For the Love of Food

I was fortunate enough to be with my mom for her birthday. As you are all reading this post, I am in the air flying back home to Germany.

My next few posts I will have written ahead of time and I may take a little while to answer comments until I get back into the rhythm of things with the time change etc.

In the mean time, I’d like to share this homemade German Chocolate cake that I made for my mom’s birthday. Even the baker’s coconut is homemade! The recipe will follow in the next few days! It’s really easy, so keep a look out for it! Continue Reading »

I don’t remember what motivated me to make this recipe, but I have made it 3 times in 1 week b/c it is just so delicious and SOOO easy.

My mom has a great cookbook called Pillsbury Kitchens’ Family Cookbook from 1979. They just don’t make cookbooks today like they used to. I love these old books that my mom has because everything is made from scratch and every single recipe is good. You just can’t go wrong.

I even tried their Pat-in-Pan Pie Crust which is so so so easy you can’t go wrong, and very nice and flaky. I wouldn’t recommend it for a traditional pie like pumpkin pie, but it’s a great crumbly crust for a tart. Continue Reading »

My mom found this really really yummy recipe in a little magazine she reads called Guideposts (it’s like a religious version of Reader’s Digest). This is our version.

It seemed like a really simple recipe, but I was completely taken back by how flavorful it was! The key is the 90% lean ground beef – ground Sirloin is the absolute best. Continue Reading »

Well, I am taking another stab at making sweet potato fries in hopes of coming up with something crunchy and not so mushy inside. My mom succeeded in making some last night. Continue Reading »

I finally have the battery on my camera recharged and I can sleep peacefully knowing that I can take more pictures of all the yummy food we will be making this next week before I go home.

I didn’t let anyone touch these and I made my mom not offer them after lunch until my battery was charged. There was no way I was going to miss this.

Better late than never, although I would have rather been early. I apologize again to my Taste&Create partner at Tangerine’s Kitchen Hangout!.

This month’s Taste&Create search on my partner’s blog started with some frustration. I was dead set on making my partner’s strawberry tarts with strawberry custard, but, for the life of me, I couldn’t find some key ingredients here (on vacation in Texas) and I had to end up ditching the idea and going with the cookies, which was my second choice. The frustrating thing is that all the ingredients are sitting in my pantry on the second shelf from the bottom to the left (yes, I am a very organized cook and I could navigate all parts of my kitchen blind folded). But, I have plans to make these babies when I get home from vacation.

The Chunky Chocolate Cookies were yummy ( called them whole wheat chocolate chip cookies), and the plate was cleared by evening. I, personally, enjoy gooey cookies, and these were nice a fluffy. My mom loved them. I wish I would have been able to follow my partner’s suggestion of replacing powdered sugar (in my case powdered fructose) with Castor sugar and brown sugar (I would have use granular fructose and some malt syrup), but being on vacation my supplies are limited.

Check out her yummy recipe here!

Well, I am absolutely thrilled with my new 18-200mm Nikkor lens! My images have improved dramatically because of the wide lens and its ability to soak light.

My mom made some four grain pancakes from her Pillsbury Complete Cook Book (year 2000) for my son for breakfast yesterday. They were a big hit. They were light and fluffy, but had a nice body to them. Just make sure you pour a little bit of syrup on top, or squeeze some orange juice over them or the slight bitterness of the wholewheat will be apparent. Add the sweetness and it’s gone! Continue Reading »

I am embarrassed and sad to say that my Taste&Create entry will be late this month.  I want to apologize to my partner from Tangerine’s Kitchen Hangout!…I promise it will be up tomorrow.

I ran out of battery on my digital camera while I’m on vacation and I left my charger at home (in Germany)…oops.

We’ve been on vacation plenty of times and taken over 1000 photos before having to recharge the battery, but , as luck would have it, since I didn’t bring it with me, it died right in the middle of a photo shoot of some homemade bakers coconut.  I will post about that soon.

My father-in-law will be visiting us for the Memorial Day weekend and is bringing his charger and I will be able to finally take a picture of the cookies I made from my partner’s blog.

So, the recipe entry for the Multi-Grain Pancakes that I just posted is from 2 days ago.

I am so elated to announce to you that I have FINALLY been accepted to upload my photography to sell on iStockphoto!!!

After many months and pictures, trials and errors, rejection after rejection, and many lessons learned on what is wanted in stock photography, I did it, or better said, me and my new 18-200mm Nikkor lens!

I’d like to share my “winning” photos with you:

1. Absinthe Bottle from above

2.  Shrimp Fried Rice

3.  Mixed Fresh Berries

A little while back I sent in an email (or two) to Cookthink with my Szechuan Pork Chop recipe for their Root Source Challenge on pork chops.

I was lucky enough to be the winner of the Grill Every Day cookbook by Diane Morgan. And, as a nice surprise, there was a Cookthink t-shirt in the box too!

So, I received this book a little while ago, but I have been reading it so I can actually tell you something about it. And, this book reads like a novel – it’s just so wonderfully written! Continue Reading »

I’d like to announce the first ever Taste&Create Seasonal Edition event! This month’s event (the Spring Edition) is already closed, but we’d be glad to have you join us next month!

I know that this was not announced anywhere. I created the seasonal edition out of need and want to do something new, and invited just a few friends (whom I really owed big time!).

This month’s edition is Spring

And the partners are:

Amma’s Special… & Traveling Tummy

and

Munchkin Mail & For the Love of Food

the round-up will be posted June 13th, so come and see what great Spring-time dishes we have prepared!

If you would like to join, please check-out the Taste&Create Seasonal Edition page here and/or email me at: tasteandcreate@rezimo.com

include your: name, blog name, blog address, and email address.