A Jeanne in the Kitchen

As I mentioned yesterday, our trees our so beautiful right now. They are proudly displaying all their colors. I will keep sharing them with your for as long as I can.

Whenever I cook and prepare a meal, I always do my best to balance the meals out. I am old school, and follow the dietary pyramid. There is always a protein source, starches, and lots of veggies. There are many different versions of this dietary pyramid, but this is the one I feel is one of the healthiest and most balanced. Choose whatever one works best for you. I also do my best to pair the veggies and the starches with the protein or the “theme” I am showcasing with each meal.

When I served my Bavarian Goulash, which originally came from Hungary and then worked its way to Germany and other European nations, A Time for Bavarian Goulash, I also searched to find a good German vegetable dish as well. I came up with the green bean and walnut salad. As predicted, it was a good pairing and everyone raved about the meal. Since the goulash is a heavy, hearty plate, I wanted something a little lighter to go with it. Green beans were a perfect choice. I served mine on a bed of lettuce, only because I have a lot of lettuce to get through, and salad weather is quickly coming to a close here in my neck of the woods. I don’t think I would serve it over lettuce next time though. The lettuce distracted things a bit. I also did not have enough green beans. Live and learn though, right?!

Green Bean and Walnut Salad

1 1/2 lbs trimmed green beans

1/2 cup walnuts, toasted

4-5 slices of bacon, cooked and diced

1 TBSP garlic

2 TBSP olive oil

3 TBSP apple cider vinegar

salt & pepper to taste

Cook the green beans in boiling water for about 5 minutes or until they become slightly tender. Then drain and and wash in cold water and set aside.

Toast or roast the walnuts. You can roast them in the oven at 350* F or 180* C for about 7 minutes or until they are golden, or you can toast them in a dry skillet on top of the stove until they turn golden. I prefer the stove top method, but there is no wrong or right way to do this. Again, use whatever way you are comfortable with.

Dice the bacon and cook to your liking.

Once everything is cooked, combine the olive oil, apple cider vinegar, walnuts, bacon and salt and pepper together and mix well. Spoon them over the green beans and serve immediately, while everything is still warm.

This is a quick, easy, colorful and delicious way to make sure you get your veggies. This salad will go with just about anything as well. I promise you’re going to love it, but then anything with bacon will always be a winner.

Stay safe and stay well Everyone. ‘Til next time.

Since I love the beautiful colors of fall, I have been taking a lot of pictures of the trees proudly displaying their fall colors. I will be sharing them with you for as long as I have pictures, before the season ends and goes into winter. Winter has its own beauties and charms, as do all the seasons. But fall is my absolute favorite season of them all.

The trees are on fire. I love these big bold reds.

I am still trying to come up with ways of using the big box of tomatoes Janet and Bob gave to me. Fresh Tomatoes Most of them have already been used and deliciously so. One of my creative ways of cooking with them was to make a Bavarian Goulash. It was a cool, crisp night, and it was just perfect for a hearty goulash stew too.

Goulash is a hearty stew that had humble beginnings from the Hungarian hunters. It was a type of a hunter’s stew, made with whatever meat was available. Goulash is a soup of meat and vegetables seasoned with paprika and other spices. Originating in Hungary, goulash is a common meal predominantly eaten in Central Europe but also in other parts of Europe as well. It is one of the national dishes of Hungary and a symbol of the country. Its origin traces back to the 9th century to stews eaten by Hungarian shepherds. As people traveled and migrated all across Europe, different foods and spices were introduced and were thrown into the stew as well. One of those spices was the use of dried and smoked peppers that is famously known as paprika. Paprika is the defining spice used in all Hungarian cooking. Sometimes it is sweet and sometimes it is smoky, and sometimes it is a combination of both.

In the 1830’s, as the popularity of this hunters’ stew was growing among the elites, but it was thought to be to crude for ladies. That soon changed though, and it started replacing sauerkraut at the German tables and was eaten by all.

Goulash is rarely eaten by itself. It is almost always served with noodles or dumplings or mashed or boiled potatoes. I love to serve it over mashed potatoes. I have made it many times before, but it has been awhile. It was time to make it again. Bavarian Goulash I also served it with a German green bean and walnut salad, some rolls (using more of my leftover bierock dough Baking Bierocks) and a hearty red zinfandel on the side. The meal was inspired by some of my German cookbooks and a German husband.

Everything was wunderbar and delicious or alles war lecker.

Stay safe and stay well Everyone. ‘Til next time.

How could I resist all these beautiful colors. They were just calling out to me, and better yet, this is what I get to look at everyday. This was taken from my back deck. I just love Fall and better yet.

