Pierogi Recipes from my kitchen to yours

My Pierogi making partners 2011

I want to share my family's pierogi recipe with all of you. It wouldn't be Christmas in my house without that favorite traditional Polish food, the pierogi. For those of you who don't know what a pierogi is, think of it as a large, stuffed dumpling. In our family we made 3 kinds of pierogi, potato-cheese pierogi, sauerkraut pierogi and plum pierogi. The dough is the same for all of the pierogi-only the pierogi filling recipe changes.

Pierogi dough:
4 cups white flour
4 whole eggs plus 2 egg yolks
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup sour cream

Measure flour into a large bowl. Add eggs, salt and sour cream. Mix together. I use a mixer just to get the dough started and then hand knead to finish. You don't want to overwork the dough or it will be tough. The dough will begin to form a ball as you knead the dough. If the dough is sticky, add a little additional flour and knead a bit more. Cover with a towel and let rest about 10 minutes.

Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface-a counter or kitchen table is a great place to use. I roll the dough about 1/4 thick and then cut dough in circles with a lightly floured glass or biscuit cutter. I then roll the circles out again to about 1/8 inch think and a slightly oval shape.

Put the filling in the center of your dough. Fold over and seal the edges. Here's a tip save the water from your potaoes and use the starchy water on your fingertip to run around the inner edges of the dough. Pinch and crimp well to seal the edges.

Drop into a pot of boiling salted water until the pierogi float. About 5-7 minutes. Drain and rinse in cold water. To prevent the pierogi from sticking to each other butter the boiled pierogi and stack between sheets of waxed paper.

To serve the pierogi, saute in butter until they just start to brown. As Aunt Sophie always said to me, don't let them get brown! Serve with sour cream. Smacznego!

Pierogi Filling Recipes:

Potato-Cheese Pierogi Filling

2 lbs peeled potatoes-about 6 cups-boiled, mashed and cooled.
1 cup of minced onion
1/4 cup butter
1 lb farmers cheese if you can't find farmers cheese in you market, you can use 2 lbs cottage cheese that has been well drained in a cheese cloth.
 salt and pepper.

Saute the minced onion in butter until soft and lightly golden. Add to mashed potatoes, mix in farmers cheese and season to taste with salt and pepper. Use about 2 Tablespoons of filling to each pierogi.

Okay-I used 10 lbs of potatoes!

Sauerkraut Pierogi Filling:

1 large can or jar of sauerkraut
1 oz dried Polish mushrooms (you can substitute any dried mushrooms)
1 cup minced onion
1/4 cup butter

Rinse and drain sauerkraut. you can chop it if you like it finer. Simmer dried mushrooms in water until soft-about 15 minutes. Drain and rinse well to remove any grit. Chop until finely minced. Saute chopped onions in butter until light golden yellow. Combine all ingredients together. Use about 2 tablespoons of filling per pierogi.

Plum Pierogi Recipe:
1 large can of plums.

Drain plums. Remove pits from plums. Use 1 plum per pierogi. My Aunt Kay would dip the boiled pierogi into butter and then into fine white bread crumbs and then saute them in butter.

Sweet Cheese Pierogi Filling Recipe:

1 lb farmers cheese

1/4 cup sugar

1tsp. vanilla extract

1 egg

1/4 tsp. salt

1 tsp. grated orange rind

Mix together ingredients. If you can't find farmers cheese, you can substitute 2 lbs of small curd cottage cheese that has been pressed through a cheesecloth to make a dry cottage cheese. Use about 2 tablespoons of filling per pierogi.

I'd like to thank my brother Adam, who compiled a recipe book of our family's traditional family recipes. Thanks to his hard work, those memories, stories and recipes are preserved for future generations of our family.

Frozen Key Lime Pie

Easy, No Bake Frozen Key Lime Pie

 

A super simple summer dessert. This key lime pie has no raw eggs in the recipe. Cool and tangy with a zesty lime flavor. Perfect for a hot summer day!

Ingredients:
1 8 oz container Cool Whip-thawed
1/2 c key lime juice
1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk

1 prepared Graham cracker crust

2 limes
1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 Tblsp confectioners sugar

Directions:
In a medium sized mixing bowl, whisk together lime juice and sweetened condensed milk. Gently fold in Cool Whip, mix until well blended. Pour mixture into a 9-inch prepared graham cracker crust. Freeze 3-4 hours or overnight until firm.


