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Steamed dumplings, poured over with a fine vanilla sauce or with lukewarm baked fruit, are always a welcome lunch for children and also relieve the burden on the wallet

Ingredients for 4 persons

  • 250 g flour
  • 1/8l lukewarm milk
  • 20g yeast
  • 50g soft margarine
  • 1 egg
  • 1 pinch of salt
  • 1 pinch of sugar

For baking:

  • 1 tablespoon margarine
  • salt, sugar

Preparation of grandma’s old dumplings

Mix all the ingredients together to form a dough that is not too firm, cover, and leave to rise in a warm place for 20 minutes. Form dumplings from the yeast dough and let them rise on a floured surface under a cloth for another 20 minutes. Now pour 1cm of water into a frying pan with a tight-fitting lid and bring this to the boil with 1 tablespoon of margarine and a pinch of sugar and salt. Put the risen steamed dumplings in and immediately close the lid. The steamed dumplings are ready when they are sizzling in the roaster, i.e. when the water has completely evaporated. Now the lid must be removed quickly so that no drops of water fall on the dumplings.

Useful additional knowledge steamed dumplings

Never heat the milk above 40° C, otherwise, the yeast fungi will no longer multiply.
A roaster with a glass lid is practical. So you can always see whether the water has already evaporated.

Potato pancakes or potato pancakes are a traditional, well-known dish of good German and Austrian cuisine. Every grandmother, mother, or housewife can easily and cheaply make potato pancakes themselves. Grated potatoes are mixed with other ingredients and baked in hot fat in the form of patties.

This meatless housewife-style dish is eaten with different ingredients, often sweet, depending on the region, especially at Christmas markets, and is also suitable for parties.

Ingredients for 6 servings

  • 850 g floury or semi-hard potatoes
  • 4 eggs
  • 1-pint salt
  • 200 grams of flour
  • 1 pinch of baking powder
  • 1 pinch nutmeg
  • 1 pinch pepper
  • 400ml milk
  • 4 tablespoons fat for baking
  • 1 onion

Preparation of the potato pancakes

First, the potatoes are peeled and grated. The resulting potato water is removed; if necessary, you can also put the rubbing compound through a hair sieve. Then add eggs, salt, nutmeg, flour, baking powder, and milk and mix well. In the meantime, heat 3 tablespoons of fat (beef fat, lard, or oil) in a cast-iron pan over medium heat and fry small pancakes in it.

1 to 2 tablespoons of potato mixture are sufficient per potato pancake so that three to four potato pancakes fit in a pan with a diameter of 25 cm. When the edges begin to turn golden brown, the fritters must be turned with a spatula to cook on the other side.

Useful additional knowledge about potato pancakes

  1. The rubbing mass must be processed immediately so that it does not discolor. Scoop off the resulting potato water with a soup ladle.
  2. In grandmother’s cookbook, the potato pancakes are fried in a cast-iron pan with only lard to make them even tastier.
  3. In the past, the pan was rubbed with bacon rind.
  4. Adding onion to the frying fat gives the potato pancakes an inimitable flavor.
  5. A paper towel on the plate soaks up excess fat.
  6. Depending on the region, fritters are eaten with apple sauce, black bread, sauerkraut, soup, beans, or even salmon and horseradish.
  7. At parties, potato pancakes are an unbeatable hit.
  8. You can then bake the potato pancakes in the waffle iron so that it goes faster.
  9. Experiment with the following ingredients: rolled oats, diced bacon, buttermilk or quark, garlic, marjoram, paprika, or fresh garden herbs.
  10. The potato pancakes should definitely be served hot. Of course, they taste best right out of the pan.

Grandma’s delicious covered apple pie with icing requires several steps, but the preparation is easy.

You will be delighted, the “apple” itself can still be recognized and tasted like a piece of apple, it does not turn into apple pulp.

