Our Kitchen: International Recipes

Homemade Brown Sugar in Germany

August 10th, 2010

I don’t buy brown sugar in the United States anymore. It began because I couldn’t find brown sugar in Germany.

Now I suspect one of the biggest uses for brown sugar in the United States is making homemade chocolate chip cookies. A many of you know, I haven’t had the best of luck giving away chocolate chip cookies to Germans. But their dislike certainly couldn’t keep me from baking chocolate chip cookies on particularly homesick late nights like this one in May…

Vegetarian Tacos

July 20th, 2010

Taco night has to be one of our favorites in the US. It’s really easy to find local ingredients like salsa, lettuce, and tortillas. Plus it’s fast and inexpensive.

We just add a little twist I came up with when Martin and I were first married:

textured vegetable protein instead of ground meat

You can find textured vegetable protein (also called “tvp” on some packages) in Germany and the US. It’s a dried soy product. You mix it with water, add spices, salsa, peppers, and tomatoes, and it’s good to go. I always warm it on the stove as I add ingredients.

The Decluttering Project : In the Pantry

May 21st, 2010

Would your family eat the food item buried the absolute furthest and deepest in your pantry?

I think today is the day to find out! Today’s the day for decluttering your pantry. Three cheers if the item in the back of your pantry is chocolate! But if it’s not chocolate, well it’s time to roll up your sleeves. I’m taking The Decluttering Project into the pantry.

Popcorn on the Stovetop

May 4th, 2010

Popcorn has to be one of the greatest nighttime snacks. We’ve been making ours on the stovetop for a couple of years. There’s no going back to microwave popcorn once you do.

It’s a fairly simple task that’s

Now I suppose you could always use an air popper to make popcorn. But if I were to buy something that large for our kitchen, I can think of about 10 things I’d chose first. After all, whatever large appliance I would pick would have to stay on our countertop 24/7. A one-function item just wouldn’t be my choice.

Our Favorite Convenience Food : It’s Not What You Think

April 22nd, 2010

Back when our kitchen was looking about like this:

Martin and I started looking for a lot of convenience foods.

We needed something that was quick to make. It couldn’t create a lot of dishes (I was using the bathroom sink), and it couldn’t require a lot of preparation area (I only had the top of our half-sized washing machine to work on). We ripped out the old stovetop, and then we needed to find foods that also didn’t require cooking.

Old Fashion Lemonade Recipe

April 15th, 2010

The spring showers that fell all day didn’t stop me from biking straight to the grocery store after swapping out my German school books for the empty bottles that needed to be recycled. In fact, I was absolutely soaked by the time I walked into the grocery store. There was no turning back. I’m back to Making This Home to show you why:

Yes – those are lemons that have been scrapped of every possible bit of juice. We’ve been making a liter of lemonade from scratch about once a week since spring hit. And oh my gosh – it is amazing stuff.