Paska

1 cup milk (1/2 cup cream and 1/2 cup milk)

• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 1 cup water
• 3 Tbsp. yeast
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 8 - 10 whole eggs
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 Tbsp. lemon zest
• 10 cups flour.

Kneading Machine Procedure

1. Heat milk just to a scalding level, then add butter which will melt in the milk.
2. Add 1 cup water to the milk mixture and by now this will have cooled down the hot milk.
3. In mixing bowl blend half of the flour with fast rising yeast, and add salt.
4. Add liquids and blend for 5 minutes on lowest setting.
5. Combine sugar and eggs and lemon zest into a mixing bowl and beat for several minutes.
6. Add remaining flour and add egg mixture into the kneading bowl, and knead at a high setting till the dough pulls away from the mixing bowl.
7. Dough texture should remain soft.
8. Let the dough rise in the mixing bowl till doubled in size. Cover with saran wrap and towel.
9. Meanwhile prepare your baking pans with cooking oil or parchment paper.
10. Shape your dough into preferred pans and let rise again for 1 hour or till doubled in size.
11. Bake at 325 degrees. Buns need 20 minutes, while loaves need about 35-40 minutes.
12. Ice with your favorite spread.

Here's my favorite Icing ~ And I love this one because you can make it ahead of time and keep it in the fridge up to three months. It's also excellent for cinnamon buns.

• 2 tablespoons cold water
• 41/2 tablespoons white sugar
• 2/3 cups shortening
• 1 egg
• 21/2 cup icing sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Dissolve white sugar in water. Shake or stir frequently. Set aside. Beat remaining ingredients to the consistency of whipped cream. Beat in sugar and water mixture. Store covered in refrigerator. Will keep up to 3 months.
Most of our family will slice the Paska and spread it on like butter. So take the extra spread along with you. And you must always add many colorful sprinkles.

Meanwhile, let's not loose the real message of Easter in Paska making, but rather focus on who Jesus is; the Crucifixion and the Resurrection.

Victory Muffins!

So I have been posting less.   We are a YMCA family.  We are at the Y everyday working out, playing, hitting the waterpark.  Its just what we love to do.  I use to play comptetive sports so when I am at the gym that all come back to me.  I use to train around 8 hours a day and looked like I live for sports.  But I am one of the ladies who breaks down after having childern.  ive had multiple surgeries and health problems related to my choice to have babie, which by the way I happily accept all of the problems to have my kiddos.  Long story short I got a JOB.  The YMCA offered me a group trainer position and cardio fit cross training.  I work 3-4 nights a week from 4:30-7.  Its a much better fit for my famiy compares to the PD.  I work 10 hours a week instead of 36 and the nights my husband isn't home yet from work to watch the kids I get to take them to work so they can go to the learning center!  Its a win win.  PTL

So onto the muffins!

I've made these quite often this summer. They are a lovely, firm textured muffin.

You can substitute a 1/4 cup ground flax, wheat germ or bran for 1/4 cup of the flour to make them more nutrituous if you like.

One more thing to note - I distribute the blueberries between the muffin cups rather than folding them into the batter

• 1 1/4 cups flour (can use part whole wheat flour if desired)
• 1 cup oatmeal
• 2/3 cups granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 egg
• 1 cup mashed ripe bananas
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1/3 cup butter or margarine, melted
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans
• 1 cup fresh or unthawed frozen blueberries
• Pecan topping if desired ( Mix together: 1/4 cup oatmeal, 1/3 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup chopped pecans)

1. Combine dry ingredients in mixing bowl.
2. Mix well.
3. Beat together banana, buttermilk, egg and melted butter until smooth.
4. Add to dry ingredients and stir just until blended.
5. Stir in chopped pecans.
6. In oiled muffin tins, fill cups 1/2 full. This makes 1 doz. medium sized muffins so you will have some batter left over for the next step.
7. Top with 3 blueberries and then fill cups with remaining batter.
8. Top each cup with 3 more blueberries
9. Sprinkle with pecan topping if desired.
10. Bake at 375º F for about 20 to 25 minutes. (A toothpick inserted into a muffin will come out clean)
11. Remove from cups and cool on rack.

