Switzerland

We traveled here to Germany almost 2 weeks ago. I don't really want to go into details about our trip, as it was long and traumatizing, but I do want to share some pictures we took in Switzerland. These pics were shot from our train window, so they are not the best, but they'll have to do... for now. I hope to spend some (relaxing) time in Switzerland in the future. Not this year though- we can't afford it after taking the train through 3 countries! :D

We took a train from the middle of Italy to Germany... actually 5 trains. The best part was going through Switzerland. It was so beautiful, green and clean there. Everywhere you looked, there was beauty.

Willkommen in Deutschland!

We are visiting Germany for a little while this summer. For my "Welcome to Germany" post, I really wanted to show you a big ol' plate of Rahmschnitzel with Spaetzle, or a grilled wurst of some kind, but both times we went out to eat here (and ate those things) I forgot my camera. Next time!

We have visited Germany once before; 2 years ago, and it's great to be back in the land of Blumen, Erdbeeren, Schnitzel, Spargel, Kartoffeln, Marzipan, and Joghurt. We really like it here!

We have done a lot since we got here, but one of the first things we did was go to a huge park full of roses, all different kinds. This park was very scenic, located by a beautiful river, with a lake inside, and there were probably hundreds of different kinds of roses. They love flowers here. They are everywhere, even on the grounds of swimming pools, and they are well-tended.

Germany is a very clean country. In some parks, dogs aren't even allowed to poop!

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When Eating Out in a Different Country.....

.....And you don't fully understand the language, be careful of what you order in restaurants! We went out to lunch today at a seaside cafe, and I ordered some random fish from the "Piexe" (fish) section. Or, what I thought was fish. It turned out to be baby octopus.... innocent, little, baby octopus. I was stunned when they brought it out, but didn't say anything because I felt like a dork for ordering something when I wasn't even sure of what it was. Then I remembered that I had seen the word for octopus (polvo) which is similar to the Spanish word pulpo. Oh well! Now I'll never forget the word for octopus!

After my husband bravely tried a bite, he said it was really good, like really tender grilled chicken. I ended up trying (and liking) it- it was tender, not rubbery at all, and it was grilled, so it had that nice flavor. It's not something I'll rush to eat again though, because just the idea of eating it is wierd to me.....

We also tried Caldo Verde, the famous Portuguese cabbage/sausage soup. It was good- but I want to try doing it at home.
On our way home, we saw some really cool hydrangeas. They are everywhere here right now, in all colors (blue, pink, yellow, white) but this area is the only place I'd seen them in colors this deep. (It's hard for my crappy camera to capture the deep beautiful colors of these flowers... they looked more brilliant in real life).

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Lower Sugar Strawberry Freezer Jam

With another batch of local strawberries, I made some freezer jam. I love freezer jam- it's so easy, and has a fresher flavor than cooked jams. I use the Sure-Jell brand of pectin; the one for reduced-sugar recipes. Here is the recipe I use, off the Kraft website.

Reduced- Sugar Strawberry Freezer Jam

4 cups prepared fruit (buy about 4 pt. fully ripe strawberries)
3 cups sugar, measured into separate bowl
1 box SURE.JELL For Less or No Sugar Needed Recipes Premium Fruit Pectin
1 cup water

1. RINSE clean plastic containers and lids with boiling water. Dry thoroughly.

2. CRUSH strawberries thoroughly, one layer at a time. (I just use my food processor- be careful not to over-process so there are still small chunks of fruit). Measure exactly 4 cups crushed strawberries into large bowl.

3. MIX sugar and pectin in large saucepan. Stir in water. Bring to boil on medium-high heat, stirring constantly. Boil and stir 1 minute. Remove from heat. Add strawberries; stir 1 minute or until well blended.

4. FILL all containers immediately to within 1/2 inch of tops. Wipe off top edges of containers; immediately cover with lids. Let stand at room temperature 24 hours. Jam is now ready to use. Store in refrigerator up to 3 weeks or freeze extra containers up to 1 year. Thaw in refrigerator before using.

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Omelette with Fresh Eggs

Last week, we went and visited our neighbors down the street (we brought cookies!). They own quite a bit of land and showed us around. They have a beautiful horse, and a goat, along with ducks, chickens, and a few random turkeys. The chickens produce some lovely organic eggs, and our neighbors were nice enough to share some with us. :D I was so excited when they gave them to me, they probably thought I was wierd! The yolks are a brilliant orange. They're beautiful, and they taste wonderful too.

