Poppyseeds and Tiger Lilies

Curry Chicken Soup and Rosemary Almonds

2012-01-22T18:52:00.001-05:00

Continuing my healthy lunches and snacks for work, I made a Curry Chicken Soup and Rosemary Almonds today. I've cooked oatmeal with golden raisins and dried cherries for breakfast for the week--each morning they'll go in the microwave and just get some skim milk added. I'll pack a slice of whole-grain toast with a light spread of peanut-butter and add a banana at work for a mid-morning snack. My soup will be a light lunch. In the afternoon I'll have a cup of hot sweet tea with a handful of rosemary almonds. After school I'll eat a pear or apple to hold me until a light dinner.

Curry Chicken Soup

I've made of a habit of prepping all veggies before I start cooking:

The ingredients are:

1 pound cooked chicken (I used rotisserie chicken this time--had some leftover)
2 chopped yellow onions
4 large chopped carrots
l large potato cubed. I used Idaho Russet
2 cups cauliflower florets
1 cup frozen peas
1 32 oz. box chicken stock or broth
1 cup water
2-3 Tblsp. Olive oil
2 tsp. curry powder
salt and pepper to taste

Swirl some olive oil into a large dutch oven. Add the carrots and onions and sautee about 5 minutes until softened. Add the curry powder and potato with 1 cup stock and 1 cup water. Simmer, covered, about 10 minutes until the potatoes and carrots are soft. Use an immersion blender to puree the soup in the pot. (Or cool slightly and puree in a blender and return to the pot.) Add the rest of the stock with the cauliflower florets. Cover and simmer until the cauliflower is tender, about 20 minutes. Taste and add salt and pepper to taste. Add the peas and chicken and simmer about 5 more minutes. Check for salt and flavor. To serve, sprinkle some grated parmesan on top if desired. Cool and pack into individual servings in small canning jars to take to work and refrigerate.
I love the creamy yummy texture of this soup when the carrots, onions and potato are pureed together. Another of my favorite soups now. (This recipe was adapted from my Reader's Digest book of Food Cures.)

The Rosemary Almonds are from a recipe I found
in my Williams-Sonoma Christmas Entertaining cookbook. I mixed 3 Tblsp. olive oil with 2-1/2 cups almonds and fine seasalt. I mounded it with 4 sprigs of rosemary onto a cookie sheet and roasted it for 15 minutes. I stirred it and roasted 10 minutes more. I'll take handfuls of these almonds to work and snack on them with my afternoon tea. I love these.

Healthy Food Snacks

2012-01-11T19:16:00.000-05:00

I was away a few days visiting my daughter. Knowing I was coming back home to my New Year goal of healthy eating again, I thoroughly enjoyed my Shepherd's Pie at the Irish Pub, The Harp, followed by a double dip from Baskin-Robbins. I'm back and I need to make lunches and snacks for work. Since I've been away, I'm not ready to go for groceries yet. I think "Chopped"--use what you have to make two nutrition-rich snacks and a healthy lunch for the three days left of the week!! I look in the fridge and find a butternut squash, broccoli, carrots, some leftover green beans and tomato sauce. I have the usual pantry items. I clean and slice the two carrots onto a baking dish, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper and slide into a 400 deg. oven. I roast them about 10 min. I add broccoli florets, also drizzled with oil and sprinkled with salt. I let that roast about 10 more minutes and add some red pepper flakes and pine nuts and stir the mixture. I let that roast until the vegetables are tender. It's bright, colorful and really good. I pack it into containers to eat for after-school snacks.

Since I'm trying to lower my cholesterol and beans are good for that as well as good protein, I saute some onions in olive oil in a pan on the stove, I add a can of rinsed roman beans and throw in those leftover green beans.

After sauteeing a few minutes with some salt and freshly-ground pepper, I add some tomato sauce, and simmer until it thickens. I sprinkle some grated Parmesan cheese on top and scoop it into little jars to take to school for one of my snack breaks.

I pack some tortilla chips to munch with these.

Finally, I make some Butternut Squash Soup to take for my actual lunches. The recipe I use is below.

Walnuts make a tasty munchie to eat along with this soup.

Butternut Squash Soup

2 Tblsp. extra-virgin olive oil

1 large yellow onion, peeled and chopped

2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. freshly-ground black pepper

1/2 tsp. garam masala

dash ground ginger

dash ground cloves

1 butternut squash, peeled, seeded and diced (about 6 cups)

2 cans (14-1/2 oz. ea.) Vegetable Stock

In a heavy dutch oven, saute the onion and garlic in the heated oil. Add the spices. Stir. Add the squash and saute about 10 minutes. Add the stock and simmer until tender. Use a hand-held immersion blender to puree the soup. I like to leave some texture in the soup.

This makes about 4 servings.

Notice that I use small canning jars as my containers. They are great to eat out of cold, or remove the metal lids and microwave right in the jar and eat right out of it heated.

It looks like I took a lot of food to work, but it's all healthy--just brimming with color. Snacks don't have to be celery and carrot sticks. My quantities are small and so full of flavor, I don't need more.

After a day like this, all I want for dinner is a salad with a small piece of fish or lean meat.

New Year's Goals 2012

2012-01-01T23:54:00.001-05:00

"Decide what to be and go be it." I found that quote on a blog and pinned it to my inspired board on Pinterest. That's pretty much how I approach each new year. It's a chance to reinvent myself every year. What I'm going to be in 2012 and how:

addicted to healthy choices
         buy local and cook seasonal, emphasis on heart-healthy and low cholesterol foods
         exercise for health and flexibility
photography
         get to know my camera
         capture moments and unexpected views
foodie
         "cook without recipes"
         start with soups, sauces and breads
knitter
          knit for babies
          knit for Christmas gifts
organized
          this is an ongoing battle
adventurer
          "yes" to new things

So to start on the goals, I will continue what I started last year--preparing my foods for a week ahead to carry to work to make eating healthy easier during the workweek. Breakfast this week will be the wonderful cholesterol-lowering oatmeal.
To make the mornings easy, I cook for the weekdays on the weekend. I round up 5 microwave-safe bowls for the oatmeal.

I use regular oats that require 5 minutes of cooking time and regular or golden raisins--favorite is a mix of both.

I cook oatmeal using a little less than the amount of water suggested on the box. I like the oatmeal to be a thicker texture. I add the raisins when the oatmeal is almost done so I don't get raisin-flavored oatmeal--just oatmeal with softened raisins.

I pack the cooked oatmeal into bowls and let them cool, cover and refrigerate.

I pack one in my lunch every day. At work I keep milk in a small refrigerator. I heat the oatmeal in a microwave and add milk.

I love this breakfast and it's quick and healthy every morning.

Handmade Gifts-Special Christmas

2012-01-01T02:09:00.000-05:00

Best Christmas Ever! Again! This year we made some of our gifts once again.They are some of the most fun. Even our little grandson joined in and made pine cones filled with birdseed mixed in peanut butter (somewhat messy) and bundles of kindling wood for fireplaces. We started out looking all over the yard for sticks but found quite a stash on his grandfather's woodpile that he decided would make great gifts:

I received coasters, cut and made from wood from our own property. Notice the mug, also a gift, from an awesome potter, check out his website. His pottery is beautiful and of excellent quality. This happens to be a handwarmer mug--holds in the heat of the drink and fits my hand beautifully!

I went to a light show with my daughter over Christmas at a local park--beautiful Christmas lights with hot chocolate and cookies. I kept my ears warm with a snuggly headband from my daughter-in-law (or other daughter!):

My daughter knows I'm obsessed with her pillow cases and made two more for me along with a basket of New Year's cheer for everyone!

There were bought gifts and fun gifts. Mostly there was family and food and moments to remember. And a gift from me for someone special to come.

Booties

2011-09-11T19:03:00.002-04:00

If you're a knitter and don't follow the yarn harlot, you're missing one of my favorite blogs. She is hilarious even if you're not a knitter. And she's going through what I've been going through for a couple weeks--waiting for a special little baby to arrive and knitting until it comes! Ours is here! Our second little grandson arrived a couple days ago and we couldn't be happier around here! (Jen is still waiting and the yarn harlot is still knitting.) You really should go there and see the cute baby things she's making and making and making. Adorable! I'm working on a little hoodie but so far all I've completed is a pile of booties:

The first ones I made were from elastic yarn. They are knit from top down and only have a seam on the center of the sole. I showed those on a previous post. They are the light blue, tan and white ones above.
Then I made a pair from a pattern I really like in which the sole is knit first, then the sides, top and cuff. There is no seam at all in those. These turned out a little bigger than I wanted because I was experimenting with sizes and yarns.

Since there was still no baby and I love making booties, I decided a plain blue pair might be nice. But there was some gold yarn nearby and this is WV and a couple of his uncles are serious Mountaineer fans and . . . look what happened:

On this day of 9-ll, remembering what happened ten years ago and all the special memories that were shared of loved ones today on tv, makes me all the more thankful for our new little one and for all the special family that gathered around to welcome him into our life.

My Favorite Zucchini Bread

2011-08-28T19:05:00.001-04:00

I have made three versions of zucchini bread this summer. So far this one gets my vote. I used "Mom's Zucchini Bread" at allrecipes. I used the recipe exactly as it is.
I prepared my ingredients:

I got my soapy water ready. Forever burned into my brain is the voice of my high school home ec teacher,"keep your work area clean!" I wash my tools as I go--only takes a second and it's so nice at the end!

I don't sift ingredients that often anymore, but I did for this bread:

Then I mixed the eggs, oil and vanilla:

I added dry ingredients to the wet mixture:

After mixing I used two 8-inch loaf pans:

In the oven they went at 325 degrees and out to knit and watch the clothes dry, I went:

After about an hour:

Like all the other recipes I've tried, this one was still sweeter than I need. I'll try half as much sugar next time. I liked the walnuts but missed the raisins. Next time I'll soak a cup of raisins in boiling water about an hour, drain and use them in place of nuts. The 3 tsp. of cinnamon was yummy and I loved the 3 tsp. vanilla. For now this will be my basic recipe that I play around with. It would be good with different fruits and I might try different flours, etc., but for flavor and texture this is really good!

Little radish and other sandwiches

2011-08-08T12:50:00.000-04:00

I grew up eating slices of homemade bread and butter topped with all sorts of fresh veggies and salt. Mostly we sliced radishes or green peppers to top the bread. Occasionally we sliced our own homemade dill pickles as a topping. Recently I've read that this is very "French." I don't know the origin of these little sandwiches, but our home was Polish and German and all we knew was these were really good. Radishes alone can be a little strong but the bread, butter and salt mellow them right out. The green peppers are good with that fresh green pepper flavor that just needs just a little something to soften it a bit.

The bread must be homemade or some form of robust white or sourdough bread. I'm using sliced ciabatta here. I love ciabatta with all its holes and chewy texture. The butter is cold from the fridge to make thin smooth bits on the bread. I don't care for soft room-temperature butter. (My husband insists it has to be soft and "spreadable." We fought about this until we decided to keep mine in the fridge and his on the counter.)
Don't use much butter. It detracts from the veggies--we don't want this to be creamy. I tried fleur de sel on top but prefer smaller grind table salt. The crunchy salt crystals were too much on these sandwiches for me.

I had some fresh red raspberries in the refrigerator that caught my attention. How about on lightly buttered bread with some confectioner's sugar on top?

YES that's lightly buttered bread, fresh raspberries and a dusting of powdered sugar! Yummm. It's a creamy light dessert! I'm heading to the teapot to make another cup and have another one of these.

Swimming In The Rain

2011-08-03T13:15:00.000-04:00

Last night I resigned from the worldwide community of knitters. I had two baby bootees on needles. I was excited because both were departures from the expected and from the very old patterns I was using. As I was completing the foot and starting up the cuff of the mossy-green-meadow variegated bootee, I kept ignoring the obvious and clinging to my hope that this is going to be beautiful. Then I stopped and really LOOKED at it. It looked like a thick rectangular stiff light yellow-green box that a tiny baby foot was supposed to go into. The yarn was too thick, the needles too small and there was no way of saving it. Ok. I had the other one to turn to. I had chosen medium gray as the yarn for the panels and white for the outlines to make bootees that would have the look of little gray panels all over, bordered with white around each one. This time the yarn and needles were the size the pattern called for. I knitted along, thinking, again, that it was looking kind of big. After I finished the cuff, working top down, I did what "they" try to tell you to always do, BEFOREHAND. I checked the gauge. Instead of 9 stitches per inch, I was getting 6 stitches per inch. I threw it all in a box; I quit knitting. I decided I needed to get back to exercising and being active. I had sat with my needles too long and was becoming sloppy. In the morning I would start the day with a swim.

I got up this morning and it was raining. Now that's not a complaint. Our garden has become so dry there's no saving some of it. The morning glories had drooped for several weeks, just surviving on the little water I gave them over the drought. For the first time in forever, their leaves are full and strong this morning.

The black-eyed susans are really pretty and I brought some in for the table.

Remember my plan was to start the day with swimming. I looked at the rain coming down heavily into our pool. There was no lightning. I went swimming. Water drops were coming down all around me with millions of air bubbles forming on the blue surface. The air temperature was cooler than the water temperature and it was amazing. This picture was after the rain stopped but I just wanted to see the blue here.

My breakfast this morning is a banana smoothie. I freeze sliced bananas, add skimmed milk and put them through the magic bullet. It's healthy but thick as a milkshake from the frozen bananas. This time I added just a little cold coffee and sprinkled the top with grated semisweet chocolate. Ready to go.

I'll be rejoining the knitting world this afternoon with soft, light-blue, fingering-yarn bootees.

Staying Cool While Knitting

2011-08-01T15:20:00.000-04:00

August 1 is no time to be sitting on this deck knitting little bootees. It's probably over a 100 deg. out with a warm breeze. But a new little grandbaby is on the way and the bootees have to be knit. I 'm in and out of the pool to cool off and back on the shady deck to knit. Don't feel like stopping to make lunch and my husband comes out with just the perfect snack. This is why we're still together after more than 40 years. That and he makes me tea every morning.

Honestly, nothing beats fresh fruit just as it is on a hot day. Summer cobblers and pies are delicious but since I'm eating healthier my tastes have changed some. I love the clean taste of just the fruit. And it's beautiful.

Finished the bootees--for a little boy. And I'm already starting on two more pair.

Hubby is grilling hamburgers. I'll get back to cooking tomorrow.

Zucchini and Red Onion on Naan Bread

2011-07-30T01:31:00.000-04:00

A friend gave me this recipe for using zucchini that is now stacked to the ceiling of our kitchen. I don't know its origin, but it is one of the most delicious zucchini dishes I've tried.

Preheat oven to 400 F.

young zucchini, thinly sliced

medium red onion, thinly sliced

Naan flatbread

1 tub Garden Vegetable cream cheese, softened (the original recipe calls for Garlic Herb Boursin Cheese, but I didn't have that on hand that day--both are delicious)

3/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian Parsley

salt

Saute the red onion in a little canola or olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and remove from pan. Add a little more oil and saute the zucchini in that pan until lightly browned. Salt lightly and remove from pan.

Spread Naan with cream cheese. Sprinkle with some of the Parmesan.

Place cooked onion in a row at one end of the flatbread. Place zucchini next to it in another row. Add another row of onion and another zucchini and end with another row of onion. Add chopped parsley over the top and the remaining Parmesan cheese over the top.

Place in oven and bake about 20 minutes.

The amounts don't have to be exact. I used white Naan bread but the recipe called for whole wheat (healthier), which I didn't find in our market. Pita or other flatbread would also work.

Cut into quarters and eat like pizza.

