Slovak Staple: A Little Family History Lesson

I recently wanted to get in touch with my "ethnic" roots, and in doing so, I decided I would make a Buchko family favorite-Haluski....it's a simple dish of homemade spaetzle with cabbage.  I've made it before with egg noodles, it was good but not like my mom use to make it or how it was served at my hometowns' yearly festival, Fort Lignonier Days, celebrating the historic Fort in our town used during the French and Indian war. So this was the first time I made the the noodles (or dumplings) from scratch.  I really had a lot of fun doing this recipe.

The recipe for the spaetzle is very simple: flour, eggs, milk and salt....there are all kinds of variations to this....

 

The dough is a little stickier than pancake batter...

 

You can really see that it has to be very sticky, like above.

 

Most people have a spaetzle maker, but I don't.  So I did it the traditional way by smearing the dough on a cutting board.  This really determines the size of the dumpling, you can tweak it as you go.

 

This is a must, in order to get the dough cut, have a bowl of ice handy.  This is for your knife.  Just dip the knife in and the dough comes right off and falls into the pot of boiling water...

 

Here is the dough partially cut.

 

After you cut the dough, boil for at least 3-5 minutes.  Or until done.

 

Out they come! Be sure to drain excess water...

 

I also dried them further on a paper towel.

 

Oh sooo yummy, but we aren't finished yet....

Now for the cabbage, I use a whole head and an entire stick of butter.  I throw the cabbage in the pan and cook it till tender.  I like my cabbage a little al dente, not too soft.

 

Salt and pepper to taste...

 

Here is a close up of the yummy buttery goodness....just like Fort Days!!



 

I served this with some kielbasa and brown mustard, a very simple easy weekday meal...typical hunky food...

 

Bella loved hers,

So did Lizzie, they both cleaned their plates and Bella asked for more!

 



 

Later, I couldn't pass this up... I took this picture, Lizzie decided she was going to put a babushka on her head!! You know the Lizzard, whe wanted to look like a princess...

 

This look is very "old country", kind of like my great grandma Baba...who did actually come here from Slovakia.  Interestingly, both she and my great grandfather, Julius, came through Ellis Island in New York.  When I was a teenager, we took a class trip to NY City and visited Ellis Island.  They have a museum there and also outside is a wall of Immigrants, thousands of names of the immigrants engraved on a marble wall.  I was able to find my Great Grandfather's name.  I have a picture of it, but I can't remember where it is...it was really neat.  I never knew them, they died before I was born.   I actually didn't even know my grand parents ( this is on my father's side-his father's parents).  They too died before I was born.  It's sad to think of that. Oh well, maybe that is why I'm so interested in the history of my family.  Here are some photos of my great grand parents and my dad's parents on their wedding days..

 

My step-mother, Renee, who is a great lady, decided she would find out a little more about them.  So she put together a scrapbook of all our family history and gave it to each one us; me, my two brothers and my sister for Christmas one year.  Julius Buchko was 15 years Mary Ann (Zdilla) Buchko's senior. (Baba, who wore the babushka, according to my dad.)

 

Here, we have the wedding photo of Paul Joseph Buchko (my dad's dad) and Naona Rose (Granato) Buchko,  Grandpa Buchko was a World War II veteran who served in the 82nd Airborne Division as a paratrooper, he passed away when he was only 41. My second brother, Nathan, also served with the 82nd and he also jumps out of planes...Naona Rose was only 43 when she passed...I would have loved to have met them. I wonder how Baba and Grandma Buchko made their halushki?

Venison Spaghetti, Tomato Basil and Mozzarella on Homemade Bread

My Boss gave me some ground deer meat and suggested I make spaghetti out of it.  So that's exactly what I did.  I've had deer before and it can be a little gamey...if not prepared right.  But happily, this deer was not the slightest bit gamey.  I've been perfecting my homemade sauce; I added bell peppers to this recipe.  It was a success! The girls loved it and we even had it for leftovers for lunch today.  Michael was even happy. 

As a side, I brushed my homemade white bread with olive oil, diced up tomatoes, mixed with basil, garlic salt and topped it with Mozzarella cheese.  I then baked this in the oven for about 10 minites.

 

Here are my girls eating leftover spaghetti!!

 

 

 



Tonight for supper we are having corn beef, cabbage and potato soup,  I had made this a while ago and froze a portion.  I want on Wednesdays to be easy eats, because it's a pretty busy night with going to church.  So I reheated that with some rice and made this facoccia bread.  I will serve this with the soup with some olive oil. As you can see my family are big bread eaters....

