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Best Midwest Recipes
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Grilled Ham and Corn Kabobs Fresh apricots make a surprise appearance in this skewered main dish -- perfect for a barbecue.
Best-Ever Raisin-Orange Bread Faith Mikita smiles when she remembers the honors that went to this bread. It captured Grand Champion, Best Bread of Show, and Best Bread of Class at the 1982 Illinois State Fair.
Sunrise Serenade Coffee Cake Myron Mikita, Jr., uses a doughnut cutter to form his soft, artistic yeast bread into this sunny shape.
Chunky Cherry-Cobbler Ice Cream Everyone knows how delicious freshly-baked fruit cobbler is when it's served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. This frozen specialty blends the two: together even more.
Judges' Choice German-Chocolate Ice Cream Former Iowa Governor Robert Ray awarded Joy and David McFarland a blue ribbon for this cool dessert.
Cherry-Berry Surprise Pie For her do-your-own-thing entry in the Indiana State Fair, Mary Alice Collins combined cherries and raspberries.
Pride-o'-the-Fair Chocolate Pie Super-quick to make and chocolaty -- that's Mary Alice Collins' winning pie.
Helen Rushton's Make-Ahead Piecrust When baking dozens of pies for the fair, Helen rolls and cuts her crusts several days before baking. Then, she stores them in the freezer to "set" the dough.
Van's Cranberry Fritters "Cranberry fritters are popular year-round," says George Van Beynen III, who brings these treats to the Cranberry Fest from nearby Woodruff, Wisconsin.
Cranberry Candy-Bar Cookies Irene Johnson, one of the winningest cook-off contestants ever, created these gooey bar cookies -- and took home a first prize.
Winner's-Circle Salad Gayle Johnson-Moravec, who keeps pace with her mother Irene when it comes to cranberry cook-off honors, created this gala two-tone salad.
Blue-Ribbon Cranberry Chicken This dinner winner is easy, colorful, and pleasantly tart.
Puffy Skillet Corn Fritters Corn flavors this double-duty side dish: It serves as a vegetable and a bread.
Spicy Corn-Stuffed Tomato Salad When summer gets steamy, team up these two abundant Midwest vegetables in a cool salad.
Corny Corn Bread Double your pleasure with this quintessential Midwest treat from your oven. It melds two wholesome flavors: corn and bacon.