Fresh Red Currants

2011-06-19T21:21:00.002-04:00

I've been away from my blog and your blogs for four months. Sometimes I get so busy with teaching and life that some of the things I enjoy most get set aside temporarily. Or some little thing happens and I just get on another plane for a while. Four months ago, I turned 65. Always ready for the next challenge, I went to my doctor and asked for a really good checkup. I was told that I need to get my cholesterol down or consider medication. That's not good news for someone who loves food, making bread, belonging to a cheese-making group, making ice cream (not just ice cream, but "gelato!"), etc., etc. I sulked for a while, protested, not ready to join the "high-cholesterol" crowd, not ready to give up my soulmate bond with Paula Deen and butter. I set out to see what I could do for myself to get my numbers down--probably nothing since it runs in my family--but I got on it. In the last four months I've lost 30 pounds, all my numbers are down some and I actually do feel 10 years younger--at least! I have not stopped eating good food. I'm eating good HEALTHY food in small amounts and often. I'm exercising and staying active. My blog emphasis will shift a little toward healthy recipes that I've tried and loved and seasonal foods. I have given up butter and cheese (not forever, of course), but I haven't actually missed those since there are so many other good foods out there to eat. I'm returning to blogging with a recipe that I tried today to use some of our beautiful jewel currants. And you'll notice that in this recipe are butter, eggs and cream-which of course I don't eat anymore. This recipe can be found at delicious days. I used it just as it's written. I mixed flour butter, confectioner's sugar, egg yolk and salt for the crust. After chilling the dough, I cut it into 5 equal pieces and rolled each one out before fitting it into a buttered 2-piece tart pan.

After baking and cooling the shells, I filled them with fresh currants

Then I mixed the eggs, brown sugar and cream and poured over the berries and back in the oven to bake again.

After the tarts were cooled, I sprinkled confectioner's sugar over the top and enjoyed my first Fresh Red Currant Tart!

The crust is really good. If you like the fresh tangy flavor of red currants, this is a good recipe.

Happy Nutella Day!

2011-02-05T17:23:00.002-05:00

Mmmmmmm, my favorite way to eat Nutella is with a jar and a spoon! Everything else is just a distraction.

But in honor of World Nutella Day , I melted some Nutella with a little heavy whipping cream and dipped fresh fruit in it.

Strawberries would have been my first choice but I didn't have any strawberries when I realized it was World Nutella Day. It turned out oranges are luscious. Grapes are ok, cookies too sweet, but the unexpected burst of juicy, tangy orange following the first soft, smooth, melty Nutella sensation. . . I cried.

World Nutella Day was started in 2007 by Ms Adventures in Italy and Bleeding Espresso. Thank you! My adventures in using Nutella beyond my teaspoon are about to begin.

"Promises To Keep"

2011-01-29T22:02:00.001-05:00

Every winter I quote Robert Frost as I gaze out my window into the snowy woods. And I think of the promises I need to keep. January is a wonderful month for that. My fall was so busy with the start of a new school year and 2 classes I had to take to keep my certification. Then the holidays full of all the fun and family took us into the new year. I have spent this month reorganizing again. Now things are somewhat under control in our home. I can find things I need again and I'm excited about the year ahead. I spent this evening reading some of my favorite blogs that I hadn't even looked at for a couple months. I'm joining Cream Puffs in Venice with a list of 11 things I want to do, except I'm giving myself 3 months rather than a year. It seems easier to handle 3 months at a time!

1. Maintain the organization I've established.
2. Follow the cleaning plan I've put together so my weekends are free.
3. Redecorate one room.
4. Make every Friday evening a SPA night.
5. Keep up the exercise plan I've established.
6. Use lip gloss and lotion constantly.
7. Use my new CAMERA often!
8. Complete a knitting project.
9. Make pierogis once a month.
10. Visit one new place each month.
11. Buy lots of earrings.

Goals are dreams with deadlines - Diana Scharf Hunt

Spelt Flour Muffins

2010-10-17T20:34:00.000-04:00

Spelt Flour, "A Grain From Antiquity," is the statement on this bag of flour I received as a gift. I had never used or heard of spelt flour before. What an intriguing statement! Reading further on the bag, I find spelt is an ancient relative of present day wheat and dates back more than 9,000 years! Checking online I found that spelt flour is considered very nutritious--its nutrients being absorbed more quickly than present-day wheat. For my first use of this flour I adapted the muffin recipe on the bag. The result was very very good!

Oh, and the little French Chef--he'll be there whenever I bake bread to make sure I don't become careless in my baking. I just found him in a little French shop.

Spelt Raisin Muffins

2-1/4 cups Spelt flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-1/4 cups milk
3 eggs, beaten
1 tablespoon oil
1/2 teaspoon fiori di sicilia (citrus/vanilla flavoring), optional
1/4 cup dark raisins
1/4 cup golden raisins

Preheat oven to 425 deg. Grease and flour 12 muffin cups. (I used paper cupcake liners instead and they really stuck to the muffins after they were baked.) Combine the dry ingredients. Beat the liquid ingredients and mix into the dry just until moistened. Fold in the raisins. Fill muffin cups and bake 17 minutes or until light brown.

I loved the raisins in these muffins and would add a couple extra tablespoons of them next time. These were good warm with a little butter and a hot sweet cup of tea.

More Wild Mushrooms, Agaricus campestris

2010-10-07T13:08:00.003-04:00

I found more today. This time I'm adding some onion and thyme.

I start these by peeling off the caps and slicing them. I add a little butter and olive oil to a pan and saute some chopped onion. When it's translucent, I add the mushrooms along with some fresh thyme leaves.

When the liquid evaporates and the mushrooms are cooked, I finish them off with just about a tablespoon of cream to give a silky texture. These mushrooms are not as firm as those from the store--they have thinner caps--but they have such a delicious woodsy mushroom flavor! The first few times I had cultivated mushrooms I thought they were rubbery compared to these.

My absolute favorite way to eat these is just over boiled, fork-mashed, salted potatoes. And, today, I treated myself to some marinated herring in sour cream on the side. (My husband said I just lost him there--he wants no part of the herring.) My drink of choice for this meal is cold fresh buttermilk.

Field Mushrooms, Pieczarki

2010-10-03T19:34:00.001-04:00

We've had several days of heavy rain and cool temperatures. Today was a beautiful day with the definite feel of very early fall. I walked behind the house to feel the fresh air and spotted a couple field mushrooms. We usually find a couple in early fall but this time I kept finding more and more. I didn't even have my apron on to gather them up in so I balanced as many as I could on one hand but had to give up and go for the basket--and a knife.

We always gathered these mushrooms when I was young and always heard the stories of the beautiful mushrooms that Mama and her sisters gathered in the woods in Poland. They were of all colors and would look so pretty in a pan together she would tell me. She didn't know the wild mushrooms here so these were the only ones we gathered. The Polish name for these is pieczarki. We had a black iron wood stove in our kitchen at that time and we liked to lay a couple mushrooms right on the stove itself and let them sizzle with a little salt sprinkled on top and ate them right off the stove. Mostly, Mama fried them gently in butter and added a little flour, cooked a little more, and then poured in some light cream to make the best mushroom sauce. The only seasonings she used were salt and pepper.

Since they have soil and grass over their caps, we just peeled the thin skin off each one.

I sliced them and prepared them just like my mother did. These mushrooms are more delicate than the cultivated ones in the grocery store and have a little deeper flavor. If they were from the store I might add onion or thyme, but I want these plain with just a little thickened cream and salt and pepper and I'm having them over plain bread, toasted.

The only thing I wanted with this fall lunch was an icy cold glass of fresh, sweet apple cider from the farmer's market.

Note: There are white wild mushrooms that are quite poisonous--don't even taste a mushroom that you don't know for absolutely certain is edible.

BBA Challenge - Pain de Campagne

2010-09-27T22:38:00.001-04:00

This BBA Challenge bread is good for making into different shapes and the book shows a variety of possibilities. I have one banneton (another one has been ordered!) which is a round coiled basket used to proof a loaf into a nice round shape. I wanted to try it out so I used it for one loaf. I used a mixing bowl lined with a floured towel for a second round loaf and I decided to turn the third loaf into an "epi" shape. The epi is first made into a long loaf. Then you make cuts into it and twist portions of dough out toward one side and then the other to form a long bread with rolls coming out all along it. I didn't get a picture of it because it was eaten up too fast. It was too busy a weekend for good pictures, but I did manage to snap a quick picture of the two round loaves. The one with the rings was proofed in a banneton:

I floured the banneton and the toweled bowl rather heavily as you can see here for fear of sticking. I had no problem with that. What did give me trouble was trying to score the dough before baking to make those nice marks on the top. I have a special little scoring blade but as soon as I started trying to make the cuts the dough began collapsing. You can see the loaves are a little misshapen. I also didn't get a brown color--especially on the loaf in the back, but it was definitely done and delicious. The loaves were rather small and look just perfect for soups "in a bread bowl." As soon as I get my second banneton, I'd like to make this bread again and get the hang of that scoring. Then I'll make my soup or chili to serve in it.

Plum Pierogi

2010-09-16T00:33:00.001-04:00

Italian prune plums always remind me of my mother's plum pierogi. I loved them and am craving that taste again.

I made the pierogi dough the same as in the earlier post. I only made a half recipe since I didn't plan to make too many pierogi. I cut the circles out with a cutter that was a little over 3" across. I washed 16 plums, cut them open on one side only, removed the pit and replaced it with a sugar cube. I then wrapped a round of dough around each plum and sealed it according to the directions in my pierogi post. If you find the dough is a little dry and wants to tear, wet your fingers with water and smooth the whole surface of the round with the water while stretching it gently before putting the plum into it. Also, wet the inside edge before you seal it to make a tighter seal. Follow directions to cook the pierogi, about half of them at a time. At home, we just ate them as they came out of the water, but I thought my husband might prefer some sort of topping. The usual topping would be bread crumbs browned in butter with some cinnamon and sugar added. I decided to try these with plum sauce instead since I had so many plums.

Plum Sauce

1-1/2 lbs. prune plums, pitted and chopped

1/4 cup sugar

A little water--2 or 3 tablespoons

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon butter

Simmer the first 4 ingredients until the plums become soft and the water cooks out a little. Add the butter and simmer a couple more minutes to make a thickened sauce.

Serve the pierogi with the plum sauce. Sprinkle with a little more cinnamon.

I like these warmed up a day later with some sauce--the flavors are better blended by then. This is one of my nostalgia--from home--treats that I really make just for myself.

BBA Challenge - Pain a l'Ancienne

2010-09-13T20:05:00.000-04:00

We took a summer break from bread baking but fall's coming and we're starting back into our BBA Challenge. Our next bread to make was Pain a l'Ancienne. This bread is shown as baguettes, but we decided to shape it into focaccia. Except for a small mistake I made of reaching for the spray water instead of spray oil to spray the parchment paper with before easing the soft, sticky dough onto it (which meant I had the mess of spraying a new sheet with oil and removing wet sticky dough from the first paper and transferring it!)--other than that--I had absolutely no trouble with this bread.

Focaccia can be topped with oil and any combination of herbs, sun-dried tomatoes, olives, etc., before baking. I chose to simply drizzle it lightly with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt. I didn't add any herbs since I wanted the option to add whatever flavor I want when I eat it. I love it simply dipped in olive oil with salt or in rosemary oil. Another time I might want to add basil or other herbs to the oil. I also loved it with my homemade butter spread on it. (See previous post.) This would make a great panini or a simple sandwich. My problem is I want to eat the whole loaf right now--I'm well on my way. I had to hide half of it in the freezer to keep it away from me.

Making Cultured Butter

2010-09-12T20:46:00.000-04:00

It had been many years since I made butter. When I was little we had a cow and making butter was just a chore. We had a glass churn with a dasher that we used. When the glass broke, we just put cream in a quart jar and took turns shaking it until it became butter. When I came across this challenge at the site of forging fromage I started looking for cream that was not ultra pasteurized. I found some at my farmer's market. (Although girlichef informed me she was able to make it from ultrapasteurized cream.)

The instructions say to add some plain whole-milk yogurt to heavy cream and allow it to sit a day.

The second day you just use a mixer, whip and "presto" butter forms! The butter has now separated from the "buttermilk." The buttermilk is poured off. The butter is rinsed several times in ice water. With each rinse you work the butter with your hands or a paddle under the ice water to try to get out all the buttermilk.

Then you can add salt and any herbs or flavorings you want.

The only thing I added to my butter was salt, and I poured the buttermilk into the jar the cream came in.

I'll use the buttermilk for pancakes or some other recipe and we're totally enjoying the butter already. I just added salt to it. This was fun to do, although a bit expensive for two pints of the wonderful cream.

See the site for more details if you want to try this yourself.

Plum Cake with cardamom

2010-09-07T23:00:00.001-04:00

This cake is good made with plums that have some sweetness to them--no ice cream needed:

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon cardamom

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup butter, room temperature

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 egg yolks (or 2 large eggs)

6 plums

1 Tablespoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Line a 9-1/2" springform pan with wax paper. Preheat oven to 350 deg. F.

Mix flour with baking powder, salt and cardamom. Set aside.

Whip softened butter and 1 cup sugar in mixer until light and fluffy. Mix in the vanilla. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each one. Add the dry ingredients and mix.

Spread batter into pan. Slice the plums into eight pieces and layer into the cake batter. Mix the tablespoon sugar with cinnamon and sprinkle over plums.

Bake about one hour until cake is golden and cake tester or toothpick comes out clean.

Baking "The Baker's Dozen Cookbook"

2010-09-03T22:39:00.003-04:00

A new challenge I've decided to undertake is learning to bake good basic cakes. After taking the summer off from bread-baking, I'm missing my breads and ready to begin that challenge again--BBA. In addition I'm going to bake my way through this book:

This book was put together by a group of well-known bakers who have chosen their favorite recipe for a variety of cakes, pies, breads and other desserts. The book is filled with the basic information that explains the techniques that will give the best results and the reason they work. There aren't a lot of pictures, but there is a great deal of information. I'm planning to bake something from the book every other week until I've gone through the whole book. My first choice was the first cake in the book, "Our Favorite Butter Cake." I got all my best ingredients set up--everything at room temperature because that makes the batter "blend smoothly."

YES, that's my old sifter! I haven't used it in ages but I'm told it's important, not only to mix the dry ingredients well, but to aerate them. So I sifted:

The butter had to be beaten until light in color and then the sugar added in a steady stream following by mixing 4 to 7 minutes more. The book explains the importance of this step in creating millions of tiny air bubbles to create a light cake.

The eggs are also added a little at a time to prevent curdling of the mixture. (Although if the batter curdles, the book gives a solution.) The rest of the recipe explains the reason for adding the dry ingredients alternately with the wet ingredients. I find it much easier to follow instructions if I understand the reasons for them. After following every little instruction, I pulled a perfectly-risen level-to-the-top-of-the-cakepan yellow butter cake out of the oven.

Now remember that chocolate you saw in the ingredients picture? That was for the icing. I had no particular plan in mind for the icing so I made one of the chocolate icings. For the first time ever I didn't have any confectioner's sugar in the pantry, so I chose the rich Chocolate Buttercream Frosting. It took a LOT of rich semisweet chocolate:

The recipe was extremely complicated, involving melting chocolate in a double boiler, simmering sugar and cream of tartar in water to the soft ball stage, beating egg yolks over simmering water and whipping everything together with softened butter. This icing was too rich and chocolatey for my light tender cake. I felt it overwhelmed it and was far more chocolate richness than I wanted on a piece of cake. I can see it on a rich, heavy chocolate cake of which one would eat a small slice, but I would try the lighter chocolate icing recipe next time for a light cake.

I love this cookbook--it reads like a class in baking. I think, in time, you could create your own recipes after mastering the basics in here.