Mini Pizza bagels

What You Need

6 mini bagels, split, toasted

1/4 cup  pizza sauce

3/4 cup Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

Make It

HEAT broiler.
SPREAD cut sides of bagels with sauce; top with cheese.
BROIL, 6 inches from heat, 2 to 3 min. or until cheese is melted.

 

Rollkuchen

Ingredients:
2 eggs
¾ c milk
2 Tbsp vinegar
2 Tbsp oil
2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
2 generous tsp baking powder

Filling:
left over sloppy joe sauce or chili


Method:

1. In small bowl, mix eggs with fork and then mix in the rest of the wet ingredients.
2. In another larger bowl, mix flour, salt and baking powder, make a well and stir in the wet ingredients. Stir with wooden spoon until all ingredients are mixed well.
3. Knead slightly with hands to smooth, adding milk or flour if needed and roll out thinly on floured board or counter.
4. Place a tsp of filling about one to one and half inches apart in a row, along one end.
5. Fold dough over top of filling and press with a cup to form a perogie like crescent.No need to pinch. Lay on floured cookie sheet until all done before proceeding to fry.
6. Heat about 2 - 3 cups of canola oil – test with a little dough to make sure it fries quickly. The trick to not having deep fried food soak up too much oil is to fry it quickly in very hot fat. Use 2 forks and have a pan lined with paper towel ready.

Nalesniki with Cheese and Raisins

Ingredients for crepes:½ cup lukewarm water
1 cup milk
4 large eggs
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted. Plus more to sauté.
1 cup all-purpose flour (you can use 1/2 cup whole wheat flour and 1/2 cup all-purpose)
2 tablespoons sugar
Pinch of Salt

Ingredients for cheese filling:  8 oz package cream cheese, at room temperature
16 oz small curd cottage cheese
1/3 cup sugar
¾ cup raisins
Powdered sugar for serving (optional)

How to Make Crepes:

1. Put all of the ingredients for the crepes (in the order that they are listed) in a blender and blend until well combined.
2. Melt a dab of butter in 2 non-stick skillets over medium heat. (2 skillets make the process go faster).
3. Pour about 2 to 3 tablespoons of batter into the skillet.  I use a 1-ounce measuring cup.

4. As you are pouring into the skillet, swirl the batter to evenly coat the bottom. If you get any small gaps, you can fill them with more batter.
5. Once the bottom is golden, flip the crepe using a sharp edged spatula to easily get under the crepe. Let the other side get golden and plop the crepe out onto a cutting board.
Repeat with all of the batter, using a dot of butter each time. Don’t stack hot crepes on top of each other. Once they are just luke-warm or room temp, they can be stacked.
Don’t panic, the first crepe in the pan never turns out nice!

How to make Cheese filling and complete Blinchiki:1. In a colander, rinse the cottage cheese with cold water and DRAIN WELL. A cheese cloth also works well.
2. Mash the cream cheese, cottage cheese and sugar with a potato masher until well combined and creamy. Cottage cheese will still be a little lumpy.
3.  Using a spatula, spread 2 generous tablespoons of cheese filling on each crepe.

4. Sprinkle with 15 raisins.
5. Roll the crepe into a log and cut in half.
6. Refrigerate crepes that aren’t being served. It keeps in the fridge for almost one week.

To Serve:
Melt about 1 tablespoon of butter in a skillet and sauté the rolled cheese crepes on medium heat until golden brown on both sides. They don’t take long to sauté. Be careful not to burn them.
Dust with powered sugar (optional) and serve with sour cream or jam on the side.

Ham and Cheese Loaf

Ham and Cheese Loaf

31/2 cups flour
2 tbsp yeast
2 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup water
1/4 cup prepared mustard(I used half regular and half bold n spicy)
2 tbsp butter

Filling:
3 cups chopped cooked ham
1 cup grated swiss cheese
3/4 cup diced dill pickles

1 egg lightly beaten, to brush on loaf just before baking

Reserve 1 cup flour. Mix remaining flour, yeast, sugar and salt in large bowl. In separate bowl microwave water, mustard and butter until very warm. Stir warm liquid into dry ingredients. Mix in enough of the reserved 1 cup flour to make a soft dough that does not stick to bowl. Knead until smooth and elastic approx 4 to 5 min.
Cover and let rest for 10 minutes.

