Mudsides a la me.. hehe

Ok, this one is for my friend Ashley, we met for mudslides behind the garage tonight to celebrate Betsy's B-day wit ha slide... she liked it so much and wanted the recipe.. so here is my version for a yummy slide... it is even on the *lighter side* though you won't notice that drinking it.. haha.

The Goods:

-Baileys (or any knock of Irish cream)
- Kentucky Bourbon (Whiskey)
- bit of Amaretto or a drop of almond extract if you don't want TOO much alcohol
-vanilla flavored frozen yogurt
- Vanilla Flavored Almond milk

The Works:
I didn't add amounts on purpose, cause I didn't measure, I eyeballed and went by taste...so the same goes for you...add as much or as little as you want, though I would go with the following ratios

frozen yogurt and Almond milk 2:1
Baileys and Bourbon  2:1
Amaretto, just a dash (or a drop or two of the extract)

Put it all in a blender and let it blend (I put it on low for about 4 minutes (not as loud as when you put the blender on high, but takes a few minutes longer)

Pour in glass.. ENJOY!!

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