50 States; 50 Meals: Tennessee

I don't know about anyone else but I have anxiously been waiting for this state.

What we had for dinner:

Memphis Ribs

I'm sure there are many rib enthusiasts that will say were prepared these ribs incorrectly but they were fall off the bone delicious.  We used Wegmans' Braised Barbecue recipe where the ribs are grilled and then braised in a beer and barbeque sauce liquid.  Yep, I said beer.  Have your attention now?

We had Memphis style baked beans and squash casserole, a popular Tennessee dish, on the side.

Braised Barbecue Ribs

Ingredients 

1 rack Wegmans Center Cut Pork Spareribs (about 3 lbs), halved
1 Tbsp Wegmans BBQ Seasoning Shak'r (I used McCormick Pork Rub)
1 bottle (19 oz) Wegmans Memphis-Style BBQ Sauce
1 bottle (12 oz) lager-style beer

Directions

Preheat grill on HIGH 10 min.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Clean grill with wire brush. Using soft cloth, coat grill grate lightly with vegetable oil.
Season both sides of ribs with BBQ seasoning. Sear on grill 3-4 min per side; do not cook through. Transfer ribs to braising pan.
Whisk BBQ sauce and beer together in bowl until well-blended; pour over ribs in pan. Cover pan; place in oven.
Bake 2 1/2-3 hours. Carefully remove lid; bake 10 additional min.

 

 

Squash Casserole
I got this recipe from my SIL

Ingredients
2 pounds zucchini or squash or a combination
1 small sweet onion, chopped (1/4 cup)
1 (10 3/4-oz.) can cream of chicken soup
1 (8-oz.) container sour cream
1 cup grated carrots
1 (8-oz.) package herb-seasoned stuffing  (Pepperidge Farm)
1/2 cup butter, melted
Directions
Preheat oven to 350°. Cut squash into 1/4-inch-thick slices; place in a Dutch oven. Add chopped onion, 2 tsp. salt, and water to cover. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, and cook 5 minutes; drain well.
Stir grated carrots, cream of chicken soup and sour cream in a large bowl; fold in squash mixture. Stir together stuffing and 1/2 cup melted butter, and spoon half of stuffing mixture in bottom of a lightly greased 13- x 9-inch baking dish. Spoon squash mixture over stuffing mixture, and top with remaining stuffing mixture.
Bake at 350° for 30 to 35 minutes or until bubbly and golden brown, shielding with aluminum foil after 20 to 25 minutes to prevent excessive browning, if necessary. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.


Next State: Texas

4th of July Cookout Side Dishes

Happy Independence Day!

Invited to a 4th of July Cookout today? Here is what I making. I'll add pictures this afternoon. 

Deviled Eggs - Recipe from My Recipes

I first made this recipe after Easter. I wanted to use up the dyed eggs. I don't like eggs but I was told they are very good. Truth is I don't mind the yolks of a deviled egg. 

Two Dressing Cole Slaw

1lb Bag of Cole Slaw mix

1 cup Marzetti Original Slaw Dressing

1/4 cup Marie's Cole Slaw Dressing 

1 tsp sesame oil (optional but delicious)

Mix all ingredients together. 

Make at least an hour ahead of time. 

I started making cole slaw with the two dressings by accident. I prefer the Marzetti because it does not have celery seed. I but Marie's by accident one time and my family said they liked it better. Marie's has celery seed. So the next time I made it with both with a little of the Marie's so my family gets the celery seed taste they like.  My mom taught me the trick about the sesame oil. I usually only add it when I'm not taking the cole slaw to an event. 

So when I went to the store today they were out of Marie's slaw dressing. 

New recipe same great taste!

Quick Cole Slaw

1lb Bag of Cole Slaw mix

1 cup Marzetti Original Slaw Dressing

1/8 tsp celery seed

1 tsp sesame oil (optional but delicious)

Other Side Dish Menu Options

Potato Salad

Baked Beans

Corn on the Cob

Sliced tomatoes w/ Dukes Mayonaisse 

50 States; 50 Meals: Maine

This week we headed to New England and made a Maine meal. You can't have Maine meal without Lobstah!
We had Lobster Rolls. Not being a fan of celery I searched and searched for a recipe that would prove that you don't have to have celery to have a good Lobster roll. I actually found a few but the day before our State dinner night I got emailed a pretty simple recipe from Spoonful by Disney. This recipe actually spoke to me because the first thing it said was that there are many lobster rolls and they all claim to be right. I already felt more comfortable about not having celery. I did have all the other necessary components. We had the New England style hot dog rolls, the lobster (of course) and mayonnaise.




I used frozen lobster to keep our grocery bill down. My husband is a furloughed federal employee.
Side Note: we have been able to keep our food bill down by using recipes from the Born Free blog.
My girls actually enjoyed the lobster before I add the mayo to it. I couldn't really blame them for liking the lobster in its natural form. I had a hard time with the texture of the hot dog roll with the lobster. My hubby liked it.

Along side the lobster rolls we had B&M Baked Beans. Burnham and Morrill Company is based out of Maine. They began packing their brick oven beans in the 1920's. We had never had this brand before. They were good beans.

For desert we had Whoopie Pies! Whoopie Pies are two chocolate cake like cookies with cream in the middle. There is some argument of who can claim the Whoppie Pie. Maine or Pennsylvania. Maine went ahead and made the the Whoopie Pie it's official state treat. I totally used the Pillsbury Kit.




Next up we head to another state known for its crustacean.