Monday, August 29, 2011

Ready to go

I've been slowly finding a use for all things from Germany (going back next week if you want me to keep an eye out for anything so you know if you should go...) and just used my Pillsbury Croissants.  It really is fun to pop open those cans...reminds me of making cinnamon rolls on the weekend (Will show you how to make those from scratch soon as well - my Grandma's recipe)

This was very simple to do. I wanted them cold but by the time I had the time to make them I was too hungry to wait.  I think they'd be better though.  You don't need a lot.  Even if you haven't made it to Konstanz, you can still find the croissant ready made dough here - I found mine at Migros, but imagine Coop would have it as well.

What you need:
Croissant dough
Pesto sauce
Tomato
Mozzarella cheese (not pictured, sorry)





Heat your oven to the specified temperature and roll out your dough.  Spread a thin layer of pesto on top.

Chop up your tomato and cheese (if not using shredded)

Put a small amount across the fat end of the dough and then roll it up starting from the long end.  Place the small end of the dough on the bottom while baking. Curve the ends in to make a crescent shape (I still need to work on this part a bit - or put less toppings inside).

Either refrigerate for a nice cool snack later or eat warm (just be careful of the hot tomato!).

I have also made these with just brie inside - they were very good! (eaten warm)



Sunday, August 28, 2011

Banana Bread

Today I made banana bread.  It has been so hot lately that it seems like almost as soon as I get the bananas home from the store, they start to turn brown.  Yes, I know they're still fine to eat, but I don't really want to. However - they are soon to be perfect for banana bread. The browner and gooey they get, the better.  So whichever ones I choose not to eat and save, I stick in the fridge so hubby doesn't eat them and I can make the bread whenever I choose (and so they don't get so gooey so quickly that I just have to get rid of them).

I have been making variations on banana bread since we arrived.  When hubby has to drive somewhere on a business trip, I'll make him a loaf to take along since it's great hot or cold or anywhere in between.  He likes them with chocolate chips.  For any variation, you make the basic recipe and then add your chosen variation after it is all mixed up.  Chocolate chips, blueberries, anything you think would be good.

This time I am using all Swiss found items (you need baking soda and vanilla)  The vanilla I actually made (so please don't think I'm adding vodka to the banana bread...though maybe it'd turn out like rum cake?)
To make vanilla,you need about 2 months before it actually will taste right. I made mine about a year ago.

Buy a cheap bottle of rum/vodka (mine was 14 chf from leshop.ch) and buy some vanilla beans - available at Coop or Migros.
Put the beans in the bottle and put it in a cool dark place for about 2 months (cupboard). Every two weeks or so, tip the bottle over once or twice and put it back.
You can pour some into smaller bottles and just refill the main one with more rum/vodka.
These would make nice little gifts for your friends that cook as well.

What you need for the banana bread:

1 large egg
3 large overripe bananas (you can get away with 2)
1/3 c vegetable oil (Sonnenblumenöl)
1 cup sugar  (250g Zucker)
2 cups flour (500g Mehl)
1 tsp salt (Salz)
1 packet (5g) Natron - (if using baking soda, 1 tsp) - Coop or Migros
1 tsp vanilla
optional: 1 small bag chocolate chips (schokoladenwürfel)


Mix flour, salt and soda into a separate bowl.  
Using a fork, mash up the bananas into small pieces and then add the egg, oil and sugar and mix until well blended. Add the vanilla. Add in the flour mixture 1/4 cup at a time until well mixed. 
Add your chocolate chips or blueberries (or whatever else you would like). Fold in gently.

I use this liquid butter from Migros instead of baking spray - which you can get for about 5 chf for a small can.  I save that for making waffles. This liquid works well - just grease the pan with a paper towel.  You could also use real butter or crisco (or the like) if you have some on hand.

Pour the mixture into a loaf pan and bake at 180C (350F) for about 60-70 minutes.  Closer to the 70 if you have added anything else into the bread.
When the time is up, insert a toothpick into the deepest part. If it comes out clean, your bread is ready.  (Be careful if you have added something that if you pull out your toothpick it is just not coated in melted chocolate).

Place the loaf pan on its side to cool for about 10 minutes.  Put a plate or cutting board on top of the bread to turn over and gently tap the bottom to help loosen it.  Either enjoy immediately or once completely cool, place in a sealing bag and put in the fridge.  Enjoy.


