Schnitzel, garlic mashed potatoes, and baby green salad

ahhh, the quintessential German dish. Schnitzel :) Not Wiener Schnitzel - that is veal - but "panierte Schweineschnitzel" (breaded pork cutlets), It was an easy decision as we still had some pork cutlets in the freezer, and since everybody loves Schnitzel it was an easy decision. We also had potatoes, and salad - yay! For breading I always keep Panko breadcrumb in the house as it is - always read label - without whey, or milk. The potatoes I cooked in the pressure cooker along with a couple of garlic cloves. Mashed it all up, added some Earth Balance, dried parsley, salt, and a little bit of the water from cooking the potatoes. Let's just say it was a dinner success at our little house in Portland tonight. No leftovers :)

Eat your veggies stew...

this is the perfect meal to make with a bunch of different veggies. Today I made it with onion, garlic, green pepper, potato, sweet potato, carrot, can of diced tomatoes, and lacinato kale. Chicken broth, 13 bean mix - soaked overnight -, barley, chicken sausage, and sterallini - little pasta stars which are Mia Rosie's favorite :)

It always tastes a little different, but always good. Maybe I leave out the tomatoes next time I make it. Oh, and we ate it with fresh, no knead bread.

French Toast for Sunday Breakfast

I think that this is actually the very first time I have made French Toast. It is usually something Ron makes - but why not? We had pancakes yesterday for a late breakfast, so we needed something different :)

I adapted a recipe for basic French Toast which was on Allrecipies -> http://allrecipes.com/recipe/french-toast-i/ by using soy milk instead of cow, used 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/8 teaspoon of nutmeg, 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract, and about 1-1/2 tablespoons of honey. I served it with Earth Balance our vegan butter. Everybody loved their breakfast!

Simple Pasta...

...that was all tonight. OK - there were also apples, carrots, parmesiano reggiano, and gruyezer. The girlies - as usual - chose their pasta "naked" just olive oil, and Italian herbs - but they liked it. Oh, and can you tell that our guests left? Only four plates - we are sad that they had to go back to Europe today :( Just wish we would live closer together - oh well, that s what Happens when you live so far from home. OK - I shall not dwell on it...have a great weekend all. Thank YOU for reading :)

Good bye Portland dinner on Friday night for

our German guests at the Deschutes Brewery Pub in Northwest Portland. The Deschutes Pub is one of our favorite breweries to go to in downtown Portland.  Fantastic somewhat rustic atmosphere, good food, and great beer. A great place that captures some of the essence of the Pacific Northwest. All of us enjoyed dinner - this time the girls choose to have pepperoni pizza - of course without cheese, and a glass of root beer. Each lady finished her pizza down to the last crumb...

Just in case you missed it before - here is the link to Deschutes in the Pearl http://www.deschutesbrewery.com/locations/portland

Alena enjoying her pepperoni pizza, salad, and root beer :)

Rouladen for Dinner

Oh, so delicious. Beef slathered with mustarad, rolled up with Bacon slices, pickled red peppers, onions, and garlic. Served along side egg noodles, plenty of gravy, and a delicious salad. All made by my good friend just for us. Yummy!!!

P.S.: Can you see Mia Rosie in the background?

Not a single picture today

Really, I must disappoint. We were invited for dinner tonight at my friend's house. It was Not only delicious, but everything she made was also safe for the girlies. Cream of zucchini soup - made with Tofutti sour cream. And you so know, that the only reason the soup was made with Tofuttin instead of regular sour cream was because of our girlies. I am beyond grateful for kg. Really! Oh, and the there was also delicious pasta. Galactosemia friendly, but as you may have already guessed theladies ate their pasta plain with just olive oil. We brought dessert - Dairy free carrot cake feom Piece of Cake vor Alena, and blueberry pushup sorbet for Mia Rosie...What a wonderful evening with friends and family

A last hooray this winter break...

We had a lovely start into the New Year, and extended the winter break for one additional day :)  What did we do?  Well, let me start by telling me how we started our trip.

We started the trip with a stop at Kettleman's Bagel Shop in Southeast Portland.  Here are the lovely ladies, enjoying their breakfast.  Salt bagel, toasted but plain for Alena - and Salt bagel, not toasted but with plain Tofutti cream cheese for Mia Rosie...and never, ever toasted for Mia Rosie :)

Oh yes, and never ever with Tofutti for Alena :)

We left Portland, with filled tummies looking forward to our mini-trip to...to...now where did we go again? Can you guess? No, not wanting to play my game - OK - we went to a mini-vacation to the Oregon Coast. All of us love the beach, even if it is stormy as it was yesterday.  It is still so much fun!

We stayed in Canon Beach in a lovely hotel directly on the beach and the only view is to the mighty Pacific Ocean. Generally I do not find hotels to be as ideal for us as we travel.  There was however a fantastic pool which all of us loved, plus the beach right at our doorstep.  Can't beat that even if there were not so many food options for the girlies.  -  I did bring along some bread but not much more - dinner was OK.  The girls - as neither of them like fish that much - had fries, and shared a burger wrapped in lettuce.  Breakfast this morning was a little bit more challenging.  Luckily the little coffee shop had a couple of plain bagels left.  The shop owner, called the bakery so I could make sure they were Galactosemia safe :)  So breakfast this morning looked a little bit different...

bagel in bed while enjoying some OPB Kids :)

The girlies loved the bagels - toasted for Alena, and untested plain for Mia Rosie.  Quickly the batteries were recharged for some play time on the beach...

and after the beach...pool time followed by some time on the playground, before we headed back east to Portland.  On the way home, we introduced our guests from Germany to some great Sushi in Hillsboro at http://www.syun-izakaya.com/. So good - and Galactosemia safe food for our girlies :)

and tomorrow ?  Back to reality...the end of our fabulous winter break

Hopping' John is the first dinner of 2012

We just started a new tradition at our house for January 1st - in the tradition of the South we made black eyed peas. So delicious! I used a recipe by Emeril Lagasse found online http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/hoppin-john-recipe/index.html - instead of the chicken stock, I used vegetable stock. It tuned fantastic!!! Happy New Year!!!

Happy New Year!!!

Here is to a happy, healthy, and prosporous 2012 filled with love, joy, and peace. From our family to your family and yours. May you all have a wonderful 2012!