Last Tuesday I was cooking with my friend Lesley for her book club dinner. She decided to serve roasted veggie rice bake for the main dish and I suggested brown butter raspberry tart for dessert. This tart was one of the first recipes I ever blogged about almost three years ago. It is one of my family’s absolute favorite desserts, but unfortunately, the recipe got lost for all of you my readers during my blog move. This delectable cake has a perfect mixture of tart raspberries, and a sweet, crunchy, buttery short bread crust. The brown butter adds a nutty flavor to the berry filling.

As soon as my teens overheard that brown butter raspberry tart was being baked they wanted a tart as well. I promised them their own brown butter raspberry tart for the weekend. The pictures you see is of the cake my family enjoyed.

This brown butter raspberry tart would be an outstanding treat to bring to any Memorial day weekend get together. It is simple to make (no mixer necessary), keeps and travels well and will be gone in a flash since everyone just loves it!

Adapted from Bon Appétit  | June 2009.

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The other day, while shopping, I overheard a conversation in the produce department in which two costumers were trying to figure out what the name of a vegetable was they had never bought and cooked with. I was astonished to see they were talking about leeks. In the German or French cuisine fresh leeks are a kitchen staple and spring time offers you some of the best leeks to choose from. Leek is a vegetable from the allium family. I would call it the milder tasting cousin of the onion and garlic. You can usually find leeks in my fridge. I like to mix them with other veggies for roasting or sauté them for stir fries.

In this savory leek quiche the leek gets sautéed with ground beef.  In my search of dinners to prepare ahead this quiche was a welcome variation to my traditional Quiche Lorraine which is prepared with bacon. I prefer to make my own pie crust, but if you are short on time a store bought one will be just fine. Serve this savory leek quiche alongside some fresh butter lettuce salad for a tasty weeknight dinner.

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Hamburgers were on the menu the other night and I wanted to bake my own hamburger buns this time. To me the store bought ones always look pretty sad. These Kaiserrolls with poppy seeds were very easy to prepare. I got the inspiration from Linda, That Skinny Chick can bake. Mine are not as pretty as hers, Linda is the ueber baker!!, but they sure taste fantastic. Try to make the time to prepare Kaiserrolls with poppy seeds yourself for your next barbeque. They are light, airy, and will for sure be a huge hit with everybody. The taste difference between the home-baked and store bought buns is just unbelievable. Home-baked  Kaiserrolls with poppy seeds will beat store  bought ones any time.

Adapted from Linda @ that skinny chick can bake.

Similar rolls like these Broetchen can be purchased at any bakery in Germany. There they aren’t sweet and the consistency is a little different, too. This Kaiserroll recipe reminds me more of a Brioche roll. I personally enjoy a fresh baked  Broetchen with butter and marmalade for breakfast.

Again: The technique for making rosette shaped rolls like mine  can be seen on this you-tube video. It is super easy, just needs a little practice.

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Listen to this conversation I overheard in the kitchen between my hubby and our daughter while I took the pictures for this post:
D: I am hungry, dad. What’s for lunch?
H: As soon as mom is done you can eat the photo shoot.
LOVING IT!! This is not an unusual scenario at my house, since I often try to shoot a dish, before it hits the table and is vanished in minutes. I am sure my food blogger friends know exactly what I am talking about and everybody else will probably think, well, that is very strange. I know, and I totally understand. It is a little odd. I think (hope) that after three years of this (nonsense?) my family has gotten used to it by now. Thanks, I love you, too!

My daughter got to eat this bowl of soup and the Panini that day and luckily I made enough to store some in the freezer for days like today. It is the first of May and it snowed again, so this will be the perfect dinner to warm us up. This soup has been a kitchen staple at my house for many years now and always puts a smile on everybody’s face. Not just honey, but also thyme accompanies the tomatoes in this soup very well. I like to serve it with a simple Gruyere Panini, but any other grilled cheese you may prefer would be fantastic, too.

