Massachusetts
Massachusetts was a whole day affair for us. We started with Dunkin' Donuts Boston Kreme Donuts. Dunkin' Donuts opened In Quincy, Massachusetts in 1950.
Then for lunch we had Fluffernutter sandwiches. This is one of the best sandwiches ever. Bread, Peanut Butter and Marshmallow Fluff. So yum. The fluffernutter was invented after a man named Archibald Query (that's some name, huh?) invented marshmallow cream in Somerville, Mass.
For dinner we had Boston Baked Beans, of course, and Kelly's Roast Beef Sandwiches. Kelly's claims to have created the Original Roast Beef Sandwich in 1951. If you visit Revere Beach you can still pick up a sandwich at their first store. And how do you have a Massachusetts dinner without having Sam Adams! It was a wicked awesome foodie day!
Michigan
When most people hear Coney Island Dog they think New York but this hot dog actually originated in a Greek American style restaurant in Michigan. They call these restaurants "Coney Islands". There is a debate of which Coney Island actually created this hot dog, also called the Michigan hot dog, but they do agree on the recipe. A a natural-casing beef hot dog, topped with an bean-less chili (or Michigan sauce), white onions, with one or two stripes of yellow mustard. The hot dog is steamed and served on a steamed bun.
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Michigan Hot Dog w/ Michigan Sauce[/caption]Michigan Sauce Recipe
Minnesota
The Minnesota HotDish is what the rest of the world would call a casserole. Simple as that. Stealing from Wikipedia, "The history of the hotdish goes back to when “budget-minded farm wives needed to feed their own families, as well as congregations in the basements of the first Minnesota churches.” It seemed that when I Googled HotDish I was finding a beef, green bean, corn concoction with tator tots on top so that was what we made. It was alright. Probably won't make it again and I wished I had used the recipe I had gotten from my Minnesota friend.
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HotDish[/caption]Mississippi
So truth telling time. Anther reason I am behind on this blog is because I got stuck with what to make for Mississippi. I knew my family wouldn't eat Catfish Po Boys and I didn't have time to make homemade Tamales. We had this conversation in church one day and my friend suggested that we make Elvis' favorite sandwich. We aren't sure what exactly is Elvis' favorite sandwich because there are tons of variations. We ended up having fried smashed banana and peanut butter sandwiches. I think they would have been better with some of Archibald's marshmallow fluff.
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Elvis Sandwich[/caption]Hubby also made Mississippi Mud Pie for dessert. Here is the recipe we used. I didn't prefer the crust because it was so crumbly but it tasted very good.
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Mud Pie[/caption]Missouri
I broke my rule of going out and buying the food instead of actually making it and it totally backfired. So far I have made pizza for Connecticut and Illinois and now we have another style of pizza for Missouri, St. Louis Style Pizza. This style has a very thin crispy crust and uses Provel processed cheese. The pizzas are cut into squares or rectangles instead of wedges. Does this remind you of any famous pizza chains?
Missouri is also know for Toasted Ravioli, which I love. However, the grocery store was out of cheese ravioli (I find that odd) and they didn't have Provel cheese. I knew just the place that has toasted ravioli and thin crispy crust pizzas so we went to Ledo's pizza. Here comes the backfirst part... They changed their crust so it is now thin and soft. Doh! Oh well, at least I had a night off from cooking.
Montana
Yay! I'm at Montana! Okay so it was a pretty quick decision. As soon as I read Bison Burgers off the list to my husband his eyes got all big and he nodded his head yes 50 times. He prepared them the way he would prepare an everyday "cow" burger. We didn't tell the kids about the meat change and my oldest picked up on it the texture change pretty quick. They both liked them but were grossed out when we told them it was bison. I have no idea why eating a cow is any better but I'm thinking it is just because that is what they are used to eating.
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Bison Burgers[/caption]Cauliflower is currently in season for Montana. I had just seen a recipe for Cauliflower Tots on the blog Skinnytaste. They were really good. It was eating a handheld squash casserole because the flavors reminded me of my sister-in-laws squash casserole.
There!! Caught up!! The oven is preheating for our Nebraska dinner as we speak. Or as the girls call it... fair food dinner.
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