Monthly Archives: March 2013

Last Minute Easter Ideas

Last Minute Easter Ideas
Last Minute Easter Ideas

Happy Good Friday to all of you!!

I hope you have a great easter-weekend with lots of love from your families! 🙂

 

Is your easter menue set already? Did you have the right idea for the decoration yet? Maybe you need some more inspiration on what you could do and make?

Then you should read on!!

I am going to share some easter food ideas and easter decorations with you, that I found on the internet while I was having a look for myself. I thought I have to show them to you too, because they are worth to be seen!

Have a look at all the pretty pictures 🙂

 

1) Breakfast Ideas

Easter Brunch & Breakfast Ideas

1. Orange Bunny Rolls

2. Daisy Sugars

3. Pastiera Napoletana

4. Yeasted Cheese-and-Sour-Cherry Coffee Cake

5. Smoked Salmon Asparagus Quinoa Cake Eggs Benedict

6. Blue Cheese Spread

7. Green Bean Ham and Cheese Frittata

8. Bacon Jalapeno Deviled Eggs

9. Raspberry Swirl Rolls

10. Hot Cross Whole Wheat Buns

11. Baked Egg in an Avocado

12. Egg in a Basket

13. Deviled Eggs Chicks

14. Bacon & Avocado Deviled Eggs

15. Cheese Walnut Scones

16. Easter Bunny Shaped Bread

2) Desserts and Sweets

Desserts & Sweets Easter Recipes

1. Cadbury Egg Inspired Triffle

2. Bird’s Nests

3. Tripple Berry Parfait

4. Chocolate Covered Strawberry ‘Carrots’

5. Easter Peeps Cookie Butter Cups

6. Salted Caramel Chocolates

7. Carrot Cake Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting

8. Mint Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Dip

9. Easter Egg Macarons

10. Lemon Almond Crinkle Cookies

11. Jello Easter Eggs with Vanilla Cream

12. Cocoa Krispies Egg Nests

13. Strawberry Banana Ice Cream

14. Egg Shaped Whoopie Pies

15. Banana Pudding Tiramisu

16. Cheesecake Filled Chocolate Easter Eggs

3) Cakes and Cupcakes

Cakes & Cupcakes Easter Recipes

1. The Best Caramel Cake

2. Adorable Easter Cupcakes

3. Chocolate Brownies with Spinach and Carrots

4. Rainbow Cake

5. Easter Basket Cupcakes

6. Easy Lemon Bars

7. Buttermilk Banana Bread

8. Lemon Meringue Delight Cake

9. Vanilla Cream Pie

10. Ferrero Rocher Deluxe Cake

11. Lemon-Ginger Bundt Cake

12. Coconut Lemon Bread

13. Banana Split Brownie Pie

14. Easter Chocolate Cake

15. Carrot Cake Poke Cake

16. Cornmeal-Almond Cake with Strawberries and Mascarpone

4) Decoration

Decoration

1. Spring Centerpieces with Blue Eggs & Daffodils

2. Cute Easter Wreath

3. Easter Brunch Entertaining Ideas

4. Spring Tulip and Cabbage

5. Pink Roses and Eggs

6. Easy Easter Table Setting

7. Spring Easter Table Setting with Daffodil and Moss Centerpiece

8. Colorful Easter Table

9. Easy Easter Wreath

 

I hope you like my little collection!!

 

Happy Easter to all of you!!

~ Kathrin

Peanut Butter Cups

Peanut Butter Cups
Peanut Butter Cups

Hey there!

How are you? My ‘vacation’ time that I spent at my parents house is over and I am back in working mode. There will be more exams soon!! I am not looking forward to that – but at least those will be the last ones I have to write for my Masters Degree.

Peanut Butter Cups like Reese's

Let’s talk about more pleasant topics. Reese’s peanut butter cups! I have heard so much about them but never actually tried one of my own until January, when a friend of mine returned from a trip to New York. She took several packages with her because she liked them so much!! I have read a lot about them on all the american food blogs I read – you clearly can’t read those blogs without stumbling on them 😉 In Germany it is very difficult to get Reese’s at all. I could imagine that they are sold on the internet, but it never felt important enough for me to try. But still: sweet peanut butter and chocolate together sounded fantastic!!