Ingredients for the apple pie dough

  • 300g flour
  • 200 grams of butter
  • 175 grams of sugar
  • 1 egg
  • grated zest of 1 lemon

Ingredients for the topping

  • 800 to 1000 g of tart apples, Boskopp is suitable
  • juice of 1 lemon
  • 50 grams of raisins
  • 50 grams of sugar
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon, to taste

Ingredients for the icing

  • 1 medium egg
  • 1 tablespoon milk
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 1 tbsp vanilla pudding powder

Preparation of apple pie with icing

  1. Knead the ingredients for the dough into a shortcrust pastry and leave to rest in the fridge for 2 hours. For the topping, peel, core, and eighth the apple mix with the lemon juice, raisins, sugar, and cinnamon. Preheat the oven to 200° (top/bottom heat).
  2. Roll out the dough, place it in a greased springform pan and pull up the edge a little. Prick the pastry base several times with a fork, and spread the apple topping on top. For the glaze, first mix the sugar and custard powder with 1 tablespoon of milk until smooth, then add the other ingredients and whisk and pour over the apples.
  3. Bake on the middle rack for a total of 50 to 60 minutes (switch down to 180° after 30 minutes). When the cake has cooled, sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Grandma’s plum and apple cake is fluffy and juicy and is ideal for using fallen fruit or fallen plums in autumn. Of course, you can also buy fresh plums and apples from the supermarket.

Ingredients for a springform pan

  • approx. 500g plums
  • approx. 500g apples
  • 250g sugar
  • 125g butter or margarine
  • 2 eggs
  • 250 g flour
  • 1/2 packet baking powder
  • 1/2 packet of vanilla sugar or vanilla paste as an alternative
  • 1/2 packet of whipped cream
  • 100g sour cream
  • Maybe some rum flavor

Preparation of the plum and apple cake

The preparation of the delicious plum and apple cake is as follows:

  1. Wash the apples and plums thoroughly. Then cut and stone the plums, making sure the halves just stay together. Simply peel the apples and cut them into small wedges.
  2. Beat the sugar together with the butter and vanilla sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time and beat vigorously.
  3. Then mix flour and baking powder in a new bowl and add gradually. Stir in the sour cream and maybe add some rum flavoring if you like.
  4. Now spread the dough in a greased springform pan or on a greased baking sheet. Then put the fruit, in this case, the plums, and the apples, in the dough.
  5. So that not too much juice penetrates into the dough, you should sprinkle the dough with whipped cream before inserting the fruit.
  6. Now bake the cake at 180° with top and bottom heat for 60-90 minutes. After 60 minutes you can quickly do the first needle test between the fruits.
  7. Sprinkle with a little sugar or icing sugar immediately after baking and let the kitchen cool down in the tin.

Additional knowledge

For the apple pie, you can also consider the following.

  • The dough is very suitable for other types of fruit and berries, such as apples, pears, or berries.
  • Of course, the cake tastes wonderful with whipped cream
  • Preparation time approx. 30 minutes
  • Baking time approx. 1 hour 10 minutes

Recipe for grandma’s delicious apple pie with almonds. In the springform pan with apricot jam.

There are many apple pie recipes and I have tried many. But I always like to go back to my grandmother’s old recipe.

Ingredients for the dough

  • 200 grams of butter
  • 200 grams of sugar
  • 200 grams of flour
  • 4 eggs
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 unwaxed lemon

Ingredients for the topping

  • 800 g tart, firm apples
  • 100 g sliced ​​almonds
  • 100 g apricot jam
  • Butter and breadcrumbs for the mold
  • powdered sugar

Preparations

Peel the apples, remove the core, cut them into eighths, and place them in lemon water. Grate the lemon zest. Grease a springform pan and sprinkle with breadcrumbs.

