Spätzle mit Käse

Spätzle mit Käse

400 Grams Flour, sifted
1 Teaspoon Salt
2 Tablespoons Greiß (Cream of Wheat)
125 Milliliters Water
4 Medium eggs
75 Grams Butter

1 1/2 bags of shredded cheese, preferrably Mozerella/Gouda mix
1 Cup hot water
1 tsp Vegtable granuales (like bullion)

Preheat oven to 200°C/390°F
Sift flour, Greiß and salt together in a bowl. Make a well in the four mixture. Pour eggs and water into the well, then beat with a wooden spoon until blended. Add a little bit more water if necessry so the dough is slightly sticky yet is still elastic and stiff. Let sit between 5 and 15 minutes.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Once the water begins to boil, you can start making the Spätzle.

Using a Spätzle maker, put the dough into the center and move the maker back and forth to form the noodles. Press the noodles into the pot of boiling water. Cook the noodles in the water for about 5 minutes, or until they rise to the surface. Lift noodles out using a slotted spoon.

Put noodles in a casserole dish. Mix the cheese into the noodles. Put the veggie granuals into the cup of hot water, pour into casserole dish with the noodles. Mix well.

Place dish into the oven for 10-15 minutes. Take out and enjoy a very yummy dish!!

Cooking Measures
1 ounce--28.3 grams
1 gram--.35 ounces
1/2 cup--120 milliliters
1 cup of all purpose flour--113 grams
1 cup butter--226 grams

I hope you are able to try this dish out. It's absolutly fabulous! My friend Kim and I went to a baking class today, and this was one of the dishes they taught us how to make. This is a traditional german dish. You are offered spätzle with all meals. It's one of most people's favorite things to eat. If you don't want to make cheesy spätzle, omit the shredded cheese and bullion with water. I prefer the cheese, but both are delicious! One of the main differences in the way the germans cook in comparison to the way we cook in the states, is that they weigh everything. You cannot cook over here without a scale. I put in the conversions the best I could at the bottom, so if you do try it, you can do it without really weighing it. Also, instead of the round spätzle pan that goes over the top of the boiling water, you can use some type of noodle press. The traditional spätzle is shorter and fatter noodles, but having longer noodles is totally okay too! I wasn't able to get the picutres yet of the stuff we actually ate today, but I'm hoping to get them soon. I really hope some of you are able to try this!!

The cat

The cat after the fall

The stairs he fell down

My cat just fell down the stairs. He loves to play with you through the railing as you are soming up the stairs. Well, I was walking past him, and he jumped up the railing, like he was jumping straight up a wall (yes, he does this a lot), and he went right through the railing and fell down the entire flight of stairs. He did not land on his feet. I don't think he's hurt terribly. I keep watching him, making sure he isn't limping or anything. I think he has a growing bruise on his nose, but he seems okay. It scared me. I thought I was going to have to take him into the vet. I'm hoping this will teach him to be a little more careful around the railing too. Probably not, though. He is, after all, only a cat.

Anne of Green Gables and Deviled Eggs

This afternoon is turning out to be a really wonderful one. I was having a bad day a couple of weeks ago and Blake, to make me feel better, ordered Anne of Green Gables on dvd from Best Buy. It just got here today, so I decided to watch it. It's just such a wonderful movie. I think a lot of the wonderfulness comes form the nostalgic (sp?) factor of it. This was a movie we were allowed to watch almost as many times as we wanted to growing up. I just love it so much. I think the hormones have defenitly helped out the loving of nostalgic things too! I made myself 3 deviled eggs to enjoy while I watch it. Really, can you think of a better way to spend an afternoon???

Hormones, Cravings and Gas

So these are the joys of pregnancy, huh? I cried over a poptart getting lodged in the toaster the other day. How wierd is that? I seem to be okay and normal on most days, but sometimes, just sometimes....oh boy does the inner crybaby/grumpypants come out! I think I've apologized more to Blake this last month than I have in the last 5 years! Onto the cravings...I havn't really had a lot of what you would call "cravings". I more can't stand the sight and smell of foods I used to love. The last week or so, I've been defenitly thinking deviled eggs are the best food on earth. I think I could eat them until they came out my ears! Meat has started to make me a little queasy at the site or smell of it. It's a good thing eggs sound good, I guess :). I keep thinking that the best thing in the world to eat, would be a deviled egg sandwich. Blake thinks that may be a little too much egg yolk. I have to agree, although the thought never really leaves my brain! Now, last, but not least, the gas. I've never really been a gassy person. Being my father's daughter, you would think I was, but I'm not. It's been great. Yup, not so much anymore. There seem to be very few things that don't make me gassy! It's quite a strange thing. Luckily, my hubby loves me even though I smell! All in all, the symptoms of pregnancy, no matter how uncomfortable they be, are really enjoyable (after the fact). I'm so glad I have any signs, just to show that maybe the baby is really growing in there and everything will be okay. I can't wait until our next apointment. It's in a few weeks, and I think we get to hear the heartbeat. That will be amazing. I think the month after that, we get our 2nd ultrasound, and we get to find out what we are having. I'm pretty excited about that. Our names we are thinking about are:
Cara or Evelyn -Sue and Chase Alexander. I'm sure the names will change again, but these are what we like for the moment. I think we will have a boy. I have nothing to base this on, other than the fact I can feel it in my bones. Either way, we will be happy. We are almost at the 12 week point, which is a huge step for us. We've never made it this far yet, and I'm just praying that everything continues to go well!

Rome (it's a little messy, sorry about that)

The Vatican...it was a little dark.

The Trevi Fountain

A Temple in old Rome

A carving on the street corner.

Old Rome

St. Peter's Basilica

We had a fabulous time. What an amazing place. All that history...I can't believe how old eveything is and how beautiful it all still is! I will try to describe the pictures, so you kind of know what you are looking at. We walked around soooooo much, but it was worth it. I only had a few blisters on my feet, but htat was my own fault. I didn't wear the correct walking shoes the second day. I got a little sunburnt too, but not really too bad. It was a fabulous anniversary vacation. We stayed at a 5 star hotel which was beautiful, however the food was something to be desired. We ate out onthe town for the most part. How wonderful is the food in Rome? its fabulous!! We had pizza and lasagna, spagetti, gelato....the list goes on. I could die happy with the food there. My favorite was the pizza and the strawberry gelato. We have descovered that Blake takes way better pictures than me, so he had the camera after the first day. It seemed as if I kept taking crooked pictures (stop laughing, Mother). Inside the Vatican was amazing. It was dark, so the pictures didn't really turn out that great, but I posted some of them anyway. We couldn't take pictures in the tombs of the popes, but that was pretty amazing too. We didn't go and see the Sistine Chape, becasue the line for it was, like, three hours long. We figured we could see it on another trip. We found one little resturaunt that we loved and went back to a couple of times. I so remined me of Grandpa Raboin! We got the same waiter (who remembered us) and if we ever go back to Rome, we will be eating there again!

All in all, it was the best anniversary so far. 5 years have past, and we are doing great. Our littlest Henry is doing great still. We are 10 weeks along now. I love the fact that we are in double digits. This means we only have 2 more weeks to go before we are past the first trimester! Blake thinks the littlest Henry is starting to make an appearance, I just think I'm fat...I guess we'll see. It's nice to get home after the trip, though. Gratch missed us and was super happy to see us. So happy, in fact, he woke us up way to early this morning, just to play! We love him anyway. So, I'm going to stop writing now and load some pictures. I hope you enjoy the all!!