Ham Radio: Cooking with Amy Thielen

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Latest Episodes:

Preserving Summer Through Memories, Recipes and Community Jun 28, 2025

In this episode of Ham Radio: Cooking With Amy Thielen we are all about the summer kitchen.Guests include Alena Levina, one of the contributors of the new cookbook Kitchens of Hope: Immigrants Share Stories of Resilience and Recipes from Home. Alena gives us her family recipe from Belarus: Holodnik, or Summer Beet Soup. It's our Community Recipe: kaxe.org/community-recipe-holodnik-summer-beet-soup-ham-radio-amy-thielen.We're also thrilled to bring you a conversation with newly awarded St. Paul chef Karyn Tomlinson. She just won the James Beard award for Best Chef of the Midwest. Her restaurant is Myriel in St. Paul, and she features local produce from farmers in her hometown of Dassel.So many texts and calls came rolling in this week: from Mikki's gazpacho, Iris' ratatouille, Steve's watermelon Coke and carving a watermelon in the shape of a beautiful basket, we loved every single second of it. Hope you enjoyed the first season of Ham Radio: Cooking With Amy Thielen. Tell others about us, pass the word and send us your memories and recipes! Ham Radio features original licensed music — "You Know How I Like It" by Jeremy Messersmith.Made possible by the Minnesota Arts & Culture Heritage Fund. Support KAXE by becoming a member today: https://donate.nprstations.org/kaxe/donate

More Than A Recipe: Do You Cook by the Book or Off the Map? Jun 20, 2025

Has cooking changed? Do we expect more out of recipes these days? That's our topic this week on KAXE's Ham Radio: Cooking with Amy Thielen. Amy talks with Natasha Pickowicz, author of More Than Cake. She weaves 100 recipes with delightful and surprising recipes and stories to celebrate how baking can connect. We'll also talk about the cookbook she is currently working on about Hot Pot, and find out if savory recipes are different than sweet.We also get a chance to meet Nick Torres. Nick is a food photographer and stylist who worked on Amy's first cookbook The New Midwestern Table. Nick shares a recipe from home in Ohio involving a man named Chewy and some giant coolers. This week's community recipe is Chewy's Beer Cooler Chicken.And we talk about whether and how to eat Minnesota fresh fish — including the giants of Lake Country, muskies.Long before restrictions catch-and-keep size restrictions, Minnesotans did in fact eat muskellunge, and here’s the evidence: a recipe for a Ten-Pound Baked Muskellunge, from one of Amy's favorite cookbooks, Food on the Frontier: Minnesota Cooking from 1850 to 1900 by Marjorie Kreidberg.Ham Radio Features original licensed music — "You Know How I Like It" by Jeremy Messersmith.Made possible by the Minnesota Arts & Culture Heritage Fund. Support KAXE by becoming a member today: https://donate.nprstations.org/kaxe/donate

Harvest Abundance in Minnesota: Gardening, the Advanced Class Jun 14, 2025

When the garden or farmers market gives you everything at once, the best way to handle it is to return to the fundamentals: roast, grill, bake, pickle, can, dry, freeze and sauté. These aren’t just methods, they’re survival tools during harvest season. Especially grilling. Because it’s summer. And everything tastes better with a little char and a lot of butter.This week, Amy and Heidi talked to Erin Haefele of Green Scene in Walker, Minnesota, "a charming food haven nestled in the heart of rural northern Minnesota where small-town warmth meets big-city sophistication." Erin inspires us with simple preparations to deliciously fresh garden ingredients. And we hear from Amy's friend Beth Friedrichson from Wisconsin, who gushes about dilly beans and life on the farm with chickens and alpacas.Lots of folks phoned in to talk about their harvests, whether it was peonies in Stillwater, garlic near Detroit Lakes, urban front yard CSAs in Minneapolis, potato varieties in Deer River or stuffed grape leaves in Chicago, you had a story to tell. Share yours! This week's community recipe to cook along with us is Onion Pie: kaxe.org/community-recipe-onion-pie-ham-radio-amy-thielen. Give it a try and send us your reactions and photos at comments@kaxe.org!Ham Radio Features original licensed music — "You Know How I Like It" by Jeremy Messersmith.Made possible by the Minnesota Arts & Culture Heritage Fund. Support KAXE by becoming a member today: https://donate.nprstations.org/kaxe/donate

Friends and Family: Cooking for Company Jun 07, 2025

This week's show is about having people over — sometimes, a LOT of people over — and how to feed them all, generously, without losing your mind, hiring help, or breaking the bank.We'll call it an audible potluck, with tales of Pennsylvania Dutch country family reunions from Chef David Kinch and his Park Rapids area cousin Bill Dinger, and our favorite theme song-writing Minnesota musician Jeremy Messersmith talking about hosting communal food parties built to pair with his performances.We heard from Megan in Meadowlands who kept the pig roast and Czech family traditions of kolache going in a community celebration. We heard from a listener from the U.P. of Michigan who makes porketta before hockey practice and Tammy told us about trying last week's Bran Crispbread recipe.This week's community recipe to cook along with us is Rum-and-Coke Shaved Ice: https://www.kaxe.org/community-recipe-rum-and-coke-shaved-ice-ham-radio-amy-thielen. Give it a try and send us your reactions and photos at comments@kaxe.org!Ham Radio Features original licensed music — "You Know How I Like It" by Jeremy Messersmith.Made possible by the Minnesota Arts & Culture Heritage Fund. Support KAXE by becoming a member today: https://donate.nprstations.org/kaxe/donate

More Time Than Money: Resourcefulness and Creativity in the Kitchen May 31, 2025

This week, Amy and Heidi meditate on the theme of "More Time Than Money" — a show about making do with resourcefulness and creativity. They'll talk about incredible recipes that take time and skill, but not necessarily a lot of money. This week's community recipe to cook along with us is Bran Crispbread: kaxe.org/community-recipe-bran-crispbread-ham-radio-amy-thielen. Give it a try and send us your reactions and photos at comments@kaxe.org!

Risky Business: The delicious science behind cooking with lye and more May 24, 2025

This week, Amy and Heidi's adventures in the kitchen feature cooking with lye, pickling lime, Hawaiian taro and some other semi-hazardous ingredients.

Why are we doing this show? Amy shares her inspiration for 'Ham Radio' May 14, 2025

"Ham Radio: Cooking with Amy Thielen" is a new program featuring James Beard Award-winning cookbook author Amy Thielen of Park Rapids, Minnesota.

Trailer: Introducing 'Ham Radio' May 09, 2025

Coming May 23 and hosted by James Beard Award-winning cookbook author Amy Thielen, with producer Heidi Holtan, this KAXE / KBXE show celebrates the creativity and resourcefulness of rural home cooks.