Happy Birthday, Mutti-- "Blaukraut"-- Red Cabbage, With Love, Bavarian Style

This March 8th would have been my mother's 85th birthday. My mother was an amazing cook and she loved to eat-- while maintaining a Size 8. If history repeats itself, I should downsize to a size 8 anytime now... if only I wasn't so addicted to food blogs and cookbooks and experimenting in the kitchen! If my mother was here, I would have made this dinner for her.


She passed on in 2003, but I still feel her presence when I am making her Bavarian recipes. My "Mutti" had a powerful influence on how I cook. I love German Food, and my husband (who is born and raised in Missouri) has fallen in-love with my Bavarian heritage.

There are very different types of German food, depending on what region you visit. A quick geography lesson-- Bavaria is a "State" and the capital is Munich/Muenchen. They have an entirely different flag than Northern Germany, and the dialect is very different than Northern Germany.

The dialect that I understand, and still speak (though rusty) is Bavarian. If you ask any true Bavarian-- there is a distinct rivalry between the Prussians and Bavarians that dates back centuries.

My favorite recipes are influenced by Bavaria and Austria, and I'll share them as I start to put the recipes in my head, into photos and printable recipes. If you ask any true Bavarian-- there is a distinct rivalry between the Prussians and Bavarians that dates back centuries.

My mother's hometown, of Bad Reichenhall, is just yodeling distance to Salzburg, Austria and right down the road to a very famous Ski Resort-- Berchtesgarten. Bad Reichenhall is an upscale spa town that offers so many beautiful things to see-- the Alps, The Arts-- Opera, Outdoor concerts, Music Festivals (They love Mozart), hiking, skiing.

I became very homesick for my mother's Home Land, by viewing photos by "Rotraud" on Flickr. She lives in Bad Reichenhall and has posted beautiful photographs of Berchtesgartener Land. I want to acknowledge that the above photos are hers. She is a talented photographer.

Sorry, I got carried away with nostalgic memories... back to my recipe. In honor of my mother's birthday, I made "Schnitzel", Homemade Spaetzle and Red Cabbage. My mother loved that meal!

WARNING: This is not a kid friendly recipe! Well, at least the beer part (and that is a "must"). My son still doesn't like red cabbage. Fine with me! Red cabbage pairs beautifully with pork or any kind of sausage, so it won't go to waste.

I'm going to post the recipes for the Schnitzel and Home Made Spaetzle over the next few days, with directions on how to make these. I promise. If I do say so myself, the dinner was stellar! My mother would have been so proud of how I am carrying on her traditional recipes.
For now, here's a sneak peek at the "Whole Enchilada"...er, "Whole Schnitzel":



I have tweaked my mom's recipe for "Blaukraut" (blue cabbage, in Bavarian) or "Red Cabbage" to adapt to my own taste...just a little bit, by switching from white sugar to brown sugar. I guess, you could say, this is one of my signature dinners. I love red cabbage, but I've had more than my share of bland recipes. Here is how I make it, and it's delicious:



You will need: a head of red cabbage, onion, one Granny Smith Apple (you want it tart), brown sugar, red wine vinegar, apple juice (I use organic, unsweetened, unfiltered apple juice, from Trader Joe's), ground cloves, fresh ground nutmeg and (optional) caraway seeds-- but my family doesn't like them, so I leave them out.

Core a medium head of red cabbage and slice:


Heat a Dutch Oven with a swirl of olive oil and heat. Add sliced onion and cook, till just tender-- 2-3 minutes:


Next, add the cabbage and braise for 3- minutes-- until just tender. Isn't that a pretty color?


In no specific order, add the brown sugar, cored and grated apple, apple juice...


Add the vinegar:

Stir to combine, cover with a lid and simmer on low for about 30 minutes. You want the cabbage to be tender, but not overcooked and mushy.

When I make this dish, I make Schnitzel (breaded veal, chicken or pork with my homemade breadcrumbs) cooked in olive oil to a golden brown. My homemade spaetzle, cooked in unsalted butter with fresh parsley is the perfect side dish to make this one of my family's favorite German dinners. While Germany produces some beautiful wine, I am a beer drinker-- "Pilsner" being my favorite. A glass of beer with this meal makes the whole meal come together:


I'm going to send this post to both of my brothers. I can already hear them moaning with regret that they could not eat this. Every October, though, they know that I make an Oktoberfest dinner in honor of our mother and her Bavarian Heritage.