Today I made chocolate chip banana muffins. Make them the same as for the loaf but they cook for about 35-40 minutes.  Start checking on them at 30 minutes in.  If you make them without the chocolate chips, they will require slightly less time.










Thursday, August 25, 2011

A new twist on an old favorite

Casseroles....remember those?  My mom had a great one - it was called stuffed pork chops. I've made it a few times but I think over the years it has changed again and again until I can no longer remember the exact recipe

Now, as I'm sure you know, you can't find everything here that you are used to having in your home country. No matter where you call home. We can only strive to find something similar for those special recipes, or to have our recipes evolve as we embrace the food of our new host culture. This is especially good if you are unsure of how long you will be living there, but I would think it would also be a great opportunity for those who know they are only staying a short time (6 months - 1 year) to make their way through the culinary delights that Switzerland has to offer since soon you can be back enjoying the delights of cheap take out.

At the moment, I'm talking about Cream of Mushroom soup - Cambpell's to be exact.  It took a while, but I found something similar at Coop. If the link stops working, it's called Pilzgericht am Rahmsauce and it's the Coop brand - 4.80chf.  A little different, but you can add (if desired) milk to reduce the thickness. For my recipe tonight, I left it alone. I hope you enjoy my evolution of the pork chop casserole.

Originally:
Cover pork chops with flour and shake off excess. Brown in a frying pan with some oil.
Place at the bottom of an oven safe dish and cover with crumbled bread (chunks not the small crumbs).  Pour 1 can of Campbell's Cream of Mushroom soup over the top and then add a half of can of milk (this is for 4 chops). Bake at 350F (180C) for about an hour.  Serve with baked potatoes.  This is how I remember it anyway.

What I did, and what you will need:
1 package of pork chops (Schwein). I originally bought all meat at Coop as they had pictures of the animal and I knew no German.
Sage for seasoning the pork
A little olive oil
Spinach - fresh/frozen or another if you prefer
Can of mushroom soup - Pizegericht am Rahmsauce
1/2 cup of mashed potatoes (kartoffelstock) Migros had these conveniently packaged and ready to go for me. You can also find them at Coop in the cold section.
1 package (or more) of the pastry shells. Mine were Migros brand and called Pastetli, Blätterteiggebäck


Heat a pan with some oil in it. The chops I got are the 2 minute kind, but the thicker butterfly ones would also be good. I sprinkled some sage in with the oil, and let it heat up


While you are heating up the pan, get out your pastry shells and spoon some of the mushroom sauce in. My shells required cooking at 180 C for 12-15 minutes.  After filling with the sauce, I put the mashed potato into an icing bag.  If you don't have one, it's very easy to put the potatoes in a bag and cut the corner off.  I then piped potatoes on the top of the pastry. 
(After and before the potato topping). Place in the oven. 


I used frozen spinach, so microwaving at this time is a good idea as well. 


Once the oil is hot, put the chops in, brown one side, flip and brown the other. Since these were the thin ones, they were pretty much done but the mushroom/potato bowls weren't so I covered the pan and turned off the heat.


Once everything is done, place it on a plate and enjoy.  I cut open my 'bowl' so I could mix it with the pork chop and spinach. Hubby however waited until the end.  I must say they were quite good and it was a fun new take on an old recipe.  I hope you enjoy it as well. 







Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Pizza fun

This is something you could do for parties, for yourself just for fun or for your kids.  You can use a shaped cookie cutter, an open empty can or a shallow cake pan (think the Christmas pans that make brownie sized cakes in different shapes). I used a dinosaur and an elephant bread cutter to make my shapes since that is what our son is very into right now for his bread and that's what grandma sent :)

What you need:
I'll start off by saying I used what I had:
pasta sauce
pizza dough
a mozzarella cheese ball
and sandwich cutters.

Other options would have been:
the shredded mozzarella/cheddar/parmesan
olives/mushrooms/zucchini/peppers/ham or salami

Roll out the dough and place your chosen cutter on it. If the cutter sticks, put some flour on a plate and set the cutter on it briefly so that the dough will pull away easily. I had no trouble with the plastic ones.  I would suggest wiggling the cutter briefly after pressing (and holding) so that no part of it is stuck to the rest of the dough or you may have to go back.

