A Jeanne in the Kitchen

Barley is a very old, lesser known grain (in the Unite States, though it has been in America since the 17th century), that has been around for about 8000-10,000 years. It was one of the first crops cultivated by man, believed to have originated in Egypt. Barley is eaten more in Europe, and specifically in Russia, than it is in the United States, where it was replaced by wheat in the 19th century. However it is still a staple in places where cold, high-altitude or harsh environments where wheat can not grow, such as Scandinavia and Russia.

I love barley but I forget about it a lot of times. Usually when I cook it I make beef barley soup, which is long over due by the way. 🙂 But I tried something different with it this time, and I really liked my new creation a lot. This time I used my barley to make a warmed barley and mushroom salad.

Barley and Mushroom Salad

8 oz barley

1 lb mushrooms, sliced

1 shallot, diced fine

1-1/2 cups broccoli florets

1 TBSP garlic

1/2 bell pepper, any color, diced fine

salt & pepper to taste

1/2 cup Peruvian peppers, optional

olive oil

1-2 TBSP balsamic vinegar glaze or lemon balsamic vinegar

Cook the barley according to the package directions.

Get a skillet very hot and add the oil, then saute the peppers, shallots, garlic, mushrooms, broccoli and salt & pepper for about 5-7 minutes, or until they are tender and the shallots are translucent. If you are using Peruvian peppers, add them right at the end of the cooking process, just long enough for them to heat up.

When the barley is cooked, add it to the vegetable mixture and mix thoroughly.

My balsamic glaze wasn’t cooperating, so instead I just drizzled a little lemon balsamic vinegar over the top of barley mixture once it was all tossed together. Since when am I ever bothered by little trivial things like “not having” what the recipe calls for, or things not working properly? I improvise; all the time. That’s just what I do. 🙂 🙂 🙂

You can eat this delicious salad as is, as a vegetarian/vegan option and it will still be delicious and healthy. Or you can add chicken to it. I added chicken to mine and made it more of a main meal rather than a side dish. I also added a bit more lemon balsamic vinegar on top of the chicken, to give it more flavor.

Recipes are only guidelines. If you don’t have all the ingredients, or if you like some things but not others, change them. Adapt them to what you have and what you like. Play with your food. It’s OK. Be creative. 🙂

Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

All of my fall birds and water fowls are just beginning to come in for the season. They are still testing out the waters, so to speak, so right now there are just a few coming in at a time. There was one Northern Shoveler who was just having a grand time, without a care in the world, and she wasn’t phased in the least by my presence. So I enjoyed the opportunity to just snap away. I know this is a lady shoveler because of her coloring. The males are a lot more colorful and vibrant.

Shovelers get their name because of their spoon-like beak that allows them to “shovel” in their food.

Every season has its beauty and every season has its visitors. I enjoy them all.

I LOVE cookies. Cookies are my downfall. I could easily eat a whole batch of cookies and think nothing of it. I also love pumpkin, and it is most definitely pumpkin season. So …. I combined these two loves of mine, and made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. YUM!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

I added the chocolate chips as an after thought, and I am so glad I did too. They just came together with the addition of the chocolate chips. They would have been very good without the chocolate chips, but they came out GREAT with the chocolate chips.

Preheat the oven to 350* F or 180* C.

2 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup or 2 sticks softened butter

1 1/4 cups sugar

1 egg

1/2 cup pumpkin puree

1 tsp vanilla

1 bag chocolate chips

Cinnamon Sugar

1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

Combine the 1/4 cup of sugar and cinnamon together and set aside.

Mix all the dry ingredients together and set aside.

Beat the butter and sugar together, then add the egg and vanilla, and mix again. Add the pumpkin and mix thoroughly. Add the flour mixture half at a time, mixing in between each addition.

When the dough is made, fold in the chocolate chips.

Get about 1 TBPS of dough and roll into a ball, then roll into the prepared cinnamon and sugar. I like to flatten my cookies before baking them. I prefer crunchier cookies to softer cookies, but this is just my preference.

