Nutritional Information being added! And a surprise!

I have been posting my state recipes on erecipe.com and they figure out the complete nutrition information for each recipe. I think this will be good for readers and for our family as well. 

I am going back through my posts and uploading to erecipe.com the recipes for the states that we have already completed and then updating each recipe's post with the new nutrition information.  I plan to add the nutrition information to all of my following posts, as well. 

As a test, the first recipe I added (as a whim) was for New Jersey for a Cannoli Tart.  Good news, it was "Recipe of the Day" on their website yesterday! 

Tour of Fifty States: Utah's meal

Last weekend we had the meal from Utah.  When I think of Utah, I think of wide open spaces, beautiful scenery, National Parks, and Mormons (Latter-Day Saints.)  The inspiration for this meal comes from the peaceful Mormons and their love of simple, hearty, family-friendly comfort food.

Menu: Meatloaf, Funeral Potatoes, Lime Jell-O
Outcome:  Everyone really loved the meatloaf --the recipe I used called for bell peppers, but I think that next time I would choose mushrooms instead.  Precooking the onions and peppers would make for a softer texture, so I am adding that step in the recipe below.  The "Funeral Potatoes", also called Hash Brown Casserole, was a hit!  We were scraping the dish to get the last of it out.  And who doesn't like Jell-O for a tasty treat? 
Next up:  Matthew chose Colorado!  That state meal (to be served the weekend of 6-8 June) will be the last one until August, when we're all back together again.  With family road trips, the kids' summer visitation, summer camps, and family visits, we all won't be back together for all 6 of us to have one of our states' homemade meals until school starts again. 

Meatloaf and Funeral Potatoes

Creamy Roasted Red Pepper Soup

When it's Bill's kids' weekend at our house, we like to prepare something for Friday's dinner on Thursday night.  First, just about anything cooked the day before tastes so much better the next day (think Red Sauce , Chili, and just about any casserole or soup.) And second, after a full day of work and picking up the kids, who wants to make dinner?  I get home first, so I pop it in the oven or reheat on the stove and throw together a salad so everything's ready when they get home. 

Last night Matthew and I made soup for tonight that we'll serve with a salad made with lettuce from our garden (yay!!) and some cheesy garlic bread. Creamy Roasted Red Pepper soup is one of our family's favorites! It takes a longer time than other soups to make, but boy is it worth it! We have made several recipes from The Soup Bible and this is our adaptation of their recipe.

Creamy Roasted Red Pepper Soup

Dinner for Two From the Fridge

During Spring Break, all of the kiddos were gone ... Bill and I had been eating leftovers or just snacking on quick items for dinner over the week.  For our last night alone, I thought I'd make a nice candle lit dinner.  Looking in the fridge, I found a bag of spinach, a box of strawberries, some tomatoes and onions, and a ham steak.  I think it ended up as a nice meal.

Here's what I came up with:
Mustard Glazed Ham Steak
Spinach au Gratin
Tomato and Onion Salad
Strawberry "Cheesecake" Trifle

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. :-)