A Jeanne in the Kitchen

When we were in Hays, KS, the German capital of Kansas, we ate nothing but German-style foods the whole time we were there, especially since Larry and his family are all German. http://Nature Walks – A Walking Tour Of hays – Part 1 – the Early Days of Hays Once we got home, I guess we were still in a German frame of mind, because I was still cooking German-style foods. My friend Janet had made some red cabbage with apples or Rotkobl und Apfel, and she ended up making too much, so she gave us some. She had just made a German-style dinner herself, so I just had to continue with that theme. I cooked a German-style cubed steak with mushrooms, onions and bacon, along with some roasted potatoes to go with the red cabbage and served it all with a delicious, light red malbec.

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German-Style Cubed Steak with Mushrooms, Onions and Bacon

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1 1/2-2 lbs cubed stead

2-3 TBSP flour

salt & pepper to taste

1/2 onion, diced medium

1 cup mushrooms, sliced

4-5 pieces bacon

1 TBSP garlic

1/2 cup dry white wine

1 cup chicken broth

2 TBSP olive oil

3 TBSP butter

Mix the salt, pepper and flour together and coat the cubed steak. In a hot skillet with the olive oil and some of the butter, cook the cubed steak until it is browned and crusted on both sides, about 5-7 minutes per side.

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Cook the bacon in a separate pan until it is cooked. Remove the bacon and add the onions, garlic and mushrooms and cook in the bacon grease for about 5 minutes. Add the wine and cook down for about 1-2 minutes, then add the chicken stock. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and continue to cook for about 7-10 minutes, stirring occasionally. If you like a thicker sauce, add some of the remaining flour to the mixture. Adjust the seasonings as needed. Add in the rest of the butter and combine well.

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Mix everything together thoroughly, then re-add the bacon and mix in.

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When the sauce is complete, serve it over your cubed steak, along with your favorite German sidedishes. Potatoes of any kind are always a good pairing with any kind of German foods. Potatoes have been a staple in German cooking since the mid 18th century, when many other grain crops failed in Germany, and potatoes were one of the few crops that would grow. Today, potatoes are used in every kind of German food and meal, and are prepared in countless ways.

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Enjoy, or as they would say in German, gutes Essen, especially with a glass or two of red wine.

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

I’m in the money now!!! WHOOOOOOO HOOOOOO!!!!! I just received my first paycheck as a blogger! It took me quite a while, but I finally did it! It’s not much, but it’s a start. We’ve all got to start somewhere right?!

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Now! Let’s do that again!!!!!!

Our weather forecasters here in Colorado have definitely been in for a wild ride lately. Last week, and all through Labor Day weekend, the temeperatures were soaring in the high 90’s. Then the day after Labor Day – BOOM! Winter hit and we had snow. We literally had over a 60* temperature drop in less than 48 hours. We went from salad weather to soup weather overnight. Now all the snow is once again melted and it is supposed to get back into the 70’s today.

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With our short, early burst of winter, I made a ham, bean and vegetable soup to help warm us up from the inside out. I used some leftover ham I had, lots of vegetables and butter beans. I served it with hot cheese bread and and a dry white wine and all was good.

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Ham, Vegetable and Butter Bean Soup

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1 1/2-2 lbs cooked ham, cubed

1 onion, medium dice

2 jalapeno peppers, diced fine

1 1/2-2 TBSP garlic

1 1/2 lbs tomatoes, diced

4 cups spinach, stems removed and chopped

1 1/2 cups diced squash, I mixed mine

8 cups chicken broth

2 cans butter beans, or cannellini beans, or other white beans of your choice

salt & pepper to taste

1 TBSP cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

2 tsp cumin

olive oil for cooking

Cook the peppers, squash, onions and garlic in the olive oil for about 5-7 minutes. Add the ham and the chicken broth. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer.

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Add the tomatoes, beans and seasonings. Continue to cook for about 15 minutes. Then add the spinach. Continue to cook for about another 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

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The soup is now ready to enjoy. It is a simple, hearty, healthy soup that will help take the chill out of any day.

