Vanille Kipferln (Almond Crescents)

These were my favorite christmas cookies growing up so I just had to make them this year.

The Goods:

2.5 cups all purpose flour
2/3 cup sugar
1.5 cups ground almonds
1 cup COLD butter
3 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (or better, if you have the option, 1 pack vanilla sugar, which you can find in the german aisle of the commissary)

powdered sugar for dusting.

The Works:

on a large board (or just your counter, you need some room so I use the counter of my island) sift the flour. Mix the sugar, vanilla extract (or vanilla sugar), almonds into the flour. Add the butter in pieces and the egg yolks and then knead to a smooth dough. Wrap the dough in cling wrap and cool in the fridge for an hour.
Pre-heat your oven to 360 degrees, line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

on your counter (or board, whatever you used), roll the dough out in portions into a long snake (kinda like a pretzel snake) till it is about 1/2 inch thick....cut 1 to 1.5 inch pieces, form into a crescent (halfmoon) and place on cookie sheet. Bake for 12 to 15 min. As soon as the cookies come out of the oven, dust with powdered sugar and let cool.

Store in a plastic container, it will keep the cookies soft and soften them if they got a bit too hard.

Enjoy

Gurkensalat (german cucumber salad)

This one is for my friend Jess, she asked me for it. It is my version of it, not an *official cookbook one*. Sorry it took so long Jess

The Goods:

1 large cucumber (I prefer seedless or english, but any will do)
1 small very finely diced onion (optional)
dressing

The Works

Peel the cucumber (if so desired, some you can eat with the peel), slice thinly and sprinkle with salt. Let stand for about 10 minutes then get rid of the liquid that collected. Add the onion of you opted for it and your dressing and mix well, let stand in fridge for about 30 for best taste, but it is perfectly fine to eat right away.

Sour creme dressing for salads

I use this dressing for all kinds of salads it works perfectly for really anything and it is creamy, but yet on the lighter side, you can easily substitute the sour creme with greek yogurt regular yogurt or if you want to go extra creamy, heavy creme.


The Goods


1/8 of a cup very cold water

3 tablespoons oil ( I prefer extra virgin olive or grape seed)

3 tablespoons vinegar (I prefer balsamic or apple cider)

salt, pepper, italian herbs to taste (usually 1/3 of a teaspoon of each does the trick)

1/4 of a teaspoon sugar

1/2 tablespoon mustard

1 to 1 1/2 tablespoons sour creme (depending how creamy you want it


The Works


Mix the water, vinegar, herbs, spices and sugar thoroughly, add the mustard and sour creme, mix toroughly again, then add the oil and do the same. Pour, into bowl of salad and mix up or if you add portionwise just drizzle to taste

Kartoffel Suppe (Potato Soup)

This is one of the recipes my mom gave me, I will post 2 version here (well ok 2 1/2) hers, my own variation and the add on that works for both versions so that out carnivaurs are happy too. It is a very simple, quickly done soup that is a major comfort food and absolutely awesome on cool or colder days, but works just as nicely in the summer.

The goods for 3 to 5 people

for the original

3-4 medium/large potatoes (if you cook for more people just add a medium potatoe per person approx.)
1-2 medium onions (or 1 large videlia)
1-2 stalks of leek
4-5 carrots
 just enough broth to cover veggies (I use beef broth for this one but chicken or veggie works too)
spices to taste (my mix for this consists out of chilli powder, tumeric, a bit of seasoning salt, nutmeg, italian herbs, black and white pepper)

for my own variation:

same as above, but split the potatoe ratio for half regular potatoes, half sweet potatoes

add on for both variations to satisfy carnivaurs:

once the soup is finished, add sausages or hot dogs and let it simmer until they are heated through


The work:

peel the carrots and potatoes, shred into a large stock pot ( you can slice them too, but shredding saves time later), slice the leek and onions thinly and add to the pot.. cover it all with broth, put the lid on and cook over medium heat till all the veggies are nice and soft, stiring occasionally so nothing sticks to the bottom (approx 30 to 45 min). Use a stick or handblender to purree the veggies ( you can leave the chunks, but experience showed that smooth is better in that case). season to taste and let simmer for 5 more minutes or however long it takes for the sausages to heat through if you added them.
Serve and enjoy. This soup can easily be premade and frozen.