Oatmeal Cookie Pancakes and Banana-Orange Maple Compote

I love making breakfast. I also love going out for breakfast. I was really hungry, after church and we had decided to treat ourselves to breakfast at our favorite place. Alas, the place was packed full and I couldn't wait. On the way home, I started to think "oatmeal". I have this uncanny way of remembering a recipe that I wanted to make that could date back a year or more. Just like that, I recalled Rachael Ray's Oatmeal Cookie pancake recipe that I had printed into my "To Try" cookbook binder at least two years ago.

Poor Rachael Ray. She really endures a lot of criticism for her over-the-top chatting and "Rachaelisms". I still enjoy making her recipes at times when I'm very hungry and very tired. Her dishes are fast, made with ingredients I usually have on hand, and are usually very good.
Rachael did not disappoint me with this recipe. Breakfast was on the table in 30 minutes, whoo-hoo.

The dry ingredients consisted of flour, old-fashioned oats (a pantry staple) baking soda, baking powder and brown sugar:


The wet ingredients consisted of sour cream, milk, eggs, melted butter (I forgot to add and they turned out fine) and vanilla.

I opted NOT to add the banana to the pancake mixture. Somehow, it didn't seem quite right, since I never add bananas to my oatmeal cookies! Instead, I thought I'd make a banana, orange, maple syrup compote. It's good thing that I made that decision, because I was running low on maple syrup!

Here comes one of my Foodie Purist moments-- I do NOT buy or use pancake syrup. I avoid high fructose corn syrup whenever possible-- and that's why I love Trader Joe's so much! I recalled a recipe from Food Network years back for a banana compote.

These are dense pancakes, so I prepared by brushing it with oil and then some butter, for flavor.
I kept the heat on a medium to low temperature, and allowed these to cook for about 2-3 minutes per side.

The compote and pancake recipe got two thumbs up from my husband and me. My son gave it a thumbs down-- but he's a pancake syrup purist. He still pouts over my boycott of Log Cabin syrup, and he doesn't like raisins. I smiled when I saw how he had picked out the raisins and piled them off to the side of his plate. Kids. Well, he's 20, but he's still my kid.

Personally, I tried the compote and then just the maple syrup and I liked them both ways.
You decide! Just to be safe, I'd better stock up on more maple syrup, the next time I head to Trader Joe's. I'm so thankful to have TWO TJ's to shop at!

Pioneer Woman's Crash Potatoes-- kicked up a little creamier

For many of you veteran "bloggers", I'm sure that you've seen one of Pioneer Woman's most popular recipes that she's photographed, and posted, for Crash Potatoes. I have made this recipe, twice, and it has not failed to make my family's eyes bug out when they see these coming out of the oven.

I remembered, years back, that a local restaurant in Carmel, California (my backyard) served potatoes that were prepared just like the Crash Potatoes-- except that they added heavy cream and parmesan as well as the olive oil and rosemary.

I first made the Crash Potatoes on Valentine's Day, with seared salmon and colorful vegetables. I decided to follow Ree's recipe, and then I made a half batch with heavy cream and parmesan.

Both versions were fantastic--but the creamy (and more fattening version) was as tasty as I remembered all those years ago.

I'm a big fan of creamy mashed potatoes-- really, I love spuds boiled, deep fried, roasted and baked. These potatoes are on the top of my list as a favorite way to serve spuds. No wonder this recipe has made it's rounds on countless blogs!

The recipe is so simple that you really don't need measurements. What you will need is:
Baking Sheet
A brush to apply the olive oil
Potato Masher (you can use a fork, but the masher makes thing easier
Potatoes of your choice-- I like red bliss or Yukon Gold
Olive oil
Kosher salt (I never use table salt for roasting)
Fresh ground black pepper
Herb of your choice-- I've used fresh shopped rosemary or thyme. Dried herbs work, too
Optional: heavy cream and parmesan cheese
I've also seen versions using cheese and bacon

I try to buy potatoes that are even in size, about the size of... well, a plum!
I put the potatoes (I figure 2-3 per person) in a pot of water with salt and cook them until they are fork tender-- not mushy
Drain the potatoes

Preheat the oven to 425F

On a baking sheet, drizzle oil and place the potatoes with enough room to give them a gentle "mash".



Go easy, because you can crush those babies and they won't look as pretty as Pioneer Woman's! The easiest technique, is to press firmly but not to hard; rotatoe 90 degrees and repeat:

I brushed olive oil, a little salt and black pepper and some chopped fresh rosemary, from my garden.


Then I poured about 1 Tablespoon of heavy cream and some fresh parmesan on a few of the potatoes, as an experiment.

Then I baked these for about 20 minutes. It really depends on your oven-- it might take a little longer.



The heavy cream and parmesan made a little bit of a mess on my baking sheet, but it's non-stick!


