Wiener Wald

The last couple of days have been absolutely beautiful! After one entire week of cold, overcast ugliness it finally cleared up. Now its all blue skys with some specks of perky clouds, and it even warmed up enough to leave your winter coat at home.

I had been cooped up for days, dodging rain drops when I had to leave the house to run errands, so i jumped on the opportunity and went on a little hike in the vienna woods, and soaked up some sun with the family, all of this after a not so modest breakfast with my mom.

The breakfast consisted of some really great carrot apple juice, which is the only way I can deal with the taste of carrot juice. Some smoked salmon, tomato- goat cheese salad, rosemary hash browns, and my signature fried egg with basil, and of corse the corn waffles we ate because we were to lazy to go out and buy bread!

- Steffi

Growing up

I'm a really huge burger fan. It's probably my favorite food. In the summer it's nice to make and grill your own burgers and make variations on them each time but sometimes a prepared burger is just as good. This time I bought pre-made burgers from whole foods, which are jalapeno cheddar cheese. Home made fries are easier than you think to.

When I was growing up my mom would make frozen french fries every so often when it was a late night of dinner or my dad was traveling. The problem with frozen fries is that they tend to be those ripple cut fatty ones that never seem to cook fully and therefore just sit there in a soggy mess. I really dislike soggy uncooked fatty fries. I love the thinner cut style which obviously so does most of America, with all the fast food places following suit.

This was the first time I made homemade french fries. I julienned the potatoes and then put the sticks into a bowl and coated with some olive oil, cayenne pepper, paprika, minced garlic or garlic powder, some onion powder, tiny bit of mustard powder, and dried herbs like parsley. Give it a quick toss and spread them evenly on a baked sheet covered in non stick foil. Through them in there at like 425 which is arbitrarily my favorite temperature.

The first time i did this the fries came out a little soggy but not bad. So the next time what I did was cut the sticks a little thinner just a tiny bit, and then cooked them for a lot longer, giving them the crispiness they needed. I just kept checking on them but it's surprisingly hard to burn them so just keep a look out and it'll take like 40 minutes so it's good to start them long before your meal. I also added some hot sauce in this time instead of dried chili powder.

Serve the burger with a little salad some homemade dressing and that's a full hearty meal. I will be making a more in depth burger update. Because burgers can range from very complex to very simple.

- kyle

Pandemonium Pasta

So the other night I tried to make this pasta sauce steffi's mother showed us how to make when she was last visiting New York. But I sort of failed. First my mistake was not using all plum tomatoes so the skin didn't come off two of them which I had to reboil and it was a mess. Then I used canned tomatoes and forgot to drain the liquid. And then I blended them instead of just pulling them apart. So the sauce came out super liquidly. Anyway here is how I did it tonight.

First The things you'll need are.

8-12 plum or heirloom tomatoes ( riper the better) Also it depends on how much you want to make

5 cloves of garlic ( this is also subjective because some people don't like as much garlic but I think it packs a good flavor)

1 yellow onion ( it can easily be over done so again add it to your liking but I find if you choose a nice medium sized one not some huge monster onion that it'll do just fine)

1 bunch of fresh basil

1 bottle of red or white wine ( i prefer red)

half a bunch of fresh parsley

1/4 lb or small container in the USA of olives ( olives are essential to this sauce and really give it soooo much flavor, this is where most of the salt comes from so there isn't really much need to add salt. But I would recommend black Moroccan style oil cured olives, or regular kalamata olives. Never used canned olives. I always get them from an olive bar or deli or something like that)

1 bay leaf

1 tiny tin of anchovies (depending on how much sauce you make is how much you put in. Tonight I used ten of them which was almost all of them. I would get ones that don't have anything added to them which many do. So just oil and salt cured)

a pinch of chili flakes

salt & pepper

olive oil

pescetarian

just changed the intro from being a vegetarian to being a pescetarian (a word found only in urban dictionary!)-Steffi

Smoked Salmon Salad

Kyle put down in our intro that I am cooking vegetarian, which I have been for a while now. However, today that had to change! I had a crazy craving for fish, and didn't really want to stop myself. I have been eating super healthy for about a month, so I figured if my body is craving something at this point, it's going to be a healthy craving! I went to the store and bought some delicious smoked salmon from Alaska, and made a really simple salad to go with it. The salad consisted of sliced tomatoes, and alfalfa sprouts, I sprinkled some Pumpkin Seed Oil over the whole thing, with some salt and pepper, and went in for the kill! Delicious!

-Steffi

tomato-zucchini sauce over gluten free spagetti!

I only had a handfull of cherry tomatoes, so I decided to add some zucchini that I had left over. Zucchini has a high water content, so it was particularly good for making the sauce saucier. The only way Kyle will eat zucchini is if it has been grilled with a little olive oil, lemon and salt (which is really delicious as well). I on the other hand would happily put it in all of my meals, which of course I didn't in respect to Kyle's taste buds! Now that we dont cook together though, I have been going wild with it, putting it in everything. My fridge is pretty much stocked with them at all times!

Serves 2

1 large Zucchini (small cubes)

1 carrot (shredded)

as much tomatoes as you like (depending on what you have or how much you love them!)

three stems of scallion (finely chopped)

some parsley (finely chopped)

small amount of some young creamy goat cheese!

white wine

salt

pepper

Once you have everything chopped you could start boiling some water for the spagetti. The veggies are chopped very small, so the whole frying process should only take about 10-15 minutes.

Throw the chopped scallion in a pan with some olive oil and braise until almost through. Now toss in the carrots and cook another couple minutes.

You can add the zucchini and the tomatoes, with a splash of white wine and some salt and pepper to taste. Stir occasionaly and put on a lid to keep in some of the liquid. When the veggies seem to be getting close to through, throw in the parsley, and the goat cheese and stir. Cook just a little longer and serve over some spagetti!- Steffi