Schnitzel with Noodles

I realize it's been quite a while since I've made a post. Here's a little snapshot of our cooking adventures from about a week and a half ago. We initially intended to participate in a German-themed event, complete with authentic German food. To make a long story short, we weren't exactly thrilled with the changes in the menu for this year so we opted to prepare our own German dinner. As you can see by the picture of what is simmering away on the stove, we prepared schnitzel, spaetzle, and red cabbage. When all was said and done, the red cabbage was really the only thing we prepared from scratch, but the dinner was still pretty good.

You might be asking, just what are schnitzel and spaetzle? Good question. Here's a little background before I go on to describe how we prepared them.

Schnitzel, or "slice," of meat originated in Austria. Wiener schnitzel actually has nothing to do with the hot dog chain. "Wien" is the city that we, in America, refer to as Vienna. Traditional Wiener schnitzel is made from veal pounded flat and then coated in flour, egg, and bread crumbs before being fried. We weren't able to acquire any veal at our local grocery store, but we did find some pork that had already been prepared as schnitzel. As you can see from the picture below, the pounding and breading had already been done.

The schnitzel is then deep fried in about a quarter inch of cooking oil. 

So then, what is spaetzle? Glad you asked. Spaetzle is actually a German egg noodle. It is typically served with meat and gravy and is typical of the cuisine of southern Germany and Austria. While a number of different recipes for spaetzle are available, we typically just buy dry spaetzle and then boil it on the stove as we would any other type of pasta. This time, we also just made our gravy from a mix. 

As I mentioned above, we did make the red cabbage from scratch. You can find the recipe on an earlier post. Ours is prepared in the Danish style without the heavier spices that are typically part of the German red cabbage.

Here is everything all served up and ready to be enjoyed. Guten Appetit!

Brisket Pies

At least once a year, I find myself in the South visiting family. During these visits, I tend to find myself in a local grocery store. While at the grocery store, I like to go to the magazine aisle to peruse those magazines featuring Southern-style cooking. Among my favorites are Taste of the South and Southern Lady. 
This past August, I picked up the current issue of Southern Lady. I was initially drawn to the picture of the apple cream cheese cake on the cover. What actually sold me was a recipe for brisket pies. I knew that we were planning to smoke a brisket for an upcoming event so I was eager to give it a try.
Before we proceed with the recipe, here's a little extra information about brisket.

As you can see from the picture above, brisket is one of the key cuts of beef. Because cattle do not have collar bones, the muscles comprising the brisket support about 60% of the animal's weight - who knew? At any rate, this cut of meat contains a fair bit of connective tissue that needs to be tenderized during the cooking process. Marinating and then smoking the brisket is one way to accomplish this process and provides pretty amazing results. Let's just say our smoker has been well used through the years. 

So, let's get on with this recipe…
Given that we were making hand pies, this was a great way to use up some of the scraps of brisket. Because they are rather small, you only need about 3/4 pound of chopped brisket. 

Here is how we put ours together:
First we made the crust. Go with whatever piecrust recipe you like best. The one in the Betty Crocker cookbook is my go-to recipe. I used the amounts given for a 2-crust 10-inch pie. You will need to double the recipe provided below to have enough pastry for the amount of brisket that you will use. I found it easier to make one recipe-worth of pastry and then repeat so that it was easier to combine and manage the ingredients.

• 1 cup shortening, I like to chill mine in the freezer before using
• 2 2/3 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 7 to 8 tablespoons cold water.

Stir the flour and salt together. Cut the shortening into the flour and salt using a pastry cutter. Stir in the water a couple of tablespoons at a time until all of the flour is moistened and the pastry can be gathered into a ball. Take care not to over stir or the pastry will be too tough. 
Roll the pastry out in batches to about 1/4 inch thickness. Cut into 4.5-inch circles. Fortunately, we found a canister lid in the house that was exactly 4.5 inches in diameter and were able to use it for these pies. Feel free to use whatever works for you. We ended up with 16 circles. As you follow the pictures, you will be able to see how we laid them out on the baking sheets. A few years back, we found these handy-dandy silicone liners for the baking sheets. They are amazing.

Here are the ingredients for the filling:

• 2 teaspoons oil
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 3/4 pound chopped brisket
• 1 cup shredded smoked Cheddar cheese (if you can't find a smoked cheddar, a sharp Cheddar will also do nicely)

Heat the oil over medium heat and cook the onion until translucent. Stir in the brisket so that everything is warmed through.