Zest 1 of the limes, and slice the other lime thinly for garnish. In a chilled bowl, Mix whipping cream until thickened. Add the confectioners sugar and lime zest. whip until the cream is thickened and stiff. Garnish the pie with the whipping cream and lime slices.

Serves 8

This is a super easy no fail recipe. It's always a hit at summer cook outs. Light and full of lime flavor. I prefer to use key lime juice, but regular lime juice can be substituted. I hope you enjoy this!

Spicy Watermelon Salad

Ready for a change this summer? Why don't you try one of my favorite recipes, Spicy Watermelon Salad!.

Sweet, spicy and citrusy, this  cool salad is a perfect summer side dish.

Stir together in a small bowl:
   1 tsp chili powder
   1/2 tsp. salt-or to taste
   1/2 tsp. red chili pepper flakes

In a large bowl, put in:
   6 cups seedless watermelon chunks( about 1/2-1 inch)
  1/2 medium red onion, diced
   1 small jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely minced
   3 Tblsp. fresh lime juice
   2 Tblsp. chopped fresh cilantro

Sprinkle with the spice mixture, toss lightly and chill. Serves 4-6.

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

I just made some chicken noodle soup and my daughters friend said it was even better than her grandmothers. Don’t you just love sharing some comfort food with your family. Chicken noodle soup reminds me of my Busia’s kitchen in Detroit, Michigan when I was growing up. Almost nothing makes me feel better on a dreary winter day when I’m not feeling well as a bowl of steaming hot chicken soup.

Here’s my recipe…I Hope you’ll enjoy making your family a nice pot of chicken noodle soup soon.

Ingredients:

• Whole frying chicken cut-up
• 1 T olive or salad oil
• 1 stalk celery
• 2 medium onions
• 1 bunch carrots (about 4-6)
• 2-3 parsnips
• 2 bay leaves
• Dried parsley flakes
• Salt and Pepper
• Egg Noodles-you can use fine(like the picture) or kluski noodles

Prepare the stock:

In a large stock pot, on medium-high heat, add the oil and chicken. I like to leave the skin on the chicken and brown in slightly-It will add a little more flavor and color to your finished stock. After your chicken is slightly browned, add the tops of your celery stalks-leaves and all! Dice 1 of your onions, add 2-3 chopped carrots, the bay leaves and cover with about 8 cups of water. Cover and let simmer about 1 hour until the chicken is tender . At this point, remove from heat, strain the stock and discard the vegetables. Let the chicken cool and remove the chicken from the bones. If you want to discard the chicken skin-now’s to the time to do it. I personally like the leaving the skin off.

Now for the soup:

In your large stock pot, combine the stock, the chicken you pulled off the bone-chopped into pieces, the remaining carrots, celery, onions and parsnips all chopped coarsely. Add about 1T parsley flakes and salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil and simmer about 20 minutes-until the vegetables are tender-but not mushy.

While the soup is simmering-cook the egg noodles according to the package directions.

When the noodle are cooked, add to soup.

Now sit down and enjoy a nice warm bowl of homemade chicken noodle soup!

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Strawberry Jello Pretzel Dessert Recipe

Yummy strawberry jello dessert.

Do you ever need a easy to make dessert for a party?-This one's a favorite in our family! The crispy pretzel crust is unusual and offsets the creamy center layer. Try making this recipe with all sorts of variations-Try fresh raspberries and raspberry jello or orange jello with mandarin oranges.

2c. coarsely ground pretzels
1 1/2 sticks butter, melted
3 Tbsp. sugar
2 (8oz) packages cream cheese,softened
1 c. sugar
2 (8 oz.)tubs Cool Whip, thawed
1 6oz. pkg strawberry Jello
2c. boiling water
2 (10oz.)pkg frozen sliced strawberries


Layer 1
Mix together crushed pretzels, melted butter and 3T sugar. Press into bottom of 13x9 inch baking pan. Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes. Let cool.




Layer 2
In a large mixing bowl, cream together the cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Fold in Cool whip, mix until well blended. Spoon over pretzel layer and spread evenly.













Layer 3
Mix together Jello and boiling water. Add frozen strawberries. Refrigerate for about 1 hour until slightly thickened. Spoon over cream cheese layer. Refrigerate until jello is firm about 4 hours.