Hey There- Hi Ya- Missed You- It Has Been Tooooooo Long (Notes from Iowa)

Hello my foodie friends- or crazy stalkers- who am I to be picky?  The Dude and I are finally back from a long needed and well deserved break that kind of kept me from posting.  We hit 5 states (one on accident- Hello Wisconsin...) and managed to eat well, sleep well, and reminded each other that we have a pretty awesome thing going on in our marriage.  I highly recommend food road trips- especially if you have one of those hook up thing-a-ma-boppies in your rental car for your iPod.  Put the iPod on Shuffle and away you go.

The first part of our trip was to Iowa.  We flew into Omaha, NE and then drove to Spencer, IA for the Clay County Fair.  I think everyone should try and make it to the Clay County Fair once in their life- it is more than a wee bit awesome.  We only had one day at the fair and therefor had to celebrate our fair tradition of only eating things fried, or on a stick, bonus points if it was fried and on a stick on the same day as the Alan Jackson concert.  Normally, I do not recommend combining these two events, but sometimes, a girl has to do what a girls has to do.  Here is a list of what we ate:

1. Pork Chop on a Stick (no, we did not go to the pig showing barn while eating these)
2. Foot Long Corn Dog
3. Nutty Bars (Only one- still a bit bummed by that)
4. Nitro Ice Cream
5. Fried Pickles
6. Fried Butter
7. Pouteen (French Fries, Turkey Gravy and Cheese Curds- Crazy Good!)
8. Hot Roast Beef Sundaes (scoop of mashed potatoes topped with roast beef and gravy with a cherry tomato on top)
9. Sleeping Cookies- basically the love child of a pecan sandie and chocolate chip cookie
10. Antacids

The surprise of the day was the fried butter- It was really good- basically it was a big hunk of butter that had cinnamon roll- like dough wrapped around it that was fried and then drizzled  with icing.  When it was cut into it was like butter exploded over a cinamon roll. Crazy good.

I must say, with the exception of the Nutty Bars, we shared everything....

The next day I cooked for the Dude's sister and her husband- I made  ribs, baked beans, peach cobbler and potato salad- we had a crudite as well to accomplish some vegetable eating- we needed to make up for the damage from the fair food extravaganza.  My brother in law loves my ribs and beans, so whenever we get together I feel I have to make him some- the recipe for the Ribs may or may not make an appearance here, but the bean recipe will be at the end of this entry....

 After spending time in Spencer we headed over to Waterloo, where the Dude was born and raised.  We spent two days with his Mom who is living in a retirement community.  Since it has only been a short while since my father in law passed away, this visit was primarily to make sure my mother in law is doing OK. She is doing about as well as can be expected for a woman who just lost her husband of nearly 67 years.  I was, as always, impressed with the community she is living in and the quality of the food that is served in their dining room. 

We continued our Iowa trek with a visit to Dubuque- the Dude had to work so I spent time reading and looking at the Mississippi River- it really is an astonishing river. While there I noticed a significant increase in the number of women using the hair accessory known as the "Bumpit" why? I do not know- I also had one of the blandest looking meals of all time.  Please, restaurants, if you are going to serve a meal that is primarily white, put it on a black plate....

After Dubuque, we visited a cousin of mine in Red Oak that I had not seen in something like 20 years.  It was awesome to catch up and spend time together.  She made French Dips, from scratch that were off the hook good, her husband made insanely yummy, creamy coleslaw and there was this really good apple desert she made with Mountain Dew- if she will let me I will share the recipe.

We then spent the night in Omaha and headed to the South West... more on that later.

As promised-

Kim's Baked Beans:

• 1/2 pound bacon
• 1 medium onion- diced
• 6 cloves garlic- minced or pressed
• 1/2 cup catsup
• 1/4 cup yellow mustard
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 1/4 cup molasses- black strap preferred
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 tbsp chili powder
• 1 cup Whiskey- Jack Daniels Preferred
• 1 Large Can Bushs Baked Beans
• 2 cans of Navy Beans

Directions

• Cut bacon into small pieces and place in med skillet- cold- turn the skillet to medium and brown the bacon
• Drain Bacon and put drained bacon into large mixing bowl
• in the bacon fat, sautee the onion and garlic until transparent- put this into the mixing bowl
• Combine remaining ingredients in the bowl
• Pour the bean mixture into a buttered or oiled deep casserole dish 
• Bake, covered at 200 degrees over night or for 8 hours
• Uncover, turn heat to 300 and bake for another hour
• If the beans look dry when you uncover, add more whiskey
• Serve

Variations-

• These van be made vegeterian by substituting the bacon for 1'2 cup olive or canola oil and adding a tablespoon of cumin
• You can sub two pounds of dried navy beans that have been soaked for the canned beans- just add 4 cups of apple or orange juice when you bake them