Stuffed Cucumber

Yep, you read that right - stuffed cucumbers!  A couple of Christmases ago, my husband bought me the cookbook The German Cookbook by Mimi Sheraton.  To make a very long story short, his grandmother would cook alot of german food, so I did research and found this cookbook to be one of the best for making german food. 

Anyway, I noticed this recipe for stuffed cucumbers last year and have been meaning to make it.  Well, this past weekend I was at the farmer's market (where I spend every weekend since I am a vendor at two!) and the farmer next to me had the most beautiful cucumbers - and a new adventure was born!!

The recipe calls for 4 cucumbers, I only bought 3 - I really needed that 4th cucumber!  I did have to improvise on the some of the ingredients and I will mark those with an **

Stuffed Cucumbers (Gurken mit Fleischfullung)

Ingredients

4 large cucumbers (I bought long ones - you need thick ones!)
salt
Meat filling
3 T butter
1 cup beef stock
4 T sour cream ** (I didn't have any so I used plain yogurt)
1 T tomato puree ** (I didn't have that either, so I just used ketchup)

Meat Filling:
1 lb ground raw beef ** (I used pork sausage as I thought ground beef would be too bland)
1/2 cup long grain rice
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 T minced parsley
1 slice of finely chopped bacon ** (didn't have any, so omitted)

Directions for Meat Filling:

Mix meat thoroughly with rice, onion, and parsley.  Add bacon if meat is very lean.

Directions for Stuffed Cucumbers;

Peel and slice the cucumbers in half.   Scrape out seeds, watery pulp and sprinkle with salt.

Stuff one half of the cucumber with meat filling.

Cover with the other half of cucumber and tie tightly with kitchen twine.

Heat butter in a deep skillet.  Add cucumber.  Fry and turn to brown all sides.

Add the beef stock, cover the skillet pan and let cook for 1/2 hour (adding more liquid if needed).

About 10 minutes before cucumbers are done, mix together sour cream (yogurt) and tomato puree (ketchup) and spread over the tops of the cucumbers. 

Remove from pan - remember to cut twine!!

This is not the best picture of it - it tasted a lot better than this picture shows!!

Entire Recipe:

Stuffed Cucumbers (Gurken mit Fleischfullung)

Ingredients

4 large cucumbers (I bought long ones - you need thick ones!)
salt
Meat filling
3 T butter
1 cup beef stock
4 T sour cream ** (I didn't have any so I used plain yogurt)
1 T tomato puree ** (I didn't have that either, so I just used ketchup)

Meat Filling:
1 lb ground raw beef ** (I used pork sausage as I thought ground beef would be too bland)
1/2 cup long grain rice
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 T minced parsley
1 slice of finely chopped bacon ** (didn't have any, so omitted)

Directions for Meat Filling:

Mix meat thoroughly with rice, onion, and parsley.  Add bacon if meat is very lean.

Directions for Stuffed Cucumbers;

Peel and slice the cucumbers in half.  

Scrape out seeds, watery pulp and sprinkle with salt
.
Stuff one half of the cucumber with meat filling, cover with the other half of cucumber and tie tightly with kitchen twine.

Heat butter in a deep skillet.  Add cucumber.  Fry and turn to brown all sides.

Add the beef stock, cover the skillet pan and let cook for 1/2 hour (adding more liquid if needed).

About 10 minutes before cucumbers are done, mix together sour cream (yogurt) and tomato puree (ketchup) and spread over the tops of the cucumbers.

Verdict:

I was very surprised by this recipe.  Wasn't sure what to expect, though I was glad I used the pork sausage instead of ground beef.  The sausage added quite a lot to the dish.  This was quite good.  My resident expert (aka my husband) loved it.  I see this recipe being made again in our future, though, as I said above, I will use fatter cucumbers.