Leftovers

2010-08-28T07:35:00.003-04:00

The weather has turned cool after a long stretch of super-hot summer days. After a much-needed rain yesterday, the sky is still overcast and the air is fresh. I am alone and psyched about having breakfast out on the deck. We had boiled young potatoes yesterday with the herb butter I had made using parsley, dill and chives. There are some left over. I take those out along with a little handful of mushrooms and an egg. I'm thinking omelet. I brown the sliced mushrooms in a little butter and olive oil. I push them aside and brown the sliced herbed potatoes. I mix them together, break an egg over them, add salt and freshly-ground black pepper and make an herb scramble with my leftover potatoes. Meanwhile the rye bread is toasting and I think, "one slice with the scramble and one with some of that peach jam for a little dessert." I whip a little cream and pour in fresh coffee. A sprinkle of cinnamon on top makes it special. A few tomatoes with basil on the side and I'm outside in the fresh morning with a scrumptious leftovers breakfast.

Cooking the Books - Cheese Vali Gobi

2010-08-24T20:20:00.002-04:00

There isn't much I enjoy doing more than reading a really good book--unless it involves food. To read a good book ABOUT food is almost more than I can stand. So when I came across this Cook the Books Club I had to join in. Every other month a new book is selected and the challenge is to prepare a dish that was inspired by that book.
The book selected for this month is Climbing The Mango Trees by Madhur Jaffrey. Climbing The Mango Trees is an insight into India's history through the eyes of a young girl. She reminds us that beneath the politics and the violence of a troubled nation, there are children. They want to play and they want to eat and they pay close attention to the details of their days. I was touched by how memorable the family picnics and the foods of her girlhood were to Jaffrey. She loved her own Indian dishes and she thoroughly loved tasting the foods of her school friends that were different from hers. She describes all of those in wonderful detail. I remember my own childhood as a newcomer to this country, bringing my lunch to school where it was different from the lunches of my friends. Like Jaffrey, I thought their lunches were much more interesting than mine. I loved reading about the spices and flavors detailed in this book. I wanted to make one of her very own recipes rather than developing one of my own.I was particularly drawn to the cauliflower dish. My Mama made cauliflower by cooking it in salted water until it was almost tender. Then she drained it and added it to a skillet that had butter in it. She sauteed it until it began to brown and added bread crumbs, allowing them to absorb the flavors of the butter and cauliflower as they browned also. I didn't know until I was much older that our simple fried cauliflower was "Cauliflower Polonaise." It was my favorite sidedish. When I saw Jaffrey's cauliflower recipes, I had to try one of them. I made the Grandmother's Cauliflower with Cheese exactly as the recipe was written in the book, except that I had no hot green chilies (not allowed to use jalapeno or serrano chilies) so I increased the amount of cayenne a little and I used powdered cumin as I couldn't find whole cumin seeds.
I learned a new technique right at the beginning: she suggests grating tomatoes to make a puree. It worked to separate the skin, although the seeds remain.

After cauliflower florets are cooked in a skillet with cumin for a few minutes, the grated tomatoes, ginger, chilies, cayenne, turmeric, coriander and salt are added.

Fresh cilantro is added and mixture is transferred to a baking dish.

After adding cheese on top, the cauliflower is baked.

While my mother's cauliflower polonaise will always be my favorite, I love trying new flavors and this one was so very different. I especially loved it reheated the second day when the flavors had mellowed and blended. When I make it again, I'll prepare it the day before and reheat it for a meal. I am so excited about making more dishes from this book. Reading it made me feel that I had actually spent some time in the home of this family and making the foods puts me at their table.

Yogurt Cheese Applied

2010-08-22T21:52:00.001-04:00

I recently made some yogurt cheese. I had to answer the question I knew would come: "What are you going to do with that??" I decided one answer would be sweet and one savory.

This is my peach (and plum) month so I came up with a peach/plum salad. I love spices and honey and this late summer weather makes me think about cinnamon.

I peeled and sliced peaches, sliced plums and alternated them with small slices of my yogurt cheese. The center mound of cheese has been whipped with a little honey and powdered cardamom. The others are plain. I drizzled my very favorite honey over it. Acacia honey has a suggestion of plum blossoms in its flavor that I love. Then I sprinkled cinnamon liberally and grated nutmeg lightly over that. I sprinkled some chopped salted pistachios around the edge. The peaches were particularly juicy and fresh in this salad. You don't really need the sweet drier plums, but I think they look pretty.

Now the savory:

This time I mixed my yogurt cheese with chopped dill and chopped chives. I added a few drops apple cider vinegar to moisten the mixture and add a little tang. I added salt to taste. I spread that on pita bread. I peeled and sliced a cucumber. I sprinkled a little salt over the slices and mixed it in with them and then layered them over the bread. I added freshly-ground black pepper to the top. A second layer of cucumbers wouldn't have hurt. I'm making one of these for my lunch at work tomorrow.

Plums and Plum Crisp

2010-08-19T22:02:00.001-04:00

I went to the farmer's market for more peaches and they had these baskets of mixed plums. I never know which plums are my favorite so I jumped at the chance for an easy taste test.

Queen Rosa: A little hard to split--the flesh wanted to cling to the seed a little. The taste was mild and enhanced with a bit of honey. Upon heating, it developed more flavor with a good tang.

Black Ember: Easy to split. Taste was actually too bland and a little dip in honey made it even more bland by contrast. When I heated it, it became sour, and somewhat flat.

Satsuma: These were very small. When I split one the seed came out taking plum flesh with it all around. The taste was more plumlike and a little drier in texture. Honey was good with it. Heating it made it a little tangy--pretty good.

The next time I go I would buy a basket of Queen Rosa--they were my definite favorite for flavor.

I wanted to make a Plum Crisp, but I needed 4 cups of plums and I only had a little over 1/2 that so I added a couple peaches.

I added the topping

Baked

And ate

PLUM CRISP

Filling:

4 cups pitted plums, sliced (or a mix of plums and peaches)

1 Tablespoon flour

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

2 Tablespoons granulated sugar

Dough:

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup regular rolled oats

1/4 cup granulated white sugar

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom

a pinch of salt

1/4 cup unsalted butter (melted)

Preheat oven to 350 deg. Mix the fruit with the 2 tablespoons white sugar, the 1 tablespoon flour, and the cinnamon. Pour into a buttered baking dish, about 6-1/2" x 10". Mix the 1/2 cup flour, oats, both remaining sugars, cardamom and salt. Lightly mix the melted butter through the dry mix until well-moistened. Spread over the fruit. Put in oven and bake around 45 minutes or until topping is lightly browned and filling is bubbly.

Serve with ice cream, lightly sweetened cream or vanilla yogurt.

Yogurt Cheese

2010-08-18T01:38:00.002-04:00

Ok, I am an easily distracted person. Let's just get that out there right now. (Those who know me already know that.) Here I am in the midst of my August peaches and other produce theme, and I just discovered a neat website that concentrates on cheese-making. Forging fromage features all kinds of neat dairy challenges. I have to take a break today from peaches. I have to make some cheese. I decided to try the easiest one first: yogurt cheese. Yogurt cheese is apparently made the same way as instructions I've found for Greek yogurt, which I love! So here's the process. I emptied a large container of plain yogurt into a tea towel. I used low-fat because that's what I had on hand.

I tied a string around the top of the tea towel to prepare to hang it to drain off the whey.

It looks a bit ghostly casting shadows on my basement wall! The tea towel is a mite too big for the job.

After the recommended amount of time, I took down the hanging thing and, voila! I had yogurt cheese!

I had to make this picture extra large so you could see how CREAMY it is. And I didn't even use creamy yogurt! I will next time. It was easy, it tastes good and I am excited about making it with whole milk yogurt and adding herbs to it next time! Actually I will try some of this with a suggested chive and black pepper addition. The texture is actually closer to cream cheese than Greek Yogurt because of the length of time I let it hang. Check out the site--they have some really fun projects.

Herb Butters

2010-08-17T05:44:00.001-04:00

Corn doesn't need anything except butter and salt in my opinion--if it's good corn.

But I do LOVE herb butters.

For this corn I mixed one stick of softened butter with 1 Tablespoon chopped parsley, 1/2 Tablespoon chopped chives and 1/2 Tablespoon chopped dill. This is also my favorite topping for boiled new potatoes.

While I was in the mood, I mixed up another blend of one stick softened butter, 1 Tablespoon chopped rosemary and 1 Tablespoon chopped thyme. I love this with chicken or beef.

I mixed a third stick of butter with chopped basil to put over pasta or almost anything else.

After blending each mixture, I shaped each one into a separate roll in plastic wrap and put them in the freezer to use when the garden herbs are done for the season. It's easy to just slice a piece off and rewrap the rest to put back in the freezer for another day.

Peach and Blackberry Cobbler

2010-08-16T03:49:00.001-04:00

Our farmer's market also has beautiful blackberries:

Before I froze these, I took out enough to add to peaches to make a scrumptious peach and blackberry cobbler. I decided to try a new version from Pat and Gina Neely that I found on the abc news site. It contains cornmeal in the biscuit dough and sounded interesting.

I mixed the biscuit topping, using flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder and salt. I cut in the butter and shortening and mixed in milk and egg.

I sliced the peaches,

heated them with brown sugar, lemon juice, cornstarch, cinnamon and salt and simmered. Then I added vanilla and 2 pints of those juicy blackberries.

After pouring the filling into a dish, I scooped the dough on top:

The recipe said to bake for 25 to 30 minutes. I found mine needed to bake 50 minutes.

I didn't cool it very long before I scooped some on a dish, added vanilla ice cream and had the best hot cobbler ever.

I can't imagine anything I could do to the filling to make it any better. I do have my usual complaint about cobblers. I always think there isn't enough fruit on my plate. When will I learn to cut the amount of dough in half or double the fruit! The cornmeal did make this dough heavier than some, but it was very good. The filling was to die for!

P. S. I have been known to skip dough altogether and just caramelize some sliced peaches in a little butter and brown sugar, slide them over, toss in some blackberries to heat and slip it into a bowl with ice cream on

top. . . . .

Grilled Peach Salad

2010-08-15T22:30:00.001-04:00

I have leftover raspberry sauce from the peach melba I made a few days ago. Remember August is our peach month and we can't get enough of them. On this hot day we decided to have a grilled peach salad and use some of the leftover raspberry sauce to make a raspberry vinaigrette. I grilled a couple peeled peach halves on our electric griddler. I tore some romaine lettuce into bowls, sliced some grilled peaches over the lettuce, sprinkled walnut pieces and feta cheese over it and drizzled with the following raspberry vinaigrette:

1/4 cup olive oil
2 teaspoons cider vinegar
2 Tablespoons raspberry sauce
A little salt and freshly-ground black pepper

Wisk all the ingredients and drizzle lightly over salad.

Peach Jam

2010-08-14T21:21:00.003-04:00

More peaches than we can eat! We made jam!

We followed the directions on a pack of Ball powdered pectin. We chopped peaches, added lemon juice and pectin and cooked to a full rolling boil.

Then we added the premeasured sugar. We boiled hard for another minute and we had jam. We filled jars.

We wiped the jars before sealing.

We processed the filled jars for 10 minutes and we were done! Delicious!

Peach Melba

2010-07-27T23:12:00.001-04:00

It's almost August and, here in WV, it's PEACH SEASON. One of our local orchards has a great little farmer's market, Orr's. The peaches are piled in baskets, the counters are full of berries (I bought some red raspberries) and fresh veggies and flowers are everywhere. You can cut or pick your own of some of their products. We've been waiting for the first cling-free peaches to come in. These are Sunbrights.

It's hard to put peaches this fresh and sweet in a dough. After just eating them fresh for a couple days, I decided to go to an old recipe from the turn of the century that we used to make in the 70's--Peach Melba. If you make this, PLEASE try it with the peaches warm before you put them in the fridge to serve later. (Or reheat the peaches in the microwave before serving.) The warm peach contrasted with the chilled ice cream perfectly and made the raspberry sauce taste bright and fresh.

PEACH MELBA

Red Raspberry Sauce:

2 cups fresh red raspberries (Save a few fresh berries to put on top)

1/4 cup sugar

1 Tablespoon lemon juice

Process this mixture in a blender until pureed. Pour into a fine-meshed strainer and press through to remove the seeds. Cover the puree and refrigerate until needed.

Peaches:

3 large ripe peaches, peeled and split with seeds removed

2 cups sugar

2 cups water

To make the peaches easier to peel, you may immerse them in boiling water for about 30 seconds and then plunge into ice water to loosen the skin.

Bring the sugar and water to a boil and simmer about 5 minutes. Add the clean peaches and boil gently about 7-8 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool to a very warm temperature.

Vanilla Ice Cream:

Buy good quality vanilla ice cream or here's a good creamy version if you want to make your own.

Amaretti Cookies:

Crumble cookies to use as topping--one cookie per serving.

To put together the dessert, place one very warm peach in a dish. Scoop vanilla ice cream over the peach. Drizzle with fresh raspberry sauce and crumble an amaretti cookie on top. Sprinkle with a couple fresh raspberries on top.

Rice Flour Blueberry Financiers

2010-07-14T09:28:00.001-04:00

I love flour! I read a post recently that displayed flour pouring out of a grain mill. Wouldn't it be awesome to grind your own flour fresh when you're ready to bake some crusty loaf of whole-grain-to-die-for bread???--like grinding coffee beans fresh every morning for a pot of hot coffee??? Well I don't expect to go that far, but I do love the feel and smell of different flours. Someone who knows that gets me a different kind of flour regularly and I have the fun and challenge of baking something from it. This time it's rice flour. One of my favorite sites gave me the inspiration for how to use my rice flour. Tartelette posted a recipe for Financiers with rice flour substituted for wheat flour. I did a little research on Financiers and here's my version:

Financiers are usually made with wheat and almond flour. Fruit in the center is optional. I tried some of each and prefer the fruit added. I found when substituting rice flour for the wheat, about 7/8 cup of rice flour = 1 cup wheat flour. The almond flour is toasted and the butter is browned before beginning this recipe.

Toasted almond flour:

Turn oven to 350 deg. F. Spread almond flour over cookie sheet and toast in oven 6-8 minutes until lightly browned.

Browned butter - beurre noisette:
Put 1/2 cup of butter in a small pan over medium heat. Bring it to a boil, swirling pan occasionally. A foam will form on the butter. Continue to cook it until the butter looks clear and the milk solids have dropped to the bottom of the pan and have turned deep brown. Immediately remove from heat and pour through a cheesecloth-lined strainer. Allow to cool. Only 1/3 cup is needed for this recipe. Use the rest to butter the pans.

Blueberry Financiers with Rice Flour

1/2 cup toasted almond flour

1/4 cup rice flour

3/4 cup vanilla confectioner's sugar (made by storing a vanilla bean in a jar of confectioner's sugar a couple weeks) or plain confectioner's sugar and 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1/8 tsp. salt

4 large egg whites, lightly beaten

1/3 cup beurre noisette

Blueberry preserves

Preheat oven to 400 deg. F. Place 12 Financier or tart molds on a cookie sheet and use a pastry brush to coat the inside of each one with some of the browned butter. If you don't have those, you can use a mini-muffin pan. (I baked some using paper cupcake liners and some without--the ones without liners came right out of the molds nicely. The paper was hard to remove from the others.)

In a large bowl whisk the flours, sugar and salt together. Fold in the lightly-beaten egg whites and the 1/3 cup beurre noisette until well combined. Scoop by spoonfuls into the molds. Using the tip of a spoon place about a level teaspoon of blueberry preserves into the center of each little cake. Bake 15 to 20 minutes until lightly browned and springy to the touch. Remove from the molds and cool on a rack.

These can be sprinkled lightly with confectioner's sugar when cool, but I love them just as they are with a pot of hot, sweet tea.

