The Story of Making a Book - and Cooking a Recipe

This morning tells a story of what it is to have a very large goal, a team of cheerleaders, and the support of those who believe in you.

For years, I've written down and assembled my recipes to share with friends who were making a shift in their food journey to eat healthier and feel better. For the past several years, I have been creating even more recipes and dedicating a large part of my time to crafting more foods at both ends of the health spectrum - both hyper-conscious of food allergies and intolerances - and absolutely delicious with no room for apologies.

The story of how sending recipes to friends turned into creating four full cookbooks that make up an entire year of seasonal, local, organic and healthy eating starts with being asked if I was ever going write a book at monthly cooking classes that I teach at Kitchen Window in Minneapolis. Over and over and over again. I finally got good and tired of saying that I was "working on it" and actually started to work on it. It began with a plan to gather all of these recipes, and then ended with it being too big and too much to do for one book.

So I restarted with the idea to break it down, and to write and publish just exactly how I live my life - season by season, cooking and eating with beautiful ingredients that are sourced by the prime of their flavor from local growers.

Next, I kept saying that I didn't want to do a "cooking for kids" cookbook, even though I kept hearing from families that they wanted just that.

So what I ended up doing was creating a healthy cooking series for families - or anyone who want to eat better - while managing food allergies and intolerances in the kitchen. I used my healthful recipes with the all-natural substitutions that are a mainstay in my own kitchen.

And I did it because I had a huge team of help. My team was a group of over 15 women - most of them moms, including my own mom - and two men - both dads. They worked with me for over a year, cooking and testing recipes, serving them to their families and giving me real feedback on what worked and what didn't. And guess who was eating the food? Kids. Not food that was dumbed down, breaded, flavorless or fried - but real food with whole ingredients and good flavors. Every single recipe was vetted and tested by real families.

So the story this morning is that the seasons have come full circle, and I've been humbled in the process. The writing and recipe testing for Nourish: Winter began last September, and I complete the series today with Nourish: Fall, live on Amazon. It's a huge project completed and at the same time - just the beginning. Cheers - to more good food and healthy living!

Sweet Potato and Anasazi Bean Stew

(from Nourish: Fall by Anna Dvorak)

Anasazi beans are beautiful when dry - speckled white and deep red - and have a sweet flavor and creamy, rich texture when cooked. They have a thin, tender skin which makes them easier to digest than some beans. Native to the desert high mountain regions of the southwest, they cook remarkably well at altitude, which isn't the case for all beans. Outside of their native region they can be hard to find, so substitute pinto beans instead, which are also a very creamy and meaty bean. Serve this colorful, satisfying stew with a large green salad, and consider doubling it to have great leftovers for lunches or dinners.

Prep time: 15 minutes

Yield: 4 servings

Gluten-free, Dairy-free

2 cups cooked Anasazi beans or pinto beans (or use 1 (14 ounce) can beans, drained and rinsed)

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 small onion, diced

1 small sweet potato, scrubbed and cut into 1/2" dice (or 1/2 small winter squash) (about 1 1/4 cups)

1 small Yukon Gold potato, scrubbed and cut into 1/2" dice (about 1 cup)

3 cups water

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 teaspoon oregano

1/4 cup frozen sweet corn

1 teaspoon coconut oil or olive oil

2 Roma tomatoes, fresh or canned, chopped

2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped

Sea salt

1. Prepare beans if cooking from scratch. (See full recipe for beans in Nourish: Fall.)

2. Meanwhile, warm a small soup pot over medium heat. Add olive oil and onions and sauté until onions begin to soften and turn translucent, about 5 minutes. Add garlic, stir and let cook for an additional 3-5 minutes. Add cubed sweet potato and Yukon Gold potato, stir to coat in oil and add 3 cups water along with sea salt, oregano and thyme. Increase heat to medium high; when the mixture comes to a boil, reduce heat to medium low and let cook at a gentle simmer for 25 minutes.

3. While the soup is simmering, warm a small sauté pan over medium heat until hot. Add coconut oil and corn and sauté until the corn begins to turn golden brown. Add corn to the soup pot along with chopped tomatoes and cooked beans and let the mixture simmer for an additional 10-15 minutes. Add 1 cup bean cooking water if needed to thin the stew.