True North Cabin Cookbook
Volume Two: Seasonal Recipes from a Cozy Kitchen
Dishing up regional flavor, the second volume of Stephanie Hansen’s True North Cabin Cookbook series includes seasonal recipes and heartfelt tales for the cooler months.
October is full of cozy, hearty soups, sheet pan meals, and pumpkin recipes, as for Pumpkin Spice Cream to use in autumnal cold brews and hot lattes. This fall fare is paired with nostalgic reminiscences about Hansen’s Twin Cities life and memories of kitchen time with her mother and grandmother. Festive holiday recipes and stories ensue, with crowd-pleasing Scandinavian influences dominating, including Swedish meatballs, elegant cocktails like Cranberry French 75 (a zippy concoction of gin, cranberry simple syrup, lemon, and sparkling wine), and Hansen’s mother’s Cherries in the Snow dessert.
Winter entertaining involves elaborate home dinners and cheesy dips, old-school goulashes, ragus, and hot dishes like iconic Midwestern casseroles. Some recipes vie to be declared the most Minnesotan, as with the Juicy Lucy Cheeseburger Tater Tot Hot Dish and Beer Cheese Wild Rice Soup, otherwise known as Minnesota in a Bowl. Scandinavian dill and pickles are often featured, but the book plays with Asian flavors too, as with the Gochujang Kimchi Meatloaf Muffins and in recipes spiked with lemongrass and ginger. As light and warmth return in early spring, hot, creamy drinks and main dishes are swapped for lighter fare, like Basil Lemonade.
The book is marked by personalized elements, too, as with Hansen noting that her efforts to gussy up the traditional Thanksgiving meal clashed with her family’s requirements for store-bought stuffing mix, canned cranberry sauce, and frozen peas. Indeed, humorous stories and poignant accounts abound, as with a story about surviving breast cancer and memories of lost loved ones.
Seasonal Recipes from a Cozy Kitchen is a fun cookbook that oozes Minnesota charm.
Reviewed by
Rachel Jagareski
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. No fee was paid by the publisher for this review. Foreword Reviews only recommends books that we love. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
