Pico de Gallo

Craving Mexican?

maybe Tex-Mex?

don't buy salsa in Germany,

it can best be compared to flavorful ketchup..

THANKFULLY,

my good friend Karen,

hailing from Mexico,

also living in Germany,

taught me how to make 

Pico de Gallo

seriously, simple and delicious.

even though I come from SoCal,

I'm pretty wimpy so this is a mild Pico de Gallo.

You will need

2-3 tomatoes (1 cup diced)

1 small onion (1/4-1/3c finely chopped)

1 T fresh cilantro 

(Coriander in German, found mine at the Bio Laden and Asia Markt)

salt and pepper to taste

and the secret ingredient...

olive oil, about 2-3 Tbsp

enough so it's all coated

and 1 heaping Tbsp love

That's it!

a great substitute for almost any recipe

 calling for "jars of salsa" which we don't have.. 

yields about 1.5 cups 

if you use it in one of your recipes, 

let me know how it goes!

made with love,

Amy

sunny weather salad

Spring is coming!

And so much earlier than last year!!

Tulips springing up all over town,

Soon they will bloom 

to become larger than my fist.

Today for lunch we had this great fresh salad,

Accompanied by a "Kräuterbaguette" 

(Sorry to my American followers in america, 

Just eat garlic bread on the side)

For this salad you will need:

1-2 cucumbers 

4 med tomatoes 

1 avocado

1 cup of fresh mozzarella 

1 T fresh basil 

Cut and dice everything 

Then

Mix together with

2-3 T balsamic vinegar 

1 T olive oil 

Sprinkle of garlic powder

And salt, pepper, and love to taste

A great salad to be made ahead of time so flavors can marinate in.

Approx 4 servings when eaten as main course

recipe inspired by fitsugar.com

made with love, 

Amy

MONKEY BREAD minis

If you have never had monkey bread,

now is the time!!

I come from Southern California

And never knew of monkey bread,

Until I married an Ohioan.

I loved it immediately,

We can all thank my mother in law, Mama Joy,

For this one :)

We celebrated my hubby's 26th birthday this past week,

And in honor of him I wanted to make monkey bread.

I've taken the classical monkey bread 

a few times to potluck Sunday at church...

But it's messy and falls apart when you cut it.

So, I decided to use the same recipe and put it into muffin tins

So everybody can enjoy it easier

Result: AMAZING

Now I will admit, I cheated this time because 

I wanted to see if "Sonntags Brötchen" would get the job done. They did!

For the time saver effect it was awesome!

If making the biscuit dough from scratch I love this recipe:

4 cups flour (weizenmehl)

2 tbsp baking powder (backpulver)

1 tsp salt (salz)

1 cup butter 

1.5-2 cups milk (milch)

1 cup love

Mix dry ingredients first, 

add butter cubed, 

use pastry cutter to mix until crumbly

Add in milk and mix all together with a spoon or hands

- don't over mix-

 And you don't need to roll it, 

just leave it in the bowl and ball it from there!

Adapted from favorite freezer foods

Or, use two cans of pillsbury type biscuits or "Sonntags Brötchen"

I found them at Lidl in the refrigerated section

Next preheat over to 175 Celsius or 350F

Prepare a bowl with 1/2 c sugar+ 1 tbsp cinnamon (Zimt)

Roll dough into many little balls 

Roll balls into cinnamon sugar

Place in a buttered muffin tins

Fill each about 1/2-3/4 full

on the stove

Melt 1/3 cup sugar 

with 1/4 c (1/2 stick) butter

1 tbsp cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla extract (Vanillin Extrakt not aroma)

Melt until sugar is dissolved

Pour about 1 tbsp over each of the cups until gone.

Bake for 15-25mins until nice and golden brown

Remove from tins when cooled,

 they hold together well.

Yields 12 monkey bread minis 

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

Classical monkey bread can be made from the same basic method!!

Just added to a buttered bundt pan

And baked for 25-30 mins

All my German friends love it,

Hope yours do too!

made with love,

Amy