Yes, I have been keeping up with the meals bu with the end of the school year it was just too crazy to sit and write about it. Between three weekends with visitors (loved having you), my 3# birthday, a Nationals baseball game, a grad school graduation party, a preschool graduation, a Daisy bridging ceremony, two dance recitals and, oh yeah, the shingles who can sit to write? We are too busy having fun! Minus the shingles.
The rest of the I states would be Illinois, Indiana and Iowa.
It was hard to decide what to make for Illinois. There were so many choices. Do you make the deep dish pizza or the hot dog or Italian Beef? I had made the Sandwich King's Italian Beef last year so I took that off the list. And I thought there were some toppings on the Chicago dog that the girls wouldn't like so I went for the pizza. I was pretty excited because I used my new Kitchen Aid stand mixer that my mom had just given me to make the dough. It was much easier than when I made the Apizza's.
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Building Chicago Deep Dish Pizza[/caption]So interesting enough the chain restaurant Uno's is actually who invented the Deep Dish Pizza. I think this is the first time that a chain created our state dinner. Truth be told I was very tempted to just load everyone in the car and head to our Uno's. But it wouldn't be the same so I picked up a 12in cake pan and set out to learn about deep dish pizzas. The crust is obviously different than NY style but another difference is that is made backwards too. The order is crust, cheese, sauce (I used strained San Marzano tomatoes with spices added), and then parm cheese. If you make it with sausage it would go before the cheese. Find the recipe on my Pinterest page.
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Look how cheesy[/caption]Honestly, the next two states is really the reason I hadn't been blogging. I was not excited about the next two states but I was pleasantly surprised with the Indiana Pork Tenderloin sandwich, as was the family. I was a little worried after the Steak Fingers but it was actually really good. You
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Indiana Pork Tenderloin Sandwich[/caption]flatten pieces of pork tenderloin. It's going to look to big for the bread but apparently you are supposed to do that. It marinates in buttermilk and spices. Then you dredge it in flour, egg and breadcrumbs. After frying the tenderloins build the sandwiches by putting the cutlets between the burger buns and garnishing with lettuce, tomato, onion, pickle, mayonnaise and mustard. It was really tasty.
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Hoosier Pie[/caption]For dessert we had Hoosier pie. What is a Hoosier you ask? Simply put it is a person from Indiana. Compare it to a Yankee from New York. The Hoosier pie is also called a Sugar Cream pie. It was really easy to make and I got to use my new Kitchen Aid again! This pie was weird. We thought the mix tasted great but after baking it we didn't really care for it anymore. The texture was odd and the flavor didn't mix well with the salty crust.
For the last "I" state I got my Roseanne on and made Loosemeat sandwiches. These are NOT Sloppy Joes. The "sauce" is made out of vinegar, yellow mustard and water. They were just okay. The meat tasted much better on the bun. Sorry Iowa, I'm sticking with Sloppy Joes. Iowa is also know for Pork Tenderloin sandwhichs. I should have just made those again.
I hope you have enjoyed your June. Next we are going somewhere over the rainbow.
