Pumpkin Seeds Delight

Of course I wouldn’t just throw out the seeds from the pumpkin I used yesterday to make the soup!! I’m living the Swabisch lifestyle which means…SAVE EVERYTHING!!!

So, I experimented a bit and I’d say these came out pretty good….slightly addicting in fact!

What You Need:

Butter

Chili Powder

Garlic Salt

Pepper

Cinnamon

How To Make It:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

I let these sit out overnight on a tray to dry. So in the morning, these were completely dry making it quicker to cook.  I heated up about 1 tablespoon of butter in a bowl and this can vary depending on how many seeds you have.

I threw in the pumpkin seeds and stirred gently to cover them with the butter. Then I added the rest sparingly. Chili powder and garlic salt and pepper were added and then stirred. This is to your liking, but I prefer more of a salty taste so I added more garlic salt.

Spread the seeds out on a baking sheet and put in the oven for 10 mins. Then take out and turn seeds over for another 10 minutes. Very quick process. If they start popping in the oven it’s time to take them out.

And there you have it! my very easy addicting pumpkin seeds! 🙂

Until next time, Readers!!! xoxoxoxoxo

German Hokkaido Pumpkin Soup, A Taste of Autumn

I’m sure you all know by now but if you don’t… I’m obsessed with PUMPKIN. If there was a pumpkin flavored gum…I’d never spit it out. I’m really way overly into it. And in Germany, that haven’t got on to the whole Pumpkin fiasco that is America. We have the Pumpkin Spice lattes, Pumpkin pie, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin ravioli…etc etc. The list goes on. HOWEVER, my friends and neighbors, they do have one dish that involves the beauty of the orange ball and that is…Pumpkin Soup!

I think within the first 5 days of me moving to Germany I was able to try this and it was FANTASTIC! So…now that it’s a year later…I decided it was time to try it myself. Toblerone’s parents came over last night to drop off a few things and naturally I asked his mom how she makes the pumpkin soup and before I know it we were in the thralls of cooking at 9pm.

Most of the pictures are taken with my iPhone as she busied away doing whatever it was that she was doing. I was trying to document so I would remember for you guys of course!

What you need:

1 ‘Hokkaido’ Pumpkin

1 medium-sized onion

2 Tablespoons Butter

2 cups water

2 Tablespoons Beef Bouillon

White wine

Salt and Pepper

150 grams (about 3/4 cup) Creme Fraiche

200 grams ( about 1 cup) Whipping cream

How You Make It:

Take a sharp knife and cut off the skin completely around the pumpkin. Don’t cut too deep, just enough to get the outer layer off. Then cut the pumpkin in half, scooping out the seeds in the middle. 

Cut the pumpkin into small chunks (easier to cook and puree). Next cut the onion into small pieces as well. Then add two tablespoons of butter to a pot and heat on medium heat. Once butter starts to melt, add the onions. Let onions cook until they are starting to get golden brown.

Easy so far right?? Once the onion is golden brown add in the chunks of pumpkin and mix together. NOTE: If you want a thicker soup you can cut up a potato and cook as well. Once you puree you won’t taste the potato so much and it will thicken the soup. I thought it was perfect without.

So the madre-in-law filled up a bowl of water without measuring and poured the water into the pot as well. Then we cooked it for a good 15 more minutes. Here’s the thing, as I said…without measuring so at a glance I would say it was 2 cups to 2 1/2 cups of water. You basically want the water to cover the pumpkin pieces. This is the “soup” part of it.

Add in the beef bouillon and cover. Let cook for 15 -20 mins. Check the pumpkin. If the pumpkin is soft then it’s ready to puree.  Take the pot and place in the sink and  puree until all chunks have met their doom with the mixer.

Toblerone’s mother has a handy dandy puree machine which I want SO badly! I’ve never seen this in America but granted…I didn’t cook much when I lived there so if you have one, awesome!

Harley Jones was REALLLLLLLLY enjoying this as you can see.

Once you puree, place the soup back on the burner on low heat and start adding in the rest of the ingredients. Salt and Pepper to taste, a little more beef bouillon if you wish, and white wine. So…here’s the other fun part. Earlier I had poured his mom a glass of white wine and in the heat of the moment she grabbed her wine…took a sip and then poured it into the soup. This was about a half a cup I think. But add a little and taste it until it’s to your preference.

