you know, you think about those things and, like, little tidbits you can include in your recipes to make it better for your audience.

Stephanie [00:11:31]:

Yeah. And you have a lot of that in the book too. Like, in at each page, there if you have some suggestions, like, here's some variations on ways to use grits. Yep. Here is a tartar sauce that goes with this crispy fried shrimp, like Yep. How to freeze seafood. Like, I like that. I thought it was really thoughtful too.

Kelly Jaggers [00:11:50]:

Thank you.

Stephanie [00:11:51]:

What are some of your favorite cookbooks that you find yourself getting inspiration from recently?

Kelly Jaggers [00:11:58]:

Basically, anything from Nigella Lawson. She is the domestic goddess and basically my favorite food person. I adore Nigella Lawson. I love any of the books that deal with, like, specialty one topic cooking. So I love to read books on, like specifically books on, like, vegan cooking or, like, how to cook with chickpeas or, like, specific culinary areas, like, say, books, like, on Israeli cooking or Russian cooking or, German cooking. I love to learn about different food ways. So, I spent a lot of time studying Asian food culture, and now I'm kind of getting invested in more of, like, my own background. So learning about Germanic, Austrian, a little bit of Northern Italian foodways.

Kelly Jaggers [00:12:43]:

And then, of course, I love reading cookbooks from my home state of Texas. So I have a number of cookbooks from people who are in the state who are just masters of their crafts. So books on barbecue, books on southern comfort food, books on Tex Mex.

Stephanie [00:12:58]:

Yeah.

Kelly Jaggers [00:12:58]:

And then even drilling down books on Austin cuisine, on Dallas cuisine. Like, these books are so interesting to me. So I love to I read them like textbooks. Like, I love to just study them. Right? I could just sit there and read a cookbook like most people read a novel. So yeah.

Stephanie [00:13:14]:

Same. I just I don't know why I'm even telling you this, but it's kind of a cute story. I was traveling, and a woman contacted me, and she was cleaning out her mom's house. And we do a cookbook swap every year, with my radio show. And she said, I've got all these books, and I know you have the swap. She said, can I bring them to you? I said, yeah. You can bring them to me. Here's my garage code.

Stephanie [00:13:32]:

Just put them in my garage. And she was like, wait. You're just gonna give me a garage code? I'm like, yeah. Just put the books in there. She goes, I can't believe you're just all she goes, can I do anything else while I'm at your house? Can I bring in the mail? I'm like, sure if you want to. So I've got home from the cabin and the books are in the garage. And I started looking at them and they were real, like, treasures. Like, a lot of old Lutheran church cookbooks.

Stephanie [00:13:57]:

And there was one cookbook that was Minneapolis Restaurants that I only knew of 3 of the restaurants in the book. So it's gotta be, you know, 75 years old. Yeah. And it was just full of treasures and her notes, and there was a box, a wooden box that has actual recipes written in it by hand.

Kelly Jaggers [00:14:17]:

Oh my gosh.

Stephanie [00:14:18]:

And so I'm just like and there's 3 boxes of this person's life, you know? And I just I feel like so honored that this woman gave me the boxes of the books, and I've been kinda paging through them at night, like, reading the recipes and thinking, okay. This has olio and shortening. Can I find a way to do something different with it? And how does that work? But, yeah, I get jazzed by the same things.

Kelly Jaggers [00:14:43]:

I have my old, I don't wanna date myself too hard, but I did grow I did grow in in the elementary school in the eighties. And, I had a cookbook that our PTA put together for our elementary school, and I still have a copy of that, like, construction paper bound

Stephanie [00:14:59]:

Yes.

Kelly Jaggers [00:14:59]:

Spiral bound cookbook from the elementary school, and the kids all submitted recipes. And most of them, the parents, obviously,

Stephanie [00:15:07]:

you

Kelly Jaggers [00:15:07]:

know, helped. But, occasionally, it was a kid who, like, made up a recipe for the cookbook. And I loved to read through the book, and just kind of, like, remember, like, all my friends and the teachers and, like, you you know, all that stuff. It's just it's such a treasure. Like, no one else appreciates it than me, but I love it. It's it's to me, it's priceless.

Stephanie [00:15:23]:

When you what one of the things I liked about this book too is that you have a lot of baking recipes. People don't think about baking for 1, and you I'm just looking. You have a whole cook book about baking for 1.

Kelly Jaggers [00:15:34]:

I do. I do. Yeah. My first book that I did in the series was the baking for 1 cookbook. I did go to culinary school for pastry. So my my background is, well, my education is in pastry. That's not to say that I'm not educated on other forms of cooking. I did take a bunch of extra extracurricular cooking classes for, like, American cooking, French cuisine.

Kelly Jaggers [00:15:52]:

I learned how to make the omelette, the whole nine. But, yeah, I I love baking. Baking is my passion. And so when they, were talking about, like, what books are you interested in? I said, I'd love to do some more baking books. And, like, what about baking for 1? And I'm like, I'm your girl. So

Stephanie [00:16:06]:

I mean, that's a cake for 1, creme brulee for for 1. These are not easy things to make. I love it.

Kelly Jaggers [00:16:11]:

Yeah. Scaling them down was a challenge, especially for things, you would think you just cut especially, like, things like cookies and cakes. Oh, you just cut it down by, like, a quarter. You don't. You really have to think about your ratios of fat, how the leavening is gonna work with these ingredients. Do I need to add less liquid, more liquid? It's it's a little bit challenging to scale down baking recipes. So that was a fun one to work on just from, like, my nerdy food science brain that, like, I really enjoyed sitting down and working on that book. That was a good

Stephanie [00:16:40]:

Yeah. The desserts look exceptional. Also, like beef short rib pot roast for 1. Great. I mean, everybody loves that recipe, but it's makes a huge quantity.

Kelly Jaggers [00:16:51]:

It does. And short ribs are perfectly portioned. Right? Like, you think of a short rib, generally, the kind you get in the grocery store have the bone on and a big chunk of meat on top, that's that's already portioned for 1 person. So that's a little bit of work, and then the extras can be wrapped up, stuck in the freezer, and you can braise them another day or make more pot roast or whatever you wanna do.

Stephanie [00:17:09]:

And, lobster mac and cheese for 1. I mean, Paul Lee's.

Kelly Jaggers [00:17:14]:

Mhmm. Yeah. I mean, if you're gonna have mac and cheese, why not have some too? Right?

Stephanie [00:17:19]:

Like Like, you're only if you just make it for 1, here's you know, because I'm always obsessed with how much I'm eating. Like, I can't overeat it. Right? I can't eat half the pan because I've only made the portion for 1, so I like that too.

Kelly Jaggers [00:17:32]:

But, like, you get the satisfaction of eating the whole pan. Yes. It's a shortcut. It is a shortcut. It's a little brain hack too. Like, I get to eat the whole thing, and then you eat the whole thing.

Stephanie [00:17:44]:

I love Yes. All by myself. Okay. Do you do social media?

Kelly Jaggers [00:17:48]:

I do. I do. You can find me on Facebook, evil shenanigans. I'm on x. That would be Kelly Jaggers. Instagram, Kelly Jaggers. On, threads, Kelly Jaggers. So you can find me on on all the major socials.

Kelly Jaggers [00:18:03]:

I I don't TikTok. I I'm on there, but I don't actually do anything on TikTok. So, you you know, it's not not for me, but that's okay. Not everything.

Stephanie [00:18:10]:

It, but it's it's I don't know. It's it's like I have a love hate relationship with it. When you are

Kelly Jaggers [00:18:15]:

I just doom scroll through to to TikTok all the time.

