Stroganoff

Gropius wanted beef stroganoff for dinner. We didn't have egg noodles, so I made spätzle instead and he cooked up some wirsing we had in the fridge.

Served up with a nice bottle of French bubbly. Mmmmmmmmmm!

Gołąbki

Gropius and I tried our hand at making Gołąbki this weekend and I think they turned out well. We used a recipe I found over at Martha Stewart's website. Given her maiden name was Kostyra, I figured Martha probably knows whereof she speaks!



My red pepper flakes ended up in the cat's water bowl recently (hmmmm.....wonder how that happened?), so I substituted crush Thai chili peppers instead. The tomato sauce was spicy and delicious!



Needless to say, there were NO leftovers. :)

Dido would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas

Flash + pissed off cat = scary, scary pictures!



I think she's plotting her revenge in this one...?

Kokosbollar

This past weekend, I also tried a new chocolate-coconut-oatmeal truffle recipe from Saveur magazine's spread on Swedish holiday baking. They were called "kokosbollar" and were super easy to make. DELICIOUS! Gropius and I have been fighting over them all week long and even Lulu really likes them.



I think if I were preparing an open house or a tea, that I would definitely have to have a plate of these along with the Hungarian chestnut potato dumplings (chocolate chestnut truffles made to look like potatoes). The kokosbollar have just a little salt and strong espresso (and surprisingly little sugar) that melds together beautifully.

Badische Schupfnudeln

Gropius and I tried out a new German potato recipe to great success! I read that this particular preparation is popular to eat with fried foods (like schnitzel) and I can definitely see how it would be popular bar food (sort of the German equivalent to chili cheese fries). See for yourself:




It's basically gnocchi dough that's been rolled into little logs and pan fried in butter. We had to do ours in batches, so the cooked ones rested in the warm oven. Our chicken was grilled (not fried), but they were a good side dish nonetheless!

Turkey Trot and my Revenge

Run to Feed the Hungry 5K, post-race:


My revenge later that evening:

Israeli Couscous

So, we've been experimenting of late with Israeli couscous in my house. It's a great, quick grain to throw in with Lulu's veggies for a lunch to take to daycare or for a quick weeknight dinner. I think they're just small enough that they don't function very well as finger food, but the shape is fun!

Gropius found a recipe on epicurious that he's been wanting to try: Toasted Israeli Couscous with Pine Nuts and Parsley. So we grilled up some chicken on the grill with a little Moroccan spices (ras al hanout) and quickly boiled some carrots to create a really tasty meal:



Then, I had to have a little fun with all the orange in the photo for this one:



Next up, maybe Israeli Couscous with Squash and Parsley Butter?