For the Love of Food

That’s right people…I made this recipe on a whim and can’t even remember all the ingredients I put in it. I once got really mad at my grandma for making the best tomato sauce I had ever tasted and not being able to tell me the ingredients during dinner that same day because she forgot.

Well, it seems I have this problem too

All I can remember is that it was delicious, there was ground beef, bacon, lots of fresh parsley, canned whole tomatoes, onions, garlic, bell pepper, and I guess some salt and pepper. I have no idea how much of everything…I may have even added little olive oil and celery salt, but I say “may have” because that’s what I always do when I make spaghetti.

I do hope I can recreate it again someday, and when I do, I will tell you all about it – in detail!

This post under contsruction due to vandalism.

This post under construction due to vandalism.

There’s not much better than some good old homemade macaroni. But, how can we make it better?? Top it with Italian Pizza toppings.

I mixed this recipe and this recipe and came out with this delicious recipe! Continue Reading »

This is my second post for Taste&Create this month. As I explained previously, I paired myself with 2 bloggers so that I could take part and not leave someone without a partner since we were unevenly numbered this month.

This time I made Tammy’s Lemon Linguini, but used spaghetti instead. Tammy has a great blog called Running with Tweezers. Actually, when I saw her sign up for the event I was so excited! I have been going back to her blog for quite a while now and it just feels good to know that people that I admire are at least hanging around the blog everyone in a while.

Not that I don’t admire and appreciate everyone who stops by, oh I really do. But, it’s like meeting your favorite actor or actress – it’s exciting ok! Continue Reading »

The other day my son turned one. And, I learned a few weeks ago that lamb with roasted vegetables is his favorite (see picture of him smeared in tomato), so I tried to make a quicker less expensive version with ground beef. It was excellent. Unfortunately the little guy was sick for his birthday and didn’t eat any…maybe next time.

If you have access to ground lamb meat, I highly recommend using it since it has such a deliciously aromatic flavor. But if not, or if it’s just insanely expensive where you live, ground beef works really well.

So, just follow this recipe for Güvec but substitute ground beef and add 500 grams (dry) of cooked macaroni noodles.

This is another great Better Homes & Gardens recipe. I’d really LOVE to work in their test kitchen. I love everything they come up with.

They have this great spread of 10 different versions of macaroni & Cheese: herbed, Italian, harvest, smoky, new england, pizza, Denver, south of the border, Greek, and garden. I think they all look good, but I had to star somewhere, so we went with harvest. Continue Reading »

One day, a while back, was it September?, my husband came home from work and told me about how excited he was that his one Muslim coworker decided to celebrate Biram with them. He said there were so many delicious dishes. He couldn’t describe them, she just told me that I had to learn…and he had a very serious look on his face. So, I told him to ask his coworker for the recipes and I could make them. Hasan, his coworker, thought it would be best if I just took a cooking class offered in Nürnberg at the club where his mom was head. I had originally wanted to go in the Fall, but I was in the US. So, I am taking a class now…I already have 2 classes behind me.

Turkish food is very very flavorful, and to that effect, surprisingly uses very few, but intense ingredients.

The class is structured in the way that we all cook one meal together and then sit down and eat together. I write a lot on the recipe print outs that I get because her, Güla’s, recipes leave a lot of room for interpretation and personal touch. She once told me that she had a really hard time writing the recipes out for us b/c (translated from German to English while throwing your hands in the air) “I just cook”.

I have decided to take it upon myself to recreate each dish that we make in class shortly after so that by the time the next class roles around I can ask any questions and clarify any discrepancies.

Bellow I will give you the recipes the way I have interpreted them. I will also show you the pictures I took of the meal we prepared in class and the one I prepared at home to compare the differences (the top picture will be the one from class and the bottom one will be from home). Continue Reading »

As I blogged about earlier, I will never make an alfredo sauce without roasted red bell pepper ever again. I decided to get a little creative, and it really payed off. Continue Reading »

My mom has this great little Pillsbury cook book for casseroles. I meant to bring it back to Germany with me, but forgot it along with the pie tins that my mom was going to give me and a few other things. In this book my husband came across this recipe called Grilled Chicken and Tortellini with Roasted Red Pepper Cream. It looked interesting – I definitely never thought about adding pureed roasted bell peppers to alfredo sauce. And then I just thought to myself…where have you been my whole life! It was absolutely divine! I don’t think an alfredo sauce will ever be the same in my kitchen, and this new found wonder-ingredient will never been missing again! Continue Reading »