The many different cultures

Wow my family has surprised me with the cultures in which they have chosen and given me the recipes to make! Yes, Randy, Kimberlie,Coty and myself have all come up with different things for our dinner menu and the kids actually came up with what they want me to make!

Randy has chosen Cajun (awaiting his request for dinner)

Kimberlie has chosed Sweden and her meal is Sailors Steak and here is the recipe (will add pictures as I make for dinner the night of)
1 1/4 lb. boneless round steak, in 8 slices
1 1/4 lb. medium potatoes
2 medium onions
2 Tbsp butter
2 tsp salt
white pepper
1 1/4 - 2 c water or beer
1 bay leaf
1 sprig thyme
chopped parsley
Trim meat of any fat. Pound slices lightly to tenderize and flatten.
Peel and cut potatoes into thick slices.
In a large skillet, melt 1 Tbsp butter. Add onion, sauté until browned. Remove and set aside.
Add beef to skillet, and brown on both sides. Season with salt and white pepper to taste.
Add water or beer, bay leaf, and thyme. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer 10 minutes.
Preheat oven to 250°F. In a baking dish, layer potato slices, meat, and onion - begin and end with a layer of potatoes. Add liquid to the level of the top layer. Cover and bake 1 to 1 1/2 hours, until meat is tender.
Garnish with chopped parsley.

Coty's chosen culture is Colombia and he has chosen Colombian Tamales and here is his recipe:
3 chicken thighs, skin removed and cut in half lengthwise with equal portions of meat
6 pork ribs (spareribs)
3 bunches green onions (scallions)
6 garlic cloves
1 tablespoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons sazon goya (2 packets)
2 large tomatoes, chopped
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1/8 cup sugar
1/2 cup white vinegar
salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
3 cups masa harina, prepared with chicken broth instead of water and a little salt
2 large carrots, peeled and sliced
1/2 cup frozen green pea
2 large red potatoes, scrubbed and sliced into sticks like French fries
3 hard-boiled eggs, sliced
banana leaves, cut into 12 inch square pieces, rinsed in very hot tap water
kitchen string
aluminum foil
Prepare the marinade the night before you plan to make the tamales. Chop one bunch of green onions. Mince 2 garlic cloves. Combine, then add 1 teaspoon ground cumin and 1 packet of sazon. Rub mixture all over both chicken and ribs. Place meat in separate plastic baggies to marinate in the refrigerator overnight.
Next make the “hogao”, a kind of sofrito. Combine chopped tomatoes, 1 bunch of chopped green onions, 2 cloves minced garlic, 1 tsp ground cumin, 1/2 packet of sazon, 1/6 cup of chopped cilantro, olive oil and salt to taste in a skillet and saute until everything is soft and tender, kind of like a mush. Cool and refrigerate until ready to assemble tamales.
Now you can make the "pique" sauce. Combine 1 bunch chopped green onions, 3 cloves minced garlic, fresh lemon juice, remaining chopped cilantro, 1 teaspoon ground cumin, sugar, vinegar and salt to taste. Make this at least 2 hours before serving so favors to develop.
Prepare masa harina according to package directions except use chicken broth in place of water and salt to taste. This mixture should have flavor unlike an arepa which is more bland (my husband says the masa is the best part). It should be fairly most, but still stay together like a dough when pressed. If it is too wet you can still use it, it is just more messy.
Now the hardest part is assembling them. Place about 1/4 cup of dough in the center of a banana leaf and spread it out. Put one rib and one chicken thigh piece on top. Place about 3 slices of the carrots, 6 potato sticks and 3 slices egg on top of the meat. Sprinkle with peas. Spoon 3 tablespoons of the "hogao" (sofrito) over all, then top with another 1/2 cup of spread out masa. This does not have to be uniform or even neat.
Next pull up the sides of the banana leaf to form a packet. Tie with kitchen string, but do not let any of the filling seep out (I told you it was hard). If the leaves break just reinforce with extra banana leaves. Wrap packet in aluminum foil. Repeat 5 times.
They are now ready to steam. Use a large Dutch oven with a steamer insert so the tamales do not touch the water in the bottom of the Dutch oven. These need to cook about 3 hours. You probably will have to replenish the water during the cooking process. Stack the tamales all the way to the top in the steamer pot and turn up the heat to high. If your pot does not hold all of them, just refrigerate or freeze the rest until you can steam them later. When you hear the water boiling furiously, turn the heat down to medium.
Serve the tamales on a section of banana leaf. With the "pique" sauce on the side to be drizzled on bites of the tamale.
(I THINK HIS WILL BE THE HARDEST)

Mine is of course something from Germany and here is my recipe and let me tell you, this is very good!
Beef Rouladen
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
8 slices top round steak, (1/4 inch thick and about 2 pounds)
Salt and pepper to taste
8 bacon strips
1 large onion, cut into thin wedges
3 tablespoons canola oil
3 cups beef broth
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup water
Chopped fresh parsley, optional
Lightly spread mustard on each slice of steak; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place 1 bacon strip and a few onion wedges on each slice; roll up; secure with toothpicks.
In a large skillet, brown beef in oil until no longer pink; drain. Add broth; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 1-1/2 hours or until meat is tender.
Remove meat and keep warm. Combine flour and water until smooth; gradually stir into broth. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly until thickened and bubbly. Remove toothpicks. Return to gravy; heat through. Sprinkle with parsley if you want too!

