Guten woche! Guten sauerbraten!

It's another theme week! I've come to realize that I grew up eating a lot of boring food. My dad could live off of coffee and bologna and cheese sandwiches and my mom was not adventurous AT ALL when it came to cooking dinner because she was the only one who would appreciate it. It was a very meat and potatoes kind of childhood. This week, I'm crocking outside of my comfort zone a little bit. I'm "crocking around the world" because I figured that it's a good way to try things I didn't eat as a kid. This recipe is still a little meat and potatoes. Minus the potatoes. Plus some gingersnaps.

Day 1: Something German. When I think of German food, I think of pork and sauerkraut. This was something my mom actually made for us, but only once in a blue moon and it was probably as adventurous as she ever got. It was really, really good. Sadly, my other half HATES pickled veggies with the fires of 1000 suns, so I have to save making that for a time when he's on a business trip or something.  While perusing the internet for ideas for Shamcrock, I stumbled upon a recipe or something German that I hadn't actually heard of. And it looked kind of easy. And a lot weird. SOLD!

"Sauerbraten Beef" (6 quart pot)

~2 lbs beef stew meat
~1 c onion, chopped
~1 c beef broth
~1 c red wine vinegar
~2  dried bay leaves
~3/4 c crushed gingersnaps
~2 T brown sugar, packed
~2 c egg noodles (The recipe called for 6 , but I felt we didn't need that many noodle-y leftovers, so I used 1/4 of the package)
~2 T fresh parsley

Mix beef, onion, brother, vinegar, and bay leaves in crock pot.
Cover and cook on low for 9 hours.
About 15 minutes before the end of the cook time, remove bay leaves from mixture and add the gingersnaps and brown sugar.
Cover and cook on low for 15 minutes or until mixture is bubbly and thickened.
Cook egg noodles.
Serve over egg noodles and sprinkle with parsley.

6 servings.

This was awesome. Every once in a while, you get a bite of gingersnappy goodness. (Possibly because I didn't crush the cookies enough, but whatever.) I could totally live in Germany. I may not do bratwurst, but I could definitely live on sauerbraten and sauerkraut. Yum.