A Quick Stopover in Kansas

We're heading back south for a day in Kansas and then tomorrow's itinerary is Missouri and then a week devoted to the Great State of Oklahoma. SO, you know what that means, if you're in Oklahoma and you're reading this or you have family in Oklahoma, leave a comment. I hope you're finding recipes of particular states and their accompanying stories to be of value or at least a bit interesting. Again, thanks for stopping by. In a fast paced world where EVERYONE wants our attention, I appreciate your time!

And again, see yesterday's post for more details, but leaving a NOODLE recipe in comments will get you ever closer for a chance to WIN a BRAND-NEW FREE CD from award-winning kid rocker Jim Cosgrove!

A sunflower (Kansas state flower) from my Missouri garden.

So here are two recipes for sides courtesy of Bill James and Susan McCarthy. Bill does amazing stuff with baseball statistics and consults the Red Sox. I quoted him about his love of cinnamon rolls that many fellow Midwesterners share. But Bill detests chicken fried steak. Bill says: "I loathe chicken fried steak, which I regard as an effort to disguise the cheapest cuts of meat with lard and flour."

The first side is a potato recipe Susan has made for Bill for 30 years. In addition to the potatoes, it has both green beans and carrots. I'll post a picture after I have a chance to make it. My newly organized pantry wasn't smelling too good this morning. My youngest with the sensitive nose nearly gagged and I realized a fairly new bag of red potatoes was spoiling and emitting a putrid odor. I've been lighting quite a few candles today. So once I get new FRESH Idaho potatoes I'm making ....

Susan McCarthy's and Bill James' 
Herbed Garden Vegetable Salad
(recipe from Susan's mother)
½ cup salad oil
1/3 cup cider vinegar
1 Tablespoon parsley flakes
2 teaspoons salt
1½ teaspoon basil leaves, crushed
1 teaspoon onion powder
½ teaspoon garlic powder
¼ teaspoon black pepper
In a small covered jar, combine oil, vinegar, parsley flakes, salt, basil, onion and garlic
powders and ground black pepper; shake well.

In a large bowl combine the following:
6 cups warm, peeled and sliced, cooked potatoes
3 cups warm, cut green beans
2 cups warm, sliced cooked carrots
Freeze-dried chives
Toss the vegetables gently and pour in enough dressing to coat vegetables thoroughly.
Cover; chill several hours tossing occasionally.

Reunion Scalloped Potatoes
(Susan got this recipe from “ The Free Spirit,” July 20, 1989, published in Oskaloosa, Kan. Thelma Farris is credited with this recipe.)
5 lbs potatoes, boiled in jackets, peeled and sliced
1 small can pimentoes, finely cut
¼ pound butter
1 Tablespoon flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 can cream of mushroom soup (10 ½ oz size)
1 cup milk
1 lb. cheese, shredded
Arrange potatoes in buttered baking pan. Combine ingredients in small pan. Stir over low heat
until blended and cheese is melted. Pour over potatoes. Bake in 300 degree oven for 1 and a half hours.

The Road to Kolache Heaven

POLKA DAY IN NEBRASKA

I didn't really think about featuring the Kolache as Nebraska's dessert until I was browsing my newest cookbook: "United Cakes of America" by Warren Brown. This wonderful cookbook is mandatory reading for our journey. Warren, who has bake shops on the East Coast, has put together a national treasury of desserts that's also an entertaining history of baking in America. Plus, it's one of the very few cookbooks that organizes recipes by state. (So if any publishing houses want to explore this idea of more regional/state cooking themes, feel free to contact me.)

Cherry Kolaches I made on the first try after years of not making them.

For Nebraska, Warren presented a kolache recipe, but I thought it would be a crime not to feature MY OWN GRANDMOTHER'S RECIPE. She lived and baked 13 miles from the southern border of Nebraska, in the small town of Cuba, Kansas.