Corn, Beans and Avocado

2010-07-12T23:58:00.000-04:00

I am learning to like cilantro. I bought some for a dish and have quite a bit left over so I'm finding ways to use it. Today I checked out the fridge and found several containers of cannellini beans that I had cooked from dried beans (I ran out of canned yesterday and had to raid my dry bean stash), I had 4 ears of leftover cooked corn and 2 avocados and 3 limes in a bowl on the counter. My spice cabinet is always well-stocked so I knew I could do something here with my cilantro again.

I chopped up a head of romaine lettuce, added about a cup of my cannellini beans, cut the corn off two of the ears (they were small), cut up and added an avocado, sliced about 1/4 of an onion over it and sprinkled the salad with some chopped cilantro--about 3 Tblsp. I tossed all that and sprinkled it with a dressing made of 2 Tblsp. olive oil, juice of 1/2 lime, 1/2 tsp. cumin, and salt and freshly-ground pepper to taste. That made about 2 servings. It was so easy, cool and good. Perfect for a light summer meal on my breezy front porch.

BBA Challenge - Light Wheat Bread

2010-05-24T01:49:00.000-04:00

I have fallen so far behind in my cooking, baking and blogging. School is starting to wind down now, so I'm looking forward to getting back to it. I've missed reading everyone else's posts also--got some catching up to do all around.
We baked our Light Wheat Bread this weekend. I actually prefer more rustic, crusty bread, but this is a really good sandwich bread for when a light sliced bread is in order. It rose well and had good flavor.

Easter Eggs

2010-04-11T21:11:00.001-04:00

As long as I can remember we colored Easter eggs. In Poland Easter was extremely important as a religious holiday. It was the same when we were children. We didn't receive colorful Easter baskets full of toys and candy and new Easter clothes. We lined a plate with fresh moss, decorated it with spring flowers and set it out. The next morning, when we came home from church, we found it full of colored eggs with perhaps one or two chocolate Easter candies. Our home always had an Easter Lily and a poppy seed roll on the table. We kids spent the day between playing with our Easter eggs and eating them. We made ramps and rolled our eggs to see whose egg was the fastest. Before we ate them, we lined up our eggs, point to point and rammed them together to see whose egg was the strongest. The egg that broke first was the one eaten.
Of course, we took turns hiding eggs and finding them. Every clump of fresh grass or new daffodils had an egg hidden. As we got older we became very creative in coloring them ourselves.

One of our favorite ways of coloring eggs is to marble them using bowls of hot water, vinegar and food coloring (use the directions on the box of food dye) with a few teaspoons of salad oil added to the dye.

Every egg comes out different. These were only dipped in two or three colors each and weren't left in very long. The longer they stay in the dye, the more intense the colors become. In the past we've had some look like galaxies in deep space with beautiful swirls of color against very dark backgrounds. We've been making marbled eggs for many years and they always come out pretty and different.

We like to celebrate Easter with ham, traditional potato salad, sour cream cucumbers, and pickled beets with eggs:

This is a recipe from home also. Mama heated equal parts vinegar, sugar and beet juice until the sugar dissolved. If she didn't have quite enough beet juice, she added a little water. Then she poured that mixture over sliced beets and peeled hard-boiled eggs and let them sit in the refrigerator a few days to allow the flavor to penetrate the beets and the egg whites. They will keep in the refrigerator a long time. We only added the eggs at Easter, but we had pickled beets often with our meals or as a snack with a chunk of homemade bread.

This year our Easter bread was actually an Irish Soda Bread. It was made according to the directions on the bag and was delicious with our ham! Thanks, again, C&K!

A Day With Lasagna

2010-03-29T00:23:00.001-04:00

Spring is here and I'm so far behind in all the projects in my head! I haven't posted in ages (notice I have caught up on my BBA challenges, though). I haven't even been reading any of my favorite blogs. Next week is SPRING BREAK! I will replace all my snowy pictures with spring next week. And Easter is coming so fast. I've had a lot of fun activities to post about--just not the time. One of those was a day in the kitchen learning to make lasagna the way my daughter-in-law learned to make it from a Greek friend.

The lasagna was made up of many layers with homemade sauce full of herbs and flavor, sausage, mushrooms, cheeses, pasta and a couple secret ingredients, etc. It was better than any lasagna I've ever made and now I need a real lasagna pan!

I wrote down the recipe, but with all the tasting and adding and more adding, I don't think I'll ever be able to reproduce it exactly. But I learned her technique. Thanks, K!

BBA Challenge - French Bread

2010-03-28T23:56:00.000-04:00

This will be one of my favorites and most-often-baked breads. I prepared the pate fermentee last weekend but didn't have time to make the bread then. I put it in the freezer for a few days. That didn't seem to hurt it at all. This bread was actually fun to make. I enjoy the softness of the dough--it requires such gentle handling to maintain the rise. I used a couche for the proofing. I had a dilemma at this stage. There was a hot stone in the oven. I had a peel dusted with semolina and I remembered I also had french bread pans that I had never used. There were three soft, proofed baguettes waiting to be transferred somehow from the couche folds into the oven. I decided to use my french bread pans. I gently lifted one of the long loaves. It immediately collapsed into a long shrunken loaf into a pan that was smaller in diameter than the loaf. No good. Forget the pan. I couldn't imagine I'd be able to get those soft loaves onto a big wooden peel and then flipped onto a hot stone in the oven--but that was the only option now. I managed to transfer one loaf onto the peel--looking good! I opened the oven door and pulled out the rack with the stone and, with courage and confidence, gave a sliding flip and the loaf slid right off the semolina-dusted peel onto the stone! The second one went just as easily. That was an exciting moment. I felt like a bread professional. I wish I had a picture. The loaves baked beautifully--but I did forget to slash the tops.

Notice the nice holes! This bread was really really good.

BBA Challenge - Focaccia

2010-03-28T23:37:00.000-04:00

This was a good bread with so many possibilities for toppings! I just added an Italian mix of herbs to olive oil to dribble over the top of the bread.

After it was baked, it was delicious dipped in just some salted olive oil.

Definitely have to try this with toppings like sun-dried tomatoes, mushrooms, cheeses, etc.

BBA Challenge - English Muffins

2010-03-14T21:53:00.000-04:00

These were actually made a couple weeks ago, but I'm somewhat behind in posting. This was another one of those breads that made me say, "Next time, I will . . ." When I shaped the dough into boules, I took very seriously the instruction to create surface tension to cause the bread to rise up, not just out. That's just what they did. They rose up, but didn't widen much.

I thought they might spread out a lot when they were placed in the pan, but they didn't. I also didn't know how to judge the heat of my skillet and the doneness of the muffins, so, as you can see, I browned them too much. They didn't have the big holes I wanted. I'll work on that the next time I make them.

But with butter, cherry preserves and a hot cup of tea, they were still a treat!

Cinnamon-Raisin Graham Bread

2010-03-10T22:43:00.000-05:00

Graham Crackers. That's all I knew about "graham"--until I got a bag of graham flour as part of a really creative, fun birthday present! I researched it and found it's a whole-wheat flour that's milled very coarsely.

Lucky for me there was a recipe right on the bag that sounded good. It's Cinnamon-Raisin Graham Bread. The ingredients include cinnamon, ginger, molasses and a cup of raisins as well as the expected other bread ingredients. I started up my Kitchen-Aid and said, "Let's try this right now." The bread was delicious! It was moist and hearty. I could have added even more raisins. They add a nice sweetness along with the molasses. If anyone out there wants to try the flour, I recommend the recipe on the bag. Thanks C & K!!

2010 Knitting Olympics

2010-02-28T00:31:00.001-05:00

I made it! I finished my project for 2010 Knitting Olympics! I committed to knitting a helmet liner. This was a project I read about on the site of a nice little yarn shop in Maryland. Any knitter wanting to knit and send a helmet liner to our troops in Afghanistan check out this site for a free pattern. I haven't made it to the shop yet--a lot of snow in our area kept me from visiting a couple shops I'm wanting to get to. But the snow has cleared and my helmet liner has been completed.

I hadn't attempted this type of project before. It turned out to be a well-fitting pattern that would keep anyone warm out in a windy-cold area. The front can be pulled up under your eyes or pulled under your chin, depending on how much coverage you want for your face. I think any outdoorsman who goes out in severe weather would appreciate one of these. The pattern could be changed and different colors used to adapt this for just playing in the snow--a much less serious use for it. I have enough yarn to make two more just like it for donation.

The Knitting Olympics "Let The Knitting Begin!"

2010-02-12T17:55:00.001-05:00

At the moment the torch is lit tonight to begin the Olympics 2010, more than 2000 knitters will cast on to knit a challenging project of their choice that must be completed before the torch is extinguished at the end. We're joining the yarnharlot. Read her inspiring and hilarious introduction. There are other knitting groups on the web forming their own "knit with the Olympics" plans for tonight. I had signed up to attempt my first Fair Isle mittens, using both the continental and the English methods for two-handed stranding--a real challenge for me--a continental knitter. But, I discovered there is a call for "helmet liners for soldiers," that are being sent to soldiers in Afghanistan. I've had a soldier in Afghanistan and I've decided to join that cause instead. When the torch is lit tonight, I'll cast on dark olive 100% wool to knit a helmet liner before the torch is extinguished on Sunday, February 28.

Ma's Pasta Fazool

2010-02-09T01:58:00.002-05:00

When I met my husband's grandmother, "Ma," she was no longer cooking her Italian meals. In her broken English she would try to tell me stories about her life in Parma and about some of her dishes. In a previous post, I made Pasta and Bean soup from Cook's Illustrated for Magazine Mondays. Today I made Ma's version of Pasta and Bean soup. They are quite different from each other:

Cook's:

Ma's

The first version has a rich flavor full of complexity from all the ingredients. Ma's "ditalini" is simple and clean--I could eat the whole potfull at a sitting. It could be made with a chicken broth base, but Ma put no meat or broth in it. She made it somewhat "soupier," my husband told me, and they would sometimes break up bread and put in it when they ate it. I can make it mostly from pantry ingredients and sometimes I substitute canned cannellini to make a really quick meal.

Pasta Fazula

1/2 pound dry cannellini

1-1/2 quart water

3 Tblsp. olive oil

1 clove garlic, minced

1 minced onion

1/3 cup minced celery

2 Tblsp. tomato paste

Dash chili pepper

1/2 tsp salt or more, to taste

Freshly ground black pepper

1 cup uncooked ditalini

1 Tblsp. butter

3 Tblsp. chopped fresh Italian Parsley

Grated Romano cheese (Or parmesan)

1. Wash beans and soak in 1-1/2 quart water overnight.

2. Next day, heat olive oil and saute garlic, onion and celery until soft.

3. Blend in tomato paste, chili pepper and pepper. Add beans and soaking water. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until beans are tender, about 1-1/2 hour, adding more water as needed to keep the consistency soupy. Add salt when beans are almost tender.

4. Meanwhile, cook ditalini until "al dente." Drain and toss with butter to prevent sticking.

5. When beans are tender, add ditalini and parsley and simmer 5 more minutes. Taste--add salt if needed. Top with cheese to serve.

Serves 4 to 6

BBA Challenge - Cinnamon Buns

2010-02-07T17:58:00.000-05:00

Today was a perfect day to mix up some of Mr. Reinhart's Cinnamon Buns. I didn't have any trouble mixing the dough. I used all the buttermilk and added just a bit extra flour to help the dough come away from the bowl. The dough was nice and soft. I made the large buns. Cutting the rolled dough was a little tricky on my first try when I tried to saw back and forth with my knife. But I found if I used my serrated knife and pulled the knife toward me, then lifted it up and drew it through again and again, I was able to cut the pieces without mashing the dough. Then I used a little spatula to lift the pieces onto my pan.

After rising the buns were touching like they should:

After baking I only used about 1/2 of the glaze to drizzle over the tops. It was enough for our taste.

We really liked these with a cup of coffee. Thank you, Mr. Reinhart.

Snow, Snow: Creamy Rice Pudding

2010-02-06T13:29:00.001-05:00

We are in the midst of a SNOW--a fairly big storm for here in WV. We already had snow--now there's more.

The first 2 were pictures taken yesterday before we got a couple more feet that are outside right now and it will continue snowing all day today--about 3 feet are expected. We are all cozy inside--we have plenty of food, water and firewood. I spent some time yesterday cooking and baking in case the power went out--this is a heavy snow so that was a possibility. But we woke up to much more snow this morning and we still have power so I have curled up by the woodstove today with my reading and knitting--two of my favorite activities on a stormy day.

But I still can't resist making something creamy on a day like this so my recipe today is:

CREAMY RICE PUDDING

6 cups whole milk

1 cup sugar

pinch of salt

1 cup rice (I used Arborio)

1 pint Half and Half

2 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla

cinnamon

1. Bring first 3 ingredients to almost boiling, add rice and stir with whisk. Set to simmer, cover and cook for 50 to 55 minutes. (stir occasionally with whisk.)

2. Beat eggs, 1/2 and 1/2, and vanilla. Add to rice mixture. With constant beating with whisk, bring to a boil and cook about 3 minutes.

3. Put into a dish, sprinkle with cinnamon and refrigerate. (I like it warm!)

This is a really good, simple rice pudding. You can add raisins, other flavorings or other fruits to it, if you like. I'm already thinking about what I can add to my next one--maybe cherries.

Magazine Mondays - Creamy Mushroom Soup

2010-02-03T17:03:00.002-05:00

This morning a still, heavy snow covered everything. I heard "no school" and knew I was in for a day in the kitchen making something creamy and warm. I've been on a search for really good cream of mushroom soup. I wanted it to be thick and creamy and flavored with thyme. I tried a recipe from Ina Garten a couple weeks ago, but it wasn't quite thick enough for me and it involved making a "stock" first. I also didn't care for the pieces of leek all through it. (The flavor was good.) I looked through an old Cook's Illustrated Winter 2008, Soups and Stews. (Thanks again, magazine mondays) It calls for nutmeg, which I didn't want and it didn't use thyme or flour, but I made some changes and have pretty close to what I was looking for:

Creamy Mushroom Soup (My version)

6 Tblsp. butter

3 large shallots, minced

1 clove garlic, minced

1/4 cup flour

1/2 lb. white button mushrooms (sliced)

1/2 lb. baby bella mushrooms (sliced)(I happened to have these--you could just use white)

1-3/4 cup chicken broth

2 cups hot water

1/4 ounce dried wild mushrooms, optional

3 Tblsp. med-dry sherry

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 tsp. lemon juice

1 sprig thyme

2 tsp. fresh thyme leaves

Salt and fresh ground black pepper

Extra sauteed sliced mushrooms to sprinkle on top

Melt butter in a heavy dutch oven over medium-low heat. Add shallots and saute until softened. Add garlic and sprig of thyme and cook another minute.

Sprinkle in flour and cook another minute or two. Increase heat to medium and add the mushrooms. Cook about 7 minutes. Turn heat down, cover with lid, and cook about 20 minutes.

Add chicken broth, water and dried mushrooms. Remove the thyme. Cover and simmer about 30 minutes longer. Transfer soup to a bowl and puree in a blender in batches. Return soup to dutch oven. Add the thyme leaves. Stir in the sherry and cream and bring to simmer. Add lemon juice and season with salt and pepper. Serve with extra mushrooms on top and a sprinkle of fresh thyme leaves, if desired. Serves 4 to 6 people.

Tostado Pizza

2010-01-30T21:32:00.001-05:00

I pulled out a recipe I hadn't used in a long time today. I don't remember where I found it, but it's a quick meal when you want something tasty, but easy. It's been popular at our house with kids and adults.