Stephanie [00:18:20]:

Yes. Absolutely. Yep. Yep. Yep. Yep. Okay. Hold on one second.

Stephanie [00:18:24]:

Mhmm. My dog is barking. So I'm just gonna pause one second. Alright. So when you open your, let's say, Instagram Mhmm. And a reel pops up from someone, who do you love to follow and love to, like, watch their stuff?

Kelly Jaggers [00:18:39]:

So I follow such a wide variety of people. My Instagram is is strictly curated to be food, hockey, and dogs, like my three favorite things in life.

Stephanie [00:18:49]:

Are you a hockey person? That's so funny because my social media state.

Kelly Jaggers [00:18:53]:

I I'm a huge hockey fan of the Dallas Stars. I also like the Calgary Flames. I have lots of lots of teams that I like to follow, but I'm a diehard Stars fan. So it was

Stephanie [00:19:02]:

I gotta be honest. Every time I hear someone say the Dallas Stars, it it still have, like, a pain in my heart because they were the Minnesota North Stars.

Kelly Jaggers [00:19:12]:

North Stars. That's right.

Stephanie [00:19:13]:

That's right. Still are, like I don't know. Just in my heart and in my, like, growing up childhood, and I don't know. I'm like, Mike Madonna and just I know. I know. They all come back here too.

Kelly Jaggers [00:19:27]:

I know. Well, Mike Madonna works for the wild now, so that's exciting for him. But we got it we have a statue down here

Stephanie [00:19:33]:

in Dallas anyway. He was my neighbor.

Kelly Jaggers [00:19:35]:

Was he really?

Stephanie [00:19:36]:

Yeah. He did live in Minnesota. But Mhmm. When he came here as a kid in I think it was probably high school or junior high to play Mhmm. He stayed at our neighbor's house. They, like, kind of helped raise him and knew his parents and actually dated my sister for a hot minute. So Oh, wow. Big fans of his and his wife, and they've done so much good work too.

Stephanie [00:19:56]:

That's crazy. Well, yeah, he's

Kelly Jaggers [00:19:58]:

he's he's he's kind of a great guy. We we like him down here too

Stephanie [00:20:02]:

a lot. So Oh, that's so funny.

Kelly Jaggers [00:20:04]:

Okay. So, yeah, so reels that I'd wanna see. So anything from, some of my favorite fiction authors. So like Deanna Rayburn, Tess Gerritsen, I love to see reels from the authors I love. I love to see reels from, like, New York Times Food, from Tasty. I love to watch those little quick videos where they put things together. I know it's unrealistic on the timing, and it makes it look a little easier than it is. Yeah.

Kelly Jaggers [00:20:27]:

Hands and pans. But I'm kind of addicted to watching them. They're so satisfying to watch it, like ingredients to completion. Obviously, I we talked about Nigella Lawson before. I will talk about Nigella Lawson until the end of time. I adore Nigella Lawson. But then, like, all of my friends, you know, people that I've known for years who work in food, I'm just thrilled to see what they're doing and the content they're producing. So bake at 360, my friend, Bridget, or 3 bake at 350.

Kelly Jaggers [00:20:53]:

I'm sorry. Bridget, she's one of my favorite, like, dessert bloggers. She makes the most beautiful cookies. And so, like, she'll post reels about, like, you know, dessert. She's making cookies. She's decorating. I love to see those kinds of things. Yes.

Kelly Jaggers [00:21:06]:

So, yeah, like, it it's just basically, like, all of my friends and people who work in food. And then, of course, dogs. We rate dogs is another one. Like, if if there's a cute puppy to be seen, I want to see the puppy. So Yeah.

Stephanie [00:21:17]:

Yeah. Yeah. I've sort of become obsessed with animals eating.

Kelly Jaggers [00:21:22]:

Mhmm. Mhmm.

Stephanie [00:21:23]:

Like Sure. The hamster eating a carrot or Oh.

Kelly Jaggers [00:21:26]:

The little crunch crunch noises. It's just oh my gosh.

Stephanie [00:21:31]:

Love it. Absolutely. It's so cute. Yes. And also there's one where there's, like, a monkey that's feeding a rabbit. And I don't know why, but that's what I've become obsessed with.

Kelly Jaggers [00:21:43]:

Yeah. There's there's one, Instagram account that I like to follow, and it's a person and they have these 2 very wild little beagles And they set the a table up, and they make food for the beagles. And then the beagles jump on the table and eat the food, and he's trying to stop them. And it's it's hilarious. And I know it's all set up, but every time, I I get sucked in and I laugh every single time. So

Stephanie [00:22:04]:

There's also the one that's like that where it's a pit bull that has hands with gloves, and it's made it. Yeah. Like, the food, but it looks like the pit bull's making it, and he has really funny kind of expressions on his face.

Kelly Jaggers [00:22:17]:

Yes. Yes. Yes. And see, that that combines 2 loves, the food and the dogs. So Sure.

Stephanie [00:22:22]:

You know?

Kelly Jaggers [00:22:23]:

Yeah. No. It's Absolutely.

Stephanie [00:22:25]:

The the

Kelly Jaggers [00:22:25]:

the stuff you see on there is is pretty wild. But, yeah, I

Stephanie [00:22:28]:

love fun talking with you.

Kelly Jaggers [00:22:30]:

It's been so nice to talk with you. Thank you for having me.

Stephanie [00:22:32]:

Yeah. It's the ultimate meal planning for one cook book, and your publisher sent me a couple. So I'm gonna do a giveaway with 1 when I put the podcast together. So I'll give, one away to someone, and it's been lovely to see you. When you get your next book going, give me a shout back. I love talking to cookbook authors and hearing about their process. And, again, I really thought your book was super thoughtful. You did a great job.

Kelly Jaggers [00:22:55]:

So glad you liked it. Thank you so much. I really appreciate it.

Stephanie [00:22:58]:

I did. Thanks, Kelly. I'll see

Kelly Jaggers [00:22:59]:

you soon. You. Take care. Bye bye.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit stephaniehansen.substack.com/subscribe

It was really fun to catch up with Dana Thompson, formerly co-creator of Minneapolis’s Owamni. and now founder of a new hemp-derived, low-dose THC/CBD cannabis seltzer featuring the Indigenous botanicals of North America called Heti.

“I am thrilled to announce the launch of Heti, a line of new botanical beverages that celebrate the plants around us,” said Thompson. Heti is launching four flavors—River Path, Woodland Edge, Meadow Cat Nap, and Marshland Harvest—which can also be purchased in a starter pack. Highlighted flavors include cranberry, sumac, dandelion, cedar, rosehip, wild mint, and black currant. The beverages are sweetened naturally with honey, maple, and agave.

Heti beverages are now available for preorder at hetiproducts.com.

Stephanie’s Dish Newsletter is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Stephanie’s Dish Newsletter is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit stephaniehansen.substack.com/subscribe

Evan Kail or "Pawn Man" as he is affectionately known is blending his social media know-how and entertaining personality to promote his business St Louis Park Gold and Silver. Hear his literal rags to "riches" story and how as a content creator he is moving his business forward.

Follow Pawn Man on Instagram
Follow Pawn Man on Tik Tok
Follow Pawn Man on You Tube

Support the show

Follow the Makers of Minnesota on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @MakersofMN. Send story ideas to Stephanie@stephaniesdish.com
If you appreciate the work we do here, please subscribe on Patreon

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Amy Leyden has started a tablescape company that will rent you completed place settings from 2-12. Whether it's a baby shower or an intimate dinner for two she has you covered and there is no washing after just rinse, wrap and return.

