STATE FAIR AND FESTIVAL FOODS !

Think you've seen everything that can be fried, battered and put on a stick?
You haven't. Soon it will county fair time and there will be plenty of new foods to try at the fairs and festivals this year. Along with candy apples and cotton candy there will be battered and deep fried everything from mudbugs to onion pops, whole belly clams and french fries. There will be cheese curds, baked potatoes, funnel cakes, corn dogs and apple fritters. Deep fried latte, fried strawberries, Snicker's bars and deep fried Twinkies. Frito pies and chips 'n' dips.
Still, can anything rival last year's fair frenzy? – when one of the new foods was copied at fairs coast to coast, featured on morning television and became the butt of jokes for late-night comedians? Fried Coke!
There's fried avocados, fried cookie dough, zesty fried guacamole bites. Peach cobbler on a Stick. Actually anything on stick sells great and is easy to eat.
Off the stick will be a fried chili, frito burritos, fried banana pudding and fried sweet potato pie. So get ready for the cow chip throwing, hog calling and watermelon seed spitting contests as the fall air gets cooler, and the fair foods aromas are wafting in the county fairs air.

Funnel Cakes Recipe:

1-2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 egg
1 cup milk
1/4 cup confectioner's sugar
In a mixing bowl, beat together egg and milk. Beat in flour, salt, baking soda, cream of tartar and granulated sugar until smooth.

Heat about 1 inch vegetable oil in frying pan to 375 degrees. Pour half-cup batter through funnel into oil with a circular motion to form a spiral. Fry until lightly brown; turn over to brown the other side. Cook to golden brown, and remove to drain on paper towels. Sprinkle with confectioner's sugar while still warm. Makes 5 to 10 cakes.


Sausage, Peppers & Onions Recipe:

8 Italian sausages (hot or mild)
4 or 5 green peppers, seeded and cut into strips
2 sweet onions, cut into strips
2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a Dutch oven or cast-iron frying pan put olive oil to coat bottom. Add green peppers and onions, and season with salt and pepper. Place Italian sausage on top of peppers and onions. Cover lightly with foil and bake for 45 minutes. Remove foil and bake another 7 to 8 minutes. Turn the sausages and bake another 7 to 8 minutes. Serve on crusty rolls. Serves 4 to 6.



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