Batter up! You don’t have to be from the Midwest to feel like a part of the community we’re talking about today—that’s because our beloved Friday night fish fry welcomes people from around the world to sit across the table with each other at parish schools and fellowship halls, to supper clubs, taverns, and community centers to enjoy golden-fried or lightly baked fish alongside classic sides like coleslaw and potatoes.

Who better to talk with me about this Lenten tradition than Ron Faiola? He’s a filmmaker, director, and author who, in addition to his movies and books about Wisconsin supper clubs, has produced two movies about fish frys in Wisconsin. All four of his films were licensed and broadcast on PBS for several years. 

We’re covering everything from which side of Wisconsin serves rye bread at their fish frys, and how to know if you’re getting real lake perch, to how to find a fish fry in your community and why you want to skip the fork and eat fish with your fingers.

Ron Faiola

https://wisconsinsupperclubs.com

Club List

Movies

Facebook: Wisconsin Supper Clubs

Instagram: @wisconsin_supper_clubs

Wisconsin Supper Clubs—Second Edition (2023)

The Wisconsin Supper Clubs Story, An Illustrated History With Relish (2021)

Wisconsin Supper Clubs: Another Round (2016)

Wisconsin Supper Clubs, An Old Fashioned Experience (2013) 

It’s Lent. Do You Know Where Your Fish Fry Is? (Atlas Obscura article with Ron Faiola) 

Staci Mergenthal

RandomSweets.com

#ourSweetMidwestLife

Website randomsweets.com

Instagram @potatoesandmittens

Instagram @randomsweets

Facebook Random Sweets

Pinterest @staciperry

Email: [email protected]

On today’s show, we’re expanding on last week’s theme of incorporating personality into your kitchen as we sit down with expert designer, Carissa Trygstad, about what she’s seeing in kitchen trends and the classics, plus the revival of the scullery, and how it differs from a butler’s pantry. 

From cabinets to heated countertops, Carissa covers kitchen work zones, function and organization, floating shelves, appliances, cabinet hardware…everything including the kitchen sink, even a few tips for giving your kitchen a refresh without a remodel. 

While you listen to this episode, I recommend you visit showplacedesigncenter.com and showplacecabinetry.com for all sorts of ideas for your dream kitchen. Showplace Cabinetry Design Center is where you will find Carissa working with clients, and incorporating brands you love, plus the company’s South Dakota-made cabinets.

One thing I know for sure, no matter the style or age of our kitchen, the food is just as delicious, and family and friends are what make it the heart of our home. 

Show Notes & Links

Carissa Trygstad, Designer

[email protected]

Pinterest @carissaleight

Showplace Cabinetry Design Center

804 S Minnesota Ave., Sioux Falls, SD

Instagram @showplacedesigncentersd

Showplace Cabinetry

Instagram @showplacecabinets

Pinterest @showplacecab

Houzz @ Showplace Cabinetry Design Center

Bamboo Drawer Knife Block, (affiliate link) Carissa talked about this in the episode, but please note the price has increased since she purchased them.

Martha Stewart article about sculleries making a comeback

Staci Mergenthal

RandomSweets.com

#ourSweetMidwestLife

Website randomsweets.com

Instagram @potatoesandmittens

Instagram @randomsweets

Facebook Random Sweets

Pinterest @staciperry

Email: [email protected]

We're heading into the kitchen with Wendy Doornink, the color services manager at Hirshfield’s, a family-owned paint, wallcoverings and window fashions company headquarted in Minnesota. 

Wendy has been painting since she could hold a paint brush, so when Jason and I started talking about painting our kitchen and possibly even our cabinets, I knew I needed professional help.

Maybe you can relate. It's because I have a hard time choosing paint colors, for two main reasons—I’m worried I’ll choose a color that once it’s on the walls, I won’t like it. Second, as soon as I choose a color and like it, I find another I wish I would have used.

We cover timeless and daring paint colors, how to incorporate personality into our kitchens, painting cabinets, and we even talk about wallpaper and a few fun places to use it.

Show Notes & Links

Hirshfields.com

Blog

Facebook Hirshfield’s

Instagram @hirshfieldspaint

Pinterest @hirshfields

Hirshfield’s At Home Magazine

Hirshfield’s Design Resource Showroom

The Effects of Light on Color

Color 101

Staci Mergenthal

RandomSweets.com

#ourSweetMidwestLife

Website randomsweets.com

Instagram @potatoesandmittens

Instagram @randomsweets

Facebook Random Sweets

Pinterest @staciperry

Email: [email protected]

It’s hockey season and I live in Minnesota, the State of Hockey. And even though my kids played hockey in South Dakota where’s it’s not school-sanctioned, there’s one thing we have in common across the sport—once a hockey mom, always a hockey mom, even after our kids have shot their last puck as a high school player. We may not wear our player’s photo button on our puffy winter coats anymore, but we’ll always proudly wear the “hockey mom” title. 