Sausage and Potato Pie

I was having one of those days where you have NO idea what you are going to make for dinner?  Nothing in the refrigerator looked appetizing.   My cookbooks didn't offer much hope either  OH NO, I have no idea what I am going to make for dinner, we are going to starve!  So off I trot to my computer and on to the Internet.  Somehow I stumbled upon this recipe by Johnsonville.  I had most of the ingredients and would have to do a bit of compromising.

Even though this is a real easy recipe, it require a run to the grocery store for a few of the ingredients - pork sausage, potatoes and cream of potato soup.  The recipe calls for 2 cups frozen diced potatoes, I used fresh potatoes, diced them up and boiled them in water until they were tender - worked for me!

Sausage and Potato Pie by Johnsonville

Ingredients

1 lb mild pork sausage
2 cups frozen diced potatoes (see note above)
1 cup sliced green onions - I didn't have green onions, so I used white onions instead
2 cups sharp cheddar cheese
1/4 tsp ground sage
1 can cream of potato soup (didn't have that, so I used cream of mushroom)
pepper
2 pie crusts (I used the pie crusts from my apple pie recipe)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350
Brown and drain sausage and onions.

Mix all the ingredients (except the pie crusts ) in a large bowl

Put one of the pie crusts in the pie pan and press it against the sides and bottom - trim any excess off

Spoon filling into the pie crust.

Roll out the second crust and place over the top of the filling.  Again, trim off any excess.

Press the edges together and seal with decorate edge.

Bake for 1 hour.

Entire Recipe:

Sausage and Potato Pie by Johnsonville

Ingredients

1 lb mild pork sausage
2 cups frozen diced potatoes (see note above)
1 cup sliced green onions - I didn't have green onions, so I used white onions instead
2 cups sharp cheddar cheese
1/4 tsp ground sage
1 can cream of potato soup (didn't have that, so I used cream of mushroom)
pepper
2 pie crusts (I used the pie crusts from my apple pie recipe)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350
Brown and drain sausage and onions.
Mix all the ingredients (except the pie crusts ) in a large bowl
Put one of the pie crusts in the pie pan and press it against the sides and bottom - trim any excess off.
Spoon filling into the pie crust.
Roll out the second crust and place over the top of the filling.  Again, trim off any excess.
Press the edges together and seal with decorate edge.
Bake for 1 hour.

Comments:

Oh yes, this is definitely a winner!!  My husband said it reminded him of a "chicken pot pie."  It was very good and filling!!  I cut the slices way too big!!  Next time I am going to buy the cream of potato and see if that makes any difference.   

Goat's Milk Farmer's Cheese

I know this isn't exactly a "baking" adventure,  but I have been experimenting with making cheese.  Oh, what fun has this been!!  I raise a small herd of dairy goats and have been milking two dairy goats.  These two produce over a gallon of milk a day which is more than 2 people can drink.  So I have plenty of milk on hand to experiment with.

I found this recipe in Mary Jane Toth's book A Cheesemarker's Journey.  And it is so easy to make.  You do need some sort of cheese press.  You can improvise by placing a "heavy weight" of some sort on top of the cheese (like a small brick wrapped in foil, a few books or a water jug).  Hoegger Goat Supply carries a line of inexpensive cheese presses, also.

Farmer's Cheese/Pot Cheese by Mary Jane Toth

Ingredients

2 gallons whole milk (not ultra-pasteurized like found in the local grocery stores)
1/4 cup cultured buttermilk
1 tsp liquid rennet + 1/2 cup cool water
1T salt

Directions

Warm milk to 80 in a very large stock pot.

Add the buttermilk to the warm milk, mix well.

Mix in the rennet/cool water to the warm milk.  Stir with a slotted spoon to combine.  Allow the milk to sit for about 12 hours or overnight.

Cut the curds into small cubes with a long knife.  Let the curds rest for 10 minutes.  After 10 minutes, stir gently and cut up any curds that might have been missed.

Add the tablespoon of salt and stir well.  Let the curds rest another 10 minutes.

Line a colander with cheese cloth and pour the curds into the cloth.

