The closest I have ever been to North Dakota is watching the movie Fargo (I love the Coen Brother movies) so I wasn't sure what to expect. It turns out a North Dakota meal consisted of a lot of potatoes.
The main dish for our North Dakota meal was Knoephla (pronounced Nipfla) which is a german soup. Knoephla is a chicken/milk base soup with potatoes and dumplings. It was tasty and definitely would be great on a cold rainy night. We also had Lefse, which are crepes made from potatoes. The crepes were good, Will loved them but they were a pain in neck to make. The Lefse served as our bread and dessert for the meal. I accompanied the meal with corn on the cob and German Red Cabbage, which I enjoyed but was not very popular with the younger crowd (Conner and Will).
I threw the meal together quickly since we were trying to get one more meal in before Sydney left for California for the summer. Louise joined us for dinner. It was a quiet state meal. We are moving on to Ohio next, not sure when that will happen, but it's going to happen. Cincinnati Chili, Buckeye Candy and Tomato Juice.
My daughter Sydney came home from college so we have resumed our family state dinners until she leaves for her summer job in California. Sydney came home from college with 3 girlfriends, one who was from North Carolina. Thankfully, Jenna helped me plan the menu for our NC dinner. I really do love the southern states, it is all good comfort food and everyone seems to eat everything.
I decided to go with Brunswick Stew instead of BBQ. I really like the Brunswick Stew but it was different from what I have had in the past. It reminded me more of jambalaya. The google definition of Brunswick Stew is "A stew originally made with squirrel or rabbit, but now consisting of chicken and vegetables including onion and tomatoes."
A southern meal is never complete without Collard Greens. I love Collard Greens and this recipe was a good one. Jenna suggested Shrimp and Grits for our North Carolina meal. I had never paired the two together but apparently it is a popular dish in NC and I can see why. The Shrimp and Grits were delicious. Those who didn't like the shrimp just ate the grits. To round out the meal there was a Sweet Potato Casserole and Corn Bread, both were just OK. We also had Mt Olive Pickles from Mt Olive, NC.
For dessert we had Moravian Sugar Cake, which is a traditional Christmas yeast bread/ cake. I had never heard of the Moravian church (protestant) but they make a great dessert. The cake was yummy and was even better for breakfast the next morning. To drink we had Pepsi. The birthplace of Pepsi is New Bern, NC, this surprised me because I thought Pepsi was a north east soda
North Carolina was a lot of fun. The food was wonderful but sharing it with 4 Auburn sorority girls made the fantstic, y'all!