It’s been a few years since my guests, Kathy Lesnar and Julie Pederson and I screamed from the bleachers together, so I thought it would be fun to swap a few stories and share the recipes that our hockey players loved at team breakfasts and potluck dinners—like caramel rolls, biscuits and gravy, crockpot spaghetti at the hotel, egg bake, pancakes and butterscotch muffins, and it wouldn’t be the Midwest if we didn’t include Casey’s breakfast pizza on that menu. 

From hotel hallway knee hockey, parent bonding over beer in the lobby, and driving to games in blizzards, lifelong friendships were formed on and off the ice—among players, parents, even grandparents.

So whatever sport or team your kids are, or were, involved in, I think you’ll be able to relate to our amusing and heartwarming recollection of our time as Brookings Ranger Hockey Moms.

Recipes and photos from this episode are on randomsweets.com.

breakfast egg bake

butterscotch muffins

cake batter pancakes

Staci Mergenthal:

Randomsweets.com

#ourSweetMidwestLife

Website: randomsweets.com 

Instagram: @potatoesandmittens

Instagram: @randomsweets

Facebook: Random Sweets

Email: [email protected]

We’re going back to school—to the school cafeteria, that is. And although I do ask about good ol’ square school lunch pizza, and the pairing of cinnamon rolls & chili, my guests, Karla Sawvell and Amanda Reilly are spilling the beans on how the Huron South Dakota School District is implementing Farm To School.

In addition to being one of the very few public school nutrition programs that cooks from scratch AND bakes all of their own bread, they are striving to serve fresh and local foods to 2,200 students each day.

You’ll come to the end of this episode knowing:

1.     How to champion your school district to cultivate a farm to school initiative if it isn’t already. 

2.     If you’re a farmer, rancher or producer, you can help revolutionize school lunch in your area.

3.     How many pounds of cheese, and the secret mixture of cheeses they use, to make 132 commercial-sized sheet pans of pizza in one day.

So grab your pencil box and sharpener, because it’s time to learn how local agriculture and school nutritionists are positively impacting student well-being and benefiting the community. The seasoned turnip fries with herb dipping sauce is on randomsweets.com.

National Farm To School Network

The Patrick Leahy Farm to School Program

Farm to School Planning Toolkit from USDA

Find the network in your state https://www.farmtoschool.org/our-network

Facebook: National Farm to School Network

Contact Amanda Reilly, Nutrition Director or Karla Sawvell, Farm2School Coordinator: [email protected] and [email protected]. 

#agriculture #food #schoolnutrition #farming #FarmToSchool

Staci Mergenthal:

Randomsweets.com

#ourSweetMidwestLife

Website: randomsweets.com 

Instagram: @potatoesandmittens

Instagram: @randomsweets

Facebook: Random Sweets

Today we’re heading to rural Dixon, Iowa to meet Lauren Schroeder and her mom Katie on their family farm, and Lauren’s FFA advisor and ag teacher, Jenna Kingsley. 

Lauren is a junior at Calamus-Wheatland High School. She shows sheep and rabbits at county fairs, plays softball and volleyball, she’s the junior class president, and somehow, Lauren, who is a three-time National FFA grant recipient and a My Impact Challenge Special Award winner, has found time to grow more than $15,300 in retail value of fruits and vegetables over the past two years and donate them to local nonprofits. 

Having already donated more than 7,000 pounds from her bounty of 25 different crops, Lauren will triple her impact when she meets her goal of expanding to two acres and growing and donating a total of 20,000 pounds of fresh produce to at least 10 organizations by the end of her community service project in the summer 2025.

We have a lot to talk about like where in the world Lauren came up with this idea, how many green beans she’s donated and how she likes to cook them at home, why she’s watering it all by hand with watering cans, how Jenna sees Lauren’s project inspiring others, and what impact her generous bounties have had on communities. 

Her mom, Katie shares her recipe for homemade spaghetti sauce, how Lauren gives with the goodness of her heart, and, a heartwarming story about the time she saw firsthand how the fresh produce affected a mom and her children at a domestic violence shelter.

While you’re listening, go to randomsweets.com to see the photos of Lauren with all her bounties and the recipes for green beans and spaghetti sauce.

Watch Lauren on ABC News: Teen harvests huge vegetable garden for charity. 

Lauren in the Washington Post: Iowa teen grew 7,000 pounds of veggies, then gave them all away

#ourSweetMidwestLife

Website: randomsweets.com 

Instagram: @potatoesandmittens

Instagram: @randomsweets

Facebook: Random Sweets

Email: [email protected]

Since I can remember, my mom, Linda Moe, has shared dozens and dozens of delicious goodies at our family’s Christmas gatherings.

Today we’re talking about most of them, like vintage treats from her mom like mashed potato candy, cherry bing bars, and fruit salad with a cooked pineapple dressing, and newer recipes she’s added over the years like Ritz cracker cookies, Corn Pops clusters, puppy chow, taco dip, veggie pizza, caramel corn chips, chex mix, and orange chewins cookies with orange slice candies. 

