Beer Braised Bratwurst with Homemade Sauerkraut

On April 18, 2018 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Germany, Recipes4 Comments

We had several types of sausages during our time in Europe, but bratwurst was one that we had several times. Unlike here in the United States, bratwurst is not served on a bun unless you are getting it at a festival or market, but we enjoy the convenience of eating them on a bun. To try and replicate the experience of eating bratwursts in Germany, we decided to braise our bratwurst in a German pilsner and make our own sauerkraut. Just like cooking with wine, if you are going to braise your bratwurst in beer, be sure to choose one that you like and would drink on its own. Making sauerkraut was surprisingly simple, but if we do it again in the future, we would probably put it in a slow-cooker and cook it even longer than we did for this recipe. We did go to a local butcher to get a high quality bratwurst as that is an important feature of the bratwursts that we ate overseas. Due to the weather, we broiled our bratwurst, but grilling them would certainly be the best. It turned out to be quite simple and delicious.

INGREDIENTS

4 Bratwurst
2 Bottles of Beer (German Pilsner)
3/4 Large White Onion – diced
1 cup Water
1 cup Distilled White Vinegar
1 Head of Cabbage – small, cored and shredded
1/2 tsp Celery Seed
1/2 tsp Onion Powder
1 tsp Red Pepper Flakes
1 tsp Garlic Powder
1 1/4 tsp Sea Salt
Ground Pepper to taste

INSTRUCTIONS

Combine the water, vinegar, 2/3 of the diced onion (which is half of the onion diced), cabbage, 3/4 teaspoon sea salt, celery seed, onion powder, 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, and black pepper in a large saucepan and turn the heat on high. Mix the cabbage until the seasonings are evenly distributed and bring to a boil. Cover with a lid and simmer, stirring frequently, for 30 to 45 minutes and the cabbage is tender. In a medium saucepan, combine the beer and onions and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Add the bratwurst, red pepper flakes, 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, 1/2 teaspoon sea salt, and pepper, be sure that the bratwurst are completely covered with liquid. Simmer the bratwurst for 10 to 15 minutes to allow them to absorb the flavor. Grill or broil the bratwurst for about 5 minutes per side and the skin is evenly browned. Serve on buns with Dijon or spicy brown mustard and sauerkraut.

Another View of the Bratwurst with Sauerkraut

Chicken Schnitzel with Mushroom Gravy

On March 7, 2018 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Germany, Recipes8 Comments

We definitely had a variety of schnitzels while we were living in Germany. One of the first ones that we had was considered a Hunter’s Schnitzel, so we decided to do a version of that for ourselves. Generally speaking, schnitzel is very easy to make and can be done with pork, chicken, or veal. The most important thing for making a good schnitzel is to pound the meat out to be about one-quarter inches thick and ensuring that the entire meat cutlet is the same thickness. Although you can buy a mallet to pound out the meat, we have found that if you wrap the meat in plastic wrap and the hit it with the flat side of a heavy skillet, it works even better to get it to a consistent thickness. The real flavor comes from the sauce, so we decided to make a hearty gravy to accompany the schnitzel. Although we used button mushrooms, you could certainly do a variety of your favorite mushrooms.

INGREDIENTS

4 Chicken Breasts
2 eggs
1/4 cup Whole Milk
1 cup + 4 tbsp All-Purpose Flour
1 cup Breadcrumbs
8 tbsp Unsalted Butter
1 tsp Paprika
4 cups Beef Stock
1 lb Mushrooms – sliced
1 small Shallot – chopped
1 tbsp Garlic Powder
4 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper to taste

INSTRUCTIONS

Melt 4 tablespoons of butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat and then add the mushrooms and shallot. Cook until the mushrooms are slightly browned and the onion is soft and translucent, about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and remove the mushrooms and onions to drain on a paper towel. Leave any remaining butter in the skillet. In a large sauce pan, melt the remaining 4 tablespoons of butter over medium heat and whisk in 4 tablespoons of flour in order to create a roux. Do not let the flour start to brown. Heat the beef stock in another pan or in a microwave until luke warm. Slowly add the beef stock to the sauce pan stirring constantly. Heat over medium-high heat, continuing to stir. Add the mushrooms, onion, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Once the gravy has thickened, reduce the heat to low and continue to simmer for 10 to 15 minutes. In three separate bowls or shallow plates you will place the ingredients for dredging the chicken, which has already been pounded to about a 1/4 inch thickness. In the first bowl, mix the cup of flour with salt, pepper, and paprika. In the second bowl, whisk together the eggs and milk. In the third bowl, add the breadcrumbs. Add the olive oil to the large skillet and heat to medium-high. Using one hand, dredge both sides of the chicken through the flour and then dredge through the eggs, and finally place in the breadcrumbs. Using your other hand, dredge the chicken until well-coated with breadcrumbs and place in the skillet. Using separate hands will keep the breadcrumbs from getting too messy from the eggs and flour. Cook the chicken in the skillet for about 5 minutes per side until evenly browned. Since the chicken is so thin, it doesn’t take long to cook and over-cooking will make the chicken dry and tough. Place the chicken on a plate to serve and then cover with the mushroom gravy.

