Wow, it’s been a while!  I didn’t intend to break from blogging so much in June but it just flew away!  For those who have followed over the past couple summers, you know summer time for me is pretty much “off season” for the blog.  While I’d love to keep playing and keep connected to all you folks all year long I’m (for sanity reasons) a seasonal blogger/ facebooker, etc.  Maybe one of these days I’ll figure out how to balance more while the kids are home all day, but I haven’t gotten to that point yet.  So now, with the entrance of summer, my time has officially been handed over to my little people…and my medium sized people, as my teens are becoming not so little anymore.  (Btw, for those who are new here, my kids are 15, almost 13, 11, almost 7 and almost 2.  And to add one more little tidbit to our summer’s craziness, three of these kids’s birthdays — plus their dad’s birthday — land in the month of July, if you can imagine the odds.  We celebrate some of the birthdays in June –so it’s been party central here lately– this because each July we take off on a massive road trip lasting 4-6 weeks to visit family in ID, WA and UT.  Every year I begin this road trip asking myself “why drive three days with kids like this??” and every year I come back home with a satisfied answer for myself.)

For those who asked about classes:  our travel calendar this year didn’t end up allowing enough spare time for the classes to happen {sadly}.  Sorry about that, maybe next year (?)  Or, perhaps one of these days I’ll get moving on some other way to bring classes instead to your computer screen, that’d work too!  Ideas or suggestions on that?  Feel free to pass them along!

All this said, there’s a bright spot.  I couldn’t leave you hanging all summer without posting this wonderful tutorial my friend Eva offered us.  Eva is another friend of mine who moved here from outside the US having gained wonderful real life training growing up on how to cook with basics ingredients — this time in the Baltic region of the world.  I’ll tell you more about her in just a minute, but first a little about the recipe…

If you’ve tried making homemade spaetzle — or homemade noodles at all — in the past this recipe is probably the fastest one there is.  You’re going to love it!!  For anyone who’s never made spaetzle before, you now have the easiest way to do it at your finger tips!  For our purposes, this post is going up to emphasize the *method* of making the spaetzle, the recipe is included here as well, but it’s Eva’s everyday recipe including fresh eggs.  Definitely use it if you have fresh eggs on hand, but if you’re looking for a storeable recipe, check out my post for Hungarian Goulash with Spaetzle from a few years ago.  Again, it’s a great 100% pantry ingredient recipe from Shari Haag’s “The Everyday Gourmet” cookbook and we’ve loved it!  The great thing is, from now on I won’t be taking forever cutting noodles into a pot!

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Currently, Eva says she makes this at least twice a week for her family of four.  For her (and you’ll see it in a moment) the best part about it is that while it’s made with the most basic of ingredients, still it’s ready to cook  just as soon as the water is boiling.  It’s just so convenient and it goes with about any sauce you have on hand.

About Eva (pronounced Ay-veh)

Taught to cook from basics by her mother and grandmother, Eva came to the US, originally from communist Transylvania (present day Romania).  Due to her country’s conditions at the time, she remembers growing up with heavy limitations on what was available for food; and so she was taught to make much with little.  She now lives in the states with her husband and two young boys.  In her spare time she manages a small catering business from her home based on authentic Hungarian foods that most here knows how to cook!  As a side note, I have to share one  Hungarian self sufficiency type saying she told me about,  saying that applauds mental resourcefulness over “stuff”.  (All you Macguyver’s out there with your rolls of duct tape and a single Swiss Army knife may want to take note.)

Meant as a compliment paid to someone who’s demonstrated themselves to be especially clever, resourceful or creative —  the compliment paid goes in essence that they’re “good enough that they could survive even on ice/ on an iceberg”.  In other words, they’re clever enough that they could make something out of nothing around them.  How cool is that?!  I like it.

The recipe…

Alright, so here are the FOUR ingredients it takes to make delicious homemade spaetzle.  This is Eva’s recipe, and once again, as with so many of the basic foods you’ve seen come together from hardly anything, this one is so simple to make — you just have to learn how!  Can you make pancake batter?  Do you have a flat cheese grater?   If so, you can absolutely make these noodles, no excuse!  Take an opportunity to make a batch of 5 min homemade noodles for your kids (husbands count too), everyone will love it!!

Homemade Spaetzle

1 lb. flour

3 eggs

1 tsp. salt

2 c. water

Instructions:  Mix and boil “shredded” batter until noodles float to the top.

 

 

Also, I kind of missed it at the very end, but after she drains the noodles she simply rinses them with water and that’s it.  They’re ready to eat!   While you could add some kind of oil to them, she says she never does that.

 

There’s more I’d like to share with you from Eva coming this fall and she’s more than willing to share.  She makes a lot of other “basic ingredient” type items and has skills I think we can all benefit from.  In the meantime, thanks to all who have recently been sending me great ideas and tips for recipes!  They’re each in my plan book for future posts to share with everyone!  Also, my previous plan to share all the recipes from all the weeks from the contest are still going to happen, again you’ll have to be patient but I’m determined to make it happen.  Lots to do!

I’ll post when I have time on facebook over the summer, but for sure you’ll hear from me more regularly — both on the blog and with social media — once September rolls around.  Happy summer, all!

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Notes:

• Where to buy the tool Eva showed in the video?  Here’s a close (but not the exact same) product found on Ebay.  Eva notes that it’s difficult finding graters that have all large grates on them (as opposed to some large and some small).  About 10 yrs ago, she found this wonderful bowl — it was made by Rubbermaid but since it’s not been found again– where the lid, as you can see, was entirely a grater.  Something like this might still be out there, you just have to keep your eyes open.

 

• Another idea of hers I loved, in helping to conserve resources as well as just being useful, Eva uses brand new shower caps in place of plastic wrap in covering her foods.  I thought this was such a wonderful idea!  Not only are they reuseable, but from a preparedness cooking perspective having something that’s disposable if necessary, yet which easy fits over a cooking bowl/ dish to protect it from contamination —  how useful would that be?!  And not to mention they’re cheap, she finds them to buy at the dollar store.  This is a great item for people to think about storing and using!