A whole dinner off the grill!

Summer time … hot in Hotlanta … with the past few days back above the 90’s and no cooling in view. Sometimes, I just can’t get away from switching on the oven, like when I have to destress, which has been a lot lately. Then the oven produces new and the trusty oldcakes, pies, cookies, but also a lot of heat.

Our house has an open floor plan. Gosh, that sounded so amazingly enticing when we bought the house, but it pretty much just means that whatever you are making, baking, cooking, burning – unfortunately it does happen in my kitchen from time to time, when I am doing too many things at once – spreads it’s delicious, or not so delicious olfactory wings through the whole 1st level – from kitchen to breakfast room to den to front room into the hallway, and even to the upstairs. Now, if I am baking or cooking up a storm that also means heat everywhere. Our old air conditioning cannot keep up with that, nor does the fan move enough air to give some sweet, windy relief.

No wonder my favorite cooking method in the summer is our grill. I admit – I LOVE my Weber grill!!! It is hooked straight up to the gas supply line of the house and I just got all new flavorizer bars and grates for it … stainless steel. Sweet! I get excited about these kind of things. I am a kitchen nerd!

So, tonight, I thought, why not make the whole dinner on the grill? I had some Frikadellen – German meatballs, practically – which I had already made and frozen. Our CSA package yesterday had an eggplant in it and I still had half a zucchini from our own garden in the fridge. I found a phenomenal marinade recipe for the latter, which I will share in a minute. Hm, what for the starch? Friends of ours had made pizza on the grill before. And our new infatuation with garlic bread brought me to the best and truly easiest pizza dough ever. I made pizza rounds and brushed them with garlicy olive oil, a little salt and voila … amazing bread from the grill!

A big platter … sorry no picture, everybody was diving in so quickly, I could not even get a snap shot … of grilled, juicy meatballs, herb-coated veggie rounds and crispy, garlicy flatbread. Oh, it was so delicious, we all – kids included, or actually particularly the kids – ate ourselves silly. No dessert, no room! Sometimes, dinner is so good, you could not care less about cake. Imagine that!

German Pancakes (Pfannkuchen)

German pancakes, Pfannkuchen

This is one of my family’s absolutely favorite dinners. Yes, we eat breakfast for dinner – pancakes, or as they are called here, German Pancakes. Some people just know pancakes (American style) and crepes (which this type belongs to). So, from now on I will refer to them just as pancakes instead of Pfannkuchen. I am not using German here, so … go with the flow.

The following recipe is formula based and makes about 3 pancakes per person. I also dabble in variations of it as it is a very forgiving kind of recipe. The only problem you could have is that it could be too thick and would not spread enough in the pan, thus yielding thicker pancakes. The first one is the tell-tale one with which you can adjust your batter. Just add more liquid if need be! My pancakes usually turn out to be about 1/8″ to 1/6″ thick, NOT paperthin like crepes. They have some meat to them, like a good old German gal   Today, I had some sourdough left over, so I substituted that for part of the flour and milk. It made for a very aromatic, light pancake. Sometimes, I use hazelnut meal or almond flour for about 1/3 of the flour. Depending on what flour you use, you might need to add a bit more milk as already mentioned above. On with the recipe:

Brotzeit and No-Knead Bread

And now that I have told a few people about this page, I will actually put more on here. It is not that I stopped baking and cooking, but kids, school and just stuff kept me from giving this blog real consideration. Well, no, I don’t really have sooo much more time, but I am willing to cut some out here and there, as we are diving into our own culinary adventure (more later).

After coming back from Germany, colder temperatures there, I am back in the Georgia heat.

Gosh, it’s hot here, but it gives me the excuse for lots of “Brotzeit” dinners.

Banana Bread

Whenever our bananas turn dark so that nobody wants to eat them anymore, I stick them in the freezer – with the peel and all – hence all the those  black bananas in my fridge now from thawing my freezer.

I have been baking banana bread with our girls Emily (7) and Anna(9) and by myself to clean the fridge before going to Germany next week. My husband will be really happy about finding lots of the good stuff in the freezer, when he comes back. So, here is the recipe that always turns out perfect!

Banana Bread

RECIPE INGREDIENTS:
	2 cups flour
	1 teaspoon baking powder
	1/2 teaspoon baking soda
	1/2 teaspoon salt
	1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
	1 cup sugar
	2 eggs, at room temperature
	1 teaspoon vanilla extract
	3 medium-large very ripe bananas (1 cup mashed)
	1/2 cup sour cream

Options: 1/3 cup walnuts + 1/3 cup mini chocolate chips, or 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

1. Heat the oven to 325°. Line a 5- by 9-inch loaf pan, preferably one with a light interior, with enough waxed paper to drape over the long sides. This will make the baked bread a cinch to remove and the pan easy to clean. Set the pan aside.  You can also use tiny springforms, loafforms and huge muffin cups and bake as directed below.

2. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a medium bowl. In a large bowl, cream the butter using an electric mixer. Gradually add the sugar, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Next, add the vanilla extract and blend briefly. Set both bowls aside.

3. Peel the bananas and place them in a separate bowl. Mash them with a fork and measure out 1 cup. Add the sour cream and stir to blend. Set the bowl aside.

4. Using a wooden spoon, blend a third of the dry mixture into the butter-sugar mixture. Add the rest of the ingredients in this order, stirring well after each addition: half of the banana mixture, half of the remaining dry mixture, the rest of the banana mixture, the rest of the dry mixture. Next, add mix-ins if desired (see below).

5. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan/s and smooth the top with a spoon. Bake on the center oven rack until a tester inserted deep into the center of the bread comes out clean, about 70 to 75 minutes, for smaller loafs, springform pans about 45 minutes.