Marksklößchen Suppe (bonemarrow soup)

Yes yes I know at first glance it sounds yukie, but trust me it is DELISCIOUS!!!. Another one of my mom's recipes, this one being one that is easy but essential to keep the measurements to a t, course I still managed to find a slight variation hehe.

The goods:

60 g (2 ounces) of bone marrow ( out of a beefbone)
60 g (2 ounces) breadcrumps (variation here would be using flavored breadcrumps, i.e. parmesan, italian and so on)
3 eggs
salt, pepper, nutmeg to taste
1 small onion VERY finely diced
1-2 teaspoons of finely diced (if used fresh) or dried) parsley
 broth ( I use chicken or veggie broth, but any is fine)

The work:

melt the bonemarrow in a pan ocver medium heat, do NOT boil.Strain the melted marrow through a very fine strainer to make sure no bone fragments are left behind...slightly roast the onion and parsley, then mixwith the strained marrow and let cool down to at least room temp.  Whisk the eggs and then slowly stir into the COOL marrowmix. add breadcrumps slowly until  firm dough forms, make dumplings (using a teaspoon as sizer)

In a pot heat up the broth and add one test dumpling to cook over medium heat for about 10 min or till cooked through. if the dumpling is too soggie add a bit of bread crumps to the mix, if too firm, add a bit of milk. cook rest of dumplings (like regular dumplings they float when done, but usually around 10 min does the trick).

ENJOY!!

Nudelsalat (pasta salad, a lighter version to the mayo heavy ones)

There are tons of pasta salad recipes  in every country almost it seems, here in the US one of the ingredients that is usually used is mayo, which makes the salad very heavy in my opinion. In Germany, very few dressings are mayo based and even pasta salad has a vinegrette, which makes it a lighter version in my book. Since pasta salad is a favorite for cook outs and bbq's I thought adding my version of pasta salad here would be a good idea.

The goods:

1 pound of pasta cooked per package directions and cooled
1 cucumber (sliced, peeling optional)
1-2 tomatoes, diced
1 or 2 bell peppers, diced (color of choice)
 4 ounce of hard cheese (cheddar, monteray jack, swiss, really up to you), diced
4 ounce of honey ham, diced
 1 small can of sweet corn

for the vinegrette:

1/4 cup of cold water
1/16 cup of apple cider, wine or balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon mustard
3 tablespoons sour creme or plain fat free yoghurt
1 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons of mixed herbs (dried italian is an easy option)

You can also scratch the herbs and sugar and use a pack of italian dressing, mixing it as directed and adding the mustard and sour creme/ yoghurt if you are pressed for time or simply lazy hehe.

The work:

mix all together, chill and enjoy

Beef Ossobucco

Yes I know, normally Ossobucco is made with veal shanks, however living in the US...well veal is not as easy to come by here than it is in Europe, plus it is extremely expensive to buy here compared to beef. So, I decided to play with a common recipe for Ossobucco and adapt it for beef, gotta say it came out nice, so I figured I share the recipe. This is another recipe that was on the old site and I am happy to say that I know of at least 1 friend who tried it and liked it, hehe.

Ok...then here we go...

The Goods:

1 bone in beef shank piece per person

1 to 2 medium onions

1 to 2 carrots

1/2 can of tomatos (you can choose yourself if whole, diced or sauce since some ppl don't like tomatoe pieces in their sauce, i.e. my husband..lol)

1 cup marsalla wine(chardonnay works too)

2 tablespoons flour

 butter to fry

1/2 lemon sliced

salt and pepper to taste

fresh rosemary

The works:

wash the shank pieces and dab dry with a paper towel. In a large, deep pan, melt some butter and fry the shank pieces for about 3 minutes on each side to brown and give a nice crust. Meanwhile, peel and dice your onions, peel and  cut your carrots. Add the tomatos, onion, carrots, rosemary and wine to the pan, stir, reduce heat to low and simmer for about 25 minutes. Add flour to bind sauce a bit, plate, add a slice of lemon ontop of each piece of meat. Serve with rice, noodles or cooked potatoes and enjoy

Glühwein (hot mulled wine)

Well, the season is coming quickly and this is something that is simply deliscious.Since I can't go to the Christmasmarkets in germany living in the US, I have to make my own. This recipe is one of those that  turns out better depending on what wine you use. You can use red or white wine (traditionally it is made with red wine) and the better wine you use, the better the outcome, cheap wine.. well.. let's just say in this case it pays to pay a bit more and buy some decent  wine.

