This month's Kitchen Trotter destination : The United Plates of America !

I wasn't sure whether to be excited or disappointed when I discovered that this month's culinary voyage would be to America. I love trying out the American classics but they're all pretty well known, so I was worried they would all be things I'd cooked before. I have discovered some lesser known, regional American dishes here on the blog already, such as Hoppin' John Collards from South Carolina or Minnesotan Hotdish, but it would be too easy to fall into the trap of reducing Stateside cuisine to burgers, hot dogs and mac & cheese. Would Kitchen Trotter do me proud or fall into the tourist clichés trap?

Well, the first three items that I pulled out of the box are all things that I generally have in the cupboards anyway - peanut butter, Worcester sauce and cranberry sauce - but to be fair, they are all things that I pick up in England that are fairly exotic to French people.

Snack attack time ! Some bright orange tasty cheese popcorn and a bag of honey mustard & onion pretzel pieces were next out of the box.

 There was also a bag of cheesecake mix and, as this month's bonus gadget, a colour-in map of New York City, which will come in handy at school. I thought this month's box seemed a little sparse and sure enough, there was one product missing from the box - a bag of sloppy joe spice mix, which they're sending to me.

 OK, so what's on the (recipe) cards this month?

The starter (which will be made into a main course with extra veg and potato wedges) is Honey Mustard Pretzel Chicken Tenders. Aha, so that's what the pretzels were for ! This looks right up the Madhouse kids' street.

Next up, Meatloaf. I already know how to make meatloaf - I made a nice meatloaf with a pizza twist recently - but I'll follow their recipe to see if it's better than mine.

The dessert is cranberry topped cheesecake. If it uses cheesecake mix and a jar of cranberry sauce, I think the Madhouse kids will manage to make this one all by themselves !

And finally, Sloppy Joes - another dish I've already mastered, with Garlic Bread Topped Sloppy Joes a semi-regular meal on my menu plans. I never do it the real way in burger buns though, so I'll give it a go and see what we think.

Well, there's not much of a voyage of discovery this month as I was already familiar with all of the dishes, but they all sound like things the whole family will gobble up contentedly so I can't really complain ! As always, I'll be back to share the recipes and finished dishes with you as soon as I've made them. 

In the meantime, don't miss my country-by-country globecooking recipe index for exotic mealtime inspiration. I've already covered 74 countries - I wonder where my wooden spoon will be heading next !