Put a small amount of sauce on the pizza shapes and then top them with your favorite toppings. If making them for kids and adding veggies I would hide them all under the cheese (unless they don't care...unfortunately, mine does)

Enlist the help of the picky child (if making them for one) and they should be happier to eat their creations.
I chose to freeze some of mine so I took the drawer out of the freezer and put the shapes on a small baking sheet - yes, 8 is all I managed to fit inside the freezer. You should see what happens at Thanksgiving time!
Allow to freeze solid - I left them alone for 2 hours, and then put them in seal-able baggies. I kept them flat.

Make sure to either write on the bag or cut out the cooking time/temperature guide from the pizza dough. (otherwise 200 C for about 15 minutes is usually a good guess).

Ready for the oven
Ready for eating (apparently there was too much cheese)

Monday, August 22, 2011

Orange Chicken...fried yumminess

So for the past few years, my mom has been giving me some recipes...sometimes I cook them, sometimes I don't.  Well, my husband has been pestering me to make this one for quite a while as well, but it didn't sound that interesting to me so I never did. Until today. It wasn't actually that hard. Most of it, you can prepare in advance, as you have time.  I did the chicken early and the first half of the sauce. For the rest I chopped and measured everything else so all I would have to do is throw it together at the last minute. Yay!

What you need:
1 kg chicken - cut into cubes. You can buy the precut chicken as well
1 1/2 c flour
1 beaten egg
1/4 tsp salt and pepper
Peanut oil - erdnussol - I bought mine in Coop

Sauce:
1 1/2 c water (354 ml)
2 tbsp orange juice (as you will need the zest, you can just use the orange)
1/4 c lemon juice
1/3 c rice vinegar
2 1/2 tbsp soy sauce (I used low sodium found at the Thai store)
1 tbsp orange zest - I used my cheese grater
1 c packed brown sugar - you can buy muscovado sugar at jelmoli but I'm not sure how similar it is.
1/2 tsp ginger root - I used the kind in the jar like for sushi since I couldn't find the root at Migros
1/2 tsp garlic (1 clove) minced
2 tbsp green onions - the whole onion.  Also save some to serve on top of the finished dish.
3 tbsp cornstarch + 2 tbsp water for thickening

In a deep pan or wok, pour in the peanut oil until you think it will cover the pieces of chicken.

Combine the flour salt and pepper. Put on a dinner size plate. Break an egg into a bowl and beat it with a fork until mixed.  Take a handful of your chopped chicken and coat it in the egg and then transfer it to the flour. Coat with flour and put into the pan of hot oil.
Do not feel the need to put all the chicken in at once unless you have a very large pan and a lot of oil. I did mine in 4 batches.


When the flour has browned, lift the chicken out and place on a paper towel to absorb the excess oil.

In a large pot (big enough to add your chicken to), combine the water, juices, vinegar and soy sauce. Blend over medium heat for 2 minutes.

Stir in the sugar zest, ginger, garlic and onions.  Bring to a boil.

 Add the cornstarch mixture a little bit at a time and cook until thickened. Add the chicken and heat through.




Serve with rice and/or broccoli  and top with green onions.

The make ahead breakfast muffin

So I was hoping that today would be cooler and I could get some baking in...no such luck. Its 29 C out and its just going to keep getting hotter.  Oh well...needed to make my breakfast for the week and it only took 20 minutes in the oven so at least I didn't heat up the flat too much. Sadly I won't be making my cinnamon roll cookies - those will have to wait till it's cooler!

I know I did a quick little breakfast post a while back, but this will show you how to make the muffins step-by-step.  My goal with them is to make something that is easy to grab in the morning (running late/errands/work/kids) but that will also keep you full for a few hours.  I keep playing with what I put into them but always put in egg, cheese and bacon.

You can use whatever type of dough you would like - pizza dough, pastry dough, the fluffy puff pastry..it just depends on your preference.  I have found dough at Coop that comes with two rolls and I find that easiest. One on the bottom and one on top. And it makes a good muffin.

I have been using a silicone muffin pan. If you don't have one, you will need to either use baking cups or grease your pan well so your muffins don't stick.

Also, you may want to only make 6-8 muffins so you can use more dough and they will be 'more put together' looking. Or less ingredients.