Tostado Pizza

2 T. Cornmeal

2 C. Bisquick

1/2 c. cold water

1 lb. ground beef

3/4 c. water

3 T. Chopped seeded canned green chilies

1 envelope taco seasoning mix

1 16 oz. can refried beans

1 cup shredded sharp process American cheese

(I used a mixture of cheeses)

1 cup shredded lettuce

1 chopped tomato

1/2 cup chopped onion

Taco sauce

Sour cream

Generously grease a 12 in. pizza pan. Sprinkle with cornmeal. In a bowl, combine bisquick mix and the 1/2 cup cold water. Stir with fork until dough follows fork around bowl. Turn out on lightly floured surface; knead 5 or 6 times. Roll out to a 14 inch circle; pat into pan. Crimp edges. In skillet, brown meat; drain off excess fat. Add 3/4 cup water, chilies and taco seasoning mix; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, 15 minutes or until thick. Spread beans on dough. Top with meat mixture. Bake in 450 deg. oven 18-20 minutes. Top with cheese. Return to oven to melt cheese about 4 minutes. Cut in 6 wedges. Pass lettuce, tomato and onion. Drizzle with Taco sauce, if desired and add sour cream.

This makes 6 slices, which is probably not enough for 6 people unless you serve something else with it. We can usually eat at least two slices each. I double the recipe and make 2 pizzas.

Magazine Mondays Italian Pasta and Bean Soup

2010-01-24T16:06:00.001-05:00

My husband has fond memories of his Italian grandmother's kitchen. He talks about the old iron skillet she used that retained the seasonings of all her cooking so that anything cooked in it was already flavored. One of her soups was called "ditalini" by the family because that was the kind of pasta used in it, but was called Pasta Fazool by Ma. I've made this soup many times but I'm always ready to try a new version of it. This week's recipe for Magazine Mondays comes from Cook's Illustrated Soups & Stews, Winter 2008. This recipe is quite a bit different from Ma's version but is very very good.

In this version pancetta or bacon (I used bacon) is cooked in a little olive oil. Onion and celery are added and cooked until soft. Garlic, oregano, red pepper flakes and anchovy are added and sauteed a little longer. So far the only changes I made were that I added half as much garlic and 1/4 as much dried oregano. I don't care for a strong oregano flavor in soup. The recipe calls for diced tomatoes with juice. I didn't have that so I substituted 1/2 as much tomato puree. Tasting it at that point told me it was just right so far. Then I added the parmesan cheese rind and cannellini beans and simmered a while. Finally it was time to add the chicken stock, some water and salt. When that came to a boil, I added the pasta. While I usually add ditalini, I tried orzo this time. (The article gives four different choices for pasta.) When the soup was done, I removed the parmesan rind and added some chopped parsley.

Finally, to serve the soup, I sprinkled freshly-grated parmesan and more parsley on top.

This soup is loaded with flavor. The pepper flakes add some heat and the anchovies just add a subtle depth to the flavor. The only caution I would make here is don't add more salt than called for unless you taste it first. When I make this soup again, I'll make it exactly the same way I did today. My husband said it was really good soup, however, he said, "Just don't call it "ditalini", because it's not the same as Ma's." (Hers was much simpler. I'll make her version soon.)

BBA Challenge Corn Bread

2010-01-22T23:10:00.000-05:00

With every bread in Peter Reinhart's The Bread Baker's Apprentice, I learn more about baking. Today we made the corn bread. Mr. Reinhart's corn bread is more of a moist, flavorful hearty dish than just a dry, crumbly cornbread as so many of them are. The ingredient list includes buttermilk, honey, brown sugar, bacon and corn kernels, as well as the expected ingredients. The coarse-grind cornmeal is soaked in buttermilk overnight before the rest of the ingredients are added. This recipe suggests the bacon be baked in the oven before being crumbled to add into the dough. That was a neat, easy way to prepare the bacon. My only problem with this recipe was that I used the frozen corn option since fresh corn isn't available here right now. The recipe didn't mention thawing the corn before adding it so I didn't. Of course, frozen corn in the batter increased the baking time quite a bit. I had to leave the bread in the oven about 20 minutes longer than the recipe called for to reach the required internal temperature. That didn't seem to hurt it any. It is delicious.

This corn bread has that combination of sweet bites of fresh corn with smoky bacon pieces that go so well together anytime. It is rich and moist. As I was eating it, all I could think about was that I wanted a bowl of steaming brown beans and hot cooked fresh-tasting juicy apples on the side. If it weren't so late at night, I'd go back out to the kitchen and make both right now. . . .Mmmmmmm.

Beef Stew Over Polenta - Polenta Pot

2010-01-18T23:04:00.002-05:00

I roamed around a Williams-Sonoma outlet store Saturday and came home with a Ruffoni copper Polenta pot. My memories of polenta come from my Italian mother-in-law. She stood at her stove and stirred and stirred her polenta while her grandchildren hovered nearby with their little bowls. When it was ready, she stirred in butter and a big handful of white shredded cheese and they each got a nice scoop of creamy golden polenta. They just added a little more butter on top and they loved it just like that. She usually made stew to serve over it. She poured the leftover polenta into a bread pan to set up to slice and fry for a later meal. I make it now the same way she did--sometimes with long cooking--sometimes the quicker instant.

I was pretty anxious to use my new pot yesterday, so I made a pot of beef stew in my dutch oven first to serve over it. I made instant polenta because I had some and it's fast. I like the softness of good instant polenta. I have the instructions below for the basic long-cooking method that I also use. When my polenta was done, I stirred in 1/4 cup butter and a big handful of shredded Monterey Jack cheese. (You can add Parmesan, Fontina or any good melting cheese.)

After stirring through the cheese, I served a scoop on each plate and we had beef stew over it:

SIMPLE BEEF STEW

6 servings

2 to 2-1/2 lbs. cubed beef stew meat (sometimes I use venison)

1 yellow onion

about 10-12 pearl onions

8 oz. white button mushrooms, sliced

6 carrots, peeled and cut into chunks

salt and freshly-ground pepper

1 sprig thyme, optional

butter, canola or olive oil (I use a mixture of butter and oil because the butter helps in browning)

2 tblsp. flour whisked into 1/4 cup water

chopped fresh Italian parsley to sprinkle on top

Heat some butter and oil in a heavy pot over medium heat (I love the coated iron dutch oven). Add half the mushrooms. Allow them to brown on one side, add salt and pepper to taste and stir and turn them over to lightly brown the other side. Remove them to a dish. Saute the rest of them the same way and remove to the dish. Add the peeled pearl onions to the oil/butter mixture (add more, if needed) and lightly brown them to caramelize. Remove the onions to the mushroom dish. Hold them until the meat is tender at the end. Add a bit more oil/butter if needed and start browning the stew meat. Have the patience to caramelize the meat well--only cook some of it at a time to prevent crowding it. If you put too much in at once it will steam rather than brown. The slow browning and seasoning of each ingredient at a time is what gives the stew good rich flavor. When the meat is well browned, turn the heat to low. Allow it to cool down to a simmer and add all the browned meat back into it. Cut the yellow onion in quarters and add it to the meat. If you want thyme, add it now. Add about 1/2 inch of hot water to the meat and cover it. Allow the meat to simmer 1-1/2 to 2 hours until it's tender. Keep adding small amounts of hot water if it cooks down too low. When the meat is tender, remove and discard the onion quarters and thyme and add the carrots, the pearl onions and the mushrooms. Add more hot water, if needed. Cover and simmer until the carrots are tender. Whisk the flour/water mixture into the stew. Simmer a couple minutes to thicken. Taste for seasoning--add salt and freshly ground pepper, if needed. Spoon over polenta and sprinkle with fresh parsley.

Basic Polenta to make 6 servings:

Instant polenta has a softer, smoother texture, medium cornmeal will make polenta with more texture and coarsely-ground cornmeal will, of course, give the most texture. I use the medium most often. Cooked polenta can be kept hot in a bowl over a large pot of simmering water.

Bring 10 cups of water to a simmer. Add 1 Tblsp. salt now. While whisking vigorously, pour the polenta into the salted water in a thin stream. Keep whisking until the mixture is smooth to prevent lumps. Lower the heat and bring back to a boil. Stir often with a wooden spoon that is straight across the bottom to allow the bottom of the pot to be scraped well to prevent sticking. When the bubbling starts again, turn the heat to low to get continuous, but slow cooking. Stir very frequently, especially toward the end as it gets very thick. Be careful of the spattering. Cook for about 30 minutes. It is done when it starts to pull away from the sides of the pot. Remove from heat. You may add butter and/or cheese at this point and serve. Or you may pour it into a pan (bread pans work well) to firm up to slice and fry at a later time. Fried slices of polenta can be served with stew over them, with tomato sauce and cheese or with a good wild mushroom sauce poured over or even for breakfast with syrup.

Magazine Mondays: Porcini and Spinach Risotto

2010-01-12T20:23:00.000-05:00

This may be the first risotto I've made. It won't be the last. I loved it. This recipe for magazine mondays comes from Olive magazine, February 2009. I followed this recipe pretty closely except I thought I had dried porcini in the pantry and they turned out to be dried trumpet mushrooms instead. Since I wasn't sure they would make an acceptable replacement, I used only a couple tablespoons of them.

Porcini and Spinach Risotto

(2 Servings)

dried porcini 25 g (almost 1 oz)

butter 50 g (1/2 stick)

onion 1 small, finely chopped

garlic 1 clove, crushed

chestnut mushrooms 200 g, sliced (I used white button mushrooms) (about 7 oz.)

risotto rice 150 g (arborio rice)

white wine a glass (I used about 1/2 cup)

vegetable stock 750 ml (hot)

spinach 100 g, washed and chopped

shaved parmesan to toss on top

Soak porcini in a cup of boiling water for 10 minutes. Lift out the mushrooms and strain the liquid through a sieve to remove any grit and keep liquid for the risotto. Roughly chop the porcini.

Heat butter in a wide shallow pan and cook onion and garlic until softened. Remove the garlic if you've kept it whole. Add the chestnut mushrooms and cook 5 minutes. Add porcini and risotto rice and stir until coated.

Add wine and cook until it's all absorbed. Add stock and porcini liquid, gradually, while stirring, until rice is tender but still has a little bite. (You may not need all the stock.) Stir in the spinach until just wilted. Sprinkle parmesan on top and serve.

Kopytka: Polish Potato Dumplings

2010-01-10T18:45:00.005-05:00

These dumplings were always served with Pork and Sauerkraut at home:

Once again, I don't have an exact recipe for amounts from home as Mama didn't measure anything, but the following proportions make really good, tender Kopytka that taste just like hers. Kopytka means "little hooves" in Polish and that's the shape of these dumplings. I cooked about 2-1/2 lbs. of russet potatoes in salted water to get the amount I needed for this recipe. After I boiled and drained them, I shook them dry to get them fluffy. I used a potato masher but they could also be riced. Taste for salt and add more, if needed.

KOPYTKA

1 cup flour

3 cups mashed potatoes

1 tsp. salt

1 lightly beaten egg

Start a pot of salted water boiling. Place the flour on a dough board. Add the potatoes, 1 tsp. salt and the egg and mix right on the board. Keep mixing and kneading lightly until the mixture forms a clean, soft dough. Cut the dough in half and set 1/2 aside. Take the piece and roll it with your hands into a cylinder--then keep rolling it by putting both hands over the middle and smoothing it out to the ends, while rolling it, to make it longer and longer and smaller and smaller in diameter (like a rope) until it's about 1 inch in diameter. Flatten the top lightly to make it about 1-1/2 inches across. Cut with a thin knife into diagonal pieces and set them aside on the board. Repeat with the other 1/2 of dough.

This recipe makes about 4 dozen dumplings. Drop the dumplings into gently boiling water (Use about 1/2 the dumplings at a time). Stir once lightly to prevent dumplings sticking to the bottom of the pot. After the dumplings float to the top, cook them another minute or two. Lift them out of the water carefully and allow to drain in a colander. Put drained dumplings on a buttered plate to prevent sticking until all are cooked.

Kopytka are ready to serve if you like them just boiled. We always add them to a pan in which pork has been cooked to brown them lightly and to absorb the flavor from the pork. Then we serve sauerkraut and the pork with them. We like to cover everything with coarsely-ground fresh pepper.

These are country-style spareribs that had been browned and braised until tender enough to fall off the bone. Usually we prepare braised pork chops, instead, but either are good. The sauerkraut was cooked separately and flavored with the pork drippings.

Notes:

If you like dumplings more chewy, you can cut the amount of potatoes to 2-1/2 cups.

Leftover kopytka can be refrigerated and reheated and browned in butter or in a pan of lightly-fried onions, etc., the next day.

BBA Challenge Cinnamon Raisin Walnut Bread

2010-01-09T17:03:00.000-05:00

Some of my family asked to be here when I bake the cinnamon rolls, which would be next in our sequence of baking for the BBA Challenge, so we agreed to make the Cinnamon Raisin Walnut Bread now and the rolls when they could be here later in the month. This was a pretty easy bread to make. As usual, there were some decisions to make, though. First I kneaded the bread by machine. Then I turned it out onto a board to knead in the raisins and walnuts:

It was hard to believe all the fruit and nuts would mix into the dough, but it did:

Now I had to make a decision--should I make the cinnamon sugar swirl or leave it as it is? I decided to make the swirl. After mixing the 1/2 cup sugar with the 2 tblsp. cinnamon, I thought it looked like an awful lot to spread in the breads. I used about a third of the mixture per loaf. It still looked like an awful lot:

I went with it and rolled it up:

After the second proofing, I baked the loafs and faced one more decision: should I butter the tops and sprinkle on yet more sugar and cinnamon or call it enough??? I split the decision and did both:

I can never let the bread cool as Mr. Reinhart recommends because someone here always speaks up and says, "Cut me a one-inch piece and put some butter on it!" as soon as it comes out of the oven, so here is how it looks hot and fresh out of the oven:

Final thoughts:

This is DELICIOUS. I wouldn't put sugar on top next time--it didn't need that extra sweetening for us. I would put a little less in the swirl, but would definitely make it with the swirl again. It gives it that intense cinnamon flavor that you get in a really good cinnamon roll. And it's simply a really nice bread even if it didn't have the swirl of extra flavor.

Magazine Mondays: Hazelnut and Currant Baked Apples with Sticky Marsala Sauce

2010-01-02T22:45:00.001-05:00

This entry for Magazine Mondays was for one of our desserts on New Year's Day. We were having our traditional Pork Roast with Sauerkraut, mashed potatoes and whole green beans and decided to try yet another recipe from donna hay magazine, Issue 38. I seem to love every recipe I try from this magazine! This was for Hazelnut and Currant Baked Apples with Sticky Marsala Sauce. However, I did leave out the marsala for this first time--we just wanted to see how the basic recipe would be without the wine.

This is the picture before baking. As you can tell, I didn't get fancy. It was more like--let's hurry up and get these apples in the pan and in the oven--we're starved!

Hazelnut and Currant Baked Apples with Sticky Marsala Sauce

1/3 cup coarsely chopped hazelnuts

1/3 cup currants

1/3 cup finely chopped dates

1-1/2 tblsp. brown sugar

2-1/2 tblsp. melted butter

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

5 apples, cored (I used Cortland.The recipe calls for 12 apples for this amount of ingredients--I just used 5)

1 cup water with 2 tblsp. brown sugar (recipe calls for 1 cup Marsala with 1/4 c. brown sugar)

Cream or ice cream to serve, if desired

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix nuts, fruit, sugar, butter and cinnamon. Remove a strip of peel around each apple and place in baking dish. Fill the centers with the mixture. Heat the water and brown sugar and pour over the apples. Bake for 20 minutes or until apples are tender. Serve warm with cream or ice cream.

I actually felt the nuts and fruits might benefit from being presoaked to soften before using. They seemed a bit chewy, although tasty. These apples were quite better when reheated the next day and I believe it's because the flavors mellowed and the dried fruits had softened.