Bake for about 10-12 minutes, or until the cookies are set and are done to your liking. Let them cool for about 5 minutes before removing them to a baking rack, then allow them to cool more.

These cookies are so good. They are just perfect for fall. I am hosting Thanksgiving again this year and am already starting my baking. Let’s see if these delicious pumpkin cookies make it until then. It will be a real and true test of my self discipline. 🙂

Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

I don’t know about you, but I am always insatiably curious; about everything. And I love to learn about history and bits of trivia. I also love to share what I learn. So here are some fun new things I just learned and decided to share with you as well. Enjoy. 🙂

1. Did you know it takes about 540 peanuts to make just one 12-oz jar of peanut butter?

2. We all like to think that one of our favorite snacks, French fries, are French. But they were really invented in Belgium in the late 1600’s. Thomas Jefferson introduced pommes de terre frites a cru en petites tranches, which essentially translates to “deep-fried potatoes in small cuttings to the United States”. Merci beaucoup!

3. Ketchup, that so often accompanies French fries, was first used as medicine. In the 1830s, tomato ketchup was sold as a medicine that could cure ailments like diarrhea, indigestion, and jaundice. The idea was initially proposed by Dr. John Cook Bennett, an American physician, in 1834, who later decided to sell the recipe in the form of ‘tomato pills’. Though ketchup doesn’t contain many vitamins or minerals, it’s rich in the powerful plant chemical lycopene. Lycopene is a carotenoid with antioxidant properties that may fight cancer, protect your heart and brain, and offers fertility support to men.

4. Carrots were originally purple, not orange. Originally, purple carrots were the norm, but there were some offshoots — yellow and white ones appeared in the wild. Over time, somehow, 17th century Dutch carrot growers managed to cultivate these yellow and white carrots into the orange ones we are familiar with today. Now we call purple carrots Beta Sweets, and they are are more the exception than the norm. Today we can get carrots in a variety of different colors.

5. American cheese is NOT American in origin, but is really from Switzerland. In the original recipe for what later became known as American cheese, the main ingredient was Swiss cheese, Emmentaler to be specific. It was back in 1911 when Walter Gerber and Fritz Stettler first developed processed cheese by heating shredded Emmentaler with sodium citrate.

So now you know. Don’t you all feel just a little bit smarter now? Who knew about all of these fun food facts? I know I didn’t, but now we do. 🙂

Have a great day and make everyday great. Try to learn something new everyday. It helps keep you young and on your toes. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

There’s a new goose in town. I can tell you what it’s not. It’s not our usual Canadian, nor is it a snow goose, a greater white-front goose, a Ross’s goose or a cackling. But I can’t tell you what it is either. It is not in my Colorado bird book, nor can I find it on-line. The best I am coming up with is that it is a hybrid, but even then, it is still a different goose from what I am seeing. I don’t know what it is, but it sure is pretty. I’m glad I got to see it. Today is the first time I’ve ever seen this new goose in our neck of the woods.

I am definitely never bored when walking around my lakes. I just never know who I am going to see or meet. Everyday is different. Today was a perfect example of this. 🙂

Coffee and cakes have always gone together, and have been a huge part of European and German traditions since the 17th century, when coffee was first introduced to Germany. The first coffee cake likely originated in Germany, specifically in Dresden, however, the Danish came up with the earliest version of eating a type of sweet bread while drinking coffee, so coffee cakes really evolved from many different cultural traditions. During the 17th century, coffee and cakes were only for the aristocracy, but by the 19th century, they had become a tradition for everyone. It is known as kaffee and kuchen, or coffee and cake. Even though the coffee cake itself does not contain any coffee, it is the time honored tradition of serving coffee with cake that gives coffee cake its name. It’s a time for people to gather together to enjoy coffee, cake, and conversation, happening any time between two and five o’clock. The only real defining trait of a coffee cake is that it is meant to be served alongside a cup of coffee. It’s a treat that asks nothing of you other than to slow down and enjoy a nice hot mug of coffee and a bite of something sweet, and it is best when enjoyed with friends and conversations.

