Popovers with Mushroom Sauce...

Had never even heard of popovers before I made these for the party on Sunday, but I was so happy that I made them, they were super good, and will be a new favorite...

You can make the batter and the sauce a day ahead, and refrigerate.

2 C. Whole Milk
4 large eggs
2 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted, plus 8 Tbsp unsalted butter
2 C. flour
2 tsp. coarse salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
4 shallots, finely chopped
3 C. heavy cream
2 Tbsp. finely chopped fresh tarragon
freshly ground pepper

1. Whisk together milk, eggs, and melted butter; set aside. Whisk together flour and salt in sep. medium bowl. Pour the milk mixture into the flour mixture; whisk until blended. Cover; let the batter stand 1 hour.

2. Preheat oven to 450. Put 2 tsp.s of the oil into each cup of standard 6-popover pans or large capacity 12-cup muffin tin (I used a regular muffin tin, and they were fine) Place the pans on a rimmed baking sheet. Transfer to oven; heat the oil in the pans 20 minutes.

3. Pour the batter into the popover cups, filling each 2/3 full. Bake (do not open oven while popovers cook) 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 - continue to bake about 20 minutes more - till popovers are browned and crusty. Invert the popovers to unmold. Transfer to a bowl lined with a kitchen towel; cover to keep warm.

4. Meanwhile, heat the remaining butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the shallots; cook, stirring occasionally, until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add mushrooms, cook, stirring occasionally until golden, about 5 minutes. Add the sherry; cook until the liquid is reduced by half, about 2 minutes. Raise the heat to medium-high; add the cream, and bring to a boil, stirring. Reduce heat to low, and simmer 1 minute. Stir in the tarragon, and season with coarse salt and pepper.

5. To serve, place the popovers on plates and spoon mushroom sauce on top.

One of our guests said that the popovers are similar to British Yorkshire Pudding (which I've never had) so she at least knew what I was doing when I cooked the popovers... I was a bit befuddled, but they really do rise up and almost "pop over" in the pan!

Super good and worth trying! We have loads of leftover sauce and are now using it on chicken to finish it off!

Good Article on the House and Senate Healthcare Bills

click here

http://blog.heritage.org/2009/12/22/morning-bell-the-six-key-issues-the-house-must-cave-on-before-obamacare-becomes-law/

Holiday Open House

A big thanks to everyone that came last night! We had a great time, and it was a great way to celebrate Christmas with new friends here in Germany! I over did it on the food a bit, but I sure enjoyed doing it! Here are some pictures...

This is a star lamp that I picked up at Rewe. I first saw them at a Christmas Market, but didn't want to shell out 30 Euros for one this year... then I found this one at Rewe for half the price! I love it.


Here are the gift baskets ready to go...


Some of the other outdoor decorations all lit up with candles burning in the lanterns...


And all the ladies... Kerri, Annie, Elisa, Raji and Amanda. We never strayed too far from the food - but had great conversation!


And the fellows... Pete, Hugh and Bas.


And some of the kiddies chillin' in the playroom. I think Ice Age 3 ran 3 times over...


And our little rascal... didn't get much of a nap yesterday but still ran in circles all evening!

Holiday Open House

Well, we have 3 inches of snow, the house is clean, and the groceries are purchased, so I believe we are ready for our Christmas Open House tomorrow...

We'll be having 7 families (perhaps more or less...) which makes 18 adults and 17 kids. (!) We got Ice Age 3 for the kids to watch in the basement, although I think it will be pretty interesting to see what that room likes like when they're done with it!

We also asked everyone to either bring finger food or something sweet, but we're still serving up some real goodies... here's what's on the menu:

Glühwein
Hot Buttered Rum
Relish Tray & Veggies
Artichoke and Camembert Dip
Salsa and Cream Cheese Dip
Hot Cheese and Broccoli Dip (Family Tradition)
Gruyere & Tomato Mustard Pastries
Bruschetta
Popovers with Wild Mushroom Sauce (muffins with a scrumptious mushroom, shallot, sherry and cream sauce - thank you Martha Stewart!)

and I also did a tray of cookies, and a gift basket for each family with cookies and a loaf of cranberry but bread.

Am I crazy? Yes, but I love entertaining at Christmas! It doesn't get any less crazy next week either, because I still have to finish Christmas Cards (I've given up on them at this point...) finish gift baskets for those not attending our party, drive to my Aunt and Uncle's to pick up packages from my parents, make Christmas Stockings and finally - wrap gifts! All by Thursday... something tells me I'll be sewing those stockings on Thursday!

We're still planning to see if we can pick up a last minute vacation on the 28th, and something tells me we'll be ready for one! And I'm hoping the temperature stays below freezing, so that not only will we have a white Christmas - maybe after all this craziness we can figure out how to go sledding!

Merry Christmas...

We just got a letter from our health insurance agency, telling us that our premium is going up by 140 Euros per month...

Goodbye spending money...

Baking...

OK, wait, first here is Luna playing in the snow on Sunday... she loved it!



And here is the baking done so far... let's see- snickerdoodles, chocolate thumbprint cookies, mexican wedding cakes, gingerbread men and... oh my gosh, i guess that's it! Still have to do sugar cookies and cranberry nutbread. Gave up on the macaroons!

Fürth Christmas Market & Baking...

Last night we went to the Fürth Christmas Market. It was busy, since it was Saturday night, so difficult to take pictures, but here's a couple I got...

One of the entrances...


Luna always gets to do a carousel ride...


And they had this huge Advent calendar. Everyday they open a new door and raffle whatever is inside to one lucky child...


And here is the tower in the center all lit up.


Not only was Luna drinking from a big girl cup, she did it without a straw or a spill!


Here we are today making chocolate chip, thumbprint cookies. She even got her own dough to play with!

Making Colored Sugar...

I haven't been able to find colored sugar here, so I looked up how to make it on the internet, and found a super easy method (I was worried that the food coloring would make the sugar too wet...)


Put the desired amount of sugar in a ziplock bag. Add a few drops of food coloring (remember, a little goes a long way with food coloring) then close the bag and mush the sugar around with your fingers. Voila!

Note to fellow ex-pat bakers here in Germany...

Cream of Tartar is called Weinstein Backpulver, in case you didn't know. Rewe has it!

Wedding Photographs

I recently got out our wedding CD to pull out some photos for a friend. Realized I had never backed these up on Flickr, so decided to go ahead and do so. Thought I would post a link to "some" of my favorites... click the link below if you're interested...

Wedding Favorites

www.flickr.com/photos/lunacolette/sets/72157622854422353/