Oven Roasted Parmesan and Paprika Potatoes

So, tonight we are having corned beef. Let's go into a little story, which may be funny to some of you, but shows how God blesses us in small ways that we over look so many times during our daily routines. I saw a recipe for corned beef Soup on Pinterest a few weeks ago, so naturally when I went to the supermarket I went looking for it. I couldn't find it anywhere...I guess St. Patty's day wasn't close enough yet. I was a little sad, but got over it and moved on with a small sigh. My family knows that I can eat a whole pound of corned beef myself. I love it for some very strange reason. Growing up, I wasn't ever crazy about it; In fact, I think I hated going to Grandma's house when she was going to serve it. Then one year, I guess my taste buds just finally woke up and realized what they were missing! Anyway, so my cousin by marriage came from across the big US-of-A and brought us some goods, in which was such a huge blessing to our family. One in which was the corned beef! I was more excited about that then the huge box of potatoes that will save us a hunk of money on grocery bill this next month or two. In our household the following are stables in the cabinets and fridge: Onions, Carrots, Peppers, cucumbers, CABBAGE, POTATOES, mushrooms, dill and parsley and tomatoes. I feel like I am always running to the store for one or more of them even though I literally just bought them. God blessed us so much this week and I am so incredibly grateful!

Okay, enough of the story about the Corned Beef and moving on to the recipe:

GATHER:

6-7 medium potatoes (Use Redskin and leave skin on or Russet & peel and wash)

ice cold water

1 Tsp salt

3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

3 Tbsp Parmesan cheese (Freshly grated or Kraft kind)

1 Tsp Kosher salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/2 Tsp garlic powder

1 tsp paprika

TO DO:

1. Wash and peel your potatoes (unless your leaving skin on)

2. Place a potato on the cutting board and cut it lengthwise to get three slices.

3. Cut each slice into three strips, they should all be about the same height and width.

4. Place strips into a large bowl and fill up with ice water and 1 tsp salt. Place in fridge for 20 minutes-1 hour. Martha Stewart claims "The secret to awesome oven fries is pre-soaking them in salted water, which makes the potatoes release a bunch of their moisture before cooking. This ensures they will crisp up without having to risk burning them."

5. Dump out water and lay on a towel; pat dry. Clean bowl and wipe dry. Place potatoes back into the bowl.

6. Combine all the ingredients for the rub, except potatoes, water and salt, in a small bowl.

7. Pour mixture over the potatoes and mix until evenly coated.

8. Place potatoes on a well greased (you can use PAM) aluminum pan and bake for 40 minutes at 400 degrees F. Turn potatoes over and bake another 15-20 minutes.

9. Serve warm with mayo, ketchup or whatever you fancy =)

ENJOY!!

Apfelkuchen mit Streuseln

German Apple Cake with Streusel 

I grew up with amazing German grandparents that lived a 5 minute car-ride from our house. When I finally got old enough to ride my bike across the highway and to their place, we moved. Well, its not THAT sad...we moved 5 miles away onto a very tiny farm. There are many, many great meals that we have shared over the years at my Grandparents house (bei meine Oma und Opa hause)

 

I always asked my Oma for recipes, some in which she was delighted to share and others she refused. My favorite apple cake, she really won't share! That's okay though, I always appreciate going over to her house and having this special treat. Now that I am a married woman, I decided to attempt finding a recipe that would match my grandmothers cake. I came up with the idea to look at pictures on google images to see what one looked moist, beautiful and delicious. Sadly, there weren't any that made my mouth water, until I came across Greenderella.com. Her recipe is all in metric system, so I had to go out and perchase a scale. She also used soy milk, wheat flour, and corn starch. I decided to modify it to my own liking and this is the recipe that I have come up with. I have done 5 trial runs, in which 4 came out amazing. What happened with one of these trials you may ask? Well, I got a little to confident in making this gorgeous cake and didn't put a toothpick in the center to see if it was done after the suggested 40 minutes that Greenderella.com states it takes to bake, so the cake was a wet mess in the center. Thank Heaven's we did not have guests coming over. I was heartbroken and learned my lesson!

Enough chatter, here is the recipe!

GATHER:

Batter:

1 stick of butter, softened slightly

2/3 cups white sugar

1 packet vanilla sugar (Dr. Oetker....withouth this don't attempt cake)

2 eggs

pinch o' salt

4 drops of lemon aroma (or fresh lemon juice)

2 cups flour

1/2 cup of cornstarch (I sometimes just use extra 1/2 cup flour if I don't have cornstarch)

2 tsp baking powder

4 tbsp milk

3 medium apples, sliced thin and kept together to fan out on top of batter

Struesel:

1 cup flour

1/2 cup white or brown sugar (I have done both, I prefer with brown though)

1 packet vanilla sugar (Dr. Oetker)

1 stick of butter, softened

TO DO:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Cream butter, sugar and vanilla sugar.

(Quick picture to show you what to look for in supermarket. I got mine at Russian market, I have seen it at German markets and Spanish markets that carry European things as well.)

