Mini Cheese Tartlets

Every month we have a potluck for the North American Women's group here in Eindhoven, so I try to come up with something new to take. It needs to travel well, since 90% of the time I'm going by bike. Certain things just don't look terribly pretty after they've been jostled around for a half an hour on a bike rack. Luckily, you people see the before bike carnage photos. That said, I don't think these babies will have that problem.

I started out thinking that I was going to make a taco ring, but after I bought the crescent rolls I decided to do something a little easier to transport.

You'll Need:

1 can refrigerated crescent roll dough*
1/2 cup shredded cheese (I used swiss for these)
2 green onions, chopped
1 roasted red pepper (roast your own, or used jarred), chopped
2 eggs
5 tbsp cream

Preheat the oven to 175 C (350 F).

Unroll the dough and make a large rectangle. Press the perforations together to form one large piece. Cut rectangle into 3-4" squares. I got 18 from my dough, but I know cans of dough are different sizes so you may end up with more or less.

Grease a muffin tin and lay each square of dough into a muffin cup. The corners will stick out of the tops. Sprinkle a little bit of cheese in the bottom of each muffin cup. Then a few pieces of green onion, and a small amount of the red pepper. There isn't really a set amount to add, just eyeball it and distribute things evenly.

Next, whisk the egg and the cream into a small bowl. Spoon about a tablespoon of the egg mixture into each muffin cup. If you have a bit leftover, just distribute it through the cups, but don't add too much liquid or it'll puff too much and flow out of the muffin tin.

Bake for 20 minutes or until the dough is a nice golden brown.

*Puff pastry would work too, but you'll get a slightly different texture in the dough.

You really could put whatever the heck you felt like in these. I think it'd be fun to experiment with different savory fillings, as well as making a nice little dessert of them.

For more goodies and recipes check out Tempt My Tummy Tuesday @ Blessed With Grace and Tasty Tuesday @ Balancing Beauty and Bedlam.

Menu Plan Monday- August 31, 2009

It's time once again for another fun filled Menu Plan Monday!

Last week went sortof according to plan. I shall bullet my thoughts, since I am in a using bullets phase.

• The 44 Clove Garlic Soup was good, as expected!



• The Endive Salad wasn't too bad, though I'm not sure that I'm a huge endive lover. I think I need to try it a few other ways before I make my decision.



• As for the Crockpot Coconut Curry Chicken... well, I'm not 100% convinced. It wasn't gross, but it certainly wasn't my favorite thing I've ever cooked. It seemed like it was missing some sort of ingredient that would've made my tastebuds dance.



• The Greek Chicken with Cheese, however, was pretty tasty. I like chicken recipes that can be made on the stove!



• I cut the spaghetti squash in half to make it the other day and it was rotting from the inside out and the stem end was all mushy and weird. I don't know what happened, but we didn't eat it.



• Baked Falafels are going on this weeks menu since I didn't get to them- again!
  

click the banner and "Menu Plan Monday" for more menu planning ideas

As for this week:

Baked Falafels- I made these for dinner tonight, so YES I FINALLY GOT TO THEM!

Peppers and Eggs- This is basically just scrambled eggs with bell peppers. I'll serve it with some salsa on top of tortillas.

White Asparagus- We have some white asparagus in the freezer and it is taking up A LOT of space. I'm going to bat my eyelashes at Martijn and ask him if he'll cook it for us!

I'm participating in Sarah's Food Network Chefs Cooking Challenge over at I Blame My Mother, so watch for that food post on Wednesday! I'm keeping it a secret until then but I do have my recipe picked out.

The supermarket has their fresh pasta and sauce on sale this week buy one get one free so I'm going to get some ravioli and tomato sauce.

Cruise Through the Binnendieze

Den Bosch was founded on a delta area and recieved it's city rights in 1185. In order to protect itself against enemy attacks, a fortified city wall was built. Due to the relatively small area the wall enclosed, in the 14th century, another wall was built. This new wall enclosed the river branches into the city. The system of inner-city waterways is called the Binnendieze.

The town continued to expand, but for safety reasons, citizens weren't allowed to build outside of the city walls. Instead, they began to build over the waterways. 12 kms of waterways, 20 crossings, and more than 100 bridges made up the Binnendieze. In addition to being an important trade route, the Binnendieze was also used in leather, metal, and brewing industries and in households for drinking and cooking water and sewage. The importance of the Binnendieze began to decline in the early 1800s when a new canal through the city was dug.


