New Mexico - The Land of Enchantment

New Mexican food is a mix between Mexican and Pueblo Native American cuisine.  There was a lot to choose from for the menu, I decided to go with a traditional Christmas New Mexican Main dish called Posole Rojo.  The main ingredients in Posole Rojo are pork, hominy and New Mexico chili peppers.  As I was making the Posole I thought it was going to be a failure, in the end it turned out OK.  I have never used hominy before and to be honest canned hominy is really disgusting, but it worked in the stew. 

The salad (Ensalada de Fiesta) was good and the tostatdos (tortilla chips) were really good and the company was great.   My friend Polly came for dinner, she has been to every state in the US (except Alaska) and brought the best part of the meal, a dipping sauce (it's not from New Mexico but it is so delicious).  Sydney's friend Jacqueline and Lauren come for dinner too.

               

Polly and I had Margaritas (with vodka substituted for tequila) and the kids had Jarritos (Mexican soda). For dessert we had Bischochitos, which are like sugar cookies with cinnamon sprinkled on top. The recipe called for anise but we hate licorice so I substituted vanilla. The biscochitos were OK. I would definitively not make them again.

    

We are moving on to New York, the kids have requested New York Style Pizza...

New Jersey - The Garden State

It has been months since we had a family state dinner, life got in the way.  Now that I am finally settled into the new house and we are all together for a few weeks we will try and eat our way through a few states.

It is fitting that we started back on NJ.  I spent my formative years at exit 4 in The Garden State (5th grade through high school).  Whenever someone would ask me where I was from I would always say I was from the Philadelphia area.  New Jersey is divided into two separate cuisines, South Jersey and North Jersey.  Southern New Jersey  is Philly style food and North Jersey is New York City.

Karen, Soren, Louise and Lauren came for dinner.  Karen, who is one of my best friends in the NW, grew up in NJ and graduated from Trenton State.  For graduation she asked for a one way ticket to Seattle, that was 30+ years ago. 

 

I forgot how much I miss the food.  I grew up eating Taylor Pork Roll, it was a staple in our house.  I was able to find it in Seattle at DeLaurenti.  Taylor Pork Roll is best fried and then served on a hard roll.  Jersey is famous for its tomatoes, asparagus, peaches and corn so we had them all for dinner. The sliced tomatoes, spicy corn and roasted asparagus recipes are ones I use all the time and are fool proof and always good. 

I also made Disco Fries, which are french fries with gravy and mozzarella cheese.  I had never heard of Disco Fries, apparently they are popular in North Jersey.  They are delicious!  We also had Welchs Grape Juice to drink with dinner (made in NJ).

For dessert Sydney made a peach cobbler and topped it with peaches ice cream.  Our second dessert was some Whipped Vodka which we had in honor of the show Jersey Shore.  It was surprisingly tasty, I think it was Soren's favorite.

Karen and Soren wore their Jersey Girl and

Springsteen T Shirts and brought Salt Water Taffy. 

Next week, New Mexico!!!

  

New Hampshire - The Granite State

I have only driven through New Hampshire and it was a long time ago so I can't remember much about the state or the food.  Most of the New England states have similar cuisine.  New Hampshire is famous for pumpkins, it's the states food.  I couldn't even find canned pumpkins this time of year so I focused on the 2nd most famous food in New Hampshire, Maple Syrup. 

I made a Simple New Hampshire Beef Stew for dinner.  I have never made a lot of stews since my kids never liked their food touching when they were little, but it turns out my kids like stew.  The stew was good I will definitely make it again, it was so easy.  The Maple Syrup Bread was delicious, Will scarfed down all of the bread.  The New Hampshire Maple Mustard Salad Dressing was really good.

We ended the meal with Maple Brownies for dessert.  The brownies were really yummy too.  New Hampshire turned out to be a delicious meal.  For drinks we had Apple Cider (the official drink of NH) and Nut Brown Ale from RedHook.  It turns out RedHook has a brewery in Portsmouth NH.  Ted and Louise came for dinner, which is always a treat.

 

Nevada - The Silver State

 

I have only been in Nevada once, although  I have been in the airport several times.  I spent a long weekend in Vegas years ago with Allen, Ted and the kids.  Sydney was 4, Conner was 1 and Will was 3 months old.  The flight to and from Vegas was so memorable that I am sure passengers are still talking about my boys. 

The food in Vegas consisted of lots of all you can eat buffets and booze.  I decided to go with the Basque theme for the menu.  Basque sheepherder's immigrated to northern Nevada during the gold rush.  We went with a Lamb Stew, which was really good.  Conner loves lamb so this was a real hit for him.  I also made a salad with the Nevada Hotel Basque Salad Dressing, which was delicious.  The Basque Shepherd's Bread was OK.  I made individual loafs so it was a bowl for the lamb stew.

