Family Perogies

Perogies - a meal my German

Great Grandmather Tilly

made for her many children.

Potatoes and dough,

two very cheap and accessible

ingredients that could feed a

large farming family.

Grandma Tilly taught

my mom to make these

hand crafted perogies

sometime ago.

I still remember that day

she came to visit us in B.C.

Her and my mom spent all day

in the kitchen making

these perogies and homemade donuts.

To our delight,

my mom learned well.
She continued to make

these delicious perogies

while we were growing up.

Frying them in lots of margerine,

cubes of bread and onions.

The outside of the perogies,

as well as the bread cubes,

would get crunchy and flavoured like butter.

We would have them with

sour cream and Remple's Farmer Sausage.

In my own married life,

I have made these perogies

a couple of times myself.

Striving to get the same consistency

in my dough,

the same flavour

in the filling and cooking them in a similar way,

that my mom did,

as well as my great grandmother.

Today,

for the third time,

I attempted this day long process.

I cannot give you the recipe,

that would just be wrong!

But I can tell you that

I am not as swift with the rolling pin,

or pinching in the edges.

However,

the end result is pretty good.

But if you compared them to

my mom's,

you'd still (and probably always)

will like hers better.

The potato filling of bacon bits and caramelized onions.

Waiting for the dough to rise...

Out from the boiling water and onto the cooling racks to drain.

Taste testing. Almost perfection.

Classic Peanut Butter Cookies with Mini Peanut Butter Cups

Ingredients

• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 1 cup crunchy peanut butter
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 cup of mini peanut butter cups

Directions

1. Cream together butter, peanut butter and sugars. Beat in eggs.
2. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir into batter. Stir in 1 cup of mini peanut butter cups. Put batter in refrigerator for 1 hour.
3. Roll into 1 inch balls and put on baking sheets. Flatten each ball with a fork, making a criss-cross pattern. Bake in a preheated 375 degrees F oven for about 10 minutes or until cookies begin to brown. Do not over-bake.

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls

These buns were delicious!

The perfect breakfast treat on a fall morning.

To be honest, I had one.

Where did the rest go?

Ask Spencer...

The recipe is quite long,

and it is quite time consuming to write

it all out.

I went to copy and past it

but the recipe is copyright protected

And so it should be!

If I had created this delicious recipe,

I'd want all the credit as well!

So instead,

I will just post the link to the recipe.

Click HERE.

Here are some photos I took while making it.

Creaming together the shortening, pumpkin and spices...

Letting the dough rise

The almost-finished product. Right out of the oven!

And with the glaze... yum!

(*I added a bit of cinnamon to my glaze.*)

Roasted Chickpeas

A delicious and high protein snack.

You will need:

- 1 can of garbanzo/chick peas

- oil

-salt and pepper

-garlic powder (optional)

Directions:

1) Rinse the pees and peel the transparent skins.

2) Toss them in some oil, salt and pepper.

*I recommend NOT using kosher salt, like I did the first time. Just use regular salt. The second time, my mom had the idea to use some garlic powder. It was delicious. I

totally recommend it.

3) Roast in the oven (at about 400' F) for about 30-40 minutes. Until the p

eas are crunchy, but won't cause any damage that will result in a large dental bill (I am infamous for those...)

Canning

Falling canning - tomatoes.

Mmmm mmm mmm!

Check out my other blog for the full article.

It will be sure to make your mouth water.

Stew, chili, pasta sauce...

the possibilities are almost endless.

Cornmeal Spaetzle and Sausages with Browned Onions

CORNMEAL SPAETZLE

You'll need:

- 2 cups of all purpose flour (I used barley flour)

- 1/2 cup of finely ground yellow cornmeal

-3 large eggs

-3/4 cup of whole milk

-1/4 cup of pureed ricotta cheese

-3 tbsp. unsalted butter (adjust to what you wish, it's for frying the noodles)

-2 tablespoons of fresh dill (I skipped this, I didn't have any)

Directions:

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Whisk together the flour, cornmeal and 1/2 tsp of salt.

Whisk together eggs, milk and cheese in a mixer on medium speed. Reduce speed to low and add the dry ingredients. Raise speed to medium-high; whisk until thick and gooey; about 2 minutes.

2. Working batches and using a rubber spatula, gradually press batter through a large-holed colander into the boiling water. Boil until spaetzle float to the top, about 1 minute. Scoop out using a fine seive. Rinse under cold water; drain.

3.Heat butter in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add spaeztle and season with salt and pepper. Brown, tossing often, 5 to 6 minutes. Remove from heat and toss in dill (if you have any.)

SAUSAGES WITH BROWNED ONIONS

You will need:

- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

- 2 medium onions, cut into 2 inch wedges attaches at roots

- 1 tsp caraway seeds

- course salt and freshly ground pepper

- 4 assorted sausages (such as kielbasa, knockwurst or bratwurst)

- 2 tablespoons of dry white wine

Direcitons:

1. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook onions until browned on one side, about 5 minutes. Flip onions. Add caraway seeds, season with salt and pepper.

2. Add sausages, and cook, turning often, until browned and plump on all sides, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat, and add wine, swirling to incorporate.. Transfer onions and sausages to a platter, tent with foil to keep warm.

*Add to a bed of beautiful spaetzle!

Taken from the Martha Stewart Living magazine, October issue.

Toffee Bits Triangles

These Toffee Bits Triangles are deeeee-licous. I made them for Edolbina's shower and they barely made them out the front door! Then I made them for Matt and Lauren's To-Go basket for their honeymoon and I don't think there were any leftover then either.

Linda Wollin, from church, made these for the youth group one night. She was so kind to pass on the recipe to me.

It takes:

1cup butter

1cup packed light brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1 egg yolk(I just use an egg)

2 cups flour

11/4 cups skor toffee bits, divided

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER:

Oven temp-350 F-151/2 x 101/2 rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment paper

Beat butter with sugar until fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla until creamy.

Stir in flour and with one cup of toffee bits. Mix well.

Press dough evenly on baking sheet.

Bake 18-20 minutes or until light brown. Take out of oven and sprinkle with chocolate chips. Let stand for 5 minutes or until chips are melted. Spread chocolate evenly over base and sprinkle remaining toffee bits evenly over chocolate. Cool until set, about 2-3 hours , or place in refrigerator for 45 minutes to set chocolate faster.

Bon Appetit!