I've Moved!

I decided to combine my food blogging with my life blogging to create one big happy blog. You can find all of these delicious recipes and hilarious disasters over at www.thehofreiters.com! So don't be shy, come on over and see what we have going on. 

The Hofreiters

Banana Nutella "ice cream"

Holy cow I love Pinterest. I mean honestly is there anything on that website that I don't want to craft, test, cook, or buy? NOPE, not a dang thing. So of course that is where I found this recipe. It was pinned from this blog.

Nutella "Ice cream"

Ingredients: 6 bananas and 1 cup of Nutella. And that is all folks. Easiest treat ever.

Blend all of the ingredients until smooth and then freeze, either all together in a freezer safe container or in Popsicle molds.

The texture of this treat is really better suited for use as a Popsicle than to be scooped like ice cream, but either way it is delicious!

Also be careful with your blender, if you have a cheap crappy old one like I did mash up the bananas a little before you put them in. I ended up killing the motor on my blender making this and had to throw it away, because it was smoking for a while and then wouldn't turn back on. So be careful. 

Homemade tortillas

Over the weekend I had my family over dinner. I figured it was only appropriate, they helped us move all of our stuff and feed us just about every weekend so it was time for us to to feed them for once.

We had fajitas for dinner and I decided to make homemade tortillas for the first time. It was pretty easy and super tasty. I even got to purchase a new ingredient that I had never used before... 

You know you're really cookin' when you break out the lard!

I used a pretty simple recipe that I found on Pinterest. Their tortillas are much prettier than mine were, I kept burning them a little. I couldn't quite get the temperature of the skillet right, I think that will take some practice. I should also maybe try to not do three other things while making tortillas. 

Thankfully I had my brother helping me. He rolled the dough balls and then rolled the balls out into tortillas and I fried them. 

I forgot to take pictures of the tortillas on the night we had them so these are leftover tortillas. They don't look as good leftover, and to be honest I'm not sure I really cooked them right. But they tasted good either way and no one died, which is all that really matters.

There's nothing like good Polish food

One thing that I do like about our apartment is how close it is to an incredible Polish restaurant, Polonia. I'll admit it's the only Polish food I've ever had, so I'm no Polish expert, but this place is definitely worth driving to Longwood for.

I've been for dinner a few times and for lunch once. When I went for lunch the special was a turkey BLT on homemade challah, with a side of homemade chicken noodle soup, even the noodles were homemade.

Even just looking at that terrible cell phone picture makes me drool. They make the best breads at Polonia. 

When I've been for dinner I've tried several things on the menu, I'll list those below. Unfortunately I don't have any other pictures, I'm always way too excited to eat the food that I forget to photograph it.

The beef goulash is probably my favorite dish, which I've gotten with kluski noodles and with mashed potatoes (my preference). The beef is tender and has a really flavorful sauce/gravy, it practically melts in your mouth.

The chicken cutlets are pan fried and come with a nice herb butter, which I like to mix in with the mashed potatoes so the breading on the chicken doesn't get wet, I can't handle soggy breading. Then you have buttery herb potatoes to go with your crispy chicken cutlet, it's very good.

Polonia is only the second place I have ever had Blintzes, Too Jays being the other, and they were the best ones I've ever had. They are so delicate and creamy and they come with fresh strawberry sauce, that I'm sure was also homemade just like everything else they serve.

I am not a huge cabbage fan but their stuffed cabbages are pretty good, and you get a choice of red sauce or mushroom sauce on top. I've only tried the mushroom sauce and it was really good. I love mushrooms and pretty much anything with mushrooms as the primary ingredient.

They also have AMAZING dessert. The lemon mascarpone cake is beyond fantastic. I've gotten a piece every single time I've been there and this year my mom ordered a whole cake for my birthday, it's just THAT GOOD!

We will definitely keep going to Polonia after we move, but I will miss being so close. Polonia is worth the drive no matter where you live, map it out and make a plan, you won't be disappointed.

Moving is really cramping my style

With only ELEVEN days left until Christopher and I move into OUR first house, almost all of our stuff is packed. There are so many boxes, it's like living in a maze. 

All of my beautiful baking supplies are packed, all of our glasses are packed, pantry goods are packed, cake pans are packed, rice cooker is packed, even most of our gadgets are packed. We pretty much only have tervis tumblers, plates, silverware, two wooden spoons and a couple of pans left out. It's depressing. There won't be any real cooking for a while. 

So instead of cooking, we've started drinking mimosas out of plastic cups, because we are super classy like that. Be jealous.

Oreo Truffles

I love chocolate, like a lot. So when my mom made Oreo Truffles for a family dinner I had to go to Publix on the way home to buy the stuff I needed to make them myself. They are so good and only have three ingredients, it is my go to last minute treat.

