Foodie Friends Friday Linky Party #162

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Creamy Kohlrabi Bread Soup

I had this tasty soup starter for one of our meals while on vacation in Switzerland this summer.  I talked with the waitress and chef and they told me steps and ingredients and I replicated it as best I could.  This soup is a great way to use your garden harvest or farmer market buys.  

I used Russets in this soup instead of my usual Yukon gold potatoes as they break down easier and make the soup even creamier.  The bread I used was a 2 day old stale light rye bread.  The chef added the bread for two reasons, to use up the bread and to thicken the soup.  No waste here!

This is the first time I tried kohlrabi.  I tried a bite of it raw and a bite of it cooked.  It is no surprise that it has a cabbage flavor both ways being that is from the cabbage family.  The name comes from the German Kohl ("cabbage") plus Rabi (Swiss German variant of "turnip") Kohlrabi is a very commonly eaten vegetable in German speaking countries. Make sure you should  peel off the tough outermost layer of the bulb with a vegetable peeler before cutting in half to get the core out.

Creamy Kohlrabi Bread Soup

2 pounds kohlrabi, peeled cored and chopped

1 pounds Russet potatoes, peeled and chopped

1 small onion, chopped

2 small carrots, chopped

6-8 cups chicken broth

2-3 slices stale rye bread

salt and pepper to taste

diced chives

Foodie Friends Friday Linky Party #161

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Europe: A Carousel of Flavors Part 4

The 4th part of my journey is all Paris.  I shared a little bit in Part 3 but there was so much more to share from Paris I had to have one more post. Paris was beautiful and the architecture was fantastic! 

The view from my hotel room at night.  This was so neat to see!!

Foodie Friends Friday Linky Party #160

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Foodie Friends Friday Linky Party #159

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Europe: A Carousel of Flavors Part 3

We've arrived at the halfway point of my European trip.  I hope you have checked out Part 1 and Part 2.

This leg of the journey starts in the German part of Switzerland and then make our way to through the countryside of France on our way to Paris.

With this part of the trip comes a little family history from my husband's side.  We passed near where my husband's family is from, the Alsace region of France.  Many of the families from the small town I live in are from here.  My husband's grandfather arrived here in Iowa in 1905 at the age of 5.   The train he came in on at a tiny town near us, called Noble, used to run on the land just across the road from where I live now.  You can see some of the "hump" yet and bits of burnt coal here and there. I didn't get to meet anyone with our same last name but the folks at the hotel in Switzerland were familiar with it.  We've dropped the umlat (ä) over our a but the rest is the same.

Now on to the food and travel!

Hillside of Emmenten, Swtizerland.  This was the view outside my hotel balcony. You could hear the sheep and their bells.  Unfortunately I did not get a photo of them.

Europe:  A Carousel of Flavors Part 3

Foodie Friends Friday Linky Party #158

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Hutspot met Wurst en Jus (Hotchpotch with Wurst and Gravy)

This is a simple yet hearty dish we had in Amsterdam.  Hutspot means hotchpoth in Dutch.  In English it is hodgepodge, which means mixture.  The vegetables reminded me of my Crock Pot Pot Roast veggies if I mixed them together. It’s a really great way to get those picky eaters (which includes myself) to eat the cooked carrots.  Onions disappear in the mash as well. 

I realized after make a plain beef broth gravy that it needed something more so I sprinkled in onion powder.  Much better! An even better flavor would be to use real onions, of course. The gravy is a brown onion gravy much like our jäger sauce we use for schnitzel.  Their sauce didn't have any onion bits to show so you would either want to blend it or strain the onions out.  Personally, I just leave them rather than go to extra work. You could use a brown gravy mix from a packet but it's so simple you can make it fresh.

I made these pork cheddar bratwurst myself in a cooking class with Steven from The Sausage Foundry of Cedar Rapids.   If you aren't game to make your own you can find many varieties to try at his shop at NewBo Market or buy your favorite from your local store or meat locker.