I think these apples would be good with raisins or other fruits and with or without nuts. I love this recipe and will definitely try the wine added next time.

Homemade Christmas

2010-01-02T21:42:00.003-05:00

We started a tradition last year of making something for each other for Christmas gifts. It has been so much fun! We're already plotting for next year!

There were little socks for the baby:

Napkins with hand-knitted napkin rings in all colors and some of the best Biscotti I've ever had--I need to get the recipe for those:

Soaps, Bath Salts, knitted spa cloths:

AND Homemade MARSHMALLOWS, Tote bags and hand-sewn purses:

There are a couple gifts still in the process of being made so they can't be mentioned yet.

Of course, we didn't stop with homemade gifts--we never do. We got some of the best presents ever and had the best times over the holidays--BEST CHRISTMAS EVER!!!!

So this is Christmas: Marshmallows!!

2009-12-28T11:03:00.006-05:00

VANILLA-DUSTED MARSHMALLOWS

3 pkgs. unflavored gelatin

1/2 cup cold water

2 cups granulated sugar

2/3 cup light corn syrup

1/4 c. water

1/4 tsp. salt

1-1/2 Tblsp. pure vanilla extract

Vanilla Confectioner's sugar for dusting (Made by storing a vanilla bean in a pound of confectioner's sugar a few weeks)

Mix gelatin and 1/2 c. water in a mixer bowl and allow to sit for 10 minutes.

Combine sugar, corn syrup, salt and 1/4 c. water in a small pan and cook over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Clip a candy thermometer to edge of pan and cook on high heat until mixture reaches 240 deg. Slowly pour mixture into dissolved gelatin in mixer bowl with mixer on low speed and using the whisk attachment. Whip on high speed about 12 to 15 minutes until mixture is very thick. Mix in vanilla.

Dust generously an 8 x 12 non-metal baking dish with confectioner's sugar. Pour the mixture into the dish, smoothing the top. Dust with more confectioner's sugar. Allow to stand overnight to dry out.

Turn marshmallows out onto a sugar-dusted board or marble slab. Oil a knife (wipe off excess) and cut the marshmallows into squares. Dust with more confectioner's sugar. Delicious eaten plain or on hot cocoa!!!

Snow Ghost Pie

2009-12-21T00:11:00.002-05:00

Our first big snow of the season! It's deep and it's beautiful. The news keeps reporting this as a record snowfall for our area for this time of year. It's expected to be our first White Christmas in 20 years here. Most of my Christmas shopping is done, cookies are baked, cards have been mailed and the tree is going to be decorated tomorrow. It looks like the roads will be cleared enough for our family to make it home by the end of the week.

With all that snow outside my window and a warm fire in the woodstove, I decided I'd better make our annual Snow Ghost pie today. An old Hershey Chocolate advertisement told a story of the Snow Ghost. It claimed you must make a snow ghost pie when you get the first real snow of the season and you have to leave a piece in a snow bank for the Snow Ghost. If you do, he will bring more snow. When my children were little we made a snow ghost pie every winter. Sometimes we were so busy we just mixed up chocolate pudding and put it in a pie shell, but we made sure we put a piece in a snowbank for the ghost. (Be careful not to leave it where a passing dog can find it and eat the chocolate and get sick.) I make my own crust sometimes, but today I used a premade Mrs. Smith's deep dish crust that I baked. If you like chocolate pie, this is a really good one and makes plenty of filling--I had some extra that I ate while it was hot! Yummmm. . . .

SNOW GHOST PIE

1 9-inch baked pastry shell

1/2 cup Hershey's Cocoa

1-1/4 cups sugar

1/3 cup cornstarch

1/4 tsp. salt

3 cups milk

3 Tblsp. butter

1-1/2 tsp. vanilla

Sweetened whipped cream

Combine cocoa, sugar, salt and cornstarch in a medium saucepan. Gradually blend milk into dry ingredients, stirring until smooth. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until filling boils; boil 1 minute. Remove from heat; blend in butter and vanilla. Pout into pie crust. Carefully press plastic wrap directly onto pie filling. Cool. Chill 3 to 4 hours. Garnish with whipped cream.

It's late--I'm the only one still awake--the woodstove is warm with a crackling fire. I'm going to make myself a hot cup of tea and have just one more piece of that pie and look for a Christmas movie on tv.

BBA Challenge Ciabatta Bread

2009-12-20T23:26:00.001-05:00

Ciabatta is one of my very favorite breads. It's chewy with a good crust. I was so busy with Christmas things that I didn't concentrate enough on this bread today--I just put it together quickly. I used the Poolish starter and read later that the Biga starter produces larger holes. Also, I would add more water next time--I believe my dough could have been softer and still be workable. I'd like it to be a little flatter and with more holes. This bread rises with larger holes when the dough is as wet as it can be handled. The end had big holes, as you can see, but it's more dense toward the center. I haven't cut the second one yet--it feels light and airy.

Magazine Mondays Chicken Kiev

2009-12-19T18:09:00.002-05:00

Chicken Kiev is a Russian dish that is delicious! I found this recipe in Gourmet magazine, April 1994. (I keep some magazines a long time.) I've made Chicken Kiev before, but I found today that I really love this version. I changed it a little. I left out the garlic the recipe calls for and used just a little onion salt in place of the minced fresh chives, since our chives are under at least 1-1/2 feet of snow today. I also fried the chicken instead of deep-frying as the recipe calls for. Along with the chicken, I tried Delta Kitchen's Sesame Spatzle. It is really good. Check that site for the recipe. I used just a little garlic and added the sesame seeds at the end with the parsley. I think it would be good without any garlic, actually.

CHICKEN KIEV

1 stick butter, softened
1 Tblsp. minced fresh Italian parsley
a few shakes onion salt
1 tsp. fresh lemon juice
1/4 tsp. grated fresh lemon zest
2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 large egg, beaten lightly with a little water
1 cup flour
1-1/2 cups fine dry bread crumbs
salt and pepper
vegetable oil for frying

Mash together butter, parsley, onion salt, lemon juice and zest and a little salt. Form into "fingers" about 1/2 inch in diameter and wrap in plastic and chill about an hour. Cut chicken breasts in half to make thinner pieces. Cut those in half again to make a total of 8 pieces. Place each between plastic wrap and pound thin with a meat pounder. Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper. Cut sections of the chilled butter a little shorter than the width of the chicken and roll the meat up like a jelly roll around the butter. Press the edges and seam to enclose the butter. Dip rolled chicken in flour, beaten egg and bread crumbs. Place all chicken pieces in a single layer on a plate and refrigerate to chill an hour. Heat about 1/4 inch of oil in a skillet. Brown the chicken on medium high until well browned on all sides. Turn down the heat and cover the pan partially to allow the chicken to finish cooking all the way through.

The original recipe calls for deep-frying instead of panfrying. It also includes 1 tsp. minced garlic, mashed to a paste with 1/2 tsp. salt to be added to the butter when mixing. Instead of the onion salt, the recipe calls for adding 1 Tblsp. minched fresh chives.

Simple green beans finished out this meal.

Christmas Cookies Apricot-filled

2009-12-17T01:17:00.001-05:00

We have been baking these cookies for many years. My husband's mother gave me the recipe. She was Italian with parents who came over from Parma. These cookies were popular in the ethnic neighborhoods that she lived near not far from Pittsburgh. It seems they are actually Polish. Every Christmas she made these cookies in quantity and kept them in her freezer. They were light and fresh and we couldn't stop eating them. Now my family wants to see them around every Christmas.

Granny's Apricot-Filled Cookies

1/2 lb. Oleo (I use butter now - room temp.)
8 oz. cream cheese (room temp.)
1 Tblsp. sugar
2 egg yolks
3 c. flour
1/2 tsp. salt
Confectioner's sugar

1 12 oz. can Apricot Cake and Pastry Filling

Mix cream cheese and butter thoroughly. Add yolks and blend well. Add sugar, flour and salt. Mix gently to form stiff dough. Form 10 balls, about 3 oz. each. Chill in refrigerator several hours. Sprinkle some confectioner's sugar on a dough board to prevent dough sticking. Roll each ball out on the confectioner's sugar to about an 8-inch square. Cut each square into 9 small squares. Place 1/2 tsp. apricot filling in the center of each small square. Bring opposite corners together to seal. (You can use an egg wash made of an egg beaten with a little water to brush over one of those corners to help make a seal. Place on ungreased cookie sheets and bake 12 to 15 minutes at 350 deg.
Makes 90 cookies.

Poppy Seed Roll Makowiec

2009-12-15T21:22:00.002-05:00

I grew up eating poppy seed rolls for Christmas and Easter. I could never get enough of the filling. Mama ground her poppy seeds, soaked them in hot milk and ran them through the grinder again after they had softened. All she added was sugar and egg white. That was my favorite. She never iced her rolls--it would have taken away from the poppy seed taste. I've bought poppy seed rolls when I've found them in bakeries in Pennsylvania, but they're often flavored with lemon and honey. I can't find them at all in local bakeries here. It's also impossible to buy poppy seeds in bulk here so I've used canned filling this time and decided to add some cream cheese icing and walnuts to make them look more festive.

Makowiec

4 cups flour

2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature

3 Tblsp. granulated sugar

3 eggs, separated

1 pkg. active dry yeast

1 cup warm water, 115 deg.

14 oz. (approximately) poppy seed filling or make your own

Mix flour, butter and sugar with a pastry blender. Add egg yolks and mix well.

Dissolve yeast in warm water and add to dough. Mix well. Chill overnight in covered bowl.

Next day, whip room temperature egg whites until stiff.

Roll out half of dough to 13-inch circle. Spread 1/2 of the filling over the dough. Spread half the egg white over the filling. Roll up like a jelly roll. Place on one side of lightly greased large cookie sheet (or parchment-lined sheet pan). Repeat with the other half of the dough. Cover with towel and let rise for 1 hour.

Bake at 350 deg. 35 to 40 minutes. Cool.

Icing (optional)

3-oz cream cheese, room temperature

2 Tblsp. melted butter

2 cups confectioner's sugar

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Beat everything together, except walnuts. Spread over cooled loaves. Sprinkle with walnuts.

Wesolych Swiat!

BBA Challenge Dresden Stollen

2009-12-15T00:56:00.002-05:00

Dresden Stollen is a traditional German Christmas bread. This version, from Peter Reinhart's book is delicious and not too difficult to make. For my fruits, I used 1 cup golden raisins and 1 cup of a mixture of currants, citron, candied orange peel and a few candied red cherries. I presoaked the fruit in rum and lemon extract for several days before using it.

I rolled the fruit-filled dough around a roll of almond paste before the final proofing. (I used almond paste, not marzipan.) When the bread was baked, I brushed it with melted butter and covered it in vanilla sugar (confectioner's sugar which has had vanilla bean stored in it). I had to cut a piece to try before I put it away for Christmas. It is moist and luscious. I love this bread. The fruit combination and the almond paste in each slice are so good.

Christmas Cookies: Biscochitos and Dark Chocolate with Sour Cherries

2009-12-11T00:33:00.001-05:00

I tried two new recipes from Martha Stewart's Cookies. The Dark Chocolate with Sour Cherries was not a recipe I thought I would love. I don't bake chocolate cookies, although I do appreciate a good chocolate cake and love dark chocolate. I love these cookies. The chocolate is dark, rich and chewy with occasional bites of fruity dried cherry that are just the right contrast in the rich chocolate cookie. I plan to make these every Christmas. They're going into my Christmas File. They were not hard to make.

Then I became intrigued by the Biscochitos, also in Martha's Cookie book. This is, apparently, the state cookie of New Mexico. I couldn't imagine the flavor of a cookie that contains vanilla, Grand Marnier, orange zest, anise seeds and cinnamon and lard (in addition to the usual cookie ingredients). Well, this dough almost went into the trash. It was sooo soft that I almost couldn't work with it. I didn't have the traditional shape of cookie cutter so I used my chicken cutter. The dough kept becoming messed up as I tried to transfer it from the dough board to the cookie sheet. I finally got enough cookies cut out to bake some of them. The flavor turned out to be really good. I was so glad I stuck with these. I love that combination of flavors. The texture is softly crisp. The next time I make these (And I WILL make these again), I'll probably cut them into square or diamond shapes so I don't waste any dough scraps and will be able to transfer them more easily.

Both of these are now definitely added to our favorites.

Christmas Cookies: Zitronenherzen

2009-12-06T15:32:00.001-05:00

Zitronenherzen or lemon hearts are Christmas cookies that are made without any flour. Ground almonds are substituted. I found some almond meal/flour at Whole Foods that I used for these. It's just finely ground blanched almonds. Here are the ingredients:

3 egg yolks
2/3 c sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 to 2-1/4 cups finely ground almonds
1/8 tsp lemon extract (I used 1/2 tsp. lemon oil instead)
1/8 tsp. baking powder (I used just a little more)

Beat egg yolks, 2/3 c. sugar and vanilla until thick and lemon-colored. Stir in 1/2 the almonds, the lemon oil and baking powder.

Transfer dough to sugared doughboard and knead in enough of the remaining almond to form soft dough. Shape into ball, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate about 1-1/2 hrs.

Take a break, make some hot chocolate, pick up your knitting and listen to Christmas music for a while.

Ok. Time's up--back to the cookies:

Heat oven to 400 deg. Line cookie sheets with greased waxed paper (unless you have a Silpat, which is wonderful). Roll dough out 1/4 inch thick on lightly sugared surface. Cut out cookies with 2-inch heart-shaped cutter. Place on cookie sheets and bake 8-10 minutes. (I took mine out at about 7 min. They were set without being brown. Don't bake them too long.)

When they are done, remove to racks immediately and cool. Glaze with the following icing recipe:

1 to 1-1/2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice

1 cup sifted powdered sugar

Beat lemon juice into sugar in small mixer bowl until the consistency of corn syrup. (I didn't sift my sugar so I had a higher proportion of sugar making it more like icing, which gave a more intensely-lemon flavor to the iced cookies.)

These cookies have a nice chewy texture with an almond flavor that I love and very lemony icing, which I also love. If you wanted to tone the lemon a bit (I don't), you could make the icing thinner and use less--the way the recipe says.

Magazine Mondays

2009-12-05T17:44:00.003-05:00

I love this challenge since I have such a stack of old magazines that I'm finally getting around to. If it weren't for the Magazine Mondays, I would still not try all these recipes. Today's recipes come from another issue of donna hay Issue 35. This issue is loaded with recipes for making and using your own ricotta, clotted cream, curd and preserved lemons.

I had tried clotted cream once from a store, expecting a good thick cream to spread on biscuits. It tasted off--not fresh. So, I'm making my own. I put 3 cups of heavy cream in a dish and am leaving it in a 275 oven for 8 hrs. It should be a thick spread good on the scones I plan to make in the morning.

Then I made some ricotta cheese. I've seen various versions of how to make it. This one was the simplest. I just heated 6 cups of whole milk to 176 deg., added 2 Tblsp. white vinegar and let it sit for 5 minutes to form curds. Then I spooned it into a cheesecloth-lined colander and let it drain about 20 minutes. I then picked up the corners of the cheesecloth and twisted them to squeeze out more of the moisture. This ricotta was really sweet and creamy. I loved it.

I used the homemade ricotta for a Ricotta, Pancetta and Pumpkin bake from this magazine. I had enough ricotta for a 1/2 recipe. I combined my 3/4 lb. ricotta with 3/4 cups grated parmesan and 3 eggs. Then I added 4 oz. thawed and drained chopped spinach and 1/4 c. chopped basil along with some salt and pepper. I peeled and sliced, thinly, an 8 oz. piece of butternut squash (this Australian magazine refers to it as butternut pumpkin) and used 6 slices of pancetta. The recipe said to grease a baking dish and layer 1/2 of the squash, 3 slices of pancetta, 1/2 of the cheese mixture and then repeat with the rest. It is baked for 50 minutes at 320 deg.