Collect and tie the corners of the cheese cloth to form a bag with the curds at the bottom.  Hang the bag of curds to drain for 8 to 12 hours.  (at this point, you have "Pot Cheese.")

To make the "Farmer's Cheese", do not remove the curds from the cheese cloth.  Place the bag of curds onto a folded up towel, while using a cutting board or a plate, apply weight to press the cheese.  See note above about weights you can use.

Press the cheese for 8 to 12 hours or overnight.  Remove the cheese from the cheese cloth, wrap and refrigerate.  This is a fresh cheese and will last up to 2 weeks in the refrigerator.

Enjoy!!

Verdict:

My "resident expert" loved this!!!  This is the second batch that I have made.  And it is so easy!!  Definitely will be making this again!!

Paula Dean's Country Oxtails

OK, this is not your typical Memorial Day fare . . . but my husband requested it.  To make a long story short, someone at his work had Oxtail soup last week and he thought it smelled so good.  He asked me if I could make it for him.  So off to the Internet I went in search of a recipe for Oxtail soup.  Oh so many recipes . . .then I happened upon Paula's recipe for Country Oxtails.  It isn't exactly soup, more like stew but, after I read the ingredients to him - he wanted it.  Of course, I didn't have oxtails sitting in my refrigerator so I had to make a visit to my local Krogers.  What luck - yes, they had Oxtails (though rather expensive!).    Plus I had to buy a package of carrots since I didn't have any.

Paula Dean's Country Oxtails

Ingredients

3 lbs oxtails
1 tsp olive oil
1 can beef broth
1 cup red wine (I used Merlot)
1 T Worcestershire sauce
6 cloves garlic, large ones cut in half (I forgot those - so I just used garlic powder)
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
2 bay leaves
1 8 oz. tomato sauce
1/2 Vidala onion, cut into 6 wedges (didn't have that either, so I just used a white onion)
6 small new red potatoes, cut in half
4 medium carrots, cut in 1 inch lengths
cooked rice

Directions

Preheat oven to 350F

Season the oxtails with salt, pepper and garlic powder

Using a heavy, oven proof Dutch oven, coat the bottom with olive oil.  Once heated, sear the oxtails on all sides.

Remove and set aside.


Add the beef broth, red wine, Worcestershire sauce and garlic cloves (or powder, in my case).  Stir to combine.

Add the basil and oregano, bay leaves, tomato sauce and oxtails. 

Cover and bake for 2 1/2 hours.

Remove from oven and bring to a simmer on stove top.

Add the oven, carrots and potatoes to the pot.  Cover and simmer until the potatoes are soft - roughly 15 to 20 minutes.  Scrape the meat from the oxtail bones.

Serve over rice!

Entire Recipe:

Paula Dean's Country Oxtails

Ingredients

3 lbs oxtails
1 tsp olive oil
1 can beef broth
1 cup red wine (I used Merlot)
1 T Worcestershire sauce
6 cloves garlic, large ones cut in half (I forgot those - so I just used garlic powder)
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
2 bay leaves
1 8 oz. tomato sauce
1/2 Vidala onion, cut into 6 wedges (didn't have that either, so I just used a white onion)
6 small new red potatoes, cut in half
4 medium carrots, cut in 1 inch lengths
cooked rice

Directions

Preheat oven to 350F

Season the oxtails with salt, pepper and garlic powder

Using a heavy, oven proof Dutch oven, coat the bottom with olive oil.  Once heated, sear the oxtails on all sides.
 
Remove and set aside.

Add the beef broth, red wine, Worcestershire sauce and garlic cloves (or powder, in my case).  Stir to combine.

Add the basil and oregano, bay leaves, tomato sauce and oxtails. 

Cover and bake for 2 1/2 hours.

Remove from onion and bring to a simmer on stove top.

Add the onion, carrots and potatoes to the pot.  Cover and simmer until the potatoes are soft - roughly 15 to 20 minutes.
 
Scrape the meat from the oxtail bones.

Serve over rice!

