Homemade Hot Chocolate (For A Birth Story)

December 4, 2021 Nora Dummer

Though twelve months have passed, the calendar on the wall still reads November, 2020. As the wind rattles the rain streaked windows and the dark arrives before dinner, I can almost remember what it was like, one year ago, when we were confined to this apartment by the highest threat of a deadly virus and the piercing shriek of a newborn. Exhausted, elated and terrified, my husband and I shuffled sleeplessly through the hours by making a million micro decisions, each feeling more like a mountain than a molehill. Though looking down at our new situation was daunting, it was certainly better than looking up - up at an untamed pandemic, up at the changing climate, the crooked politics and the societal unrest all threatening to reach their breaking point, up at the darkness. No, best to look down.

(Recipe for Homemade Hot Chocolate follows)

Tomatillo And White Bean Soup

September 30, 2021 Nora Dummer

This tomatillo and white bean soup was inspired by a surplus of the nightshade from a friends’ garden, my desire to break into my stunning Royal Coronas from Rancho Gordo, and the mismatched contents of my crisper. Add some pork and hominy and you’ve got a nice variation of pozole stew, freeze it and you’ve got a soothing meal waiting for you in the depth of winter, blend it up and you’ve got a creamy soup approved by adults and babies alike (though be warned, the latter will show their approval by five-finger flicking it both into their mouths and onto your face).

(Recipe for Tomatillo And White Bean Soup follows)

Creamy Corn Chowder With Coriander Oil

September 2, 2021 Nora Dummer

The nice thing about a creamy soup is that you don’t have to spend much time meticulously chopping your ingredients. That, and you could absolutely load this soup up with all sorts of vegetables - kale, cauliflower, sweet potatoes - and no picky eater would ever know. I used beans in place of potatoes in this recipe to add more fiber and protein as well as thicken the soup without the addition of flour. Read on, cook on.

(Recipe for Creamy Corn Chowder With Coriander Oil follows)

Gluten-Free Quinoa Oat Pancakes

August 26, 2021 Nora Dummer

These gluten-free pancakes are the first recipe in a series specifically designed to nourish those going through their 4th trimester. The postpartum period is a time of vulnerability, exhaustion, elation, and healing; it’s a sacred chapter in the birthing person’s life that often gets overshadowed by the demanding needs of the new baby. These recipes focus on nutrient dense and anti-inflammatory foods with specific emphasis on healthy fats, high protein, essential micronutrients and plenty of galactagogues to help increase milk production. They are meant to nourish, to restore, and to delight.

(Recipe for Gluten-Free Quinoa Oat Pancakes follows)

Harissa Spiced Cashew Carrot Cream

July 28, 2021 Nora Dummer

I first envisioned this dish on a train from Venice to Trieste. Something about the Adriatic to my right and the lush hillside to my left had me dreaming of carrots. Hey, I’ll take inspiration where I can find it. This vegan and gluten free carrot cream uses cashews to provide some extra protein and fat - when soaked and blended, these nuts become irresistibly smooth and creamy. With pomegranate molasses for a little sweet and sour and harissa-inspired spices for kick, this cashew carrot cream ticks all the boxes.

(Recipe for Harissa Spiced Cashew Carrot Cream follows)

Five-Spice Brined Chicken Thighs

July 14, 2021 Nora Dummer

This recipe utilizes a couple of my kitchens’ favorite secret weapons: chicken thighs and a quick brine. Add in a little five-spice powder, ginger, and garlic, and you’ve got a flavorful protein that’s the perfect accompaniment to rice, noodles, or stir-fried vegetables.

(Recipe for Five Spice Brined Chicken Thighs follows)

Quick Pickled Shiitake Mushrooms With Ginger And Soy

June 29, 2021 Nora Dummer

I originally started making these Japanese inspired pickled shiitake mushrooms to accompany my bowls of homemade ramen, but the longer the excess sat in my fridge, the more applications I would find for them. Soba noodles with peanut coconut sauce, shrimp stir fry, fried eggs, roasted vegetables, cucumber salads… basically anything you need a pop of acid, sweet, salt, and savory (so, basically anything). These little flavor bombs add so much character to dishes simple and complex.

(Recipe for Pickled Shiitake Mushrooms follows)

Black Sesame Paste with Maple and Coconut

June 15, 2021 Nora Dummer

There are fewer crops steeped in more history and lore than the humble sesame seed. Not only is it the oldest known plant grown for its seed and oil, it’s rumored to be adored by the gods. In Assyrian mythology, the gods got drunk on sesame wine the night before they created the earth. In Hindu mythology, the seed is blessed by the god of death, Yama, and symbolizes immortality; today, Hindus often use them in their funeral rituals. Additionally, sesame seeds make an appearance in Qing dynasty legend as a holy medication for immortality, were used to make perfumes in Babylon, and was mentioned for their medicinal properties in the 1550 BC Egyptian book of medicine, Papyrus Ebers.

