Celebrating New Year's Day ~ Pennsylvania Dutch Style ~ Guest Cook Post

Our friend, Barbara, invited us over to her home to celebrate New Year's Day.  She made her traditional New Year's family meal, full of Pennsylvania Dutch flavors.  We had a fantastic time, enjoying ~ great conversation; beautiful winter views on the lake; a home full of holiday spirit; great food and wine; and delightful desserts.

Barbara, thanks again for inviting us to share in your family's tradition!  What a wonderful way to start the New Year.   x/o

 

I didn't get Barbara's actual recipe for the dessert she made, but, I did find recipes for Apple Crisp with Pecans and for Homemade Vanilla Bean Ice Cream that sound pretty close to the flavors of the desserts we enjoyed.

As you can see from all the photos, Barbara is a marvelous cook and hostess.  Everything she prepared was wonderful.  My son was all over the baked brie and Barbara also made him some homemade root beer that he went nuts for.  Now he wants me to buy one of those do-it-yourself soda machines, too.  :)  Between me and my foodie friends, I think we're teaching my young son to be a budding gourmand... and that's a good thing!   Here's wishing everyone a fantastic 2013!

 

Hot German Potato Salad ~ Grandma Bunni's

Hot German Potato Salad ~ This is one of my favorite ways to enjoy a potato salad.  It makes a perfect side dish for home or for a potluck & it's also good cold.

I grew up eating Hot German Potato Salad.  Grandma Bunni always made it whenever Grandpa Al asked for it, which was often.  :)   (his parents were German & he loved his German food!)  I really enjoy making this dish whenever we've grown our own potatoes in the backyard.  I always save all the tiny potatoes that we've harvested for what has become a homegrown, veggie harvesting ritual. 

This year, I didn't plant any potatoes (just as well with all of this horribly hot weather & drought, we are under strict watering restrictions), so I've just had to make due with store bought potatoes.  This potato salad makes a great side dish that can be enjoyed anytime of year & it's also good for a potluck.  Enjoy!

 Grandma Bunni's Hot German Potato Salad

• 4 large red potatoes ~ peeled or unpeeled (or 2 cans of sliced potatoes, drained) 
• 1 1/2 Tbsp olive oil 
• 1 small white onion, diced
• 1/2 cup diced celery 
• 1 Tbsp flour
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• 2 Tbsp fresh parsley  (or 1 Tbsp dried parsley)
  
• 2 Tbsp Dijon style mustard 
• 1/2 tsp salt  ~ or to taste
• 1/4 tsp cracked black pepper ~ or to taste
• 1/3 cup water
• 1/4 cup cider vinegar
• 3 Tbsp Hormel Real Bacon Bits
• 1 tsp melted bacon grease ~ or more, to taste (optional)     FYI ~ I keep a small jar of bacon grease in my freezer, just so I can add a touch to recipes like this.  It gives me the richness & flavor of real bacon when I use bacon bits, without actually having to fry up bacon.  Bacon is a rare treat in this house, so keeping a little grease around is a compromise.  :) 

 

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add potatoes; cook until tender but still firm, about 15 minutes. Drain, cool and chop.

While the potatoes are cooling ~ Heat oil in skillet, add onions & celery and saute until just tender.

Sprinkle flour, sugar, parsley, salt, and pepper over the cooked onions & celery. Add the cider vinegar, water, mustard & bacon bits and stir all together & cook over medium heat until the dressing is thick.

Gently toss the cooked, chopped potatoes (or the drained, canned sliced potatoes) with the hot bacon dressing & heat through.  Taste & adjust seasoning if necessary.  Enjoy!

  

Homemade Apple Schnapps ~ making homemade Hooch

I learned how to make this very easy version of Homemade Apple Schnapps while visiting some friends, up in Canada, back in the fall of 1993.  They served this delightful beverage to the houseful of guests that were staying with them during the Oktoberfest festivities.  Schnapps is originally from Germany & is a favorite of mine, from way back.  When I first started making this concoction back home, I dubbed it 'Hooch' & I've been making, enjoying & sharing it for almost two decades.