See her designs on Instagram here:
@kaleidoscope_mpls

Order at https://www.k-tablesettings.com/

Support the show

Follow the Makers of Minnesota on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @MakersofMN. Send story ideas to Stephanie@stephaniesdish.com
If you appreciate the work we do here, please subscribe on Patreon

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Meredith Deeds has spent the last 20 years writing and teaching about food all over the country. Besides being a food consultant, writer and an occasional host of my radio show, The Weekly Dish, She has co-authored six cookbooks, among them are the James Beard Award finalist The Big Book of Appetizers (Chronicle Books), her best selling, The Mixer Bible (Robert Rose, Inc.), and 300 Sensational Soups (October 2008, Robert Rose, Inc.), which was chosen by Good Morning America as one of the top 10 cookbooks of 2008.

Meredith is now a columnist at the Star Tribune publishing tasty recipes each month and getting ready to spend a healthy dose of time in Spain.

Try her chilled Avocado and Soup with Crab Salad

Chilled Avocado Soup with Crab Salad

Serves 6

Soup

4 small avocados (about 2 cups)3 c. buttermilk1/4 c. basil leaves2 tbsp. fresh lime juice1/2 tsp. salt

Crab Salad

8 oz. lump crab meat, picked over1/4 c. finely chopped red bell pepper1/4 c. finely chopped red onion2 tbsp. finely chopped basil1 tbsp. fresh lime juice

Directions

Puree all the soup ingredients together in a blender until smooth. Transfer to a bowl and press a piece of plastic wrap on the surface of the soup so it does not discolor. Chill for at least 4 hours, or overnight.

In a small bowl, gently combine the crab salad ingredients, trying not to break up the crab too much.

Taste the chilled soup and re-season with more salt and lime juice, if necessary. Divide among 4 serving bowls and top each with some of the crab salad.

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Dawn Cleveland left her nursing job to start, From The Diner, a custom, hand-crafted charcuterie company specializing in boards, boxes, tables, and much more!

Take a class or order a board at From The Diner.com or follow her on Instagram  @from.the.diner

Support the show

Follow the Makers of Minnesota on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @MakersofMN. Send story ideas to Stephanie@stephaniesdish.com
If you appreciate the work we do here, please subscribe on Patreon

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Feminist Book Club was created by  Renee Powers. Her academic background in feminist theory and her penchant for being an early adopter of subscription boxes, podcasts, and online communities paired with her love of reading, her passion for toppling the kyriarchy, and the desire to lead a team of people much smarter than her - launched Feminist Book Club in Minneapolis. Now Feminist Book Club is the premier online hub for intersectional readers around the world.

The Clubs give-back model donates a portion of all sales to a different social justice organization each month, with an emphasis on smaller non-profits where our money can make a big impact. Previous beneficiaries include the Trans Women of Color Collective, Native Women’s Wilderness, Soul Fire Farm, Safe BAE, Rights4Girls, and more.

Subscribe to the Book Club  here:
https://www.feministbookclub.com/shop/subscribe/

Listen to the Feminist Book Club podcast here:
https://www.feministbookclub.com/category/shownotes/

Support the show

Follow the Makers of Minnesota on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @MakersofMN. Send story ideas to Stephanie@stephaniesdish.com
If you appreciate the work we do here, please subscribe on Patreon

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Angie Nelson is the founder of Safer Plate. Safer Plate is a meal kit service for people that have allergies.  Each kit comes complete with Recipe cards and meal kit ingredients aside from household staples.

Safer Plate's  goal is to create a bounty of incredible, well-balanced meals free of the most common allergens, so you can feel confident about what you’re eating (and feeding your family.) No need to worry about cross-contamination, reading labels, contacting manufacturers, or second-guessing

Learn more and start your order here:

Support the show

Follow the Makers of Minnesota on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @MakersofMN. Send story ideas to Stephanie@stephaniesdish.com
If you appreciate the work we do here, please subscribe on Patreon

Please subscribe to My newsletter at https://stephaniehansen.substack.com/ so you don't miss an epiosde of the Makers of Minnesota

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit stephaniehansen.substack.com/subscribe

Beth Dooley is a James Beard Award-winning food writer who has authored and co-authored over a dozen books celebrating the bounty of America’s Northern Heartland. Her first cookbook, written with Lucia Watson called “Savoring the Seasons of the Heartland,” is one of my favorite regional cookbooks. Her latest cookbook is “The Perrenial Kitchen,” and she co-wrote Will Steiger and Rita Mae Steiger’s recipe and a story collection called “The Steger Homestead Kitchen, Simple Recipes for an Abundant Life.”

Her column appears monthly in the Star Tribune, and she helps people connect with food through the “Bare Bones Cooking Classes” she hosts with her son Kip.

Try Beth’s Curry potato salad below

and find other recipes from Beth Dooley’s kitchen on her website featuring local ingredients here:

CURRY POTATO SALAD

Serves 6. 

• 1 1/2 lb. red, fingerling or new potatoes, scrubbed

• 2 tsp. salt

• 1/4 c. mayonnaise

• 3 tbsp. whole milk yogurt

• 2 tbsp. curry powder, or more to taste

• 1 tbsp. fresh lime juice, to taste

• 1 small red bell pepper, seeded and diced

• Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

DIRECTIONS

Place the potatoes in a large pot with enough water to cover by several inches. Bring to a boil over high heat, add the salt, and reduce to a gentle boil. Cook until the potatoes are tender when pierced with a knife, about 15 to 20 minutes. Drain into a colander. Allow to cool enough to handle, then cut into 2-inch chunks.

In a small bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, yogurt, curry powder and lime juice. Place the potatoes into a large bowl along with the bell pepper, add the dressing and toss to thoroughly coat. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve warm, at room temperature or cold.

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Holly George used her son's chronic Lyme Disease condition as inspiration to create healthy, wholesome marinades and mixes. Spitfire Gourmet consists of Holly’s 5-generation recipes made easy with her three pre-mixed seasoning packets, each with whole spices and ingredients to support a variety of healthy game dishes from one-dish dinners to soups, and salads, pasta, and sides.

 
Spitfire Gourmet enables you to Cook tender juicy sustainable meats & veggies for family dinner. Mix with oil & vinegar to marinate meat, and drizzle some on veggies, pasta, rice & salads. Or choose from our easy gourmet recipes

Support the show

Follow the Makers of Minnesota on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @MakersofMN. Send story ideas to Stephanie@stephaniesdish.com
If you appreciate the work we do here, please subscribe on Patreon

Please subscribe to My newsletter at https://stephaniehansen.substack.com/ so you don't miss an epiosde of the Makers of Minnesota

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit stephaniehansen.substack.com/subscribe

Minnesota Awesome, the local, family-owned Minnesota-themed apparel and accessory company, has just launched the MN Brewery Shirt Club. This is a monthly membership box that is designed to promote local Minnesota breweries and encourage Minnesotans to visit a variety of breweries that they may not normally venture to. Each box contains a t-shirt featuring that month’s brewery, along with a sticker, a printed bio of the brewery, and a coupon to use in their taproom.

Minnesota Awesome partners with each brewery to come up with the contents of the box each month. Once colors and designs are finalized, the contents of the box are printed, packaged, and sent from Minnesota Awesome’s facility in Edina, MN. The boxes are $28 and ship for free.  In order to ensure a fun surprise each month. the featured brewery is not revealed until all boxes have been received by its members.

