"heidi swanson" news and stories

101 Cookbooks was one of the very first blogs I started reading, way back in the fall of 2004, when I was first discovering the wonderful world of the blogosphere. I was thrilled when Heidi released her gorgeously photographed and thoughtfully written book, Super Natural Cooking, in 2007.

If you're looking for a way to incorporate more whole grains into your diet (as all the studies say you should), this is a great book to turn to. Not only are there lots of recipes that include whole grains (as well as natural sweeteners, super foods and greens), Heidi is careful to tell include an exhaustive section that details the benefits, cooking times and flavor palates of the different grains that she uses.

If that bowl of soup on the cover of the book looks tasty to you, you're in luck, as the recipe for it appeared on Design*Sponge a couple of weeks ago. It's for Spring Minestrone (how appropriate!) and sounds delicious.

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Today's featured photo comes to us from Tiny Morsels and is of a series of nicely plated Power Ball Snacks. The recipe originally comes from Heidi Swanson's Super Natural Cooking (Heidi is one of my very favorite food bloggers) and Tiny Morsels has adapted it slightly to ensure that it is gluten free.

Thanks to everyone who has joined the Slashfood Flickr group recently and has been adding pictures to our pool. I also loved seeing all the pictures of your favorite kitchen things. Keep them coming!

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I started reading blogs sometime around the beginning of 2003 (looking back, it seems inconceivable that there was ever even a time when I wasn't reading blogs, so thoroughly have they become part of my life). One of the very first food blogs I discovered and read consistently was 101 Cookbooks. Heidi's writing, creative recipes and gorgeous pictures kept me enthralled and I still shout a little internal 'yay!' when a new post from her pops up in my RSS reader. When her book, Super Natural Cooking, came out I tried to hold out for a major gift-giving holiday, but didn't last a week before placing my order.

I think the picture (that you see above) that she posted on Tuesday of a pan of madeleines, some of the molds empty and all the cookies flipped to show off their ridges is just gorgeous. I admit that my fascination with her (actually, her friend Lanha's) madeleines might have something to do with the fact that I read Swann's Way last semester for my Narrativity Theory class and so am very conscious of the madeleine's ability to evoke a taste memory. Proustian references aside, this recipe confirms what my next kitchen tool purchase will be. The only question is, do I buy the classic size, or the mini?

Even if I weren't already absolutely enamored of cauliflower soups, I would be fawning and sighing all over this photograph of Cauliflower and Gorgonzola Soup that Heidi Swanson has posted on her food blog, 101 Cookbooks. I think it might actually be the petal-shaped bowls, but I can't be sure, since if it were foie gras in there, I doubt I'd feel the same way.

The soup is fairly simple to make, as Heidi has written in her adaptation of the original from a cookbook called A Year in My Kitchen by Skye Gyngell. I am intrigued by the idea of adding some flavor punch with blue cheese, as I have made a cauliflower soup before, but relied fairly heavily on roasted garlic for flavor.