Place a rounded tablespoon (yes, it really is enough) of the onion-brisket mixture onto each round. Be careful to leave enough space near the edges so that you can seal your pies.

Top with about 2 teaspoons of shredded Cheddar cheese. Are you getting hungry yet?

Fold the pastry over the filling and pinch the seams to seal. Brush the tops with a wash made of one egg and two teaspoons of water. Poke a few holes in the top of each pie with a fork.

Bake in a 375 degree oven for about 15-17 minutes or until golden brown. OK, some of these wouldn't make it on the British Baking Show, but they sure tasted good.

These hand pies also warm well as leftovers. We warmed them in a slow oven (250 to 300 degrees) to get the centers warm. We then heated them under the broiler for a few minutes to "re-crisp" the tops.

Hanging Out with a Sloth or Two

It's definitely been a while since I've written anything in this blog. I haven't had a lack of writing material. Rather, I've experienced a number of other demands on my time that have kept me from keeping up with the blog. Just the same, I've been rather eager to make a new post. For this one, I thought I would share a quilt that I completed a little earlier this year.
This name of this quilt is "Hanging Out" and you can download the pattern for free. I first saw this quilt on a Facebook post from one of my favorite quilt shops in Minnesota, Sewing Seeds Quilt Co. Their post indicated that they were making kits available for this particular quilt, and I jumped at the opportunity. Who wouldn't like the opportunity for a nap time quilt featuring sloths?
Before we get moving along with the description of this quilt, how about if we slow down (haha) and consider a few fun facts about sloths.

• Sloths live in tropical rainforests in Central and South America.
• Although they spend much of their lives hanging upside down in trees, sloths are actually fairly adept swimmers (who knew?)
• Sloth hair has grooves which support the growth of green algae which, in turn, helps provide camouflage against predators.
• Sloths are biologically related to armadillos and anteaters
• Costa Rica has a Sloth Institute that is dedicated to caring for injured and abandoned sloths and returning them to the wild.

One of the nice things about this quilt is that it featured a panel so I didn't have lots of piecing to do. As much as I do love traditional patchwork, having something easy to put together is fun, too. Here is the center of the panel featuring these cute sloths.

The back of this quilt features rainforest-type leaves. If you look closely, you can see that I selected a quilting pattern which I felt complemented the leaves.

Here is the final, completed quilt. As you can see, the quilt is built around a panel that included the center square and then the two sets of squares featuring individual sloths. All I had to do was sew the honeycomb-patterned side strips, an inner border featuring stripes, and then an outer border of rainforest leaves. It is the perfect size for an afternoon nap.

To be honest, I really don't have any deep, thoughtful reflections for closing this post. Over the past couple of months, I've found myself in a bit of a busy and mentally tiring season. These words from Paul to the Ephesian church in reminding us how we as believers ought to walk, provide a reminder of the need to renew our minds.

… be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth. Ephesians 4:23-24

Yet another salad for summer …

With the heat of summer upon us, the quest for side dish salads begins. If that salad is one that is sun safe, all the better. A few weeks ago, our daughter requested teriyaki burgers for dinner. We decided to look for a side dish with an Asian flair to go with it. We like edamame, and we like brown rice so this one seemed reasonable to try. 

Before we proceed to the recipe, here is a quick word about brown rice …

Brown rice is a whole grain rice. Like white rice, it has had the outer hull of the grain removed. Brown rice also retains the bran layer and cereal germ. Retaining the bran layer and cereal germ helps retain some of the B vitamins and iron in the rice kernel. Brown rice also has a nuttier texture than white rice and also provides a nice alternative in some dishes.

Brown rice kernels

Edamame and Brown Rice Salad

Ingredients:

1.5 cups uncooked brown rice

1.5 cups shelled edamame

1 diced red bell pepper

3 carrots, peeled and grated

2 or 3 thinly sliced onions

1 tablespoon lime juice

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar (can substitute cider vinegar)

2 teaspoons sesame oil

1 teaspoon sriracha sauce (optional)

Directions:

1. Prepare the rice per directions. Note that brown rice requires more water and a longer cooking time than white rice. 1.5 cups is the same as two scoops of rice measured with the cup that came with my rice cooker. I added a little more water than I typically would to cook two scoops of rice and let the cooker do its work. Allow to cool after cooking.