Order your box here:
https://minnesota-awesome.com/

Support the show

Follow the Makers of Minnesota on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @MakersofMN. Send story ideas to Stephanie@stephaniesdish.com
If you appreciate the work we do here, please subscribe on Patreon

Please subscribe to My newsletter at https://stephaniehansen.substack.com/ so you don't miss an epiosde of the Makers of Minnesota

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Emily Vikre owns the Vikre Distillery in Duluth. This is one of my favorite places to spend an evening in Duluth as I am a huge fan of her various Gin varieties. In addition, Emily is the Cookbook Author of "Camp Cocktails" and the new "Family Camp Cookbook"

The family camp cookbook recipes are accessible, and fun and really make planning a delicious outdoor camping trip pretty seamless.

Try this Strawberry Fields recipe from her Cocktail Book to get ready for the great outdoors this Summer!

Strawberry Fields

For 1 cocktail1 grilled strawberry*Camp Cocktails2 oz. silver tequila3/4 oz. fresh lime juice1/2 oz. St. Germain (or other elderflower liqueur)1/2 oz. simple syrup (equal parts sugar and water, dissolved into a syrup)

Gently muddle the grilled strawberry in a shaker. Add the tequila, lime juice, St. Germain, and simple syrup. Fill the shaker two-thirds full with ice, seal, and shake until well chilled. Double strain into a cocktail glass. I usually serve this drink up but you can also serve over ice. Garnish with a fresh strawberry, if you’re feeling fancy!

*To grill strawberries, thread whole strawberries onto a skewer and place them over a heated grill. Grill over medium-low heat, turning occasionally until the berries are softening and juicy. (This can take anywhere from 2-10 minutes depending on how low you are keeping your heat.) Allow to cool before using.

Camp Cocktails has a Bees Knees recipe that’s great and there are other Vikre Distillery cocktail recipes here

BEE'S KNEES

Shake 2 oz. Boreal Spruce Gin, 3/4 oz. lemon juice, and 3/4 oz. honey syrup* with ice until well chilled. Strain into a cocktail glass and garnish with a cherry.

* To make honey syrup combine equal parts honey and water and stir until the honey dissolves.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit stephaniehansen.substack.com/subscribe

It was really fun to catch up with Dana Thompson, formerly co-creator of Minneapolis’s Owamni. and now founder of a new hemp-derived, low-dose THC/CBD cannabis seltzer featuring the Indigenous botanicals of North America called Heti.

“I am thrilled to announce the launch of Heti, a line of new botanical beverages that celebrate the plants around us,” said Thompson. Heti is launching four flavors—River Path, Woodland Edge, Meadow Cat Nap, and Marshland Harvest—which can also be purchased in a starter pack. Highlighted flavors include cranberry, sumac, dandelion, cedar, rosehip, wild mint, and black currant. The beverages are sweetened naturally with honey, maple, and agave.

Heti beverages are available for preorder now at hetiproducts.com.

Last week, my friend Joy Summers wrote about Heti in the Star Tribune. I gifted this link so you can read their conversation here:

Stephanie’s Dish Newsletter is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit stephaniehansen.substack.com/subscribe

Margie Morgan took her "Covid Casualty" lay off and turned it into Good Morgan Foods. Her granola is not too sweet and has a pinch of salt that takes it over the top. Find Margie at various Farmers' Markets around town or order her original, blueberry or peanut butter granola here.

Support the show

Follow the Makers of Minnesota on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @MakersofMN. Send story ideas to Stephanie@stephaniesdish.com
If you appreciate the work we do here, please subscribe on Patreon

Please subscribe to My newsletter at https://stephaniehansen.substack.com/ so you don't miss an epiosde of the Makers of Minnesota

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit stephaniehansen.substack.com/subscribe

Third Street Brewhouse is brewing Minnesota Gold Lager, a sessionable, 88 calorie ,1.4 grams low carb beer in Cold Spring Minnesota. We spoke with Lindsay Wallace about bringing this low-carb, full-flavored lager from Minnesota to market.

Support the show

Follow the Makers of Minnesota on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @MakersofMN. Send story ideas to Stephanie@stephaniesdish.com
If you appreciate the work we do here, please subscribe on Patreon

Please subscribe to My newsletter at https://stephaniehansen.substack.com/ so you don't miss an epiosde of the Makers of Minnesota

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit stephaniehansen.substack.com/subscribe

Tricia Cornell was my second farmers’ market cooking inspiration. Deborah Madison was my first and if I know anything, I know Tricia would be pleased that my brain works like that. First, “What would Deborah Madison, author of 14 books on local cooking do?” with this pile of green beans, and second … “What would Tricia Cornell, master of Minnesota veggie season and CSA seasonal cooking, do” with this stinking Kohlrabi? You see, Deborah Madison is the national icon for cookbook authors who cook local food nationally and Tricia Cornell is my Minnesota icon for cookbook authors who cook local food.

They are both great companions when staring down a pile of seasonal vegetables. The cookbook that turned me onto Tricia was Eat More Vegetables, suggested by my first CSA. Her second book, Minnesota Farmers Market Cookbook also helped me make great food with produce I wasn’t always sure how to use up.

I hope you enjoy the conversation and a recipe for Garlic Scape Pesto Pasta (it’s almost in season again). There is also a great Makers of Minnesota producer who makes a beautiful Escape Garlic Pesto that you can find at Lakewinds Coop from Seven Songs Organic Farm.

Garlic Scape Pesto Pasta

From StephaniesDish.com

Serves 2

Ingredients

* 6-8 garlic scapes

* ¼ cup pine nuts

* ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil

* ¼ cup Parmesan cheese

* 1/4 cup basil leaves

* 1/4 cup Italian parsley

* 2 teaspoons lemon zest

* 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

* 1 teaspoon kosher salt

* 8 oz spaghetti pasta

Instructions

Pesto

* Place the garlic scapes in a food processor and pulse for 30 seconds.

* Add the pine nuts and olive oil and pulse for 45 seconds.

* Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

* Add the Parmesan cheese and pulse until the ingredients are combined.

* Add the basil, parsley, lemon zest, lemon juice, and salt, and process until reaching the desired consistency.

Pasta

* Boil water in a medium saucepan. Cook your pasta according to the package directions.

* Before draining the pasta, reserve 1/4 cup of the starchy pasta water.

* Drain the pasta and put it back in the pot.

* Toss in the pesto and mix with the pasta until thoroughly coated.

* Use the reserved pasta water to thin the sauce if it’s dry.

* Finish everything with a big squeeze of lemon juice, salt and pepper.

Corn Pudding

From Eat More Vegetables by Tricia Cornell

Serves 4

Ingredients

* 2 tbsp butter

* ½ medium onion, minced

* 1 tsp kosher salt

* ½ jalapeño pepper, seeds and ribs removed, thinly sliced (optional)

* 3 cups corn kernels (about 3 ears)

* 4 eggs, separated

* ½ cup grated cheese (2 ounces; fontina is a good choice)

Instructions

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 1.5-quart soufflé pan or other deep baking dish. Melt butter in saucepan over medium heat. Soften onions in butter, with salt, about 5 minutes. Do not brown. Add jalapeño, if using, and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in corn kernels. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.

Beat egg whites to stiff peaks. In a separate bowl, beat egg yolks until smooth. Stir cooled corn mixture and cheese into egg yolks. Fold in beaten egg whites. Slide into prepared pan. Bake 45 minutes, until firmly set and barely golden brown on top. A toothpick will not come out clean, but the top should not jiggle.

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KLN Family Brands is a manufacturer of pet foods and candy based in Perham Minnesota.
We talk with Mike Hamilton who leads up the Tuffys and Nutrisource Pet food brands and Jadi Anderson who heads up Kenny's candy division including Wiley Wallaby Australian licorice and Sweet Chaos popcorn, about being a manufacturer from a family-owned company in Minnesota.