 

Before going in the oven.

 

The finished product.



In the Mood to Bake...

The house smelled delicious because I was in the mood to bake yesterday evening!  Mike went out with some of his friends after work so I had the evening with just the girls.  So I thought what a great time to do some baking.  The first thing on my list was over sized oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.  I really am getting very proud of myself (I can brag on myself because if you knew my cooking skills you'd brag on me too!!).  The cookies came out perfect....they were moist and chewy and just plain yummy!!  Baking gives such instant gratification.  Lizzie even helped by beating the eggs and pouring the ingredients in the bowl.  Bella wanted to get in on the action but was deeply upset when I had to tell her that when she gets older she could help.

 

 

The next thing I baked was bread.  Oh yummy!  It was so wonderful.  The whole house just smelled like fresh bread.  It really turned out great.  The only thing I wasn't too happy with was that the rise on my dough wasn't enough.  Does anyone know why that could be?  I was thinking that it could be because the yeast I used was stored in the freezer.  I made a ham sandwich for dinner with that bread...nothing like homemade!! 

 



Slow Cooking and My Independent Baby....

For me, when I plan to do a slow cook meal I get excited and if it actually turns out good, I get even more happy.  I like knowing that when we get home from church there is minimal preparation for lunch to be ready...so far, for the past two weeks, I've done slow cook meals.  The Sunday before last I made a pork roast, and did it ever turn out tender.  The best part of that roast was the left overs when I did pulled pork sandwiches on pita bread with BBQ sauce.  This week I decided to try a variation of my dad's "Indian" stew with some added ingredients from a recipe I pulled from online.  I forgot my crock pot at church last week because of the chili cook off so I had to use my oven and a pot.  I was a little worried the whole morning that it was going to be a complete disaster...but when we pulled up to the house and I opened the door to my kitchen the sweet savor of beef stew wafted to my semi clogged nose (I've inherited the Buchko sinus problems)...I opened the oven door and took the pot out and tasted the beef, it just melted in my mouth and the flavor was perfect.  Even Michael was impressed.  This is definitely a dish I would be proud of making for his parents.  It feels good to be able to cook good things.  This part of my domestication has been a work in progress....but I'm learning and it's actually paying off.

Bella has decided altogether this week to not sit in the high chair.  One day last week I tried to put her in and she started crying and started pointing at the table where Lizzie was sitting.  I figured out that she wanted to sit at the table like a big girl.  I proceeded to feed her her cereal and she wouldn't have it.  She has decided that she wants to feed herself as well.  This can prove to be a little tedious for the control freak, who likes messes to be very little.  Because of my impulse to clean, I was picking up every cheerio that was falling...this seemed ludicrous and I finally gave into a little mess.  I just figure that by the time baby number 3 comes along, she'll be a pro at feeding herself.  She is so independent!!
Here are some pictures of her "eating" by herself...

Another cute thing Bella does is that she loves to wave at anything and everything that goes by!  Random cars driving passed us when we are out taking a walk in our neighborhood.  She'll wave at complete strangers in the grocery store.  And of course, everyone at church.  This really is sweet.  It kind of makes up for the fact that Lizzie does not say hello to anybody!!  I tell people that she's really not rude...can you train your 3 year old to say hello to people?  We are having such a hard time with this!!! Here are some Pics of Bella waving "Hello"

A South Texas Spring

The girls and I were able to take a week and go visit Mom Ruiz.  It was a nice little get away...and I was so shocked at how green San Antonio was.  Normally, as I remember living there, it was always a dry place... and brown.  But this visit was neat because Spring was in full bloom and Mom's backyard was a perfect showcase.  So one morning while I was taking my walk I just decided to take advantage of plants in bloom.  Here are some of the photos I took.

All the photos were taken with my Iphone.  It's really amazing how in the right light, the pictures can come out looking so detailed.

Mom even has some neighbors that have some horses.  They even agreed to have their pictures taken.  They were very obliging...

While I was there we were able to get together with family and friends.  I was able to talk my one particular friend into making her famous chicken enchiladas.  This is when I came to find out that she loves her beans and rice!!  Dad fed her and it seemed like she couldn't get enough.   This child just loves to eat...Two nights we had gatherings and fellowship...Two nights I was stuffed full!

We of course had to go thrift store shopping.  Mom took us to I think the biggest thrift store I have ever been to.  I was able to find some dresses for the girls...Lizzie of course likes this dress now the best...as you can tell in the photo...the cousins played and became the best of friends.

It was a great time!! And it went by way to fast...