Coffee cakes have been a part of American traditions since the Germans and Scandanavians first started immigrating to the United States.

In keeping with the German traditions, I made a German coffee cake for our German cooking class, with Janet, Bob and Luke. Our German Cooking Class. The recipe came straight out of one of my German cookbooks too. 🙂

German Coffee Cake

The cake part of this delicious treat is more like a dough than a batter. It is a thick batter that has the consistency of a soft dough. The filling is like the filling used for cinnamon rolls. The results – DELICIOUS or LECKER!

I read the recipe and re-read it again and again, but I couldn’t find the use of cream mentioned in it at all. So I’m guessing, that even though the recipe called for heavy whipping cream, it was only to serve with the cake as a topping afterwards.

Preheat the oven to 350* F or 180*C.

Spray with cooking spray and lightly flour an 8″ cake pan.

The Filling

2/3 cup brown sugar

1 1/3 cups pecan or walnut meal

1 tsp cinnamon

Mix everything together well and set aside until ready to use.

The Cake

1/2 lb or 2 sticks of softened butter

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 tsp vanilla or 1 tsp vanilla and 1 tsp pecan oil, optional

2 eggs

2 1/2 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

Beat the butter first until creamy, then add the sugar and beat again for about 1 minute. Add the eggs separately, beating in between each addition. Add the vanilla and/or the pecan oil and beat again.

Combine the flour and baking powder and mix well. Add 1/2 of the mixture at a time and mix in between each addition.

Spoon 1/2 of the dough into the prepared pan and pat it out with your hands to spread evenly in the pan. Then add 1/2 of the filling mixture on top and spread over the dough evenly. Then repeat until all the dough and the filling are used, ending with a streusel-like topping.

Bake for about an hour, or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the middle. Allow the cake to cool completely before removing it from the pan.

The cinnamon flavors really come out when this cake is served warm, so I like it best when heated slightly before serving, with or without the whipped cream. I found the cake to be delicious on its own, and didn’t really need any whipped cream with it. It was a big hit with everyone, and Luke, our resident German native, went back for seconds. 🙂

Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

Janet and Bob have another exchange student living with them. Luke is German, from Berlin, and will be staying with Janet and Bob until the end of the school year, in May or June. He has already had quite a few new adventures and experiences, with lots more to come.

Luke is enthusiastic about life in the United States. While Luke is learning about life in the United States, he is also teaching us about life in Germany. Last night we all did our part to make a truly authentic German meal, in honor of Luke. We made spatzle, a first for all of us, including Luke, and sausage with sauerkraut. I brought a German tomato, cucumber and onion salad, and a German coffee cake for dessert. Luke had a lot of fun laughing at all of us because we could not pronounce spatzle properly. It’s a mouthful for non-German speakers. 🙂

We got to Janet and Bob’s house about 5:00 PM. Janet already had the sauerkraut on the stove cooking, and Bob was busy cooking up the sausages.

Janet had all the ingredients and tools all ready and laid out for us to make the spatzle. The spatzle tools were a gift from Luke’s mom, from Germany.

Luke and I made the spatzle batter according to the recipe, then let it set for about 30 minutes before adding it to the salted boiling water.

We spooned small amounts of the batter into the spatzle sieve, then spread it over the holes until it all dropped into the water in the form of little dumplings.

The spatzle only took a few seconds to cook and was done when it started floating up to the top. Then we “spoodled” it out and let all the excess water drain off.

When all the spatzle was cooked we sauteed it in brown butter for a few seconds, just to coat it.

Some of the spatzle got tossed in with the sauerkraut and some stayed out to eat by itself.

Janet had beer and Bob and I enjoyed a delicious Malbec with our dinner. Luke and Larry took a pass on the libations.