Support the show

Follow the Makers of Minnesota on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @MakersofMN. Send story ideas to Stephanie@stephaniesdish.com
If you appreciate the work we do here, please subscribe on Patreon

Please subscribe to My newsletter at https://stephaniehansen.substack.com/ so you don't miss an epiosde of the Makers of Minnesota

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit stephaniehansen.substack.com/subscribe

I had a delightful conversation with Amanda Paa. Amanda is a food stylist, the author of the “Smitten With Squash Cookbook” and prolific food blogger at HeartbeetKitchen.com, a truly wonderful blog that more recently has featured her exploration into Sourdough Bread baking.

Take a listen and you can order her starter here:

In Amanda’s words, “Trying to create a sourdough starter on your own can be difficult and take the course of 2-3 weeks. Instead, acquiring a sourdough starter from someone that is strong and mature is the easiest and most effective route! You can buy part of my mature, organic sourdough starter (wild yeast) that has been lovingly cared for and fed for over 15+ years, with original heritage from Australia! You’ll be ready to bake within a week.

You’ll also receive detailed instructions on how to feed and maintain your starter to create the wonderful sourdough bread you know and love.”

Follow Amanda on Instagram @HeartbeetKitchen or subscribe to her newsletter for all her latest recipes.

Here is a Recipe for : Zucchini Cauliflower Summer Gratin

From “Smitten With Squash Cookbook”

(serves 4)

1 large head cauliflower

kosher salt

1 1/4 pounds zucchini, coarsely grated

2 tablespoons olive oil

3/4 cup chopped onion

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 teaspoon finely ground black pepper

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour (or gluten-free all-purpose flour)

1/4 cup milk

1/3 cup heavy cream

2/3 cup grated parmesan, divided (or more!)

1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary

3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Prepare the cauliflower by removing the core and breaking the rest up into smaller pieces.  Then, using a food processor (or a sharp knife), pulse the cauliflower until they are tiny pieces that resemble rice grains.  Be careful that the mixture doesn’t get mushy.  You may have to do this in batches.  You should yield about 3 1/2 cups.

Preheat oven to 375°F.  Lightly coat a shallow baking dish with olive oil and set aside. Stir 1 teaspoon salt and grated zucchini together, then place colander set over a bowl to drain.  In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium-high heat, add onions and a big pinch of salt, and cook stirring, until softened, about 4-5 minutes.   Meanwhile, squeeze handfuls of zucchini over a bowl to catch the juices, removing most of the water from the zucchini, yielding 2/3 cup shreds.

When the onion is softened, reduce heat to medium and stir in the cauliflower, garlic, zucchini, 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, and pepper.  Cook for about 7-8 minutes, until the vegetables are softened.  Sprinkle flour over the mixture and stir to combine.  Gradually stir in reserved zucchini water, milk, and cream, maintaining heat at medium so dairy does not curdle.  Cook for 2-3 minutes so liquid absorbs slightly. Remove from heat.  Stir in 1/3 cup parmesan, rosemary, and parsley.  Pour into the prepared dish and bake for 20 minutes.  Remove from oven and top with remaining cheese (or more, if you like).  Return to the oven for another 10 or so minutes until gratin is brown and bubbly.  Sometimes I put the gratin under the broiler to brown up a bit faster for the final minute or two.

I've been nominated for the Star Tribune’s Readers’ Choice Minnesota’s Best awards! Yep, your favorite foodie has been nominated as a Mn Flluencer.  I join the ranks of my heros (@pinchofyum, @zoebakes @eatdrinkdishj @hungrygirl_mpls and @SvenSundgaard) If you could vote that would be great. Look for me listed in the Minnesota Fun tab. Help us me home the win by voting daily until May 18th—casting your ballot just takes a few seconds!

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Taste your way through Minnesota Monthly's 10th annual Grill Fest! Find all your favorite grilled foods and a range of Minnesota Makers while sampling wines and specialty beers. Test out the hottest grills, gather recipes, and learn how to barbecue like a pro with Minnesota made products like:

Face Punch Foods
2 Dads Bloody Mix
Bare Honey
Here's the Deal Spice
Hooch Booch Kombucha
Kickled Mary
Mixly Cocktail Mix
Muddle and Mint
Summer Lakes Beverage

Get your tickets for the 5/21 event at CHS Field here

Support the show

Follow the Makers of Minnesota on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @MakersofMN. Send story ideas to Stephanie@stephaniesdish.com
If you appreciate the work we do here, please subscribe on Patreon

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Nicolle Nelson, founder of Delicacies Jewelry, wanted to continue to spread the message of female positivity and encouragement through her love of food and she did it by creating Delicacies Jewelry. If you're stumped about what to give the food-lover in your life, I recommend Delicacies jewelry.

Whether you are the Tomato lady like me or obsessed with your favorite dumpling or noodle their line of jewelry has something for everyone.

Cute jewelry also can create a giving opportunity!
Delicacies donates 10% of every sale toward combating hunger through its partnerships with the Minnesota-based nonprofit Loaves & Fishes and the Yucatán, Mexico-based El Renacer del Mayab AC. 

 


Follow Delicacies Jewelry on Instagram!

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What a treat it was to interview Yotam Ottolenghi last week for our Weekly Dish radio show podcast. Yotam will be in town on May 5, at 7 p.m. for Voices 22, the speaker series at Temple Israel. Get your tickets here. Stephanie and I really enjoyed talking with him about hospitality, cooking, covid, and where he likes to vacation.

I loved chatting with him about his “Covid Cooking.” Here is a link to his mushroom polenta dish that I have made that is great. Cakes? He also mentioned he still loves making cakes. Here is a lemon pound cake recipe he inspired and his best chocolate cake.

My favorite part of the conversation, the part I really related to, was where he talked about cooking during Covid and how you didn’t dare throw anything away, including every scrap of stale bread (sourdough baking anyone?). He used up his bread and veggie and cheese scraps by making savory bread puddings. I do this too.

The bread puddings are super versatile and you can use any leftover veggies, meats, or cheeses. Breakfast bread puddings with fruit or even chocolate chips are always a hit. Add some frozen hashbrowns and onions to a basic bread pudding recipe and in the midwest, we call it egg bake.

Here is the recipe for my savory bread pudding - a newsletter exclusive to say thanks for following along. I appreciate you.

Exclusive Newsletter Recipe

Savory Bread Pudding

Ingredients

* 2 Tablespoons butter

* 5 eggs

* 2 cups milk

* 1 cup cream

* 2 cups Gruyère cheese

* 1 cup Mozzarella cheese (1/2 cup reserved)

* ½ cup Parmesan cheese, grated

* 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

* 2 garlic cloves, minced or grated on a micro-plane grater

* 2 cups spinach

* ¼ cup fresh dill

* ⅓ cup fresh chives, chopped

* Kosher salt and black pepper, to taste

* 1 loaf stale crusty sourdough bread, cut into 1-inch cubes

Instructions

* Grease a 9x12-inch casserole dish with butter.

* In a large bowl, whisk the eggs until lightly beaten.

* Whisk the milk and cream into the eggs until combined.

* Add 1 cup of the Gruyere cheese along with the 1/2 cup Mozzarella, Parmesan cheese, mustard, garlic, spinach, dill, and chives to the egg mixture, and stir until combined.

* Season the custard with salt and pepper.

* Add the cubed bread to the custard and gently toss the bread until each piece is fully coated.

* Transfer the bread mixture to the casserole dish. Cover the casserole dish with plastic wrap and place the pudding in the refrigerator to chill for a minimum of 1 hour or overnight.

