Loving Local Food – I launched this blog in February 2009 after Molly Hoyne suggested I start blogging about my passions. I started falling in love with food when I moved to Seattle six years ago and Loving Local Food was the outlet that finally helped me bring my culinary passion to the next level. I am able to share and connect with friends and family through food, regardless of whether or not we can all sit down at the table together.

Seattle Food Bloggers – I happened to mention Loving Local Food to a work acquaintance and within moments he was introducing me to Keren Brown via email. Keren (Frantic Foodie) organizes food blogger events throughout Seattle and is a master at networking within the food community. I have connected with numerous food bloggers, met professional food writers, and had the chance to take a class by well-known photographer, Lou Manna. The opportunities (or foodportunities as Keren would say) have been endless.

Food Writing Class – I signed up for Candace Dempsey’s food writing class this fall to learn a few professional tips and check an item off my life list. I was inspired to write an ode to my heritage with Minnesota Hotdish: A Farmwife Classic Your Family Will Love. I learned to craft pitch letters, read stories from professional food writers, and received invaluable feedback. The praise and constructive critique I acquired was reassurance I should continue to put words on paper.

West Seattle Winery LLC – This past summer, my husband and I converted our garage into a winery. It is fully licensed and bonded by the state and 2009 was our first commercial crush. We had long weekends and purple-stained fingers, but our wine babies are in barrels and demijohns and we are looking forward to their release in 2010. Next step? Creating a brand name for the winery. Any ideas?

A Greener Kitchen – After six months of researching vendors, building up inventory, and cursing at shopping carts we launched A Greener Kitchen. Officially released to the world on December 31, 2009, A Greener Kitchen was born out of my obsession with the kitchen and focuses entirely on eco-friendly kitchen tools, gadgets, and accessories.

Cheers to the progress made in 2009, and here’s to everything 2010 has waiting for us!

(Give this part your best Minnesotan accent. C’mon, give a whirl!) Have you ever heard of Ole and Lena? Vell, they live up north in Minnesota loving life and bumblin’ around.

Vell, don’tcha know, old Ole got sick and vus dyin’ in his bed. And vhile vaitin’ for her old husband to kick duh bucket, Lena started in to cookin’. She vus makin’ lefsa and a nice zucchini hotdish. Well, Old Ole, he loved nuttin’ better than Lena’s hotdish, and ven he smelled it from da deathbed, up he went to da kitchen. Vhen Lena saw dat he vas eatin’ a plate of hotdish and lefsa she took it from him and said, “Ole, vat are ya doin’? Dat hotdish is for duh funeral don’tcha know!”

Minnesotans love their hotdish – the home-style cousin of the casserole – and I would know, generations of my family, including me have called the state, and the dish, home.

Hotdish first got its start when budget-minded farm wives needed to feed their families, as well as congregations in the basements of the first Minnesota churches. It was a simple solution for stretching ingredients, especially pricey cuts of meat, while still being able to dazzle family, friends, and neighbors with something tasty and satisfying.

Also imagine Minnesota winters when the temp could drop to 40 below – a warm hotdish was a comfort food that was filling and foolproof – even in a wood-burning oven. Farm cooks everywhere embraced these hotdishes, and every family had a favorite. And they still do. Including mine.

When I was growing up, my aunt Connie and uncle Keith prepared wild rice hotdish every Sunday for our post-Mass get togethers. My mom often made tuna noodle hotdish with saltine crackers crumbled on top. For deer hunting season, my grandma whipped up her concoction of ground beef, shell pasta, corn, and cream of mushroom soup. Cream of anything soup is an essential base for any Minnesota hotdish.

Like Lena, my family also had a funeral hotdish – we didn’t use zucchini, but we saved our best combination of tomatoes, corn, hamburger, and elbow macaroni to mourn the loss of our elderly relatives and fellow church members.

Hotdish can literally be any combination of ingredients – if you asked 150 Minnesotans for their favorite hotdish recipe, you would get 150 recipes in return.

The word hotdish is so ingrained in me, that it wasn’t until I moved away from Minnesota that it dawned on me – other people might not know the meaning of the word. The first year I was in Seattle, my fellow co-workers and I threw together a potluck Thanksgiving dinner. We were discussing what to bring – pumpkin pie, mashed potatoes, dressing – and I uttered the phrase in every Minnesotan’s repertoire, “I’ll just bring a hotdish.” The confused stares I got back threw me off my game. “You know what a hotdish is, right?” My brave co-worker Evelyn, said, “oh yah, oh yah, it’s a plate and it gets hot, helps keep the food warm.” “Not exactly, it’s essentially a casserole.” It’s a funny comparison to me because the word “casserole” doesn’t hold the same feeling and tradition as the word “hotdish.”

I found this great quote from a fellow Minnesotan – She sums it up perfectly.

“Hotdishes are such a part of our history. They are the epitome of comfort foods and bring such satisfying memories to all Minnesotans.”      ~Linda M. Kopp, Staples, MN

From Ole and Lena with their Scandinavian accents to my grandma with her “oh you’se guys” to my mom and to me – the basics of the Minnesota hotdish remain the same whether or not the ingredients change.