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Ham Radio: Cooking with Amy Thielen
6 p.m. Fridays, 1 p.m. Saturdays, 10 a.m. Sundays, May 23-June 27, 2025

In Northern Minnesota, food isn't just about what's on the plate. It's about how we show up for each other and the stories we tell.

Ham Radio: Cooking with Amy Thielen is an hour of authentic conversation, listener call-in and recipes to share. It’s cooking from here, for the people who live here, and for anyone hungry for something real.

Hosted by James Beard Award-winning cookbook author Amy Thielen, with producer Heidi Holtan, this KAXE / KBXE radio show and podcast celebrates the creativity and resourcefulness of rural home cooks. Each episode features a rogue band of culinary visionaries — from northern neighbors and foragers to cookbook authors and food thinkers from across the country.

Made possible in part by the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund of Minnesota.

Scroll down for our Community Recipes!

Latest Episodes
  • Minnesota James Beard Award-winning author and chef Amy Thielen along with KAXE Director of Content and Ham Radio sidekick Heidi Holtan divulge their mistakes in the garden and the kitchen this fall.
  • KAXE's "Ham Radio" host, cookbook author and James Beard award-winning Amy Thielen weighs in on sloppy Joes, fall harvests and recipes in Northern Minnesota.
  • Minnesota musician Jeremy Messersmith and Ham Radio host and James Beard Award-winning cookbook author Amy Thielen talk bars and cookies and food competitions.
  • Minnesota cookbook author Sarah Peterson brings to light recipes and connection to family and friends in "Dish and Tell: Recipes from the Heart."
  • Amy Thielen is a James Beard Award-winning cookbook author and cohost of "Ham Radio: Cooking with Amy Thielen" on KAXE. She lives in the rural Minnesota town of Two Inlets, where she occasionally has issues requiring her to wash dishes in the bathtub.
  • Minnesota James Beard Award-winning authors and chefs Amy Thielen and Hank Shaw talk about the new cookbook "Borderlands: Recipes and Stories from the Rio Grande to the Pacific."
  • Amy Thielen joined the KAXE Morning Show for a live conversation about holiday baking traditions.
  • "Ham Radio" host, cookbook author and James Beard award-winning Amy Thielen weighs in on sloppy Joes, fall harvests and recipes in Northern Minnesota, and Heidi and Amy share plans for the future of "Ham Radio"!
  • 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
  • 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

Community Recipes

Behind the Scenes Photos

Lorie Shaull
/
KAXE
Wally Everson of Hixton, Wisconsin, was a guest on the first episode of "Ham Radio: Cooking with Amy Thielen." He shared his method of creating and cooking lutefisk.