Morgan, Author at Clay Coyote

My love of the Mini Savory Pie

January 19, 2023 By Morgan

Hello, I’m Nic and I’ve been with Clay Coyote since this summer. As an introduction I thought I would start in the same spot I like to point people to who are just starting their flameware collections, or trying flameware out to see what it’s all about. The Mini Savory Pie Plate is a great place to start a collection or dip a toe in to try the waters.

As someone who has recently (around 6 months) started cooking with Clay Coyote flameware themselves, it is easy to recommend the Mini Savory Pie Plate. The price point is half or even a third the cost of the Mini Savory’s larger or more specialized older siblings, and is a good place to start if your curious about cooking with clay. The Mini Savory is the perfect size to cook for one or two people.

I like to use my Mini Savory Pie Plate almost every day, as a cooking vessel and to be honest I use it a lot of days as my meal or snack plate. The Mini is the perfect size to cook a couple eggs in the morning, and is just the right size to cook a couple large chicken breasts or 4 chicken thighs, just the perfect amount for a personal meal with left overs or a quiet dinner for two.

On the days where I don’t have the creative cooking juices flowing, I still find myself reaching to the un-official home of my Mini Savory, the kitchen drying rack. It is the perfect size to fill with popcorn or chips and stream an episode or two of your favorite show. Overall the Mini Savory Pie Plate is a low risk high reward way to get into the world of cooking with pottery.

FAQ: Do you offer pottery classes for different levels?

December 7, 2022 By Morgan

Do you offer pottery classes for different levels? This is one of the most common questions we get.

Throughout the year we do have opportunities to get your hands dirty (MN Pottery Festival in July, ornament making in December). And we are going to bring back our handbuilding workshops in 2023. We also offer educational tours of our studio 5-days a week.

But most of the time when asked about classes, I like to point you to some of our friends that are better set up for teaching programs.

Here’s a few we recommend organized by type of classes available at the time of writing. Please check their links for the most accurate class types, pricing, dates, and more.

Date Nights, Group Events, & Short Term Classes

Dock 6 Pottery in St. Anthony
They’re new space in St. Anthony is larger and they’re offering even more classes from handbuilding, to wheel throwing, open studio, and wine nights. Our friend Kerry Brooks and her team put on great classes.

Caufield Clayworks in St. Paul
Kevin has been doing date night and group wheel throwing classes for years. They crank up the music and get funky, a great setting for couples and friends to relax, have a glass of wine, and get dirty. Pro tip: check Groupon for discounts.

Pig’s Eye Pottery at Great River Gallery in St. Paul
Great for private groups. Reach out to Jason to set up a team-building or family affair. Pro tip: come early to grab donuts next door at Mojo Monkey.

Weeks-Long Programs

Maine Prairie Studio in Kimball
JD & Megan Jorgenson (who are also on the Studio Team at the Clay Coyote) have their own studio and classroom space just 30 minutes North of Hutchinson. They offer 10-week classes to dig in and hone your skills. Their classes also come with open studio access and materials.

Northern Clay Center in Minneapolis
One of the premier clay centers in the USA. Visit their site to see all of the classroom options and

Kiln Space

Fired Up in Golden Valley
They’ve been around for years, take classes, reserve studio stalls, or rent kiln space.

The Workshop MPLS in the Nokomis East neighborhood of Minneapolis
While we don’t personally know the team there, we have heard great things. Check out their site for classes and kiln space rentals.

Community Centers

Hutchinson Center for the Arts
Right here in Hutchinson, the HCA has a variety of classes and programming for all ages. Check out their calendar for upcoming opportunities.

Dassel-Cokato Community Center
Check out their calendar for upcoming opportunities.

Bird Island Culture Centre
Check out their calendar for upcoming opportunities.

Minnetonka Center for the Arts
We love the teaching team at this Western-Metro clay mecca. Take classes, rent studio space, and join a community of clay-loving enthusiasts.

PS: This list is not exhaustive, and sometimes places close or change direction. We didn’t list every class or teacher in the region. If you know of a program that should be listed please email us at [email protected]

Egg Strata in a Cazuela

December 3, 2022 By Morgan

I share this recipe verbally almost daily at the Gallery. It’s from Smitten Kitchen, via my mother-in-law, and modified with local ingredients. I used our Clay Coyote Flameware Cazuela so I could start it on the stove and finish it in the oven.

Egg Strata

8-10 eggs beaten
½ cup milk or cream
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
2 cups day old bread, cubed
½ onion, diced
8 oz frozen spinach, drained
(optional) 8 oz shredded cheese, any kind
(optional) 1 cup meat (bacon, ham, or sausage)
Salt and pepper
Olive oil

Saute onions and spinach in oil. Beat eggs, milk, mustard, and salt/pepper. Spread cubed bread out, spread spinach and onion, and pour egg mixture over.

I normally make it the day ahead, then the morning I’m going to bake it I take it out of the fridge for about an hour to let it come to room temperature. That gives the custard a great place to start in the oven.