And after a round of Farkle, it was time for dessert.

Janet and Bob are friends who are really family, and have been for many years. Luke is now part of the family as well. So it was a deliciously, fun-filled family evening, filled with good food and new experiences for us all. It was a family meal that we all took part in cooking and preparing. Larry was the photographer for the evening. As I have said many times, life is good, and we definitely live the good life. 🙂

As Wolfgang Puck would say, “Live, Love, Eat”. I couldn’t agree with him more. Have a great day and make everyday great. And it is always better with good friends and good food. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

At the 11th hour, of the 11th day, in the 11th month. World War I – known at the time as “The Great War” – officially ended when the Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28, 1919, in the Palace of Versailles outside the town of Versailles, France. However, fighting ceased seven months earlier when an armistice, or temporary cessation of hostilities, between the Allied nations and Germany went into effect on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. For that reason, November 11, 1918, is generally regarded as the end of “the war to end all wars.”

Thank you to all our Veterans who fought so bravely and defended our freedoms. All gave some, but many gave all. In America, we call this day Veterans Day. Veterans Day continues to be observed on November 11, regardless of what day of the week on which it falls. The restoration of the observance of Veterans Day to November 11 not only preserves the historical significance of the date, but helps focus attention on the important purpose of Veterans Day: A celebration to honor America’s veterans for their patriotism, love of country, and willingness to serve and sacrifice for the common good.

In other parts of the world these brave men and women are remembered as well. For example, Canada and Australia observe “Remembrance Day” on November 11, and Great Britain observes “Remembrance Day” on the Sunday nearest to November 11. There are similarities and differences between these countries’ Remembrance Day and America’s Veterans Day. Canada’s observance is actually quite similar to the U.S. celebration, in that the day is intended to honor all who served in Canada’s Armed Forces. However, unlike in the U.S., many Canadians wear red poppy flowers on November 11 in honor of their war dead. In Australia, Remembrance Day is very much like America’s Memorial Day, a day to honor that nation’s war dead.

My dad, an Aussie, fought in WWII for the Australian Army. When he emigrated to the United States, he still fought for freedom. He was in the Merchant Marines his whole life, and did military sealift commands for both the Korean War and the Vietnam War. Thank you Daddy and thank you Veterans.

We have been on a lamb kick since we’ve been home from Spain. Larry pulled lamb out of the freezer once again. He said he wanted it cooked in some kind of an Indian way, but other than that, he was open to let me do my thing. And that I did too. I made it into an Indian curry dish with spinach. I love all kinds of curry. I don’t cook them with the Western mindset about curries. I cook curries in the traditional ways they are meant to be cooked, from all the curry countries of the world. Curries, like any other dish vary from region to region and dish to dish.

I made Indian lamb with spinach or palak gosht or saag gosht, from the Punjab or Pakistan region. The Punjab region is known as the home of earthy foods, since it is a lush area where all kinds of good foods are grown, such as wheat, rice, corn, mustard, tomatoes and all other kinds of delicious vegetables. Palak Gosht is a meat dish made with spinach and lamb or mutton. Palak Gosht means spinach mutton, and is a delicious blending of tender succulent pieces of mutton cooked in spinach gravy mixed with freshly ground spices. Saag is a Hindu word meaning spinach. So the dish is either palak gosht or saag gosht depending on whether you are Punjab or Pakistani or Hindu.

The Western idea of curry is something totally different than what a traditional Indian curry really is. Most of the Western world views a curry as a particular flavor of a dish, but in reality, a curry is any dish that is made with a “gravy” or sauce, using many different flavors and spices and cooking techniques to make the sauce. The sauce or the “gravy” in a curry is to soak up the rice and or potatoes that are usually served with curried dishes. Traditional Indian curries have a complexity of tastes and textures, using a wide range of spices and heats. Some are sweet, some are full of heat, some are sour and some are pungent but mixed together, they all blend into a perfect taste sensation. Each spice is used in relative proportion with the other ingredients used in the specific dishes.