* When you’re ready to cook the bread pudding, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

* Remove the casserole dish from the refrigerator and sprinkle the remaining ½ cup of Mozzarella cheese over the top of the bread pudding.

* Place the baking dish in the oven and bake until the top is golden brown, and the pudding is set, about 40 minutes.

* Remove the pudding from the oven and allow it to cool for 15 minutes before slicing into individual portions and serving warm.

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When we last talked to Ryan Rosenthal and Mike von Fange (Season 3 Episode 13) they had left their jobs to pursue a convenience store model that stocked, healthy, nutritious, convenient foods including prepared soups and salads.

Post-Covid a soup subscription business was born. From there they have added high-quality "Chefy" frozen pizzas, bread, and cookies with the hopes of continuing to add upon and expand their sustainable home delivery model.

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3 Bear Oats was born from its founder, Therese Moore's love of cooking and her many years in Europe. Having relocated to Minnesota, Therese began experimenting with steel-cut oats in ways common to Northern European meal routines.  Whether savory or sweet Steel cut oats provide the base for the original grain bowl.

3 Bear Oats embraces the bounty of local farms in season, while supporting local farmers through their commercial kitchen, The Good Acre.

In the Twin Cities area find 3 Bear oats in the freezer case at  Lakewinds Co-op locations, Linden Hills Coop, The Wedge Lyndale, Lunds & Byerlys, Jerry’s Foods, Kieran’s Kitchen, Fine Acre and Whole Earth co-ops in Wisconsin.

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Jon Kung grew up as a “third-culture” kid: born in Los Angeles, raised in Hong Kong and Toronto, and now living in Detroit. When the pandemic shut down his immensely popular pop-up, he turned to social media as a creative way to teach and inspire. With over 1.7 million followers on TikTok and over 550,000 on YouTube, his logical next step was a cookbook, and Jon Kung’s “Kung Food” is here.

Stephanie’s Dish Newsletter is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

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Jenny Breen is a Twin Cities champion of food. From the moment we started talking about food systems, cookbooks, the imposter syndrome, and social media, I was hooked. Jenny really understands food systems and is passionate about eating local, sustainable food and regenerative agriculture.

In 2012, Jenny published the cookbook, “Cooking Up The Good Life” because she wanted to contribute healthy, nourishing recipes that could be served at the family table. Try your hand at the Peanut or Sesame Sauce recipe below and then see an example of a recipe that uses the sauce with her Thai Noodle Bowls from her Transforming The Table Blog.

Jenny has many additional recipes here and can be hired for healthy eating consulting, as an educator on nutrition, or as a caterer in your home. Connect with Jenny on Instagram @jennybroccoli 51 or at her website to learn more about her teaching and her services.

Peanut or Sesame Sauce

Ingredients:

1/4 cup rice vinegar1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil1/4 cup peanut butter, tahini, or other nut butter1/4 cup fresh lime juice2 tablespoons tamari soy sauce3 cloves garlic, finely minced (or equivalent in garlic scapes - about 3)1-inch ginger, (peeled with a teaspoon) finely minced 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes or sriracha chili sauce

Instructions:

Whisk together vinegar, oils, nut butter or tahini, lime juice, tamari, garlic, ginger, and red pepper flakes or sriracha in a small bowl. Set aside.

Find more recipes from Jenny Breen’s recipe box.

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Katherine Ellison, founder of Bright Planet Pet took her sales experience from the Pet Food Industry and turned it into Bright Planet Pet which makes plant-based, vegan dog treats, that taste just like meat!

As they describe on their website they use sustainable ingredients to lower your dog's carbon pawprint but really, their treats create up to 90% less carbon emissions and use up to 68% less water than a comparable meat-based treat! In addition,  every time you buy a bag, they make a donation to plant one tree.

As we "humanize" our pets we want them to eat like us and "Better Burg'r and Better Chicken" plant-based treats are waiting for your pet.

Help Katherine meet her sales goal at Petco by shopping there before the end of April.

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Originally we met up with Julie Stellar from Stellar Handcrafted Goods on an episode where we featured Arc's Value Village (Season 1 Episode 52) and showcased how Julie's products are made from upcycled wool sweaters. 

After a pandemic mask-making detour, Julie is back in a larger workshop in NE Minneapolis and is featuring other Scandinavian products in her storefront. She is hard at work preparing for another year at the International Bazaar at the Minnesota State Fair.

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What exactly are the iconic dishes on the Twin Cities food scene?

They are the culinary game-changers and true originals that have made the Twin Cities — and Minnesota — a food destination. They are the must-haves of food writers Joy Summers and Sharyn Jackson of the Star Tribune.,

They selected 10 iconic Minnesota Makers that you can get in local markets to stock your pantry, fridge, or freezer, whenever you’re hungry for a taste of home.

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What a delight to spend time with my new friend Robin Asbell, Chef and author of 11 cookbooks. We talk about writing Cookbooks and how she makes her videos for her youtube channel Robin Asbell, the plant-based chef. Follow and subscribe here

Watch Robin on Twin Cities live on April 12 showing you what to do with leftover Easter Eggs and try some of Robin’s recipes including this Ooey Gooey Monkey Biscuit recipe that would be great for Easter Brunch or these cute little ramekins of Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble.

All of Robin’s books can be found here including her latest Vegan Meal Prep Cookbook which will help you save money, eat better, and prep meals like a pro with 125 healthy and delicious vegan recipes for every meal of the day.

Follow Robin on Instagram or Facebook for all her content.

Robin’s 10 minute Stove Top Mac & Cheese

Before my friend Elizabeth Ries went on maternity leave with baby Heathcliff, she and Robin Asbell created an easy and tasty dinner recipe for 10 minute Mac and Cheese that Robin shared on Twin Cities Live that you can make instead of that Nuclear orange powdered boxed Mac and Cheese.

Give it a try.

Makes 4 cups

1 1/2 cups whole milk1 1/2 cups water1/4 cup minced onion1/2 teaspoon salt8 ounces macaroni, 2 cups1/2 cup frozen peas4 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, shredded1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese

Place milk, water, and onion in a 4-quart saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a full boil, then stir in the macaroni. Stir and bring to a boil, then reduce to keep at a simmer. Stir frequently for 10 minutes. Start testing the pasta. When just al dente, stir in the peas, and when they are heated through, stir in the cheese and keep stirring until melted and creamy. Serve hot.

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We catch up with the cricket farmers from 3 Cricketeers  Farm  (Season 2 Episode 30).  Claire and Chad Simmons have expanded their urban cricket farm and are adding cricket chocolate, snack bars, and protein powders to their product line.

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Ken Velky loved being in the restaurant business, but his first venture wasn’t meant to be. He kept the dream of having a food business alive for many years and finally realized it with Dueling Grandmas Shortbread Cookies. These shortbread cookies are fantastic and based on a family recipe. Hear how he got started, what product innovations he is undertaking, and where he plans to go from here. 

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For Minnesota native Wayne Kemper and his friends Tim Roche and Tony Ullman, the love of hockey runs deep. Not only because they love the game, but because of the memories of gathering at each others’ homes in high school to bond over food. As they got older, they all played “old-man hockey,” where they’d play and then gather with their families for food and drinks.

It was at these gatherings that Tony started bringing some of
his homemade salsa for the guys and their families to try. What started out as one tub of homemade salsa to share, turned into entire weekends making hundreds of batches of salsa in a one-gallon Ninja blender to take to hockey rinks, where players and their families would voraciously devour bowl after bowl. The Salsa was an instant hit. and, JoMomma’s Salsa was born.

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It’s another episode of Dishing with Stephanies Dish this week. In this episode, I talk with the author and owner of the iconic New Scenic Cafe on Duluth’s North Shore about their second cookbook, The New Scenic Cafe, The Second Cookbook.

