German Cooking

I don't know how "German" this dish really is, but it was made by our German foreign exchange student, so I'm going to call it German. Nils has surprised me with his wonderful cooking skills - he made me some eggs with red onions and feta cheese.


I don't really have any more information on this dish, but I just had to show it off :)

Bavarian Pretzel Rolls

I found this recipe from a new blog I've been reading called A Year in the Kitchen. I've printed several recipes from Ashlee's blog (thanks, Ashlee!), but this is the first one I've tried. Mike loves the pretzel rolls from the Yalaha Bakery, so I thought I'd try my hand at making them myself. It took a bit of work, but I really enjoyed the process. It was a great way to stretch myself! And they were SO good!

I used the dough hooks on my stand mixer, and after a rising I rolled it up and cut it into pieces.

After another rising, they were ready to be boiled.

You have to add baking soda to the water to make it very bubbly. The boiling process cooks the rolls on the outside, giving them that pretzel look - browned on the outside and chewy on the inside. I guess the baking soda keeps them moving constantly?

Ready to go in the oven.

Oh man, they were SO good right out of the oven! I put some of them in the freezer for later, and the rest disappeared pretty quickly. They make great sandwiches!

German-Style Lentil Soup

Today I made dinner for the first time in a week. I feel like I should be making that confession while standing up at an AA-type meeting. I have never spent that amount of time out of the kitchen, but when a mystery illness knocks you on your back, what choice do ya have? I gotta tell ya, though, hearing Mike bang around in my kitchen and not getting up to supervise was quite possibly the hardest part of being sick.

Anyhoo, for my first meal since re-joining the living, I decided to try a new recipe: German-Style Lentil Soup. I've been wanting to give lentils a try - they're economical and healthy, both of which I'm always looking for. This recipe called my name because anything German is usually okay in Mike's book. It features two of his favorite ingredients - kielbasa and potatoes, so I figured a little bit of lentil in there wouldn't bother him.

I bought the ingredients right before I got sick, and my still-addled mind assumed that I still had all the ingredients. I was wrong. We had no onions, no celery, and not enough chicken broth...oh well! I didn't have enough energy to think of something else to make, so I gave it my best shot. I re-hydrated some dried onions, skipped the celery, watered down the broth, and hoped for the best.

Sorry for the sloppy picture! This meal still wasn't quite up to par - Mike had to pick up some bread on the way home, and for a side I just threw on some baby carrots and cherries. Usually I would, er, plan ahead (what a concept!) to make some homemade bread and cook a veggie, but that's okay, I'll start slow. All in all, the soup came out pretty good. I think next time I will try beef broth (not watered down!) Mike helped himself to seconds and asked if he could have the leftovers for lunch tomorrow, so I guess he enjoyed it! I enjoyed the good feeling I get from watching him eat a meal he likes....I didn't realize how much I missed that!