What you need:
Eggs - I used 6 for 12 muffins
Bacon - about 1 strip for every muffin
1 Zucchini, shredded (using a cheese grater)
Shredded cheese (I used Sprinz this time, but Appenzeller and Gruyere are also good)
1 red onion (rot zwiebel)
1 package dough (teig, in this case Blatterteig)
1 small package rosti - thought I would try it out, haven't before
Mustard is also good as it helps stick everything (or possibly creme fraiche)

Scramble the eggs in one pan, cook the bacon slices in another, and put the rosti in a third to brown (or cook the bacon, remove it and then cook the eggs in the bacon pan)  Meanwhile, shred the zucchini (if you're using it) and dice the onion. After the rosti browns a bit, I added the zucchini and onions. This is everything cooling off a bit so as to not melt the dough.

Lay out a piece of dough and sprinkle with some cheese, then layer the egg, bacon, rosti/zucchini/onion and a little more cheese.

Cover with the other piece of dough and sprinkle the middle with some chives or a drizzle of mustard/creme fraiche and slice into however many muffins you want to make. I made 12 so hubby and I can each have one during the week for breakfast.

Roll the muffins up (this is a bit messy which is why you may want to use less ingredients (make sure they are cut small) or make bigger muffins.
Not all of them are perfect looking (the first and last give you an idea of what more dough would make them look like), but after baking they all stay together and look better.




Cook at the temperature and time indicated on the dough package.  I enjoy these cold, however hubby likes to heat them up in the morning


Sunday, August 21, 2011

Easy lunch

This is one of the lunches that you can prepare ahead of time and it will stay good in the fridge for the week (not saying you have to eat it all week though :) )

This is a very simple wrap. You can buy tortillas at Coop or Migros. I wouldn't use the El Maiz ones as though they are wonderful, they are too expensive to use for this. I will however post the recipe on how to make tortillas when it is a little cooler and I want to have the stove on for a while. Today is all about no cooking (except microwave!)
The tortillas you are looking for at Coop are the Mission Tortilla Wraps.  They are about 5 chf for a package of 6. The Old El Paso ones are ok, just do not buy the soft corn ones. They are horrible (especially if you are used to good Tex-Mex) Migros has Pancho Villa - and their flour ones are good (on sale this week!) but I have not tried the corn ones as the Coop ones put me off. (Also don't buy the jar guacamole - but that's also a post for later).

What you need:
Tortillas
Mayonnaise (or your Miracle Whip if you went to Konstanz)
Feta cheese - Coop or Migros
Tomatoes
Cucumber
Optional:
 Nussli-salat/Spinach/lettuce
black olives - just slice them into little pieces. Adds a good flavor, but I didn't have any this time.
If you want, you could also add some grilled chicken. (precooked and cold for the warm days)

Slice the cucumber, dice the tomatoes and crumble the feta. Put the tortillas in the microwave for about 10 seconds, just to warm them enough that they don't tear when folding.

Squeeze some mayo (squiggly line) onto the tortillas.  Add the cucumber, tomato and feta. If adding lettuce/olives/chicken, make sure that you don't put too much in one tortilla or it will split open. You can always have two!

To make this easy for the week - just place you cut veggies in a closed dish and put in the fridge. If you have room, you can put them in separate ones, but since I don't, I combine them - in sections, not mixed up - and they are fine for 3 days.


Enjoy!

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Summer Dessert

Fresh fruit mini tarts. First time I've ever made these and they were wonderful for a hot day. No turning on the oven for me! And it seemed like something simple and pretty to take to our neighbor's bbq.

I found these tart shells at Coop - they were on sale for 1/2 off. Great! The original recipe called for raspberries, but since there are so many wonderful fresh fruits (on sale!) out now, I decided to use three. I kept them one fruit per tart, but you could easily do two. Three might be pushing it as they are a bit on the small side.

What you need:
1 package of 12 Tartelettes (or you can make your own)
75 ml of apple juice (apfelsaft)
195g of Mascarpone (available at Coop or Migros in different sizes)
3/4 of a vanilla bean, scraped (Vanilleschote, ausgekratzt)
3 Tbls sugar (zucker)
Peppermint leaves (pfefferminze)
Fresh fruit - I used strawberries (erdbeeren), blackberries (brombeeren) and raspberries (himbeeren)
150ml of cream (vollrahm - Coop/Migros)

Mix the juice, sugar, marscapone and scraped vanilla bean into a bowl.

