Enjoy Popular Food from all 50 States with these Good for You Ingredient Alternatives
For us, one of the best parts about full time RVing is sampling food from all corners of our nation. Each region is unique in its everyday living, culture, and seasonings. This series, Healthy RV Cooking Across the Country, takes you across state lines in the comfort of your RV kitchen as we explore staple food from all 50 states. However, with many scrumptious, savory dishes comes not so good for your health ingredients. With this in mind, each staple food description is accompanied with healthy modifications that won’t hinder the taste so you can continue to indulge in American home cooked goodness.
But first…
Before we introduce our first three staples, we wanted to take a moment to talk about a special event that we will be taking part in and it is just around the corner! We’ve been promoting Full Time Freedom Week for the last few weeks in various videos and media posts. We cannot say enough about this online event that takes place November 5-8!
This virtual conference features over 30 presenters (full time and seasonal RVers, singles, couples, families with children and pets) that have experienced the highs and lows of life in an RV, life on the open road. Subject material being presenting covers all aspects of RV living, from the very basics of choosing an RV to making money on the road to renovating your space, boondocking, maintenance tips, home schooling (a.k.a. roadschooling), overcoming challenges on the road, even traveling abroad and on water?!?
Since the topics are so varied, this online event is not only geared for wanna-be or new-to-RVing folks, this is an event for everyone…novice and veteran RVers alike. How crazy is it that you can access all of this vital information to get started and continue your dream of traveling and living the nomadic life! Best (and most insane of all) the live event is FREE to view!?!
It took us MONTHS to research a lot of this information when we were first thinking about full time RVing. We’d scour websites, blogs, and forums. We’d read many books and attended dealerships and RV shows when our busy schedule allowed it. Speaking of busy schedules, RV conventions and summits were out of the question because we just didn’t have space on our calendar, let alone spare change for plane tickets and hotel accommodations to make them. Online events like this weren’t available just a few years ago. Did I mention it’s FREE to attend?!?!
Full Time Freedom Week is the largest and most comprehensive online event available! Don’t worry if you can’t attend the live event also. There are a myriad of options to choose from so you can access all of the presentations on your own time beginning at a mere $29! (I think that’s how much we spent on a couple of RVing related books when we were first researching the lifestyle.)
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR FREE AND VIEW OTHER ACCESS OPTIONS!!!
Our presentation alone focuses on our little niche of workamping. We discuss ways to make money on the road, specifically five seasonal jobs!
Time to get off our soapbox and back to the cooking…hopefully you have not only started salivating over there scrumptious meals, but you are now hungry for some Full Time Freedom Week!!
And now presenting our first three dishes…
Texas: Frito Pie
What is it?
Natalie is partial to this first dish as she was born and raised in the Lone Star State. Friday night football games and livestock shows are never complete without Frito Pies served at the snack counters. Three main parts make up this simple creation: Frito corn chips, chili mixture, and cheese, all crammed into a snack size Frito bag. There are variations with chili ingredients and some top it off with sour cream, onions, and jalapeños.
To make a Frito Pie, use scissors to cut open a snack size Frito bag from its side as opposed to the top. This creates a makeshift bowl. Leave the chips inside and pour a heaping spoonful of chili or more onto the chips. Top off with shredded cheese or cheese dip and any other desired toppings previously listed. The chili is hot so hold the bag with some napkins. Use a spoon or fork, or better yet, a spork to dig in.
Healthy Modifications:
Did I hear someone say heartburn? The most important items to consider in this modification are sodium and saturated fat levels along with portions. Opt for lightly salted Fritos or tortilla chips instead of the original brand. Turkey can be used in the chili instead of ground beef and controlling the urge to suffocate your chips in chili and cheese goes a long way in reducing the urge to swallow a bottle of Tums.
Kentucky: Hot Brown
What is it?
This open-faced sandwich is so named from its birthplace at the legendary Brown Hotel in Louisville, Kentucky back in the roaring 20s. Turkey sits on a slice of bread. A type of cheese sauce, Mornay sauce, is drenched over the heap. The sandwich is baked or broiled, creating a toasty base and browning the sauce. Variations are made with the type of meat (sometimes ham), type of cheese sauce, and can be garnished with bacon, tomatoes, mushrooms, and of course more cheese.
Healthy Modifications:
Weight Watchers suggests using whole grain bread as the base and turkey bacon. Low fat/low sodium bacon is another option. Mornay sauce is a french sauce containing a butter based roux and cheese mixed with whole milk.