6. Transfer the bread to a cooling rack and cool it in the pan for about 20 minutes. Using the waxed paper, lift the bread from the pan and place it on the rack. Pull down the sides of the paper and allow the bread to cool thoroughly before slicing. Makes 10 or more servings.

Cookie exchange and recipes

I am organizing a cookie exchange with a friend. This is our first time hosting it, so we put out an evite with a great Christmassy cookie picture and a cute saying and requested 6 dozen cookies. We have been bombarded with people saying that is too much. Really? 6 dozen will not last long in our house. That is about one doubled cookie recipe. And the funny thing is, kind of funny to me, at least, that we are also making appetizers, cleaning house, shopping for little gifts, and are making all these cookies on top of it. At the end of the cookie exchange, we will all go home with 6 dozen cookies, currently 13 different varieties. How awesome is that? Who will stand in the kitchen and make that many different cookies and then have 3 dozen of each? After sampling them all, friends come over, family over the holidays, maybe teachers gifts, bamm, there are non left by New Years day. I will be surprised if ours will make it past Christmas. Then again, we also have the gingerbread house! Pictures to follow soon!!!

Now, I cannot decide which cookie to make. I made oatmeal lace cookies last night, but am not happy with them.They are crunchy, sweet and just perfect in every way. Everybody loves them, but they look so plain. Maybe some drizzled chocolate will help.

Oatmeal Lace Cookies

yield: 4 dozen

• 1 cup quick cooking oats
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Cover baking sheets with foil, then coat the foil with a non-stick cooking spray.
2. In a medium bowl, combine oats, flour, salt, and baking powder. In a large bowl, cream sugar and butter until fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. Mix in the flour and oat mixture until just combined. Drop dough by teaspoonfuls onto the prepared baking sheets, 2 1/2 inches apart.
3. Bake at 325 degrees F (165 degrees C) for 10 to 12 minutes, or until edges turn golden. Cool, then peel cookies off with your fingers. Be sure to re-spray baking sheets with non-stick cooking spray between batches or use a baking foil. Be aware of the difference of your cookie sheets. These are the cookies to show it to you!

I could also go back and make these wonderful cookies. The kids might not like them, is my only gripe, but most adults really enjoy this, a bit more unusual, delicacy.

Lemon-Ginger Biscotti

yield: 2 1/2 dozen

Ingredients

• 2 1/2  cups  all-purpose flour
• 1  cup  sugar
• 1  teaspoon  baking soda
• 1/2  teaspoon  ground ginger
• 1/4  teaspoon  salt
• 1/4  cup  finely chopped crystallized ginger
• 2  tablespoons  grated lemon rind
• 1  tablespoon  fresh lemon juice
• 3  large eggs
• Cooking spray
• 1  tablespoon  water
• 1  large egg white
• 1  tablespoon  sugar

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°.

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour and the next 4 ingredients (flour through salt) in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk. Stir in crystallized ginger. Combine rind, juice, and whole eggs; add to flour mixture, stirring until well blended (dough will be crumbly). Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface; knead lightly 7 or 8 times. Divide dough in half. Shape each portion into a 9-inch-long roll. Place rolls 6 inches apart on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray; flatten each roll to a 1-inch thickness. Combine water and egg white, and brush over rolls. Sprinkle rolls evenly with 1 tablespoon sugar.

Bake at 350° for 20 minutes. Remove rolls from baking sheet; cool 10 minutes on a wire rack. Cut each roll diagonally into 15 (3/4-inch) slices. Carefully stand slices upright on baking sheet. Reduce oven temperature to 325°; bake 20 minutes (cookies will be slightly soft in the center but will harden as they cool). Remove from baking sheet; cool completely on a wire rack.

Or shall I make these, that are sure to be a winner with chocolate lovers everywhere? They don’t strike me as unusually wonderful, though.

Chocolate Crinkles

yield: 3 dozen

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 4 (1 ounce) squares unsweetened chocolate
• 2 cups white sugar
• 4 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup confectioners’ sugar

DIRECTIONS

1. Mix oil, chocolate, and granulated sugar.
2. Blend in one egg at a time until well mixed. Add vanilla.
3. Stir flour, baking powder and salt into oil mixture.
4. Chill several hours or overnight.
5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C).
6. Drop by teaspoonfuls into confectioners’ sugar.
7. Roll in sugar; shape into balls and place about 2 inches apart on greased baking sheet. Bake 10 to 12 minutes (do not overbake). NOTE: If you use self-rising flour, omit the baking powder and salt.

Or the last resort would be one of our family favorites, which we made right after Thanksgiving and were devoured within 1 1/2 weeks!

Ginger Crinkles

yield: 4 1/2 dozen

Ingredients

• 2/3  cup  plus 3 tablespoons sugar, divided
• 1/4  cup  plus 2 tablespoons stick margarine, softened
• 1/4  cup  molasses
• 1  large egg
• 2  cups  all-purpose flour
• 2  teaspoons  baking soda
• 1  teaspoon  ground ginger
• 1  teaspoon  ground cinnamon
• 1/2  teaspoon  ground mace
• Cooking spray

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°.

Beat 2/3 cup sugar and margarine at medium speed of a mixer until well-blended. Add molasses and egg; beat well.

Combine flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, and mace; gradually add to sugar mixture. Stir until well-blended. Divide in half. Wrap each portion in plastic wrap; freeze for 30 minutes.

Shape each portion of dough into 26 (1-inch) balls; roll in 3 tablespoons sugar. Place, 2 inches apart, on baking sheets coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 12 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from sheets; let cool on wire racks. Store in an airtight container.