2. Cut up the pepper and onions, grate the carrots, and combine together in a large bowl. Stir in the edamame.

Here is a quick picture of the chopped pepper and onion

For the carrots, I used the baby cut carrots that I had on hand. I estimated what looked to be about 3 large carrots. I used the grater blade in my food processor to shred them.

Here is a picture of the edamame. In case you aren't familiar with edamame, these are immature soybeans. They are quite tasty, and I've written about them in a previous post.

3. Stir in the cooled rice

4. Prepare the dressing in a small bowl. Combine all of the ingredients together and then pour over the rice and vegetable mixture. Adjust seasonings as desired. As I noted above, cider vinegar can be substituted if you don't have any rice wine vinegar on hand. I looked up vinegar substitutions online, and this was the recommendation I received.

Here's a final picture depicting one of our grilled teriyaki burgers with a side of brown rice and edamame salad. We were quite pleased with the outcome.

Marking Occasions

This week, our youngest child will graduate from high school, bringing a chapter of our lives to a close. 2018 also marks 10 years since our oldest graduated from high school. For this post, I thought I would share a little about the quilt that marked this first of three high school graduations for our family.
To be perfectly honest, I don't think that this quilt was initially intended to be a graduation quilt. I had intended to make this quilt earlier in his high school career. At that time in my life, I was also pursuing my third degree while working full time. Spare time for sewing wasn't exactly in abundance. I also made this quilt while we were still living at our previous home. I didn't have dedicated sewing space so I needed to limit my endeavors to a table in a corner of the family room or even a small table in a back bedroom that more or less served as a storage room and study space for me.
In some ways, this quilt marks the occasion of my efforts in creating full size quilts. In previous years, I had tied a few quilts and sewn binding around quilted panels for baby quilts. This one gave me my first opportunity of piecing multiple blocks and then arranging them into a quilt. This quilt features a couple of classic quilt blocks - the 9-patch and the sawtooth star. As you can see from these pictures, in creating these blocks, I took a little liberty in combining different colors to create the blocks - particularly with the star blocks. 

This first quilt was also an occasion to develop my piecing skills, including making flying geese blocks. Unfortunately, I ended up with more chopped triangle points than I would have preferred - all part of this occasion of learning new piecing techniques.

Another occasion that I marked in creating this quilt was working with a professional quilter to determine the machine quilting design. When she asked me how I wanted it quilted, I think I just stood there a bit slack-jawed and said, "I don't know." The notion that I would have to decide on a design as well as the density of the quilting pattern had not occurred to me in the slightest. Fortunately, the quilter was understanding and helped me select a stippled pattern for the main portion of the quilt and then a looped pattern for the border. I was quite pleased with the outcome.

During the past 10 years, our family has marked many other occasions. These include three, soon to be four, additional graduations; a wedding; the birth of a grandchild; and the forthcoming arrival of a second. Before this year comes to a close we will be marking the occasions of sending one of our children to a new job in the Pacific Northwest, and moving our third to a college dorm. 

Through all of these occasions, God has been truly faithful. We have experienced His sovereign grace and sufficiency over and over. I will close this post with a reflection from the psalmist regarding the reason for marking occasions and numbering our days.

So teach us to number our days,

That we may present to You a heart of wisdom. 

Psalm 90:12

Nugget Noodles

The topic of this post actually dates back to the days when my boys were in their early elementary school years. As a young family, we didn't often have the time and energy for more elaborate cooking. There were certainly days when we were even known to rely on Hamburger Helper or LaChoy bi-packs for a quick dinner. It was during this time of our family's life, that this dish came into existence. If I remember right, I originally used fettuccini or linguini. Over time, we switched to radiatore, and it took on the name of "Nugget Noodles." To this day, my now young adult children will, on occasion, ask to have nugget noodles with kielbasa for dinner. Given that our youngest child is now on the brink of graduating from high school, I thought I might as well share this recipe from our family's earlier years with you.
As I mentioned above, we now most commonly use radiatore pasta. The most recent time we prepared this dinner, however, we also had some rotini on hand so we used a combination.
Rotini are a type of corkscrew pasta. I haven't been able to identify when this pasta type was invented, however, the name originates from a 17th century Italian word for "small wheels." Rotini supposedly originated in southern Italy with the goal of developing a pasta that would retain sauce better. 

Radiatore are said to resemble radiators and were allegedly developed between the First and Second World Wars. As with rotini, they were developed to better hold sauces. Finding radiatore can sometimes be hit or miss in our local grocery stores. If we do see some, we tend to buy a box or two to keep the pantry stocked.