Bake for 60-75 minutes in a 350ºF oven. The top will be lightly browned and when jiggled and the middle doesn’t move a lot. Remove from the oven and let it set for at least 10 minutes.

Our Commitment to the Environment

November 26, 2022 By Morgan

We take our commitment to the environment very seriously at the Clay Coyote, and we’re always looking for ways to improve and be more environmentally thoughtful.

When you order from us we use environmentally friendly packing materials whenever possible. For example, 95% of our peanuts are biodegradable, decompose in water leaving no toxic waste, and are FDA compliant. We specifically purchase them for that reason. The other 5% are reused from other shipments we receive, our own version of recycling through multi-use.

We’ve tried a paper cushion, to replace peanuts, but we found that the paper cushion offers less shock absorption and significantly more breakage, resulting in a greater carbon footprint – remaking, repackaging, and redelivering. For example, the year before switching to the biodegradable peanuts, we had 35 UPS claims for broken products, the next year we had 1.

And, all of the paper used in our packing is recycled from our local newspaper company.

Finally, over the last several years we have doubled down on our commitment to the environment and instituted many new green initiatives at our small company.

We reduced our energy usage by 94% shifting from halogen to LED lighting.
We also began using load management with our local power company so that we’re not using electricity in high-volume times.

We take our responsibility to protect the environment very seriously and we’ll be sure to update you when we make changes to strengthen that commitment. Make sure to keep an eye on our blog here and follow us on Instagram here to stay up to date!

I hope that you’ll consider supporting our small business in the future.

Small Business Saturday: Shop The Block Downtown Hutchinson

November 22, 2022 By Morgan

In 2010 Small Business Saturday was founded to encourage holiday shoppers to patronize brick and mortar businesses that are small and local. Since then it has grown to be a day where people get out to #shopsmall and support their favorite locally-owned businesses.

In Hutchinson, our Chamber of Commerce and Hutchinson Ambassadors groups don red elf outfits and bring joy and thanks to customers who are visiting locally-owned small businesses.

This year, they’ll be hosting a ping-pong hunt in Library Square Park, all the balls correlate to prize packs of gift cards and grand prizes from local establishments. The Hunt will take place at 10am on Saturday, November 26th. And then the elfs will go out into the community serendipitously handing out gift cards and prizes to unsuspecting shoppers.

At the Clay Coyote we will be offering 15% off our pottery (in store only).

We also hope that while you’re visiting us you stop by some of our neighbors and shop the block!

We love these small shops that are all within one block of the Clay Coyote (there is plenty of free street parking):

Quilt Haven on Main: Known as one of the 10 ten quilt shops in the USA (according to Better Homes and Garden Magazine).
Olita (gift shop): Owner Jill and her daughter design leather goods and offer many different gifts from local jewelry, drink mixes, candles, and a little kids section.
Let It Grow (plant shop): New in 2022, it’s like you stepped into the tropics or the plant shop in Little Shop of Horrors (but without Audrey 2). The team will help even the worst gardner (ah hem) find a plant to bring green joy.
BG Jewelry: A new locally owned jewlery store, ask Brian to find or create just the right peice.
Purse-a-nalities (women’s boutique): I was looking for a top recently, she talked me into three. You’ll love their scarves too!
Carly’s Shoes: I recently described this shoe shop as old fashioned like when you were a kid and got your feet measured on the silver slider tray … and I meant it in the very nicest way. I love the you can get great customer service, find the right fit, while buying quality shoes.
Crow River Floral: When I need flowers I call Jeanie and her team. Their flowers are fresh and last longer than anywhere else. They also have a ton of holiday decor and inspiration.
Hutchinson Center for the Arts: Check out their new exhbit, Inspired by Nature: Relief Prints by Glenna Olson, and their small retail gallery too. Sign up to take their Relief Printmaking Workshop in January!
Auxiliary Thrift Shop: This is a thrifter’s dream. All volunteer run, the proceeds go back into the community to the Hutchinson Health Foundation to help with improvements to Hutchinson Health.
Amazing Grace (women’s boutique): On-trend clothing and fun seasonal accessories.
By Mae (clothing and housewares): One of the only plus sized clothing boutiques in Minnesota. Shop owner Emily tells me that it’s so hard for women to find plus sized clothing online because you really need to try it on. She’s got you covered.
Main Street Antiques: Stalls and stalls and stalls of everything you’ve ever wanted. Make sure you go upstairs where the furniture is and stop into the coin shop in the back.

Need a little sustenance after all that shopping? Hutchinson is full many wonderful local places to enjoy a meal. These are all near us in Downtown:

Dunn Brother’s (coffee and light fare)
Sonora’s Mexican (lunch and dinner)
River House Kitchen & Drinks (breakfast, lunch, and dinner)
Flank Steakhouse (lunch and dinner)
Main Street Sports Bar (lunch and dinner)
Muddy Cow (lunch and dinner)
DQ (ice cream and grill)

Venture out a little further to a few of our favorite local haunts:

Bobbing Bobber Brewery
Crow River Winery
Jomas Hill Winery