The Goods:

Wine (I find that Lambrusco or a nice Chardonnay works well), the amount depends on how much you want to make.
sugar (about 1/2 cup per 8 ounce of wine, play with the ratio, depends how sweet you want the endresult to be)
 4 to 6 whole cloves
 1 teaspoon nutmeg
 1 t cinnamon sticks
 2 slices citrus fruit (lemon, lime or orange all work)
all quantities for about 8 oz of wine

The Works:

pour your wine in a pot and set over low heat, add in the cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon and citrus fruit (if you want to make things easier for you pack them in a coffee filter that you tie with some string and add that pouch in, eliminates straining the drink at the end). Let heat up until it almost comes to a boil, but do NOT let it boil. Add the sugar, stiring until it is disolved, let simmer for about 5 to 10 min and serve hot. If you added all the spices and stuff without a pouch, strain the wine first so you have no pieces in it. Enjoy!!
On a side note, while your wine is cooking it will fill your kitchen and maybe even your house with the deliscious smell of christmas

Pfannkuchen German pancakes)

Ok this is mainly for my friends that are in the US. Most of the time the pancake you get here is the sweet, fluffy buttermilk pancake, which in itself is not bad, but often clashes with a desire to have something a bit hardier such as eggs and stuff, cause it just don't quite fit (at least in my opinion). If you ever went to IHOP and had the international passport, liek the swedish pancakes, then you have a slight idea what kind of pancake you will be making, thinner, similar to a crepes somewhat hardy and compatible with sweet or savory foods, In short a german pancake or *Pfannkuchen* as we would say.

The Goods (for about 8 to 12 pancakes)

4 eggs
1 1/2 cups of milk
1 cup flour
~ 2 tablespoons salt ( might be more, might be less depending on your taste buds)
butter for frying

The Works:

in a large mixing bowl mix the floour and salt. mix the eggs and milk thouroughly in a medium bowl before adding to the flour and salt (makes the endmixing easier) and then combine in the large bowl, mixing  thouroughly until thin, still liquid batter forms. Heat a frying pan up, add a bit of butter and then 1 laddle of the batter you made, swirl it so that it forms a thin layer, let fry until it slowly bubbles and is mostly solid on top (just like a buttermilk pancake) flip, finish frying to the darkness you like and serve. They are good with syrup, but also with eggs and bacon, or if you truly wanna get fancy.. ham and asparagus for example. Repeat process with rest of batter and enjoy

Gebrannte Mandeln (roasted almonds)

Ok so, Chris wanted something done with his nuts (the EATING kind!!) and of course his first thought went to the sweet, sugary roasted nuts you can get at the german christmasmarkets and sometimes over her at fairs. So I researched found a recipe or two, tried out and tweaked until I came up with a combination that I like and that truly tastes deliscious, not to mention it is easy to make!!. You can replace the Almonds in the recipe as you wish with Pecans, Walnuts and so on.

The Goods:

4 cups of Almonds (or whatever nut you wish)
1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1/8 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (or 1 packet vanilla sugar (found at the commissary in the german food section around xmas if you have the option)

The works:

mix the sugar, cinnamon and water in a large, deep pan. Set over high heat and let boil. Once it boils, pour in the nuts and stir with a wooden spoon until the mixture looses the liquid. The sugar will dry back up and make it all a gooey sticky mess. Turn heat down and stir for another 5 minutes (usually comes out to around 20 min of stiring total). On a Large flat cookiesheet covered with parchement paper spread the nutmass out thinly (to avoid later clumbing together) let cool and enjoy. Really, let cool first for a bit, cause just done they are hot enough to burn the skin of your fingers!!!

