Tour of Fifty States: New Jersey's Meal

When we were visiting Grandpa John and Grandma Diane in New Jersey this summer, Bill mentioned our Tour of the Fifty States meal project.  Grandpa John immediately asked what I chose for New Jersey.  I answered, “Italian Subs”.  “Bah!” he replied, “all New Jersey is famous for is chemicals!!  There is no state food!” 

Well, I decided to stick with my original concept of the North Jersey Italian-American culture.  So here we go!

Menu:  Italian Subs, Jersey Sweet Corn, Cannoli Tart

Outcome:  Although The Garden State is famous for its Jersey Sweet Corn, I couldn't find any here in South Carolina.  We had some white corn on the cob.  We served the kids’ Italian Subs on the regular Italian bread, but Bill and I opted to use lettuce leaves to make “wraps” of our Italian subs (to save a few carbs and calories).  Yum!  The Cannoli Tart was quite good, although I found the crust to be a little too thick for my liking.  If I make this again, I will half the quantity of everything for the crust.  But it was still really good and reminded us all of real Cannolis.

Next up:  Brandi chose South Dakota!

Ignore the shadow on this lovely piece of Cannoli Tart!

Tour of Fifty States: Alaska's Meal

For this meal, I was thinking about what Alaska is famous for … Alaskan King Crab legs (way too expensive), Reindeer sausage (I’m not willing to pay those shipping fees), Salmon (too fishy for my taste), another kind of fish?  I know there are TV shows about fishing in Alaska, so I decided to go check it out. I found a recipe on an Alaskan fish company’s website and decided to give it a try.  It called for Halibut.  Of which I know nothing except that they are very, very large.

When it came time to serve Alaska’s meal and I started shopping for Halibut I found myself in a dilemma.  Do I buy 5 Halibut steaks at $9.99 each from Grocery Store 1?  Do I buy one and we all share it? Do I buy a couple of pounds at $26 a pound from Grocery Store 2?  Or at $25 a pound from the local fish market?   I checked the Big Box store and they didn’t have Halibut, nor did the Warehouse store.  Grocery Store 3’s fish guy looked at me like I was crazy. 

Then I thought, what other kind of fish is Alaska known for other than salmon?  Stumped, I typed the various fish types that the grocery store did have into my phone looking for their place of origin.  I settled on Alaskan Cod, which according to my phone, was fished in the Aleutian Islands.  It happened to be on sale BOGO, so for $9.00 I got 10 Cod filets.  Perfect … until I got home with the package and it said “PRODUCT OF CHINA.”  Oh well, at least the species is found in Alaska! 

Menu:  Spicy Denali Alaska Halibut Cod, Steamed Asparagus, Sourdough bread, Individual Baked Alaska with Berry Sauce

Outcome:  We’d never had Cod before but we can compare it to Tilapia and I’ll add it to our rotation of dinner items.   The Cod was light and mild tasting, and cooked up nicely.  The spice mixture was really spicy and I ended up scraping off most of the spice layer since my mouth was on fire.  The Asparagus was yummy, and the Baked Alaska was, “The best dessert you’ve ever made,” as spoken by Ben!  As for the Sourdough bread that was to be in honor of the Alaskan Gold Rush…it’s still in the freezer.  L

Next up:  My turn to choose and I got New Jersey!

Alaska's Meal

Tour of Fifty States: Oklahoma's Meal

Oooooklahoma, where the wind comes sweeping down the plain....  Sorry but I had to!  :)

This meal was a total hit!  We'd just watched an episode of "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives" where the show had traveled to a little place in OK (Tulsa, I think) that was making the same onion burgers.  Everyone was looking forward to trying these and they were just so juicy and oniony.  

Menu:  Onion Burgers, Fried Okra, Pecan Pie

Outcome:  YUM!  

Next up:  Ben chose Alaska! 

Well, I took pictures this time:  the main and side dishes while they were cooking, and the dessert after we'd jumped into the pie...but I didn't get a "pretty" picture of the plated meal or the dessert!!!  Gotta keep working on that.  I'll get it together one of these days.  :)

Tour of Fifty States: Texas' Meal

Well, we picked the states oldest to youngest, then youngest to oldest...Bill being the oldest, we needed to decide how to choose the next state.  This round will be length of each person's name!

Texas has so many good food choices, it was hard to narrow down just one main course but after a long debate, we've ended up with:

Menu:  Chili con Carne, Tortilla Chips and Salsa, and Texas Sheet Cake

Outcome:  The chili was good, the tortilla chips and salsa were good, but WOW this cake was just super delicious.  So much better than a box cake and quite easy.  Next time I make it I will half the recipe but I'm 100% making it again.  VERY good flavor and texture!

Next up:  Ben chose Oklahoma!   

This cake is SO good!!