This book is beautiful. The photography and the recipes follow the seasons of Duluth as cooked through The New Scenic Cafe. This is one of those cookbooks that is full of fantastic foodie recipes for the seasoned chef but also is like a travelogue of the North Shore in Duluth capturing each season in its beautiful entirety.

This is my third interview with Scott. In some respects, this is the culmination of the New Scenic’s pandemic story. My first interview was on the Makers of Minnesota podcast, right after eating at The New Scenic, a few days into the state of Minnesota’s closure of restaurants. Once Scott established the New Scenic as an outdoor restaurant in an Airstream trailer, Scenic 61, we talked again. This third interview and the publishing of the book come as the restaurant is open for indoor dining and about to embark on a Summer where many travelers are putting Covid in the rearview mirror.

Take a listen and let me know your thoughts in the comments.

Do you have a favorite North Shore memory? One of the best parts about this new newsletter format is you can comment below and we can have a 2-way conversation. What are some of your favorite places to visit on the North Shore?

Kurt and I are nostalgic about the Pickwick Super Club and are huge fans of the Duluth Grill. Each year I produce the culinary market at Art In Bayfront Park, August 20 and 21. If you know of any makers that would want to see products there, the application for that is here.

Here is the recipe for my favorite Duluth Grill Recipe, Red Flannel Hash, from the Cookbook, Duluth Grill Cookbook. I love this hash under eggs or mixed in with sliced and roasted chunks of Andouille Sausage. I add the sausage to the sheet pan about 8 minutes before the final hash is complete.

Duluth Grill Red Flannel Hash

Ingredients:

* 10 cups diced sweet potatoes (around 4 lb.)

* 2 cups diced beets

* 1 1/4 cup diced carrots

* 2 cups diced green peppers

* 1 cup diced onion

* 1 teaspoon white pepper

* 1 1/2 teaspoon sea salt

* 1 1/2 teaspoon thyme

* 1/2 cup olive oil

Directions:

* Boil beets until tender, then drain and peel.

* Peel carrots and sweet potatoes. Dice all ingredients in 1-inch cubes.

* Toss all ingredients in a large mixing bowl, spread on a sheet pan and roast in the oven at 450° for 25 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Yields about 10 cups.

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Kurt and Ellie Johnson are co-authors of a new book called,  "The Barrens" based on a fictionalized account of Ellie's real 40-day journey in the subarctic of Canada in a canoe.  A part adventure story with white water rapids and grizzly sightings and part coming out and coming of age story, The Barrens will transport you.

Join the authors on May 18 at Lush Lounge and Theater with Magers and Quinn Booksellers for a reading and launch party with a Q and A hosted by My Talk 107.1's Lori and Julia. Tickets are Free but must be reserved:

The book is available for pre-order here:

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Dan Pashman has accomplished many things. Podcast host of the food podcast “The Sporkful,” pasta shape creator of Cascatelli that Time magazine named the best invention of the year. Now, he is going on the road with the Cascatelli story and his new cookbook, “Anything’s Pastable.”

Thank you for reading Stephanie’s Dish Newsletter. This post is public so feel free to share it.

As a companion to the cookbook, he is hosting a live podcast he has deemed Mission: ImPASTAble, which tells the inside story of the cookbook's making. From the highs and lows of recipe testing to a research trip across Italy to the agonizing decisions over the design of the cover, by the end, you’ll never look at a cookbook the same way again.

Join Dan Pashman in conversation with local James Beard Award winner and restauranteur Ann Kim at The Amsterdam Bar on 3/24 at 6:30 pm.

Stephanie’s Dish Newsletter is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

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Nikki and Brian Podgorski created The Salsa Collaborative. Born out of their curiosity for flavor and creativity. The Salsa Collaborative is a collaboration of ideas and tastes which inspires their recipes. Every sauce/salsa is made from scratch and in small batches and bottled by hand. 

Support the show

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Hello friends. I am really excited to launch my Dishing with Stephanie’s Dish podcast on Substack. In this episode I talk to fellow cookbook author Emily Maxson. Emily is a new friend I met at Modern Well, a coworking space I joined in January 2022. I talk with Emily about co-working and her new cookbook Emily’s Fresh Kitchen and what it’s like to write a cookbook.

Emily’s book is published by the new publishing company PublishHer.com, started by Chris Olsen and Julie Burton, who are also coworkers and friends at Modern Well. Publish Her is a female-founded hybrid publisher dedicated to elevating the words, stories, and writing of women. Look them up if you have a book manuscript that you are looking to publish.

Here is Emily making her Yucatan Shrimp on Kare 11 Saturday

Here is the recipe for you to try at home

Spicy Baked Yucatan Shrimp 

Prep time - 7 minutes

Cook time - 15 minutes

INGREDIENTS

Gluten-free, grain-free, paleo, or specific carbohydrate diet-friendly ingredients:

* 2 pounds of or 21 to 25 raw peeled and deveined shrimp

* 1/2 cup ghee

* 2 Tablespoons garlic, minced

* 3 to 4 teaspoons chili garlic sauce (Maxson recommends Yai's Thai brand since it doesn't have any added sugar.)

* 2 teaspoons salt

* 1 teaspoon black pepper

* 4 large limes, juiced

* Fresh chopped cilantro for serving

INSTRUCTIONS

* Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

* Arrange the shrimp in one layer in an oven-proof baking dish, with only the tails overlapping.

* In a medium saucepan, melt the ghee.

* Add the garlic, chili garlic sauce, salt and pepper and simmer for one minute.

* Pour the seasoned ghee over the shrimp. 

* Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until pink.

* Top with the fresh lime juice and cilantro.

Thanks for listening and feel free to drop me a line here or at Stephanie@StephaniesDish.com with any future podcast guests or authors you would like to see me talk with.

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Josh Neumann went from being in real estate to the founder of Minneapolis-based Kind Lips.

His goal was to create a lip balm that actually works. The longer you use Kind Lips the less you need to apply, leaving your lips nourished, hydrated, and protected all day long. He truly discovered less is more, so he created a formula with a minimal number of the absolute highest quality ingredients that deeply nourish and moisturize dry lips using soothing ingredients.

Kind Lips has an incredible mission to end bullying and support mental health by donating 20% of their profits to anti-bullying and mental health organizations.  Each tube of Kind Lips  is a reminder to be kind. The product is natural, organic, and gluten-free. Join their mission here.

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Mary Scott Riviere, Co-Creator of The Sleek Belt®!  is convinced if more people knew about the awesome belt she has created the world would be a better place!

The Sleek Belt® is a creation resulting from her personal frustration with sagging pants and bulky belts. She loves fashion and always try to look her best and knew there had to be a better way when it came to keeping pants in place. She thought to myself, “alright, how do you keep your pants up?” and “ugh, the belt ruins this outfit” She began to explore buckleless belts and other offerings on the market for a belt without a buckle but found only plastic and elastic options.

With the support from and collaboration with her husband, George, she introduced the women’s The Sleek Belt® in 2016.  Here is her story on creating the belt .

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Allie Billeadeau and Maria Sharperson are Minnesota gals who share a love for food and specifically,  oats. In 2017 they put a modern twist on a breakfast classic (oatmeal) and started MINNEØATS.  Their apartment at the University of Minnesota operated as a “cafe” where they served friends and family fresh bowls of oatmeal. Since serving their first bowl, their mission has been to share wholesome food and meaningful community. 

