Tour of Fifty States: Louisiana's meal

This weekend was our first visit to the pool!  With Bill's recent skin cancer, we knew we needed to lather everyone up with sunblock.  One of our young'uns didn't do a good job spreading the sunblock all over his/her back, so that one got a pretty good burn...lesson learned by all of us...we'll be doing a better job getting their backs covered. 

After the pool, we got this meal put together in about 2 hours.  The next meal might not be for another 3 or 4 weeks, due to schedule changes and a potential trip to Dollywood in Tennessee to see the kids' big sister Kirstin.

Menu: Jambalaya, Pepper Jack Cheesy Cornbread, New Orleans Style Bread Pudding with Whiskey Sauce
Outcome:  The jambalaya was a little bland, so I added an additional two teaspoons of the Cajun seasoning....just right.  I used brown rice instead of white rice, so after 20 minutes of simmering time it was nowhere near cooked -- I ended up letting it simmer for almost an hour for the rice to be cooked enough.    I made the cornbread into muffins and these were spicy yet really went well with the jambalaya. The bread pudding was a hit, although very rich.  No one could eat seconds of it, so we'll be having some for breakfast this week.  If I make it again, I'll half the recipe for the pudding and the sauce. 
Next up:  Ben chose Utah...mmm...comfort food here we come!
Be sure to click and get the recipes!

Tour of Fifty States: Ohio's meal

This state's meal was a huge success.  :)  Very easy to make and it met with rave reviews by everyone.  For years I have seen Cincinnati Chili on various food/travel tv shows, and I was hesitant about it.  Spaghetti noodles?  Topped with meat sauce?  And you put beans on top? And raw onions?  And a mountain of cheese?  And oyster crackers???? Hmm...


At first, when I read the recipe for Cincinnati Chili I was surprised to see that cinnamon, allspice, and chocolate were in the meat sauce. Then upon more research, I found that the recipe was created/modified repeatedly by Cincinnati's large immigrant community in the 1920s -- primarily Greek and Macedonian, which explains the interesting flavor profile.

I thought that the sauce was quite spicy by itself -- yet the spaghetti noodles, cheese, beans, and crackers all balance it out.  The oyster crackers and onions add a little crunch, resulting in a really satisfying meal.

Ohio, being the "Buckeye" state just begged for buckeye candy, which are peanut butter balls dipped in chocolate.  Easy and fast to make and just the perfect bite. 

Menu:  Cincinnati Chili, Buckeyes
Outcome: I thought that the sauce was quite spicy by itself -- yet the spaghetti noodles, cheese, beans, and crackers all balance it out.  The oyster crackers and onions add a little crunch, resulting in a really satisfying meal.
Next up:  Bridget chose Louisiana! 

Lumpia

Growing up in a community with a large Filipino presence, I have always been a fan of lumpia.  They aren't the typical eggrolls you see at a Chinese restaurant -- those are fat and are usually filled with cabbage. Lumpia are thin and filled with a combination of half meat and half vegetable.  I chose to use ground pork in mine, but ground beef is seen just as often.  I picked up a package of wrappers the other day at the grocery store and tossed it in my cart -- then when I got home, I saw that I had picked up wonton wrappers!!  They were only about 3" square so I made teeny little lumpias...and after a few minutes I just decided to fold them over wonton - style since they were so small.  I'm including the directions for lumpia as well as wontons.

Tour of Fifty States: Kansas's meal

We had the meal for Kansas last weekend and the Sunflower State's food was a huge success!  I decided on Kansas City-style ribs.  YES there are two Kansas Cities adjacent to each other and the "Kansas City" style of barbecue is really from the KC in neighboring Missouri.  Close enough for me.  :)

Kansas' Meal 

Menu: Kansas City-Style Ribs, Cauliflower "Mac and Cheese", Salad sprinkled with Sunflower seeds, and Sunflower Oatmeal Cookies. 

Outcome: The ribs were fall off the bone delicious and the sauce was so good.  The cookie recipe said "Makes about 36" but I made 55 using the heaping teaspoon of dough as described.  I've made the adjusted measurement in the recipe.  Very yummy.

Next up:  All six of us chose a state, oldest to youngest.  We decided that for this round, we will be choosing the states from youngest to oldest.  Brandi chose Ohio!

The Foodie Blogroll

I was just approved to be a member of the Foodie Blogroll!  Click on the link at the right if you are a blogger and want to learn more!

Tour of Fifty States: Connecticut's Meal

This weekend we did Connecticut's meal.  I purchased seven lobster tails, thinking that with six of us, a seventh would give just a little more meat to fill the lobster rolls.  Little did I know, but lobster tails are tiny!!! When I took them from the shells, cut them and sauteed them, there was very little meat to go around.  Bill and I opted to give the kids the lobster and we went with some leftover pizza and he quickly threw together an olive oil and parmesan-tossed pasta while I added a salad.  Things happen! 