 Hutspot met Wurst en Jus (Hotchpotch with Wurst and Gravy) 

 Printable Recipe

1 pound Yukon gold potatoes
1/2 pound carrots
1 small onion
2 Tablespoons of butter
Splash of milk
Salt and pepper to taste
5 bratwurst
Brown onion gravy (see Jäger sauce)

Europe: A Carousel of Flavors Part 2

On these days I take you on a journey from Germany through Austria, Italy and end in Switzerland.  

If you missed Part 1 follow this link!

Italian Countryside covered in vineyards.

Europe:  A Carousel of Flavors Part 2

Foodie Friends Friday Linky Party #157

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Foodie Friends Friday Linky Party #156

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Europe: A Carousel of Flavors Part 1

I recently spent 15 days (plus 2 for travel there and back) in Europe visiting 7 different countries. I enjoyed the scenery, culture, but most of all the food!  Every place I went I tried to find the "local" dish or have a specialty of that region.  I will share with you some of the photos I took along with any information I could gather about what I was eating. I am working on recipes as well of some of the foods.

 I hope you enjoy my trip through Europe! 

This is a view from near Heidelberg Square in Germany looking onto the hillside across the river.

Europe:  A Carousel of Flavors Part 1

Spaghetti Bolognese

I wasn't expecting to be served spaghetti bolognese in the German speaking part of Switzerland, but I was and it was delicious!  If I hadn't been so full from the first plateful I would have had another serving or two!  After a talk with our waitress and the chef from the hotel I quickly wrote down the ingredients and steps to make this delicious dish.  It is an easy dish but please allow time for it to simmer.  It's well worth the wait!

Our waitress told me that if you have other vegetables on hand you need to use your can throw them in as well.  She gave red and green peppers as examples.

Spaghetti Bolognese                                                                                     Printable Recipe

1-1/4 pounds steak*
olive oil
2 carrots
1 small onion
1-2 stalks celery
15 ounces tomato puree or plain sauce (some canned sauces has spices in it)
1 bay leaf
5 whole cloves**
2-1/2 to 3 teaspoons dried Italian Herbs (generally a mix of: oregano, basil, rosemary, marjoram, savory, thyme)
salt and pepper to taste
up to 4 cups of water (divided)
cooked spaghetti
grated Parmesan

Foodie Friends Friday Linky Party #155

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Foodie Friends Friday Linky Party #154

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Foodie Friends Friday Linky Party #150

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Strawberry Cheesecake Bars

Strawberry season is in full swing here in Iowa and I've already made one Strawberry Pie for my family.   Today I changed it up a bit and made these tasty cheesecake bars because who doesn't love cheesecake?!

You can use other berries if you like or even open up a can of pie filling.  All I can say is that it is a good thing it makes a small dish.  I can hear it calling my name from the fridge!  To help myself, I'll be wrapping some up for the freezer so the family can enjoy some now and some later.

Strawberry Cheesecake Bars  Makes 12                                               Printable Recipe

"Pie" Filling:
1 cup quartered fresh strawberries
1/2 Tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons corn starch
2 teaspoons cold water
Crust:
1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled
1/2 cup brown sugar
1-1/2 cups all purpose flour (I used Einkorn flour from Jovial Foods)
Cheesecake:
8 ounces low fat cream cheese (softened as needed)
2 Tablespoons sugar
1 Tablespoon all purpose flour
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Foodie Friends Friday Linky Party #149

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Creamy Chicken and Rice

This dish is another one pot meal making for easy clean up.  Although, if you want to amp the flavor (and color) up a bit grill your chicken instead and then add to the cooked veggies.  The dish seemed a little lacking so I added carrots as an afterthought so you won't see them in my step by step photos.

Creamy Chicken and Rice                                                                 Printable Recipe

2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 small onion, diced
1 carrot, peeled and shredded
1-1/4 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1" hunks
2 cups chicken broth
1/4 cup white wine (optional)
1 cup instant brown rice*
3/4 cup shredded Parmesan
Few pinches dry parsley (or 1/4 cup chopped parsley)
Salt and pepper (as needed)