Candied Sweet Potatoes with Marshmellows

So Thanksgiving is now ever and I am sure we are all stuffed to the guts even now a few days later, I know I am. This recipe came about because we were having thanksgiving with friends and the task of making the various potato side dishes fell to me. For the longest time I did not even eat sweet potatos but that changed ever since I tried my MIL's sweet potato casserole a few years back. There are tons of recipes online for all kinds of variations on sweet potato casserole or candied yams and I guess now I am adding mine to the mix lol. So let's get to it, shall we?

The Goods:

3-4 lbs sweet potato, peeled and cut in small pieces (~1 inch in size)
 1 1/2  to 2 cups of brown sugar ( ore or less if you increase or degrease the amount of potatoes you use)
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground nutmeg
1 to 2 teaspoons (depends how strong you want the influence to be) ground ginger
1 teaspoon of lemon juice
1 cup of water
marshmellows to cover

The Works:

preheat oven to 375 º. in a large roasting pan (foil or nonestick, if you make it to take along I recommend foil) arrange the sweet potatoes, set aside. combine the other ingredients except the marshmellows in a small to medium size saucepan and bring to a boil, stiring constantly until it is a gooey mass and all the sugar is dissolved. Pour the mixture evenly over hte sweet potatos and mix to coat. Cover tightly with foil and bake for 50 min. remove foil and decrease temperature to 350º. bake for another 30 to 40 minutes. Now up to here you can premake the dish up to a day before, simply cover and put into the fridge if you make it ahead, or if you are using it right away (and I mean right away, if you don't need even just for a few more hours, then forgo this next step until about 30 min before you serve the dish) cover  the sweet potatos with minimarshmellow and broil at 500º for about 5 to 10 minutes until marshmellows are melting and slightly brown ontop.

Enjoy

Ramadan Soup

This is one of those things that Chris had growing up and suddenly decided he wanted to eat again, so after asking my MIL for her recipe and looking up recipes online I started playing around and came up with this, my version of the dish. Like my potato soup this is somethign that works wonderfully for a cold winter day and with the adding of various meats can be quite versatile.. mind you, originally the recipe is vegetarian.

The Goods:

- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 1/4 cup chopped white onion
- 1 cup chopped celery or leek
- 1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed (or 1 teaspoon minced garlic from a jar, but fresh always tastes better)
- 16 oz crushed canned tomato
- 2 coups chicken stock
- 1/4 cup garbanzo beans
- 1/8 cup lentils
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon cumin
- 1/4 teaspoon tumeric
- 1/4 cup vermicelli, broken in about 2 inch pieces
- 1 tablespoon flour
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon fresh cilantro leaves (stems removed)
- 1 tablespoon fresh italian parsley (stems removed)

Add cooked chicken or any other other cooked meat if you need meat in it, boneless skinless chicken breast is best in my opinion

The Works:

in a medium stockpot heat olive oil until sizzling. Add the onion, garlic and celery/leek and cook until translucent. Add tomatoes, chicken stock, garbanzo beans, lentils, black pepper, cinnamon, cumin and tumeric to the stockpot. Cook on lo heat for about 40 min or until the beans and lentils become tender. Add the vermicelli into the pot. Mix flour with lemon juice and form into a paste. Add the flour paste gradually to the soup to thicken. Simmer for an additional 3 minutes, add cilantro and parsley and serve.

Extending the life of your root vegetables

I am sure many of you out there probably already do this or thought of this, but here it is...

