50 States; 50 Meals: New Jersey

One of our country's great debates.  What do you call a sandwich made on long Italian or French bread stuffed with meat and cheese?  Whatever you call it usually determines what region you are from.  "Hoagie" originated in Philadelphia.  They're "Heroes" in New York.  New England calls them "Grinders".  If you hail from New Jersey they're a Submarine, Sub for short.

There are two theories about where the sub first originated.  One theory is that a man named Dominic Conti immigrated to New York from Italy in the early 1900's.  He opened a grocery store called Dominic Conti's Grocery Store.  Mr. Conti sold his traditional Italian sandwiches at his store.  His recipe was a long crust roll, filled with cold cuts, topped with lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, onions, oil, vinegar, Italian herbs and spices, salt, and pepper. Mr. Conti used a special sandwich making technique of starting and ending with a layer of cheese so the bread would not get soggy.  He named the sandwich a Submarine after seeing the Fenian Ram, a recovered submarine in the Paterson Museum.

I consulted with my Jersey cousins about this week's meals.  One of my cousins said that Italian subs were a must in southern Jersey and that the bread must be crusty.  No soft rolls.  I turned to the best sub maker I know, Wegmans.  Don't get me wrong I thought about buying all the meats and making them myself but getting them made at Wegmans was more budget friendly.  I got two "Danny's Favorites"; Genoa Salami, Capicola, Spicy Ham.  The "grown-up" version had provolone cheese, lettuce, tomato, submarine oil, oregano and hot peppers.  The "kid version" had regular ham, provolone, lettuce and tomato.  My girls loved the salami and it is now requested for lunches.

Just look how yummy.  My mouth is watering.

We had Disco fries on the side.  Disco fries are usually found in Jersey diners.  They are steak fries covered in cheese and brown gravy.  I combined a quick recipe with a Paula Dean recipe.

Disco Fries

One Bag of Steak Fries
One packet of McCormick Beef Gravy
2 Cups (1 bag) Shredded Yellow Cheddar

Prepare the Steak Fries following the oven directions on the bag.
Prepare the gravy following directions on packet.
Place cooked fries in a wide, shallow casserole dish or baking sheet and sprinkle with the shredded Cheddar cheese, layering the fries and the cheese. (If you want the cheese to be completely melted, bake in a 350 degrees F oven for about 4 minutes after layering the fries and cheese.)
Remove from oven, top with Brown Gravy and serve immediately.   Another option is to serve the gravy on the side.

Side note:  This was a lot of cheese and I don't usually say such a thing.  I will probably start with a cup of cheese and go from there.

Next State:  Home of the Chili

50 States; 50 Meals: New Hampshire

For New Hampshire we went all maple syrup.  It was very delicious but by the end of the meal I was maple syrup'ed out.

What's not to love about having breakfast for dinner?  We had some texas toast in the house after making Hot Browns with some leftover Christmas turkey so I made french toast.  (As I write this the Throwdown with Bobby Flay: Hot Brown is on Food Network.)  To go with the french toast I made Maple Syrup Apples.  I'm pretty sure I wasn't using the famous New Hampshire apples but they were good nonetheless.  Some of us put the apples on the french toast and some put them on the side.  Either way they were very good AND easy to make.

               

For dessert we had Maple Syrup and Snow Candy.  This apparently is very popular in New Hampshire.  Lucky for us it happened to snow that day.  I had the girls get two big bowls of snow before it turned to ice and rain.  We stored the snow in the freezer until it was time for dessert.  Two big mixing bowls turned out to be enough for a family of four.  It's pretty cool.  The syrup hardens once it touches the snow.  We did not finish by eating pickles or saltines as the recipe suggests but I do see why they make the suggestion.  After the french toast, apples and snow I was ready for a different taste.



Next up: We're getting on the turnpike and heading to Jur-zee.

50 States; 50 Meals: Nevada

Well it's a good thing that we weren't actually in Nevada for this meal because it didn't have the "stay there".  Get it?  Bad Joke.

So obviously when anyone things of Nevada they think of Las Vegas and when they think of eating in Las Vegas they think of All-you-can-eat buffets.

Our buffet included the basics you would see on any buffet.  I wanted to keep everything an appetizer size because we were decorating our Christmas tree at the same time.  It is our family tradition to have an appetizer dinner (aka Pickies; aka Appy's; aka Mrs. Flax dinner, Mermaids movie anyone) while putting up our tree so this worked out perfectly.  We had:
99-Cent Shrimp Cocktails
Steak Bites to stand in for Prime Rib
Grilled Mushrooms
Veggies
Summer Sausage - This was to fulfill another Christmas tradition


I filled the green dish with ice and then placed the shrimp on top in effort to make it look like a buffet chafing dish. 

I used Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond's recipe for the steak bites.  They were amazing.  Butter and Steak.  What could be better?  To add on to the steak I also cooked up some button mushrooms in some butter too with a splash (or two, or three) of red wine.  I have to say as we get closer to New Year's Eve those steak bites I have been on my mind. 

It was a  very delicious dinner.  We all got to keep our money but I would have liked to catch Britney Spears residency show or the Blue Man group. ;)

Next, we head back to New England for a mapley dinner.

50 States; 50 Meals: Nebraska

I hope everyone had a great holiday season! It is a great season for foodies for sure.

We had a simple meal for our Nebraska dinner.  It was a very Cornhusker dinner, if you will.  We had corn dogs, homemade popcorn and Eskimo Pies for dessert.A corn dog (just in case someone doesn't know) is a hot dog dipped in a cornmeal batter and then deep fried.

When I don't use the air popper I make Olive Oil Popcorn.  I follow the same instructions as you would to make popcorn with a canola oil but with a healthier oil.

Olive Oil Popcorn
1/4 Cup Olive Oil into a skillet
Add a single kernel of corn
Cover and heat at medium heat
When the kernel pops add enough corn to cover the bottom of the pan
Cover and shake
When the popping slows down, remove the pan from the heat
Salt to taste



Then for dessert we had Eskimo Pie ice cream bars.  Christian Kent Nelson, a school teacher and candy shop owner in Iowa, invented the Eskimo Pie in 1921, when a boy in his shop couldn’t decide between an ice cream and a candy bar. But it wasn't until Nelson traveled to Nebraska, where he met Russell Stover who helped him patent the idea and dub it “Eskimo Pie.”

Next up is a state famous for their buffets.