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I am all for a quick and easy dinner, especially after running errands and kids around all day. A tasty dish waiting for me, ready to be served when we get home – that’s the one I am talking about. This 505 Southwestern Roasted Chiles chicken fits the bill. A one pot meal, slow-cooked or prepared in the oven, however you prefer it. Only two ingredients are necessary: organic chicken and 505 Southwestern Roasted Chiles Sauce. Make sure to save this quick and easy recipe to serve for a healthy dinner on your next hectic weeknight.

Find more recipes and important info regarding 505 Southwestern and all their tasty sauces here.

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Kaiserschmarrn is a true staple in the Viennese cuisine. Literally translated it means emperor’s nonsense, but looking at the dish you can probably easily see that we are talking about shredded pancakes. Kaiserschmarrn originated in the kitchens of the poor and is a dish that often uses up left overs pancakes. It contains rum soaked raisins in the batter, is served with some fruit on the side and dusted with powdered sugar.

The Kaiserschmarrn in the picture was actually prepared by my son. It was a project for his German class in High School. Why was an Austrian dish chosen? Well, that is a good question. I assume that most American guests visiting Germany end up touring only the southern part of the country (Bavaria) which shares a lot of traditions, also reflected in the food, with the neighboring country of Austria.   Therefore it is probably assumed that the served dishes are German. The students were paired in teams and my son and his partner picked a Kaiserschmarrn recipe that resulted in a very light and airy pancake, since all the egg whites are beaten separately and folded into the batter right before frying. It took him a while to separate all the eggs (he tripled the recipe), but since he has been preparing waffles (at first under the supervision of my husband) on Sundays since he was a very little boy, he did just fine. I have to say that both of my teens are very handy in the kitchen and that I am very proud of them. Did you ever have the chance to try out Nico’s favorite yeast waffles? They are outstanding!

Kaiserschmarrn can not only be served as dessert but also as a main course. I think my kids would be very happy coming home to Kaiserschmarrn as their dinner once a week. Surprise your family with something old, but somehow new. Kaiserscmarrn, a new pancake dish from the old world will have everybody raving.

If you have to prepare Kaiserschmarrn for a bigger crowd or try to prepare the dish ahead, which my son had to do, since he wasn’t able to serve the finished dish right away, just set your oven on warming and keep your prepared Kaiserschmarrn in a covered casserole dish until needed. Sprinkle with powdered sugar after a portion of the Kaiserschmarrn is placed on the actual serving plate. In my son’s case, he kept the finished dish in the warming oven and the mom taxi delivered the Kaiserschmarrn in a portable warming container to High School  right before German class started. (The mom cab actually went to the High School four times that day to accommodate individual pick up times and deliveries.)

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Living in or close to Denver you are probably familiar with the very popular Kitchen Table Cooking School. The five year old cooking school moved into a new location  in Greenwood Village, just a few minutes from their old place. It was my pleasure to be invited to tour the brand new facility, meet with the owner Yvonne Haag,  talk to her staff, and taste some of the chefs creations.

In its completely new, state-of-the art kitchens, Kitchen Table Cooking School will continue to offer the same qualities that made them so popular in the old location: experienced, engaging instructors, high-quality ingredients, small class sizes, no more than two people to a cooking team, and of course, the same emphasis on the joy of cooking.

The new space will also be home to a brand-new professional culinary school, Colorado Culinary Academy. Colorado Culinary Academy will offer a 12-week, affordable, accelerated – yet comprehensive –professional culinary program, designed so students can put their culinary education to work right away, without the financial burden of a longer, more expensive program. The first Colorado Culinary Academy session will begin on Sept. 3. Applications are being considered right now. The Academic Director will be Chef Andy Floyd,  previously of Culinary School of the Rockies and Cook Street School of Fine Cooking. Interested? Well, I know that I would LOVE to attend! Find more info here.

Espressolé Caffe also made the move to the new place. It has a beautiful bright and comfortable sitting area upstairs.

Espressolé Caffe offers unique artisan coffees, espresso and tea blends as well as delicious snacks and light meals baked right in their own kitchen every day.