Cuba's got a strong Czech heritage and I remember once singing a happy Czech song in a skit with two other little preschool friends in front of lots of people laughing. I cannot remember WHAT we were singing, but it was probably about food. I think the older lady on stage with us had a bucket of lard. But maybe I'm getting mixed up. It was a long, long time ago. But the Senior Citizen's Community Center had  a stage backdrop that was a painting of a Czech street scene. I'm not sure what condition it's in now all these years later, but there's a great photo of that backdrop if you go to Jim Richardson's Web site, click "Documentary: Our Heartland" and then click on "Cuba, Kansas."

Did you know my hometown was exotic enough to be featured in the May 2004 National Geographic? A subsequent issue printed my letter to the editor thanking photographer Jim Richardson. I'm wondering if I can technically count "National Geographic" as one of the places my work has appeared?


So to all my Cuba homies who have the "Blue" 1978 Cuba Presbyterian Guild Cook Book with my grandmother Margaret Lesovsky's recipe on page 118, it's been updated -- by my grandmother, who was always noting the total amount of flour and other alchemy while baking. Here's the latest version of her "basic" dough that she called her "smaller amount" that also included less kneading. My grandmother didn't think I was the world's best at kneading, but I'd not had her decades of experience either.

The inscription in my cookbook from my grandmother. 

GRANDMA MARGARET'S
BASIC 'SWEET' DOUGH - SMALLER AMOUNT


2 packages of yeast (3 teaspoons equal a package) = 6 teaspoons of yeast
1 1/2 cups lukewarm water (water that is warm and comfortable on the wrist)
1/3 cup of powdered milk (Can you tell my Grandmother grew up in the Depression?)
1/2 cup of sugar
1/4 cup of oil (1/2 cup of oil if making kolaches)

1 1/2 teaspoons of salt
1/4 cup of instant potatoes (Depression inspired? Saves time from boiling real potatoes)
2 eggs
5 cups of flour (approximately)


Put first 5 ingredients (through oil) into mixer. Let yeast work about 10 minutes. 

Then start with other ingredients, making sure you have enough flour. I of course ran out of flour and had to run to the store, hoping the yeast wouldn't expand too much. I noticed later my grandmother's wheat roll recipe calls for this "sponge" action of adding two cups of flour and waiting before adding more flour, so 20 minutes between the cups of flour didn't seem to effect the outcome. Whew!


So once you have nearly five cups of flour (preferably Hudson Cream) use the mixer's dough hook to knead. I love this part of the recipe, though  I still made a mess.

Here's where I zoned off (all those years ago) when I was writing down Grandma's recipe, perhaps because it was ALWAYS pretty warm in her kitchen. My next step says "Bake at 400 degrees" so I know I skipped a few vital instructions. Yes, I can see my grandmother shaking her head now. 
According to her published recipe in the "blue" cookbook here are the rest of the dough directions:


Continue beating in flour until dough is smooth and can be lifted in a mass on the spoon, leaving the bowl clean. Turn dough onto lightly floured board and knead until smooth and satiny. (I did this for three minutes and called it good.) Keep as soft as can be handled. (I think that means not to add too much more flour.) Place in a lightly oiled bowl and cover. Set in a warm place until doubled* then punch down. Let rest for 10 minutes and shape as desired. (For plain rolls, rohliks with poppy seeds, bake at 400 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes.)

For the actual kolaches recipe, I've referred to the blue cookbook's Czech kolache notes from Mrs Ed Fisher, and used raising times from Warren Brown's kolache recipe. *Brown lets dough in bowl initially rise for 90 minutes.)

I divided the dough and started forming small rolls about the size of a small egg (thinking small because they'll continue raising with that massive amount of yeast!), placing them two inches apart.

I flattened them slightly and let them rise when they're doubled in size. (Brown specifies 30 minutes, Fisher says Kolaches can be tested by pressing in the center. If an indention remains they're ready to spread out, leaving a 1/2 inch edge. Sort of like this, I am by no means a Kolache Queen:

Fill with filling of choice — I used canned ready cherry and apricot pie fillings - puree apricot filling before using - or I make my own plum or what we used to call prune filling. I added canned pineapple to the apricot because my Grandmother always liked to make pineapple kolaches because that was her favorite fruit. There's also a poppy seed and cottage cheese option, but, yuck! I don't even attempt to make that disgusting kind.