Ingredients:
- 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil
- 4 ½ tablespoons of flour
- 2 ¾ cup of 1% or 2% milk
- ¼ teaspoon of garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon of onion powder
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 ounces grated Gruyère cheese (Low fat swiss can be substituted as Gruyère is a type of swiss. Due to its distinct taste, I couldn’t find it in myself to substitute this for a different low fat cheese.)
- 2 ounces grated low fat Parmesan cheese
Step 1: Create a roux by heating the vegetable oil in a saucepan and then adding the flour. Cook for 2 minutes until the roux is smooth and bubbling.
Step 2: Slowly add 2 ½ cups of milk while whisking to incorporate the liquid into the roux without forming lumps. Save the other ½ cup of milk for later.
Step 3: Add bayleaf, onion powder and garlic powder.
Step 4: Let it simmer for 20 minutes to reduce some of the liquid.
Step 5: Remove the bayleaf, add the cheese, and stir until melted.
Step 6: Add some of the reserved ½ cup of milk to thin it to desired consistency.
To make the sandwich, put the turkey and any other ingredients on a piece of whole grain bread, ladle the sauce over it and place in the oven. Set it to broil until the sauce on top starts to brown.
Michigan: Pasty
What is it?
We were first introduced to pasties while work camping at Mackinaw Mill Creek Camping in Mackinaw City. It’s a tourist village on the northern tip of Michigan’s lower peninsula and every other shop in downtown advertised pasties.
They are essentially a portable meat and vegetable pie, very similar to a Hot Pocket. In our country, its origin dates back to the 1800s in the Upper Peninsula. Miners would pack pasties for lunch. The contents would stay warm enough and provided a hefty amount of nourishment to complete the work day.
Healthy Modifications:
The traditional pasty uses ground beef and ground pork as a filling. Ground turkey is a great healthy alternative to ground pork. Use lentils as a substitute for the ground beef. They provide a similar texture. Also, since they don’t have a strong, distinctive taste, they can be seasoned just about any way. Lentils must be cooked before being added to the recipe. Avocado oil is substituted for butter in the filling of this recipe in order to add some healthy fat we lost from eliminating beef. It also adds some savory liquid content.
Ingredients:
Lentils (2 cups of cooked lentils will substitute for 1 pound of ground beef)
- 1/2 cup of brown lentils (rinsed)
- 1 beef bouillon cube
- 1 cup of water
Crust
- 1 cup of vegetable oil based shortening such as Crisco
- 1 cup of boiling water
- 2 ½ to 3 cups of all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon of salt or a salt substitute
- 1 egg white
- 1 tablespoon of water
Filling
- 3 medium red potatoes, peeled and cubed
- 1 large rutabaga peeled
- 1 cups of cooked lentils
- 1/4 pound ground turkey
- 1 medium onion, chopped into 1/4-inch pieces
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 3 tablespoons of avocado Oil
Step 1: Add the boiling water and shortening; stir until it melts. Slowly stir in the flour and salt until a soft dough forms. Refrigerate the dough for about an hour or more.
Step 2: Dissolve the beef bullion cube into 1 cup of water and add the broth to the rinsed lentils in a saucepan. Bring to a boil. Then reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes. Drain excess water once lentils are cooked.
Step 3: In a bowl, combine rutabaga, potatoes, (uncooked) ground turkey, onions, salt, pepper, garlic powder, cooked lentils, and avocado oil. Make sure the cubes are small and the raw ground turkey breaks up into small pieces so it cooks well.
Step 4: Take dough out of the fridge and break it into 6 pieces. Roll each piece into a 6 inch circle. Place approximately one cup of filling in the center of each circle.
Step 5: Combine one egg white with a tablespoon of water and brush half of the edge of each circle with the egg wash. Fold each dough circle over the filling to make a pocket and use a fork to press the edges together. Place on an ungreased baking sheet.
Step 6: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut a couple of slits in the top of each pasty. Brush the top of them with the egg wash mixture and place in the oven to bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour.
Recipes are one of those things that are always evolving and changing. We are always on the lookout for healthy alternatives to those comfort foods we can’t live without.
We hope you enjoy these traditional state recipes as well as the healthy spins on them. We are working to come up with more of them until we have covered all fifty states. Until then, eat well and happy trails.