Getting the kids involved!

Randy made a great dinner for us this evening and everyone enjoyed it. He made chicken stir fry with fresh veggies and his concoction and it was spledously delish! I love it when he makes it but I think Kimberlie enjoys it much more, she asks him quiet often to make it. He does an excellent job on it and it got me thinking ahead for next week's menu. I want the kids to be involved, I mean after all they are having dinner too. Here are our thoughts that we discussed at dinner. We will all choose a different culture each and we will visit that culture by making dinner from it. How great is that? We get to taste the different foods from 4 different cultures and Kim and Coty will choose what they want as will Randy and I! Im so excited about this wonderful idea that I can't wait to shop for the meals and to see what ideas the kids come up with! So exciting and I will of course post the menu on Sunday with all of our ideas and take pictures from each nights meal and maybe post some recipes too! Stay tuned and stay hungry!

Dinner Menu 11/2-11/5/09

Monday Night we are having my infamous spaghetti!

Tuesday Night we are being treated to Randy making us his chicken stir fry that is all fresh veggies and his own style

Wednesday Night we are having some home made cold cut sandwiches and macaroni salad

Thursday Night I am going to make home made salisbury steak and this is how to make it (if you do please let me know how you liked it, thanks)

1 lb (now this depends on your sz of fam) Ground Beef
1/2 cup Unseasoned Bread Crumbs
1/2 cup Milk
1 Egg White
1/4 (chop it finely) Onion
1 tsp Worctershire Sauce
1/4 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Pepper

Now in a bowl you will want to take the ground meat and mix with it all the other ingerdiants listed above and I do mean all of the ingrediants! Then you will want to shape into oval shaped patties and while doing so go ahead and heat a nonstick skillet over medium heat until hot. Spray it with cooking spray. Cook until brown on each side. Remove from heat and drain any excess grease off of them. I normally make my brown gravy and then after done with that go ahead and put the patties back into the skillet (now me and my OCD's I get a new skillet) and then pour the gravy in and let simmer for a bit!
I am serving this with mashed potatoes and green beans! Yummy :)

Fen For Yourself Night

Given the fact that my fridge has some GREAT left overs from the roast and the chili and etc I decided tonight would be fen for yourself night! My kids are old enough to decide what they would like and how to heat it up in the microwave!

Cookies...Did I hear someone say COOKIES???

So Im sitting here watching a movie with my daughter (home from school) and Ive got a sweet tooth coming on. Im thinking of all the different things I have in the pantry to whip something together! Im evisioning some cookies of sugar or some choc menthe chip cookies....oooohhh Randy loves it when I make the choc chip menthe cookies!!!

Here's what I do to make the sugar cookies (of course my way) but feel free to give some ideas because soon Im going to be posting my Thanksgiving tradition (mine and Randy's) menu!!

1/2 cup shortning "part butter"
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
2 2/3 cup flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup sour cream

Cooking Instructions: Preheat oven at 425. Mix shortning, sugar, egg and vanilla. Measure flour, blend dry ingredients and add creamed mix. Alternate with sour cream.

Roll out 1/4 inch. Use cookie cutters to cut out different shapes if you like or just simply spoon them out! Bake on greased sheet 8-10 minutes.

makes 4-5 dozen



More pictures to come as I bake!

Peppermint Recipe (For Shirley)

Alright Shirley I didn't realize you were wanting the recipe for my coffee or espresso or whatever you wanna call it! I love trying different things to spice up my addiction to coffee! Here's another one for you to try!

2 cups half-n-half
1/3 cup baking cocoa
1 ¼ cups cane juice crystals
Peppermint extract

In a small sauce pan combine half-n-half, baking cocoa and cane juice crystals. Heat on medium, stirring with a wire whisk until everything had blended well and the cane juice crystals have dissolved well. Remove from heat and add a few drops of peppermint extract (add as much or as little as desired).

Now of course don't forget the coffee that this is for!!! Much love Barbie

Baby its cold outside

And I think while I wait on dinner that is going to be made by Randy I will make myself a peppermint mocha latte! Home made of course!! Oh and the cup I will be drinking it out of will be candy cane of course!
What is he making for dinner? haha Cheeseburger Helper of course! Not my choice but hey, Im not cooking tonight but here's whats cooking tomorrow!

Home made Chilli

I take 3 cans of chili beans and I pour them into a huge stainless steel pot onto my stove
I take 2 cans of whole tomatoes and throw them in
I then take the cooked and seasoned browned meat that I drained and toss that in
(seasonings are garlic powder, onion powder and black pepper)
Then I toss in some tomato sauce (2 big cans) and 1 can of tomato paste
I take some GREAT chili powder (you can use whatever you wish) and I put in as much as it takes to season it with some kick to it! I then let it cook for awhile on low and just put off those aromas throughout my home! Delicious!

I also make some home made cornbread and dinner is served for a cold rainy day like we will be having tomorrow! A tall glass of milk and some jalapenos on the side make for a GREAT meal!

Voila!