START THIS THE NIGHT BEFORE:
Debbie's Plum Filling
1 orange (you'll need the zest)
1 package pitted plums (12 oz.)
1 1/2 cups raisins
2 Tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon lemon juice

Soak prunes and raisins overnight in water. Cook until soft with the zest of the orange and the sugar. Drain. Add lemon juice. Puree and ready to go.

After carefully filling the centers, an egg wash is optional. They'll need to raise one last time for about 5 to 10 minutes and then can bake in a 400 degree oven for 10 to 12 minutes. Mine took about 15 minutes. Don't forget to go light on the filling:

But my first batch turned out well enough I think my Grandmother would have been proud. The total recipe made four dozen. And if you're within driving distance of my house, I've still got some to share.

Husker Burger, Part II and Cinnamon Rolls

Welcome back to Nebraska Week. We've got two more recipes for another day in Nebraska and I've also received some more enticing recipes from Kansas and Nebraska. So by Thursday or so, we'll head south to start virtually sightseeing in Oklahoma! (Hmmm, wonder if I need to rent that movie, again.)

The Nebraska Department of Economic Development spent some money on encouraging family travel, at least it seems that way based on their web site. They've got some fun films for kids, but I'm not sure kids are dictating where families are driving to on their free weekends. The site has this orange-haired animated kid trying to stow away in this Nebraska family's minivan.

Tyler from the Nebraska Dept. of Economic Development's Web site.

The nice family has room, but let's face it, this cartoon kid named Tyler shows no athletic prowess and will never be a lineman for the Nebraska Cornhuskers. So you know this isn't a "Blind Side" fairy tale here, the cartoon kid always gets discovered before the family sets out onto one of the many trips to various parts of the state for picnics, I think.

The kids' area on this site has a bunch of printable car activities including a game of counting the cows you see on either side of the road. (I think this would also be part of the Kansas landscape as well and I remember getting excited about seeing a cow figure carved out of real butter at the Kansas State Fair. Welcome to the Midwest folks!) But Nebraska's Economic Development site does have a great online game for children called Geography Jam, where you try to locate different towns throughout the state. I give it a big thumbs up, even if it featured that cartoonish Tyler with snarky bubble comments.

Speaking of towns, Omaha's Jen Shatel was able to clarify the proper way to dress a Husker Burger (available across from Memorial Stadium on football game days in Lincoln.) The Husker Burger is shaped like the state of Nebraska and depending on which you like best you run that condiment along the line where the Platte River runs. Start with ketchup (or mustard) and stream it from the lower corner on bottom of the panhandle to the middle of the "wavy" East side of the state, just south of where Omaha is. You can just guess where Omaha is or play the Geography Jam game above. Then Jen's says you can "dot" certain favorite cities with the opposite condiment. She usually adds Alliance, in the panhandle; Broken Bow, in the middle of the state; and Auburn, in the lower right corner; because she has family living in those locations. (I'm gonna fire up my Photoshop and illustrate this soon, so check back!)

I also asked John Mabry, who I worked with eons ago at The Kansas City Star Sports department, for his insight on Nebraska foods. John is the editor of L Magazine, Lincoln's Premiere Lifestyle Magazine that's part of the Lincoln Star-Journal newspaper.

"Runza sandwiches are big here (beef and cabbage stuffed in a roll)," John says. "Of course, steak and potatoes. People love their chili and cinnamon rolls here (together). I don't know if that is unique to Nebraska, but it is a pretty good combo."

I'm experimenting with a Runza recipe that I want to share this week. I've got both cabbage and sauerkraut (may opt for the later since it will be quicker) and still trying to decide on the best bread/roll recipe to use. I was going to just purchase a frozen quick bread, but I didn't see anything at the grocery store that looked like it would taste right. So my long-time friend Mary (reconnected on Facebook) directed me to our hometown's church cookbook for the roll recipe she uses frequently. I'll keep you posted on how this bread baking turns out.