So when I tried my first Peanut Butter cups I just thought: Luckily I don’t have a whole package, they are addictive!

Last week my friend celebrated her birthday and I wanted to give her something made by myself. I knew she already ate up all her peanut butter cups and I have read that it was not so difficult to make those on my own, so I just tried! I think they went really well!! All the taste testers said they liked them very much! I used dark chocolate which seems to be a little less sugary then the one used in the original one and also the chocolate was hard after the 1,5 hours the cups sat on the balcony to set. I guess you could whisk a little bit of cream into the chocolate to make it a little softer if you want the cups to be more like the originals, but I liked them the way they were!!

Here is the recipe:

 

Peanut Butter Cups like Reese’s

Peanut Butter Cups like Reese's

Peanut Butter Cups like Reese's

 

 

 

 

 

 

Peanut Butter Cups like Reese'sPeanut Butter Cups like Reese's

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ingredients:

100g peanut butter smooth

50g   butter, softened

30g  powdered sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla sugar

400g Kouvertüre Zartbitter (dark chocolate)

about 25 small paper cups (mini muffins cups)

Peanut Butter Cups like Reese's

Directions:

1. Melt chocolate in a double boiler with 25g butter.

2. Prepare your piping bag or like I used a frosting plastic bag. I just used a big glas and secoured the bag with with a rubber band.

3. Prepare filling: Whisk peanut butter and the other 25g of butter until well combined. Add the sugars. Mix very well.

4. Pour chocolate into plastic bag and twist the end of the bag so that no chocolate can come out. You can see this on the pictures!

5. Cut one tiny edge of the plastic bag and pipe a little bit of chocolate (just as much as you need to cover the bottom) into the paper cups.

6. Place some peanut butter mixture into the middle of the paper cup. Pour more chocolate on top.

7. Let it sit for at least 45 min. It sets quicker when you put the peanut butter cups somewhere cold like on the balcony in winter. I had some chocolate left which I just piped onto some aluminium foil and let it harden. Next time I need chocolate I just melt it again.

8. Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from Lidl Germany

Peanut Butter Cups like Reese's

~Kathrin

Irish Brown Soda Bread for St. Patrick’s Day

Irish Brown Soda Bread for St. Patrick’s Day
Irish Brown Soda Bread for St. Patrick’s Day

Happy St. Paddy’s Day to all of you!!

Irish Brown Soda Bread recipe

 

I am Irish by heart. 

That is what I am saying to those people that ask me if I’m Irish because of my naturally red hair, my name, or the west cork accent I get when I spend more then 2 days in Ireland.

 

I am Irish by heart.

I have stopped counting on how many times I have been on the green isle yet. It must be around 15… My very first time was in 2000 with the band of the music club of my hometown. It was kind of part of an official visit with our town being twinned to a town in south Ireland. We were a big group and we were so very welcomed by the people living in our twincity. We ate together, we drank together and we did a lot of celebration. I was only 11 years old when I went to Ireland for the very first time, but I left a piece of my heart there which made me come back again and again…

 

I am Irish by heart.

I love flying. I really do! But when the plane breaks through the foggy clouds and I spot the green rectangle gras fields with the borders of stone walls, it takes my breath away. And when the luck is with me I can see thick sunrays breaking through the clouds highlighting spots on the ground so that it looks like the leprechauns want to show me where they hide their pots of gold… I get emotional, I have butterflies in my tummy and it just feels sooo right… 

IT FEELS LIKE COMING HOME…

Ireland from the plane

 

I am Irish by heart!

I have ‘my Irish family’ over there who take me in and take such good care for me all the times I need a place to stay or even if I don’t – they will pick me up from the hostel and invite me to their home. I am so very glad to have met them!! We have spent so many hours having a pint in the pub, talking about our lives, having good homemade food and of course having a cup of tea at all kinds of times, even late at nights when we just got home from being out in town. Thank you so much for being there, opening up your hearts and home and make me part of you family!

Also the two girls and two boys that spent time at our house in Germany, they are my irish brothers and sisters. I am wondering how they are and what they are doing and it is always nice to see each other again!

All the friends I found in Ireland… I am so happy to have met all of you!! And I am soo glad to be back and meet you all again in august!!

 

I am Irish by heart.

