This recipe is a long time family favorite from my great-grandma. She emigrated from Hungary in the early 1900’s with her mother and 8 siblings. With another family with 9 kids, they made the tough journey through Ellis Island to St. Louis to join the fathers who had already come to America to work. It really is quite the story with the 18 children all miraculously being well enough to make it through Ellis Island at the same time. Then on the train trip, the mothers got off the train to get some food for the children and the train left without them. None of them spoke English, but as always told in the family, “panicked mother is a universal language” and they were somehow reunited, and here we are four generations later. Anywho…back to the recipe!

According to my aunt, Great-Grandma always said if you are making this for children; add a little extra sugar to cut the tartness of the vinegar. I never liked traditional potato salad since I am not a huge fan of mayonnaise, but this was something I always looked forward to. I love the crunch the celery and onion added to the soft potatoes. Not to mention, bacon makes everything better! The sweet and sour dressing is a childhood memory that always brings back memories. I remember making it with my grandma and lots of us helping. Always such fun! It is a little time consuming, but worth the effort as it makes a large amount and keeps well. Let us know what you think!

Kelly

“Grandma always used to make this for picnics with fried chicken. I remember when I was too little to like the potato salad, Grandma would leave a few boiled potatoes out for me, and sprinkle them with salt.”

Mary

German Potato Salad

10 Small Potatoes

1 Onion

2 Celery Sticks

2 t. Salt

5 Slices Bacon

1 c. Water

1 c. White Vinegar

4 T. Sugar

2 T. Flour

2 T. Parsley (finely chopped)

Boil potatoes for 45 min. Drain and allow to stand covered for 30 minutes. Chop the bacon, fry until crisp, then drain on paper towels. Pour off half the grease. Add to it water, vinegar, and sugar. Thicken sauce with a slurry of the flour and a couple tablespoons of water. The sauce should be thick enough to coat a spoon. It will thin out when mixed with the potatoes. Finely chop the celery and onion.

Slice the slightly cooled potatoes and combine with vegetables and bacon in a LARGE bowl (trust me on this one). Pour the dressing over the potato mixture and mix gently, trying not to break up the potatoes too much. The mixture should be somewhat saucy and will thicken as it cools. Add the chopped parsley. Taste and adjust seasonings. Can be served immediately while warm or made ahead and refrigerated.

We are almost 8 weeks into this Covid-19 Quarantine and we’re starting to crave some of our favorite foods that we normally dine out for! One of the biggest cravings has been Chinese food. With our favorite take out place closed, I decided to try my hand at Moo Shu. My normal order is Moo Shu Chicken, but this recipe can be done with pork, beef and shrimp too. The great thing about making this dish at home, is using about 1/8 the oil that a normal restaurant would use.  This recipe came out to be about the size of an order of Moo Shu, would feed 4 or 2 for dinner with breakfast leftovers (how we ate it!)

ENJOY!

Moo Shu Filling

1. In a medium bowl combine sesame, soy and corn starch. Add the julienned chicken or pork and marinate 15 minutes.
2. Coat a cast iron or non stick skillet with oil. Over medium-high heat, add the eggs and quickly scramble until they puff up and are cooked through. Set aside
3. Add 2 tablespoons oil to cast iron or non stick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken or pork and cook for 10 minutes. Remove from heat to paper-towel lined plate. Slice cooked meat into strips once cool enough to handle.
4. Add 1 tablespoon oil, garlic, ginger, scallion whites to the pan. Cook for 3-4 minutes.
5. Add the mushrooms, cabbage, carrots. Cook for 5 minutes until cabbage starts to turn clear. Then add in scrambled eggs, meat and 3 tablespoons of the scallions.
6. To Serve: Place a cast iron pan over medium-high heat. Heat the Moo Shu wraps in the dry cast iron pan until they start to get a couple of brown spots. Remove to a plate, top with a spoonful of hoisin sauce, 1-2 teaspoons of fresh scallions and a large spoonful of the moo shu filling. Fold up and enjoy!
7. Hoisin Sauce: 1 tablespoon oil 1 cup hoisin 1/2 lime, juiced Place the oil in a small saucepan. Add hoisin and let simmer 2-3 minutes. Finish with lime juice.

Moo Shu Pancake

1. In a bowl, mix the flour and the boiling water with chopsticks or a wooden spoon to combine. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured board, gather it into a heap, and knead it until smooth, about 3 min.
2. In a stand mixer, mix the flour and the boiling water with paddle attachment. Once flour and water are combined, changed to dough attachment and knead about 3 min on medium.
3. With dough on a lightly floured board, cover with a towel and let it rest for about 1 hour.
4. Roll the rested dough into a 12-inch log. Cut the log into 12 pieces.
5. With a floured rolling pin, roll each pair into a thin pancake about 7 inches in diameter, flipping the pancake over now and again to roll evenly on both sides. Stack the pancakes as you finish rolling them.
6. In an ungreased cast-iron skillet or nonstick pan over medium-high heat, cook the pancakes one at a time. Heat one side until it becomes less opaque and starts to bubble slightly, and just a few brown spots appear, about 1 min. Flip it over and cook it until a few light brown spots appear on the other side, about 30 seconds.

