The other day I came across a really really good-looking recipe for “San Marzano “Quick” Salsa” on Bucky’s Barbecue and Bread blog. And, just by looking at the photos, I knew it would not only be a fantastic salsa, but the salsa that I have been trying to reproduce for the past 5 years.
I changed-up the recipe a bit to fit the ingredients that are available to me here in Germany. This salsa is not only really easy to make, but tastes just like my favorite Chili’s salsa that are served with Chili’s “BOTTOMLESS TOSTADA CHIPS™”. Most of the people who tried this salsa last weekend were surprised that I had not used fresh, but rather, canned tomatoes. Continue Reading »
I wanted to share these ice cream sandwiches that my husband and I made together over a week ago. They still need some tweaking before they are good enough to give you the recipe to…such as baking time and ice cream amounts, but I thought you’d enjoy some nice images today.
The other day I blogged about a great new sushi rice recipe that I found on VideoJug. I decided to go ahead and give it a second try and make some exciting sushi with some new ingredients.
Yesterday I went walking through a store that I had never been to before and I found lots of new ingredients to play with…so I brought home 4 new ingredients to try out in sushi:
-raw salmon
-chive sprouts
-red beet sprouts
-wanton-wrapped shrimp
I am not going to reproduce the sushi rice recipe here because it’s perfectly written up in text form and has a great video here on VideoJug. Instead, I will tell you all the combinations I came up with and what I thought of them.
My father-in-law has been taking cooking classes at Williams-Sonoma for a few months now. One day they had a class on the different types of vanilla beans. It doesn’t really surprise me that there are different kinds, but I had never put much thought into it. They all have their uniqueness and ways to be cooked or processed into the perfect dish.
He then told me how they had fun mixing the vanilla bean paste (what you scrape out of the inside of a vanilla bean) and mixing it into whipped cream to give it texture and dimension.
This sounded like it was worth a try…especially since I have had a vanilla bean sitting in my spice drawer for a year now. I wish I had had a fresh one b/c there was not much flavor in it and I had to actually add some vanilla extract for flavor.
It makes for a pretty topping on anything you would usually put whipped cream on…like mango sorbet or pumpkin custard!
Ingredients:
200 grams Whipping Cream
2 Tablespoons Powdered Sugar
the Paste of 1 Vanilla Bean
1/4 teaspoon Vanilla Extract (if you have a low-flavor vanilla bean)
Directions:
In a tall container, whip the cream until soft peaks form. Add the powdered sugar and vanilla bean paste. whisk in slowly and then increase speed to high to whip to stiff peaks. Flavor with vanilla extract if necessary.
Back in May while on vacation in Texas visiting my mom and in-laws I found myself awake one night jotting down food ideas in a little notebook I found lying around.
Ideas like: BLT minis with balsamic reduction, Seafood croquettas, roasted tomato & shrimp ceviche, chocolate-covered angel food cake pops, and 5 different types of deviled eggs.
Some I have managed to make while others are waiting for the right season.
Sometimes my creations work out, and sometimes they don’t, but these really hit the mark. The flavors worked so well with one another and really gave a full flavor all around. I was very very happy with the way these turned out.
I should add, though, that’s (visually) it’s not such a great idea to make the guacamole ahead of time…it darkens and doesn’t look so pretty, but it will still taste just fine.
I also thought these were going to be way too spicy for my German guests who cannot handle spicy foods at all, but once everything is mixed together, the heat dwindles and is more of a nice after flavor.
I followed these instructions on how to make perfectly centered deviled eggs with fantastic success! Bellow I have made a sort of summed-up version of the process.
You will not be disappointed with these deviled eggs! Continue Reading »
Fleisch Küchele is the German version of a hamburger. Every region/state has their own version and name for this burger.
What sets it apart from the traditional American-styled burger is it’s insane amount of bread crumbs. It gives the burger a thicken, lighter, and heartier feel. The taste is also altered by the large amount of bread crumbs.
I found myself making these the other day – seriously – I just started dumping in breadcrumbs into my ground beef, cracking an egg, and mixing. And, I have to say that I was really surprised about the bread crumb’s ability to hold the burger meat together when used in such high quantities. Continue Reading »
Back in May, when I was visiting my in-laws, I “discovered” almond extract. It’s hard to believe that I’d never even smelled it until then.
Every time I take a whiff of the crystal clear extract, it reminds me of maraschino cherries and how I have not been able to eat any for over a year because I can’t eat sugar (anyone have a good recipe???)
So, the other day we bought tons of fruit, and I made some whipped cream to go with. I made the typical vanilla-flavored and then I decided to get adventurous and make a batch with almond extract.
I find it so much more delicious and refreshing than the same old boring stuff I’ve been eating for the past 20-something years.
So, I have had an “exciting” few days. This past weekend I cut my finger while cutting some raw meat. I only ended up needing one stick because the cut was on the top of my finger where it bends.
Luckily, this happened on my left hand because I seem to have cut a nerve…no feeling from the cut up.
Anyways, this has slightly slowed me down in cooking lately and to top it off it has been really really warm. So, my husband had the great idea to make popsicles. Continue Reading »
When I was back in the US in May visiting my mom, my aunt took us out for my mom’s birthday to a place called the Red Onion Café. It was a beautiful and simple and the food was presented in a flawless and spectacular manner.
I was in foodie heaven!
The dish I had was called Chicken Tikal. It was a thin breast of grilled chicken over puréed black beans, I think there was rice, sweet platanos, thin onion rings, cheese sauce, and sour cream. After thinking long a hard about it, I decided that it couldn’t be that difficult to make and I took a try at it (without the sweet platanos…although I would have loved to have had some!).
I am usually really good at burning food when frying, but her pictorial recipe really pulled me through. I ended up with the most fabulous crispy onion strings/rings that have ever touched my lips!
I actually made this when a guest was coming over for dinner and he was blown away…so was my husband…and my son loved the onion strings so much he refused to eat anything else for dinner (well, maybe he did eat some rice). I will definitely be making this again for the company coming over for dinner on Thursday!