Paddys Day-1

I am struggeling to verbalize my feelings for this country that is so much more for me. I hope you get an impression of what I mean when I truelly say from the heart: I AM IRISH, at least by heart 😉

 

So I am bringing you one of my all time favourite irish foods for you: Brown Soda Bread. Every Irish mum knows how to make it, and so does mine too. I am also always buying some to take home! But since it isn’t a very difficult recipe at all I also make it at home from time to time. Because it is mostly whole grain wheat flour you use it is also healthy too! Try it yourself!!

 

Irish Brown Soda Bread

 

Irish Brown Soda Bread recipe

 

Ingredients:

3 cups coarse whole grain wheat flour

1 cup normal white wheat flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 3/4 cups buttermilk

50g soft butter or margarine (about 2 tablespoons)

1 egg

 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 180° C. Line one tray with baking parchment.

2. Put all the ingredients in your bowl. Mix gently (I used a handheld electric mixer with dough hook) but don’t overmix! The dough will be very soft.

3. Put the dough in the middle of your tray with the help of a rubber spatula. Make the spatula wet and form your dough into a round or oval. Dust with flour or oats. For the traditional look use a wet knife to cut a cross about 1 cm deep into the dough.

4. Put the tray into the oven. The bread is ready after 50 min.

5. If you want the shell soft like you get the bread in Ireland you just put the hot bread into a wet hand towel until it is cool or better overnight.

6. Enjoy!! The bread tastes best toasted with butter or whipped cream and jam. But also try it with Irish cheese or smoked salmon!

 

Note: Irish brown soda bread usually has a nutty taste that comes from the coarse whole grain flour. In Germany you can’t get the right kind (usually all whole grain flours are milled very finely) so you have to ask to get your flour milled more coarsly. Toasting brings out the nuttyness even more!

DSC_0033

~Kathrin

Simple Everyday Couscous Salad

Simple Everyday Couscous Salad
Simple Everyday Couscous Salad

Hello everybody!!

simple everyday couscous salad with tomatoes and cucumber recipe

I hope you are great, all of you? Well, I took some time off to have my second birthday party with my family and friends at home. Then I did a whole lot of nothing, resting my brain from all the work 😉 But now I am back again!! Ready to show you some more food and stories and finally being creative again! 🙂 Last night I had a great time with my godchild. She always wanted to do a sweet yeast bread with poppy seeds on her own, so we just made a date and did it!! It was very much fun and the two braided buns turned out beautifully, too!! Of course everyone had to make their own. I would love to show you a picture, but I was so very clever to bring only my camera and not my charger to my parents house and we already took too many pictures at the wild animal park we went as a family last sunday. Well, things happen 😉

With a little luck my godchild remembered to take a picture of hers when she got back to her house!! But I can’t promise. At least I can say it wasn’t very difficult at all, so maybe  I will make it again soon with proper pictures! To round up the evening we had a lot of fun eating pasta with pesto, watching Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix in English  and laughing about the silliest scens and of course – trying the first pieces of our sweet bread!! It tasted as good as it looked!

 

Today I have a recipe of a couscous salad for you. Well, it is not any couscous salad!! As I already told you, I live in a flat with two other girls – and this is what we eat a lot. And I really mean A LOT!!! We eat it on mondays or tuesdays, for lunch or for dinner, together or seperately – just all the time!! It is soooo very quick and definitly way too delicious to not been eaten at least twice a week!! I also take it to university if I don’t have time to eat at home which works perfectly too.

I don’t want to keep you in the loop any longer!! Here you go:

 

Simple Everyday Couscous Salad

simple everyday couscous salad with tomatoes and cucumber recipe

Ingredients:

2 cups couscous (the easy cooking type)

4 cups boiling water

2 tea-bags (about 6-8g, or as much as you want) of mint tea – fresh might be better, but that’s all we have on hand in winter

2 teaspoons of granulated vegetable broth

1/2 cucumber (Salatgurke in German)

3-4 big tomatoes (or the equivalent in small ones)

200g feta cheese (in Germany that is one package)

about 8 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar

6 tablespoons olive oil

Salt, Pepper

optional: 1 bell pepper

 

directions:

1. Put couscous, mint, vegetable broth and hot water into your salad bowl. Stir a little bit with a fork, then let sit for 10 minutes.