You can easily change up the flavor of the schnapps, just by choosing a different juice concentrate.  I'm partial to the apple flavor, probably because it's the original way I had it.  (my trademark hooch is only made with apple juice concentrate :)   I decant the schnapps/hooch into pretty bottles & keep it in the fridge.  It's perfect to drink before/after dinner or turned into a cocktail, using your favorite mixer. **  Please note:  This is an adult mixed alcoholic beverage.  No underage drinking allowed! Do not overindulge.  Enjoy responsibly.  :)  **


Homemade Apple Schnapps                       

• one 750ml bottle of Vodka
• five cans of apple juice concentrate, thawed
• water to taste

Empty the Vodka into a large pitcher & add all the cans of thawed apple juice concentrate.  Stir until well combined.

Taste & add water if desired, to get it just the way you like it ~ whatever suits your fancy.  Store in the fridge & always keep chilled.

Enjoy straight up as a cordial for sipping after dinner; serve it over ice; maybe a small glassful before dinner or with your favorite mixer as a cocktail. 

Vegetable Rosti ~ crisp, golden, shredded veggie patties for Meatless Monday

Vegetable Rosti ~ served with a fresh tomato/herb relish & yogurt ~ Here is a vegetarian spin on the Swiss potato dish. I omitted the potatoes the recipe called for, well, because I wanted to keep it low carb.  I just used more zucchini in place of the potatoes & also added some more spices. (I'm like that, I like my spices)  It turned out really tasty ~ the carrots gave it just a hint of sweetness.  I think it would be perfect for breakfast, brunch or as a side dish. I think I'll try making it again with zucchini, bell peppers & onion ~ seems like it would be a good stand-in for a low carb version of hash browns.  I'll let you know how it turns out.  :)   Check out the recipe from Vegetarian Times.

Fat Tuesday ~ Shrove Tuesday ~ Pancake Day ~ Time for some pancakes!

Perfectly golden...

Fat Tuesday, Shrove Tuesday, Pancake Day ~ by what ever name you call it, it is almost here.  In England, it goes by Shrove Tuesday & since the hubby is from England, that is what we call the day that the pancake is king.

As any 7 year old would, J loves his pancakes (a lot) & never needs an extra excuse to eat them. In this house we celebrate Shrove Tuesday by eating lots & lots of pancakes.  Here are a few of our favorite kinds of pancakes to make ~ both traditional & with a little bit of flair...




English Pancakes ~ These are very similar to French Crepes.  I really like to eat this type of pancake with Meyer lemon & sugar.

English Pancakes with Meyer Lemon & Sugar

Traditional Pancakes ~ These are J's favorite.  He really enjoys them at our local cafe.  On the kids menu they have a great big Mickey Mouse face pancake, you can count on him to order it whenever we go there.  At Mom's 'home cafe' he gets them regular.  Either way, he eats them up quick!

Traditional Pancakes with Maple Syrup

English Pancakes ~ You can roll them or you can fold them, any way you do it is good.  I think they look very petite when you fold them this way.  Just add your favorite filling. Yum!!

English Pancakes with Meyer Lemon & Sugar

Dutch Baby Pancakes ~ These baked pancakes are so very good & can be made large or small.  Leftovers, filled with custard/pudding & fresh fruit, make wonderful fruit tart desserts.

Dutch Baby Pancakes

French Crepes ~  I love to make French Crepes because they are so versatile.  They make a wonderful breakfast, lunch, dinner or dessert.  Tuck leftovers inside & they become special.

French Crepes

Hope you get a chance to celebrate this years Fat Tuesday/Shrove Tuesday/Pancake Day with a big plate of golden pancakes.  I know we will!  :)

Dutch Baby Pancakes ~ Such a simple & easy breakfast or brunch

Dutch Baby Breakfast ~ We had this for breakfast last weekend. What a huge baked pancake! It was REALLY good. I even had leftovers, so I turned them into a "French Fruit Tart" ~ http://honestcooking.com/2012/01/20/dutch-babies-recipe/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=dutch-babies-recipe

·

Dutch Baby with Fresh Fruit

The other day my Facebook feed showed a post for Dutch Babies, from the online magazine ~ Honest Cooking.  The name was intriguing.  After looking at the recipe & photos, I decided it would be good for a Saturday morning breakfast. I am so glad to say, it was a smashing success!  It is actually a spin on a German dish, even though they call it a Dutch Baby.