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

We had yet another successful cooking class with Jeanne & The Kids. This time Emma and Beckett had their friend Sophia join us too. Last time, we made some fun, healthy snacks http://Teaching My First Cooking Class and Emma and Beckett had mentioned they really like pesto and wanted to learn how to make it, but because of nut allergies, we had to come up with a good alternative to pesto. Chimichurri sauce is the Argentine cousin to the Italian pesto. So class today was learning how to make chimichurri sauce, that we used for both the steak and as a dipping sauce, just like how it is done in Argentina. http://Steak Chimichurri We also made some vegetable kebabs to go with the steak chimichurri.

We started by cutting our vegetables and marinating them in some Italian dressing. We used zucchini, yellow crookneck, onions, and red and green bell peppers. Once we had all the vegetables cut and were marinating, we focused on making the chimichurri sauce.

Chopping the parsley. I showed them how to do it both with a knife and in the food processor.

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Emma is adding the balsamic vinegar to the sauce. She is carefully measuring it out and adding it to the mix. Sophia is helping by adding the olive oil.

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Once the chimichurri sauce was made, and the steaks were marinating, I let the kids dip some bread into the sauce and enjoy it Argentine style. At first they were a little surprised by the vinegary taste, but it was a pleasant surprise that was thoroughly enjoyed by all.

When the steak was done, we put it in the refrigerator for Mom and Dad to cook up later. Now it was time to skewer the vegetables.

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Mom and Dad loved that the kids cooked dinner for them AND cleaned up the kitchen too. It was a double treat for them. “They made our dinner for tonight. Homemade chimichurri sauce for the steak and veggie kebobs. It was delicious and the best part was the kids did all the work.”

Ta Da!!!!!! Dinner is served.

We sent some vegetable skewers and chimichurri sauce home with Sophia too, so she could share it with her family as well.

All three of the kids did such a great job. We had a lot of fun, made a lot of messes that we all cleaned up afterwards, and hopefully, we all learned something new as well. I’d say we have some very happy and excited junior chefs.

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*** I did NOT show any pictures of Sophia because I have not yet been given permission to share her photos by her parents. But rest assured, Sophia was a big help too and she also had a great time in the kitchen. ***

This is the flyer we are putting out there for anyone who is interested in cooking classes. Mine is not saved as a jpeg, so I copied this picture from Toni. A little bit of the top got cut off, but our real flyers have all the information on them.

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I am not sure who is having more fun with these cooking classes. Is it me or is it the kids? Either way, we are all having a great time and cooking up a storm. I love to share my culinary skills with anyone who wants to learn, and Emma and Beckett love to learn. 🙂

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

Part 1 of my walking tour of Hays was about the wild west and the history of Hays. http://Nature Walks – A Walking Tour of Hays – Part I Part 2 features the general everyday life in Hays. Hays, KS is middle America to the core. It is a small mid-western town in North Central Kansas, which is dead smack in the middle of the country. The main industries in Hays and the surrounding areas are farming and agriculture, oil and Fort Hays College. Life in general is pretty quiet and pretty simple, and often times a bit quirky.

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Many of the streets are still paved in brick. A lot of the buildings and homes are made of limestone.

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There were so many pretty, colorful flowers in bloom.

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People seem to enjoy life and enjoy living life a little differently than others and most definitely living life on their own terms.

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Even the squirrels seem happy and carefree. This big red-tailed squirrel was having so much fun just posing for me. He made sure I got him at all his best angles.

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Life is short. Enjoy the ride, no matter where it takes you.

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

The reason for our recent trip to Hays,KS was to visit with Larry’s family and to see his mom. As much as we try to get her NOT to cook for us, it doesn’t happen. She is always cooking and baking, especially her bierocks, which she is famous for. She is known all over the Hays area as “The Bierock Lady”. She has been baking them for decades, and has perfected the recipe like no other. She has passed the recipe down to all of us, but ours never seem to turn out quite like hers. Maybe it’s because I have only been making them for a few years vs her making them for a lifetime. As Ollie herself says, it takes a lot of practice. http://a taste of germany

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Ollie starts out with one basic soft dough that she turns into 4 different recipes. She turns that one dough into her bierocks, her Polish sausage wraps, and her cinnamon rolls and cinnamon twists. People have been lining up to get her baked goods for years, and even though she has “retired” people are still begging her to make them for special occasions.

