UTAH

Utah - The Bee Hive State

After a 4 year hiatus we finally did another state.  My kids have always said we had to all be together in order to do a States Dinner.  Every tine we are all together it is for a wedding, graduation, or some holiday.  This year Christmas dinner was Utah!  

The kids and I went to Utah the summer of 2010, with the Lisa, Baylee and Logan Northup.  All 7 of us piled into the mini-van and drove 14 hours from Edmonds, WA to Park City, UT for Sydney's softball tournament.  We had a blast and went to Yellowstone and explored Montana for a few days.

Our Utah dinner was on Christmas Day and included Sydney & Will, Conner & Kaley, Will & Kristy and Melony, Kristy's mom.  We all spent Christmas in Alabama at Conner and Kaley's house.

Utah is famous for Funeral Potatoes, Pastrami Burgers, Green Jell-O and Cherries.  The famous drink in Utah is Dirty Soda.  I decided not to make it, everybody wanted wine with dinner.

The Funeral Potatoes were amazing.  Everyone liked them.  The Pastrami Burgers were surprisingly good.  Conner made them and he is an amazing cook.  I made a Cherry Pecan Salad which I liked and Sydney didn't because she hates arugula.  

My kids and I all hate Jell-O but we do like Jell-O shots.  To keep in the tradition of eating Utah food  we made Green Jell-O Shots, the DanFam tends to bend the rules.  We also made virgin Jell-O shots for Kaley (grandson #3 arrives in June).  Kaley made a No Bake Cherry Cheesecake for dessert, which was delicious.

The meal was wonderful, the whole weekend was so much fun.  I have no idea when we will get to Vermont, but I am going to finish this project someday and create a cookbook for the kids.

   

Texas

Texas - The Lone Star State
        

We arrived in Texas on Christmas day.  Christmas morning was a blast.  Anne Peters celebrated with us.  Conner made Chicken and Waffles, we opened gifts, drank champagne and had a wonderful time.  Sydney and I went to see Mary Poppins Returns and then we sat down to a Texas dinner. 



I've been to Texas a few times, Dallas and Austin.  Conner lived in Texas this past summer so he is our Texan expert.  We decided to do Brisket, Texas Home Fries, Texas Caviar, Texas Toast, Dr. Pepper and Pecan Pie. 



I did the Brisket in the Instant Pot since we were pressed for time.  The Brisket was good and was served with a Texas BBQ sauce.  The brisket was even better 2 days later when I made tacos for a bunch of Will's friends. 

The home fries were good, I should have made more of them. 

The Texas Caviar was just so-so.

The Texas Toast was store bought and everybody loved it.

I'm not a fan of Dr. Pepper but my kids are, Allen loved it too.
We ended the meal with Pecan Pie.  We were all too stuffed to eat it.  Finally, 3 days late Conner tried the Pecan Pie and loved it.

Having the 3 kids home for Christmas was such a treat.  Not sure when we'll get to Utah but it's the next stop.

   

  

Tennessee

Tennessee - Agriculture, and Commerce

We celebrated Christmas Eve by eating food from Tennessee.

I've been to Tennessee a few times but never had the opportunity to appreciate the food.  Allen went to college (Vanderbilt) in Nashville, Tennessee.  We visited there twice, on a cross-country trip and for his 10-year college reunion. My brother and his family live in Knoxville, the boys and I visited there in 2013 and went out for BBQ.  My niece, Leslie's roommate Lizzie gave us a tour of UT Athletic Arena, it was really impressive.

The menu for the state of Tennessee was pretty easy, ribs, cornbread, coleslaw, and beans.  The ribs I bought were precooked, Jack Daniel's Baby Back Ribs and I found Jack Daniels BBQ sauce.  I have never made ribs before so I decided to make it easy on me (and it was Christmas Eve) and Jack Daniel was in the name.  Speaking of Jack Daniel, my kids are related to the originator of Jack Daniel, but not Jack Daniel, Jack Daniel's partner.
 

   

The meal was good.   The boys ate up the ribs.  The cornbread was just OK, it had no sugar in it.  The coleslaw was really good and I would definitely make it again.  The best part of the dinner was the Memphis Spicy Beans (I made them again a few days later).  We had whiskey balls for dessert.  They were not a hit, you really have to love whiskey to have enjoyed them. 

The famous drink in Tennesee besides Jack is RC Cola.  My kids had never heard of RC Cola and I couldn't find it anywhere so we had Coke instead.

It was a sweet Christmas Eve.  We went to church and watched Christmas movies.

