Carne Guisada

Inspiration: allrecipes.com

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons cooking oil
• 2 pounds beef stew meat
• 1 can diced tomatoes with green chilis
  
• 10 ounces beef broth
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  
• 2 teaspoons chili powder
• 1teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• salt to taste
• tortillas or rice
• garnishes: cheese, sour cream, salsa, lettuce
  

Instructions:

1. Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium high heat.
   
2. Cook beef until evenly brown. Pour off excess fat.
   
3. Stir in tomatoes, beef broth and water.
   
4. Season with garlic, chili powder, cumin, black pepper, and salt.
   
5. Place in slow cooker, and cook on low for 8 to 10 hours.
6. Serve in tortillas or over rice.
   

Tim's Rating: 9/10
Liz's Rating: 8/10

Notes: The result has a lot of liquid. If you want it more like traditional taco meat, put in 1/2 the broth and change the canned tomatoes to 1/2 can tomato paste.

Split Pea Soup with Kielbasa

Inspiration: allrecipes.com

Ingredients:

• 1 pound dried split peas
• 10 cups water
• 1 pound kielbasa, sliced
• 1 Tablespoon Penzey's chicken soup base
  
• 2 carrots, chopped
  
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 2 bay leaves

Instructions:

1. In a 5 quart slow cooker, combine the peas, water, kielbasa, bouillon, carrot, celery, garlic powder, oregano, bay leaves, and onion.
2. Cover, and cook on High for 4 to 5 hours.
   
3. Remove bay leaves before ladling into bowls.

Tim's rating: 8/10
Liz's rating: 5/10

Notes: Next time I think I will brown the kielbasa slices prior to adding them to the slow cooker.

Tasty Travels: Venice

We had lunch at Trattoria All' Antico Pizzo.
I cannot find a website, but the address is:
Rialto- S. Polo, 814. 30125 Venezia.
Tel. 041.5231575
Mixed salad. Fish risotto.
Spaghetti pomodoro and roast chicken.
Lasagna and calamari.
We returned to Trattoria All' Antico Pizzo for dinner one of the following nights.
To get there, cross the Rialto Bridge so that you are on the Rialto side, with your back to the bridge. Walk straight down the street in front of you, until you see these street signs (and the sign above). Turn left on Calle Bo and follow the arrows.
Risotto with scampi and arugula.
Spaghetti with mussels, clams and prawns.
Lemon curd something.
Tiramisú
Sgroppino, an after dinner drink/dessert: limoncello shaken with vodka, prosecco, and ice cream. Delicious!

We had a wonderful lunch at this unnamed restaurant on Murano.
Mixed salad "pizza diavolo"
Spaghetti ragú.
We also enjoyed a delicious lunch at Acqua Pazza.
I wish it was warm enough to sit on their beautiful patio!
First we started with bruschetta and a Caprese salad.
Tim had the gnocchi di grano saraceno alla sorrentina, which he declared his favorite dish of the trip.
I had a pizza topped with arugula.
We had some limoncello for dessert.

Our last night, we had dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, Vini da Gigio.
I started with penne with gorgonzola and pistachios.
Tim started with arugula ravioli.
My main course was grilled squid, the same course I ordered on our last visit. It is simply fantastic.
Tim had the sole.
For dessert, I had the Sgroppino, and Tim had ice cream layered with almonds and nougat.

Tasty Travels: Munich

The German breakfast at the Hotel Uhland was fantastic!
The Hotel Uhland gave us a nice Christmas basket of cookies and clementines.

We ate a lot of meals at the Hofbraühaus since it was always open even when other places were closed for the holidays.

Grill-sausages (on the left) and "Hofbraühaus Style" sausage (on the right).
Goulash
Cheese Spätzle.
Roast Pork
Schweinehaxe.
The cabbage salad (coleslaw) was awesome!
And the yeast dumpling was amazing. I describe it as tasting like a melted donut.

Bratwurst at the Weisses Brauhaus.

We had dinner at Haxnbauer. In Saint Paul, our favorite German restaurant is the Glockenspiel, where Tim likes to have schweinehaxe. Since the Haxnbauer is famous for theirs, we decided to try it out!
Here are the schweinehaxe on the spit.
The dining roomMy Bavarian radish appetizer
My sliced pork knuckle entrée served with sauerkraut and mashed potatoes topped with fried onions.
Tim's entrée of pork knuckle (schweinehaxe), mixed salad, and green beans with bacon.
The other entrées: veal and pork knuckle with potato dumplings, and roasted suckling pig with potato dumplings.