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The ingredients.

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Ollie’s Basic Soft Dough

about 4 lbs flour

1/3 cup yeast

3/4 cup dry milk

1/2 cup sugar

1 TBSP salt

4 cups warm water

2 sticks melted butter

2 eggs

3 TBSP vegetable oil

Ollie cooks a lot like I do, and how a lot of us who have been cooking for a long time do. We don’t really measure things out too much. We cook by feel and by sight. So like me, and all the rest of us cooks, Ollie measures by “about this much and about that much” rather than actual measured amounts.

In a big stand alone mixer, mix everything together, except the vegetable oil, at a medium speed using the dough hook, for about 10 minutes. Once the dough is mixed together, add the vegetable oil around the edges of the dough and fold in. Once the oil is incorporated into the dough, you can use it however you like by rolling it out on a lightly floured surface.

Since Ollie’s baking is legendary, it is also a family affair. All of her kids, her grand kids, and now some of the great grand kids have been helping Ollie out in the kitchen, even if only to “paint” the butter or eggwash onto the bierocks and cinnamon rolls or twists.

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Ollie at home in her kitchen with her cinnamon rolls.

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Larry is the youngest of 9 kids, and he remembers always “painting the bierocks” while growing up. He still paints them even now.

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And now the video we’ve all been waiting for. This used to be a top secret recipe and has only been allowed to go public just recently. We are all honored that Ollie has finally decided to go public with this valued family treasure.

I hope you all enjoyed this rare treat to get a chance to bake with Ollie. This is a video first.

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

Everyone has heard of the Wild West. Hays, KS was the “birthplace” of it all, in 1867, shortly after the end of the Civil War. Hays was originally called Fort Fletcher, and the name was then changed to Fort Hays in 1867, after the town was created. It was the end of railway line at that time. There were multiple saloons on every street, and there were multiple gunslingers and gun fights all around. It was the land of both “Wild Bill” Hickok and “Buffalo” Bill Cody, as well as “Calamity” Jane. Between August of 1867 and December of 1873, there were over 30 homicides in and around Hays. Hays City developed the reputation, which was well deserved, as one of the most violent towns on the Kansas Frontier.  Hays was the original Boot Hill, not Dodge City, as it is popularly believed. By the time Dodge City was founded, Hays was already a “flourishing” Wild West town. As we were walking back through time, and learning the wild history of Hays, I was thinking how just the other day someone had posted that the “wild west days” filled with saloons, dancing girls and gunslingers were “not really the way things happened or the way things really were”. Oh yes they were, and they happened right in Hays, KS too.

We were in Hays, KS over the weekend, visiting with Larry’s family. https://ajeanneinthekitchen.com/2020/09/08/blueberry-muffins-for-lexi/

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Aside from the gunslingers, both famous and those who wanted to be famous, Hays was settled by the Volga Germans who began arriving in Ellis County in the mid-1870’s. These frontier settlers were named so because prior to coming to the United States, they had settled along the Volga River in Russia. Coming from a harsh climate, the Volga Germans were able to adapt and thrive in their new home.  Even today, Hays is still the German capital of Kansas. These Volga Germans are Larry’s ancestors. His family are all Volga German.

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I hope you all enjoyed this brief history of Hays.

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

We were in Hays, KS over the Labor Day Weekend, visiting with Larry’s family. There was a lot of visiting and a couple of days of baking. I took my laptop in hopes of being able to post while we were gone, but I forgot my password, and didn’t really feel like changing it yet again, so I was unable to post anything. Besides, a little anticipation is a good thing, right?! 🙂

We took some of our perishables to Kansas with us so they would not go bad and we could share them with the family. One of things we took was the leftover blueberries I purchased for my cooking lesson. http://teaching my first cooking class . Our niece Lexi (niece-in-law) was real excited to get the blueberries and asked if I could show her how to make blueberry muffins. Of course I could help her with that. Definitely my pleasure. 🙂 Lexi found a simple recipe and soon blueberry muffins were in the works and in the oven.