John mentioned cinnamon rolls and it seems that in states with smaller towns much of the center of the community is centered around the local restaurant serving homemade cinnamon rolls and cheap coffee (read, no cream and 'don't need no Starbucks' -- that's for my daughters who are Justin Beiber and Ludacris fans; well Justin fans and they know who Ludacris is.) But Bill James, of Lawrence, Kansas, and recent special guest on the Simpsons, says not all cinnamon rolls are created equal.


Bill's wife, Susan McCarthy, gave me her cinnamon roll recipe. I've compared it to several other regional recipes and her recipe seems easier than most. So pics of this soon!

Susan McCarthy's and Bill James'
Overnight Cinnamon Rolls
3 cups warm water
2 teaspoons of yeast ( 3/4 package)
1 cup sugar
1 Tablespoon salt
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1/2 cup butter, softened
7 to 8 cups flour

About 4 or 5 in the afternoon mix the ingredients together, adding enough flour to form a sticky dough. Let rise 4 to 5 hours. Punch down the dough, divide into quarters. Roll out each quarter flat, spread with butter and a mixture of sugar and cinnamon. Roll the section up and cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces. Place rolls in greased baking pan. Continue in same way with the other dough quarters. Cover baking pans and let rolls rise overnight. Bake at 350° for about 30 minutes. Frost while warm and serve.

I appreciate recipes that specify the time of day to start, though it also means I'll be working with sugars near bedtime, and that's dangerous for me.

Bill writes: "A good cinnamon roll is a joy forever, or for the 20 minutes it takes you to eat it, whichever comes first. An interesting thing about cinnamon rolls is the immense variety of them.  I think there is more variety in cinnamon rolls than in chile, and there are very good cinnamon rolls of all different sizes, shapes, and taste. And also terrible ones. . ."

I couldn't agree more and my extended family of Czech bakers believe frozen bread dough is a blasphemy. The roll dough has to be sweet. (I took Texas-based Kolache Factory kolaches to my hometown, a Czech base with the slogan of "Czech Us Out." The verdict: Kolache Factory's rolls weren't sweet enough. So sugar has to be a MAIN ingredient in Czech and also Midwest baking, never mind how those Texans bake!)

Coming up is my grandmother's kolache recipe, too, since this fruit-filled SWEET roll is a Czech specialty, and there's a big Czech population in Nebraska. My hometown of Cuba, where my grandmother lived two doors down, is 13 miles from the Kansas-Nebraska border.

Purple Ribbon Recipe and Linger Longer in Kansas

LAST FREE EXIT IN KANSAS today then EAST toward the M - I - Crooked Letter - Crooked Letter - I - Crooked Letter - Crooked Letter - I - Humpback - Humpback - I. (I just want to drive to the other side of the Missouri just so I can shout that while going over Mark Twain's river.)

Speaking of spelling and letters of the day, here is -- direct from the Huffington Post -- Katy Perry singing with Elmo on Sesame Street. Katy was playing dress up and tag with Elmo, and she looks like a Tinker Belle princess. No more, no less. Katy's outfit did NOT bother me. With all the talk, I was expecting an itsy-bitsy, teeny-weeny, yellow-polka-dotted bikini on top. The skit was fun, it was catchy and it was educational. All I have to do is step into my ELEMENTARY school or a Justice store or any other place where kids hang out and see far skimpier clothes. I bet the same fresh and fierce parents complaining today in the next decade will think THEIR kids look just "fine" wearing clothes way too grown up for them. Perhaps adults of today need to check, check themselves (and their kids' wardrobes) before complaining about a Sesame Street wardrobe choice. It's a clothing choice not a wardrobe malfunction.

As promised, my purple ribbon Kansas State Fair Recipe for Raisin Spice Bars. Thanks to my former 4-H cooking leader Grace Ann Fiala for this recipe.