A few days ago, I made an omelette using the eggs, and some local spicy cheese (called Queijo Vaquinha Picante). I added some chopped green onion and halved baby cherry tomatoes. The omelette was so rich and flavorful that I could only eat half- it would have been perfect to split with someone! (I had already made my husband his own). But it was really, really yummy, and the eggs made it a brilliant yellow color. We also had fresh-squeezed orange juice that morning. ;)

My Huge Omelette

3 eggs
splash of milk
salt and pepper, to taste
a few thin slices of your favorite cheese
snipped fresh green onions or chives
handful of baby cherry tomatoes, halved
cooking spray or butter

Heat a small skillet over medium heat with cooking spray or butter added. In a bowl, mix eggs, milk, salt and pepper. When pan is hot, add egg mixture. Add green onions to wet egg mixture. Let cook until set on bottom- add cheese and let melt. Fold omelette over on itself (in half) and cook until cheese is melted to your liking. Slide onto plate, and top with cherry tomatoes and a few extra green onion slices.

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Mom's Pie Crust and Strawberry Pie

Last week, we found some beautiful local strawberries for sale, so we bought a bunch. We just ate most of them, but I managed to make a strawberry pie with some of them.

I used my Mom's recipe for pie crust. This crust is super easy to make. What I like about it is that you don't have to worry about over-working it, or re-rolling it. You can do pretty much anything with it and it will still be flaky and tender. There is no need for a pastry cutter or food processor. I use my organic shortening in this recipe and it works out very well. I still need practise making my pie crusts look perfect, though! Mom's Pie Crust

1 cup vegetable shortening

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 cups all-purpose flour, stirred and measured

1/4 cup cold water

Measure shortening into bowl. Add salt and half of flour. Stir with a spoon until ingredients cream together and mixture is smooth and satiny. Add water and remaining flour. Stir with spoon until mixture clings together in ball. Roll out as desired on a generously floured board. Don't be afraid to handle or overmix. Makes 2 (9-inch) pastry shells or enough for 1 double pie.

To use this pie crust as a filled (pre-baked crust), roll out, place in pie pan, prick with a fork, and bake at 450 degrees for 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned.

*If desired, wrap in plastic wrap to freeze. I have frozen these (unbaked, in a ball) for 3 months, and then just thaw on the counter. It still rolls out very well and, after baking, tastes just like you made it fresh. I use the strawberry pie recipe from my Betty Crocker cookbook, which I believe is the same one my mom uses (or else it's really similar.) I reduce the sugar by half. Instead of cream cheese, I used mascarpone cheese for the bottom layer, but the flavor of mascarpone is so light and delicate that it got lost under the strong strawberry flavor. I'll stick with cream cheese next time.

Fresh Strawberry Pie

from Betty Crocker

1 baked pie shell (single crust)

1 1/2 quarts (6 cups) strawberries, hulled
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 cup water
1 package (3 oz) cream cheese, softened

1. In small bowl, mash enough strawberries to measure 1 cup. In 2-quart saucepan, mix sugar and cornstarch. Gradually stir in 1/2 cup water and mashed strawberries. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and boils. Boil and stir 1 minute; cool.

2. In medium bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth. Spread evenly in pie crust. Top with remaining strawberries. Pour cooked strawberry mixture over top. Refrigerate until set, about 3 hours. Store in refrigerator

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Date Night

Last night, my husband and I left the kids with some friends and headed out for a date. We drove to the city across the island, which is a very old and historic city. There is a lot to see there. We parked the car and set off on foot. One of the things I've been meaning to blog about is all of the old, crumbling, abandoned houses here. There was a huge earthquake in the early 80's on this island, destroying many of the houses and sending some Azoreans to live elsewhere (like in Canada and the US). Many of these old houses are still here, untouched for the last 20-some years. Portuguese law says that these old, historic houses must not be torn down. They are everywhere- in fact, there is one we can see from our house. Many of them have trees growing out of the windows and pigeons roosting in them. We saw a particularly interesting one last night. It was an old apartment complex with at least 3 different dwellings.

We headed to the city gardens for a nice walk through the trees and flowers.

After that, we headed back to a restaurant we had passed earlier. It was down a tiny side street and it looked nice inside. We read the menu posted on the door and decided to try it. I got the swordfish, and my husband decided to "try something new" and got "baby goatling". My swordfish was a little too fishy, and his goat was gamey. But the potatoes served with both dishes were good. I love the small, yellow, waxy potatoes local to this area. I've tried swordfish a few times since I moved here, trying to get some as good as the stuff I used to eat in Spain, but so far it hasn't really lived up to my expectations. And needless to say, my husband trying goat was a one-time deal! Nevertheless, the food made for some cool photos. **This post and photos are property of http://dishingwithdish.blogspot.com/ **

Cupcakes with Strawberry Frosting

I've been making a lot of sweets lately, but we've had a lot of company over, and I have also made things to take to certain functions. I made these cupcakes a few days ago. The cupcakes themselves are the same ones I made last December. The frosting is similar to the frosting on that page, too. Taking inspiration from several blogging friends, I made strawberry flavor frosting. To do this, I mixed several tablespoons of my homemade freezer jam (pics of the jam to come soon, I hope!) into a regular butter frosting. The result was delicious strawberry flavor, and a lovely natural pink color.

