Back in Austin!

Hi!

I've been MIA on the blog scene lately because we've been in the process of moving.  The first week back to work at Rice was busy because they started back to school on January 5 (incredibly early compared to other universities) and there was a  grant deadline for the DOD.  

Lockstep is a professional when it comes to moving.  We had everything wrapped in newspaper, boxed up, and labeled by Saturday.  Lockstep's dad and Matt came over to help us load into the Uhaul truck on Sunday.  Then Lockstep's dad and Jordan helped unload everything when we moved in on Monday morning.  Moving went so smoothly!  Kudos to Lockstep who made sure we had cable/internet/and our office set up by the end of the day on Monday.  :)

In Austin last week we spent our time unpacking boxes, going to orientation at St. Ed's, hanging out with Bailey Jane, going to Trivia Night at Pluckers with Bailey Jane, and watching Lost.  

Today we went to church at EV Free and there's NFL on TV.  I'll try to get some photos, recipes, and more Austin/Houston info on the blog this week!  

School starts on Tuesday!

Cooking - German Style

The last meal I cooked for Erik in our apartment in Houston was German cuisine. Lockstep is quite proficient in the German language.  I'm learning - audio discs in the car and have a couple of books (German in 10 minutes a day :)  It's something I'd like to work on more often.  For our next vacation we'd like to visit Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.  So I'd like to be more familiar with the language by the time we plan to travel. Our last name is German... Hensarling... came from Heinzerling (phonetically, I need to learn the spelling of the great-grandfather's name).  They changed the name at Ellis Island. 

Dinner:

Grilled Bratwursts

Roasted German Potato Salad

Sauteed Sauerkraut with Caraway Seeds

The Roasted German Potato Salad I've been making for about a year now.  The index card that I wrote the recipe on says that it came from cooks.com in April 2008.  This isn't my favorite potato salad ever, but Lockstep really likes it and it goes well with the bratwurst and sauerkraut.  

Recipe:  Roasted (German) Potato Salad

Notes:  

-Amounts are approximate.  Depends on how many potatoes I have in the pantry. 

-I usually make extra of the dressing part.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 pounds small red potatoes

1 clove garlic or 1/8 tsp garlic powder

5 Tablespoons olive oil, divided

1 1/2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar

1 Tablespoon grainy mustard

2 teaspoons minced chives

1 teaspoon rosemary

salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Directions:

-Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

-Spray baking dish with Pam. 

-Scrub potatoes, cut into quarters, and place in a single layer in a baking dish. 

-Mix together 3 Tablespoons of the olive oil with the garlic, salt, pepper.  Scatter over the potatoes.

(Note:  Sometimes I put the potatoes in a bowl and toss with the olive oil mixture.  Then I put the potatoes on the baking dish.)

-Toss and roast for 30-40 minutes, tossing every 10 minutes. 

-Beat the vinegar and mustard, and whisk in the remaining olive oil until smooth.

-Add roasted potatoes and herbs.  Cool to room temperature and serve. 

Yield:  Serves 6

Quotes

-----------------

from helping skills by clara hill

the one who listens is the one who understands. 

-afrikan (jabo) proverb

-he who has a why to live can bear with almost any how. 

-nietzche

ideal teachers are those who use themselves as bridges over which they invite their students to cross, then having facilitated their crossing, joyfully collapse, encouraging them to create bridges of their own.

-leo buscaglia

---------------

if you life to be a hundred, i want to live to be a hundred minus one day, so i never have to live without you. --winnie the pooh

your boots may be made for walking... but mine are in case I need to kick your ass. 

 --erin smith

five simple rules for happiness:

1. free your heart from hatred. 

2. free your mind from worries.

3. live simply.

4. give more.

5. expect less.

--unknown

very little is needed to make a happy life.  

--unknown

into each day put equal parts of faith, patience, courage, work, hope, fidelity, liberality, kindness, rest, prayer, meditation, and one well-elected solution. put about one teaspooonful of good spirits. a dash of fun, a pinch of folly,  sprinkle of play, and cupful of good humor. 

--pottery barn, page 96, january 2009 issue, writings on a chalkboard

Cooking - Basic Beer-Cheese Bread

Recipe:  Basic Beer-Cheese Bread  or just Basic Beer Bread

From:  Cooking Light

Link to recipe.

Picture:  Will add later when I upload from the camera. 

Notes:  

I've made this bread twice in the last couple of days.   So easy!  So good!  I've made a couple of changes to the recipe to fit with what we have in the pantry. 

One time I substituted jalapenos for the onions.  

One time I left out the onions and cheese parts entirely and just made the basic bread part.  

Recipe below is copy/paste directly from the website.  In parenthesis are details that I added.  

Ingredients:

• 
  
• 1  tablespoon  olive oil
  
• 1/2  cup  finely chopped yellow onion  (I used jalapenos)
• 1/4  teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper
• 1  garlic clove, minced

(I've also made this bread with just the ingredient items below)

• 13.5  ounces  all-purpose flour (about 3 cups)
• 3  tablespoons  sugar  (I used splenda-sugar blend)
• 2  teaspoons  baking powder
• 1  teaspoon  salt
• 1  cup  (4 ounces) shredded Monterey Jack cheese  (I used the 2% milk Mexican blend cheese)  (I've also made this bread without including the cheese at all)
• 1  (12-ounce) bottle lager-style beer (such as Budweiser)  (I used Coors Light)
• Cooking spray  (or just butter the pan)
• 2  tablespoons  melted butter, divided

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375°.

2. Heat oil in a small skillet over medium-low heat. Add onion to pan; cook 10 minutes or until browned, stirring occasionally. Stir in pepper and garlic; cook 1 minute.

3. Weigh or lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk; make a well in center of mixture. Add onion mixture, cheese, and beer to flour mixture, stirring just until moist.

4. Spoon batter into a 9 x 5–inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Drizzle 1 tablespoon butter over batter. Bake at 375° for 35 minutes. Drizzle remaining 1 tablespoon butter over batter. Bake an additional 25 minutes or until deep golden brown and a wooden pick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in pan 5 minutes on a wire rack; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.

(Lockstep and I like the bread really soft and just barely done on the inside, so I baked the bread for the 35 minutes and then only 15 minutes.)

Yield:  1 loaf 

Recipes and Moving

Happy New Year!  

I'll be posting some recipes from the last couple of weeks soon.  We made Neiman Marcus Cookies/Rice Krispy Treats for Christmas Eve and Queso/Quesadillas for New Years Eve, so I'll post those recipes and photos.  

Lockstep and I are moving to Austin in a week!  So, we are trying to eat/cook everything in the kitchen so that we don't have to move it.  I've planned to make some more bread and cookies to use up the flour and butter.  We just used up the last of the eggs, bread, and cooking spray.  Recipes will have to start getting more creative as the week goes by!