RAISIN SPICE BARS
1 stick oleo (Called butter these days. This recipe has been around for awhile.)
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon each of baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon of ground cloves
1/2 cup raisins
1 cup flour
1 egg, beaten

Take 1/2 cup of water and simmer with raisins. Save 2 Tablespoons of extra water. Melt butter in microwave (modified from heating in pan.) Add sugar, raisin liquid and spices. Add beaten egg and raisins. Bake in 9" pan at 350º for 30 minutes.

******
(We might revisit raisins for California Week, though I think of California produce as being fine, fresh, and fierce.) Here's from the first California Raisins coloring book.

Before we leave Kansas, here are a few more links to check:
The Kansas Wheat site has recipes for more than breads. But as a Kansas State alumnae, my favorite recipe is their Kansas State Crown Bread. It brings back many memories of group banquets in the K-State Union.

My favorite cookbook with Kansas ties is the Centennial 4-H Cookbook called "Essence of Kansas Taste Three." You can view it HERE.

And if you're so inclined, check out the link HERE for "Cooking in Oz: Kitchen Wizardry and a Century of Marvels from America's Favorite Tale." It's one of three titles on Oz cooking.
Here's how a West Virginia Symphony group planned an Oz meal.
If you need any more Oz info links, check this site HERE. Check out the radio ad where the state's old travel slogan was "Linger Longer in Kansas." I think perhaps that's because folks were lost that they were "lingering longer" in the state. (Though I have relatives and friends who work for Kansas Department of Transportation and Kansas roads are much better than many states. And not that they don't need more funding, but they're way better than Missouri maintenance.)

And I should mention that there is an Oz Museum in Wamego, Kansas, (about an hour and 40 minutes from Kansas City on a toll road that's not paved in yellow bricks.) Time for some more Katy tunes.

Tom Sawyer, Sunflower Power and Flying Monkeys

Coming soon, more recipes from Kansas natives, including my Kansas State Fair Purple Ribbon 4-H bar cookie recipe. And next week's focus is on Missouri recipes, authors and attractions. I'm perusing Tom Sawyer again (I've not read it since I was a kid and I've always heard it's good to reread as an adult. I can only imagine the themes I didn't pick up on as a child.)

So a family-friendly Tom Sawyer meal may be in the works. Some early recipe titles that may or may not make the cut: White iced refrigerator cookies? River Trail Mix? Paddle Boat Soup and crackers?

What I'm Googling today:

It was just announced last week that Trader Joe's is coming to KC. I'm over the moon, even though both locations are not close to my home kitchen. I shall turn into the greatest of chefs, soon, maybe, perhaps, perhaps not. Sorry, lost my focus.

Sunflowers are the state flower for Kansas, so chocolate-coated Sunflower Seeds are a nice snack. (They might appear in next week's trail mix.)

Here's a link to more Sunflower souvenirs. Why you'd really need this link, I'm not sure. If you really want to do a family friendly meal about Kansas, the movie to find is (ugh, am I really saying this after ALL MY YEARS of denying the connection to our state and Hollywood's creation: "The Wizard of Oz."
CAN I do a Wizard of Oz meal? Yes.  DO I want to do a Wizard of Oz meal? No.

So I'm leaving it to you. Leave me a comment if you think you'd like to see a Wizard of Oz meal. Provide menu names (other than Flying Monkeys because we dislike them. Though Britney Spears's red and black fluffed "ringleader" jacket for her Circus tour made me think of those ick creatures.) But a Wicked green punch is now sounding like it could be fun... Wicked on Broadway was great, BTW, and at least kept Kansas out the scenery. Darn, now I've got Wizard of Oz on the brain...

Meat Lockers, Pizza Hut & Rocky Mountain Oysters

Okay, so I've highlighted my youth, prairie sunsets and fried foods, but I think it's good to get other perspectives. This blog will only be as good as the collective foodies and readers who support it. I want YOU to share your story about the foods and books that best depict YOUR STATE. Next week we're on to Missouri, so let me know in comments if you'd like to help. (No pressure, but this is our chance to truly educate our youth on this place we call home.)