Merry Christmas everyone! For Christmas morning brunch, we were after something savory, that would also help use up some left overs.

For Christmas Eve, our menu included:
Spiral Cut Ham
Rolls from The Silver Spur in Platteville, CO
Oyster Dressing
Oyster Stew
White Castle Dressing
German potato salad
Tamales from Tamales from Heaven in Greeley, CO

One of our Christmas Eve gifts was Tiger Sauce. On our trip to Florida spring of ’18, we had Cuban Sandwiches in Key West and the Tiger Sauce was on every table. Thinking of the best thing to use the new sauce on, I realized we had all the ingredients for an amazing Cuban Sandwich.

A “traditional” Cuban Sandwich includes roast pork, glazed ham, swiss cheese and dill pickles. To substitute the roast pork and swiss cheese, we used bacon, sliced turkey and pepper jack.

Christmas Cuban Sandwich Sliders

Recipe:

Ingredients:
Rolls
Regular yellow mustard
Dill pickles
Spiral Cut ham – chopped
1 lb bacon
Sliced Turkey
Pepper-jack cheese
1-ounce butter

Directions:
Cut Rolls in half. On the topside of the bread spread 1-ounce of mustard, evenly across. Then place 4 pickles on top of the mustard.

We used our own jarred pickles and an electric slicer to get the thin slice. You can also use a mandoline or buy sliced pickles. Place 1 slice of cheese on top of the pickles.

Cook bacon, preferably in cast iron skillet, and warm chopped ham and sliced turkey. Assemble meats, turkey first, ham second, bacon third. Join both halves of the sandwich. You are now ready to grill your Cuban sandwich.

Use a sandwich grill if you have one, a waffle iron or two cast iron pans if not. We used our two cast iron pans, Spread butter or spray on top of the bread evenly. Fill a Cast iron skillet 2/3 with water and bring to boil. At the same time heat a Cast iron griddle to med-high heat.

Place sandwich on griddle and press down sandwiches. Leave sandwich in the grill until bread turns to a golden brown, cheese melts and top is crisp, flipping once. Approximate time is 8 to 10 minutes. After the sandwich is crispy and the cheese has melted, remove the sandwich carefully and enjoy! If cooking several, keep in oven on warm until ready to serve. Pair with leftover stuffing, potato salad and a bloody mary.

enjoy Cuban sandwich with tiger sauce

We are having a bit of a lazy Sunday evening with another rainstorm moving through Colorado tonight (hooray!!) I was just thinking about this lovely gem I made one day; a purple artichoke. It was so pretty sitting on the shelf that I just couldn’t leave it. I think artichokes are great to begin with. They are a lot of work to eat and present a challenge to get a little reward, but so worth it. Artichokes are one of the few foods that we actually use the microwave to cook (even if it seems like sacrilege.) Let me tell you, it is super easy and you will be enjoying your artichoke in mere minutes. In our experience, this method is more consistent than boiling.

First, wash and clean the artichoke. Trim off the top to remove most of the points at the tips of the leaves. (You can trim the leaves you miss with scissors if you feel like it, though when it is just us we don’t.) Wrap the whole artichoke in plastic wrap and place in the microwave on high for 4-6 minutes or until the leave easily pull away from the artichoke. You can test it after four minutes, but be careful when removing the plastic wrap because that is some hot steam! After the artichoke is done, allow to cool while you melt a couple tablespoons of butter. Add a pinch of salt, fresh cracked black pepper, a bit of thyme, if you like, and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice to the melted butter for dipping. Serve immediately or cold later, it will be delicious either way!

PS – If you have never cleaned an artichoke, once you have eaten all of the leaves, remove the soft center leaves and you will see the fibrous choke. Take a spoon and carefully remove the spiney part and enjoy the heart.

Watermelon Agua Fresca

On a quick trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico, we were greeted at our hotel with a lovely little glass of Watermelon Agua Fresca. What a delightful way to start our vacation! This refreshing drink was also on the menu almost everywhere we went, so I knew that for the hottest summer days, I would have to make my own at home. Spanish for “Fresh Water,” this is the perfect way to quench your thirst on a hot day. This version is non-alcoholic, but you could easily add some vodka to kick things up or even tequila for a margarita version. This is a super easy drink for guests or just to keep in your fridge for yourself. Enjoy!

Watermelon Agua Fresca

3-4 Cups of Fresh Watermelon
2 Sprigs of Mint, leaves removed
1 Cup Water

Combine above ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Serve over ice, garnished with mint. Top off with a bit of sparkling water to make it more festive.

Optional: add a squeeze of lime or some agave if you feel like it needs some additional sweetener. If you get a good watermelon, you won’t need it! Feel free to make it into a cocktail as well!

Watermelon Aqua Fresca

Back in 2011, Kelly took a trip to Islamorada, FL for a friends wedding and even posted about it!

This spring, we followed her suggestion and visited a post hurricane Irma Florida Keys for a week of fun in the sun.

