Add Order Status to Last 5 Orders on Magento Admin Dashboard

Standard Grid
Modified Grid
First of all, and this is a must when modifying any core files, create a local copy of the following file:
Copy app/code/core/Mage/Adminhtml/Block/Dashboard/Orders/Grid.php
To app/code/local/Mage/Adminhtml/Block/Dashboard/Orders/Grid.php
Open your local copy of Grid.php and around line 114 add the following:

$this->addColumn('status', array(
'header' => Mage::helper('sales')->__('Status'),
'index' => 'status',
'type'  => 'options',
'width' => '70px',
'sortable'  => false,
'options' => Mage::getSingleton('sales/order_config')->getStatuses(),
));

Save and upload the local copy and you should now have a column called Status in your Last 5 Orders.