For dessert the choice was flan or Chocolate Nuggets.  We hate flan so we went with the Chocolate Nuggets, I am not sure we made the right decision.  The dessert didn't setup and its consistency was a little firmer than pudding (we hate pudding too).  Fortunately Louise brought Girl Scout Cookies and her dad Chuck, so we had dessert and great company.

Next up is New Hampshire...





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Montana - The Treasure State

I spent a few days in Montana in 2010.  I arrived at 10 pm in Bozeman after driving for 10 hours with a girlfriend and 5 cranky kids in a minivan.  There were no affordable hotel rooms and it looked like we were going to have to drive for a while to find a place to stay.  My friend Lisa called her cousin who happened to lie in Bozeman and they put all 7 of us up for 3 days.  Needless to say I fell in love with Montana and the people who lived there.  They are some of the nicest folks I have ever met.

Our Montana meal was really easy to prepare and everybody ate everything.  We decided that we had to have bison burgers for dinner since we saw a lot of buffalo while we were there.  The kale chips were fantastic, even Will liked them.  We rounded out the meal with baked potatoes.  I searched all over for huckleberries but they aren't in season.  The kids had Flathead Lake Monster Huckleberry Soda (which they have had before and loved) and I had a Black Star Golden Lager (it was OK).  



We listened to Hannah Montana, who I don't think is from Montana but it was fun music to listen to since the kids actually liked her a number of years ago.  For dessert since I couldn't make a huckleberry pie I made Montana Monster Cookies.  They were delicious, easy to make and gluten free.  I will make them again and again.

Montana is a great state with a lot of good food and sweet memories

Nebraska - The Corn Husker State

N E B R A S K A ♥ N E B R A S K A ♥ N E B R A S K A ♥ N E B R A S K A ♥ N E B R A S K A ♥

We finally have moved out of the "M" states and now have 8 "N" states... Here we go!  It has been a few weeks since we had a states dinner, life happens and it is really difficult to find a night where we are all home and can eat dinner together, that is part of why we are doing this.

I ordered steaks from Omaha Steaks for Nebraska.  I am not much of a beef eater, but when in the mid-west, we will eat what they eat.  Nebraska is known as the "Corn Husker" State.  We have eaten a lot of corn on our culinary journey across the U.S. and Nebraska didn't disappoint us.  We had a corn and tomato salad, which I loved but the kids didn't like it.  I also made corn fritters and corn and bacon muffins.  The kids loved both, although Conner thought the muffins needed more bacon (really! More bacon?).

N E B R A S K A ♥ N E B R A S K A ♥ N E B R A S K A ♥ N E B R A S K A ♥ N E B R A S K A 

To drink we had Kool-Aid Slush.  I had my first Kool-Aid Slush this summer at the Billings so I knew what a treat this was going to be.  It turns out Kool-Aid is from Nebraska and so are Eskimo Pies.  I searched the Seattle area for Eskimo Pies and finally found some.

Next stop is Nevada, my choices are either Basque cuisine or an all-you-can-eat buffet.

Missouri - The Show Me State & My Birthday

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The cuisine from Missouri surprised me. I was expecting BBQ and Budweiser but ended up with Toasted Ravioli and Shock Top Raspberry Wheat Ale. Kansas City, Missouri is famous for its BBQ so we decided on KC Masterpiece BBQ Sauce on Rib Eye Steak. I am not a big fan of beef but the kids really liked it. St. Louis, Missouri is famous for Toasted Ravioli. I never would have thought to fry ravioli but it is delicious.


We rounded out the meal with a St Louis Salad and some Missouri Beer Bread, both of which were great. For dessert we had Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream in a Cone. It turns out the Ice Cream Cone and Peanut Butter originated in Missouri. Missouri is a comfort food state.

Next up, Montana…We will all be wearing bandanas.

♥♥ B I R T H D AY ♥ ♥ B I R T H D AY ♥ ♥ B I R T H D AY ♥ ♥ B I R T H D AY ♥ ♥

My darling kids planned a surprise dinner party for me for my birthday.  Conner and Ted cooked lobster tails, which I loved. Soren made the salad, which was fantastic (Karen gets credit for telling him how to prepare it).  Louise and Sydney organized the evening and prepared the Sweet Potato Fries and Rolls, Conner made the chocolate cake, Ted made the best Whiskey Sours, Will set the table and I just sat back and enjoyed the evening.  I felt so loved and honored!

 

M I S S I S S I P P I - The Magnolia State

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Mississippi was everything I expected it to be, Southern Comfort Food!