Up until the 1960s, it was only being used as an open sewer and the city made the decision to fill in the waterways. That plan couldn't be immediately implemented due to the homes needing new sewage systems first, and luckily some people recognized the historical significance of the Binnendieze. Instead of being completely filled in, a vast restoration project began in 1973. It took 25 years and over 25 million euro to complete. Now 3.5 km of waterways remain.

All of this brings us to today, when Martijn and I decided to do the Historische route rondvaart (Historic route canal tour). More information on the tours can be found on the Kring Vrienden van 's Hertogenbosch website (in Dutch). I totally recommend doing this, I really enjoyed myself!

I hope you enjoyed this Sunday in My Someone Else's City! Click the link below to go to Unknown Mami's blog and see more!

Fragmented Freewrites- August 28, 2009

I've decided to combine "Friday Fragments" and "Friday's Freewrite" into "Fragmented Freewrites" in my head, and if I get really ambitious I'll change the blog tag to reflect this! The little bits and pieces from the week that don't justify an entire post on their own, random thoughts you have while you're in the shower, and/or funny things you read or hear on the street all make great fragments. Read more about it by clicking on the link buttons at the bottom of my post.

• I haven't been feeling very chatty lately. I'm alright, I just haven't had much to say.
• I got to see my friend Bobbi Jo on Wednesday. We went to the market, the oriental store, and to lunch. It was an awfully nice day! PLUS the weather was nice so we could enjoy being outside.
• It's not looking likely that I will be getting my fabulous orange sewing machine after all. The lady is incredibly flaky and doesn't respond to e-mails. I might try one more time to get in touch with her, but I'm not holding my breath. I'm sad about it.
• To make myself feel better, I went and bought two giant bags of orange bell peppers and put them in my orange and yellow bowl.

• I also got some orange and hot pink flowers, but I didn't take a picture of those (yet).
• I'm so excited, my dad finally got his passport so he can come visit! My mom has already been here once, so it'll be fun to have her here again and to have my dad come. It probably won't be for several months but it's something to look forward to!
• I've been toying with the idea of changing the layout and design of my blog but haven't made any concrete decisions. I'm having troubles designing a banner that I like, which is holding everything up. I have a pretty funny picture that would make a good header, but the colors in it are more blue and I don't think I really want a blue blog. I'll have to play with it some more and see what I can come up with.
• I got a -wee- bit engrossed in the new Professor Layton game on my DS and passed it already. I really should've paced myself because the new Mario game doesn't come out until September 14.
• We should be having a pretty laid back weekend. Martijn wants to go to the city center and do some window shopping tomorrow and Sunday we may go to Den Bosch to do a historical tour. Both of these things hinge on the weather being decent, so keep your fingers crossed!

Join on in by clicking on the buttons below!

Honest Scrap Award

The Honest Scrap Award given to me by Christi at The Journey (she also has a cooking blog here) ! I'm quite flattered, especially as I'm terrible at passing these things along. I am trying to turn over a new leaf and be a better blog award getter! I kinda like Mrs 4444's slightly wicked approach to receiving awards- she makes you do a stupid human trick before she'll pass it along. I however, will do no such naughty thing in this case!

Here are the rules:

In accepting this award, I need to do the following:
1) Say thanks and give a link to the presenter of the award.
2) Share "ten honest things" about myself.
3) Present this award to 7 others whose blogs I find brilliant in content and/or design, or those who have encouraged me.
4) Tell those 7 people that they've been awarded HONEST SCRAP and inform them of these guidelines in receiving.