The goods

1 package Oreo cookies

1 8oz package of cream cheese - softened 

1 package of semi sweet chocolate chips to melt or 2 packages of semi sweet bakers chocolate squares

(see recipe for exact instructions)

Put the whole package of Oreos in in a food processor and turn those cookies into crumbs. 

Mix the crumbs and softened cream cheese together and then roll into 1in balls. 

Put a toothpick into the balls and freeze them for a few min to make sure they will stay on the sticks. Then dip into the melted semi sweet chocolate.

Let dry completely on parchment paper. 

You can also try rolling them in things like, cookie crumbs, sprinkles, nuts, coco powder... but I'm just not that fancy. Or maybe it's that I'm lazy... either way, they are delicious anyway you make them.

What's your drink?

I don't to a lot of drinking, but when I do I am pretty picky. I don't really like beer, but I have decided that some of the ciders aren't bad. Normally when I go out for a drink I prefer a Margarita or a Gin Rickey to beer or other liquors; however over the weekend I went to a really casual bar downtown, where I'm pretty sure I would have looked ridiculous drinking either one of those things, so I decided to get a cider to try and blend. 

The cider they had was Strongbow, in a can... it felt a little trashy and kind of trendy so... when in Rome. 

What is your favorite drink when you are out? Do you have different drinks for different occasions?

Pinterest

Oh goodness, Pinterest is amazing. It has so many delicious recipes I want to try. We are in the middle of packing our whole lives up so we can move into our new house, but once we are there I plan to get working on some of the things I've found. I just thought I'd share a few things I'm interested in trying.

Salisbury Steak

Apple pie baked in apples

Homemade oatmeal cream pies

Banana pudding pie

A pie inside a cake

Try not to drool. If you need more inspiration check out my Yummy Food Pinterest board!

Magical Coke Machine

I have a thing for Coke. I'm a southern girl, in my house will we always drink Coke not Pepsi. A while ago I heard some rumors and read some things about a crazy cool Coke soda fountain where you could use the touch screen to design a drink from over one hundred different choices. It was so cool, and figured they would only be in bigger trendier cities, but then I went to Firehouse subs for a quick sub on my way to work one day and there it was, the holy grail of Coke machines. I almost squealed in public. I held up the line just to take a picture. I think everyone there thought I was a little nuts, but I didn't even care, I was too excited.

I am pretty boring, I just get either regular coke or cherry coke, so the options are pretty much wasted on me. What would you get?

Date night at home

Christopher and I have been trying to have more date nights in. Not only does it save money, but we are both super annoyed by crowds. Decent restaurants are always so busy on the weekends and with his current work schedule we can't go out during the week. We have a great butcher in town (Cavallari Gourmet) that sells prepared sides and gourmet grocery items as well as meat. For date nights in we usually go to Cavallari's to get a filet to share, their seasoned asparagus and sometimes we get their loaded mashed potatoes. Last time we had date night in we got a filet, asparagus, and then I made mushrooms.

It was delicious and so much less expensive than going out for steak, not to mention we got to just be together without any screaming kids out passed their bedtimes, or having to wait for a refill, or sitting at a crappy table next to the kitchen door. I really love spending time with Christopher and that is more important than what we are eating or where we eat it.

Our total cost of dinner was:
Filet $7.50
Asparagus $3.99
Mushrooms $2.99
I already had butter, olive oil, and dried spices on hand.

Total: $14.48

Beef Stroganoff

My mom makes some of the most delicious food I've ever eaten. The only problem with all of that delicious talent she has is that it isn't documented. The kitchen witch just waves a spoon and dinner is ready. I don't understand how it happens, and lord knows I've tried to replicate that spoon waving.

One of my very favorite dishes in the whole world is beef stroganoff. I mean what could be better, slices of steak, mushrooms, creamy sauce, and noodles... it is the best. Beef stroganoff is one of the things my mom makes with no recipe. When I called her to ask her how to make it she kept saying things about spoonfuls and stirring until it turns a certain color and about this much of this and that and who the heck knows what else. I think I was more confused about how to make it after I asked. Anyway, it took me three tries before I got it how I like it. The first try I messed up the rue and then it just went to hell after that, we ended up going out to eat that night. The second time it was a little bit runny but the flavor was just right. The third time it was great, perfect texture, perfect flavor, perfect meal. It was so good I haven't dared to make it again. I've just decided to monitor my parents pantry when I'm over there and when my mom has all the supplies to make it, I'm just going to invite myself to dinner.

Strawberry Mouse Cake

Over the weekend my whole family got together to celebrate some birthdays, we do this kind of thing every single month. Between the 30ish of us there are so many birthdays that we have to double and triple up to celebrate. This month we celebrated my mom and my cousin Elicia. My mom hosts all of the birthday dinners at her house for my dad's side of the family, and since it was her birthday we went out to eat pizza at our family's favorite pizza place and then came back to her house for cake and presents. 

