Week 13: Oktoberfest

Recipes to Go: 507 389
Weeks to Go: 52 39

Recipes Made this Week
Nut-Topped Strawberry Rhubarb Muffins
Asparagus Crepes
Cinnamon-Pecan Coffee Cakes
Sweet Milk Dinner Rolls
Hearty Sausage Sandwich
Sauerbraten
Red Cabbage with Apple
Crumb-Coated Spaetzle
Black Forest Cake

Since I missed two recipes last week, I spent most of Sunday morning and afternoon baking. It ended up being a bread-filled day. I cooked the rolls since they were already ready. They were very sweet, which is surprising because there no sugar in them. Just the milk, which I guess should tell me how sweet milk really is. They were pretty amazing, and I just found two tucked away the other day, two weeks after making them and no mold. They were rock hard, of course, but still good. So apparently they are hardy, too.

I made the yummy breakfast I had planned for Saturday with the Strawberry Rhubarb Muffins. I must say, I'm liking rhubarb more and more. It's just so unique, but tasty. I think it will become a freezer staple for me. I only put nuts on half of these so the G man could enjoy them, too. We ended up eating all the nut-topped one quite fast, but I still managed to be able to enjoy them all week for breakfast.

With the muffins, we had asparagus crepes. They were delicious, but had very complex flavors, thus G did not fully appreciate them like Johnny and I did. I haven't had something this delightfully complicated in a long time. Simple, but wonderful. So I guess you don't have to be complicated to be complex. At least in the culinary world.

The last thing I made was this beautiful coffee cake. I've never braided dough before, but it's something I've wanted to do for a long time. This was even more complicated than that since I had to "jelly roll" each of the strands of the braid before braiding them. It would have been easier to see if I had used the nuts, but I didn't for G's sake. They did end up quite yummy. Needless to say, we had good breakfasts this week.

Monday night, I made this Stromboli Sandwich. It was another night that I ate way too much and had a stomach ache, but it was a Thanksgiving-stomach ache where I could not complain about the pain since it was caused by joy. This was a hearty sandwich. We didn't need anything else and didn't even finish it. It tasted a little like stroganoff, with three kinds of cheese. G enjoyed it as well, and the leftovers for lunch.

Tuesday was my anniversary. We spent the day together, shipping G off to our friends' house. As payment for their sacrifice, we sent G with the other loaf of coffee cake. It was the least we could do. I came home from seminary to freshly made waffles and yummy syrup. We ate lunch out and got dinner on the way home, so I didn't cook anything that day.

Wednesday, I used the leftover bread to make Ham and Broccoli Bake, which I had made before, but this time I used broccoli instead of peas. It was still delicious. Johnny liked it more, I liked it less, but that's because I love peas and Johnny doesn't.

Thursday was Oktoberfest. As Helen pointed out in the comments, we used to have Foreign Food Fridays in my college apartment. They were awesome. I remember them all. And after our great time at Oktoberfest last year, I decided to do something I haven't before, make a meal as it was designed in the cookbook. There are several groups of recipes in the back of the book that are set up as meals, and there happens to be a meal with a German theme. I didn't have time to marinate the sauerbraten for two days, but I did start early in the day, so it got a lot of time. Plus, instead of marinating in a bag, I marinated it in a bowl so it was completely submerged, speeding up the process slightly. I also made the cake in the afternoon, so it would have time to set in the fridge. The sauerbraten baked for 4 hours, so come actual dinner time, I only had to make two recipes. It actually worked out quite nicely.

Johnny told me to remind him occasionally how much he loves cabbage. This was delicious. The apples gave just the right touch. And I was lucky to have Johnny there because I almost forgot to put in the bacon. It would have still be good, of course, but missing a big taste vitamin. Bacon is one of the three basic taste vitamins along with cheese and chocolate.

The Spaetzle was just as delicious as I remembered from when Helen used to make it. I could eat spaetzle with every meal. It's not very photogenic, but don't hold it against it. It's easy enough to make, too, just takes a little work to mash it through the colander into the pot to bake. Worth it.

The Black Forest Cake is my new favorite. It could be the best thing I've ever made. (I think I say that every week, but this time I'm serious.) You know by now I don't really like cake, but I think I might have to amend that to say I don't like cake-mix cakes that taste like cake-mix. (There are some people that have a talent for deliciously disguising cake-mix. I am not one of those people.) But that doesn't matter because this was more like brownies, plus pie, plus cheesecake. Could there be a more yummy combination? It was divine. I normally am not extremely tempted by desserts, but this one was like a siren. Seriously. It was like the cake was a women in a slinky black dress with red underwears and I was a man. I didn't stand a chance. I might have to use my own seductive powers more carefully after this. That's powerful stuff.

Didn't make anything over the weekend because we went to D.C. Which was fabulous. We will definitely be going back, and hopefully soon.