While we were strolling the streets of Arvada for the Scarecrow Festival The Scarecrow Festival in Downtown Arvada, Julia suggested we tour around through the Flour Mill. This held a special place in Julia’s heart, since her grandfather worked in a flour mill.

The mill was located right on the rail tracks, as most of them were in the days before trucks.

Once we walked inside, it was like walking back in time. We all remembered using a lot of these products. How old does that make us sound now????? YIKES!

Arvada was the first place where gold was found “in them thar hills” of Colorado, back in June of 1850. People started migrating to the west in droves, with visions of gold. The real way to make money was not in the gold mining itself, but was through becoming a local merchant or farming the land and selling to the miners instead.

The land of Arvada was rich and fertile and was perfect for agriculture. Being centrally located between Denver and the mountains it was a perfect location for the farmers because they drew people from both areas.

It was so fun to hear Julia explain how things worked and listening to her fond memories of her grandfather.

Outside the mill, we got to do a little panning for gold ourselves, but all we found was “fool’s gold” or pyrite.

We even hopped onto the tractors and pretended like we knew what we were doing. Julia is the only one who actually grew up on a farm, so she was right at home.

It was fun to step back in time and go back to a more simple life, even if only briefly.

Everything can be fun. You just have to let the fun come in. Enjoy your day nd make the most of it. May all your days have some fun in them. Stay safe and stay well Everyone. ‘Til next time.

I have been super busy lately. As usual, I have many things going at once. I love being busy like this, but sometimes, I get backed up and get a bit overwhelmed. A couple of weeks ago, we got together with Julia and Bruce. I told you we dined at Lady Nomada’s Lunch at Lady Nomada’s, and I hinted about the Scarecrow Festival, but I never gave you any more details. And now, I will. Better late than never, right?!

The Scarecrow Festival was a fun outdoor marketplace for people to gather and to display their goods for sale. Ironically, though we walked all around, we did not really see much of the festival itself, although at the very end of the festival, there was a beautiful scarf that not only caught my eye, but also caught my credit card. The scarf was just meant to be. I really hadn’t even looked at any of the stalls, but they were closing up, and as I was walking by, the scarf just blew out to me and was calling my name. I just had to buy it.

We saw the pumpkins,

and the streets displaying their fun colors.

The street stoppers were crayons of different colors too.

We ventured out to the car show, where we saw a lot of really cool cars and people dressed up in fun costumes, while listening to the band.

This man completely matched his car, down to his “sleeves” of tattoos. He even had a little mini version of his car on top of his car.

This man was abducted by aliens.

I’ve heard of good witches and bad witches before, but this was my first encounter with the “cat witch”.

Even the electrical boxes and planters were dressed up.

One of our last stops was the Rheinlander German Bakery, where both Bruce and Larry had to stop for some delicious pastries. The Rheinlander has been in business since 1912.

The bakery was all dressed up for the occasion too.

We even visited the Arvada Flour Mill for a little history of Arvada. That will be a separate post though.

We had a great day, just meandering through the streets and taking it all in. It was a beautiful day to be outside and to celebrate it with good friends. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

I taught another cooking class. This time I was with Noah’s younger brothers, Micha and Asher. Another Cooking Class. This was the first time I was teaching and working with the boys. They both had so much fun. Big Brother Noah had to come in and check out all the goodies they made, and of course, he was more than willing to sample them too.

My two new junior chefs in the making, Micah and Asher.

The first thing we made were some mini pizzas. We did some simple easy-peasy, after school snacks this time. We made the pizzas with English muffins, marinara sauce, mozzarella cheese and pepperoni.

Once the boys loaded their pizzas up the way they liked them, into the oven they went, for about 15 minutes, or until the cheese was thoroughly melted and everything was hot.

They look pretty proud of their pizza creations.

As the pizzas were cooking, we made some “spiders on a string” and some “ants on a log”.

The spiders on a string were simply black olives and thinly sliced strips of string cheese. You can use any kind of olives, as long as they are pitted and have large enough holes to slide the cheese through.

Typically, “ants on a log” are made with celery, peanut butter and raisins, but we used cream cheese instead of peanut butter this time. We had some regular cream cheese and some strawberry cream cheese and two kinds of raisins.

Micha and Asher both did a great job and had a lot of fun in the process. And of course, they were sampling throughout the production phase, as they should. 🙂 Here are their final masterpieces. These are also fun things to do for a Halloween party too.

