Minnesota. Land of 10,000 lakes. And the hotdish.

Tonight we started with Minnesota, land of 10,000 lakes and the hotdish. Since everyone in the family, save me, was born in Minnesota, of course we had to start there.

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Minnesota's state food: the honeycrisp apple.

Every year me and my family go to an apple orchard(or grandpa and grandma’s) and pick the official food of Minnesota: honeycrisp apples, and are so popular because of their sweet taste (like honey) and the crisp crunch that occurs when bitten into.

A few years back, my grandpa (who has an obsession with apples trees and pigeons) helped up plant a honeycrisp tree in our yard and said we would get our first apple when I was in 4th grade. Well, I'm in 6th, and still no apples. This year we got some blossoms and I really hope we get an apple this year, though I have my doubts.

Since our honeycrisp is just starting to bloom, we decided to make apple crisp in honor of the state food.

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And there's an unofficial state food too.

While mom and I were researching, we stumbled upon Minnesota’s unofficial state food: the hotdish.

Since recipes for both goulash and apple crisp are passed down through the family and were some of the things my mom grew up eating, we figure, heck with it, and that's what we ended up with.

Dinner was planned.

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Serving it up Minnesota-style.

First we started with the apple crisp that afternoon. It's a family tradition to snack while baking, so that’s what we did. First peel and cut apples, and season them with cinnamon and sugar. Add the apples to your baking pan. Once finished with the apples, onto the crisp topping. Mix flour, sugar, and butter and then crumble on top of the apples. Bake, and it was done.

While that was baking, we made the goulash. We started by mixing together ground burger, cooked pasta, beans, and tomato sauce. Next up was my favorite part of my mom’s very technical instructions: throw a bunch of bleeeeeep in till it's about right. So that’s what we did. A bit of minced onion here, a bit of ketchup there….

Once we got everything together, into the oven it went. Half an hour later, and out of the oven it came. Serve it up, and dish it out.

It was better than I was expected, to be honest.

After we finished the goulash, we had the apple crisp with some ice cream. The apple crisp was very enjoyable.

So, if you ever travel to Minnesota (via cooking in the kitchen or otherwise), make sure to try at least one of these two delicious foods.