Indiana - The Hoosier State

I have never been to Indiana, but I love their food.  Indiana's state motto is "The Crossroads of America", which seems appropriate. 

Hoosier Menu
Traditional Indiana Breaded Tenderloin Sandwich
Indiana Succotash
VanCamp Pork and Beans
Sugar Cream Pie

Indiana proved to be the easiest state to find recipes for the famous Hoosier cuisine.  Everywhere I looked I came up with the same food, breaded pork tenderloin sandwiches and sugar cream pie.

Indiana is the home of VanCamp Pork and Beans, popcorn and John Mellancamp. The state drink is water, which the boys thought was boring (they were hoping for soda).

         

Ted and Louise joined us for dinner.  The pork sandwiches were really good.  Will didn't eat anything but the sandwich, he ate half of mine and some of Sydney's as well.  I had to make the sugar cream pie twice.  The first one didn't set up, the second set up but still didn't turn out great.  The consistency was not very appetizing.  I will have to try it again, with a third recipe.  I have been told sugar cream pie is delicious, so far I am not convinced.  The Indiana Succotash was my favorite, Indiana Succotash is with green beans and corn and spices.  It was a great meal and an easy one to put together.

Illinois - The Land of Lincoln

We have made it to the Mid West.  I have only been through Chicago once and it was in December.  I loved everything about it and the food.  We were pretty fast to jump on Deep Dish Pizza and Chicago Style Hot Dogs for Illinois.  It was not an easy task to find other food from Illinois.  I did find that Frango Mints have a history in Chicago so we are having Frango Mint Brownies. 

We are having the Pilmans, the Wilsons and the Warrens for dinner tonight.  Soren Pilman is from Illinois and the Warrens have been through the Chicago airport many times.  It is always a fun night with the Pilmans, the Wilsons and the Warrens.

The Menu

Deep Dish Pizza

Chicago Style Hot Dogs

Illinois Salad

Frango Mint Brownies

Cracker Jacks

It was a great night!  We had 5 different types of deep dish pizza.  I used a Martha Stewart recipe to make them individually in muffin tins.  They were really easy to make and you can make all different kinds.  I made a large spinach and feta and then individual smoked mozzarella and chicken, pesto and sun dried tomato, Italian sausage and a cheese pizza.

 

 

Conner grilled the dogs and then we loaded them up with mustard, relish, onions, tomatoes, pickles and celery salt.  You are supposed to use poppy seed rolls but I couldn't find poppy seed hot dog rolls in the NW.  I liked the salad and will definitely do it again.

The brownies were OK, a bit dry (I made them a day early).  We celebrated Soren's birthday, which made the brownies that much sweeter.  Louise brought cookies, which were delicious.  There was also Cracker Jack for dessert, which originated in Chicago.

It was a fantastic night, with wonderful friends.  Indiana is next... I can't wait to see what the menu will be.

Idaho - The Gem State

We have made it to Idaho!  Conner is really excited for Idaho because he likes everything on the menu and we are grilling trout.  Conner has joyfully taken over all grilling, if I could only get the others to joyfully take over cleaning and laundry. 

Idaho is famous for potatoes, huckleberries and trout.  I searched all over for huckleberries and was unsuccessful so I am substituting blackberries and blueberries in the buckle and promise to make the Huckleberry Buckle again once it is in season.  I did find huckleberry ice cream and huckleberry soda.

I have decided to introduce the kids to the B-52's and play "Your Own Private Idaho" during dinner, it is the only song I know that has Idaho in it...

The Menu
Potato Rolls
Grilled Idaho Trout
Grilled Asparagus
Twice Baked Potatoes
Huckleberry Buckle with Tillamook Mountain Huckleberry Ice Cream
Flat Head Lake Monster Huckleberry Soda

Idaho = Delicious

It was a easy meal to prepare and the kids liked everything, with one exception. Will still hates asparagus! The trout was fantastic, Conner did a great job of grilling the fish and the asparagus. The kids liked the rolls, I thought they were a bit dry. I will definitely make everything except the rolls again.

                    

 

I used a different Buckle recipe this week than the one I used for Alabama. The Alabama Buckle recipe is still my favorite dessert. The huckleberry soda and ice cream were a BIG hit with the kids. Next week we are moving on to Illinois. Conner wants Chicago Style Pizza and Chicago Dogs.