I don't think I'm a huge fan of pancetta. As I ate this, I thought it was full of flavor--the sweetness of the squash was nice with the savory cheese and herb custard--but I didn't care for the pancetta in it. I kept thinking I'd like it better with really thin ham or with no meat at all. If you like quiches, this might be worth a try.

Expect to see something about Christmas cookies soon!

BBA Challenge #6 Challah Bread

2009-11-27T09:30:00.001-05:00

This was the easiest bread in the BBA Challenge for me so far. It went together quickly and didn't require much actual preparation time. It can be totally completed in one day. This bread is a little plain in flavor, but good for a simple bread and looks really pretty on the table. I had a little trouble with the written braiding instructions that said to lay strand 3 over strand 2 and then strand 1 over strand 2??? I check Mr. Reinhart's new book, artisan breads every day, and the braiding instructions there cleared up my confusion--strand 3 becomes strand 2 after it crosses over strand 2, so strand 1 is crossed over the new strand 2. That would have been no problem if I had simply braided the way I know how. I was just trying to follow the written instruction and found it a little confusing in the way it was worded. If you simply braid the strips, it's easy.

Magazine Mondays - Mushroom & Fontina Quesadillas

2009-11-23T21:43:00.000-05:00

What do you do when you have a piece of Fontina cheese and some white and baby bella mushrooms in your fridge? You find your Spring 2008 issue of Fine Cooking magazine and see there's an easy dish to make for Magazine Mondays! It's Mushroom and Fontina Quesadillas. The directions are simple, the ingredients are in the fridge and there's fresh thyme in the herb garden. This won't take long!

But wait! There on page 101 is a recipe for making your own flour tortillas! And, if there's a harder way to do something, I'll usually go for it. Yep, I'm finding myself making my own flour tortillas. Everything's going great during the mixing and resting.
After making some of Peter Reinhart's breads, this is a cinch.

Until I get to the part where you have to roll out circles or amoebas. Mine turned out to be amoebas. I found that this dough was easy to stretch and roll after it had rested the required amount of time, but when I tried to make a circle by rekneading one of my distorted tortillas and rerolling it, it had become elastic again and was hard to roll back out. I let the rest of them remain amoebas. The other problem I had was I don't own an iron griddle or large iron pan so I had to fit my tortillas into a somewhat smaller pan and my edges tended to bunch up some. It worked well, otherwise, and they were good.

I chopped the mushrooms (I used some of each white and baby bella) and sauteed them in a pan with the garlic, thyme, salt and pepper. This combination was delicious! The aroma and flavor of mushrooms with thyme is one of my absolute favorites.

I added some of the Fontina on half of each of the tortillas and topped it with mushroom mixture--then folded them over. They went into a pan, covered for a few minutes to heat up again, then

I uncovered them and cooked them a little longer on the other side and served them with salad and a cool Ranch dressing. This dish was really good. The only change I would make next time is to use a little less salt. The Fontina is salty so the 1/2 tsp. kosher salt was almost a little too much. I'm going to try this again very soon, but with bought tortillas to see if I like it as well. I think these tortillas would be worth making again if they make a noticeable difference, but I wouldn't try to do it in a smaller pan like mine again. Below is the recipe with my slight changes.

Mushroom and Fontina Quesadillas

1 Tblsp. olive oil

1/2 lb. coarsely chopped mushrooms

2 cloves garlic, minced

1-1/2 Tblsp. chopped fresh thyme

1/4 tsp. salt

freshly ground pepper

2 Tblsp. softened unsalted butter (if using bought tortillas)

4 9-10 inch flour tortillas (I used 5 homemade ones)

1/2 lb. Fontina, coarsely grated

Saute mushrooms in oil 5-7 minutes. Add garlic, thyme, salt and about 1/4 tsp. pepper. (Taste and add just a bit more salt, if needed). If using bought tortillas brush surface very lightly with butter (the homemade ones seemed less dry and probably wouldn't need the butter). Turn them over and cover half of each with the cheese up to 1 inch of edge. Add mushroom mixture over the cheese. Fold each in half to enclose the filling. Put the quesadillas back into the wiped-out skillet (2 will fit at a time) and cover and heat about 4 minutes. Uncover and turn over to heat 2 more minutes. Keep warm in a low oven until all are heated.

If you want to try making the tortillas yourself, here's a link to the recipe at fine cooking.

Magazine Mondays - Creamy Mushroom and Almond Pasta

2009-11-17T23:43:00.000-05:00

Magazine Mondays involves digging into your stacks of magazines for recipes you've been planning to try forever (and, when you finally do, you'll keep the good recipes and get rid of the magazines). You make the recipe and share with readers. This was the idea of creampuffs in venice Check it out. I've decided to join this effort with something I found in an old issue of donna hay magazine, Issue 38. I've changed the proportions and instructions a little.

Creamy Mushroom and Almond Pasta

8 oz. wide egg noodles
2 Tblsp. olive oil
1 clove garlic, diced
1/2 lb. button mushrooms, sliced
30 fresh medium sage leaves
1 cup slivered almonds
1/2 cup medium-dry sherry
1 cup beef stock
1/2 cup light cream
sea salt and freshly-ground pepper
About 1 cup grated parmesan cheese

Cook the pasta in salted water according to package directions (about 8 minutes).
Saute mushrooms in olive oil until lightly browned. Add the sage leaves, almonds and garlic and cook about 2 minutes. Add sherry, stock, cream, salt and pepper. Cook 3-4 minutes until slightly thickened.

Add the cooked, drained pasta to the pan. Mix together, cover with shredded Parmesan and serve.

This dish was sooo creamy and flavorful that even my hamburger-loving husband really liked it. I think next time I might add even a bit more sage--my leaves were a little small--and it wouldn't hurt to add a little more mushroom. This is now one of my favorite pasta dishes.

BBA Challenge Bread #5 Casatiello

2009-11-15T20:52:00.000-05:00

I made this bread from Peter Reinhart's book using his recommended ingredients of pepperoni and provolone cheese. I bought sharp provolone for the extra flavor. I also used buttermilk because Reinhart mentioned that was his preference for the extra tang it gives. I cut the pepperoni in small cubes and shredded the cheese using the larger holes on my grater. The pile of pepperoni looked like too much for the fairly small amount of dough I had. I almost decided to cut the amount in half, but I decided to trust the recipe. The dough was a pleasure to work with--I had no problems with it. I wanted to use an 8-inch cake pan, which the recipe gave as one of the choices. The way I read it, it sounded like I would use only one pan. When I put the dough in, it looked like it filled the pan even before I proofed it a final time.

I considered making it in 2 small loaf pans, but I left it in the cake pan. It puffed up like a mushroom cloud!

We laughed and laughed at it and worried just a little that it might overflow the little pan. It didn't. It came out perfectly!

The outside was brown and chewy and the inside was so soft--it pulled apart in rich, tender strands with the tang of buttermilk and cheese and the bites of flavor from pepperoni. Next time I would add about 1/2 again the amount of pepperoni. It seemed to have migrated to the crust and was sparse inside the bread.

Notice the big holes where cheese melted. I love this bread and will definitely make it again with meat and cheese and, another time, with fruits and nuts. I'm wondering if it would make a good chocolate bread with dried sour cherries.

Spitzbuben

2009-11-09T22:51:00.000-05:00

These were the main cookies Mama made at home. She didn't use a recipe. All I remember is that she used flour, butter, egg, sugar, and, probably, some vanilla. She made her own currant jelly and always used that as the filling. After looking at numerous recipes that just don't match what she used, I've put together what I think is closest. This could be made with other jellies and could be sprinkled with confectioner's sugar, but I wanted the taste of home.

Spitzbuben

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1-1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 tsp. salt
3-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup currant jelly or other jelly or jam

In mixer bowl, beat butter and sugar until light. Beat in egg, vanilla and salt. Gradually add flour.

Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill about an hour in the refrigerator. Roll out 1/2 at a time to about 1/8 inch thick.

Use about a 2-1/2 inch cookie cutter to cut the dough into rounds. Use a very small cutter and cut the center out of half of the cookies. (I have a doughnut cutter that has a removable center that I use.) The scraps can be rerolled and cut out. Place the cookies on ungreased cookie sheets and bake at 375 deg. for 6 to 8 minutes until they just begin to brown lightly at the edges. Let them cool a couple minutes on the sheets and remove to racks. Use about 1/2 tsp. warmed jelly or jam on each solid round and place a cookie with the hole on top to make little cookie sandwiches. Let the cookies cool until the jelly sets.

How about that new apron the cookies are sitting on?? I picked that up at IKEA this weekend.

Eggs in Purgatory

2009-11-09T11:17:00.000-05:00

Sometimes I get a tiny bit of inspiration. This morning there were two. I thought of a perfect little breakfast for what I'm attempting to get back to--healthy, delicious eating--emphasis on both! (I teach and, sometimes, that consumes so many hours and so much mind, that I fall behind on everything else.) This morning I remembered Eggs in Purgatory. I had attended Tyler Florence's Wine and Food Pairing in DC this weekend . At each of our place settings was a gift of La Famiglia DelGrosso Fireworks Sauce.

I was preparing to make some Christmas cookies and realized I have to let butter get to room temp first. Ok--time for breakfast while I wait. I hit upon using some of this sauce to make Eggs in Purgatory. I simply simmered a little sauce, slipped in an egg, added s & p, chopped some fresh parsley on top, added a slice of whole wheat toast and a cup of very hot tea and, Voila--the perfect breakfast! There was the egg for protein, the lycopenes in the tomatoes, the vitamins in the parsley, the whole grains in the bread and the zing from the "fireworks" in the sauce! It was soo good and healthy and not bad in calories. The sauce allowed me to cook the egg without any fat.

Then came the next inspiration. When we were in our favorite vacation spot, Ocracoke Island, NC, I bought a little pottery bowl. It turns out it's a perfect break-an-egg-into-before-slipping-it-into-something-else bowl. It has a little handle on the one side and a little pouring spout. Even better, my garbage can is just to the right of the counter, so I can break my egg into the bowl and drop the shell right into the trash without moving from the spot. Then I slip the egg into a pan on the stove which is also right there on the left or into a mixer bowl, etc. In this picture there is another bowl I bought in Ocracoke, that holds a little flour for when I just need a little in my cooking. The little Polish spoon was a gift.

BBA Challenge Bread #4 Brioche

2009-11-02T22:17:00.000-05:00

Should we make the Rich Man's Brioche?? The Middle-Class Brioche?? Tiny molds? Larger molds--which we didn't have? Or should we just use loaf pans, which we both had? There were some decisions to make with this BBA Challenge. We decided that Karen would make the Rich Man's Brioche and I would make the Middle-Class and we would compare the two. I already had one pan that I thought would work for a larger brioche and we ordered more pans. Mine were 7-inch and hers were 8-inch. Both sizes seemed to work just fine. This recipe kept me on my toes as I kept switching between the quantities for the middle-class version and the general directions on the previous page. I almost panicked when I noticed I had forgotten the little note on bottom of page 127, "proceed as for Rich Man's Brioche, extending the fermentation for the sponge to 30 to 45 minutes." I also missed the little note about allowing the dough to rest 5 minutes before adding the butter. It still all worked out just fine. The bread rose (Peter Reinhart would be happy) and the outcome was delicious. Karen's bread seemed impossibly buttery to her when she was working with it but it did what it should do. She said it made really delicious french toast.

Today we compared them. They were quite different from each other. The Rich Man's Brioche was very rich and buttery and had the most interesting texture. The Middle-Class Brioche seemed perfect for just bread or little individual rolls. Karen brought in some fig jam and I had some of my applebutter--both were so good on our brioche.

WV Apples, Apple Butter and Apple Dumplings

2009-11-01T18:14:00.000-05:00

Fall is apple time in our area of WV. We go to a local Orr's farmer's market and select from huge bins of freshly-picked apples of all kinds. I asked the lady inside for pie recommendations. She said she likes a mixture of Golden Delicious, Mountaineer and Stayman. They were just out of Stayman, so I substituted Romes. I love Orr's. They grow peaches, cherries, berries, farm produce, flowers and--in the fall--all kinds of gourds and pumpkins. It's a pretty place in autumn. I bought some apples, some cider and mulled cider spices. I love hot spiced cider on a cool fall evening.

While riding to town the evening before Halloween, we passed another little farm stand along the road. This is also one of our favorite stops for tomatoes and other veggies. This particular evening it was growing dark and we saw a big fire with a pot over it and people standing around, stirring. "Is it applebutter??" I wondered. "Are they making applebutter?" My husband thought it might be a Halloween event. We passed by again the next day on our way back from helping our son move and we stopped. Sure enough, they were selling freshly-made applebutter. I immediately picked up a couple pints. The lady gave me a taste. I switched one of the pints for a quart and now plan to go back and buy more. The applebutter tasted so fresh and spicy without the cloying syrupiness of some I've had. It was sooo good on toast with a couple slices of my husband's good bacon and a fresh cup of coffee this morning.

And I finally made some apple dumplings again. I used a recipe from an old Farm Journal's Complete Pie Cookbook. The dough was pie pastry. The apples inside were peeled and cored. According to the recipe, I made a paste of butter, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg and brown sugar and spread it over the outside of each apple before wrapping it with a 6-inch square of pie dough. The dumplings were baked for 30 minutes at 375 deg. Then I made a simple syrup of 1-1/4 cup sugar and the same amount of water with 3 Tblsp. of pineapple juice, brought to a boil. I poured that over and around the dumplings and baked for 20 more minutes until they were browned. The recipe says to baste the dumplings a couple times while baking. I thought they were very good, hot with vanilla ice cream, except the syrup made them a little sweet for my taste. Next time I would add less of it. I wouldn't use real sweet apples for this.

Aprons

2009-10-31T23:53:00.000-04:00

I was making apple dumplings today and wearing an apron I made. I've seen some pretty darn cute aprons out there in shops lately. In my mother's kitchen, aprons were just taken for granted. They weren't cute--they were utilitarian. Before we started cooking, the aprons went on. They were old, faded, thin in places, but really soft and so useful. My mother would start cleaning some chicken and send me to the garden for whatever veggies were ready, for some dill or parsley and, perhaps some cucumbers. I ran out and just gathered up my apron and started filling it. Back inside, I'd sit down with some peas to shell. My apron would be a protective towel over my lap while I shelled peas into a bowl on my lap. When I was finished, I shook out the debris off my apron into the compost container. After I rinsed the peas, I might just quick-dry my hands on it. An apron served as an always-handy little towel. We used the pockets to carry all kinds of things around the kitchen or outside--some clothespins to hang out laundry--a couple things on the table that should be put away upstairs, etc. I still take aprons seriously. I like a full-size apron that fits smoothly and has a bib for serious baking because it holds my clothes out of the way when I'm rolling out dough and working around the oven. For cooking I like a gathered half-apron with pockets for all the handy uses I mentioned above. The design of the one here is a particular favorite of mine for all-around use.

BBA Challenge Goes To School

2009-10-29T20:36:00.000-04:00

Add bleu cheese to the picture and what do they have in common? All three belong to the Kingdom Fungi. In my science classroom we are about to dissect mushrooms, make spore prints and explore the fascinating world of yeast. I'm going to share with my students what I've learned from the BBA Challenge--that wild yeasts are all around us and we can use them to make some delicious bread. We're going to capture some using Reinhart's recipe in his newly released book, artisan breads every day. We'll mix some bread flour and pineapple juice and stir and watch until it is active and bubbly. I'll bring it home and bake sourdough bread for the students to sample. I just received my copy of this bread book and am anxious for Friday night to curl up with my tea and my new book to select the bread for my class.