Alot of the root vegetables, such as onions, potatoes, leeks, carrots, celery and so on, we buy come in bundles or packs of a larger amount (usually around 1,2,3 or even higher lbs). And if you are like me, you usually cut whaty ou need, let the rest sit and before you know it, you reach for it and it gone bad. However it would be soo easy to prevent that wit ha simple step. Take onions for example.. we all hate cutting them cause they tend to make our eyes water, but once we start, well they are watering already, so why not go ahead and cut the whole 2 or 3 lbs of onions you bought, instead of the 1 or 2 onions you need for your recipe? Cut your portion for your recipe first and set aside and then while your eyes already suffer, take the rest of the onions, peel and slice them and put them in a freezer bag, push all the air out, seal and store in the freezer. This has  a double good effect,. First, it will safe you alot of time the next time you need onions, because even if yo9u need them diced, the onions rings or slices are quickly diced and even more so, the frozen state of the onions kills the enzyme that makes your eyes water, meaning when you prepare the frozen onions the way your new recipe calls for, your eyes won't water. You might now say thaty ou buy onions loose and rarely a large amount, fine.. but what about other root vegetables like leeks, celery, carrots that you usually can not get loose, but only in a bundle? These can be pre-cut and stored in the freezer just as easily, your only  important thing to keep in mind is not to do it with water retaining vegetables such as tomatos or cucumbers, they will get destroyed, but others keep up to 2,3 months like that in the freezer, as opposed to 3,4 days outside of it. So it safes you time in the long run and money because you can buy in bulk (which is usually cheaper) and because you throw less out.

So to re-cap in a few short sentences..

- peel and cut all the vegetables in a bundle (or multipound pack) at once
- store the portion you do not need in gallon or quart sized freezer bags (depending on amount and how you want to divide them) in your freezer
- this cuts time (for future prep) and money (frozen veggies keep up to 3 months and you throw less out due to spoiling)

Rinder Rouladen (braised beef rolls)

This one has been a long time coming, I promised it to a friend and never got around to it, but here it finally is

The goods (for 4 Rouladen)

- 4 large thin slices of beef (about 1/4 inch thick)
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 tablespoon yellow mustard
- 1/3 stick of butter
- 1 large onion, diced
- 1/2 cup minced parsley (fresh is best, but dried works)
- 8 thin slices of bacon (do NOT substitute with turkey bacon!!)
- 2 pickles (sliced length wise)
- 3 tablespoons flour.
- toothpicks or string to bind

For the braising sauce:

- 1 stick of butter
- 1 siced onion
- 1 sliced carrot
- 1 to 2 table spoons tomato paste
- 1 small can of beef broth or around 2 cups (if you make it yourself)
- 1/8 cup red wine

The Works:

melt the 1/3 stick of butter in a frying pan and combine the onion and parsley, fry till onion is golden brown, set aside. On your work area, spread out the slices of beef, season each with salt and pepper, spread mustard thinly on each slice,  spread the onion parsley mixture evenly over the mustard. place 2 slices of bacon on each slice of beef. place a pickle piece on the end of each roulade and roll up.Secure the filled rouladen either with toothpicks or string. Roll in flour.

Now to the braising:

In a deep pan melt the butter, quicjkly sear each roulade on both sides, add the onion and carrot to brown, add tomato paste and pour enough broth so that the meat is halfway covered. Cover and cook on low heat for about 60 to 90 minutes. if neessary add more broth. Take the meat out, seting it aside (make sure to take the toothpicks or string out at this point). Blend the saucei n the pot, add wine and about 1 to 2 tablespoons of flour or cron flour to thicken sauce. Plate meat, pouring some sauce atop and serve with mash potatos, boiled or baked potatoes, veggies or salad.

Schwarz-Weiß Gebäck (black and white cookies)

This one is for you brattypooh.

Ok, the recipe in itself is basically the recipe for butter cookies, but with the adding of chocolate powder for part of the dough to create a black/white effect. Let's get to it, shall we?

Ingredients:

- 2 sticks or 1 cup of softened butter

- 1 cup sugar

- 1 pack vanille sugar, if you can't get that... add 1 teaspoon of vanille extract into the dough while mixing it

- 1 egg yolk and 1 complete egg

- 2 tablespoons rum 

- 2 cups flower (sieved)

- 3 tablespoons chocolate powder for the dark dough

- 1 eggwhite for basting (to glue doughs together later)

the Work:

Whip the butter, egg, sugar, vanilla until they form a foamy dough, add the rum and keep whipping. Slowly add the sieved flour. spread out on a board and kneat into a dough. split the dough into 2 euqal parts, working the chocolate powder into 1 half to get a dark dough.

cool doughh in fridge for at least 1 hr. To keep dough from mixing it is best to use 2 cutting boards for this next part. roll an eual amount dark and light dough out to about 1 inch of thickness. baste the white dough with some of the eggwhite and lay the black dough ontop, then roll back up, keep the new mixed dough rool cool.