Next you add in the whipping cream (leaving behind a little for the finishing touch). Do not whip it or any such thing, just simply pour in and stir. Next add the creme fraiche as well. Stir and let sit so the wine can cook for about 5 – 10 minutes.

In the mean time, toast a few pieces of bread and cut into small “crouton” sizes. I had onion bread here at home so that worked out perfectly.

Pour the soup into bowls and drizzle the remaining whipping cream into the soup like so:

Add your toasted bread “croutons” and VOILA! Chow down time! Keep in mind that this is not supposed to taste like a pumpkin pie. It’s not sweet, it’s just simply, TASTY!!!!

Until next time, Readers!!!! xoxoxoxoxoxo

I Survived Oktoberfest

I’m not totally sure how to put this into words. So, I’m glad I kept it together enough to take pictures for you all! If anyone ever gets the chance to come to Germany at the end of September I HIGHLY reccomend that you stop and check out Oktoberfest. I also reccomend that you wear steel gloves. My hand is so sore from where the handle of the glass rested. Also, you should watch the movie Beerfest 8 times in a row and drink every time they do. It’s a GREAT drinking game and good practice for what is unveiled at this Oktoberfest!

Note: It took approximately 10 minutes pushing, pulling, situating those suckers until they were in my neck…yes, you asked. They were the highlight of the night…I’m sure you’ll see these on someone’s facebook/flickr account at some point. 

I have never seen so many people in one place having that much fun. No drama, just fun, drinking, singing. Germany, one bonus point to you for throwing the best party I’ve ever been to! So, we ended up going to Stuttgart, whereas the original Oktoberfest is in Munich. However, Stuttgart is a little smaller (although, I can’t imagine how large Munich is because the “smaller” Stuttgart was very large) and a lot closer.

We arrived at 3:00pm and went to our reserved table. We were with a group of about 20 or so people so it was pretty crazy. We get off the train and walk into an amusement park practically. There are all sorts of rides and little shops, games, etc. The beer “tents” were more like houses. They must take forever to build up. Then once inside, I was completely shocked. The band was playing and there were THOUSANDS of people smashing their giant mugs together and singing, swaying back and forth arm in arm, standing on the tables. Absolute nut-house! Of course majority of people are wearing the traditional clothing of lederhosen for men and dirndl for women. It felt like Halloween and everyone wore the same thing. All different colors and variations swamped the place. INCREDIBLE!

Note: Check that mother out!! That was number 1….number 2 and 3 did not make an appearance for the camera. 

I had a total of 3 Mass the whole night…Let’s do the math, shall we? 1 Mass is 1 liter of beer…3 Liters = 101.4 Ounces. Let’s face it…I’m amazing and could have kept going! No worries, my kittens, I wasn’t the least bit drunk. I’m Irish….these Germans have NOTHING on me! 🙂 However, I drank slowly and danced like crazy. Plus it’s like 8 million degrees inside the tent so you sweat it out anyway! 🙂

Note: The Toblerone and I 🙂 

Woke up the next morning, felt fantastic, and decided to head back to the festival. We walked around and went on a ride – the scariest one I could find. Had another beer and watched the parade which was so sweet. All different groups rolled by in traditional clothing, some dating back many many years. Hats, dresses, suits, everything! They had animals and cars, and guess what they passed out instead of candy? Yup, glasses of beer and wine. Why helllloooooo there, Heaven! 🙂

Note: Sorry for the blur – all pics were taken with iPhone. This guy is carrying at least 5 Mass in each hand. This is insane to me and I have arthiritis just looking at. 

I think this is a big trend now in the states or something, I keep seeing mustache items everywhere but they had the beard and mustache groups walking down. Not sure what any of that has to do with Oktoberfest other than it’s completely entertaining when you’ve been drinking in the hot sun. The first automobile (125 years old) made an appearance also.

Anywho, I survived my first Oktoberfest with only beer spilled on my dress and can’t WAIT to go back next year….and I think we may go again in the next two weeks 🙂 I just really need to verify that it was really that fun. Second or Third time is always a charm right?  Who’s with me?!? And better yet, they have the same time of festival again in the Spring. You don’t need to ask…already bought my ticket! BAM!

Note: Traditionally the beer was brought to the beer tents by horse and carriage, nowadays it’s by truck but they still do the whole show bit of it all in the parade.

Until next time, Readers!!! xoxoxoxoxo