Hey folks! I thought I was running behind on posting this since it is more of a cozy food and didn’t seem so springy…but, today we are having a rainy, cold day so I am popping it up in case any of you need something cozy.

My neighbor Erika is Hungarian and since she arrived here in Bern I have begged her to teach me some of her recipes. When we meet in the yard in the afternoons to watch the kids play I always ask what she’s cooking for dinner. So, one afternoon she popped over and we made stuffed peppers together. They weren’t super hard to do and were so delicious!

Hungarian Stuffed Peppers

(via Erika Woodard)

Ingredients:

4-6 peppers, any color will work! 

1 onion, finely diced

1 clove of garlic, minced

oil

Saute onion in oil, add garlic as onions get close to being translucent. 

1 1/2 lbs ground pork/beef blend   

1/2 cup raw rice 

1 egg

small spoon of paprika…Hungarian of course! Kidding, any kind will work!

Salt and Pepper to taste

1-2 stalks of celery to place in the pot while you simmer and then can remove before simmering

Mix raw meat, raw rice, egg and paprika and stuff into peppers. Do not stuff too tightly because the rice will expand. 

Mix one small can of tomato paste and 1 tsp sugar with enough water to cover the peppers in a pot on the stove.  Bring to a boil and then lower to simmer on low for 30-45 minutes checking to see when the peppers are tender and the meat inside is done.

If you need to thicken the sauce at the end make a thickener with by cooking 3 T. flour mixed with 3 T. oil. Boil until thick.

Next she has to teach me cabbage rolls!  A few weeks after we made the peppers I had a cabbage and some peppers in the fridge. I ended up basically making a stuffed pepper soup instead and added cabbage for some extra vitamins.  So, if you are intimidated by the stuffing of peppers make a soup! Instead of rice in the soup we served ours over rice. The soup means you don’t have to stress about if the meat in the peppers is cooked!

Stuffed Pepper Soup

via kristen kolb…made up from a combination of recipes

1 lb ground beef (you can use what you have if you have a blend that is fine too)

3 peppers, diced

1 onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced 

2 can diced tomatoes

1/2 small cabbage sliced into thin slices

4 cups low sodium beef broth, add or subtract if you like it soupier.  

1/4 cup tomato paste 

1 T paprika

1 tsp sugar

salt and pepper to taste

Brown meat with onions and garlic. remove to a bowl. Add small amount of oil and saute the chopped peppers and cabbage. When the peppers are tender and the cabbage is beginning to wilt add back the meat, canned tomatoes, tomato paste, paprika, broth and salt and pepper to taste.  Bring to boil and reduce heat to low. Allow it to simmer on low for 25-30 mins. Serve over rice or by itself.  

You haven’t heard from me lately…sorry, the weather has us a bit distracted. It is still chilly this week but it is super sunny and we have been outside as much as possible. Yesterday we took a long walk with a friend along some fields where a shepherd was grazing his sheep. The boys love nothing more than getting muddy and sweaty so it was right up their alley. We came home and I immediately begged Seth to start dinner so I could shower off the smells of the fields. We have busted out the big bucket of toys for the atrium and the boys have reclaimed their little boy kingdom out there. I will give them a few weeks to play “Lord of the flies” before I reclaim it for pretty potted plants!

For about an hour this morning I got a burst of energy and cleaned out a couple more closets.  I was in such a great mood thinking it was FRIDAY. Turns out it’s only Thursday. But the sun is shining and a couple more closets are sorted as a result of my day of the week confusion.

Here are a few pictures from our week…

it was new crayon and marker day in our house today…tossed all the old crusty markers and brought out the new packs I was saving for such a time as this. This is big stuff folks!

and someone (who shall remain nameless) COULD NOT resist the urge to feel off all of the papers of our fresh, new, pretty crayons. It is kind of one of those letting them mix the playdough colors moments of motherhood.

my new thyme plant is climbing towards the window!  she can’t wait to live in the atrium!

this is blurry but I have to include it because it is a miracle in our house…Owen is smiling between bites of Barefoot Contessa’s lentil soup!  I have to share the recipe because everyone in the house enjoyed it and Owen requested it today for lunch!!! Here ya go…Lentil Sausage Soup . It has some kick so if your family doesn’t love a little kick just reduce the pepper. Honestly, Owen is FUSSY about food and I assumed a lentil soup, green lentils at that would scare him away. Nope! Try it!

and while we are talking food I should tell you that Seth brought back some of these goodies from Trader Joe’s. So yum. Thanks, Seth.

