I had been blogging for a few years when Jonah Straus, my now-literary agent, reached out to see if I'd consider writing a cookbook. At the time, I didn't feel ready; I was still getting adjusted to life in the upper Midwest, and I was still finding my recipe voice.

Molly Yeh

When the chickpeas are still warm from boiling, you get warm hummus, which feels more like a meal. And it's not that hard. Just plan ahead, soak them all night, and dump them in the food processor.

Molly Yeh

The culture of home cooking is so strong.

Molly Yeh

There's never been a moment where I've tried to be somebody that I'm not.

Molly Yeh

I am that dork who packs a bike helmet in her suitcase.

Molly Yeh

I always enjoyed baking, but as far as eating, I always picked cheese fries over sweets.

Molly Yeh

I've put my whole heart into cooking dishes that I am passionate about on 'Girl Meets Farm', and this has been met with such great support from the whole team and the Food Network and now our viewers.

Molly Yeh

I treat every reader as if they were a close friend.

Molly Yeh

I'm not above jarred baby food, if it's good ingredients, for convenience sake.

Molly Yeh

Having an agent who had been through the process a million times and who could walk me through the process freed up a lot of mental space for me to just focus on the creative. I also worked with recipe testers, photographers, and assistants who were invaluable in creating a book that I'm truly proud of.

Molly Yeh

Question: How do you make a plate of hummus filling enough for a bunch of big burly farmers? Answer: Put meat all over it.

Molly Yeh

I got so excited, just talking about hummus to the Food Network. I feel like you don't see a lot of hummus and challah and shakshuka on the Food Network and that was really the meat of the process.

Molly Yeh

There were a lot of publishers that I loved, so the book went to auction. An auction is where you sit nervously by your phone and eat potato chips for two days waiting for your agent to text you numbers of the highest bid for each round. I ultimately went with Dervla Kelly at Rodale Books.

Molly Yeh

I love finding ways to bridge the gap between my heritage and my new farming community. An ingredient such as za'atar might be foreign, but throwing it into something familiar - a hot dish or an eggbake - makes it more approachable.

Molly Yeh

I keep everything in Notepad: shopping lists, to-do lists, recipe tasting notes, my blog content calendar, recipe inspiration, blog-post drafts.

Molly Yeh

It's never been my goal to create something that is found on the internet elsewhere. I only want to create things that are new.

Molly Yeh

I don't want to take up space with another avocado toast.

Molly Yeh

In most places in the Midwest, the best food is found in people's homes, on their farms, at church potlucks.

Molly Yeh

In the beginning, my blog was exclusively read by my mom.

Molly Yeh

I suddenly had all of this time on my hands, so I just threw myself into the blog and then worked on photos, recipe development and networking with other bloggers, growing a following and growing it into something that could be a business.

Molly Yeh

My greatest inspiration is my Chinese and Jewish heritage and my travels.

Molly Yeh