Gratuitous Catch-up Food Post

This post will cover all of the new and exciting recipes I have tackled since April. Wow. I am bad at updating. Let's start in the past and work our way to the present...

I got married (June 5th)! We made our own cake! It is a German beesting cake


Sourdough rye breads (James Beard recipe)


Buttery sourdough paprika rolls


Braised short ribs, our first meal to cook together as a married couple!


Roasted veggies


Spaghetti squash with homemade marinara and quinoa sticks


Pork chops and roasted poblano soup


Peach chicken with veggies and mashed cauliflower/sweet potato/red potato


Mushroom, garlic, salmon, cream cheese, asparagus quiche with standard crust


Mushroom, garlic, salmon, cream cheese, asparagus quiche with hashbrown crust

Food and Swaps

I am catching up on blog posts, so bear with me. This will be a quick one.

I made this tote for the Sew Sew Modern 6 swap.


This is what I'm tentatively working on for the Mug Rug Revival swap.


This is the Valentine's Day Feast I made for my fiance, mom, and cousin: Crown rack of lamb with roasted veggies.


I also made this from an episode (Frontier Fiesta) of the Pioneer Woman show: Tequila lime chicken, refried black beans, and cheesy rice casserole. We loved the chicken and black beans, but the rice was slightly boring. I would rather just make my great grandma's Mexican rice.

Syrniki Recipe

I love cooking! I love Postcrossing! I love having breakfast for dinner! I especially love when these two hobbies and one passion collide, as they recently did with the making of this delectable Postcrossing-inspired, breakfast for dinner extravaganza: Syrniki.

It all started when I received a gorgeous recipe postcard from Belarus. For those of you who might not be geographically inclined, let me begin by giving you a teensy bit of background information about The Republic of Belarus, which can be found here:

Belarus declared their independence from the Soviet Union in 1990, and now is home to roughly 9.5 million people. The capitol is Minsk (where more than 1/5 of the population lives). Perhaps one of my favorite Belarusian tidbits is that they have insanely gorgeous stamps! Every time I receive a Postcrossing postcard from Belarus, I am blown away by the stamps! Their wildlife collection is far-and-away my favorite.

Oh, yes, I was talking about a specific postcard before my propensity to go off on geographical and philatelic tangents took over. This postcard, to be exact:

Ain't she a beaut? 

The pictured syrniki, or Belarusian cheese pancakes looked delicious, so Anjo and I decided to try making them (after perusing the interwebs for other syrniki recipes to make sure the postcard recipe was comparable. I'm on to you, cake recipe card I purchased in France!). 

They turned out as delicious as we could have imagined. These are not going to feel like your typical breakfasty pancakes. They are much more dense, quite filling, and oh-so-tasty! Naturally I would expect this given that the average winter temperature in Minsk, (the capitol, in case you forgot) is 20.46 F degrees (or -6.41C). In that kind of weather, you need hearty food! ...Said the Texas gal who lives where it has not even dipped below freezing this winter. 

After making the recipe twice, Anjo and I have filled in the gaps that were in the postcard version. I hope you enjoy these as much as we did! Spoiler alert for your tastebuds: Anjo said these are officially his favorite pancake. 

Syrniki

• 2 eggs
• 500 grams of cottage cheese
• 1 Tbsp. baking powder
• 4-6 Tbsp. sugar
• scant 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1.5 cups flour
• oil for cooking (I used vegetable, the card suggests sunflower)

1) Crack 2 eggs in a bowl.

2) Add 500 grams of cottage cheese and mix. It will stay lumpy. I tried to measure it out in cups, but a scale really worked best.

3) Add 1.5 cups of flour, a scant 1/2 teaspoon of salt (I just don't have a 1/3 tsp. scoop!) and 1 tablespoon of baking powder, and mix. I found varying info about how much a "packet" of baking powder contains, but this amount seemed to give the pancakes a wonderful texture, so I'm sticking with it.

4) Add 4-6 tablespoons of sugar and mix. The postcard called for 6-7 tablespoons, so we tried 6 the first time and it was too sweet for us. Four tablespoons made for a nice and savory pancake. Basically, add how much sugar your heart tells you to... Provided it is somewhere around the 4-6 range.

