Why are there letters on doors?

Last night we have a few visitors stop by our house.  If you live in Germany or travel through Germany during the first part of January, you will sometimes see letters on the top of people's doors. Germans call the holiday, Dreikönigstag (Three Kings' Day). Typically in Germany, on January 6th, children in groups of three (symbolising the three kings) proceed in costume from house to house while singing songs.  In our town 4 kids and one adult stopped by our house.  They were dressed up, sang a few songs to us, and collected money for a local charity.  After their songs they wrote a blessing on our door.  One of the children wrote 20 * C + M + B + 11.  My friend told me the letters have two meanings. They are the initials of the customary names of the Three Magi: Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar. They also abbreviate the Latin words “Christus Mansionem Benedicat”, “May Christ bless the house”. The year is divided before and after the these letters. The crosses (+) represent the protection of the Christ."  She said that this is not just a Catholic blessing but is used by many faith traditions.  

This was the first time the kids visited our house and this is our third year in Germany.  When I mentioned this to one of my neighbors he said they come every year.  Not sure why we had not seen them until this year. Here are a few pictures from the group.

Our visitors

Blessing on our door

Welcome 2011

We rang in the New Year with our next door neighbors.  It was a fun evening.  Our son went to bed around 9pm and slept through the war of fireworks.  We were impressed.  I was so glad because by midnight I was worn out.  

Our neighbors cooked duck which was really good.  The only other time I have eaten duck was at a Thai food restaurant in Texas and it was slimy and gross.  This duck was not slimy and had a nice flavor.  She also cooked rice, dumplings, pasta, and several other things.  The wife is from Slovakia and her family made some homemade Slovakian pickles and salami which were both very good. Her husband is American and they both speak English.  We have some wonderful German neighbors who live on the other side of us.  We feel so blessed to have such wonderful neighbors.  We actually know our neighbors in Germany better than we did our neighbors in the States.  Something we want to duplicate once we return to the US - get to know our neighbors.

Today we had some friends over for dinner to celebrate the New Year.  We had three families over for a total of 12 people.  There were 8 adults and 4 kids.  We had a great time.  We cooked a spiral ham for the first time, which turned out great, black eyed peas, corn, peas, Greek Salad, rolls, and several appetizers of fruit, cheese, crackers, chips, and dip. For dessert I baked chocolate chip cookies, one friend brought homemade apple pie, my neighbors brought peanut butter balls, and my other friend brought muffins.  The food was delicious and the conversations were enjoyable.  All of the kids got along great.  I even put up a kid's table and the kids sat there and ate very well.  My son was in his high chair but wanted down to go sit at the kid's table.  He did wonderful!  

I hope you and your loved ones have a wonderful new year.  May God bless you and fill your home with love.  Many blessings from my house to yours.  Happy New Year!!

Easy Greek Salad

Greece is one of my favorite countries.  One of my friend's mom lived in Greece for a long time.  She made a salad similar to this.  I love the fact it does not include lettuce.

Ingredients:

1 cucumber
1 quart cherry tomatoes
1 Tbs balsamic vinegar
1 Tbs olive oil 
feta cheese

Directions:

Wash and dice cucumber, put in bowl.  Wash tomatoes and add to the cucumber. Add feta cheese (however much you like).  Top with balsamic vinegar and olive oil.  Mix well and refrigerate until ready to serve.


Options:
Add bell peppers, olives, purple onions, or any other none lettuce veggie you like.

Easy Stuffed Mushrooms

I used blonde mushrooms here

For Christmas I also make stuffed mushrooms.  I got the idea for this recipe online one year and adapted it to what I could easily get at the grocery store.  

Ingredients:

• 1 pound of bacon
• 8 ounces of softened cream cheese
• 1.5 teaspoons of Italian seasoning 
• 18 large (stems removed) mushrooms 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
Cut bacon into 1 inch pieces. Fry until crisp and drain on a paper towel.
Mix bacon, cream cheese, and Italian seasoning.
Wash mushrooms and remove stem.
Fill mushroom caps with cream cheese mixture and place in baking dish.
Bake 18-21 minutes or until fork tender.