This could also become the place for some good ol' food showdowns. Best barbecue? Best burgers? Bring it on! In fact today, my guest writer begins the case for "Best Burger." (I'm still agreeing with Calvin Trillin that Winstead's is the best.)

I asked my friend Joe Drape to write about his time in Smith Center, Kansas, in 2008. Joe is a New York Times sports writer who grew up in Kansas City and lives in New York City. Joe moved his family from the city to small-town America to discover from Smith Center High School football coach Roger Barta what teaching football had to do with teaching life.

"Our Boys, A Perfect Season on the Plains with the Smith Center Redmen" highlights Coach Barta, his team and the loyal town followers. "Our Boys" was named one of the 2010 Kansas Notable Books, but I loved it because it made me recollect my youth in a small Kansas town. (I didn't play football, but was a cheerleader for our eight-man football team. Wait, did I just admit I was a cheerleader? Strike the record on my past high school activities.) Click HERE to see the list of the other 2010 Kansas Notable Books. 

Hello Margo,

I’m glad you asked me about my culinary adventures in Smith Center, Kansas, because it was a tasty and full one. The Drapes are solid Midwesterners – I’m from just off State Line Road on the Missouri side of Kansas City. My wife, Mary, is from Chicago. Even here in New York our dinner table reflects our roots – steaks, pork chops, chicken, all sorts of potatoes and a green vegetable. My fun food specialty is Sloppy Joes. My son, Jack, all of 5, is far more adventurous than me. He eats crabs, squash, artichokes and pretty much anything you put in front of him. But he does love Sloppy Daddies.

We ate extremely well in Smith Center. The first thing I did was go to The Dollar Store and bought an old fashion charcoal grill for $25 – rain, snow and shine I was in our backyard each night grilling away. You can’t do that here in the Big Apple, and it is a ritual I miss deeply. Even better was the fact that I could go eight miles west to Lebanon to Ladow’s and get the best meat for a tenth of what I pay here.

John McDowell and his son-in-law carved up flat iron steak for $2.99 a pound and rib eyes for $4.99. They’d tease me about being a New Yorker as they did so. If I go to Gracie Market here to buy steaks, the flatiron would be $17.99 and the rib eye’s $22.99 and there was no one there to tease my. I also patronized the Kensington Meat Locker, which was across from Jack’s preschool in Kensington about 15 miles west of Smith Center. The slogan alone told you everything you needed to know: “From the Pen to the Pan.”

Now, for a town with 12 churches, one bar, and five dine-in establishments, the range of food was remarkable. Let’s start with The Pizza Hut, and I mean this in all seriousness – not only did I rediscover the joy of a thin-crust Pizza Hut pizza and the all-you-can-eat buffet, but I experienced it as one of the hubs of the community. Pizza Hut was started in Kansas and to this day is often one of the handful of restaurants in small towns. On Sundays after church, it would fill up and the joke was because the Catholics had shorter masses they got all the best tables.

The Jiffy Burger was the other fast-food joint, and this is blasphemy to say for a Kansas Citian, but their burger is better than Winstead’s and a whole lot cheaper – double cheese with everything, fries and a coke was about $4 bucks. And finally, there was The Second Cup Café, which was mainly a breakfast and lunch place, and is the single best diner I’ve ever eaten at. Lynn Pickel owned and operated it with an all-women staff and there was nothing they could not make. Chicken Fried Steak? Absolutely. The barbecue special? Brisket, chicken and pork with macaroni salad and desert for $6:50.  Taco Night? You’d swear you were eating in San Antonio.

Finally, our friends, Jack & Arlene Benn, were the most gracious hosts and innovative chefs. They wintered in South Texas, and Jack was a helluva of fisherman so they’d have rollicking fish fries with hush puppies and Rocky Mountain Oysters. We ate steak soup at their home, which was perhaps my Mom’s best dish, and one I try at least three times each winter and continually screw up. Biscuits and gravy for a Sunday dinner after we drove the back roads looking for deer was memorable.