To fill and shape dough...roll dough to approx 15 by 10" rectangle. Place on greased baking sheet.
Sprinkle ham, cheese and pickles over the centre third of rectangle. With a sharp knife make 1" cuts from filling to dough edges on each side of the filling. Alternate sides, fold strips of dough at an angle across filling.Cover and let rise in warm place until double in size, approx 30 min. Brush loaf with beaten egg.
Bake at 375 for 35 min.

Wareneki and Plum Wareneki

Wareneki

• 3/4 cup whipping cream
• 4 egg whites. . .beaten until soft peaks form
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• about. . 2 1/2 cups of flour

Whip the egg whites in a large grease free bowl. . . add the whipping cream and the baking powder and the salt.

Add the flour a bit at a time. . I did mine in my standup mixer with a dough hook. . .but it can easily be accomplished with a spoon.

Continue to add a bit of flour at a time until you have a soft dough but stiff enough to roll out.

Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour or so . .make the filling.

Cottage Cheese Filling

• 2 cups of dry cottage cheese
• the egg yolks from the eggs above
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Mix together with a pastry blender or put it all in the food processor and mix until the cottage cheese is finely ground. . not pureed.

Roll the dough out. . .on a slightly floured counter. Add a bit more flour if it is sticky.

Now. . you can either start at the top of you dough. . about 2 inches down. . and plop a teaspoon of filling every three inches. . leaving room between. . then fold the dough down and use a glass to cut out half moons. . and pinch them shut. .

Or. . just use a glass and cut out rounds and then use a small teaspoon and put a bit of filling on your dough and then fold in half and pinch shut. . try not to get filling in the area you are pinching shut. . this is a potential. . open in the bath escape area.

Put them on a floured parchment papered cookie sheet and keep them in the refrigerator until you are ready to boil them. . or. . freeze them on a cookie sheet to use another day .. I always tuck a few away. . .don't' tell my family that. . my beloved and I have a private party a few days later. . .

Now. . ..about the plum wareneki. . just slice the plums in half and then depending on how large you are making them. . slice them in half again. . and put them into the dough and pinch shut. .

I don't bother to flour them unless I use frozen plums. . they are a bit trickier to stuff and I find a little flour keeps them less leaky.

About 20 minutes before you are ready to eat. .

Put a large pot of water on to boil. . add a teaspoon of salt.

Start the sauce. . I know there are many various favorite sauces for wareneki. .but we still love the simple sauce of 1 cup of whipping cream to 1/4 cup butter. . bring to a boil and simmer a few minutes until it thickens. . .depending on how much you love your sauce . . you may need to make a double recipe of this.

Gently put the wareneki in the boiling water and bring it back to the boiling point. Boil only a few minutes.

Once the wareneki are floating they are done. .

Drain in a colander. . gently. . and serve. . a little melted butter helps to keep them from sticking. . we generally eat them too quickly to let them stick. .

I also saute some onions. . caramelized are quite yummy on the cottage cheese ones.

This meal is certainly not nutritionally sound. .aside from the eggs and the cottage cheese. . but a few now and then. . is so satisfying to the soul .. and isn't that good for something?

Zwieback

• 1  1/2 tablespoons yeast
•  1  teaspoon sugar
• 1 cup warm water

• 3 cups warm milk
• 1/4 cup instant potato flakes
• 3 Tablespoons Oil
• 1 cup soft butter (no substitutes)
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 7 cups flour plus a little more for dusting your counter