So now, let's put this dinner together, here is a quick picture of what you will need:

Ingredients:
16 ounce box of pasta - preferably a type like radiatore or rotini that will hold sauce well.
16 ounce bag of frozen California style vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots). Feel free to substitute another preferred vegetable type.
16 ounce jar of prepared Alfredo sauce. Pick whatever style you like. We've used a traditional Alfredo, roasted garlic, mushroom, … you get the idea.

Directions:

• Prepare the pasta according to directions and drain
• Prepare the frozen vegetables so that they are warmed through and drain.
• Toss the pasta and vegetables together and stir in the sauce.
• Cook over low heat until warmed throughout.
• Grill a Kielbasa sausage and serve it with the pasta/vegetable mixture.
• Enjoy a dinner of nugget noodles

Penny (mats) for your thoughts

Although this is a post that I've been contemplating for a while, it's been one that I just haven't been able to sit down to put into writing. Given that we are now at the close of April, this will probably be a rather short post.
As I've shared in several previous posts, I enjoy wool appliqué projects, and I enjoy projects that I can easily tuck into a purse or tote bag to have on hand when I travel. For this month, I thought I would share a couple of small projects that I have complete - one more recently and one a while back. These little mats measure about 8.5 inches across and are "penny mats."
I've come to learn that penny mats aren't necessarily a receptacle for pennies. The name refers more to the size of wool pieces that were originally used to make these mats. According to several folk art-type sites, penny mats date back to about the time of the United States' Civil War. Resourceful homemakers would save even small wool scraps and then sew coin-size pieces together to make decorative mats for their homes. Here is an example of what some of these pieces might have looked like. The person creating the penny mat could stack pieces together and add some decorative stitching.

The pieces could then be sewn to a canvas or burlap back to create a decorative piece that could be used in the home. Here are examples of two different penny mats.

So, back to my two penny mats. Here are a couple of close up pictures. I've placed a few pennies on one of them in part so that you can get a sense of the scale of the wool pieces and in part to keep with the theme of penny mats and penny for your thoughts. Believe it or not, I really do enjoy working with these small pieces of wool, and projects like these are a great way to use leftover scraps from other projects.

Which brings us to the topic of thoughts …

The expression "penny for your thoughts" supposedly dates back to 1535 in England. A paraphrase of the original Old English is as follows, "…when people notice that someone appears disengaged and wish them to rejoin the conversation they ask, 'a penny for your thoughts.'"

Over the past few years, I've found myself contemplating the role of the mind more and more in relation to the Christian walk. So often we think about the role of the heart with an eye to love and compassion. At the same time, both the Old and New Testaments speak to the role of the mind. 

Paul's letter to the Philippians reminds us that God's peace guards our hearts and our minds. Peter tells us to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ - growing in knowledge certainly involves the use of the mind. David, in Psalm 1 describes the one who doesn't walk in the counsel of the wicked as one who delights in the law of the Lord and meditates in it day and night.

A verse that has become particularly intriguing to me is in Paul's second letter to the church at Corinth in which he speaks of "taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ." So then, just what does it mean to take thoughts captive? If we back up a few verses in 2 Corinthians 10, we find that Paul is reminding the church not to walk according to the flesh, that our weapons are not of the flesh, and that we are destroying speculations and lofty things raised up against the knowledge of God - seems somewhat reminiscent of Paul's reminder to the Ephesian church to take up the full armor of God and that their struggles were not against flesh and blood.

So then, how are we to take thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ? From a purely practical standpoint, I don't think Paul intends for us to think of nothing else during the course of the day - I do need to give attention to making sound decisions while on the road, decide what to fix for dinner, choosing an outfit for the day - you get the idea.

That being said, do we have occasion to keep thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ even in these situations? For example, what is my attitude towards the other drivers on the road, what is my attitude in serving my family, what are my motives in choosing what to wear? Where might I give the flesh an opportunity, even in these day-to-day situations?

Some other points to consider in keeping thoughts captive to obedience …

• How am I "feeding" my mind during the day - what am I allowing to distract me and consume my thoughts and time that keep me away from God and meditating on His word?
• What are my thoughts toward others with whom I disagree or become easily annoyed?

I certainly don't claim to have all of the answers here, and I am certainly on the journey here as well. I do desire that my thoughts be pleasing to God and that I continue to grow in the knowledge of Him.

We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.                   2 Corinthians 10:5