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You can use any flavor of jam, I imagine. If you do not have homemade (freezer or other) jam on hand, use a very high-quality storebought jam.

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Strawberry Frosting

1/2 cup salted butter, softened
1 package (16 ounces) confectioner's sugar
4-5 tablespoons strawberry freezer jam (thawed)

splash of milk

In large bowl, with mixer at medium-low speed, beat butter, sugar, and freezer jam. Add a splash of milk (as much as needed) if mixture is not coming together. Increase speed to medium-high; beat frosting until light and fluffy, about 1 minute. Makes about 2 1/2 cups.

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Lemon-Glazed Pound Cake

One of my favorite recipes for pound cake comes from Mrs. Fields. This is a recipe that I began making with my mom when I was probably about 12 years old, and I continue to make it every few years. Thanks to the lemon juice glaze, it has a lovely, refreshing, fresh lemon taste. I use fresh-squeezed lemon juice whenever possible and it adds so much. I didn't get as many pics of this cake as I wanted; we had company over and I forgot to take pics before they got there, so I had to do it later. I didn't get any photos of the whole cake, but I used my Nordicware Star Bundt pan to make this. It looked pretty impressive, especially since I greased my pan well enough that the cake came out cleanly, in one piece! I used my Kitchenaid to mix this up and it handled the large amount of batter very well.

LEMON GLAZED POUND CAKE

3 cups cake flour, sifted
2 cups white sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 cups salted butter, softened
1/3 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
6 large eggs
2 tsp. pure lemon extract
1 Tbsp. grated lemon zest (2 medium lemons)

GLAZE:

1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/4 cup white sugar

TOPPING:

2 Tbsp. confectioners sugar, sifted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 3 quart fluted tube pan or bundt pan.In a large bowl with an electric mixer on low speed, blend flour, sugar, salt and baking powder. Add butter, buttermilk and 3 eggs. Beat on low until dry ingredients are moistened. Increase speed to high and beat for 2 minutes. Scrape down sides of bowl.Add lemon extract and lemon zest, and blend at medium speed. Add the remaining 3 eggs one at a time, beating at high speed for 30 seconds after each addition.Pour batter into prepared pan, and bake 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into cake comes out clean.

While pound cake is baking, prepare lemon glaze: In a small saucepan heat lemon juice and sugar over low heat. Stir constantly until sugar dissolves.When cake is done, remove from oven and leave cake in pan. With a toothpick, poke holes in the surface of the cake, and pour half the glaze over it.Cool in pan 15 minutes, then invert on cooling rack. Brush top of pound cake with remaining lemon glaze. Cool to room temperature, then dust with confectioners sugar.

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Greek Pesto Pizza

I love Greek flavors, and they are especially good in pizza. Where we used to live, there was a really fun restaurant that specialized in wood-fired pizzas. We discovered it not long before we moved, so we only got to go there twice. But both times, I ordered their Greek Pesto Pizza. I re-created it at home last Saturday. I was missing sun-dried tomatoes (didn't realize I was out!) so I subbed baby cherry tomatoes, cut in half. It was yummy this way, too. Kalamatas would be good on this, but for a few reasons I just used regular black olives. Kalamatas next time! (I just used a standard size can of olives, and I don't know the exact size, since the can's been gone a few days now.)

I used Cook's Illustrated recipe for pizza dough, and it was yummy and fast to make. Use whatever crust you like for this recipe. I made two large pizzas.

Greek Pesto Pizza

1 recipe pizza dough of your choice

homemade basil pesto, between 1/2 and 1 cup

8 ounces feta cheese, sliced

1 cup mozzarella shredded cheese

1 can black olives, drained

1 14. oz can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped

1 1/2 cups small cherry tomatoes, halved

1 small red onion, thinly sliced

Place your pizza crusts on 2 pizza pans, or a pizza stone. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spread basil pesto evenly over both crusts. Top with slices of feta cheese, and then shredded mozzarella. Add artichoke hearts over the cheese. Place the red onions on your pizzas, followed by the halved cherry tomatoes and whole olives. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until crust is browned and cheese is browned to your liking.

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