2. Cut cucumber, tomatoes, feta cheese and bell pepper into squares.

3. If the water is soaked up by the couscous already, loosen up with a fork. If not, just wait a little bit more and then go on. Put the vegetables and feta into your bowl and continue loosing up the mixture.

4. Season with salt and pepper, be careful with the salt as the feta already is salty. Pour olive oil and balsamic vinegar over the salad and mix well. Have a taste! We never measure olive oil or vinegar, we just go on taste. So if you feel you need more of anything, just add it. I like a little tingling from the vinegar on my tounge 😉

5. Enjoy lukewarm or cold!! We usually eat this as a whole meal, but it would be great as a side dish or at a barbecue too!!

simple everyday couscous salad with tomatoes and cucumber recipe

~Kathrin

Buttermilk Banana Bread – Birthday Cake No.1

Buttermilk Banana Bread – Birthday Cake No.1
Buttermilk Banana Bread – Birthday Cake No.1

Hello everybody!

Buttermilk Banana Bread Recipe

So last wednesday was my birthday! I am 26 years old now.

Some of you may think: Oh my, this is very old, and some might think: I hope I was that young again 😉 For me age is not important at all! I just don’t care! I am living with the lines of: You’re always as old as you feel!! I have good friends that are a lot younger or older than me, and I also had bad friends who were the same age. In my opinion age does not tell you i you are on the same wavelength, so it doesn’t count!

Last wednesday I had a little birthday party. I like having birthday parties, because I like to cater for friends and family!! This year I had to stay in the city where I’m studying, so I could not celebrate with my family. I will do this the next time I am at my parents house! I invited friends from university and the choir I’m singing in. 10 friends came, celebrated and had cake with me! Everybody liked the cakes a lot, and we had lots of fun!!

Those were the cakes:

Birthday Cakes Collage

So after we ate and drank our cups of coffee and tea we went to the choir room and to the practice.

When I planed this little celebration I thought about baking two cakes and a batch of cookies. In the morning on my birthday I was very spontaneos and just baked one more, while the second one was in the oven. What I did was this Buttermilk Banana Bread! And I have to say – I liked all the cakes very much, but the banana bread just was the best!! I didn’t expect it to be at all, but I really really liked it. It was very moist and sooooo flavorful!! I didn’t think it would taste so much like banana 🙂 I even think about making it again for the big party with the family!!

I asked you on facebook, which of the three cakes you wanted to see on the blog today and you decided for my favorite one!! Great decision 🙂

But all the cakes were liked very much, everybody had their own favorite. Before the party I thought I baked way too much, but when I wanted to take the rest to the choir practice I was very surprised that there wasn’t much left! There is now better way of showing approval i guess 😉

So here comes the recipe for

Buttermilk Banana Bread

adapted from Two Peas And Their Pod

Buttermilk Banana Bread5Buttermilk Banana Bread4

 

Ingredientes:

115g (1/2 cup) butter, softened

190g (1 cup) sugar (I used selfmade vanilla sugar – but you could add 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract instead)

2 eggs

1 cup mashed banana (it is best if they already have brown sprinkles on their skin)

6 tablespoons buttermilk

200g (1 3/4 cups) flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon baking soda

optional for glaze:

1-2 tablespoons powdered sugar

1-2 teaspoons milk

 

Directions:

1. Grease and maybe flour a big loaf pan, set aside. Preheat oven on 160°C (350° F).

2. First cream the butter in a bowl with a hand mixer for a bit, then add the sugar and whisk until well incorporated and creamy. Mix eggs in. Add mashed bananas, if used vanilla extract and buttermilk and mix the batter well

3. Now add flour, baking powder, salt and soda and mix on very slow speed. When all the white stuff is gone you can move on to a higher speed for a minute.

4. Put the batter into the loaf pan and then into the oven. Bake for approx. 60 minutes. When a toothpick comes out clean, it is ready.

5. Get the loaf pan out of the ofen and let it cool for 20 minutes. Then run a knife along the edges and loosen the bread. Put it out of the pan and onto a rack to cool completely. If you want you can decorate the cake with a little bit of glaze like I did. Just mix powdered sugar and the milk bit by bit until you have the consistency you like!

6. Enjoy – preferably with a lot of friends!! I can’t say how long it stays this beautifully moist because it was gone in a day!!

Buttermilk Banana Bread2

~Kathrin