I liked both versions. You decide!

A couple of nights later, I made the potatoes with just olive oil and thyme and some roasted asparagus. Dang! These are good!

OMG!! Pioneer Woman's Cheesy Garlic Bread

There comes a time when a commitment to only eat "healthy" gets blown right out of the water. That's exactly what happened when I saw "The Pioneer Woman Cook's" RSS feed for this recipe. I was hooked. I had already decided to recycle my pot roast into beef & vegetable soup, and I had leftover French bread so my decision was made. I'm going for it!

I'll share how I made the soup another day. If you love garlic bread (and it's one of my weaknesses), this is the recipe for you. Do NOT-- I repeat-- NOT use margarine, garlic powder or Miracle Whip! Go for the real stuff.

Just like Pioneer Woman's photos, I have the same cast iron skillet where I heated my butter and chopped fresh garlic:


Then I arranged my sliced french bread rolls and let all that garlic infused butter soak right up...


While the remaining rolls were soaking in the butter jacuzzi, I covered the butter soaked rolls with the spread made of Trader Joe's Lite Mexican Blend Cheese (hey, it's all I had), Mayonnaise, chopped scallions, and parmesan. I knew I had a winner, and my boy's would be very pleased:

Just look at all that butter-- are you drooling yet?

I baked those puppies for about 10 minutes and then broiled them for a minute-- maybe two, but I stayed very close to the broiler!

I served this with soup for a fast week night meal. I already know that I need to do an extra half hour of water aerobics (I'm a mermaid, at heart). I didn't care. OMG! This is a sinfully great recipe.

Are you brave enough to make this? I confess. I ate a whole piece of this bread, and I have no regrets. Well, until I hit the scale...which is, hmmmm... "away" at the moment.

Ree, at The Pioneer Woman Cooks, is my kinda gal. Her recipes are great family style meals. While I love a gourmet meal at a fine restaurant (I grew up in that business), I'll take simple down home cooking anyday-- grilled steak, baked potato and garlic bread. If you haven't visited her website, prepare to get engrossed in all that she has to offer-- recipes, love stories, her family, living on a ranch and photography. She's an amazing woman.

I did not use my macro lens for the closeup of the "big bite". All three of us were too busy moaning over how sinfully delicious this bread was-- and the soup. Just trust me. It's fantastic!

Pot Roast in a little over an hour? With pressure, you sure can!

Pot roast-- you either love it or hate it. It's kind of like meat loaf. Some people cringe at that thought of it-- until they try my superb recipe. It's amazing! (I should create, photograph and post). So, if you don't like pot roast, I hope that you'll read my post to learn why I love my pressure cooker so much. To me, it's like a braiser microwave. In a fraction of the time it takes to braise meat in the oven, for hours, you can have tender pot roast in 45 minutes.

I had errands to run, after work, so it was almost 6:00 by the time I got home. I realized I was cutting things too close in having dinner ready by our usual 6:30-7:00pm window. All three of us start our jobs pretty early in the morning, so it's lights out by 9:30pm. Plus, I try not to going to bed with a full belly. The pressure was on... What to do?

My recipe index, in my head, started flipping-- do I make Pioneer Woman's newest pasta recipe she posted? Do I defrost one of my freezer meals? Then I realized, that darned piece of chuck roast needed to be cooked... I didn't want to freeze it. Speaking of that piece of chuck roast-- when the butcher "trainee" presented me with this piece of meat I didn't know what to say! It was... well, BIG and very round! I had envisioned something a lot different, but I politely took it, though it looks nothing like the illustration in Cook's Illustrated. (He was so polite and helpful, and I'm a sucker for that. )

I had saved Kevin's (Closet Cooking) recipe for his pot roast, and then I looked the Cook's Illustrated version with my online subscription. Fuggitaboutit! I decided to play Amateur Iron Chef and just go with my gut instincts and I got my pressure cooker out of my garage pantry (how many of you folks in small living quarters have one?). I found whole carrots, some Yukon Gold potatoes that were reaching their prime, onion, garlic and some whole button mushrooms. I grabbed a bottle of red wine, that had about 1/2 cup left in it, some dried thyme (I dry it myself from my garden) and salt & pepper. I was ready to give it a go!

NOTE: My photos did not turn out to be very stellar because a) I was tired and racing the clock b) it was dark outside, and flash photography and food isn't the best combo c) my husband was standing over the pressure cooker looking like he was very anxious to eat I'm looking forward to Daylight Times so I can take better pix. Anyway...