Preparation of the apple pie

Cream the butter with the sugar (if the butter is too cold, it can be warmed up briefly in the microwave) and 1 tbsp. Add flour. Gradually stir in the eggs and add the lemon zest. Mix the flour with the baking powder, sift through and fold into the batter. Fill half of the dough into the springform pan and top with the apple pieces. Pour the rest of the dough over it and bake the smoothing cake in a preheated oven at 200 degrees for about 40 – 45 minutes. Turn the baked apple pie out onto a wire rack.

Preparation topping

Roast the almonds in the pan. Bring the apricot jam to the boil, spread it hot on the still-warm cake, and immediately sprinkle with the roasted almonds. Sprinkle the cake with icing sugar after it has cooled.

Grandma’s useful knowledge

If you want to freeze the cake, only pour the frosting over it after it has thawed. To do this, briefly heat the cake in the microwave.

Cheese is supposed to close the stomach: Grandma already knew that. But we have found out for you whether that is actually true and what health benefits cheese has.

The saying that cheese closes the stomach probably comes from the Roman writer and scholar Pliny, who around 2,000 years ago rounded off cheese with every meal. He must have thought cheese was good for his digestion. And to this day it is still the case that cheese platters are served at the end of a meal or at celebrations. So what’s up with Grandma’s rumor that cheese closes the stomach? We know it and have found out all the facts on the subject for you.

Cheese closes the stomach: true or false?

Contrary to the cheese myth, cheese does not promote digestion. In fact, eating high-calorie cheese makes you feel full faster. This is due to the fatty acids and proteins contained in cheese. These delay the emptying of the stomach. So you could say that the cheese does not close the stomach, but rather clogs it up.

The high-calorie cheese triggers a long-lasting, strong feeling of satiety. This is probably the reason why the saying came about in a figurative sense that cheese closes the stomach. Gouda or Camembert are said to be particularly filling, while hard cheeses such as Parmesan or mountain cheese are particularly healthy. Cheeses like these provide the most minerals, such as calcium.

Cheese also stimulates saliva production and, depending on the variety, which contains a lot of phosphorus and calcium, can prevent tooth decay and maintain healthy tooth enamel in the long term.

Many people know this nutritional advice from grandma: cherries and water don’t go together. The myth that the combination of fruit and liquid causes stomach pains is even said to go so far that the stomach can burst. But is that really true? We got to the bottom of this legend and we have the answer for you.

Controversial Myth: Stomach Pain from Eating Cherries and Drinking Water?

There are no medical studies that the Federal Center for Nutrition refers to as to whether cherries actually cause stomach pains when combined with water. However, there are various theories as to how the severe abdominal pain can occur after eating the cherries along with drinking water. The nutritionist Claus Leitzmann speculates that the origin of the grandparent myth probably comes from the war and post-war period.

Clean water was scarce at that time. The abdominal pain was probably caused by contaminated water that was drunk along with the cherries that were eaten. Other causes of abdominal pain can be yeast or bacteria on the cherries. In the stomach, they can start to ferment together with the drunk water and the fructose of the cherries and cause severe stomach pains. The water you drink also dilutes the stomach acid, which loses its protective effect.

The harmful bacteria can therefore continue to work unhindered on the fermentation process in the stomach. People who suffer from fructose intolerance should therefore be particularly careful when consuming foods containing fructose. A doctor’s recommendation is not to overdo it with the consumption of cherries and to drink liters of water afterwards. If you stick to a halfway normal consumption amount, there will probably be no stomach ache. By the way: Apricots (apricots), damsons (plums) and other stone fruit, as well as gooseberries, can cause stomach ache for the reasons mentioned above if you eat too much of them and drink too much water afterwards.

Coffee and cigarettes stimulate digestion. At least that’s what Grandma used to say. Is there something to it or is it just a myth?

1. Effect of coffee on digestion

Coffee contains about 80-100 mg of caffeine per cup. On the one hand, caffeine has a stimulating effect, but on the other hand it should also help to digest faster.