Dutch Baby, baking in the oven

The batter was super easy to make.  My trusty cast iron skillet was the perfect thing to bake it in.  The hardest part was waiting for it to come out of the oven...

My big, beautiful Dutch Baby

By the time it was ready to come out, the whole thing had risen up very high & was a delicious shade of golden brown.  Then, just a few minutes after coming out of the oven, it fell gracefully into a big, beautiful pancake.

We tried it two ways - the traditional way with lemon & powdered sugar and with maple syrup.  Maple syrup was our favorite.  It was so big, we couldn't finish it all.

I knew I could do something special with the leftovers, so for dessert that night I turned them into a...

French Fruit Tart with Raspberries

French Fruit Tarts    

It was the simplest dessert ever.  I spread some vanilla pudding (from a pudding cup)  on the leftover Dutch Baby, added fresh fruit, chilled, and ~ Voilà! A light, tasty dessert. It was like we had just brought home a special treat from a French pastry shop.

French Fruit Tart with Mixed Berries

This will definitely go into my breakfast /brunch rotation.  It would be perfect for a lazy weekend treat.  Or, maybe I'll just turn the whole thing into a French Fruit Tart next time.  Why bother with going to the French pastry shop if I can make it at home.  Roy would be so pleased...

Building a Gingerbread House ~ easy for kids, easy on Mom

                                 ~^~^~^~  Merry Christmas  ~^~^~^~  

                      From the land of O Tannenbaum & Gingerbread Houses

Check out how easy it is to make a Gingerbread House out of graham crackers.  My 7 year old had fun decorating his creation. I only made 1/3 of the recipe for the Royal Icing & it was plenty.

The next stop on J's tour of holiday traditions was to Germany ~ the land of                    OTannenbaum & Gingerbread Houses.  His class learned all about how Germany was the first place where decorated trees became a part of Christmas celebrations.  J was surprised to learn that the first Christmas trees were decorated with only cookies, apples, nuts, and sugar sticks.  For the art project, J's class made 3-D trees out of green construction paper to go along with the singing of OTannenbaum.

To keep up the food theme, we decided to make a Gingerbread House, since Germany seems to be where Gingerbread Houses originated.  It's thought that the first Gingerbread Houses where based on the Witch's house, from the Bros. Grimm fairy tale ~ Hansel & Gretel.   To decorate our Gingerbread House, we used all the Halloween candy that J didn't like or that was too stale to eat.  I cheated & used chocolate graham crackers instead of gingerbread.  Chocolate graham crackers are just too easy to use & they have a sugar sprinkle that looks like 'snow'.  What a deal!   I really think making a Gingerbread House is a great way to get rid of all that Halloween candy that is still lurking about.  J had fun building it & it doesn't make him feel like his Mom is making him get rid of his candy.  Cheap, cheerful & candy-cupboard-cleaning, gotta love that!

As they say in Germany ~  Froehliche Weihnachten! (Happy Christmas) 

Gingerbread Cookies on Parade

Everyone knows, Christmas is a time for cookie making.  I understand this, but, I am a realist, and I know that making cookies should be a spectator sport for me, not a hands on activity. But, when you have a 7 year old who wants to play with his food, supervision is in order.

Hard at work

Since I do not come from a family of bakers, I don't have any 'handed down' cookie recipes to pull out of my Santa's hat of baking tricks.  I needed inspiration & I needed it fast.

Wait for it...

I saw a promising post from Fat Free Vegan on Facebook & thought I'd give it a try.  Check it out here ~  Low Fat Gingerbread Cookie recipe.

It's show time!

It couldn't have been easier.  The recipe makes A LOT of dough, so you can split it up & bake it over a few days of merry baking.  We liked them best with a full coating of icing, but I think they look cooler when you pipe the design on.

Got milk?

J had a good time making them & ate them up as fast as I would let him. He really wanted to get out his Play Doh equipment to help with rolling, cutting out the shapes & decorating them...see, I said supervision was in order.  :)