Bella's Favorite things to do on a rainy day!

1. Perler beads

2. Watch movies and eat popcorn

3. Make cookies

4. Eat Dinner

5. Paint

6. Rock baby Willem

7. Play with toys

8. Clean my room (?)

9. Play games

10. Make some Dinner

11. Read Stories

12. Eat banana yogurt

Ertwen Soep (Dutch style split pea soup)

In our family, there is nothing better on a rainy day than a nice, big pot of home made ertwen soep. Commonly referred to as "hot dog soup" by the kids (that's what Bella calls it and what I called it as a child), it has been a favorite of the Modderman/Maagdenberg family for decades (My maternal side of the family)! Here is our version...

Ingredients:

6 stalks celery, chopped

2 leeks, chopped

1 onion chopped

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 smoked ham hocks

generous amount of sea salt

1 bag split peas

handful chopped parsley

pinch nutmeg

pork kielbasa, sliced

black pepper

Directions:

Drizzle olive oil in large pot over medium flame. Add onion, celery, and leeks and saute for about 3 minutes. Add about 12 cups of water to the pot. Add ham hocks to the water and simmer about 2 hours.

Add the bag of split peas to the water and simmer another hour, stirring occasionally. Once it has become a soup like consistency add the chopped parsley, a pinch of nutmeg, and black pepper to your liking.
Finally, slice the kielbasa and add to soup only moments before you are going to eat it.

You can serve this over rice if you like, but it is fantastic all on it's own! Smakelijk eten!

Bella having fun with Oma and Papi at the A's Game!

Baked Penne with Asparagus and smoked gouda

Ingredients:

salt

8 ounces dried ziti or penne

1 lb asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1 inch pieces

2 tbsp olive oil

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 tsp. ground black pepper

1/2 lb smoked gouda (we like it cheesy)

bunch basil chopped

Directions:

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Add the ziti and cook for 5 minutes stirring often. In the meantime, trim bottoms off of asparagus and cut into 1 inch pieces. Bella is shown demonstrating how to trim the bottoms off asparagus.

Add the asparagus to the boiling water and continue to cook with the pasta about 2 minutes. Drain the pasta and asparagus and reserve 1 cup of the cooking liquid.

In a large, heavy skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Add garlic and saute about 20 seconds. Add the pasta, asparagus, salt and pepper, and the reserved cooking liquid. Toss and coat the pasta with the oil and garlic. Remove the skillet from heat. Add the gouda and basil and toss. Transfer to baking dish and cook in preheated 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes. Here is what the finished product looks like below.

Bon Apetit!

Items we always have on hand....

Polenta

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Parmesan Cheese

Pasta

Fresh Veggies and herbs from our local farmers market

Honey

Balsamic Vinegar

Garlic

Avacado

Sea salt

Oatmeal

And of course, Bella's favorite, yogurt!

Spaghetti and Meatball recipe

For our first recipe, we're doing it simple....spaghetti and meatballs! Here is a list of our ingredients:

1 lb spaghetti

1 lb organic ground beef

1 shallot chopped

2 garlic cloves minced

1/2 cup panko bread crumbs

1/4 cup shredded parmesan cheese

1/3 cup water

salt and pepper

Handful of chopped basil

extra virgin olive oil

1 Jar marinara sauce

For the spaghetti just boil til "al dente" in liberally salted water...usually about 7 minutes.

For the meatballs....

Pre heat broiler. Combine the meat, garlic, shallot, panko, parm cheese, basil, salt and pepper and mush together with your hands. Slowly add water until soft and mushy. Form meatballs and place on baking sheet. Cook in broiler until lightly browned on each side, turning over once (about 2-3 min. per side).

Meanwhile, simmer marinara sauce on medium low. Add lightly browned meatballs to marinara sauce and slow cook the meatballs for about 1/2 hour.

Put spaghetti noodles in large serving dish and coat with olive oil. Pour marinara sauce and meatballs over spaghetti. Top with parmesan cheese and enjoy!!! Daddy and Willem thoroughly enjoyed so this recipe is great for the whole family!

Welcome to our Food website!

We are very excited to share our recipes and favorite foods with you all! We hope you enjoy our website!