Contact info:

Kitchen Table Cooking School, Colorado Culinary Academy and Espressolé Caffe are located at 6380 S. Fiddler’s Green Circle, #108A, Greenwood Village, Colorado 80111. For more information, visit http://coloradoculinaryacademy.org/ or call them at 303.220.9769.

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Happy Birthday to my best boy ever, Kajo. He is ten years old today and he got his Birthday wish, his favorite, more snow. When we went to the breeder to pick a puppy ten years ago almost all of the dogs were already taken, but they were still all there for us to meet. My kids picked another dog that was still available, but Kajo picked me.

As soon as we entered the huge outdoor enclosure where they were kept, he started following me around. His eyes were a little droopy and he was a lot calmer than his brothers and sisters. I fell in love with him right there. It took a little to convince my kids that he was the puppy we should take home and not the one they had picked; but I succeeded. We could not have found a smarter and sweeter dog than Kajo. He still is my boy and is usually found close by my side. Happy Birthday Kajo. I love you.

Thanks to my wonderful family for our lovely Birthday cake. Yes, Kajo and I share the day. Isn’t that just perfect?

I also would like to announce the winner of the Muy Bueno cookbook giveaway. Congratulations Amanda Thompson. Thanks everybody for participating.

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If spring won’t come to use, we will just go and get it ourselves. That is the motto of the week at my house, especially after waking up to balmy 1°F (- 17 °C) this morning. What can I say? Springy pea cakes exceeded our expectations. I prepared them for my kids as a healthy snow day lunch yesterday afternoon. The pea pancakes are very light and moist. They contain cottage cheese, lots of peas and scallions. I served them with smoked wild caught salmon on top. My kids LOVED them. I baked some smaller and some larger cakes. The smaller pea pancakes would be perfect to serve as appetizers for guests. Springy pea cakes are a keeper! Don’t miss out and prepare them very soon at your house.

Adapted from my copy of the magazine Bon Appetit | April 2013.

I also wanted to thank OXO for supplying me with some very useful new eggcellent egg kitchen tools: the 3-in-1 egg separator, the omelet turner and the egg beater. In this recipe the OXO omelet turner came in very handy for flipping my springy pea cakes. The flexible head allowed the turner to easily glide under the entire pancake. Like an omelet these pancakes are light, airy, but also pretty fragile. Thanks a lot OXO!

If you are in need for some functional, dish washer safe, and easy to use new kitchen tools, please, head on over to OXO and have a look.

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If you like Mexican food you are in for a treat today. I have one copy of the cookbook Muy Bueno to give away to one lucky blog reader. Muy Bueno is the recipe collection and collaborate work of my Denver blogger friend Yvette Marquez-Sharpnack, her sister Veronica Gonzalez-Smith, and their mother Evangelina Soza.

All three were born and raised in El Paso, Texas. They learned to cook from their grandmother and mother, Jesusita Mendias-Soza, whose hospitality and irresistible Mexican recipes were legendary among family and friends. They started the Muy Bueno Cookbook blog to celebrate and preserve their family’s special culinary heritage. The Muy Bueno cookbook brings to you a recipe collection of their family’s best Mexican comfort food.

I am featuring one recipe from the cookbook Muy Bueno for you today, potatoes with Mexican chorizo, which I served with pinto beans, some eggs, and a simple green salad as a tasty weeknight dinner the other day.

Today you have the chance to win a copy of the cookbook Muy Bueno (value of $ 15.00)  featuring some of  the best  Mexican recipes out there. Yvette gave me an extra copy to give to one of my US blog readers.

Muy Bueno Cookbook Giveaway:

1. Share this cookbook giveaway with your friends via the social media of your choice. Let me know in the comment section how you shared it and that you would like to win.

2. For a second entry leave a comment beneath this post and let me know how you follow my blog.

2. For additional winning options (to be left in a separate comment) follow my page via email, Facebook,  Google+ or Pinterest.

The giveaway will be open until Friday 4/12/2013  12.00 pm MST. The winner will be picked through random.org and announced on Saturday 4/13/2013.

Good luck!

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