Who knows what we’ll make next time? You’ll just have to stay tuned to find out. 🙂

Once I was done with Micah and Asher, I went downstairs to cook with Noah. This time he made spaghetti and homemade meatballs. Yet another big success. We had a little incident however. We blew a fuse because we were using the hot plate, the microwave and the George Forman grill all at once. Fortunately, most everything was already made once that happened. OOPS!

***When I am working with kids, I ALWAYS ask for the parents’ permission if it is OK for me to share their photos. If they say no, NO pictures will be shared.***

I just love Fall. I love the bright, beautiful colors. I love the cool crisp air. I love that it is time for doing a lot of baking. And it also means the holidays aren’t far away. Here are some colorful reasons of why I love this beautiful season.

This is my big tree in my front yard. I am looking at it right now, as I write. I get to look at this beautiful tree every time I am up in my office. I absolutely love this big beautiful tree of ours.

We all need more color in our world. Enjoy the beauty of all the colors and color your world beautiful.

Larry’s mom, Ollie, is the Queen of Bierocks. She has made many, many 1000’s of them over the years and still continues to bake them today, even at 92. Needless to say, she doesn’t make nearly as many as she used to though. Ollie has decided since she can’t make them en mass like before, it is now time to start sharing the recipe. Before we were all sworn to secrecy. Video #8 – Baking With Ollie, Bierocks and Soup She taught all of us wanted to learn, how to make them quite a few years ago. Bierocks are German meat pockets, also known as runzas or kraut burgers.

I am taking some classes with the church for the next few weeks, and in one class, we have been serving dinner, since we meet from 6:30-8:30 PM once a week. It was my turn to provide the meal this week, and I chose a good German, and a good Ollie meal. The menu was Bierocks, chicken noodle soup, a simple green salad, and some raspberry crumbles for dessert (those I bought). Everything was a huge hit.

I meant to take pictures of everything once it was all set up, but as soon as people started arriving, they also started eating, so no more pictures. I did get a picture of the raspberry crumbles before leaving though.

I made the filling first. You can make this ahead if needed.

Bierock Filling

2 1/2 – 3 lbs ground beef

1/2 head green cabbage, chopped fine

1 onion, chopped fine

1 heaping TBSP garlic

3/4 cup flour

1 cup beef broth

salt & pepper to taste

Combine everything together except the flour and beef broth and cook in a large pot with vegetable oil until the cabbage and onions are softened and the meat is done. Add the beef broth and flour to the mixture, combine well and continue to cook for about 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Set aside until you are ready to use it.

Bierock Dough

12 cups flour + extra for the surface to roll the dough in

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup salt

1/3 cup yeast

2-3 TBSP melted butter + 2-3 TBSP extra to brush on top

5 cups water

2 eggs for the dough + more for the egg wash

I have used both mixer and have made it all by hand. In all honesty, I actually prefer making it by hand, since my big mixer struggles a bit with this much dough all at once. Combine everything together in a big bowl and mix everything together well. Once all the ingredients are thoroughly combined, start kneading the dough on a lightly floured surface to form a big dough ball.

Cover the dough and let rise in a warm area for about 20 minutes. Divide the dough in half. While working with one half, cover the other half and set aside.

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

Lightly flour the working surface again and the dough out to about 1/4 inch in thickness. Cut the dough into round circles. You can cut them any size you like, but they have to be large enough and strong enough to hold the meat filling.

Before, when I made these, I often had to much dough for the amount of meat I used. So I found that once I cut the circles, I rolled them out again to make them thinner. That worked much better. Once I got my dough to the right consistency, I filled them with about 1/3 cup of the meat filling and wrapped them to make a pocket or purse. Bring all the edges in towards the middles and pinch tight to seal the dough. Then shape the dough balls into round circles and pat and shape as you are rolling the dough balls.

Once all the pockets are filled, brush them with an egg wash thoroughly before putting them in the oven to bake. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until they are golden brown. As soon as the bierocks come out of the oven, brush them with the melted butter and serve.

Ollie, my mother-in-law, has always served them with soup on the side. I did too. These are great little beef pockets that will travel very well. They are best when served hot. I had enough meat to make about 28 bierocks.

I ended up only using 1/2 the dough, so I have more for later. Ollie always spoiled Larry and his siblings by making cinnamon rolls and sausage rolls with the rest of her dough. I was thinking about making cinnamon rolls, but we are having guests over for dinner tomorrow, so I am going to make something different with my dough, and i will share it with you at another time. For Ollie, this is her basic dough that she uses for everything. It is a very versatile soft dough.

Enjoy or Viel SpaB. Stay safe and stay well Everyone. ‘Til next time.