Indian Lamb with Spinach

I added pan-fried potatoes to my dish as well. The original recipe does not add potatoes, but I like the added richness and textures they bring to the dish. I should have also served it over rice, but we just rice so I didn’t want to serve rice and rice again. My mistake. But the dish was still delish! I served it with some of our leftover Mediterranean croquettes Vegan Gluten – Free Mediterranean Croquettes, which was a perfect side dish and a smooth, velvety red blend on the side.

You can puree the garlic and ginger if you like, but I prefer to not puree them. I like the texture and the rustic appeal of keeping them whole or in pieces rather than smooth.

1 1/2-2 lbs of lamb, cubed

1-1 1/2 TBSP garlic

1-1 1/2 TBSP ginger

2 jalapenos, seeded and diced fine

3/4 cup plain yogurt

1 tsp cumin

7 oz fresh spinach, stems removed

2 cups baby potatoes

1-2 bay leaves

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp cardamom

1 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1 onion, diced

2 tomatoes, diced

1 TBSP tomato paste

1 1/2 cups boiling water

1/2 tsp nutmeg

salt to taste

fresh cilantro

olive oil for cooking

Cut the lamb in cubes and marinate it with the yogurt, garlic, jalapenos, and ginger for a minimum of an hour before cooking.

When you are ready to start cooking, get a large skillet very hot and add the oil, bay leaves, cinnamon, cloves and cardamom. Cook for about 1-2 minutes, or until the spices become very aromatic.

Add the onions, and reduce the heat to a medium heat. Cook for about 10-15 minutes, or until the onions are completely softened.

While the onions are cooking, blanch the spinach in boiling hot water for about 10 seconds, then drain and puree, or chop into a fine chop.

Add the cumin, then add the lamb and yogurt mixture and combine thoroughly.

Add about 1 1/2 cups of boiling water to the mixture and let the mixture cook for about 3-5 minutes, then add the tomatoes and tomato paste and salt to taste, stirring constantly. I used yellow heirloom tomatoes, thinking the colors would stand out and pop, but no. They just blended into the rest of the dish. No color pops this time. But I still LOVE the taste of heirloom tomatoes, and I use them as much as I can when they are in season.

Cover and simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the pureed spinach and about half of the cilantro towards the end of the cooking process, and mix in thoroughly.

I added baby potatoes too. I really like the added flavors and texture they brought to the dish. I washed the potatoes thoroughly first, then cut them in half and boiled them for about 10 minutes, with about 1 TBSP of white vinegar added to the water. The vinegar helps them to crisp up. After boiling them I pan-fried them in hot canola oil for about 20 or so minutes, flipping them over at about the half-way point, to finish cooking. The outsides were crispy and the insides were very tender and velvety.

When the potatoes and lamb were done, I combined them together. I till should have served it over rice, but as I mentioned above, I was trying to avoid rice two nights in a row. Next time, I will do the same thing, but will definitely serve it over rice as well. Once I serve it, I added more of the chopped cilantro on top.

This was a warm and cozy dish that was perfect for a cool, crisp fall evening. 🙂

Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

The Holidays are quickly approaching. There is always so much to do. Decorating, cooking, parties, and gifts.

When it comes to gifts, my absolute favorite gifts are the gifts from the heart. I love to give them and I love to receive them. This year I am getting creative. I am making a lot of my gifts this year. I am also still trying out a way of selling some of my prints and photos. So I thought what better way to get my name and photos out there than to start giving some as gifts.

Some lucky few, at least I hope they feel the same as I do, will be receiving a few homemade gift packages from me this year.

I have more goodies in the works as well. I have lots, and lots of homemade goodies I am currently working on.

I know it is early, and this will be the first of many times still yet to come, but I am going to wish you all Happy Holidays, from my home and heart to yours.