Rep. Tim Walz won the Minnesota Congressional Delegation's fourth annual hotdish competition this week. It's the second win in a row for Rep. Walz, who represents the first district spanning the southern border of the state. Sen. Al Franken began the cookoff contest four years ago as a way to bring the delegation together and to celebrate hotdish, the word Minnesotans use for casserole. Former Congressmen Vin Weber and Gerry Sikorski served as judges who did a blind testing of each dish. Rep. Walz's winning recipe this year was called “Turkey Trot Tater Tot Hotdish.” Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Rep. John Kline tied for second. Sen. Klobuchar's was a dessert called “’It’s So Cold My Hotdish Froze’ Dessert Hotdish” and Rep. John Kline’s was “Morning ‘Hot Chow’ Hotdish.” “Thank you … [Read more...]
In MN, A Chili Cookoff Exception To Food Safety Rules?
Rep. Joe Radinovich (DFL), the youngest member of Minnesota’s 2013-14 Legislature introduced two bills this week, one of them was about aligning high school graduation standards with college readiness, but that’s not the one people are talking about. Because the other bill has to do with winning prizes for chili. Radinovich, who is 26, co-authored a bill that would exempt chili and soup prepared for contests from the state food safety law that applies to potlucks. The “chili exception” would only apply to chili or soup prepared for cookoffs where: no fee is charged, food preparation volunteers have received food safety training and th efood id served in a cup or a bowl that bears the disclaimer: "Contents were prepared by volunteers trained in food safety, but consumers assume the risk … [Read more...]