Definitely: Coffee increases the ability to contract in the small intestine, but regardless of its caffeine content. Ingredients that promote the effect include acids, tannins and bitter substances. In a study with mice, the researcher Xuan-Zheng P. Shi discovered that coffee stimulates digestion by feeding them coffee. After only three days, he was able to determine an increased contractility, i.e. a contraction of the muscles, in the small intestine of the four-legged friend. As a result, the food pulp was mixed faster and digested just as quickly.

So we can definitely speak of an effect on digestion with coffee – whether with or without caffeine. However, how strong the effect is in the end is individual. But what about cigarettes?

2. Effect of nicotine on digestion

Cigarettes are also said to boost digestion. However, they have less of a direct influence on our intestines and much more on our brain and the autonomic nervous system.

So this part of Grandma’s myth is also true. However, it should be borne in mind that other foods can also have a digestive effect without the body having to be supplied with toxic nicotine. The health aspect should not be disregarded – cigarettes can endanger your health and promote diseases.

3. Health aspects

In order to boost your digestion, it is not necessarily advisable to reach for a cigarette. The contained nicotine and other harmful substances can endanger your health and, for example, lung diseases
However, coffee has more benefits than just boosting digestion.

Bake grandma’s cookies vegan easily: Vegan visits are announced at Christmas time and all recipes contain animal ingredients? This is how you replace butter, egg, and milk in Christmas recipes.

Bake classic vegan cookies

Cinnamon stars, vanilla crescents, gingerbread… Grandma’s cookies are so delicious, but unfortunately not vegan. We will show you how you can enjoy the pre-Christmas period to the fullest and easily replace butter and co in the recipes. The list of sweet Weinach delicacies is long and when you think of the beguiling smell of cookies in the kitchen, the Christmas season can’t come quickly enough. But what to do if you want to do without animal products or are planning a vegan visit? The following tips will help you to replace butter and co easily and successfully.

Replace butter

You can simply replace butter with margarine or oil in many recipes. In the meantime, there are often vegan products with butter flavor in the supermarket, so the taste is hardly changed. If the consistency is crucial, it is best to use a plant-based butter alternative, such as Alan.

Replace egg

Vegans also do without eggs, as egg production is perceived as the exploitation of the hens and as unnatural. However, eggs belong in many cookies and cakes – you can easily exchange that for a vegan product. However, it depends on what kind of pastry is needed.

In cakes and stollen

Instead of an egg in the cake and stollen batter, you can use half a mashed banana or two tablespoons of applesauce. The applesauce is almost impossible to taste. Depending on your taste, you can decide in the vegan stollen, as in the original, whether you want to add lemon peel, raisins, and the like or rather leave them out. The recipe variations there are as varied as the tastes of the tasters.

In cookies

Seeds soaked in water are particularly good for replacing eggs in cookie dough, for example, linseed (1 tbsp seeds plus 3 tbsp water) or the trendy superfood chia seeds (1 tbsp seeds plus 3 tbsp water). Depending on the seeds, you can also get important omega-3 fatty acids, mucilage, linamarin, protein, and lecithin (linseed) or vitamin A, niacin, thiamine, riboflavin, and folic acid (chia seeds).

As whipped cream

Whipped egg white is probably the product that is the most difficult to replace, but that can also be done: aquafaba, the water from chickpea cans or jars, is the keyword here. Thanks to its high protein content, you can easily whip it up. At the latest after the addition of icing sugar and other delicious ingredients, there is no longer any taste of the legumes’ own taste.

Replace milk

Vegan milk alternatives are now available in every discounter. Soy milk and oat milk are the most common there, but try almond milk for your vegan Christmas treats (e.g. for marzipan pastries), and coconut milk if you want it to be a bit more exotic. But you can go there according to your personal taste and availability in your favorite supermarket.

Happy vegan baking

You can quickly and easily modify and bake any of your grandma’s favorite recipes for vegan food lovers and those who want to try something new. And with the thought of the scent of cinnamon and freshly grated orange peel, we wish you a lot of fun trying out and eating the vegan cookies and a contemplative (before) Christmas season!