How to Tie a Top-Blade Roast, from Cook's Illustrated

1. Slip 6-foot piece of twine under roast and tie a double knot.

2. Hold twine against meat, and loop long end under and around roast.

3. Run long end through loop.

4. Repeat procedure down length of roast.

5. Roll roast over and run twine under and around each loop.

6. Wrap twine around end of roast, flip roast, and tie to original knot.

I started cooking the meal at 6:15 and we were eating at 7:40pm.

Here's how I did it:

Grab a skillet and olive oil and heat it to be HOT; pat the meat dry and season with salt & pepper.

Sear the meat, because I want that delicious fond to add flavor to my gravy.

Remove the meat, and set into my pressure cooker-- I love that the pot is removable. It's makes so much easier.

I added a little more oil, onion, carrots, thyme and mushrooms and cooked them for about 3 minutes, then a little fresh chopped garlic or another minute. The vegetables were piled onto the seared meat.

Next, I deglazed the pan with about 1/2 cup of red wine, and then some chicken broth and beef stock (it's a Cook's Illustrated kind of thing). I didn't measure, but I'd say a total of 3 cups of stock. I added about 1/4 cup of tomato paste and poured the liquid into the pressure cooker.


I set the timer for 45 minutes and cleaned up my mess, tossed a green salad with a vinaigrette and sliced some fresh French bread.

I had a LOT of gravy that I thickened with a slurry of flour and water:


It was tender and very flavorful. The french bread was a very un-ladylike way to mop up the gravy, but it was delicious!

I don't think that there's really a need to post a recipe. I think it's pretty hard not to make a good pot roast. Tonight, I made a vegetable beef soup with the leftovers and it was even better-- especially with Pioneer Woman's Cheesy Garlic bread. I will post that tomorrow!

NOTE: After I posted this, I watched Ina Garten's show I had recorded and she was making pot roast-- almost like mine! Here's the link to her recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/barefoot-contessa/comfort-and-company/index.html

I hope that I've inspired you to consider buying a pressure cooker. The one I have, now, was recommended to me by my best friend several years ago. It's easier to us, you don't have to run cold water on the lid to release the steam...I just push a button. I steam artichokes, cook beans, braise meat and make stews and all kind of wonderful dishes.

You can find info about my specific pressure cooker model right here:

Tyler Florence's Ultimate Ribs & Garlic Mashed Potatoes

My husband and son love ribs. Me? I like them, but if given a choice, I'll take a juicy steak as my first choice. Today, I wanted to treat my boys to a special Sunday dinner. They're the two most important men in my life, and they deserve it.

I have watched Tyler Florence make this recipe-- and I am a fan of huge his "Ultimate Show". But, when I visited "My Tasty Treasures" blog, I saw that Donna had made this recipe. My decision was made-- the pot roast I was craving became pork ribs.

As directed I slow roasted the ribs in my oven. My brother has converted me from gas grilling to buying a Weber, but the rain prevented me from going that route. Besides, I wanted to try an indoor variation.

The sauce was simple to make-- I was happy to find a jar of molasses in my fridge. Whew! I don't use molasses often, but I try to keep some on hand. The only ingredients I needed to buy were the ribs and peach preserves.

The sauce rocks! Seriously, this sauce is so good-- the sweetness of the peach preserves, the brown sugar and the molasses and paprika, garlic, onion, bacon, thyme. Wow!

The ribs were "good". I wish I could say that they were falling off the bone tender. They were good, for oven cooked. But the sauce is the star of this show!

I can hardly wait for our California warmer weather to come, and longer daylight. I will be firing up the Weber and making this sauce for our ribs.

Now, for the mashed potatoes. I know, mashed potatoes are a no brainer. Are they, really?
Over the decades (yeah, I'm that old) I've used a hand mixer, a food processor (don't ever do that, or you get homemade wallpaper paste). My winning recipe for mashed potatoes is a combination of Emeril Legasse's tip (that changed everything for me), Rachael Ray and Ann Burrell (one of my new and favorite Food Network Chefs).

• Emeril taught me to return my drained potatoes into the pot, on low heat, to let all of the water evaporate. Hello! No wonder my taters were runny!
• Rachael Ray got me into using cream cheese, instead of butter. This is the way I prefer to make my mashed potatoes. It's so good!
• Ann Burrell convinced me to buy a food mill. I bought one from OXO and I've never regretted it. My potato ricer was hand held and hard to work with. It sold that at a garage sale-- though, now, I read a tip that it works well to squeeze water out of spinach. Brilliant! She also gave me the tip of throwing a few cloves of garlic into the water, while cooking the spuds. Her recipe for mashed potatoes uses way too much butter for me. But that's just me...
  