Of course, we love our bars in the Midwest so we’re reminiscing about the ones with our take on candy bars like Mounds and Babe Ruth, 9x13 pans that start with a box of cereal like s’mores, caramel rice krispies and peanut butter krispies treats, and our Christmas classics like 7-layer and mud hen bars.

We each share a funny memory from Christmases past, like what happened to my mom’s forgotten kisses, and why my sisters and I brought large totes with us to Christmas at mom’s one year and headed straight to her spare bedroom.

Get the recipes on randomsweets.com.

Staci Mergenthal

www.randomsweets.com

#ourSweetMidwestLife

Website: randomsweets.com 

Instagram: @potatoesandmittens

Instagram: @randomsweets

Facebook: Random Sweets

Email: [email protected]

Rural South Dakota friends since kindergarten and K-mart co-workers in high school, Carissa Trygstad and Val Ellens have a bond that even Val’s dense molasses cookies can’t break. 

They’re joining me today because I heard that Carissa hosts an annual ranch cracker snack mix tossing party, and to top it off, she weaves in a Christmas cookie exchange and an evening of cocktails and appetizers with their friends. Get the recipes and photos on ⁠randomsweets.com.

It hasn’t always gone as planned though, so along with Carissa’s snack mix recipe from her friend Lorna Nielsen and Val and Carissa’s tips for planning a successful night, these BFFs share some pretty funny stories from over the years. Like how they define the 5-second rule and why scented garbage bags aren’t on the list. 

Carissa has done this enough years now to know a few things about what works, what doesn't, and what to do when things go hilariously wrong. Like how a bag of snack mix ended up on the floor so now they use the large, heavy duty Ziplock bags. 

Carissa Trygstad: @carissatrygstad

Val Ellens: Instagram @valellens

Showplace Cabinetry: Instagram @showplacecabinets

Form Fitness: Instagram @formfitnessboutique

Staci Mergenthal

Randomsweets.com

#ourSweetMidwestLife

Website: randomsweets.com 

Instagram: @potatoesandmittens

Instagram: @randomsweets

Facebook: Random Sweets

Email: [email protected]

For Minnesota native and public relations professional Sarah Peterson, launching her own blog with family recipes helped her find her writing voice. But it didn’t take long for Sarah of Vintage Dish and Tell blog to expand her passion for handed-down recipes and the stories behind them by inviting others to share the cherished food and family traditions that are dear to their hearts. 

We talked about Aunt Jeannie’s famous lasagna parties and her friend Annette’s sugar cookies, which recipe earned Sarha the title of a Minnesota State Fair blue-ribbon baker, recipes to inspire you such as Carol’s Krispies Bars, Ede’s Cucumbers, Sarah’s Lucy's Juicy Tater Tot Hot Dish, gluten-free coffee rum cake with boozy buttercream, and chocolate chip shortbread, plus two cheesy hash brown casserole recipes.

Some people don’t like to share their secret thrift shops, but Sarah generously gave us the scoop on where she finds the best vintage wares and enjoys an afternoon of nostalgia in St. Paul and northern Minnesota. And bonus, she gives us a “local’s” list of where she goes out to eat in the Twin Cities or Duluth.

Recipes, photos, and recommendations from this episode available on Randomsweets.com.

Sarah Peterson

Blog: vintagedishandtell.com

Instagram: @vintagedishandtell

Facebook: Vintage Dish and Tell

Staci Mergenthal

Randomsweets.com

#ourSweetMidwestLife

Website: randomsweets.com 

Instagram: @potatoesandmittens

Instagram: @randomsweets

Facebook: Random Sweets

Email: [email protected]

This episode is dedicated to thanking you, a listener of Funeral Potatoes & Wool Mittens. Plus I share a few of my favorite Thanksgiving recipes, like sausage stuffing, pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, KAHLÚA pumpkin chocolate cheesecake, cherry crunchobblerumble, and pumpkin bars with maple cream cheese frosting. I'm also sharing ways you can support this podcast and a sneak peek into a few upcoming episodes. Thank you for pressing play today!

Recipes in this episode:

Sausage Stuffing

Cinnamon Chip Muffins

Pumpkin Bars with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

Buffalo Chicken Dip

Turkey Leftover Ideas

9 Recipes for Cheesy Hash Browns/Funeral Potatoes

Ham and Cheese Stuff’n Puff Breakfast Bake

Sausage Hash Brown Egg Bake

How to Smoke Cheese, Crackers and Summer Sausage

Salami Pasta Salad

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

Butterscotch Monkey Bread

Smoky Garlic Hummus

KAHLÚA and Chocolate Pumpkin Cheesecake

Cherry Crunchobberumble

Staci Mergenthal

⁠Randomsweets.com⁠

#ourSweetMidwestLife

Website: randomsweets.com 

Instagram: @potatoesandmittens

Instagram: @randomsweets

Facebook: Random Sweets

Email: ⁠[email protected]⁠