My goal for the month of October was to prepare a true German meal for my family.
Due to kids activities and my husbands call schedule, we weren't able to attend my favorite OctoberFest in downtown McKinney this year, so I made up for it by celebrating during a family meal. This was such a fun meal to make. I googled various German recipes, found the ones that were the easiest (because that's how I roll), and started cooking.
Here is what I made for our meal:
German Beer Cheese Soup
(My girls didn't eat this. They saw me pour beer into the soup and they flipped out. They are ages 15 and 11. I hope they always flip out when they think they might consume beer!)
What you need:
4 Tablespoons unsalted butter
1 carrot, finely chopped
1 large yellow onion, diced
2 cloves peeled garlic, minced
¼ cup all-purpose flour
1 cup milk
1 cup half-and-half
16 ounces beer
(I used Spaten)
1 Tablespoon Dijon or stone-ground mustard
10 ounces sharp cheddar, shredded
Salt & Pepper
Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add the carrot, onion, and garlic; saute 10 minutes.
Add the flour and stir well. Cook, stirring frequently, for 3 minutes until the flour turns golden brown.
Combine the milk and half-and-half. Slowly pour into flour mixture, whisking constantly until combined.
Turn the heat up to medium-high and add the beer and mustard. Bring to a boil, whisking frequently until foam subsides.
Simmer on low heat for 10 minutes until thick. Remove from heat and whisk in the cheese a handful at a time. Taste and add salt and pepper as needed.
German Cucumber Salad
What you need:
1/2 cup sour cream or plain yogurt
1 cucumber
1 medium to large tomato
2 slices onion (slice like you would for onion rings)
2-4 tsp lemon juice
1/2 - 3/4 tsp dill
Pinch of salt
Peel and slice your cucumber, slice your tomato, and slice your onion.
In a bowl, combine dill and salt.
Add sour cream or yogurt and lemon juice to taste. Mix well.
Add onion, cucumber, and tomato to the mixture and stir until the veggies are coated with the dressing.
Slow Cooker Bratwursts
What you need:
1 package of Bratwursts (whichever flavor/type you prefer)
1 onion, sliced
2 cups apple juice (the apple juice makes all the difference in this recipe)
4 tablespoons Dijon mustard
Brown the sides of the bratwursts in a skillet on the stove. After the sides are browned, place bratwursts in your slow cooker. Top with sliced onion. Mix together apple juice and Dijon mustard, then pour over everything in your slow cooker. Cook on low for 5-6 hours or high for 3-4 hours, making sure they are cooked thoroughly before serving.
Other items I found to go along with our meal were:
At World Market:
Traditional German chocolate (the girls thought it was gross)
Spatzle - traditional German egg noodle/dumplings
Drinking glasses (the girls loved this part of the meal)
they filled their boots with apple juice to look like beer
And at Whole Foods, I picked up a package of the soft, pretzels bites....YUM!
So here's the picture that my 11 year old took of the meal. Complete with German theme napkins and all. Unfortunately, I didn't snap any pictures. During the last few minutes of cooking, I burnt 3 fingers. It was bad, folks. I cried all through dinner with my entire hand in a bag of ice. I've never burnt myself this bad before.
(my husband may or may not have given me an expired hydrocodone
out of the medicine cabinet to stop my whining)
Thank you, Ashlan, for snapping this picture!!
(by the way, it's been 3 days and my fingers are much better now)