1. Add the yeast and sugar to the warm water in a large mixing bowl or the bowl of your dough mixer.  Allow to sit for ten minutes. .it should puff up.  If it doesn't start over. . the water should be more lukewarm than hot.
2. Heat the milk until it is also just warm. . room temperature is perfect.
3. Add the instant potato flakes and stir.
4. Add the milk mixture, the oil and the salt to the yeast in the large bowl.
5. Cut the butter into  3 cups of the flour with a pastry blender.
6. Add the butter and flour mixture to the yeast and milk mixture.
7. Add the remainder of the flour and allow the machine to knead until smooth.
8. If you are mixing by hand, turn the dough onto a floured counter once stirring becomes too difficult.
9. Knead to a smooth dough.
10. Put the dough into a large mixing bowl and cover. 
11. Let the dough double in bulk . . .about an hour.
12. You will need 3 large cookie sheets.  Line them with parchment paper or grease.
13. Take a piece of dough the size of a orange,  hold it in your left hand.  With your right hand, squeeze a bit of dough between your thumb and forefinger about the size of a walnut, pinch your thumb and forefinger together to squeeze it off.  With your right hand take the dough and place it on the pan.  Again, squeeze the dough between your thumb and forefinger, this time a smaller piece to make the top bun.  Squeeze it off and place it on top of your first bun.  With both your index fingers, press down through the top and bottom  buns to seal them together.  Repeat with all the dough.
14. Cover the buns with a clean tea towel  and let rise about an hour or until they have doubled.
15. Bake in a preheated 400 F oven for about 20 minutes.  If you have a convection oven, bake at 375 F for about 15 mintues or until golden brown.

Chipa

• 3 cups Tapioca Starch
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 cup of oil
• 2 cups of strong grated cheese, like Old Cheddar*
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk

1. Mix all the dry ingredients together.
2. Add oil, beaten eggs with the milk and stir in till the dry ingredients are well moistened.
3. Put into greased muffin tins.
4. Bake at 350 til golden brown, 20-25 minutes.
5. I always bake them in mini muffin tins and they take about 15 minutes to get golden. I keep the mini muffin tins gluten free to avoid cross contamination, and my larger ones for flour.

*You can use any combination of cheese according to personal taste. Like adding a 1/2 cups of cottage cheese, mixed with Parmesan, or smoked Gouda Swiss, Jalapeno Pepper Jack perhaps? Change up the flavors once in a while for a new taste experience.

**Just a word of caution. It is gluten free, and if you don't eat them the day that they are made, they will certainly loose that soft, chewy goodness and become a bit dry and hard. So enjoy them right out of the oven and only make as many as you need. Using mini muffin tins is the way to go. The larger ones do not taste the same.

Pizza with Mushrooms, Pepers, Garlic, and Smoked Mozzarella

 

(sorry my cutting board isn't the best photo background)

Ingredients

• Dough:
• 1 1/2  cups  warm water (100° to 110°F)
• 1  package rapid-rise active dry yeast
• 1/2  teaspoon  granulated sugar
• 4 1/2  cups  all-purpose flour
• 3  tablespoons  extra-virgin olive oil
• 2  teaspoons  kosher salt

Preparation

1. In the bowl of an electric stand mixer, combine the water, yeast, and sugar. Stir briefly and let stand for 5 minutes or until the top surface has a thin, frothy layer (this indicates that the yeast is active). Add the flour, oil, and salt. Fit the mixer with the dough hook and mix on low speed for about 1 minute or until the dough begins to come together. Increase the speed to medium. Continue to mix until the dough is slightly sticky, smooth, and elastic, about 10 minutes. Form the dough into a ball and place in a lightly oiled bowl. Turn it over to coat all sides and tightly cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Allow the dough to rise in a warm place until it has doubled in size, 1½ to 2 hours.

2. In a large bowl mix ¼ cup oil with the salt and pepper. Place the garlic cloves in the middle of a small sheet of aluminum foil, about 8 inches square, and pour 1 tablespoon of the oil mixture over the garlic. Fold up the sides to make a sealed packet, leaving a little room for the expansion of steam.

3. Add all the peppers and mushrooms to the bowl with the remaining oil mixture. Toss to coat the vegetables evenly.

4. Prepare the grill for direct cooking over medium-high heat. Preheat a perforated grill pan over direct medium-high heat for about 10 minutes. While the pan is preheating, place the packet of garlic over direct medium-high heat and cook until the cloves are soft and light brown, 15 to 20 minutes. Remove the packet from the grill. When the grill pan is really hot, using tongs, lift the mushrooms and peppers from the bowl and spread them out in a single layer on the pan. Cook until they are nicely browned and tender, about 6 minutes, stirring once or twice. Wearing insulated barbecue mitts, remove the pan from the grill and set it down on a heat-proof surface.

