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walleye opener

May 5, 2023Sarah

Spring Is FINALLY Here. Cue the Confetti (and cake)! It’s so nice to see green grass again (or grass at all!), the trees budding and tulips…

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When I need a little recipe inspiration, my mom’s

When I need a little recipe inspiration, my mom’s old Rubbermaid full of the family favorites I grew up with always comes through. I love this recipe for tuna salad…and apparently she did too, judging by how worn it is around the edges. 😂

Seeing the recipe sent me scrolling through old photos, and I found this one of the tuna salad complete with a side of toast of course! It was one of the last meals I had at my parents’ house with both my mom and dad.

We shared a lot of meals around that table, just the three of us, during my dad’s last few years. Nothing fancy, often the simplest of meals, but I’ll forever cherish those memories and think of my dad whenever I see shoestring potatoes!💕

Thanks to the Star Tribune for inviting me to take

Thanks to the Star Tribune for inviting me to take part in its day of cooking demos yesterday at the Minnesota State Fair! I loved seeing so many friends, family members and neighbors show up—and even a few of the recipe contributors featured in Dish & Tell: Recipes from the Heart.😘

Doing a full-on cooking demo like this (IN FRONT OF AN AUDIENCE!) is a bit new to me, but I was so glad to have Lucy by my side (along with my emotional support squishy butter!! 😂). We made Juicy Lucy Tater Tot Hotdish and Chocolate Chip Shortbread Cookies—two recipes from my cookbook that also happen to have earned ribbons at past State Fairs! We served up samples and shared handwritten recipe cards with attendees, which made the whole experience even more special.

I was so honored to have my demos sandwiched between the talented, multi blue ribbon award-winning @tenthousandbakes, who is as sweet as her fabulous baked goods, and @thatmidwesternmom, who REALLY knows how to entertain a crowd and whose mixing spoons accidentally got sent home with me! Amber, I promise I didn’t steal them! Now I just need to figure out how to reunite you with your spoons…😜

When the @startribune asked me to be part of a day

When the @startribune asked me to be part of a day of cooking demos in the Cambria Kitchen at the Minnesota State Fair, my answer was pretty much immediate: YES!

The Creative Activities Building has always been one of my favorite stops at the fair. I love wandering through to admire the incredible baked goods, check out the ribbon winners and watch the cooking demos. And in recent years, it’s been fun to pop in throughout the fair to visit my own entries after being lucky enough to earn a few ribbons. 😊

So it feels pretty special that tomorrow, I’ll be on the other side of the counter—demoing two of my own State Fair ribbon-winning recipes!

12:00 p.m. | Juicy Lucy Tater Tot Hotdish
2:00 p.m. | My mom’s Chocolate Chip Shortbread Cookies💕

Both recipes are also featured in my cookbook “Dish & Tell: Recipes from the Heart,” which you can find at the fair at the I Like You booth in the West End Market. Maybe grab a copy on your way over and bring it to the demo—I’d love to sign it for you!

If you’re heading to the fair tomorrow, please come find me in the Cambria Kitchen in the Creative Activities Building. And yes, there will be samples! 😘

Lookie here at what just showed up! 🥰 I am so ex

Lookie here at what just showed up! 🥰

I am so excited to have a fresh new batch of hand-painted recipe boxes, just in time for my fall events. Each one is hand-painted by my friend @opethatsemily so no two are exactly alike. They’re made to be a sweet little home for the recipes you love most: the handwritten ones that have been handed down or maybe the ones you don’t want to lose track of and deserve a permanent spot on your counter.💕

I’ll have these beauties (along with my vintage-style recipe cards) with me at several events this fall. If you would like me to set one aside, just send me a message or reach out through the link in my bio.

And a big thank-you to Emily for bringing these little recipe homes to life. ❤️

If you know me, you know I really love the @mnstat

If you know me, you know I really love the @mnstatefair! In my latest Substack, I share more about my lifelong love of the fair and how it has evolved through the years, including my dabble into Blue Ribbon baking!

I hope you will read it (there is a link to my Substack in my bio) and that you will come visit me on Sept 1 when I will be part of the Star Tribune’s day of food demos and conversations in the Cambria Kitchen in the Creative Activities building!🤗

What is that saying, “my loss is your gain?”😜 I

What is that saying, “my loss is your gain?”😜

I intended to enter these “Salami Chips & Dip On-A-Sticks” in the “Recipe Round-Up: Street Food Feast” category of the Minnesota State Fair Blue Ribbon Baking Competition today, but oh my goodness, I underestimated the number of proud Minnesotan bakers/home cooks who would show up to enter their items. The line was the longest I have ever seen it, and Charlie and I just didn’t have the patience today.

Kudos to all those @blueribbonfoodies who did…especially the gal with the drop-dead gorgeous decorated cake we ran into toward the very end of the line. I am so curious to know how long it took her to get registered and hope that her beautiful cake survived the wait!

So, while these little guys did not make it into the competition, I’m sharing the recipe with you instead.

It’s a twist on the salami chips in my cookbook, “Dish & Tell: Recipes from the Heart,” reimagined as a portable street food to fit the competition category. And honestly? They might be even more fun this way. Think party appetizer, boat snack, picnic food or something fun to eat on the go! 😘

Salami Chips & Dip On-A-Stick
Makes 6 servings

Ingredients
1 (4-ounce) package hard salami e.g., Applegate (or purchase salami at the deli and have them slice it very thin)
1 (1 lb) container sour cream
Fresh basil
Cherry tomatoes for garnish

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees if using a convection (recommended) or 350 degrees if conventional.

Thread wooden skewers with six salami slices. Place skewers atop a wire baking rack on a cookie sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes, turning halfway through baking time, until crisp and browned with ruffled edges. Let chips cool. Garnish skewers with cherry tomatoes. To make the dip, add freshly torn basil to sour cream and portion the (appx 3 tablespoons) into paper condiment or souffle cups.

The Dish: Calico Beans. If you haven’t had them,

The Dish: Calico Beans.

If you haven’t had them, they are a sweeter, meatier version of baked beans!

The Tell: I made this recipe recently and was reminded of how much I love calico beans and how a recipe (this recipe card belonged to my mom) can take me right back to memories of my mom’s kitchen. Something fun…one of my mom friends in her senior living community, Bev, shared a similar recipe at my book event there last spring. It was so fun to swap recipes and food memories with many of the residents.

I have since become friends with Bev and brought her a small container of the calico beans last week. She was so touched, she told me with tears in her eyes, “I never thought I’d have these beans again!”

It was so special to see how the beans gave Bev a little taste of home, too. And I think that’s one of the best things a recipe can do!💕

Are you swimming in cherry tomatoes right now? If

Are you swimming in cherry tomatoes right now? If so, lucky you! Here is a fun idea to use them up…it’s a dandy little appetizer for BLT Bites from my cookbook “Dish and Tell: Recipes from the Heart.”

And if the idea of scooping the pulp out of teeny tiny tomatoes stresses you out, swipe to see the handy tool we all need in our kitchen drawers! 😘

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About Vintage Dish and Tell

Welcome to my blog where you will find cherished, tried-and-true recipes from my family to yours. Sign up with your email address to receive the latest recipes!

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