Catching up with the Kelnhofers-81

This week on Catching up with the Kelnhofers, we’re talking about weird pantry ingredients, how great Instant Pots are and some great seafood recipes to try.

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I have a question for you: what’s the weirdest ingredient or thing you’ve found in your pantry?

This year, we’re making it a goal to go through our pantry and use all those random ingredients. 

Those things you purchase with no real plan, or things that come as part of a gift basket that you just put on a shelf…and then get forgotten. 

For me, the weirdest thing in my pantry was coming across a packet of Knödel – they’re German potato dumplings. I grew up with them, but had never made them. We were at a small farm-style store a few years ago and got the box (<- Nick remembers how excited I was to see them). 

So I made a meal out of them. Delicious.

Knodel – German potato dumpling dinner with pork chops and corn (surprisingly, a 5 ingredient meal! Knödel mix, pork chops, ranch seasoning packet, corn, butter)

• 1. Pork chop sprinkled with ranch seasoning packet mix in a nonstick pan with a little bit of butter (you could use chicken breast instead). 
• 2. Make a bag of frozen corn, add 1 tsp butter
• Knodel, make mix as directed (it was just the mix and water, you let it sit, then boil the dumplings.)

Feedback: would make again, surprised by how light and fluffy these were compared to dense ones I’d had. The ones I’d had in the past came in a little mesh paper bag, you’d boil the bag with the mix inside of it, and then you’d remove the casing after you’d boil it. 

Hope you’ve enjoyed this fun peek inside our pantry.

• Chocolate coins – these are so fun to get creative with toppings and have on hand for a quick snack.
• Meal plan – this is only week two, but these posts have been so helpful (both for you and me)!

• What to make with anchovies – this post is a must-read, especially if you’re skeptical about anchovies!
• Love List – sharing the weekly finds from across the web
• Instant Pot vegetarian chili – a great option if you’re looking for a meatless-chili that comes together in less than 30 minutes!

• For some reason I was craving iced coffee (in the dead of winter) – the twins love doing ‘cheers’ in the morning and it’s the cutest thing ever. 

• Ben helped me make the eggplant chili I just shared on the blog. He chopped the eggplant with his kid safe knives and was surprised the color inside was different than the outside. He also loved when I added a little greek yogurt and made it into a ‘dip’ for him.

Ben was so cute – he came into my office when I was photographing the chili and was eating the avocados off the top, lol.

What to Make

If you’re celebrating Lent, here are a few great seafood recipes to enjoy!

• Butter and tomato poached white fish – my latest seafood recipe that’s been a hit.
• Ginger teriyaki salmon and green beans – a great 5 ingredient recipe
• Tuna salad recipe with pickled celery – a great option for a lunch on-the-go
• Thai shrimp and quinoa – all made in one pot!

I get so many wonderful comments on my recipe for eggless waffles, so here are just two more:

• “I had no eggs but was craving waffles, and my search for eggless waffles landed me here. I’m so glad! I was skeptical that my waffles would turn out thick and fluffy, but they were perfect! I felt that my batter was a little too thick per the recipe but I just added a little more milk and all was well. My lemon was already zested from a previous dish so I did without the zest. My kids loved them so much, their eyes were rolling in the back of their heads while they said, “Mmm so good.” Thank you! This will be my new waffle recipe whether I have eggs or not!”

And one other quick one:

• “I made this recipe and was so happy to have great waffles with no eggs. In addition to egg sensitivities, cane sugar is not my friend so I used a little maple syrup instead and they turned out great! Yum!”

I dug back in the archives to find a reader recreation from almost exactly one year ago!  The date doesn’t matter because how delicious do these raspberry cream cheese swirl brownies look!?

• Reusable heat/cold compress – a few weeks ago I hurt my back. I couldn’t even get out of bed. I did Facetime with the kids and Nick; that’s how bad it was. Nick found we had a hot/cold compress. You put it in the microwave to heat it. It worked wonders (that and arnica cream from True Botanica). Fast forward 2 weeks, I slept funny and my shoulder neck hurts, so here I am with the hot compress as I write this newsletter and it’s helping so much.

​This is the compress in case you need it too! ??

Books I’m reading:

• Kevin Hart’s book I Can’t Make This Up: Life Lessons is really good. Surprisingly so. It’s funny and there’s some really interesting lessons in it. A beautiful one where he says everyone has a story and it’s how we choose to look at it and tell it. “Not only do you get to choose how you interpret each chapter, but your interpretation writes the next chapter,” he says. “So why not choose the interpretation that serves your life the best?” But fair warning, there’s a lot of swearing, so don’t listen with kids around. 

• Love at First – this was a reader recommendation.  It just came out 2/23 and it seems like such a cute read (her recommendations are always spot on).  This is a modern romance novel so I think I’ll give it a try.

Cookbook of the week:

• Skinnytaste Fast and Slow – I’ve talked about this cookbook before when I shared the best ground turkey tacos – a recipe we make all the time. This week we revisited the cookbook and I made some delicious slow cooker bowl meals, so good!

• The twins picked their outfits. When we take the twins out of their cribs in the morning, they immediately run to their dresser and each pull out their respective drawer and pick an outfit. It’s so cute. Freddie picked a vest that was in the back corner of a drawer, lol. He looked so dapper.

• Twins playing. It’s so sweet to watch the twins playing with each other.  I feel like it’s something that’s started more recently. They were both playing with Freddie’s tool bus (his Christmas present).

• We’re not really a Disney family. We’re not really what you would consider ‘a Disney family’ – but Ben was really into the Buzz toy (also funny story, when we got him the toy for Christmas, we got him the cheap $30 one and said to each other “what’s the difference between that and the $100 one? He’s 2 and won’t notice. When he opened it, the wings don’t retract and it doesn’t do anything really. I’ll never forget when he opened it and said “this one’s broken” HAHAHAHA. Nick and I just looked at each other and laughed.) Anyway, Toy Story came on, and Freddie ran into the other room and dug in a toy bin and found the Buzz toy and ran in and was pointing at the TV. What a smart kid. Frankie just sat like a little princess with Nick, and Ben was climbing all over me. 

• Craft time. I mentioned last week, but these daubers are just so fun.  The kids are loving them for crafts. I got some really cute messages about people playing bingo – so if you’re an adult, they’re fun too!

EAT

• I’m really craving risotto; it’s a comforting and delicious winter dish. I have two recipes I love. This Instant Pot lemon chicken risotto and this stove top almost no stir risotto. 

WATCH

• On the weekends after we put the kids to bed, we watch SNL. 

PURCHASE

• If you don’t already have one, you need an Instant Pot.  A reason I like the Instant Pot vs. a slow cooker sometimes, is that you can cook meat/soups directly from the freezer into the Instant Pot quickly (like ½ hr).  And there’s a saute feature so you can use it to cook onions/ mirepoix and then add other ingredients without getting a second pot/pan. The other thing I love is that when the lid is sealed, you can’t open it and mess with it, so no stirring or anything once it’s cooking and coming to pressure.  There is something lovely about a true set-and-forget type thing.

I’d love to know – do you own an Instant Pot? Love it? Hate it? Also…totally curious about your weird pantry ingredients, do you have any?  Just leave a comment below and let me know!