Menu: Lobster Rolls, Nutmeg Cake with Apple Butter filling and Caramel Icing

Outcome:  The lobster rolls were a hit!  The kids liked these better than the cold ones.  I LOVED the cake.  :)

Next up:  Brandi selected Kansas!

Weekend time!

This is my husband's recipe that he has made for many, many years.  We made it last night to have for dinner tonight.  This is one of those dishes that gets even better by sitting overnight.

In honor of 3-14-14 (a.k.a. "Pi day",) my son made a blueberry pie for tonight's dessert that will be topped with real whipped cream!

Stroganoff!

Apple Spice Dump Cake

When we went scout camping about two weeks ago, I brought dessert for everyone. Instead of the traditional dump cake that uses yellow cake mix, I decided to make a little twist when I added it to the dutch oven. I'll include directions for home ovens also. It came out very nicely and this is one I'm going to duplicate at home, too!

Salted Caramel Sauce

I made up a batch of Salted Caramel Sauce to drizzle over some Molten Lava Cakes from The Pioneer Woman that I made for my husband and son.  This made plenty to drizzle over plus there was extra to refrigerate.  It's also lovely to eat by the spoonful. :-)

Tour of Fifty States: Rhode Island's Meal

We had Rhode Island's meal this past weekend after a Scout camping trip. We (I) learned that after a weekend of camping, we should have something SIMPLE for dinner.  Like grilled cheese.  Or cereal.

Menu: Rhode Island Clam Chowder, Stuffies, Coffee Milk, Black Cows

Outcome:  Everyone really liked the clam chowder and black cows but Brandi didn't care for the coffee milk or the Stuffies ... that's okay, we just want the kids to try new foods!

Next up:  Bridget selected Connecticut!  (MMM...warm, buttery lobster rolls!) 

Tour of Fifty States: Nevada's meal

Nevada's meal had been postponed over and over but we finally got to have it on February 2, 2014.  NO I did not take pictures.  Why?  Good question!  We got up that lovely Sunday morning, read the paper and had breakfast.  Then we decided to watch "The Great Escape," a very good classic WWII movie.  We all enjoyed it, but I think the kids didn't enjoy the ending very much (I won't give it away)...it was a bit of a let down for them.

So here we are, sitting on the couch watching this 3 hour movie ... not remembering that we had a meal to make before the kids were picked up!  Ack!  I didn't even think about turning on the oven or defrosting anything.  So we went into a whirlwind of  activity and got the meal on the table. 

When I was researching Nevada, I couldn't find any traditional or ethnic recipes, nor could I find a major group of settlers that made Nevada its home.  Native American recipes are hard to come by.  Yes, the mining operations brought many Chinese to Nevada, but I didn't feel that Chinese recipes would best represent the state. FYI:  most of Nevada today is US Government-owned (86% of the state.)

My first thought was to make a Las Vegas-style buffet. Within reason, of course, nothing too fancy, just to symbolize a buffet you might visit when you go to Las Vegas.

Menu:  Buffalo Wings, Caramelized Chicken Wings, Baked Ham and Swiss Sandwiches, assorted pickles, assorted cheeses and crackers, and chips (with leftover Whoopie Pies from Maine for dessert topped with ice cream)

Outcome:  For a quickly put together meal, everyone really liked it!  My favorite was the Caramelized Wings but the Buffalo Wings were a huge hit.  They liked the little sandwiches and asked to have them again another day when we need easy hors d'oeuvres.

Next up: Ben selected Rhode Island!

Taking Care of Business...

It's true in my last post when I mentioned about having so many of our weekends busy during the holidays.  I was also going to try to make this a "true" website with all of the subpages, clickable recipes, cool features, etc.  I had set up with a domain name and an exterior hosting website; however, I discovered that the domain name provider had my website name "hostage" for a full year. I know it said they would hold the website name for 90 days when I signed up.  I waited my 90 days and tried to change the website name ... now it shows one year. 

Since I created this original blog to share recipes and stories about our meals with friends and family, I wanted it to be easily accessible. The hosting website I chose provided me with a url that was composed of a string of meaningless letters and numbers, which just is not easily shared.  I am not willing to wait a year to get the name I want, so I am sticking with Blogger.

It may not have all of the bells and whistles as a "regular" website and may be a little more difficult to navigate, but I'll do my best.  Continuing with our recipes....

Tour of the Fifty States: North Dakota's Meal

North Dakota, being a cold state that needs warm and hearty meals, has Knoephla as the signature dish, which is Potato Soup with Dumplings.  North Dakota had a significant settlement of  German emigrants from the Russian Empire. 

Menu: Knoephla, tossed salad, warm bread, and Peach Kuchen
Outcome:  This went over really well, and we even had leftovers for work!