Last, but not least, my preferred choice of spud are Yukon Gold Potatoes. Red Bliss Potatoes come in second. I don't peel them, either. Tonight, I only had four medium sized Russets. They were delicious, though, I have to admit.

Once the potatoes were cooked, drained and the water was evaporated, I let the food mill do all the hard work.


Then I added about 2-3 Tablespoons of cream cheese, and let it soften from the heat of the potatoes. Last, I added the heavy cream (about 1/2 cup total). I don't usually measure. I go by texture and taste. NOTE: I season my potatoes with salted water.

Using a spatula, I stirred all of the ingredients, and I had creamy yummy potatoes. No lumps, no bumbs. The cooked garlic just mashed right into the potatoes.


My only frustration in making tonight's dinner was racing against natural light. Photographing mashed potatoes isn't easy...especially when you are serving with glass bowls and it's twilight.
The photos don't do justice to how good these were.



I served a new blend of red butter lettuce and baby spinach with a simple vinaigrette. Since I've been taking meds for my headache, I passed on a cold beer.

Boy, that beer would have taken this whole dinner over the top. But my boys were happy, and that's what mattered most.

How do you spell relief? S-U-G-A-R Bar Cookies

I am convinced that the headache that is still holding my head hostage is fueled by hormones. I say that because I had a burning desire to eat sugar-- not any kind of sugar, mind you. It had to be white cake with frosting. My only explanation for this very specific craving comes from childhood memories-- when I was a little girl, counting down the days until my birthday. I knew that my mother would splurge and buy the birthday cake of my own choosing. I always asked for white cake with white frosting and lots and LOTS of gooey, sugar coma inducing roses.

In recent year, I've pretty much OD'd on eating grocery store bakery white cake with over-the-top frosting-- and I've developed a fondness for my local bakery "Layers". I've abandoned the not-even-on-the-food-pyramid COSTCO style gooey cakes in lieu of French Buttercream, made with quality butter...100% butter. Better yet, my new birthday cake request is currently a Princess Cake with sponge cake, rasberry filling, whipped cream and almond fondant-- please and thank you.

But, yesterday, I wanted my childhood white cake with frosting.

However, I wasn't feeling up to making a white cake from scratch (I've stopped buying cake mixes years ago)-- and then I remembered a few variations of Sugar Cookie Bars I've seen on various food blogs. I settled on the one from Ice Cream Before Dinner.

I confess, that I usually do not keep Crisco in my pantry. Call me an ingredient snob, but I try to use only real butter, olive oil and canola oil in all of my recipes. I was so ready to make my own buttercream frosting, but I decided to try a recipe I saw that uses vegetable shortening.

Forgive me, "Foodie Purists", but I was hormonally driven to put the stick of softened butter and (with trembling hands) I opened up the small can of Crisco I had purchases for a pie crust recipe I've been wanting to make.
NOTE: Since I posted this frosting, I now use 1/2 butter and 1/2 vegetable shortening.

The cookie dough came together in a matter of minutes, thanks to my Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer Workhorse.

Once the baked cookie had cooled, I made the frosting. It made a LOT!


I have a Williams & Sonoma Italian off-set spatula that was given to me as a gift (and it cost a fortune), so I got a little carried away in frosting these-- as in I think I went a little crazy with the frosting.

And I still had leftover frosting-- that I will probably use to make homemade Hostess Chocolate Cupcakes... on another day. According to the recipe, the frosting stores for 8-12 weeks-- kinda scary, huh? I read the Crisco label, by the way. They swear that vegetable shortening has less saturated fat than butter. Truth be told, if I am going to eat a dessert, I am going full speed ahead. Forget trying to make baked goods less fattening. That's what exercise was invented for, right?

I will say this-- I took one bite and my craving had been totally satisfied. The frosting was sweet-- as in very, very sweet. It reminded me exactly of my childhood birthday cakes. Is that what the term "comfort food" really means?


The rest of the cookies are the sole property of my 6'3, 20 year old son, who eats continuously and does not gain weight. As for me, I need to stay away from these. They are sinfully good, and would give any kid a case of hyper sugar syndrome.

The cookie was a little too thick, in my opinion-- but I can only blame myself. Next time, I think I'd use a larger pan than a 9X13 and I'd press the dough too be much thinner. As for the frosting-- I'll stick with my butter cream recipe. This particular vanilla frosting is better destined for cupcakes-- white cupcakes. The next time that my hormones scream for white cake, that's what I'll do.

Still, if you have kids and you want to make a special treat-- brace yourself for the sugar shock. These are fast and easy to make.