Funeral Potatoes & Wool Mittens

06/05/2025

Step into kitchens of the past! On the latest Funeral Potatoes & Wool Mittens podcast, I chat with the curators and designers from the Old Courthouse Museum in Sioux Falls about their exhibit Cooking Up History: The Evolution of Kitchens and Cookbooks.

We explore how kitchens transformed from open hearths to high-tech hubs, how cookbooks reveal cultural and social shifts, and how food traditions from immigrants and community cookbooks shaped what we eat today.

🎧 Listen to S3 Ep10 now in your favorite podcast app or on YouTube (audio only) https://youtu.be/_G3bE9PkoYA?si=CMMp29rLBRfXDpK7

📸 See photos + links: https://randomsweets.com/cooking-up-history-the-evolution-of-kitchens-and-cookbooks/

📍 Visit the exhibit: Old Courthouse Museum, Sioux Falls, SD

05/31/2025

🏕️ When you’re hanging out at your campsite this weekend and planning for your next camping trip, listen to my friend Jēnn Busé’s episode and check out some of her camping meals. She’s been doing this all her life.

From breakfast, lunch and dinner, to snacks and fireside treats, enjoy these recipes camping, picnicking or a summer day at home.

05/09/2025

If you’ve ever found joy in a perfectly rusted garden gate, an old Pyrex bowl like Grandma’s, or the thrill of repurposing a forgotten item into something useful again—this episode is for you.

In Season 3, Episode 9 of Funeral Potatoes & Wool Mittens, I visit with Sharon Hohler of Homeless Treasures—a one-of-a-kind shop tucked into the countryside just south of Tracy, MN. What started as a yard sale with a friend 14 years ago has become a beloved junking destination filled with antiques, oddities, and heartwarming stories.

We talk about “junking angels,” emotional attachments to belongings, reimagining old items (bedpan flower art, anyone?), and how Sharon finally nailed her banana muffin recipe after years of banana bread fails.

🎧 Listen to this new episode anywhere you get your podcasts

🟥YouTube (audio only) https://youtu.be/mMbRuVky7Iw?si=VtuTLySTIuwrR4wa

📖 Read the blog post https://randomsweets.com/junking-angels-homeless-treasures-tracy-mn/

📍 Then plan your visit to Homeless Treasures!

05/02/2025

What are you excited to make first? There’s lots of pick-your-own asparagus ready at Sanderson Gardens. And by next week, the rhubarb will be good for picking too!

Jan Sanderson talks about how to plant and pick asparagus, rhubarb, strawberries, raspberries, and pumpkins in this episode. Learn about his growing operation east of Brookings, SD: https://randomsweets.com/fresh-pickings-with-jan-sanderson-of-sanderson-gardens/

Families come to Sanderson Gardens for asparagus, strawberries, rhubarb, raspberries and pumpkins. Meet Jan Sanderson, the Rhubarb King.

04/25/2025

Time for me to order more South Dakota oats. I ate my last pouch of Anthem Oats oatmeal this morning. Maple pecan and pumpkin spice are my favorites. I’ll be packing the pouches for an upcoming vacation too. Have you tried them yet?

https://randomsweets.com/anthem-oats-with-fifth-generation-south-dakota-farmers/

Meet fifth-generation value-added agriculture farmers, Taylor and Cassandra Sumption, the owners behind the premium oat company, Anthem Oats.

04/19/2025

Are you making cheesy hash browns, aka funeral potatoes, for Easter? On TV this week, I talked about my recipe and lots of ideas for toppings, soups, and seasonings to jazz up the iconic dish. Have you used Top the Tater instead of sour cream? Do it! and top it with Old Dutch Foods dill pickle chips—Ashley and Mitchell LOVED it this way!

Watch on Keloland Living https://www.keloland.com/keloland-living/cheesy-hash-browns-or-funeral-potatoes/

I also share the reason why I named my podcast Funeral Potatoes & Wool Mittens.

My recipe and 8 others here: https://randomsweets.com/9-cheesy-hash-brown-casserole-and-funeral-potatoes-recipes-one-is-cheese-free/

Cheesy hash browns are known by many names, and they can be made in a handful of ways depending on what state you’re in. Yet anywhere you go, a dish of cheesy hash browns serves the same purp…

03/05/2025

It’s officially fish fry season! 🐟

Who better to talk about the Lenten tradition than Ron Faiola of Wisconsin Supper Clubs? 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.

Ron publishes the website, Wisconsin Supper Clubs (wisconsinsupperclubs.com) where he shares, and keeps updated, a comprehensive list of supper clubs broken into five regions in Wisconsin. https://wisconsinsupperclubs.com/club-list/

Listen to Funeral Potatoes & Wool Mittens anywhere you play podcasts—Season 2 Episode 17, March 22, 2024.

https://randomsweets.com/fish-fry-friday-feeds-the-soul-with-ron-faiola/

Batter up! You don’t have to be from the Midwest to feel like a part of the community we’re talking about in this week’s podcast episode—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 fell...

02/14/2025

“Some people call these funeral potatoes.”

https://fox11online.com/living/living-recipes/cheesy-hash-brown-bake #

The Stock Sisters make their favorite cheesy potato recipe on Fox 11's Living show.

02/14/2025

This is such a neat concept. I feel like I should do a podcast episode with them. What do you think?

Thanks, Pigeon605 for sharing their story!

“We’ll have a place for the food that would otherwise not have a place to go." A new effort to address food waste could mean big community benefits.

02/04/2025

Season 3 Episode 8 is ready for you!
"Fishing, Foraging and Exploring: Midwestern Alice’s Alaskan Adventures"

Born and raised in South Dakota, Alice Klopstad stayed for college and the start of her corporate career. Then Alaska captured her heart and now she calls it home. Join me in hearing Alice’s adventurous and inspiring story of moving to a place where she’s embraced the outdoor lifestyle—hiking, snow machining, fishing, foraging, and filling an entire freezer with fresh-caught halibut and salmon.

When she’s not out exploring, Alice is baking sourdough bread, sewing and quilting, cozying up with books from the Anchorage Library, planning her next international travel adventure, visiting family, or responding to “moose down” texts from friends, summoning her to help when their hunt is successful.

Alice shares three of her favorite recipes: roasted shrimp enchiladas, her Grandma Joyce’s Danish butter cookies, and a comforting classic from her friend Jill—potatoes Romanoff.

Listen everywhere podcasts are available, including (audio only) on YouTube: https://youtu.be/ZqGdmC9ZUto?si=gRHReTzdUqX5-Mwr

View this episode’s photos and recipes: https://randomsweets.com/potatoes-romanoff-danish-butter-cookies-and-shrimp-enchiladas-with-alice-in-alaska/

01/11/2025

64% of Funeral Potatoes & Wool Mittens listeners are tuning in from Apple Podcasts. If you’re an Android user and want to use Apple Podcasts too, here’s how.

Got an Android phone? You can get Apple Podcasts on it, with these three steps. No iPhone required!

12/25/2024

🎄 Merry Christmas! 🎄

May God bless your day.

Love,
Staci, Jason, Kalani and Sajen