Souzoukaki Kebab

I know a certain someone who was really anxious for me to post this, so here you go:)

This recipe was discovered by my mother while we were visiting them in Germany. It was published in the local paper in conjunction with an article about a restaurant that supported my favorite soccer club. I have never needed that many onions for a recipe. It is split up in two parts, the meat and the sauce. Other than the prep, meaning the dicing of the onions, the recipe is pretty simple and easy and it is delicious as well. The meat is seasoned with fresh mint, which is just wonderful, so make sure you try it too.

For 4 servings you need the following:

2lbs. Ground meat (the recipe actually calls for mixed pork and beef)
3 ½ Tbsp. Olive Oil
4 Onions, diced
6-8 Mint leaves, chopped
1 bunch Parsley, chopped
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste

For the sauce:
7 Tomatoes, cut into small pieces
1 Big Onion, finely chopped
1 Tbsp. Tomato Paste
6 Tbsp. Olive Oil
Oregano
Salt
Pepper

So, we start chopping the onions for the meat, cop chop:

And since we're in a choppy mood we might as well take care of the onion for the tomato sauce as well:
Don't they look yummy?

Ok, back to the meat. Add the chopped parsley and mint leaves as well as the oil, salt and pepper, mix thoroughly and form meat balls, about 4 per person.

For the sauce cut the tomatoes into small pieces and sauté with the finely chopped onion in a large pan in some olive oil. Add the tomato paste and the rest of the olive oil. Add oregano, salt and pepper to taste. For some reason I didn't take pictures of that part, so just trust me on that:)

Next, spread the sauce on a baking sheet and arrange the meatballs on top of the sauce. Bake at 350 for about 35-40 minutes.

That picture didn't turn out too good, but I just had to share it:

Serve over rice and with some wine and you will be happy for at least the rest of the meal.

Enjoy!

The Pioneer Woman's Summer Stir-Fry

The Pioneer Woman has too many good recipes, as yo can see. So, because vegetables are good for you and so is seafood I tried this recipe. Again, the only thing I had to substitute was the butter. I used all olive oil instead, which probably was the reason my shrimps and veggies didn't brown too nicely, but then again the pan I used was a non-stick, so who knows.

Here are the veggies:

Some chopped parsley and basil:
And the shrimpies:
Sautee some garlic:
And then add the shrimp:
Looking good:
Take out the shrimp, keep warm and add the squash:
Next up is the corn:
And then some tomatoes:
Add the herbs and the shrimp and there you go:
I served it with rice, so that the guy(s) had some more substance:)
Again, this recipe was so yummy, easy and just an overall a winner. That one will definitely be served again.

Enjoy!

Pork Chops with Mushrooms in a Honey-Dijon Sauce

I am a little behind posting dishes I had previously made, so sometimes it takes me a while to find the recipes for those dishes to post along with the pictures. I could not find the recipe for this one, so I assume that I just came up with it or at least combined a few recipe ideas to accommodate the ingredients I had on hand.

So, let's see if I can piece the ingredients together:

3/4 cup Onions, chopped

1 cup Mushrooms, sliced

2 Tbsp. Honey

1 Tbsp. Dijon Mustard

2 Tsp. Marjoram

1 - 1 1/2cups Vegetable broth

2 Pork Chops, seasoned with salt and pepper

1-2 Tbsp. EVOO

First, heat the olive oil in a skillet and pan-fry the pork chops on both sides until they're done:

Take out the pork chops and keep warm. Meanwhile, saute the onions and mushrooms for a few minutes until the onions are translucent:

Stir in the honey, mustard and marjoram as well as the broth. Heat through until it thickens up a little and add the pork chops back to the pan to heat through.

Serve with rice or whatever you would like with it:

Just a note here, I am guessing on the honey, mustard, marjoram and broth amounts here, but it sounds about right to me:) I'll update this post when I try it out again and make sure to note that on the top of the blog for anybody who may be following this.

As always, enjoy!

Tuna Burgers with homemade Remoulade Sauce

So I was going to make another Tuna dish, but coudn't find frozen Tuna steaks, so I picked up frozen Tunaburgers instead. I decided later, that this wouldn't work, so we had actual Tuna burgers. Duh!
For that I needed Remoulade Sauce, but since I couldn't find any, I thought I'd just make my own. So, I started out with about 1 cup of mayo and a Tbsp. of mustard.

I chopped half an onion:

Spiced it up with some salt and pepper:
Then I decided to add a Dill Pickle:
Starting to look like something:
Ok, one more pickle:
How about some lemon juice?
Half a lemon was good enough:
To add a little green I added some parsely:
Chopped up, of course:

Now, this is what I'm talking about. Done!

Ok, while I was thinking about what else to have with the burgers I thought I'd make some rice and I found some black beans in the pantry too, so I thought I can add a little flavor from South of the Border and spice that up with the other half of the lemon and some Cilantro:
Rinse the beans:
Stir in about 2 Tsp. of the Cilantro and the lemon juice:
Then, I remembered some Avocado we still had and thought it would go great on the burger, so I sliced it up:
Here is the rice/bean dish:
for the burgers I chose whole wheat buns:
And toasted them a little:
Pan fry the Tuna Burgers:
Hmm....toasted buns:)
And there you have it.
And everybody ate it: