Published: March 15, 2007 07:45 am      

All from the Sooner State

We’re all celebrating Oklahoma’s Centennial in many ways.

That included the Tuesday general meeting of the McAlester Fortnightly Club, GFWC-OK.

Our president, Dot Thompson, always thinks of ways to make the meetings more fun. Tuesday’s session was no different.

We celebrated Oklahoma’s past, present and future during the meeting. And Dot made things even more fun by providing door prizes that were all made in Oklahoma.

I’ll bet she had a lot of fun going around finding items made in the Sooner State. We had fun guessing what was inside each gift bag. The only clue she gave us about each item was the city from which the particular object came.

We all knew about Griffin’s and Shawnee and Head Country. And who doesn’t know about all the great foods that come from Krebs?

Our door prizes included bottled water, strawberry preserves, cornbread mix, spaghetti sauce, hot pickled okra, beef sticks, barbecue sause and pickled beets along with a potted plant from right here in McAlester. My curiosity was piqued about how many foods are made in Oklahoma. I learned from an Internet search that we can eat pretty good on just foods made here in the Sooner State.

Also, I found the Made in Oklahoma Coalition is sponsoring a Recipe Roundup Contest. The contest is open to original recipes that feature at least two Made in Oklahoma company products. The contest goals are to promote Oklahoma products and encourage people to find new ways to prepare them.

Category specifications for the contest include “Mouth Watering Main Entrees,” “Dig in Desserts” and in honor of the state’s centennial celebration, “Authentic 100-Year-Old Recipes.” The final category is just for recipes your family has used for at least 100 years. What a great idea!

The grand prize winner will be selected by a panel of celebrity media judges.

Rules for the contest are simple: Ingredients and specific preparation directions must be included in the order they are used in preparing the dish. The recipe and ingredient list (including at least two MIO company products) must be clearly legible and include the contestant’s name, address, phone number, email address if available, recipe name and category.

Entry forms, contest rules and a complete list of MIO companies are available online at www.miocoalition.com or send self addressed stamped envelope to: MIO Coalition Recipe Roundup 2007, PO Box 54386, Oklahoma City, OK 73154. Entries must be received or postmarked by May 10 and received by May 15. In addition to the kitchen makeover grand prize, runner up prizes include KitchenAid ™ stand mixers, a family weekend retreat at the Tatanka Ranch and an Oklahoma State Parks Getaway provided by Oklahoma State Parks.

Let’s get busy. I know I’ve got some recipes I could enter. And I’ll bet you do too.

Contact Teresa Atkerson at family@mcalesternews.com.