South Dakota

South Dakota - Under God the people rule

We finally made it to South Dakota, again.  We had a meal from South Dakota several years ago that I forgot to write about.  What I do remember about Soth Dakota is that it wasn't one to remember.  I remade the meal and it was much better.  It has been 3 years since we did a state meal  It's a rare occasion that all 3 kids are home, the last time was Will's graduation.

Sydney arrived on the 19th of December, for a week.  The boys arrived a few days earlier.  Louise came for the South Dakota dinner and we celebrated Christmas with her also.

The menu Included Lamb Chislic, South Dakota Potato Salad, Indian Fry Bread, salad and Peach Kuchen.  The lamb was delicious and so was the fry bread.  The potato salad was good and the peach kuchen for dessert was edible.  I remember the last time I made the peach kuchen and thought the same thing.

It was a perfect meal because of the company.  We're doing Tennesse for Christmas Eve and Texas on Christmas Day.

South Carolina - The Palmetto State

We made it to South Carolina in August 2015!  Sydney was home for 10 days and it was the perfect state to be on since Conner was leaving for his freshman year at Clemson University in a few days.

South Carolina is one of those states that you know immediately what the main meal is going to be.  South Carolina was shrimp and grits.  I realize I did shrimp and grits for North Carolina but this was a different recipe, and we love Shrimp and Grits!  I also do a lot of brussels sprouts, these were Southern Style Brussels Sprouts.  They were good, a little sweet and had pecans.

A southern meal is not complete without biscuits.  This Biscuit recipe was wonderful.  I would definitely recommend these biscuits.

For the drink we had Sweet Tea and dessert was South Carolina Peach Cobbler.  Sydney made the cobbler and it was delicious and even better for breakfast the next day.

We won't be all together for a meal until December.  Hopefully we'll get to South Dakota, Tennessee and Texas!

             

Rhode Island - The Ocean State

Our Rhode Island meal was over 11 months ago and I am finally getting to writing about it.  In the past 12 months we only got through 2 states.  My goal is to finish up before Will leaves for college, which is less than 2 years away.

I have only been to Rhode Island once and it was a brief stop on the way to Maine.  Rhode Island is known as the Ocean State and the only thing I remember about Rhode Island is that Allen and I stopped there for lunch at a place surrounded by water.

The meal turned out well and it was an easy one to make.  The main course consisted of Dynamites, Red Clam Chowder and Roasted Brussels Sprouts.  Dynamites remind me of Sloppy Joes on a torpedo roll (that's what hoagies rolls are called in Rhode Island).  The dynamites were good but I like Sloppy Joes better.  The clam chowder was fantastic and I will definitely make this recipe again.  The brussel sprouts are Sydney's favorite (mine too) and are always delicious.  Every times she comes home brussel sprouts are on the menu.

To drink we had coffee milk, which is milk with sweet coffee syrup.  You can't but the syrup in the NW so I improvised.  Nobody liked ir, it was too sweet.

For dessert we had Johnny Cake.  It was just OK, to me it seemed liked having corn bread for dessert.

Pennsylvania - The Keystone State

Pennsylvania is near and dear to my heart.  Both my parents were born in PA.  My father in South Philly and my mother in Duncansville.  They met at Jefferson Hospital in Philadelphia while my mother was in nursing school and my dad was in medical school.  My parents spent 2 years in Ohio (where I was born) but lived in PA until 1969 when they moved to NJ.

My sister  Jill

Sydney was home for 2 weeks from college and we were able to get in 4 state dinners.  It just so happened the kids and I flew back East after Christmas to visit family and it lined up perfectly to do Pennsylvania with my family, who now live in Virginia.  Since PA food is so diverse and delicious we decided to make the whole day a states meal.

My niece Mia

For lunch we made Philly Cheese Steak Sandwiches and Lebanon Bologna sandwichs.  Philadelphia is famous for there cheese steaks and soft pretzels.  Once you have had them you will never be satisfied with imitations, they have to be from Philly.  My mother grew up in western PA and introduced us to lebanon bologna and fried bologna.  I grew up believing that everyone ate lebanon bologna, it turns out they don't.  I can't find it in the NW and when I do, it is really expensive,  We rounded out the meal with hard pretzels and YuengLing Black and Tan.




For dinner we made Italian Wedding Soup which I thought my mother invented but it turns out it is a traditional food in Pittsburgh.  I also made a 2 shoofly pies which were my brother-in-laws favorite.



John grew up in Lancaster, PA.  We rounded the meal out with a salad (I can't remember what kind) and some squid with peas.













Squid with peas probably isn't a PA traditional food but it is a traditional food for the Pierucci family.  My father makes me squid with peas every time I come home.  I eat it for breakfast lunch and dinner.  Pennsylvania may be my favorite state dinner so far.  It is the first one we have done at someone else's house.