Blueberry Muffins

2 1/2 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

3/4 cup sugar

1 cup blueberries, coated with flour

1 egg

1 cup milk

1/3 cup vegetable oil

Preheat the oven to 400* F

Spray the muffin pans with cooking spray.

Mix all the dry ingredients together and set aside.

Mix the egg, milk and vegetable oil together and set aside.

Gently coat the berries with flour. Coating the berries before adding them to the batter will help them from “bleeding” all through the batter and will help them keep their shape better too.

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Combine the egg mixture with the flour mixture and mix just until everything is thoroughly combined. Gently fold in the berries, so not to break them. Then fill your muffin pans to about 3/4 full.

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Bake the muffins for about 15-20 minutes, or until they are fluffy and golden brown. Remove them from the oven and let them cool on a cooling rack, or just eat them fresh out of the oven, while they are hot, like we did.

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Lexi and I made mini muffins and regular sized muffins. We had a good visit and enjoyed our muffins afterwards. It was a fun baking day. We are already looking forward to the next time time we can get together and bake together again.

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

Yesterday I taught my first kids cooking class. I am classing this new phase as “Jeanne & The Kids”. My special Sous Chefs for the day were Emma and Beckett. Their parents and I have all known each other for a long time, so it was very relaxed and fun for all of us. Today we learned how to make some yogurt and berry swirls and and some frozen chocolate banana bites. We all had a blast. We are already scheduled for more fun in the kitchen again next week. Both Emma and Beckett help their mommy cook so they already knew some of the basics.

I brought all the equipment for us to use and all the ingredients we needed, then I showed the kids how to make our recipes. The rest was up to their imaginations.

My basic tool box that I packed up to take with me. I am providing each household with a notebook that the kids can put all their recipes in as well, so they can go back and make them anytime they like.

Emma already knew how to use the measuring spoons and measuring cups. Then I had her read the recipes and instructions out to us. So I am not only teaching the kids how to cook, but I am also helping them with their reading and math skills as well.

These are the recipes we made. I started off with fun, simple recipes, with just a few basic ingredients. First, we made some frozen chocolate banana bites. We started with these so we could put them in the freezer while we made our yogurt and berry swirls.

Cutting the banana slices and adding the finishing touches.

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After the bananas were dipped in chocolate and the finishing touches were added, into the freezer they went. Now it was time to make our yogurt and berry swirls.

Mixing and mashing the berries and then adding them to the yogurt mixed with maple syrup. Beckett had been eating the chocolate we had leftover from the bananas and was quite proud of his chocolate mustache and goatee. I brought fresh raspberries, blackberries and blueberries and all kinds of toppings, like granola, banana chips, chocolate chips and mini M&M’s.

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The finished culinary masterpieces. Each one was a little different.

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These were easy and relatively healthy snacks that can be eaten and enjoyed anytime. They disappeared into some very happy tummies very quickly too. I think it took longer to make them than it did to eat them.

Once the yogurts were eaten and everything was all cleaned up, it was time to go. But we all had so much fun together, we are already planning on doing it again next week. I already have my menu items all planned out. And yes, I am actually wearing one of my old chef’s coats, back from the days when I had to wear them everyday. Beckett was proudly showing off his Spiderman apron too.

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*** I only show pictures of kids with their parents’ permission to do so. Toni and Shane, Emma and Beckett’s parents, and I have all known each other for a very long time and I was given permission to use their photos.***

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

My last post Leftovers Indian Style was a milestone post for “A Jeanne in the Kitchen”.  We just hit 1000 posts.  WHOOOOOO HOOOOOO!!!!!  And we’re just getting started!  This is possible because of all of you!  Thank you, thank you, thank you.

 

Stay tuned.  There is a lot more fun food stuff coming your way.