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.