We decided on Fried Catfish and Hush Puppies, Collard Greens and Mississippi Mud Cake.

It turns out it is extremely difficult to find catfish in Seattle when there is a snow storm.  I ended up using cod and we pretended  it was catfish.  Everything was delicious, what's not to love about fried food.  Sydney actually said the greens were almost as good as Allen's, which for me is a huge compliment.

The Mississippi Mud Cake was Paula Dean's recipe and it was fantastic, actually it was too good.  We drank Barq's soda which is from Mississippi (although Louisiana makes it too).

I have never been to Mississippi and I'm not sure I will ever visit but I definitely appreciate the cuisine.

Minnesota - The Star of the North



♥ M ♥ I  ♥ N ♥ N ♥ E ♥ S ♥ O ♥ T ♥ A ♥

It turns out that I love Minnesota.  It is a great state, with fantastic people and really good comfort food.  Minnesota is famous for its hot dish, wild rice, walleye, morel mushrooms and blueberry muffins.  I couldn't find any walleye or morel mushrooms so I went with hot dish.  Hot dish is known elsewhere as a casserole, but in Minnesota it is called a hot dish.  The whole meal reminded me of a church potluck.

Lisa and Peter Billing came for dinner, along with 5 of their 7 children.  The Billings moved to Washington from Minnesota 7 1/2 years ago.  Lisa, who was born and raised in Minnesota helped me with the menu and even brought the Jello Salad, which is a very Minnesotan thing to do.

Menu
Minnesota Blueberry Muffins
Minnesota Hot Dish
Wild Rice, Minnesota Style
Classic Green Bean Casserole
Jello Salad (Jello with mandarin oranges and Cool Whip)
Minnesota Bars
Mini Sodas

Blueberry muffin is the official state muffin of Minnesota. The muffins were good and the blueberries I used were actually from Minnesota. I chose to do a hot dish with tator tots. My kids are not big on casseroles but they all seemed to enjoy it. I really liked the wild rice and mushroom dish but it wasn't a big hit with the kids. The green bean casserole was good, I have never made one before or even tried green bean casserole before. I can't believe I have been missing out on this.

The Jello salad (with Cool Whip) was served with dinner and not dessert. I didn't grow up eating Jello and have never been a fan, but this was delicious. I am not sure whether I will ever make Jello for dinner but I will definitely eat it next time at a church potluck. For dessert I made Minnesota bars. Minnesota bars are the second most popular potluck dish in the state. Bars are any kind of dessert that fits into a large baking dish, is easily made and requires little to no cookie dough. For example Rice Krispie treats, lemon bars and peanut butter bars are all considered Minnesota bars – brownies however are not. The Minnesota bars were OK, they were too sticky for my taste but Lisa thought they were authentic Minnesota bars.




Jonathan and Timothy with the Jello Salad



Peter with the Minnesota Plate

It was a great night and I am so happy we were able to share it with the Billings. They were able to give us insight into Minnesota and it is definitely a place I need to visit.

                              

I think this was the easiest meal I have done as far as cooking and preparation. Minnesotans make easy dishes that feed lots of people. I ♥ Minnesota. Next week, Mississippi...I am thinking Catfish and Mudpie...YUM!

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Michigan - The Wolverine State

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We took a few weeks off due to the holidays but we are back and in Michigan.  I have never been to Michigan but everyone who I have ever met from Michigan has been really nice.  I definitely want to go there someday.  One of the most famous things to come out of Michigan is cold cereal, by Dr. Kellogg.

After doing some research and talking to people from Michigan the two foods that kept coming up were Pasties and Paczki.  Pasties are meat pies and served by Yoopers (residents of the Upper Peninsula UP).  Paczkis (pronounced Punch-Key) are polish jelly filled donuts traditionally eaten on Fat Tuesday.  Michigan is also famous for cherries, beans and Vernor's Ginger Ale (the oldest ginger ale sold in the US).

The Menu
Cornish Finish Michigan Pasties
Traverse City Cherry Salad
Savory Navy Bean Casserole
Polish Paczki
Boston Cooler (a Detroit original: Ginger Ale and Vanilla Ice Cream)

Karen and Soren Pilman came for our Michigan meal.  The Pasties were OK, they were good for meat pie, but they were meat pie.  The salad was great, the bean casserole was good and the Polish Paczki were fantastic.  My kids hate jelly filled donuts and I ran out of time so the doughnuts weren't filled, they were still delicious.  I will definitely make the again.

Next week we are headed to Minnesota, another state that I have never been through.  One of my favorite families (the Billings) are from Minnesota so hopefully they will be our state guests.

  

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