The Supper Club RSS

The real sign for how good a potluck is, is by the number of pans of bars that are sitting at the end of the picnic table. Made in a 9x13 pan, bars are kind of like a cookie but not quite, and usually involve some combination of nuts, chocolate, cereal, marshmallows or fruit. I've been trying to find a decisive answer about why they became such a staple at every. single. midwest event. Honestly, I think it's because they require some of the least effort for any dessert. It's not that midwesterners are lazy, we're just efficient. Nothing is more efficient...

One of my favorite ice breakers to ask people is if each of your hands had a finger gun that could shoot condiments out of it on demand, what two would they be? My first answer is always mustard, then usually some sort of hot sauce. Don’t get me wrong, ranch is great, but at my core I am a mustard girl. Now the type of mustard can change, sometimes I want a spicy brown mustard, or horseradish mustard that will clear your nose out, but I’ll still go for a classic French’s yellow, I’m no snob. Making your own...

If you drive anywhere in the UP you are guaranteed to pass by sign after sign advertising homemade pasties. It’s like the equivalent of billboards for Wall Drug in South Dakota (except a much better end result in my opinion). Growing up in the suburbs of Minneapolis I had never heard of pasties, they just weren’t really a thing ( much more hotdish focused region). When I was 16 I helped my aunt drive on a road trip from Minneapolis to just over the Mackinac Bridge, and we were both intrigued over what the hell all of these handmade wooden...

Also known as “Apple Pie Moonshine” which might be offensive to anyone down south since this is made in a crock pot and not a still. It’s more like midwestern moonshine, and while you aren’t actually distilling your own liquor, depending on where you live, you may have to play bootlegger and make a run across the border to find the everclear if you’re one of the 14 states where it is illegal. This stuff is delicious, but deadly. From personal experience it goes down so sweet and smoothe, but after passing a bottle around one too many times at...

One of my favorite thing to do when thrifting is flipping through copies of old “church” cookbooks. They are great for finding classics like the best banana bread, or any recipe that reminds you of your grandma, but also a good laugh at some of the more… “interesting” recipes, (aka midwestern for “that sounds terrible.”) One of those is this Beer and Sauerkraut Fudge cake Nola Olson in the “St. Luke’s Hospital Cookbook.” The recipe even includes a note at the end encouraging “Don’t let the ingredients fool you. It’s good!” Now I love beer, I love sauerkraut and I...