Our Finished Chicken Schnitzel with Mushroom Gravy

Tips for Balancing Life, Blogging, Travel, and Work

On March 5, 2018March 5, 2018 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Blogging4 Comments

There are days when wake up and don’t know how we’re are going to get everything done that we need to do on that particular day. With so many obligations and expectations, people often ask us how we manage to get it all done without losing our minds in the process. The short answer is that we don’t get everything done all of the time and that sometimes we simply do the best that we can. Somehow we manage to find the right mix to balance all of the demands that we have on us, but it certainly isn’t as easy as people assume that it is. In many ways, it simply comes down to doing the best that you can with the time that you have and not stressing about the things you can’t get done. To be clear, these tips are for people who want their blogging to be more than a form of social media and sharing with friends and family. With that said, here are a few tips that might keep you from going insane on a daily basis.

Create a Weekly Recurring To-Do List by Day – Obviously, organization is key to staying on track and writing your tasks down will definitely help. There is no way that you can do everything every day, so if you break tasks up into a daily to-do list, it will allow you to focus on items without bouncing all over the place. For example, there are things that we do once a week and we pick a day and make sure we do that task on that day. We create a spreadsheet with the days of the week as columns and the recurring tasks as rows. We then put an “X” in the cell for the day(s) that we intend to complete that task. The rows in the spreadsheet can include things like publishing a post, doing activities on social media, contacting affiliates, etc. If you have other daily tasks that you need to take care of personally, add those to your list as well. When a task is completed, cross it off of the list for that day. There is a certain amount of satisfaction that you receive when you cross items off of you to-do list as being done. Then, at the beginning of the next week, print out a new copy of your to-do list so that you have a fresh copy to work with.
Cathedral Towers in Amsterdam
Use a Calendar to Schedule Your Time – Setting specific time each day to take care of tasks is important. It takes a certain amount of dedication to say that you are going to work on something at a specific time during the day and then not letting other obligations overtake that time. Obviously there will be times when something comes up that is more important and has to happen during the time that you have blocked for a task, but it should definitely be the exception and not the rule. It is easy to let yourself get diverted by other things, especially if a task isn’t your favorite to do, but to be successful, you need to use your time wisely. Clearly, if you are like us, and have full-time jobs on top of blogging, forcing ourselves to schedule our time is extremely important. It allows us to get our posts completed without interfering with our jobs and also making sure that we have time for our personal lives as well.
Lava Eroded into Cliffs in Iceland
Hold Yourself Accountable – We often see posts from people apologizing for not posting for several months because life has gotten too busy. There probably isn’t a day that goes by that we don’t think to ourselves that we just don’t have time to blog and there is the temptation to just let it slip. When you are blogging, you are both the boss and the employee, so you need to put your boss hat on and remind yourself that you have made an obligation to yourself to complete your tasks. If you don’t do something that you are supposed to do, no one will know other than yourself. Therefore, nobody is going to hold you accountable to getting those things done except for yourself. The same is true about making time for your family. You need to be sure that also make sure that you don’t let work, blogging, and other things interfere with your ability to spend quality time with the ones that you love.
Colorful La Paz
Learn to Multitask – To be fair, tests have shown that no one truly ever multitasks, they simply change focus quickly from one task to another. It might sound unfair to say that you need to learn how to multitask, but like almost any other skill, it can be learned with practice. There are certain tasks that take your complete and undivided attention for an extended period of time, but it is likely that the majority of them can be handled in conjunction with other tasks. We often find ourselves working on two, three, or even four tasks simultaneously. Multitasking doesn’t mean that you don’t do your best on each of the tasks, it is more about changing focus quickly and when you are focusing, you give it the full attention that it deserves.
Temples at Mahabalipuram
Give Yourself Time to Take a Break – Right now, you are probably saying that we are being hypocritical to say that you need to give yourself time off. Far from it, everyone needs a break every now and then, especially as complicated as all of our lives are. We use travel as our opportunity to get away from all of the normal work stresses, blog stresses, and even family stresses. That doesn’t mean that we just drop everything and run away. Just like any job, taking time off means getting things in a state prior to leaving where your presence isn’t necessary. That might mean getting a few blog posts written prior to leaving and scheduling them ahead of time. It also might mean just letting everyone know that you will be out of touch for a while. Sometimes, we just take a few minutes during our travel to give a quick update on where we are and what we are doing. Traveling doesn’t always mean that we spend weeks flying around the world, it can be as simple as going someplace for the weekend or even a long weekend if we want to go someplace farther away.
Bridge at Ronda, Spain

No one is perfect and you shouldn’t expect yourself to be “super human”. Be realistic with your expectations and goals. If you are working a job that requires ten hours a day, it certainly isn’t reasonable to expect yourself to spend another four hours a day working on your blog. Perhaps it is something that you only do on the weekend or you work a couple of hours one or two nights a week. Work and life balance is exactly that, it is a balancing act. If you find yourself leaning too far one direction or another, you need to adjust and bring it back in line. How do you balance everything going on in your life?