Verdict:

OH MY!!  Was this ever good!!  This was most definitely a winner and I will be making this again.  Though I think you could easily replace the oxtails with stew beef and not notice any difference.  Everyone in our household enjoyed this meal - especially our dogs who got all the bones from the oxtails - so it was a winner all around! 

  

Stove Top Pizza!

A friend of mine sent me a link on Facebook the other day from the Chef's Tool Box website which had a video for "Skillet Pizza."  Wow!!  It looked easy and the pizza looked great.  I knew I had to give this a try.  So I did a search for "skillet pizza" and "stove top pizza" - never knew there was THAT many recipes!!!  Who knew!!

The website that seemed to have the closest recipe to the one on the video was on the sautepanrecipes.com website (though I did have to make a few minor adjustments).

This pizza is SO easy.  The hardest part (at least, what I found to be) is adjusting the temperature so the bottom of your crust doesn't burn.  Onto the recipe:

Stove Top Pizza

Dough Ingredients

1/2 cup self-rising flour (yes, you really need this!!)
1/2 cup all purpose flour
pinch of salt
1 rounded tsp of dried yeast
1 tsp of honey
2/3 cup of lukewarm water

Measure the two flours and salt into your pan
Add the honey, yeast and water

Mix together and spread the dough over the pan (the dough will seem really thin - don't worry it will rise as it bakes!)

Pizza topping

1/3 cup tomato paste
1 T dried Italian herbs (basil, oregano and parsley)
And whatever other toppings you wish)

Combine the tomato paste and herbs in a small bowl and then spread over the pizza dough with a spatula (ok, I cheated and used store bought pizza sauce - I didn't have any tomato paste!)

Top with your favorite toppings (I used pepperoni, mushrooms and goat cheese - yum!!)

Place the pan over medium heat and cover.
Cook for 5 minutes with any vents closed or covered.
Open up any vents, reduce heat to medium low and cook for an additional 10 to 15 minutes.
Remove pan from heat, using a spatula, lift the pizza onto a board and slice.

Entire Recipe:

Stove Top Pizza

Dough Ingredients

1/2 cup self-rising flour (yes, you really need this!!)
1/2 cup all purpose flour
pinch of salt
1 rounded tsp of dried yeast
1 tsp of honey
2/3 cup of lukewarm water

Measure the two flours and salt into your pan
Add the honey, yeast and water
Mix together and spread the dough over the pan (the dough will seem really thin - don't worry it will rise as it bakes!)

Pizza topping

1/3 cup tomato paste
1 T dried Italian herbs (basil, oregano and parsley)
And whatever other toppings you wish)

Combine the tomato paste and herbs in a small bowl and then spread over the pizza dough with a spatula.
Top with your favorite toppings.
Place the pan over medium heat and cover.
Cook for 5 minutes with any vents closed or covered.
Open up any vents, reduce heat to medium low and cook for an additional 10 to 15 minutes.
Remove pan from heat, using a spatula, lift the pizza onto a board and slice.
Enjoy!!

Verdict

First of all, this is such an easy pizza to make!!   Takes only a few minutes to whip this up.  My husband loved it, so I will probably be making this again.  I did have a few problems - the center part of my dough did burn.  I have a new gas stove so I will have to learn where medium low really is.  I was pleasantly surprised by the pizza - it was pretty good - a lot better than my "usual" pizza I make.  If you like thin crust pizzas, this is the recipe for you.  I don't have a pan with "vents", so I had to make do with what I had.  I will have to figure something better out.  Stand tuned for a "new and improved" version coming soon!

Beth Howard's Blueberry Pie

Lately I have been on such an apple pie binge, thought it was time for a change.  I was at my local Krogers and saw the blueberries and a new adventure was born.  Now to find a good recipe that used blueberries.  That is when I opened Beth Howards' Ms. American Pie cookbook.   I love her book (and her blog!) and have made several of her pies, each one delicious!!  (You have to try her Sweet Potato pie - out of this world!!!).  This recipe looked so easy and didn't require a major run to the grocery store.