Heat your oven to 375. spread parchement paper over your cookie sheet ( rtust me, much better than relying on the nonestick surface of said cookie sheet), take your doughroll and cut thin slices. Place on cookie sheet and back on center rack for around 10 min.

Let cool and enjoy

Kohlrouladen (filled cabbage rolls)

Another one I was asked for, so let's get to it, shall we?
The Goods:
- meatfilling (if you click the word it should bring you to the recipe)
- 1 white or 1 nappa cabbage
- 1/2 stick of butter
- 1/2 onion diced
- 4 ounces sour cream
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 cup beef broth
- 1 pinch crushed caraway seeds
- salt, pepper, paprika to taste
The Works:
Wash the cabbage, cut in half and cook for about 20 min in salt water (nappa cabbage only needs about 5 minutes). Carefully peel the single cabbage leaves, place 1 small leave onto a bigger one add about a tablespoon full of the meatfilling, fold sides in and roll, binding the roll with some cooking twine or close with toothpicks (1 lengthwise, 2 cross should hold everything together). In a medium, deep pan melt the butter, saute onions in it, add the cabbage rolls and brown on each side. Add the tomato paste and broth, put the lid on and cook over medium heat for about 30 min. Take the cabbage rolls out and set aside, bring heat up to cook the liquid down a bit, add sour creme, season with salt, pepper and paprika to taste, pour over cabbage rolls and enjoy

Meatfilling

This is a recipe for a filling that can be used for various recipes such as stuffed cabbage, peppers and so on. You can use any kind of meat you want, however for most recipes to be authentic it would be either pork of a pork/beef mixture, though substituting the meat with ground turkey in stead is a healthy and very tasty alternative.
The Goods:
-1 lb ground meat (pork, beef, lamb, turkey, a mixture of 2 or more of those)
-1 onion, finely diced
-1 cup of freshly diced parsley
- 1 clove garlic,  finely diced
 - butter for the pan ( you can use cooking spray, but butter gives a better taste)
- 1 eggs
- 1 cup cooked rice
- salt, pepper, paprika to taste
The Works:
Season the meat with salt, pepper and paprika, mix with hands... in a medium pan, melt butter, and saute onion, parsley and garlic. Add rice, and egg to meat, mix well before adding the onion,garlic and parsley. Mix well once more and set aside for when needed. You can also add finely diced mushrooms or shredded cheese to the mixture.

About *A Culinary Walk to Remember*

I like to cook, as long as it is for others and while we were living in Ft Hood, I did alot of it on holidays for friends, neighbours and some of my husbands soldiers who were stuck on base on holidays and such, or simply wanted food..lol. I used quite a few of the recipes I grew up with, some passed down from my parents, some remembered and some invented. Friends kept asking me for the recipe for this and that and finally the idea was born to put them on a site so that everyone could get to them, without me having to write the recipes out over and over. Course the double effect of me having access and them all in view as well was another bonus.
So this site is just that, a collection of recipes, some fondly remembered from growing up, some passed down from my parents, some simply collected and some my own creation.
Now I am at times lazy so the adding of recipes might go slow and stallward at times and while I rebuild since I lost the other site it might go fast for a bit, though  I have to find some of the recipes again because I have no access to the other site, but I am working on getting them all up and adding new ones that I wanted or was expected to added for a while but never got around too.

A new Home

Yes, this is the same collection of recipes and yes, I still need to add quite a few. So why the new Home then you might ask.. well.. the answer is rather simple. I got sort of bit by the Pinterest bug and it seems a lot easier to pin posts from a *blogspot* page than from a *freewebs* one, and that is the whole of it. Now I just hope I figure out how to customize my Blogspot Home for the recipes to make it look just as pretty as the other one. So until I figure that out this one might look a little bland, please bare with me in this.