So, I have inspired you with not so much and told you nothing exciting today.  I guess I shared a recipe! That’s something. Hope you are all well and enjoying Spring wherever you may be!

Well the bad news is we are nearing the end of our last fondue season in Switzerland…the good news is we are nearing the end of our last fondue season in Switzerland. It seems we have acquired some baby tummies around here, only not the sweet, human kind, the “fondue baby” kind. It doesn’t help that each and every guest that comes has been dreaming of a pot of hot, bubbly fondue when they come! We do it for the guests, I say! Recently we had friends for fondue and we were trying to figure out how many times we had had fondue since we arrived. Because we have had 26 guests Seth said at least 26 times…that number is not really accurate because thankfully we had groups of guests which means we didn’t eat it THAT often.  Here is the evidence of how many pots we had with guests…the rest are unfortunately unaccounted for.  At least we won’t look back longingly on our time here wishing we had just enjoyed it. We have!

Last night I had a girls night out with some gals at the Fondu Hutte…here are some not so great pictures…

We ordered herb fondue and sun-dried tomato fondue.  They were both delicious!! I am often scared to stray from the plain old cheese but these were both worth trying at home. If you are local and you haven’t tried the Fondue Hutte you will have to try it out! It’s a cozy set up with furs and blankets around, a fireplace and just generally very wintery and Swiss looking. Great for tourists as well. It isn’t cheap but a fun treat during fondue season. I believe they are only open November through February for fondue and they mainly do group reservations so you have to get a table on one of the few nights when it is open seating. Which I believe is Wednesday and Thursday!  So hop on over before they close for the season!

Back to the fondue baby tummy… my goal for the coming months is to get into shape before our move. Unfortunately stress doesn’t  normally do amazing things for me like help me miraculously drop the pounds!   My attempts to exercise with the boys is comical. Yesterday I did crunches with Owen on my stomach and Jackson whipping around the exercise band. Fun times, I tell you. I am looking forward to Spring when the birds are chirping, the sky is blue and the temps are above 7 measly degrees. I can meet Seth at the door and leave for a walk before he even realizes that he has been abandoned with the starving housebound heathens boys.   Here’s hoping for a healthy Spring! And the loss of fondue tummies!

Yesterday a friend and I hosted a baby shower for our mutual friend Haley! She is a fellow American and friend and we thought it would be fun to do the good old baby shower tradition here although it isn’t a custom in Switzerland.

We decorated super simply with fresh tulips and baby booties on the table.  The baby’s great grandmother made some precious pink booties with little socks knitted on and the baby’s grandmother made a little set of pink booties…they both looked so cute on the table! We hung a little ribbon line with vintage baby girl cards on it! And that was it for decorations. Simple and sweet.

We had punch and snacks as people arrived. After we all visited for a bit we  had Haley open her gifts. When the gifts time was done we moved into a lunch/brunch time. In case you think we didn’t feed the momma to be enough here was the menu…

Menu

strawberry lemonade punch

Prosecco with pomogranite syrup and pom seeds

hot artichoke dip

vegetables and dip (Haley is addicted to ranch)

Lunch

individual quiches

curried chicken salad

fruit salad

skewers with tomatoes and fresh mozerella dipped in pesto

bread basket with muffins and breads

Dessert

(everything was mini because we couldn’t imagine anything big after all of the previous eating! )

mini lemon cupcakes with cream cheese icing

brownies

oreo truffles

almond tarts with raspberry jam filling

Needless to say we were all stuffed by the end!  Katie hand dipped pretzels for the guests to take as a favor. They were so pretty with pink chocolate and sweet little pearl candies.

It was a really fun morning! We are looking forward to meeting Haley’s little miss!