For this recipe, I used the pie dough recipe in the Apple Pie with Golden Raisins recipe I made a week or two ago.  Here is the link:  Pie Dough Recipe

Blueberry Pie by Beth Howard

Pie Filling:

3 pints fresh blueberries
1 cup white sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425

Prepare your pie dough (make sure it is enough for a double crust)

To make the filling, combine the berries, sugar and cornstarch.  Make sure they are evenly coated.

Pour into prepared pie shell.  Dot with butter.

Add top pie crust.  I did mine as a lattice because I love how lattice pies look. 

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes.  Reduce temperature to 375 and bake another 25 to 30 minutes.

Cool on a rack.

Entire Recipe:

Blueberry Pie by Beth Howard

Pie Filling:

3 pints fresh blueberries
1 cup white sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425

Prepare your pie dough (make sure it is enough for a double crust.

To make the filling, combine the berries, sugar and cornstarch.  Make sure they are evenly coated.

Pour into prepared pie shell.

Add top pie crust.  I did mine as a lattice because I love how lattice pies look. 

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes.  Reduce temperature to 375 and bake another 25 to 30 minutes.

Cool on a rack.

Comments:

My resident "pie expert" (aka my husband) LOVED the pie.  He thought this blueberry pie was better than the last one.  I thought it was a bit too runny but it was really good with ice cream (ok, almost everything is good with ice cream!!).  Since he loved this so much, I see this pie in my future again.  It is really a very good tasting pie.

German Apple Streusel Cake

I found this recipe on the My Best German Recipes website.  It is such an easy recipe and you can whip this up in a matter of minutes.  Most of your time spent will be peeling and chopping the apples.  The only thing is that all the ingredients are done in grams so you would need a food scale (which you can get at Walmart - they are very cheap).  You will need a very large springform pan for this (again they have these at Walmart - a set of 3 usually runs $9.99).

German Apple Streusel Cake 

Dough

300 g all purpose flour
200 g butter (I used unsalted)
100 g white sugar
1 egg
1 pinch of salt

Topping

5 large apples
1 tsp cinnamon

Streusel

200 g all purpose flour
200 g butter (again I used unsalted)
200 g white sugar

Directions 

Preheat your overn to 350. 

Mix all the ingredients together for the dough until it holds together - it should not crumble.

Wrap it in saran wrap and put it in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Peel, core and slice the apples.  Sprinkle the cinnamon over the apples and let sit while preparing the springform pan.

Roll out the dough and gently press it into the springform pan, letting it rise about an inch up the side.
Spread the apples around the dough.

Mix together all the ingredients for the streusel topping - it should look like big crumbles. 

Spread over the apples.

Bake for 20 minutes.
Remove from oven, set on a rack to cool for about 10 to 15 minutes, then remove ring around cake.
Enjoy!

Entire Recipe:

German Apple Streusel Cake 

Dough

300 g all purpose flour
200 g butter (I used unsalted)
100 g white sugar
1 egg
1 pinch of salt

Topping

5 large apples
1 tsp cinnamon

Streusel

200 g all purpose flour
200 g butter (again I used unsalted)
200 g white sugar

Directions 

Preheat your overn to 350.
Mix all the ingredients together for the dough until it holds together - it should not crumble.
Wrap it in saran wrap and put it in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
Peel, core and slice the apples.  Sprinkle the cinnamon over the apples and let sit while preparing the springform pan.
Roll out the dough and gently press it into the springform pan, letting it rise about an inch up the side.
Spread the apples around the dough.
Mix together all the ingredients for the streusel topping - it should look like big crumbles.  Spread over the apples.
Bake for 20 minutes.
Remove from oven, set on a rack to cool for about 10 to 15 minutes, then remove ring around cake.
Enjoy!
Verdict:

My husband LOVED it!!  I thought it was really good.  It was more of an apple pie than a cake.  Yes, this is another keeper recipe!