Beef Tenderloin with Blue Cheese Butter Recipe

I saw this Beef Tenderloin with Blue Cheese Butter recipe in Family Circle Magazine last December.  We made this last year for Christmas and absolutely loved it.  We don't like turkey very much and for only three people it seems like a waste to buy a whole turkey.  So we decided to start a new tradition and cook beef tenderloin for Christmas.  Beef tenderloin is the MOST tender cut of beef.  It is pretty expensive which is why we only cook it at Christmas.  You will not have to chew this for hours when eating this.  It comes from the short loin primal and is from the same region Filet Mignon is cut from.  The leftovers are really good too.

Beef Tenderloin with Blue Cheese Butter

Ingredients

• 1  about 2-1/4 pounds  beef tenderloin, trimmed and tied
• 1  tablespoon  unsalted butter, softened
• 3/4  teaspoon  salt
• 1/2  teaspoon  black pepper
• 1/4  cup  crumbled blue cheese
• 3  tablespoons  unsalted butter, softened
• 2  tablespoons  chopped parsley

Directions

1. Beef: Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Pat beef dry and spread with butter. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and place on wire rack set in rimmed baking sheet. Roast at 350 degrees for about 35 to 45 minutes or until instant-read thermometer registers 135 degrees, flipping roast halfway through cooking.

2. Butter: While roast is cooking, stir together blue cheese, butter and parsley in a small bowl; refrigerate until ready to use.

3. Remove roast to a serving platter and top with 1/3 of the blue cheese butter. Tent with foil and let roast rest for 10 minutes. Slice and serve with remaining butter. Makes 8 servings.

Crème Brûlée Recipe

Before baking

For Christmas my husband I love to make Crème Brûlée.  This French dessert is one of our favorites and the recipe is very simple.

Ingredients:
2 cups heavy cream
5 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
~1/2 cup or so of light brown sugar
5 - 7oz ramekins

water halfway up the sides

-Preheat oven to 275 degrees F (135 degrees C). 

-Whisk the cream, egg yolks, sugar, and vanilla extract together in a bowl. Mix it all up until it  is creamy.  

-Pour mixture into ramekins (ceramic dishes). I distributed the mixture between 5 7-ouncers. 

-Place the ramekins in a 8.5x11 baking pan. Fill the baking pan with about 3 cups of hot water.  You want the water to be about halfway up the sides of the ramekins. 

-Place the pan with the ramekins in the oven for one hour or so. After 1 hour or so check them every ten minutes. They are done when you can stick a knife in one and it comes out clean. 

Done!  Enjoy!

-Remove the ramekins from the baking pan, set them on the counter, and 

let them cool for about 15-20 minutes.

-Put Crème Brûlée in the refrigerator for 8 hours or overnight.

 

Before eating, remove from refrigerator, sprinkle a THIN layer of the light brown sugar on the top of each. Now torch it! Or, if you don't have a torch, you can put them under the broiler for a minute or until the sugar is caramelized.

This recipe from CDKitchen.

Oreo Truffles

Merry Christmas!!  I'm going to share with you a few recipes that we made this year.  First is a super yummy and easy Oreo Truffle recipe my sister shared with me. She got this recipe from AllRecipes.com. I changed things up a bit.  Here is my recipe.  They are really good!

White Chocolate Truffles rolled in Oreos and
Oreo Truffles rolled in Semi-Sweet

Oreo Truffles

They are ready in about 1.5 hours.

Ingredients

• 1 (16 ounce) package OREO Chocolate Sandwich Cookies, divided
• 1 (8 ounce) package PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened
• 2 (8 ounce) packages BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Baking Chocolate or White Chocolate, melted

Directions

1. Crush 9 of the cookies to fine crumbs in food processor; reserve for later use. (Cookies can also be finely crushed in a resealable plastic bag using a rolling pin.) Crush remaining 36 cookies to fine crumbs; place in medium bowl. Add cream cheese; mix until well blended. Roll cookie mixture into 42 balls, about 1-inch in diameter.
2. Dip balls in chocolate; place on wax paper-covered baking sheet. (Any leftover chocolate can be stored at room temperature for another use.) Sprinkle with reserved cookie crumbs. Or roll balls in crushed Oreos like above.
3. Refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour. Store leftover truffles, covered, in refrigerator.