3. Add in eggs, one at a time.

4. Add salt, lemon aroma, flour, baking powder and cornstarch. The batter will be quite thick and dry.

5. Add milk.

6. Cut your apples, keeping them together to fan out over the batter.

7. Grease a 10 inch spring form pan, smooth the batter onto the bottom so it is even. It will not be a thick layer, don't worry once all the layers are put together you'll be happy its not.

8. Fan out your apples over the batter.

9. Make struesel: Combine flour, sugar, vanilla sugar together in a small bowl. Cut up the butter into small pieces and add to mixture. 

10. Combine with your hands so you have a coarse crumble.

10. Top the apples with the struesel.

11. Bake for 1 hour, check with a tooth pick and continue to bake until done. (Mine took almost 1 and 1/2 hours but it is worth it.

Mashed Potato Croquettes

Last night we had Polish kielbasi with onions and peppers for dinner and mashed potatoes to go with. The mashed potatoes got left out and smelled kinda funky in the morning. I know they didn't go bad but they wouldn't taste the greatest if we just heated them up in the microwave. I had the idea to make my mom's potato pancakes for dinner this week, but really don't feel like grating a bunch of potatoes and onions. So, I thought I would take the liberty to just make 'mashed potato pancakes'. Well, obviously there will be a little different technique to make them because you cannot just throw them in a ton of oil or else they will get all mushy and weird.  How do I know this? Well, I tried to make these when I worked at a quaint little bistro for a year and the mashed potato pancakes turned out miserable when I attempted to basically deep fry these puppies. This time, I decided to just use my handy-dandy non-stick pan and a small amount of veggie oil. Here is the recipe...These are delicate tasting and seem like little pillows that melt in your mouth! I really think these are better than just regular mashed potatoes. Of coarse there are way more carbs, but whatever! Enjoy!

Gather:

6 cups of mashed potatoes, chilled (that already have butter, milk, sour cream, salt and pepper)

1/2 cup of Kraft Parmesan cheese

2 eggs

6 Tbsp flour + 4 Tbsp to coat before frying

2 green onions, chopped

handful of chopped parsley.

Vegetable oil or Canola oil for frying

Steps:

1. In a large bowl, combine the chilled mashed potatoes, Parmesan cheese, eggs, 6 Tbsp of flour, chopped green onions and parsley.

2. Using your hands (if you have latex gloves you can put them on to protect your manicure!) mix all the ingredients together until even and smooth. (I had a few lumps in mine and worked out fine)

3. In a small bowl add 4 Tbsp of flour and season with salt and pepper (I used Jane's Crazy Mixed Up Salt from SR)

4. Using a wooden spoon, scoop out some of the mixture and place in your palm. Flatten them out to make a nice circle. Place them on a baking sheet.

5. Now, one by one, coat them with flour and place into a pre-heated, oiled, non-stick pan.

6. Cook on medium heat until both side are golden brown. In between each batch you will need to add more oil. Just remember, it is a non-stick pan so you only need about a Tbsp of oil each time.

7. Serve warm with sour cream. Note: You can make these ahead, and put them back on the baking sheet and warm them up for 10 minutes on 350 when the rest of your meal is finished!

Oatmeal Pancakes

Since Saturday I have been wanting pancakes!! I think this idea may be linked to me cleaning out the fridge and finding syrup hiding in the back while also buying Bisquick this past week. We were almost out of milk and I feel bad that my husband doesn't have any of his favorite cereals in the house, so I thought I would try to make pancakes. I knew I wouldn't be mentally able to get up early enough in the morning to make him pancakes so if I made just regular ones they most likely wouldn't taste good the next day. So, I thought of trying this out. I love oatmeal sooooo much that I used to eat it EVERY single week day for over a year. I finally grew sick of it! (same goes for strawberry Nutrigrain bars.) These pancakes will be a little dense so you can make them the night before and just pop them in the micro for like 30 seconds then put on some maple syrup and they taste just like they came out of the pan! I think the dense texture prevents them from getting all soggy and weird! 

Please try the recipe and let me know what you all think!

Liebe,

TyLeigh<3 

1 cup Bisquick

1 cup of quick cook oats

1/2 tsp vanilla

3/4 cup of buttermilk

1 egg

1. Mix Bisqucik and oats together in a medium bowl

2. Add vanilla, egg and buttermilk. ( I made 1 cup butter milk by adding 1 Tbsp. vinegar and then filling the milk up to the 1 cup line) 

3. Once smooth, heat a medium skillet with a Tbsp. of butter and tsp of olive oil.

4. When butter begins to bubble, using a 1/4 cup scoop out the batter into circles onto the hot skillet.

5. Once bubbles begin to show on the tops of the pancakes, flip them over and cook for around 2-3 minutes or until brown.

6. Turn your heat down so the butter left in the empty skillet does not burn. If the skillet looks dry, add more butter and/or oil and repeat with the rest of the batter.

7. Eat warm with syrup or top with strawberries, blueberries or bananas! 

(Please ignore the horrible paint job on my fingernails. I don't paint my nails until the end of the night when I am done all my kitchen and household duties...they just get chipped anyway!)