Put the cream in a bowl and mix it until it is thick and starts to form soft peaks.  Slowly add the previous mixture in and whip until the peaks are formed (just fyi - I didn't quite get the peaks, I got tired of mixing, and it didn't get as firm as I think it should have, however putting it in the fridge for an hour after making it made it 'stick' together and all was good) :)

I also sliced my fruit up as it seemed too big for the tart 'shells' Also, take the peppermint leaves off the stem and wash them as well as the fruit.

I placed some fruit in the bottom of the shell and then poured some of the cream mixture on top. I then placed two pieces of the same fruit on top and topped with a mint leaf.

The vanilla seemed to stay more towards the bottom of the bowl, so be careful to mix thoroughly to get it back into the mixture.  Enjoy.


Friday, August 19, 2011

Hamburgers!

Ok...so finding a good hamburger here is a little difficult...unless you want to shell out some serious cash (though this is for most eat-out food).  The solution is simple: make your own.

What? You don't have a grill? No problem.  Fust has these plug in grills (think George Forman) that make them just as well (though I would add liquid smoke to make them taste better - try one of the online stores or bring some with you from a trip).

Tonight, we grilled, which makes it easy for me. I can make everything in advance, clean up what I used and pass the burgers off to hubby when he gets home from work. :)

What you need: Mushroom Cheeseburgers
Beef (Hackfleisch) or any ground meat you would like to use
Hamburger buns (or bread if you don't have any. You can use a can to cut out a circle and then toast it)
1 slice of bread to crumble and mix into the ground beef
Slices of cheese (I used the Foi Epi)
Tomatoes
Lettuce
1 onion
1 Egg
Handful of mushrooms
There is an avocado in the picture because originally it was going to have sliced avocado. However, my avocado failed me so I used bacon instead.
A few slices of bacon.
Worcestershire Sauce
Liquid Smoke if grilling on an indoor grill

Slice your mushrooms and put them in a small pan with some olive oil. Dice half an onion and add to the mushrooms.
Slice your tomato and set aside, wash your lettuce and pat it dry if you are adding it to the burger.

Put your beef on a cutting board and add the diced onions to the top. Dice your bacon and add this as well. Crumble a piece of bread and add to the mixture. Mix together, make a small depression in the center (think volcano) and add the egg (this is so it doesn't run right off your cutting board).  Fold the beef mixture over the egg and mix it all up with your hands. Yes, it's a gooey mess, but it gets everything blended quickly and thoroughly.  Top with a dash or three of Worcestershire sauce (and liquid smoke if cooking indoors).

Pass the burgers off to the BBQ master (or cook them indoors).
While the burgers are cooking, put some french fries (pommes frites) in the oven and bake according to the directions. Eventually I will make my own again and post the recipe.
Saute the mushroom/onion mixture. Toast the bun(s)

Place a slice of cheese on the still warm burgers. Add the mushroom/onion mixture on top (also ketchup, tomatoes and lettuce if desired). Serve with fries. Enjoy!


Egg Salad - so many options

Ok - so even if you can't boil an egg without the egg trying to escape, this one won't phase you.
Egg salad sandwiches can be very versatile, with very little effort. Let's start with the basics.

What you need:
Eggs: I use 8 to get 4-5 sandwiches. You can buy precooked 'picnic' eggs at Coop and Migros. They come either in Easter egg colors or a darker orange-y color so you can tell them apart. They are only 1 chf more, and for the convenience, well worth it.
Mayonnaise (or Miracle Whip if you prefer)
Mustard (Senf) - depending on the variety you use it will add extra flavor
Bread - sandwich bread or rolls

These are optional - and I'm sure there are many more things you can add as well:
Nussli-salat (or any type of leafy greens)
Tomatoes

First, shell the eggs and rinse under water to make sure all the shell is off. Place in a bowl and repeat until you have as many as you want. Mash up the egg with a fork.
Squeeze some mayo and spoon some mustard in. Generally, more mayo than mustard.  The goal is to have enough to make the egg stick together and not crumble out of your bread, but not so much that you have a gooey mess.
Mix well. Spread on sandwich bread (or roll). Slice and enjoy.