In no particular order whatsoever, here are 10 honest things about myself:

• I am useless at coming up with things for these lists. If I repeat some from past lists, I apologize. I'm really just hoping people that read my blog have the memory span of a goldfish (quite like myself, actually) and will always think that I've come up with new and fabulous content.
• I don't have a drivers license here. My Utah license is renewed and valid, but it's not good here after I've been here 6 months... which I think is kinda silly. I mean, they let you drive on it for 6 months but then suddenly say "You need to take some courses and pass the drivers exams." Either make me do the exams up front or don't make me do them at all I say! Here's the super honest part of this tidbit: I'm not sure I want to drive here. Drivers here scare the hell out of me.
• I really really want one of my friends to name one of their children after me. They're all having babies left and right, but no one will do it! Kim's a perfectly good name, and it's even uni-sex.
• Sometimes I can't tell if Martijn is pulling my leg or telling me the honest truth about something. I never believe him when I should, and totally fall for it when I shouldn't.
• I'm forgetting how to speak proper English. The worst part is, my Dutch is still terrible! Now I'm unintelligible in two languages, it's patheic really.
• I have lots of plans for when I become filthy rich. I am still on the lookout for a money tree.
• I need to figure out a new trade. Being a salesperson isn't very useful if your vocabulary parallels that of a mute 3 year old. I'm thinking of being a cobbler, but how do you even get into that trade? I don't know of any elves that could get me into the business.
• If you don't hear from me for the next few days it is because I have been sucked into Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box. I figure out the puzzles Martijn can't, and he figures out the ones that I can't. We're a brilliant team!
• My hair is awfully short right now, and I'm considering if I could get away with the ever so popular bedhead hairdo. I'm pretty sure if I tried it Martijn would get that "yes dear, whatever you say" look that he gets when he's thinking "are you completely bonkers?"
• I considered accidentally omitting the rule about posting 10 honest things about myself. That's not very honest now is it?

I am now going to bestow this lovely award upon the following bloggers:

Julia of Brainella the Librarian- Check out her pottery, it's seriously amazing folks.

Kelly of (un)Deniably Domestic- I came across this blog in my perusals of the Vintage Thingie Thursday link-ups. She makes terribly cute knit hats. Am I too old for an apple hat?

Alea of Premeditated Leftovers- This blog has made me extremely conscious of my food waste and how I can make a better effort to use things up instead of throwing them away! She's got some yummy recipes posted too.

Katie Lane of Sunshine and Bubblegum- Katie Lane is the brains behind Traveling the Blogosphere.

Keetha ofKeepie DaNieces Eclectic Stuff- I love reading her VTT posts, they kinda make me want to sneak over and fill my pockets. I wouldn't, but I'd think about it!

Shari of My Practically Perfect Life- I'm not sure which one of us found the other first, but she's been a very supportive friend and I really appreciate it! I love how blogging brings people together.

And my cute friend Leslie who I had a glorious locker partner friendship with in High School. It's really smart to pick someone a foot shorter than you as a locker partner, you can both be in there at the same time and not even notice each other!

Menu Plan Monday- August 24, 2009

I only made one new thing last week, the Zucchini, Olive, and Cheese Quesadillas. They were alright but both Martijn and I thought it could've used a little something extra. I did end up using the feta, so they weren't boring because I omitted a key ingredient!

I posted a quickie how to of the Salsa Crockpot Chicken on the bottom of my latest Friday Fragments post.

click the banner and "Menu Plan Monday" for more menu planning ideas

This week:

Endive Salad and 44 Clove Garlic Soup- This soup will make the house smell for the rest of the week but SOMEONE has been hinting that I haven't made it for a long time and they think I ought to... I'm not naming names, but he looks a lot like Martijn.

Crockpot Coconut Curry Chicken- I seem to have a plethora of random chicken parts in my freezer, so I'm trying to use them up. I thought this looked interesting!

Baked Falafels- Repeat from last week, I didn't get to it.

Greek Chicken with Cheese- Again with the gobs of chicken, plus I have some feta from last week that needs to be eaten.

Spaghetti Squash- My in-laws are growing spaghetti squash in their garden this year and so I have one to try. I've not made it before, so I haven't decided what I'm going to do quite yet. Just that we'll be having spaghetti squash one night this week!

What are YOU eating this week?

Sundays in My City: Eindhoven Railway Station

Today's Sundays in My City is brought to you by the grumbly in my tummy that asked for a döner kebab sandwich for lunch. The kebab place is at the train station, so that's what you get to see!

Can you find my bicycle in this chaos?*

This is the front of the station. It's designed to look like an old timey radio.

See the antenna?

And the dial?

Stay tuned for next week's episode of Sunday's in My City which might be sponsored by something besides my growling stomach! In the meantime, go check out everyone else's links at Unknown Mami's blog.

*It's really there, but I can't find it in those photos either!