(Recipe for Black Sesame Paste with Maple and Coconut follows)

Black Garlic Oil (Mayu) For Ramen Or Rice

June 8, 2021 Nora Dummer

Not to be confused with the fermented black garlic, this garlic oil is named as such to avoid calling it by its less enticing but more accurate epithet: burnt garlic oil. The trick to making this recipe delicious is to resist temptation to turn up the heat - cooking the garlic too quickly will result in the bitter compounds to come out. Instead, adopt your new mantra: low and slow. Read on, cook on.

(Recipe for Black Garlic Oil follows)

Sautéed Bok Choy With Ginger And Chili

June 1, 2021 Nora Dummer

Of the cruciferous vegetable family, bok choy is like the nerdy, agreeable, well mannered one. It won’t dominate a room like Brussels sprouts or arugula, won’t be loved or scorned like broccoli and cauliflower, and boasts more calcium and beta-carotene than cabbage. Pairing it simply with ginger and chili paste allows each to shine, though with its soft tender leaves and crunchy sweet stems, can hold up to even the most intense flavors.

(Recipe for Sauteed Bok Choy With Ginger And Chili follows)

Tamari-Maple Marinated Soft Boiled Egg

May 25, 2021 Nora Dummer

How To Keep From Cursing As You Attempt To Peel Boiled Eggs

The night before my first sold out “Art Of Ramen At Home” cooking class, my husband came home to a terrifying scene. Eggs. Eggs everywhere. It was carnage. The sink was filled with soft boiled eggs in various stages of undress - some split open just enough to leave their golden yolks weeping through the small holes of a perched colander, others mutilated to an unintelligible medley of shell, white, and gold. I was nowhere to be found.

(Recipe for Tamari Maple Marinated Soft Boiled Eggs follows)

The Ultimate Recovery Congee

May 18, 2021 Nora Dummer

I wrote this poem when he was just a couple of months old, when the night seeped into the day like an oil spill in fresh water, when our needs were an inseparable tangle of basics, when it was just the two of us at 4 in the morning, nursing in a dimly lit room. Having no free hands, I would roll the words around in my mouth, fitting them together like puzzle pieces, repeating them over and over to remember for a time when I had a pen, so in awe of the fact that this was a being who very shortly before, simply wasn’t.

(Recipe for The Ultimate Recovery Congee follows)

Sweet Potato Peanut Soup

January 25, 2021 Nora Dummer

I started working on my post-partum freezer when I was about 38 weeks pregnant. I’d like to say that by that point, the hospital bag was packed, the nursery was put together, the clothes were all neatly hanging with month-by-month dividers, but that just wasn’t the case. Our minds were frantic and our preparations mirrored that - half finished projects cluttered our small apartment. We were not ready for our new roommate.

(Recipe for Sweet Potato Peanut Soup follows)

Vegan Chocolate Tart with Walnut-Date Crust

December 13, 2020 Nora Dummer

In times like these, turning to the simplest recipes is not only a preference, it’s a requirement. That’s why I’ll be making this tart for the holidays. With a prep time of less than a half hour and less than 10 ingredients, I can make something deceivingly simply but seemingly decadent. If you’re short on time these days, I suggest you do the same.

(Recipe for Vegan Chocolate Tart with Walnut-Date Crust follows)

Carrot, Ginger and Lentil Soup

December 10, 2020 Nora Dummer

For a few weeks now, I’ve been planning to make this post about my recent experience with the labor of my son. The three days of contractions. The transferring to the birth center. The laboring in the water. The stalling of contractions. The transferring to the hospital. The submitting to all of the drugs and all of the interventions and all of the bright lighting that was absolutely, positively in no way a part of my original “birth plan”. The stalling of contractions (again). The eventual emergency c-section. The ups, the downs, the exhaustion. The surrender. This post was going to be about all of that. But, sometimes things don’t go as planned.

(Recipe for Carrot, Ginger, and Lentil Soup follows)

No-Bake Peanut Butter Chocolate Lactation Bars

November 1, 2020 Nora Dummer

In chapter 5 of Dostoyevsky’s The Idiot, a story is told of a man with five minutes left to live. Knowing this, he decides to intentionally divide his time into precious segments - two minutes to bid farewell to his companions, two minutes to examine his own life, and one minute to take a last look around. Recognizing that soon he would cease to be anything, he decides it fitting to concentrate on the glittering light emitted from the gilded spire of a distant church, willing himself to become one with it during the transition from life to death.

Three days out from the due date of birthing my first child, I feel a bit like this man…

(Recipe for No-Bake Peanut Butter Chocolate Lactation Bars follows)

Add some variety to nights at home, with a virtual cooking class.