This weekend is time for our next bread, also, for our challenge. Karen is planning to make the Rich Man's Brioche and I'm making the Middle-Class Brioche so we can compare the two. I'll let you know Monday what our vote is. Reinhart offers to send his readers an autographed bookplate to place in his new book if you send him an sase--check his blog. Mine came today! Just in time for my new book!

BBA Challenge and Bagels

2009-10-17T20:36:00.000-04:00

I had trouble with this challenge. Karen made the same ones but hers turned out perfectly. The only differences we could come up with in our handling of the dough was that I didn't have oil spray, so I brushed my dough with oil before the final rise. She lightly sprayed hers as the recipe instructed. When we put the bagels into the water, I added the baking soda and she didn't. Hers puffed right up as she put them into the boiling water. Mine stayed flat. In the oven mine stayed flat and just wouldn't brown. I kept them in longer hoping for some browning. It never happened on top, although the bottoms did darken, as you can see on the picture. As a result, my bagels are tough from overbaking and somewhat denser as they didn't rise well. The taste is very good. I think my problem was too much oil before the final rise??? The baking soda in the water shouldn't have affected the rise, should it??? I'll try these again--but I'll have to get some oil spray first.

This is my day of bad beginnings. I discovered my socks were just too small. I checked my gauge--a little late, don't you think? It was quite a bit off. So these are my socks now. They were prettier yesterday. I guess I'll check the gauge with size 3 needles--blagh.

My daughter drove to State College, PA, last night with some friends. It's the middle of October. Did you hear what they had in State College?? SNOW!

I felt a little better after a bowl of warming potato soup and a soothing dessert of rice pudding. Tomorrow I'll make a whole pot of tea and start on my socks again.

Socks and Pumpernickel Bread

2009-10-11T19:52:00.000-04:00

I've started my fall socks. I'm racing

with autumn now. I have to get this pair completed before my fall flowers stop blooming. Lucky for me these flowers bloom until really late in the fall. This yarn is made in Germany, Schoppel wolle, Zauberball and is 75% virgin wool and 25% nylon. It is fingering weight and I'm using size 2 needles.

We're not due to make another Reinhart bread until next weekend, but I was making pork and sauerkraut for dinner today and really wanted some rye bread. I took out some of my frozen barm, let it thaw and added some pumpernickel flour and water. Instructions said to let it sit out about 4 hours and then refrigerate overnight. I let it sit and sit and it didn't bubble up and ferment like I expected, so I let it sit out until evening. Then I looked in the book again and noticed that I should have taken it out three days before I needed it if it had been in the freezer. I went ahead with the recipe anyway. It had started to bubble and had increased in size somewhat. I also decided to use loaf pans today since that was easier and I had family over for the day. The only loaf pans I have are larger than the ones needed. The result was that the bread is still really really good, but it isn't as tall as it might be if I had the smaller loaf pans. I'll make it again with Karen when its turn comes for our BBA challenge--next time I'll take the barm out sooner and I'll make the sour dough version and put the loaves directly on parchment paper and my baking stone instead of loaf pans.

How Many Days Until Christmas??

2009-10-09T10:44:00.001-04:00

Is it too early to start Christmas?? Not that I don't love all of fall and Thanksgiving and pumpkin pie--'cause I sure do! But I'm thinking about my mother's Spitzbuben christmas cookies today. I'm going to try to reproduce them this Christmas. I've checked out a couple recipes but one uses ground almonds, which she never used in her baking, and the other uses confectioner's sugar, which I'm sure she didn't use in those cookies. So I'll be searching for Spitzbuben's like Mama's. I used to bake bushels of Christmas cookies many years ago just for us because it was Christmas and we had to have lots and lots of cookies. I don't make as many now but I want them to be special and festive--not a cookie you can have everyday. Gingerbread is one of my favorites and can be baked ahead of time and frozen or just stored in sealed tins. I'm not starting quite yet, but this year I plan to begin trying new recipes right after Halloween before the serious Christmas preparations begin. Of course, Reinhart's Panettone and Stollen will be part of our holidays this year. I'll share the recipes I like here.

Gingerbread Cookies

1/3 cup shortening

1 cup light brown sugar (packed)

1-1/2 cups mild flavored molasses (you can use dark if you like)

2/3 cup cold water

7 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. allspice

1 tsp. ginger

1 tsp. cloves

1 tsp. cinnamon

Mix shortening and sugar well. Blend in the molasses. Stir in water. Mix the dry ingredients and add them to the mixture. Chill the dough for at least an hour--overnight if you like.

Heat oven to 350 deg. Roll out dough on floured board. This is a sticky dough so keep flour on the board and rolling pin. Cut out with cookie cutters and place on lightly greased cookie sheet. They will spread some--don't put them too close together. Bake 10-12 min or until there is almost no imprint when you touch them lightly. Don't overbake or they will become hard. Ice cooled cookies. These keep well if frozen or stored in an airtight cookie tin. The flavor and texture improve in a day or two.

Icing for cookies:

1 cup sifted confectioner's sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

1-1/2 Tbsp. cream

Blend all ingredients. If too thin, add more sugar. If too thick, add more cream. Decorate cookies with an icing bag or cookie decorator. MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I finished another pair of baby booties. I love the little purled ridges around the bottom of this pattern. I changed the proportions of the original pattern to make them a little less boxy than the first one I tried.
I have an adult pair of socks on my needles now. I'm using some of the yarn I bought in Baltimore. If you check my previous blog, it's the multicolored yarn at the front. They should look good running through the autumn leaves while we're waiting for Christmas, don't you think??

BBA Challenge Greek Celebration Bread

2009-10-04T07:14:00.000-04:00

Bread 2 in our BBA Challenge turned out beautifully. I opted to add the glaze and felt it added the sweetness that enhanced the bread just enough. The glaze is a bit sticky, however, if that bothers anyone. The bread itself has a good mildly spicy flavor from all the flavorings added and an excellent moist texture. I added equal amounts of light and dark raisins, dried sour cherries and walnuts. The bit of tang from the cherries and golden raisins was sooo good and balanced by the sweeter dark raisins and the honey glaze. I had some organic sesame seeds that tasted somewhat raw to me so I toasted those for about 10 minutes in a 350 degree oven before I sprinkled them on top.

I am considering making this bread for my little grandson's baptism as it is a Celebration Bread.

The barm was the starter I chose for this bread. It was an interesting process. If anyone saw the old movie, "The Blob," this seemed to fit. I found, twice, that I apparently had a very healthy, perhaps somewhat aggressive, starter here. The first time I misjudged the size of the container I would need and it crawled out from under the plastic wrap and ended up coming down the side onto the counter. The second time I had refreshed it and let it sit out to ferment--planning to refrigerate it about 4 hours later. I fell asleep watching "Top Chef" and woke up to go to bed. Barm sat on the counter all night. The next day it was out of its jar, on the counter and onto the floor! It's still fine and I have now tucked the remaining barm into my freezer to slow its growth until I need it again. Karen's barm has not risen so aggressively--we can't figure out the difference. I did have some wild grapes in my kitchen a couple days so I wonder if some wild yeasts from the grapes could have affected my barm. Anyone know??

October musings and plans

2009-09-27T18:59:00.000-04:00

The barm for BBA bread No.2 is in the refrigerator. Next weekend we will be baking Greek Celebration bread after refreshing the barm twice during the week. This weekend was rainy and I didn't get my roses planted. I couldn't paint the bathroom yet because the spackling still has to be sanded a final time. SO, I took a long walk and thought about October. The leaves are starting to change--the poison ivy and the sumac are among the first to begin turning red. The crabapples are red and there are a few flowers still blooming in the garden. Some coral mushrooms were peeking through leaves in the woods. I always love the path I walked because there is an intense fragrance of pine from the cedars and yellow pines. The path is soft underfoot from pine needles and moss. I flushed out a bird but didn't see it. There were fresh tracks from a deer that heard me before I got there. I thought about how much I love woods, fresh air, blue skies and freedom to enjoy them. I came back from my walk, picked up a pad and a calendar and made a plan for October. I listed all the things I love to do and the things that always make me feel stressed. I decided to schedule my month on the calendar to find time for what I enjoy, for what I need and to begin to handle the stressful jobs that are always on my mind. Karen and I agreed to follow this plan together. We both have our exercise plan--mine will be to dance in the morning again and walk while the evenings still have some light. We both want to have a home that's a pleasure not a chore because it's never organized and "company ready." Those are the things that get in the way of having the energy and time to do what we find really important to us. On my calendar I picked a room for each week of October to clean completely, but, more important, to organize everything in it in a way that should make it easy to maintain and to find what I need. I'm not doing any of that on the weekends--I'm not missing the fall--I'll be baking, knitting, and spending time outside on weekends. The evenings will be really busy. The first week of October I'll work in my sewing/knitting room upstairs. My knitting needles need to be organized and I could use a better system for storing my yarn and fabrics. While I'm at it, I'll reorganize my "linen closet." Both rooms will take a lot of work--don't know if I can get done in one week. I want to paint and redecorate but that'll be round two after all the rooms get organized and cleaned. The key to this plan is that the things we love to do are also on our October calendar to make sure they aren't lost in the usual shuffle of "too busyness."

Baltimore weekend

2009-09-27T12:43:00.000-04:00

I took a long weekend to spend in Baltimore for my daughter's birthday. It turned out to be a little holiday for me. While she worked I spent the day in Fell's Point. I visited all the little shops there and walked along the water and hung out in coffee shops. We met for lunch at Shucker's on the water. I had no problem filling the hours. I particularly enjoyed a little yarn shop on Aliceanna called A Good Yarn. I would spend many hours in this shop if I lived nearby. They hold knitting classes and allow knitters to just come in the shop and knit with others to learn from and share with. The yarns were beautiful and I came home with a new supply of sock yarn and a kit to make a really cute hat.

In the afternoon I walked up to Harbor East where there are more nice stores. I found coarse grind cornmeal and almond flour for baking in Whole Foods Market, a store I wish we had here in our area.

We worked on Laura's new house over the weekend and got another room painted. It turned out really pretty and will appear on her site later. The highlight of the weekend was dinner at Volt Restaurant in downtown Frederick, MD.

BBA Challenge--Bread 1

2009-09-21T22:32:00.000-04:00

We made the first bread in The Bread Baker's Apprentice by Peter Reinhart this weekend. We are now in the Challenge. Our goal is to make all the breads in the book by baking one every other weekend. This was Anadama bread. It turned out really moist and hearty. I would make one small change the next time I make this bread. The recipe says to sprinkle the top with cornmeal before baking. I used the same coarse cornmeal that I used in the dough. I would use a finer cornmeal for that step next time to prevent biting down on occasional little hard pieces that are present in the coarse-grind cornmeal. I did have to add some extra flour while kneading to get the dough to the non-sticky stage. Karen kneaded her bread by hand. I used my Kitchen-Aid. We seemed to get the same results. This bread was delicious with our seasoned pinto beans for dinner. A cold glass of buttermilk added a delicious refreshing tang to the meal.

Volt Restaurant, Frederick, MD

2009-09-20T22:46:00.000-04:00

Being a foodie as I am, I was thrilled this weekend to go with my daughter and her husband to dinner at Volt restaurant in Frederick, MD.

I had never eaten in this type of restaurant and had never tried some of the food I had. The restaurant is classy and the service was excellent. Not being sure of myself I just looked at the waiter when he came with two carafes and asked "sparkling" or "still?" While I looked at the carafes, my daughter responded with,"still," and I got that it was water. We had "still" all around. Then he appeared again with a small white dish and 3 spoons with compliments from the Chef. He announced it was Arctic Char Tartare with chives. He brought an amazing selection of warm rolls with that. I thought, ok, I can eat raw fish--even though I never have. It was SO good! I knew I could trust the food. Laura and I decided to share the first two courses. The first one was Duck liver with pears, pistachio and tiny lettuce. It was accompanied by toasted vanilla brioche. This was a surprise. The liver tasted nothing like any liver I've ever eaten. It was creamy, light and smooth. The little dollops of pear butter were so good over it and it went suprisingly well with vanilla brioche. It was the most surprising combination I've ever sampled. We decided it was good that we had split it because it was rich. For our second course we ordered Goat Cheese ravioli with sweet corn, chanterelle mushrooms and beans. Once again we had split the course and found it was enough for us. The ravioli was tender and the sweetness of the corn was a perfect complement to the very pronounced flavor of goat cheese. The tiny chanterelles were delightful as was the puff of white corn foam that topped the dish. It was time for the main course. Mine was perfect Roast Chicken--crisp on the outside, tender inside--with fingerling potatoes and Hen of the Woods mushrooms. I had eaten Hen of the Woods many years ago when I found some in our woods. These were the best. Mustard greens balanced out the course. For dessert we chose vacherin with pistachio gelato, raspberry and lemon rosemary. At the end of the evening we were given a tour of the restaurant and met the Chef, Bryan Voltaggio--a contestant on "Top Chef," and, we HOPE, the winner. For people who love food-tasting, excellent service and "Top Chef" it was a totally memorable experience. We absolutely loved it. We plan to come back one day and treat ourselves to "Table 21."

Pierogi

2009-09-14T22:35:00.000-04:00

My mother made pierogi filled with potatoes, saurkraut, sweet cheese, meat, or plums. My daughter-in-law and I made potato cheese and potato mushroom pierogi tonight. This recipe is similar to how Mama made them but has sour cream added to the dough, which makes the dough easier to work with and more tender when they're cooked.
Notice the method of pinching the edge shut involves using your thumb and the first two fingers.
The filling on the picture is potato/mushroom. Watch for recipes for other fillings in future blogs.

Potato/Mushroom Pierogi

Dough:

4 eggs
1/2 c. melted and cooled butter
1/2 c. sour cream
1 tsp. salt
5 c. all-purpose flour

Put the flour on a dough board and make a well in the center. Whisk eggs, butter, sour cream and salt in a bowl. Pour into the center of the flour. Use a fork to work the flour gradually into the liquid, working in from the edges to form soft dough. If the dough is too sticky, add a little flour. If it's too dry, add just a bit of water. Knead the dough until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Form a ball and cover with plastic and refrigerate for about 20 minutes.

On a floured board, roll out 1/2 the dough at a time to about 1/8 inch thick. Cut out circles with a 3-inch cookie cutter or drinking glass. Place about a Tablespoon of filling into the center of each circle. A little water brushed on the edges will help the dough stick. Fold the dough over to form a semicircle. Pinch shut with your fingers. This should make about 3 dozen pierogi. They may be cooked right away or frozen.

To cook boil a few at a time in a large pot of boiling water for about 8-10 minutes until they float. They may be served plain, topped with butter, or rinsed and allowed to dry a few minutes and then fried in butter in which chopped onions have been sauteed, if you prefer them a little crisped. If you like, you may serve sour cream along with them.

Potato Mushroom Filling:

1 lb. peeled and cubed potatoes
2 Tblsp. butter
1 large leek (a little onion may be substituted)
10 ozs. finely chopped mushrooms
4 sprigs fresh thyme (optional)
salt and pepper
1 c. heavy cream

Cook the potatoes in boiling salted water until tender. Drain and mash and set aside to cool. Clean the leek and cut off all but 1 inch of the green part. Cut it in half lengthwise and clean it really well under water. Slice the leek finely. Melt 2 Tblsp. butter over medium-low heat. Add leek, mushrooms and thyme. Saute a few minutes and add salt and pepper. Continue to cook until most of the moisture has cooked out. Add cream and stir. Remove from heat, take out the thyme and add the mushroom mixture into the mashed potatoes, mixing well. Allow the filling to cool somewhat before forming balls to place onto the dough.