I have a soft spot for this particular recipe. It is the first thing I ever cooked for my husband- on our first date. It is so simple to make and you can spice it up by trying different marinara  sauces.

It is by far the most requested dish that I make.

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I am so glad that I am not afraid of trying dishes from other cultures. If I were then I would have never come across this wonderful Filipino dish.

It is a very simple dish made with chicken or pork, slow cooked in a mixture of soy sauce, vinegar, garlic, bay leaf, and pepper.

The chicken came out moist and had a wonderful color to it. Matt took it to work the next day for lunch and came back telling me that it was even better the next day for having been able to soak in more of the sauce.

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I make Spätzle at least once a week. I find that I can’t make Schnitzel without making them. There are certain dishes that Spätzle just belongs with with.

There are other reasons I like to make these noodles. I get to use my noodle press. The press has a lot of history. It is only one of two presses in our family that comes all the way from what was once East Germany. (My mother has the other one.) The press is large and if you aren’t used to it, a little unwieldy. It looks like it could be used as a torture device.

Spätzle is also one of the easiest German side dishes (or main course-Käse Spätzle for instance) I could possibly make.

Granted there does seem to be a period of trial and error regarding the dough and the cooking time. It’s taken me a year or two of constantly making them to get the consistency, firmness, and texture that I remember my mother’s Spätzle having.

This recipe is actually out of my mother’s first cookbook. It works wonderfully with a hand-held noodle press. (I am not sure how it would work with a press like the one found on a Kitchen Aide) And I know that it works reasonably well with a Schupfen Brett (a board and scrapper used to smooth, stretch and cut the noodles into the water) but I haven’t mastered that particular art yet.

Every time I make this dough it tends to turn out a little differently. It calls for either milk or water, I tend to use milk. I have been known to use heavy whipping cream which makes for a “fluffier” noodle. My Tante Bärbel (Tante=Aunt) makes hers with seltzer water.

The dough’s consistency varies every time I make it. Sometimes it is thin, and other times it is thick. This is perfectly alright. It entirely depends on what type of liquid you use. Water will make the dough thinner than milk.

The real key to making Spätzle is the cooking time. These noodles rise to the top when done, but I have found that if you wait 3 minutes or so after they’ve risen to the the top that the noodles will be completely done. (I tend to wait about 5 minutes.) And you have to shock them in cold water once you remove them.

You can make these in advance and either keep them warm in a covered heat safe dish in the oven (warm setting) until you need them or reheat them in the microwave when needed.

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So tonight we decided to make some Thai food. I don’t use the wok often so this was going to be a bit of an adventure for me.

Unfortunately when I went shopping for the ingredients this weekend I picked up rice noodles instead of glass noodles. It was a simple mistake on my part as I didn’t recall that glass noodles are actually made of bean threads and not rice. Even with the incorrect noodles I figured I should still give the recipe a go.

I made the Young Thailand Hot Sauce this morning to give it some time to rest. All I have to say is that if you aren’t used to heat, use this sparingly.

Overall I think the recipe was very easy to follow, even for a novice with the wok such as me. The key to it was definitely timing and being able to control the heat properly. Even with the change in noodles I think that the dish worked really well. I didn’t bother with the black fungus as I didn’t have the time to go to the local Asian market. I forgot to garnish with the red pepper at the end so it looked a little bland even with the green onion. It still tasted wonderful, and the the Young Thailand Hot Sauce gave it just enough kick.

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I made Penne with Sausage, Peppers & Tomato Sauce on Friday last week. It was one of the many recipes that I collected over the years from different magazines that I had yet to actually get into the kitchen to make. I am really glad that I decided to try this one.

I’m all about simplicity and this is the epitome of a simple Italian dish. I used Johnsonville Mild Italian sausage, the next time I may try the hot version. I only used two bell peppers, a yellow and a green. They added just the right texture. I may try using an orange pepper as well the next time I make it.

It saves well, though I haven’t tried to freeze it. I would imagine that the peppers would break down a bit too much and become really limp.

The recipe serves six (at least that is what they suggest) and I think this would make a wonderful meal to invite friends over for dinner. It really doesn’t take much time at all.

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*Family recipe handed down from Oma to Tante to Mom to me.

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*This recipe was sent to me by my mother in late 2006. She found it in a magazine while working in Germany, thus the recipe is written in grams. It was rather interesting that the actual recipe listed the butter with the Tbsp measurement.

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Lamb Ragu was the first dish I tried to make when I went on my lamb kick a few months ago that didn’t involve leftovers from Outback.

This was a surprisingly easy recipe to follow, and I always appreciate that. I didn’t use the mint as I am not a fan of the mint/lamb combination.
I was quite surprised to find that lamb is a relatively lean meat. It has a very distinct flavor and was very tasty in this dish.

I invited Carly and her husband over for dinner to be guinea pigs (meant kindly) and as far as I can tell the dish garnered enough approval to be added to my repertoire.

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I’m not sure this is the case with every Kitchen Goddess, would-be or fully realized, but it seems to me that there are certain foods/recipes that simply make us feel at peace. Fettuccine with Bolognese Sauce is one of those recipes for me.

I look forward to the prep work that is involved with anticipation the moment I decide that I am going to make it. From buying all the ingredients to the actual chopping. I’m not why this is. But it really does make me happy. My spirits rise and I usually end up bopping about the kitchen singing some random happy tune. And this is just during the prep stage which really only takes as long as chopping vegetables and the pancetta.

Then there is the smell that fills the kitchen when I actually start to cook. It’s absolutely heavenly. It comforts me. The moment I smell the combination of celery, carrots, onion and pancetta there can be no wrong in the world. Everything just seems right. It’s an amazing feeling.

I try to make this every other month or so. It makes so much that if I make it just for the two of us there will be enough leftovers to last at least three meals so I freeze a lot of it. Even if I just pull it out of the freezer and thaw it I am still filled with a sense of well being.

I can only hope that when others share this meal with me that they get the same sense of comfort that I do when I make it.

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