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Surly Brewing founder Omar Ansari wanted to make great beer. The first beer was Bender, an oatmeal brown ale. That opened the door. Furious, an aggressively hopped IPA, kicked it in, transforming the way Minnesota thought about craft beer. Word spread, especially among the Twin Cities craft beer community.  Best-of lists and Brewery of the Year honors followed. 

As this idea started to gain momentum, Omar was perplexed by a Prohibition-era Minnesota law that prevented production breweries from selling their beer onsite. He worked with Minnesota legislators, and the vocal, passionate Surly Nation, to change that law. The so-called “Surly Bill” passed on May 24, 2011, and scores of new breweries and taprooms bloomed. Minnesota’s proud brewing history, unchanged for so long, finally got another chapter, one that’s still being written.

In December 2014, the Brooklyn Center taproom poured its last pint and Minneapolis’ Prospect Park neighborhood officially became home to the Surly Destination Brewery. The 50,000 square-foot facility hosts a brewhouse, beer hall, beer garden, company store, event center, pizza restaurant, and Festival Field concert venue.

We talk with Omar about how Covid has impacted the brewery and what's next on the horizon.

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For years family and friends have said that Carline Bengtsson should open a restaurant or write a cookbook. Both suggestions were the furthest thoughts in her mind, but something clicked in her 2013 and she decided to pursue a cookbook. From there she published  – “Carline’s Fork & Cork Simply Delish!”.

She established “Dine4Dinners®” to combat hunger in partnership with organizations that provide meals for those in need of daily nourishment through dependable, reliable, and sustainable sources.  You book a "Simply Delish"  private event in your home and a portion of the proceeds go to charity

Support the show (https://paypal.me/StephanieKHansen?locale.x=en_US)

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Muddle & Mint is crafted for you by Haley Turner and Micah Pace.  Whether you are alcohol-free, sober curious, or looking forward to a booze-y beverage after work, our cocktails are exactly what is missing in your life. Our products were conceived to fill a gap in the beverage market. Particularly for those evenings when we wanted to be social but didn't necessarily want booze, there was no product we wanted to drink. Sparkling water and tea weren't dynamic. Soda and juice are made for better mixers than served on their own. 

Muddle and Mint offer alcohol-free drinks for adventurous cocktail lovers. Raise a glass and raise your spirits with(out) the spirits . Hibiscus Sage, Green Tea Mint, or Grapefruit Rosemary are dynamic stand in's in place of a cocktail or added to it.

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Kathryn Nelson has experimented with food from her earliest days, making her own "green goulash" out of whatever she could find in the cupboards of her kitchen. It wasn't until college, while working at a small coffee shop in St. Paul, Minnesota, that she discovered the joy, and the art, of making granola. Fast forward a few years, and, when a friend was looking for a lower-carb alternative to grain-based breakfast cereals, Coco, Bee & Nut was born.

At Coco, Bee & Nut, our goal is to help others while promoting healthy, whole food living. This is at the heart of everything we do, from beginning to end: Our granola has a base of wholesome mixed nuts, seeds and dried fruit, wildflower honey, and organic coconut oil, all blended together with various spices that make up each flavor.

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Keepers Heart Whiskey is an American whiskey distilled in the Irish style from O'Shaughnessy Distilling in Minneapolis. The distillery, opened last Spring by cousins and lifelong friends, Patrick and Michael O’Shaughnessy who teamed with Master Distiller Brian Nation who moved to Minnesota from Ireland.

Join us on Tuesday, February 15th at The Lexington for a one-of-a-kind, multi-course whiskey dinner. Sample newly released Keeper’s Heart Irish + American whiskey from O'Shaughnessy Distilling as world renowned Master Distiller, Brian Nation, explains each component that goes into making this unique whiskey. Guests are invited to enjoy cocktail hour with hors d'oeuvres in The Williamsburg Room from 6:00-6:30 pm followed by a multi course dinner with whiskey paired courses created by Lexington Chef, Nick O’Leary.

Space is limited so get your tickets today.

* Taxes, fees, and gratuity additional

Presented by O'Shaughnessy Distilling , Stephanie Hansen, and The Lexington

Support the show

Follow the Makers of Minnesota on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @MakersofMN. Send story ideas to Stephanie@stephaniesdish.com
If you appreciate the work we do here, please subscribe on Patreon

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Tim started a podcast called Niver Niver Land, where he talks with other restaurant owners and compares notes on the state of the state, amongst rising food and labor costs.

We caught up with Tim Niver to get his thoughts on the state of the state after reading a New York Times article in which 30 top chefs shared their opinions on the current restaurant scene (the article is unlocked here).

Thank you for reading Stephanie’s Dish Newsletter. This post is public, so feel free to share it.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit stephaniehansen.substack.com/subscribe

Dry January? Sober curious or just looking for great mixes that stand up to Spirits or can be mixed without? Let me introduce you to Mixly.

“There’s nothing quite like a handcrafted cocktail,” said Johnna Rossbach, Founder and President of Mixly. “That’s why we created Mixly — to bring the cocktail experience right to your home. All you have to do is pour, mix, and drink! Our goal was to take down the misconception that a delicious cocktail or mocktail takes a lot of time, effort, and money.”

 Mixly’s unique flavors and trend-forward approach make it easy to mix based on your unique taste or what you have on hand. So whether you’re in the mood for a cocktail or a mocktail, Mixly’s flavors will create a delicious drink and are meant to be versatile, pairing with multiple spirits or just soda water. Mixly starts with high-quality, natural ingredients, fresh-squeezed juices, and natural sweeteners, making it a unique and refreshing cocktail experience.

Support the show

Follow the Makers of Minnesota on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @MakersofMN. Send story ideas to Stephanie@stephaniesdish.com
If you appreciate the work we do here, please subscribe on Patreon

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Quebracho Empanadas, a wholesale manufacturer of frozen empanadas, was born from the ashes of  - Quebracho Charcuterie & Pies –a small-scale pop-up and catering company specializing in her grandmother's empanadas. 

The COVID-19 pandemic forced Belén Rodríguez, to shut down her business. She was faced with the decision of either closing the business for good or pivoting and finding a way to continue sharing her family's recipes during such unprecedented times Quebracho Empanadas was born. 

Her new concept allowed her to keep the company's essence alive while still doing what she loved and, most importantly, being accompanied by the same team –the same family it all started with. Quebracho Empanadas is now a wholesale manufacturer of frozen empanadas that people can take home and finish cooking in just under 20 minutes for an authentic, homemade family meal.

Support the show

Follow the Makers of Minnesota on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @MakersofMN. Send story ideas to Stephanie@stephaniesdish.com
If you appreciate the work we do here, please subscribe on Patreon

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The Daily Page is a woman-owned, family-run, small-batch paper goods studio launched by Dani Bruflodt. She creates products with simple, minimalist designs to help organize your day while also prioritizing yourself.

Founded in 2010, she partners with a Minnesota-based, women-owned printing press to produce her thoughtful collection of paper goods. Her team ships them to you using locally-sourced, recycled packing material from her Midwest-based studio.

She completed more than 19,050 sales through The Daily Page Etsy Shop—which was ranked among the top 1% of Etsy shops in the world (!) before opening an independent shop in 2021.
Her Team's mission is to help people reclaim their time, increase their energy, focus their efforts, and have more impact on the world.

Use code MakersofMN to save 10% on your Daily Page order.

Support the show

Follow the Makers of Minnesota on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @MakersofMN. Send story ideas to Stephanie@stephaniesdish.com
If you appreciate the work we do here, please subscribe on Patreon

Please subscribe to My newsletter at https://stephaniehansen.substack.com/ so you don't miss an epiosde of the Makers of Minnesota

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit stephaniehansen.substack.com/subscribe