Hawaii - The Aloha State

Hawaii should be a fun state to cook and to eat.  I think the boys will eat almost everything.  My friend Katie is joining us for dinner and any meal with Katie is a treat.    The menu this week was pretty easy.  We definitely had to have something skewered, fruit, spam and macaroni salad. 

This meal is dedicated to Louise Warren, who was born in Hawaii, I think that makes her Hawaiian.  I promise to re-do the meal (if it turns out) when she gets home from her travels. 

The Menu:

Hawaiian Chicken Kabobs

Macaroni Salad - Hawaiian Style

Papaya Avocado Salad

Grilled Spam and Cheese: King's Hawaiian Bread and Kaukauna Cheese

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Blue Hawaii Martini (Jody and Katie) and Hawaiian Punch (Kids)

Aloha,

It turned out to be a fun meal.  The Chicken Kabobs were a hit.  It turns out no one in the family really likes Spam.  I have had better Pineapple Upside Down Cake, it was a bit dry, maybe because I left it in the oven too long.  Katie enjoyed the Blue Martini, I hated it (I thought maybe if the martini was a pretty color it would taste better to me, it didn't).

My friend Lisa Billing donated the Hawaiian decorations, which added to the fun.  Best part of the night was spending time with Katie.  Next week, Idaho...definitely potatoes and something with huckleberries.

Georgia - The Peach State

We started this project over a year ago and had to abandon it last November when life became really complicated for our family.  Now that we are adjusting to where we are and where we are going we are restarting the 50 States project.

It is too much pressure to try and do a meal a week but I personally am hoping to finish before Sydney leaves for college.  We will do our best and see how far we get. 

It seems appropriate that we stopped last year at Georgia, Allen's home state and the state where Sydney wants to call her college home.  Allen loved this project, he loved to eat and he loved to create meals.  The week of Georgia will be dedicated to Allen, husband, father, son, brother, friend and chef extrordinaire.

                                                       The Menu

Good Ole Down Home in Georgia Southern Fried Chicken

Southern Collard Greens

South Georgia Biscuits

Baked Garlic Cheese Grits

Coke (for the boys) and Sweet Tea (for Sydney and me)

Chocolate Chess Pie

 

 

The meal was a success!  The chicken and the grits were the kid's favorites and they asked if I would do them again soon.  The collard greens were good, Sydney likes her dad's recipe better than the one I used, the boys took one bite and reaffirmed they don't like greens.  The biscuits were OK, a bit dry.  The Chess Pie was gooey and yummy. 

We were all happy to get back to the States project.  Next stop, Hawaii...maybe a luau or spam.

Week 9 - Florida

 

We've made it to sunny Florida... Allen and I spent a week in Key West and fell in love with Florida cuisine.  Allen was on a mission to find the best Key Lime Pie in Key West so he had a piece at every restaurant.  I am not sure whether he actually decided who had the best Key Lime Pie but he sure enjoyed the every piece. 


Florida Fruit Salad
Wild Rice Pilaf
Florida Strawberry Muffins
Oven Baked Pompano
Key Lime Pie
Orange Juice

Key Lime Pie

Conner and the Pompano Fish

Baked Pompano, Wild Rice,
Strawberry Muffins & Fruit Salad

The Pompano fish turned out to be simple to prepare and really delicious, we are so used to eating salmon this was a nice change.  Conner didn't like the rice (everyone else did), Will didn't like the muffins or salad (everyone else did).  The Key Lime Pie was wondeful, it reminde us of Key West.  We listened to Jimmy Buffet.  Georgia is next, Allen's home state.

Week 8 - Delaware

Having lived in NJ, MD, PA and VA I thought Delaware would have been easy to find recipes, I was proved wrong.  Blue crabs are popular in Delaware and Maryland so we decided so save the Chesapeake Bay crabs for Maryland (Allen and Sydney recently visited MD and feasted on crabs).  We are having crab puffs for Delaware, they are a traditional Delaware food and Allen loves to use the Fry Daddy.

Delaware Crab Puffs
Delaware Sweet Potato Biscuits
Marinated Asparagus
Spicy Corn on the Cob
Grapes (state fruit)

Delaware Peach Crisp

Delaware turned out to be a big hit.  The Crab Puffs were delicious, the Sweet Potato Biscuits were OK (the recipe forgot to mention how much flour to use so it was a guess), Asparagus and Corn were a good too.  I will definitely do everything but the biscuits again.  Everyone loved the Peach Crisp.