My brothers and I almost always make her birthday cake for her and this year she requested Strawberry Mouse Cake from Southern Living magazine. 

Photo: Iain Bagwell; Styling: Heather Chadduck and Caroline Cunningham

I used the photo from the Southern Living website because I want you to see what it could look like. I let my 16 year old brother frost our cake, so it was a little crooked and didn't have the fancy swirls in the frosting  like this cake does. It didn't effect the taste though I promise. 

This is our cake, we didn't even garnish it. How lazy is that?!

Honestly, this cake was delicious. I wasn't sure if I would like it or not because I don't like strawberries (I like the flavor just not the fruit) and this cake is bursting with berry goodness. The vanilla cake was so moist and had such a nice texture that I think I am going to start using that cake recipe as my new standard vanilla cake. The mouse and frosting were both packed full of strawberries and it was just a nice spring/summer dessert.

We did make one change to the recipe. The frosting calls for butter, powdered sugar, and fresh strawberries only, and I guess our berries weren't juicy enough because we were basically making noodles not frosting, so we added just a small splash of the whipping cream you need for the mouse and it was perfect. Definitely a cake I would make again. 

Turkey isn't just for Thanksgiving

In our house we make turkey several times a year. It is so simple that you don't need to save it just for Thanksgiving. It's so simple in fact that my husband usually makes our turkeys, and just to give you a reference point,  the man can't make taco meat with a store bought seasoning packet and explodes things in the microwave quite often, I'm working on teaching him some things.

I don't use fancy ingredients very often, mostly because I have a black thumb (I've killed several herb plants) and when I buy fresh herbs I never use them all and I hate wasting things, especially food. So until I get a better system for using herbs or I learn to water plants with some regularity we are stuck with the dried stuff from the store.

Super Easy Turkey

Ingredients

1 whole turkey

assorted spices (see step two for my favorites)

1 medium onion

1 lemon

olive oil or melted butter

1 Reynolds large oven bag

Step 1: Take the turkey out of the bag, get all the guys out (I don't use them for anything so I throw them away at this point, but that is up to you), rinse your turkey and set on a cutting board or large plate to hang out.

Step 2: Mix your spices in a small bowl. For this particular turkey I used a McCormick's Rosemary Roasted Chicken spice card, poultry seasoning, onion powder, garlic powder, kosher salt and black pepper. I don't measure the spices out but I start with about 2 tbs of poultry seasoning and I just mix stuff in until it smells good.

Step 3: Coat your turkey generously in olive oil or melted butter, then spoon the seasoning all over and rub it in. Make sure not to miss any spots. 

Step 4: Cut the onion and lemon in half, stuff them in the turkey cavity. I use tongs because the cavity kind of creeps me out. 

Step 5: Prepare your oven bag in a roasting pan. Just follow the instructions on the box. 

Step 6: Bake the turkey according to the instructions for the oven bag. Usually 2-3 hours depending on the weight of your turkey.

Step 7: Get the turkey out of the oven (check the temperature using a meat thermometer just to be sure it's done) take the turkey out of the oven bag and let rest for a few minutes, while you get a platter and a carving knife out. 

Step 8: Cut that beautiful bird up and enjoy. 

I would say over all hands on time will be about 30 - 40 minutes depending on how long it takes to get your spice mix just right and how quickly you cut the meat off the bones. I usually take about 20-25 to prep the bird and about 10 to carve. While it bakes you don't have to mess with it. That is the best part about the oven bags, no basting, no messing with cheesecloth or foil, just smelling the delicious scent of turkey and salivating, counting down the minutes until you can take a bite. 

Caprese salad skewers

My cousin Arie is getting married! So a couple of weeks ago I went to a bridal shower for his lovely fiance, Jessie. The shower was "stock the kitchen" themed. Each person was asked to bring a dish to share and the recipe so Jessie and Arie would have lots of new things to try in the kitchen. I decided to make Caprese salad skewers. I had seem them on Pinterest a few times and they looked simple enough for a party, plus I figured lots of people would bring casseroles and things like that to the shower so I wanted to bring something different. There were lots of casseroles, just as I had expected, and salads of the pasta and fruit varieties, but wouldn't know it, I try to be different and the only duplicate dish at the shower was caprese salad skewers. They are just that good (actually I wouldn't know how good they were because I don't like tomatoes unless they are cooked in something so I didn't taste them, but people ate them all so that's a good sign).

 Caprese Salad Skewers

Ingredients 

Grape tomatoes
Basil
Mozzarella
Balsamic Vinaigrette (I used Wishbone, but you could certainly make your own)
long toothpicks/small skewers

1. Cut Mozzarella into small cubes
2. If your basil leaves are large cut in halves or thirds
3. Place ingredients on skewers: Tomato, basil, mozzarella
4.Arrange on a serving tray
5. Drizzle with Balsamic Vinaigrette

(I forgot to take a picture after I drizzled the dressing on)