Texas and Florida

Yay!  These two states were the easiest to come up with a menu for so far.   Texas, of course, means Texas style chili.   It is their official state dish.   Texans believe that "chili con carne" should be what the name says - peppers with meat.   No beans, cubes of beef, and no tomatoes.   It is ok to eat it on rice.  

We made the recipe at http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/True-Texas-Chili-355049 using guajillo peppers (Penzeys Spices has them).   It's a bit of work - you have to soak the dried peppers, seed them, and then make a paste in the blender with the other spices.   Not difficult, just time consuming.    We concluded that the result was worth it.

Texas also has an official state bread called Pan de Campo.   Which translates as "camp bread".   There are a ton of variations, but it is basically a baking powder bread traditionally cooked over a campfire.   Many times in a Dutch oven, but sometimes in a skillet with lard.    We made it in a Dutch oven in our indoor oven since we don't have an appropriate setup for making a campfire in our backyard.  It ends up being pretty much a giant biscuit, but that's a good thing :-).

For Florida we made key lime pie.   It's not an official state symbol, but it should be!   We served it with genuine Florida strawberries, which, happily, are in prime season right now.