5. Cut the dough into 8 equal pieces. Lightly brush eight, 9-inch squares of parchment paper on one side with oil. Using your fingers, flatten each piece of dough on a sheet of parchment paper to create 8 rounds. Each round should be about 1⁄3 inch thick and 6 to 8 inches in diameter. Lightly brush the tops with oil. Let the rounds sit at room temperature for 5 to 10 minutes.

6. Lower the temperature of the grill to medium heat. Brush the cooking grates clean. Working with 4 rounds at a time, place the dough on the cooking grate with the paper sides facing up. Grill over direct medium heat, with the lid closed as much as possible, until the dough is well marked and firm on the underside, 2 to 5 minutes, rotating as needed for even cooking. Peel off and discard the parchment paper. Transfer the crusts to a work surface with the grilled sides facing up. Repeat with the other 4 rounds.

7. Spread the cheese evenly over the crusts and then arrange some garlic, mushrooms, and pepper slices on top. Return the pizzas to the grill and cook over direct medium heat, with the lid closed as much as possible, until the cheese is melted and the bottom of the crusts are crisp, 2 to 5 minutes, rotating the pizzas occasionally for even cooking. Transfer to a cutting board and cut into wedges. Serve warm.

Pizza Party Lunch

With all the rain we've been having we needed a little pick me up.  So we made homemade pizza and watched Princess and the Frog.  Now all the wee-ones are sleeping.. yay!

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Pizza ingredients
• Stand Mixer
• 18" pizza pan or pizza stone
• Hungry appetite

1. 3 cups all purpose bread flour
   (Enough dough for x 3 pizzas)
   1 1/4 cups water
   1 package of self rising yeast
   3 tablespoons of honey
   1/2 can Hunts Zesty and Spicy Classic Spaghetti Sauce
   1/2 lb Mozzarella Cheese
   Onion
   Sea Salt
   Baby Portabella mushrooms
   Oregano
   Basil
   Garlic
   Extra Virgin Olive Oil
   
   Pre-heat your oven to 450 degrees. You will use your stand mixer, combine the bread flour, self-rising yeast, water and honey, mix well. After the dough has been mixed, apply a small amount of olive oil to the mixing bowl and onto the dough. Set aside and allow the dough to rise (approximately 15-20 minutes). Separate the dough into 1/3 which will make 1 pizza. Add olive oil to your circular pizza pan. Place the dough onto the greased pizza pan (using olive oil), pound the dough with a hamburger flipper into a circle.
2. Apply the Hunts Zesty & Spicy Classic Spaghetti Sauce on top of the dough, add the mozzarella cheese and all desired remaining toppings. Finally, add the salt, oregano, basil, garlic, salt & pepper.
3. Bake your pizza for 15-20 minutes at 450 degrees and ENJOY!

A breakfast treat!

Cinnamon Rolls!  I aplogozie in advance that this recipe is in metric.  My favorite cook is british!  I love Nigella Lawson and this is her verison of yumminess.

Ingredients

• 400gr Flour
• 25gr fresh Yeast
• 200ml lukewarm Milk
• 40g Sugar
• 70g soft Butter
• 1/4tsp Salt
• 2tsp Cinammon

Topping:

• 100g soft Butter
• 70gr Sugar
• 1Tbsp Cinammon

Method

1. Put the flower into a bowl, crumble the yeast in, pour in some milk and mix up with the yeast. Cover it and rest for 10 minutes.
2. Add the other ingredients for the dough and knead everything into a smooth dough. Cover and let it rise for at least 20 minutes (1 hour is better).
3. Gently press dough down and, on a floured surface, roll into a roughly 30x70 cm rectangle. Mix the ingredients for the filling and spread evenly on the dough. Roll up from one long side, then cut your roll into 5cm long strips.
4. Press down the the flat side of the knife in the middle of the rolls, so that the centre goes down and the cut sides open up a bit.
5. Put rolls on a parchmented baking sheet and let them rise for another 10 minutes or so. Preheat the oven to 225C, eggwash the rolls and bake the rolls for ca. 12 minutes.

Serves: about 10 - 12 rolls

Everyone was thrilled with their treat this morning