We stayed at a rental house on the Islamorada Key, fished for tarpon and amberjack, snorkled with some amazing sea life and drank rum.

Stay tuned for road trip recipes and recommendations from Colorado to the Keys, our fresh caught fish, key lime pie finds and favorite rum in the Keys. Plus a whole post of Hemingway Cats from Key West!

So you made your Roast Chicken, now what? Chicken stock of course! As I mentioned, we make roast chicken regularly and one of the biggest benefits is homemade stock. While there are some good options out there now for canned stock, nothing beats homemade. It really is a simple process with simple ingredients and really worth the time and effort. We use stock in everything, especially soups and sauces. When you keep some on hand in the freezer, you always have the start of a quick meal on hand. It is also a great way to clean out the fridge: you can use all kinds of vegetables, herbs and aromatics to flavor your stock. Don’t be afraid to experiment with flavors; just know that different ingredients can change the color of the stock as well as the flavor. My great grandmother’s secret addition was a few cloves stuck into the onions, just a little something special. This is a good basic stock recipe that I fall back on; it always produces a good flavorful stock.

P.S. Don’t forget when you are done with your Thanksgiving turkey to save the carcass for turkey stock. Turkey soup is one of the best parts of Thanksgiving after all!

Kelly

Chicken Stock

Ingredients

1 roast chicken carcass

1 large onion, quartered

4 carrots, cut in 1/2

4 ribs celery, cut in 1/2

Small bouquet fresh herbs including thyme, parsley, etc.

2 bay leaves

Tablespoon whole black peppercorns

2-4 cloves, stuck in the onion pieces

2 whole cloves garlic

2 gallons cold water

Place chicken, vegetables, and herbs and spices in 12-quart stockpot. Cover with cold water so the chicken and vegetables are submerged.

Cook on high heat until you begin to see bubbles break through the surface of the liquid. Turn heat down to medium low so that stock maintains low, gentle simmer. Skim the scum from the stock with a spoon a couple times for the first hour of cooking and as needed each hour for the next 2 hours. Add hot water as needed to keep bones and vegetables submerged. Simmer uncovered for 3-5 hours until you have a rich colored stock.

Strain stock through a fine mesh strainer into another large stockpot or heatproof container discarding the solids.

Allow to cool then place in refrigerator overnight. Remove solidified fat from surface of liquid and store in container with lid in refrigerator for 2 to 3 days or in freezer for up to 3 months. Bring to a boil before use.

P.P.S. If you don’t have an already roasted chicken, you can buy some chicken bones and pieces and roast them with a little olive oil at 450° for 30-40 minutes before making your stock.

This holiday season was so confusing. All the holidays on the weekends, and the Rose Bowl game on the 2^nd. What to make? Well, it felt like we should’ve made chili, but that didn’t happen.

Luckily, there’s almost always white flour in the house. Sorry, Atkins, South Beach, Dukan and Boulder, in general. Can’t seem to make it without gluten.

Been searching for a good Soft Pretzel recipe. I’ve tried several but don’t like butter in the dough. Started with King Arthur but thought it should be boiled like bagels. Anyway, here’s what we came up with. I was pretty happy with it.

Mary

Soft Pretzels

Inspired by King Arthur Flour’s Hot Buttered Pretzels

2 1/2 cups Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons regular instant yeast
1 1/4 cup warm water*
8 cups water
2 tablespoons baking soda
coarse, kosher or pretzel salt
3 tablespoons butter, melted

*Use more water in the winter (or in a dry climate like Colorado), the lesser amount in the summer, and somewhere in between in the spring and fall. Your goal is a soft dough.

Place all of the dough ingredients into the bowl of a stand mixer, and beat till well-combined. Knead the dough, by hand or machine, for about 5 minutes, till it’s soft, smooth, and quite slack. Flour the dough and place it in a bag, and allow it to rest for 30 minutes.

Preheat your oven to 500°F. Prepare two baking sheets by spraying them with vegetable oil spray, or lining them with parchment paper.

Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface, and divide it into eight equal pieces (about 70g, or 2 1/2 ounces, each).

Allow the pieces to rest, uncovered, for 5 minutes. Roll each piece of dough into a long, thin rope (about 28 to 30 inches long), and twist each rope into a pretzel.

Allow them to rest, uncovered, for 10 minutes.

While the dough is resting, bring 8 cups of water plus the baking soda to a boil in a large pot. Make sure the baking soda is thoroughly dissolved; if it isn’t, it’ll make your pretzels splotchy. Gently place 1-2 pretzels at a time in the boiling water for about 1 minute per side to set the dough.

Carefully remove from the pot. A chopstick works well to turn the pretzels, but a spatula works best to remove from the water.

Brush the pretzels with the melted butter. Sprinkle them lightly with pretzel salt (you can use kosher, but the pretzel salt really does make a BIG difference.) Keep brushing the butter on until you’ve used it all up; it may seem like a lot, but that’s what gives these pretzels their ethereal taste. Bake the pretzels for 8 to 12 minutes, or until they’re golden brown, reversing the baking sheets halfway through.

Eat the pretzels warm, or reheat them in an oven or microwave. Yield: 8 pretzels.