Mac has an answer to everything!

Many of you know that with Mac's night schedule that the first 3 months of being here in Europe has been very lonely for me.  It has been brightened by old friends who have invited us to our beloved "Clausen" for visits. Making new friends isn't always easy for me, but how lucky I am that my husband has all the answers.

Answer number one...."Let's make sure we get to church."  We did last Sunday. We are members of the Belfast United Methodist in Maine and we tried the Nagold United Methodist this week.  Interestingly, the pastor is American. He married a German lady and has been here 26 years.  There wasn't really time to have a conversation with him as 4 teenagers were confirmed this Sunday and the church was filled to capacity which Pastor Jonathan Whitlock said was not normal.

Answer two....."You need to cook something to keep yourself busy"

Mac knows that I love the German show "Cook Duel"

Two contestants bring a bag filled with ingredients.  Each contestant is assigned a chef and the chef must look at the ingredients and decide on the spot what he can make with the contestant's help. (The English have a version of this show called READY, STEADY, COOK.)

The Germans take it one step farther than the English by having a wine expert pair a wine with the meal and someone from a restaurant decorates a dinner table. There is a panal of three people who taste the concoctions and vote for the best tasting recipe on the German show.

So to that end, we found ourselves at REAL pronouced RE- AL. I knew this was pork but wasn't sure what to do with it, so of course, Mac insisted that we pick it up and I become a chef in my own version of COOK DUEL.

I unrolled the pork......hmmmm....what to do?  It was pounded so thin I suspected the Germans would stuff it with something.

I looked through the pantry and frig. I took out garlic, onion, pancetta and Krauter butter.  Krauter butter is just butter that herbs have been added.  Many of my German friends make their own by melting butter and adding parsley, onion powder and other herbs of choice.

I fried up the pancetta and garlic with the krauter butter in one pan.  Of course the onions had to go in another pan because I intended to put onions in my stuffing but not in Mac's. By now you are all aware of Mac's onion phobia.  I sliced up an avocado and brie cheese.  I put them in the blender with a tablespoon of water and half cup of sour cream and whizzed it smooth.

I placed the filling on the pork and rolled them. I placed the rolled pork back in the frying pan and seared them on both sides.

Now I was stuck.....I would have liked to use a salsa over the top as it had a guacamole filling but, sadly, I had no salsa. I think it would have been much better with a Salsa topping.  I resorted to the German answer for everything.  RahmsoBe.  I used the package and followed the directions.

I placed it in a 350 degree oven for 25 minutes.

I served it up with a bit of salad, rice and carrots.

Mac gave it a thumbs up and but if it had had the Salsa sauce I bet he would have given it two thumbs up!

Mac says to tell you the answers really are church which is food for the soul  and cooking which is food for the body!

Maybe you are right Mac.....this time.....maybe you are right.