And Arlene was without peer as a pie maker. Her cherry pie topped the best Thanksgiving Dinner we ever had. My family came up from Kansas City to join us the Benns and Coach Barta. In all, we had 20 people rammed into our little rental house across from the grain elevator.

It was great. You’re making me hungry and nostalgic. But don’t worry I’ll be back there the first week in October.

Joe

Chicken Dinners, Kansas Hunting Scenes and Murals

THE COLORS OF KANSAS

TASTES: When mentioning Kansas food, you cannot leave out one of the state's best known dining establishments, the Brookville Hotel (now in Abilene, boyhood home of Dwight D. Eisenhower and where his presidential museum and library is located). Brookville is famous for their family-style chicken dinners. In fact I don't think they have anything else on their menu besides their fried chicken and sides. It's a great place to take out-of-state visitors, and you'll get a bountiful meal served on their Blue Willow china. Check this link for their Sweet-Sour Cole-Slaw recipe.

Liz dining at the Brookville Hotel restaurant in Abilene, Kansas.

Dining in the Spirit of Kansas room, one of six rooms in the Brookville Hotel restaurant.

In the Spirit of Kansas room there are historical murals painted on the walls. I don't know what it is about murals in Kansas. As a child I was a bit scared of the mural of John Brown in the Kansas capitol in Topeka. The first mural features a fierce John Brown, not that he probably wasn't fiery in real life, but there was a whole bunch of controversy on the murals artist John Steuart Curry refused to finish. (Guess his depiction of a Hereford bull wasn't up to snuff.) Kansas is a state that takes its bulls seriously.

I remember when I was little and told to sit like a lady in a cafe with my grandparents in Leavenworth. It was hard to still still when my grandparents slowly sipped their refilled mugs of coffee and I had to stare at a mural of a buffalo hunt. I'd hoped for McDonald's but my grandparents thought that only sit-down establishments with real coffee and friendly waitresses were worth supporting. At my tender age I didn't know what was worse, drinking coffee or hunting buffaloes.

Kansas is a state where being in a room with depictions of animal hunts and eating food is not a big deal. (My dad's elk head is in my parent's dining room. I try to always sit on the side of the table facing AWAY from the mounted head. My mom usually decorates the elk for the various holidays, like a Green hat in March and tinsel in December. She's not totally enamored with the behemoth to begin with but trying to make the best of it.)

CHILDREN'S BOOK: Check out "One Kansas Farmer" by Devin and Corey Scillian and illustraed by Doug Bowles for more on facts about the state of Kansas.

SIGHTS: What I most like about my home state are the natural murals, the painted skies at sunset. Even on a partly cloudy afternoon the clouds look like something out of a painting -- I call those prairie clouds and imagine they've not changed since the day buffalo and Native Americans were the main caretakers of the Plains. But it's the awe-inspiring sunsets that make the state seem ever relaxed and comforting.

Check out more sights from Kansas here at Kansas Sampler that lists many categories of "Eight Wonders of Kansas." Not sure why eight is the magic number.

Steaks the Mighty Chicken Fried Way

WELCOME TO KANSAS WEEK

I was born in the Sunflower State as well as both my daughters.* Let's chat about Chicken Fried Steaks, which if you think about it, is kind of weird to be frying steaks in the first place. But I grew up with a mother who would grab her meat mallet and pound down a steak to then dredge in seasoned flour and place it with a drizzle of oil in a skillet for it to develop a nice brown crust. Then she'd add her own gravy and cook the meat on low heat for another hour or two. I didn't need to worry about my mother undercooking anything. (The crockpot was another appliance of choice in her galley kitchen with limegreen walls.)

It's really one of those dishes I make without a recipe and then just forgo the gravy when I'm making at home. I know that sounds like no fun. I've not had breakfast yet so mashed potatoes with gravy is sounding sooooooo good right now. And yes, there's a reason I look like I do.

So even though the dish is attributed to origins in Texas, I still think it's a big Kansas thing. Some restaurants just list it as "Chicken Fried" and I guess just assume you know they mean steak. I mean, Kansas is a cattle state. It's gets hot and humid here so folks can stand their dinners served up with some crispy coating and a peppery gravy, usually with mashed potatoes and green beans on the side.

