Category: Stateside Cuisine

Spicin’ Things Up

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We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and a great weekend. We’ve been busy eating leftovers, decorating for the holidays and even squeezing in a trip to the circus. We’ll get back to our stateside cooking adventures and Portugal later this week, but first we thought we’d share this awesome recipe for using up some leftover cranberry sauce and pumpkin puree.

Before we get to our recipe for this Spiced Cobbler, however, we wanted to quickly mention that our Pumpkin & Couscous Rocket Salad was featured over at FoodPornDaily this weekend. It was a wonderful surprise to discover today. I about fell off the couch when I found out. So now that we’re feeling all spicy…

We began our cobbler by chopping six pears. We peeled them this time. 

Then we gathered the leftover cranberry sauce (We recommend using homemade, but the canned variety will work.), the fresh cranberries, brown sugar and a bit of pumpkin pie spice. Continue reading →

Love, Loyalty and Barbecue

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Okay, so the words to the salute of the state flag in The Palmetto State are actually, “love, loyalty and faith,” but we’re talking about slow cooked barbecue goodness today. More specifically we’re talking about Mr. N’s state pick for the week, South Carolina Slow Cooker Pulled Pork.

We learned quite a bit about the different styles of BBQ and BBQ sauce for the southeastern coastal state, the most important thing being that BBQ refers exclusively to pork. If you want barbecued beef, it’s called “barbecued beef.” Simply asking for barbecue, however, will land you a pulled, shredded or chopped BBQ pork sandwich. And then there are the sauces which vary by region and include mustard-based sauces, ketchup-based sauces and vinegar-based sauces.

This week we chose the slow cooker method for our pork – it’s easy and convenient enough for a weekday and we love the way it makes the house smell. We also went with the ketchup-based barbecue sauce popular in the upstate and Savannah River regions, thinking that would be more up the kids’ alley.

The day before we planned to slow cook the pork, Miss A and I prepared the barbecue sauce. We used ketchup, apple cider vinegar, salt, brown sugar and crushed red pepper. 

Continue reading →

Jeet?

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Or in non-Rhode Island speak, have you eaten yet? Yep, it’s state night and we’re sticking with our “island” theme for the week. Okay, it’s not an actual island as Mr. N now knows, but we’ve already done Hawaii, and besides we miss New England.

As for Rhode Island, well we knew right away what meal we’d whip up for this adventure. Any guesses?

Alright, how many of you guessed Rhode Island Clam Chowder? If you did, yay! You’re right. Now, how many of you knew that Rhode Island Clam Chowder is not a red chowder, not a white chowder, but traditionally a clear broth chowder? That’s right, tourists often go for and favor the traditional New England white clam chowders, but Rhode Islanders can be found digging in on a version that puts the clams center stage.

Now a true Rhode Island Clam Chowder uses quahogs, but we couldn’t find any so we’re making due with chopped canned clams in clam juice. Continue reading →

Apple Thyme

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We just returned home from a short (but wonderful) visit back to our old home town in Minnesota, so we’re going to keep this one brief. Along with our Gruyère Stuffed French Toast the other day, we  made another recipe from Washington. This one comes from the Washington State Potato Commission and is a twist on the typical hash brown side dish. You guessed it – Apple Hash.

We started by heating onions, salt, pepper and olive oil over medium heat. After a few minutes we added some chopped Yukon gold potatoes. 

We cooked the potatoes for about 10 minutes and then tossed in some apples, butter and fresh thyme. Continue reading →

Apple of My Eye

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It’s state night again. Time to get out the United States puzzle for Miss A. She loves puzzles. Before making her selection, she first took the puzzle apart. Then put it back together. Then took it apart, asked me to put it back together and then pointed to the big purple state in the Pacific Northwest, Washington.

Washington is known for lots of fresh produce and seafood – apples, potatoes, berries, and salmon. Given the time of year, we’re going to focus on apples, the McIntosh to be precise. We came across this recipe in our most recent issue of Cooking Light Magazine and had set it aside as one to make for breakfast soon. Little did we know that it would come in handy for our Washington adventure. So, without further adieu we give you what we’re calling Gruyère French Toast with Warm Apple Syrup.

We started by thinly slicing our McIntosh apples. Continue reading →

How Sweet It Is

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Fall in rural Michigan.

It’s state night again and believe it or not, we’re done featuring all of our deliciousness from Maine. While we’re sad to see it go, we’re excited to press on with some new stateside adventures. In this post we will however be revisiting another state  – Michigan.  Only this time we’re not cooking with cherries, rather we’re going with some juicy Michigan blueberries (not to be confused with Maine blueberries😉 ) and peaches.

My mom and dad recently enjoyed a weekend getaway to the Traverse City area of Michigan, and when they came back my dad made a delicious blueberry and peach cobbler. My dad doesn’t bake often, but when he does you know it’s going to be something good (and usually something terribly caloric). Peach cobblers, banana breads and my birthday cake (which I’m looking forward to next week!) are some of his specialties.

Dad found this particular recipe in a magazine while they were away. It’s not a surprise that it caught his eye. And since we enjoyed it so much, we brought the idea home and put our own twist on it. We first made a visit to our farmer’s market to grab up some Michigan peaches and blueberries, the we got to work making our Blueberry-Peach Crisp. Continue reading →