Mahlzeit - Food without Borders

After a long weekend with lots of food, there are usually some left overs in the fridge that need a purpose. I found a bag of green beans and a cauliflower as well as some Eckrich Turkey sausage. 2 tetra packs of organic chicken broth were still hanging out in the pantry. We got the base 1.5 packs of Eckrich Turkey Sausage 1 cup of celery 2 large onions coarsely chopped 1 bag of green beans (they are already cleaned, cut into 1 inch pieces) 1 Cauliflower (cut into chunks) 2 tetra packs of slow sodium organic chicken broth 6 large potatoes (peeled and cut into 1" cubes") 4 fresh shitake mushrooms, cut into slices 1/4 tsp thyme 1/2 tsp of ground allspice 3 tsp of Maggie Chicken Bullion 1 large fresh bay leaf 1 tbsp of veggie oil In a large Dutch Oven heat up the olive oil, add the onions, sausage slices and the celery. Let it all get some color, but don't burn it. Empty the 2 tetra packs of chicken broth. Bring to a boil, add the green beans and let it simmer for 5 minutes....

At my favorite Korean store I picked up a pheasant a few weeks ago. When I contemplated what I am going to make for Thanksgiving I decided to go off the beaten path and make that pheasant. I have never made a pheasant in my life before.  I found 2 recipes on the internet, that gave me inspiration. Here we go: Pheasant: 1 pheasant defrosted and cut in 2 halfes 2 cloves of garlic 1 fresh bayleaf 1 large onion chopped 1 tetra pack of chicken broth 1/2 tsp of ground allspice 1/4 tsp of thyme 6 juniper berries Sauce: 1 cup of white mushrooms chopped 1 cup of shitake mushrooms chopped 1 cup of Chardonnay (choose one that you would drink as well, dont be cheap here) 1/2 cup half/half (fat free) 1 cup water 1 tsp of chicken bullion from Knorr In a Dutch oven heat up the oil, add the onions and let them get translucent and then remove them. Then add the 2 pieces of pheasant skin side down and let it get some color. Add the onion and all the other things listed under Pheasant into the put, b...

This is really one I put together in about 20 min. I did grocery shopping for the long Turkey day dinner. I also picked up some shrimps and some salmon. The idea was, that I try to make rollmops out of the salmon, but then I found frozen sardines at the Korean place I shop at once a month. The salmon needed a new purpose.  Peel some potatoes and start cooking them. As a veggie I went for green sweet peas in a bag, that can go from frozen to cooked in the microwave in 5-6 minutes. Grab one of those or cook another veggie of your choice. It turned out that the salmon was not even properly descaled. So I did my best to do somebody else's job.  Heat up a little bit of oil in a cast iron skillet. It should be hot, but don't burn the oil. Add the salmon skin side down. Put a little bit of salt and pepper onto the salmon. Let it sear for a few minutes. How long it will take to finally finish depends on the thickness of the filet. I covered it pan with a glas lid, so the top side can ...

 Today I decided to get my freezer organized. I found some chicken thighs. Hm, that was my hint to make a variation of a chicken curry. We need: 4 chicken thighs (can be frozen) 1 medium onion coarsely chopped 3/4 cup of celery 2 smoked paprika from a jar, cut into small pieces 5 cups of water 4 tsb chicken bullion powder 4 tsb curry 1 tsb ground cumin 1 tsb allspice 1 pinch of cinnamon 1 pinch of ground cloves In a Dutch Oven, heat some oil, add the celery and the onion. Let the onions get translucent. Add all the remaining ingredients, cover and bring to a boil. Then let it simmer. I added the chicken frozen. After 20 min, I took the chicken out and did cut it in slices and back into the pot. Simmer for another hour. If your chicken is not frozen, slice it before adding it. I ended up thickening the sauce a little bit with a corn starch water mixture. Serve with rice -Mahlzeit-

I needed something fast. 2 days ago I made about 3 lbs of meat balls. Some when into a soup, some into the freezer, some went here 😀 We need 8 meat balls 1" in diameter (left over is just fine) 1 can of Progresso Hearty Tomato Soup 1/2 cup of couscous Some veggie oil Spices: 1/2 tsp of paprika 1/2 tsp of Turmeric 1/2 tsp of curry powder 1/2 tsp of Indian curry powder 1/2 tsp of ground cumin 2 tsp of Harissa spice blend (this one can be spicy) In a frying pan add the veggie oil, and heat it up over medium heat. Cut the meat balls in half while the oil is heating up. Add the cut meat balls to the frying pan and warm them up. After about 10 minutes, start to cook the couscous  following package instructions. I use 1 cup of water for 1/2 cup of couscous.  Open the Progresso soup and empty into the frying pan. Add all the spices. Over medium low heat warm everything up, nothing should be boiling like crazy, no volcanoes exploding 😏 please. When the couscous is done, in a flat bow...

The internet is great for getting inspirations. Somebody posted a great picture from a green bean stew. That brought back memories. Here we go: We need:  3 slices of salted fat back bacon cut into small pieces. 1 cup of chopped celery 1 cup of either cleaned and chopped carrots or small baby carrots 1/2 cup of coarsely chopped onions 1 pack of Eckrich Turkey Sausage sliced 4 medium potatoes cut to 1/2" cubes 6 cups of water 3 tsp of chicken bullion powder ( be careful, the fat back bacon has a lot of salt already) 1/8 tsp of thyme 1/2 tsp of allspice 1 tsp of summer savory 2 regular cans of green beans, drained and washed (there is enough salt by now) some veggie oil In a stock pot heat some veggie oil and add the onion, carrots, celery. cook for about 5 minutes. Then add the sausage and try to get some color on things, but do not burn anything. This will take another 7-10 minutes. Add everything else but the potatoes, bring to a boil, and then turn the heat down. Simmer for about...

Long long time ago, I used to buy Russisch Brot from Dresden by the case and then there was no stopping me. Today there is no Russisch Brot from Dresden anymore. It comes all from Bahlsen and is to sweet for my taste.  So I ended up searching the internet and found this: Russisch Brot . I am translating the recipe here. I used more Kakao then the original calls for. 4 egg whites 1 pinch of salt 150g of sugar 1 pack vanilla sugar 2 tbsp Kakao 150g all purpose flower. Line a couple of baking sheets with parchment paper .  In a kitchen machine beat the egg whites so they are really stiff. In a bowl, mix the everything else and slowly add it to the egg white mixture beating at medium speed. Then fill a piping bag. A regular plastic bag with a corner cut off will do the job just fine. Pipe what ever comes to mind onto the sheets letters, numbers, faces. Let them sit for 15 min rest. While they rest preheat the oven to 335F. Bake for about 15 minutes. They are done, when they can be...