AFTER-DINNER FAMILY BOOK: Well, it's really a tale from Texas, as it states right in the subtitle, but shoot 'em if it's not perfect for this meal. Check out "Bubba the Cowboy Prince, A Fractured Texas Tale" by Helen Ketteman and illustrated by James Warhola. It's a Western version of the Cinderella tale my daughters love.

TUNES FOR COOKING: If you need some music to get the little cowhands into the kitchen, I'd load up: "Hoe-Down" from the Rodeo suite by Aaron Copland or "Theme from The Magnificent Seven" by Elmer Bernstein. Click Symphony in the Flint Hills program for more information on musical selections. (The Kansas City Symphony holds a wildly successful concert one night every summer in the glorious, rambling pastures of the beautiful Flint Hills in Central Kansas. Note: if you're going with kids, you may want to roam toward the back. We got shushed by music lovers sitting in front of us one year.)

My version of Chicken Fried Steak is easy
(even though at first glance it doesn't look that way):

2 pounds of rump, top round, or beef round
the "round" descriptions are probably what you want but I like to ask the butcher for suggestions on cuts of meat. Makes me feel like a good consumer telling the folks behind the meat counter what I'm creating for that night's meal. It makes me feel like I have some sort of PLAN.
If it's not tenderized, it's easy to do and a good stress reliever. If you don't have a meat mallet, placing the meat in a Ziplock bag and whacking it with a cast-iron skillet or other heavy item SHOULD work but I don't want to be held responsible if your skillet flies out of your hand and falls on your toe or breaks some glasses. I suggest just picking up a meat mallet/meat tenderizer at the store. (Mine is pictured below.)

Tenderize the meat by hitting it with the meat mallet on your cutting board, if you're unlike me and know where you last put your cutting board.

Then I get a wide bowl and add flour**, seasoned salt, Kosher salt, freshly cracked pepper and whatever seasoning sounds good at the moment. (Barbecue rub always works or maybe Greek Seasoning sounds good or you can use Maryland's Old Bay Seasonings. In other words, just use what you have in your spice drawer.)

Another bowl is for the eggs (fresh, range-free if you can get them.) I bring in the kids to do the meat from flour to egg back to flour coating assembly line and then I put the caked meat into the preheated skillet with some olive oil (okay, go ahead and use that corn or sunflower oil -- Sunflower's the state flower) into a heavy skillet and watch those little doggies sizzle and heat up to a lovely brown color on both sides. (I don't need to tell you to brown both sides, do I?)

When they look tasty, I throw them into a 9x13 pan and bake them for about half an hour or more at 300 degrees. (Time depends on your steaks thickness -- how well you pounded those steaks into submission.) You can make a gravy to put on top like my mother does, but I'm adding some links for PAID chefs to give you gravy recipes. If there is one thing I cannot cook, it's gravy.  So if anyone has any gravy tips, please send them my way.

VARIATIONS ON THE THEME: Jamie Oliver's (I ADORE Jamie Oliver even though a friend who's a nutritionist says that kids drinking chocolate and strawberry milk is not the end of the world as Jamie touted on his FoodNation TV show.)
Alton Brown's recipe (Alton's show reminds me of the times I had to do food demonstrations in 4-H.)

* You can send birth announcements to the White House and other dignitaries and they may send notes back. Though I couldn't tell from the White House site if this is still an ongoing PR service of the White House staff currently or not. Both girls have "form" congratulation cards from President Bush. (President George W. Bush even wrote a very nice personal note to Joe after getting a copy of "The Soul of Baseball" book. I'm not sure if sports fan President Barack Obama has read any of Joe's books yet or not.) Five years ago, we got a great handwritten note from then Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius writing about how great it is to grow up in Kansas "where the skies are not cloudy all day." That note (and the former President's) is in Katie's baby book.

** So if you want to make this as true to Kansas as possible, I recommend Hudson Cream Flour, milled in Kansas. It's also the only flour I try to use for baked goods.