Hungary inspired soup/stew

Returning back from my holiday I am again in the process of trying to empty out the bachelor pad kitchen to the best of my abilities. It seems like moving day is finally approaching, as we should have all papers needed for exchange completed by now, so keeping my fingers crossed for being able to complete in July. To be honest, I'm still hoping for mid July rather than late July, but I have been told I shouldn't be holding my breath. 

Today's recipe is Hungarian inspired. We brought back about a ton of paprika powder. Apparently, the new in thing is smoked paprika. It used to be all about "where do you buy your wine?", then there was the question of "where do you buy your olive oil?" and now paprika powder is all the range. Obviously, I couldn't imagine buying my paprika anywhere else than Hungary. The culinary consultant absolutely loved the goulash (beef) soup served over there, but I have a freezer full of chicken and turkey so I made my own adaptation with white meat instead. And I pretty much just tossed in what veggies I happened to have around, although I have to admit I did buy the carrots. Everything else I had in house. Of course, the sausage, paprika and goulash spice mix have only been in house since late last night when we landed, but I say it still counts! 

Hungarian inspired slow chicken stew (serves 5-6):
500 g turkey fillet stir fry strips
3-4 carrots cut into slices
3-4 potatoes cut into cubes
2 yellow onions, roughly chopped
1/2 cup (or so) Hungarian salami cut into cubes
1 tbsp sweet paprika powder
1 tbsp Goulash spice mix (this is the mix I used, I have no idea what's in it as the ingredients are all in hungarian, although the ingredient list for another goulash spice mix seems to contain paprika, sugar, salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, marjoram, caraway, garlic, thyme, pimento, cloves)
2 cups frozen veggies (I used a mix of peas, cauliflower and carrots)

The howto:
Add all ingredients except the frozen veggies in the slow cooker along with 2-4 cups of water (depending if you want more of a stew or soup). Cook on low for 5 hours or high for about an hour and then low for three hours. If you don't have a slow cooker, I'm sure cooking on a regular stove would work just fine as well. Add the frozen veggies and let cook for another half hour or so. Serve with a slice of bread.

The verdict:
This was extremely quick and easy to make and although it didn't taste exactly like the goulash soup, it was still rather tasty. I would have added some tomato puree had I had any, a few tablespoons would do nicely. I served it with thick slices of roast garlic bread I found in the Co-op. After whining for so long that there is no decent bread to be found on this island, I'm surprised I have now bought two loaves of bread from the Co-op, both really delicious. 

Card of the day:
I miss crafting so much, and suspect that once I get into my new craft room, I will spend so much time there. I have a huge load of crafting supplies that I have ordered but not got to play with yet. And I recently received the new Stampin' Up catalogue and I keep browsing through it every night in bed. 

This card is the last in my three wedding card collection. It was made for my friends who got married last weekend. They live on a boat, and the theme of the wedding was boats. In fact the bride and groom (and most of the guests) arrived to the wedding in a flotilla of canal boat. The card is very simply embossed with the Cuttlebug swirls folder on glossy silver paper. The cardstock is dark blue very heavy cardstock which I got from a friend and have no idea what make it is. I used a Hobbycraft border punch to create the border, and made a simple bow from a silver lined white ribbon. Last, I added a few silver gemstones. Inside, I made a sleeve of white paper and stamped the sentiments Congratulations and May All Your Dreams Come True in Tim Holtz Chipped Sapphire distress ink along with three small hearts.