living our sweet midwest life

From “too much social talking” to podcast host.

Welcome to Funeral Potatoes & Wool Mittens podcast, a show for people who embrace the warm and cozy spirit of everyday living in the Midwest. Whether you cook, bake, or have food delivery on speed dial, everyone has a comforting recipe or story to share. We bake cookies for our kids’ hockey teams and bring cheesy hash browns to funerals. Lefse and krumkake are in our DNA. Candy bars and apples make a salad. We’ll ditch work for a lake day, drive an hour for an old-fashioned bakery, and don wool mittens at -20°F and shorts once it’s 50°F. 

Back to Grandma’s Basics and Handwritten Recipes with Wendy Doornink Funeral Potatoes & Wool Mittens

Have you thought about who you’ll pass down your handwritten recipes to? If you’re like Wendy Doornink and me, you have a mix of handwritten recipe cards from family, friends, neighbors, co-workers, and of course, yourself. This episode might make you think about who the next person might be to keep those cherished recipes in your family.  In our visit, Wendy shares recipes and sweet and fun stories from her grandmothers, and we talk about the correlation between the food basics and mental health. We’re kind of all over the place, there’s head cheese, raisins in the sheep pasture, and popcorn in the cookie box from grandma.  Wendy shares recipes for zucchini bread, pasties, pie crust, sweet yeast dough and caramel sauce for caramel rolls, and the coconut pie she uses as currency in her family. Those recipes and photos of Great Grandma Emma on a Farmall tractor and grandma Olga are on randomsweets.com. Staci Mergenthal RandomSweets.com #ourSweetMidwestLife Website randomsweets.com Instagram @potatoesandmittens Instagram @randomsweets Facebook Random Sweets Pinterest @staciperry Email: staci@randomsweets.com — Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/potatoesandmittens/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/potatoesandmittens/support
  1. Back to Grandma’s Basics and Handwritten Recipes with Wendy Doornink
  2. Buttery Caramels and Fancy Dishes with Liz Murphy of Betty’s Antiques
  3. Flock to Fork: Eggstravaganza and Deviled Eggs with Iowa Egg Council
  4. Fish Fry Friday Feeds the Soul with Ron Faiola
  5. From Cabinets to Sculleries and Floating Shelves: The Art of Your Kitchen Design With Carissa Trygstad
  6. Painting Personality and Vibes into Your Kitchen with Wendy Doornink
  7. From Pucks to Potlucks: Hockey Moms Stick Together
  8. Revolutionizing the Cafeteria: Farm to School Impacts Student Well-being and Local Agriculture
  9. Harvesting Hope: Iowa Teen’s 7,000-pound Garden Bounty Feeds Thousands, Aims to Triple Impact by 2025 with Lauren Schroeder
  10. Christmas Baking Recipes With My Mom Linda Moe