5) Heat a splash of oil in a pan. Add batter to the now heated, and oiled pan. A 1/3 cup measuring scoop works well at keeping the pancake sizes even.

6) Cook the pancakes covered for about 5 minutes, over medium low.

7) They should look about like this when they are ready to flip. 

8) Carefully flip them. Cook on the second side for about 3 minutes. If they are too brown or too pale after flipping, adjust either your heat or the length of time on each side. Not all stovetops work exactly the same.

9) Transfer to a paper towel lined plate/tray and dab some of the grease off. Or just eat them greasy. This is a judgment-free grease dabbing zone. Apologies for the gratuitous engagement ring shot! 

10) Enjoy! The postcard suggests topping the pancakes with sour cream, but syrup would also work if you are trying to convince these pancakes to be more like other pancakes. Personally I feel they are fine without any topping, but a nice serving of fruit and a slice of bacon definitely rounds out the plate. Eat them hot or put them in the fridge and microwave them later. If they get too soggy after microwaving, pop them in the toaster oven for a bit to crisp them up. 

Busy

I have been busy: Busy teaching, busy sewing, busy cooking, busy bunny wrangling, busy getting engaged, busy traveling (went to Germany for Oktoberfest with my boyfriend fiance), busy writing my first pattern! Eeeeeeeek!!! So many exciting things!

This is the quilt I'm writing a pattern for. I'm hoping to have it for sale online in the next week. It is all paper pieced, which gives you the really sharp tree points.

I have been working on a quilt that requires lots of tiny stars.

Most are Lemoyne stars, one is paper pieced.

I finished making all the blocks for the quilt I started planning over here.

And I picked a layout for them and have them stitched into rows,

I picked more fabric for my Sew Sew Modern swap.

As for cooking, here are some rolls from scratch filled with elk sausage and onions sauteed in beer.

Then we have cous cous with Brussels sprouts.

And a bunny who was very sad that I was cooking the Brussels sprouts and not just feeding them to her. She was so mad that she went to eat my plants.

She also discovered the window in the back door!

Broccoli Cheese Soup Recipe

I love broccoli cheese soup! Luckily it is so simple to make. I like to joke that it is easier to make broccoli cheese soup from scratch than it is to fight an electric can opener in order to open a can of it.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
• 1-2 onions, diced (I usually use 1 but accidentally bought 2 once and it was extra tasty!)
• 4-6 cloves of garlic, minced (you can use more if you love garlic or if your city is plagued with mosquitos)
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 cups of milk
• 2 cups of broth (veggie, chicken, or beef)
• 2 cups half-and-half
• 1/4 tsp. nutmeg
• 4 heads of broccoli, chopped
• salt and pepper
• 3 cups grated, extra-sharp cheddar

Directions

Peel and mince your garlic.

Also dice up your onions. I have swim goggles that I wear when chopping onions. They work really well! No more tears!

Wash your broccoli heads.

Chop those up, as well. I like bigger pieces of broccoli and I also use a majority of the stems (just not the big central stalk).

Now we are done with prep-work and can start cooking! Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onions and garlic to this. Cook until they are starting to brown just a tad (3-4 minutes), and add the flour. It will thicken quickly! So quickly that I couldn't stir and get a picture. *sigh*

Stir that for about a minute, and then add your milk, broth, and half-and-half. I used beef broth. More specifically, I used 2 cups of water and one of the gelatinous broth blobs that Knorr makes.

Once it is all mixed up, add in your nutmeg and keep mixing.

Then add in the broccoli, salt, and pepper. I always hate recipes that don't tell you how much salt and pepper to use, but I was getting sick when I made this, so my amounts were probably insane. When in doubt, use too little, and add more to each serving individually.

Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer, stirring the soup up every 5 minutes or so.

Once the broccoli is tender, which can take 20-30 minutes, remove the soup from the heat and add in the grated cheddar and mix until it all melts in.

Then you have lots of options. You can serve the soup in bowls...

Or you could whip up some bread bowls and serve the soup in that. Recipe for bread bowls can be found over here.

Or you can freeze it up for later. It microwaves well, so putting leftovers in the refrigerator also works well.