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     I purchased a produce combination box from my local wholesale produce supplier and among other great items, it contained 4 eggplant!  
      I am not a real expert on cooking eggplant, I've only tried my hand at it a little bit. (Here is an eggplant lasagna I did a few YEARS ago!)  But, I knew that Ratatouille is an eggplant dish.  Two of my grandchildren actually sent me a video of themselves making it!  For some reason that post never made it up here on the blog, but they are adorable and real Foodies at a young age! 

    Thinking of these cuties made me think that I should give Ratatouille a try, but with a twist! 

     My husband and I do like beef.  (We recently purchased 1/2 a beef with Lindsey and her family!)  So, not only did I want to use my eggplant, I wanted to use some of that delicious Montana beef! 
     Also, I need to put a disclaimer out there, I've never actually tasted Ratatouille besides never having made it before!  So, if you are looking for something very authentic, you are looking in the wrong place.  But, if you want to use your eggplant in a tasty ratatouille-ish dish, and incorporate beef, then this recipe is for you.  I did do a lot of research and tried to incorporate the seasonings and flavors used in the recipes I found. 

     Now that we are empty nesters, I still have the problem of making too much food for just my husband and myself.  This recipe should feed us for the next couple of days.  We aren't mad about it.
       Let me know if you give it a try! 

     When I was in Georgia, a good friend of my SIL came over to visit.  We discovered that we both have Danish heritage and are interested in recipes from that country.  He told me about this Danish Dream Cake that he has learned to bake and he texted me the recipe so that I could try it for myself!  I was finally able to bake it the other day and first of all, I was amazed at how simple it is to make!  Secondly, that caramel, coconut topping is so good that I could have eaten the entire panful with a spoon immediately! (If I didn't have such wonderful self control, Ha Ha!)   And one more thing is that the cake itself is very light and spongey.  It is no wonder that this is such a popular cake in Denmark! I tweaked the recipe just a bit after researching it more, so today I am sharing the recipe that I used, adapted from Skylar's recipe. Thank you Skylar! 

      The backstory of this cake is that in the 1960s, a young girl entered her grandmother's recipe into a national baking contest and she won!  The cake has been popular in Denmark ever since.  I can't help but wonder where her grandmother got the recipe, but I haven't found out that tidbit anywhere.  I mean, coconut seems like an unusual ingredient for Denmark, doesn't it?  Well, whatever the rest of the story is, this is one great tasting cake. 

     Here are a few tips when baking this cake: 

• Using my recipe, you will need to use a scale because the ingredients are listed in grams in true Danish fashion. 
• Beat the eggs, sugar and vanilla really well! Some recipes I've seen recommend 8 minutes!  
• Sift the flour very well so that it is fine and clump free.
• Use lots of butter! Live a little!
• Use a large pan that will leave room on the top to hold the topping and not allow it to spill over when it is heated.  

     The topping is so good, I am tempted to make it all alone and use it as an ice cream topping.  Or, just serve some ice cream with your slice of Dream Cake.  You will love it! 
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    This post was originally posted in July of 2018!  Although Independence Day was yesterday, many people will still have the day off today.  So, there is no reason not to keep the celebration going with a great American traditional meal!  

Hey guys! Alicia here with more recipes from my ancestry. This month I decided to do American food, as in The United States of America. My ancestors have been here for a long time from many other countries throughout Europe. It's been difficult to find purely American foods, because the great thing about this country is it's a melting pot of people and cultures. And in fact today we have a meal that is an blend of foods from other countries, that when together makes a quintessential American meal.

​Hamburgers, wereminced Hamburg beef steaks made in Hamburg, Germany. They were usually very expensive. When Germans came to the USA, they made a version of the Hamburg steak here. These steaks were passed out to factory workers during the Industrial revolution, but proved difficult to eat standing up. This was until one chef put the patty between to slices of bread. This popularized the hamburger across the country. And I'm so glad!

I love hamburgers. To make mine, I usually just make a patty with ground beef (80/20 or higher). Sometimes I mix in spices like pepper, garlic, thyme, or onion powder. Then as I put them on the charcoal grill, I salt them. When they're cooked through, and just about done, I add a slice of cheese. Cheddar, Pepper Jack, Swiss...to me all cheese has a place on a burger, it just depends on what else you're topping it with. For our burgers this time we used cheddar cheese, bacon, tomato, lettuce, and onion. All on a lightly grilled sesame seed bun. It was so delicious. I don't have a recipe for you because hamburgers are the perfect food to experiment with. There are so many delicious combinations. The bacon cheeseburger like we made is an American classic, But I also love Swiss cheese and sautéed onions.  

To go with hamburgers, the classic way here in the USA is with French Fries. While named French fries, they're actually from Belgium! During World War I, American soldiers in Belgium tried these delicious fried potatoes (that date back to the 1600's in Belgium). Because of the language spoken in that part of the country, the soldiers called them French Fries and the name has stuck (except for that very brief moment in time where we changed it to Freedom Fries in one of the most hilarious forms of animosity between countries). Fries are eaten all over the world now and in different ways. In Canada they use them to make Poutine. In the UK they're called chips and eaten with fried fish. No matter how you eat them, they are delicious.

To make my fries I peel russet potatoes, and then slice them into long thin rectangular prisms (not exactly since the potatoes are round). Then I soak them in water or blanch them. I feel like this helps them to get plump up and be crispy when they are done frying (instead of soggy). I fry them in my 10 inch frying pan with about an inch of oil. As soon as they come out of the oil I put them on a plate with a paper towel and salt them. You can also bake them, just coat them in oil and salt first. 

To finish off the meal, is a milkshake! From my research it seems milkshakes are an American invention. Now we don't always have milkshakes with fries and burgers or even for dinner. Usually it's an after dinner treat! But we made an exception for this meal. Milkshakes are easy to make. Get your favorite ice cream, put it in a blender, add some milk and blend it up. It's so so simple and so delicious! You can make it as liquid as you want. We like to be able to drink ours through a straw but many people eat theirs with a spoon. Sorry I don't have a good picture of our milkshake. We drank it too fast.

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It's Lindsey, and I'm back with another French recipe for the sixth day of Christmas, a quiche for Six Geese a Laying! Now of course, the song says six geese a laying, but don't worry, this recipe calls for regular chicken eggs.

Obviously, while I was living in France I ate a lot of quiche. Quiche is such a quick and simple meal, and you can spruce it up any way you like! This quiche recipe is very basic and just calls for spinach, but you could easily add anything else you'd like to it. For example, it would be very easy for you to chop up some onion and toss it in to this quiche recipe. Or you could fry up some bacon and chop it up and sprinkle it into the filling once it is in the crust. You could also slice up zucchini and place them on the bottom of the crust and pour the egg filling over the top for a nice Quiche Courgette (courgette is the French word for zucchini.)

A word on the crust. When I was in France you could pie pre-made crusts and would be labeled pate brisee or pate feuillette. Pate brisee is what they use for quiche. As I did some research into how you make pate brisee, I realized it was very similar to our basic pie crust​. They usually make it with butter, but as you know, we make our pie crust with shortening and it works just as well. 

So here it is, my basic French Quiche recipe, you are going to love it!

French Quiche