Tour of Fifty States: Tennessee's Meal

We've had a change in our family -- my son Matthew decided to move to Florida to live with his father, so our family of 6 is now down to 5.  We decided that we are still going to continue with our Fifty States Meal plan.  Normally if one of the kids isn't with us on a weekend when a meal is planned, we postpone that meal until we're all together.  This time is different, however;  we don't know when or if he'll be rejoining our family, so onward we go.

I just haven't had the time (or energy) to get back on here and get the pictures and recipes uploaded, but I plan to be better at doing this.  Tennessee's meal was served 8/24/14.

Menu:  Memphis Dry Rub Ribs, Wild Mushroom Risotto, Tennessee Apple Stack Cake 
Outcome:  Everyone really liked the delicious Ribs and the risotto is a family favorite!  We weren't in love with the Apple Stack cake (not sweet enough?)
Next up:  Bill chose Texas!

Delicious Grilled Peaches

Since we are in summer, a.k.a. peach season, I bought some lovely SC peaches and grilled them.  I’ve seen the recipe in magazines and on the Food Network, but I’d never attempted grilling any fruit besides pineapple before.  

I removed all of the silly little stickers from the peaches, washed them, and cut them in half (discarding the pits.)  Next came a light sprinkle of cinnamon.  

On a very hot grill, I placed the peach halves cut side down.  After about two minutes, I turned them over and let them grill cut side up for another two minutes.    That’s it!  They were very hot, so they cooled as we ate lunch.  

After about 30 minutes, I put two peach halves in a bowl and topped them with a generous scoop of vanilla ice cream and a dusting of cinnamon.  (Not cayenne pepper, as the kids joked that I did!)  Thinking about it later, I think a teeny light sprinkle of cayenne might just be really good with the soft sweet peaches and the sweet ice cream!  I must try that next time!

NO I didn’t take any pictures. I just forgot!  Again! I’ll do better next time!

Summer Fruit Pizza

Dessert for this past weekend was Fruit Pizza that everyone, kids and adults, just loved.  I’ve seen lots of variations on websites and in magazines, and this fit the bill for an easy and “healthy-ish” summer dessert.  This is definitely going on our go-to list for favorite desserts.  Noone has to know that it’s good for them. ;-)

NO I didn’t take any pictures. I just forgot!  Again!

Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

When our local grocery store had cabbage on sale for a really great price, I got a head and put it in the fridge.  And there it sat.  Hmm, what to do with it?  The past several weeks have been busy and we’ve been trying to make easy and fast meals for the kids.  ( A lot of grilling!)  This past weekend, I decided I have GOT to do something with that cabbage.  So Stuffed Cabbage Rolls it was!  I really had no idea how everyone would take to these, but I forged ahead with it anyway.  It was a nice surprise to have everyone ask for seconds!   A low carb version is listed below the recipe.

I served these with herbed Italian bread and some buttery Brussels sprouts and sautéed pierogies.  NO I didn’t take any pictures. I just forgot! 

Tour of Fifty States: Colorado's Meal

Well, it has been a busy summer.  I had forgotten to post our latest state meal (Colorado) from weeks and weeks ago, so with apologies, it is below.  (I just found the pictures on my camera. Ooops.)

Just after school got out in early June we all went on our big family trip to New York and New Jersey to see Bill’s family (2024 miles round trip over 6 days.)  We also visited Washington, D.C.!  That was a first for me – and all of the kids.  I think they liked the Air and Space Museum the best.  

After we returned from NY, the following week I drove up to Tennessee and picked up my oldest daughter Kirstin and we drove just outside of Cincinnatti, OH to visit Kings Island for the day.  (Nice theme park, but we agree we like Dollywood better.)

Then the following week, I went with Matthew and his Boy Scout troop to camp for a week in Saluda, NC.  Now he’s in Florida with his dad, and we have the other 3 with us for some summer visitation.  We’ll all be back together again in mid-August!  Until, then, we are holding off on doing our state meals but I have a few more recipes to share.  

Menu:  Denver Omelets (for breakfast), Denver Chili Colorado, and Colorado Cowboy Cookies

Outcome:  This was our first state where we included breakfast…but we couldn’t do Colorado without making Denver Omelets!  Everyone really enjoyed the chili and Bill says it’s how we should make chili from now on!  No more ground beef…the beef cubes really made the chili so tasty to us.  Of course all cookies are good, but these Cowboy Cookies were great! 

Next up:  I chose Tennessee!  It will be August before we have it, but that’s okay.  We are looking forward to some Memphis-style ribs.  

Grandpa's Potatoes

This is a favorite side dish for our family.  It's a simple foil packet of potatoes and seasonings that we toss on the grill.  Bill's grandfather used to make this for their family way back when he was little and Grandpa would place these on a charcoal grill for a really long time.  These days, we've modernized the recipe and it's still just as good.  We prebake the potatoes in the microwave, then dice and season them before adding them to our gas grill.  What a timesaver!
Coming this weekend:   our Colorado meal!  

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