Or add some greens and egg for a fresh flavor.  Great with a Coke to wash it down :-)

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Shish Tawook...the dish that started it all

Tonight I will make Shish Tawook.  This was a recipe my husband saw and asked me to make. This one is also from Ded E4emed.com.
What you need to do early (either the night before, or in the morning) is marinate the chicken.  I have discovered that putting everything in a Ziploc bag and then putting it in the fridge is the best for two reasons:
1. Lack of space in the Swiss fridges that come with the flats (unless you have room in your Keller for another one or just happen to be lucky.
2. Because of the lack of space, and depending on how often you shop, it is not always feasible to put a bowl in the fridge that will stay there for a few hours - and - if placed precariously, said bowl could tumble out, not only spilling all your lovely smelling marinating chicken, but also cracking your bowl in half. Not that that's happened to me or anything :-)
So - Ikea has great packages of seal-able bags that come in two size packs very cheaply. I suggest a visit :)

What you need:
I use 4 chicken breasts so we can have leftovers the next day. Slice into 1 inch pieces
2 containers of Greek yogurt - available at Coop or Migros
2 cloves of garlic (The Asian store has minced garlic if you find you use it often)
2 Tbls ketchup
1/2 Tbls tomato paste - found in tubes in Coop/Migros in the pasta section
1/4 c lemon juice (at Migros by the soda, at Coop, by the baking goods)
1 tsp paprika (same in German and English)
Cucumber
Basmati rice

Plastic bags are your friend
Marinate the chicken for at least 3 hours - I've done as little as 2 and as much as 24.
Heat a pan with olive oil and add the chicken (marinade included) - cook until done (10-15 minutes with all the juice)
I make Basmati rice and add some cucumber slices for color. Tonight we will probably have broccoli as well since my 7 month old can't seem to get enough of it :)



Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Simple Pasta

We have started taking German lessons on Tuesday nights, so Tuesday is now pasta night as it is a very quick thing to make and doesn't have a lot of clean-up.  Both are important to me since as soon as our teacher leaves, we are trying to get the kids to bed...and with my luck, doing the dishes would wake them up :p  I would get tired of the same pasta every week though, and there are many to choose from, so here is one.
What you need:
Tricolor Pasta (you know, for those extra veggies!)
A jar of the new Barilla pasta sauce Coop carries - I chose the Kirshtomaten (cherry tomato) mit Karotten (with carrots)
A loaf of Baguette mit Knoblauchbutter - Garlic Bread - this one is cheaper than the frozen one and I think it tastes better.
1 Zucchini
1 can of mushrooms ( I prefer fresh, but didn't have any on hand)
Parmesan cheese.

Boil some water and add the pasta - it only takes about 3 minutes to cook.
While the water is coming to a boil, add some olive oil to a pan and let it heat.  Slice a zucchini thinly and add some mushrooms, saute.
Also bake the garlic bread.

When the zucchini and mushrooms are done, add the jar of sauce. Add the pasta when it is to your liking and cook for 1-2 minutes, or until everything is well mixed. Top with the cheese and serve with the garlic bread.




Ahh...Konstanz....

-So I have been here for about 3 years now, and finally, last week, I went to Konstanz!  I'll gloss over the non-food part, but get there early in the morning if you want a place to park.  If you take the train though, it drops you off right in the center and you should be able to get to closer shopping. I would recommend a car though, if possible - the trip from Zurich was only about 50 minutes and you can get a lot more in your car than on the train.
We went to Lago and looked around at the Aldi, but ended up going to Kaufland (think Wal-Mart-ish).  It was fantastic! (overlooking the crowds because I found some great stuff).  Be aware though, that there are regulations on what and how much you can bring back into Switzerland.
Some of the things I found:
I was very excited to find the Pillsbury Doughboy as you can see...all I have had so far is the garlic bread....and you had to peel the paper back from the can and the dough just popped out...wonderful! :)
 Some yummy looking cheeses
 They had a bunch of Weight Watcher and other prepackaged, non refrigerated foods
 Miracel Whip.  I had no reason to buy this other than it was 1.50 Euros and I was reminded of home.  I am quite happy with the Thomy mayonnaise.
There was a HUGE aisle of these packets - there were also mac n cheese packets and other Americanized items (as distinguished by the US flag in the corner...)






The beef I bought - I bought lots of chicken as well. The Pepper Steak was good, but the other tasted kind of 'funky' and it wasn't a cooking issue.  However, for as cheap as it was, it wasn't as disappointing as it would have been had I gone to Jelmoli or some other place.
In any case, here are the results: 
I made it with a scoop of rice and some broccoli.  The rice and broccoli were great as was my husband's steak :p

Enjoy Konstanz!