When it comes down to it, everything I know came from Michigan. And hey, that good ol’ state has seen its ups and downs, but dammit, it’s not going anywhere. Some awesome folks just created a new site, www.mittenstretcher.com where they’re helping to spread the greatest news about Michigan to displaced Michiganders around the world.

I’m happy to be guest blogging from time to time, so go check out my rambling, or some of the other awesome articles about beer, vodka, bicycles and other awesome stuff.

Every Friday afternoon, I get a text message from the Humane Society, promoting their weekly Meatless Monday recipe. As mouth-watering as they always sound and look, I’ve never actually sat down and made one. But with this week’s recipe for Corned Beefless Brisket and Cabbage, celebrating everyone’s favorite drunken holiday, I knew I was in.

I’ve gotta say though, I was slightly disappointed in the recipe itself. As amazing as the meal ended up being, the recipe as posted was definitely a bit of a let down and seems to have missed some important review processes. Luckily, since the recipe came from Meet the Shannon’s, I was able to find the original and right my ship before I was in too deep.

But, hey, the intention was good, so I’ll let it slide this time. But ingredients are important when crafting a recipe, and when certain ingredients are listed multiple times, it does some crazy things to one’s head.

So just remember, the broth only gets used once, and not as a marinade. Not twice. Just remember.

Now that that’s off my chest, lets talk about really how great this meal was. I’m always a pretty big fan of a meal that takes a traditionally popular food and veg-es it up to make it healthier and edible on my end of the world.

The first order of business, make some Irish Soda Bread. I went with a traditional recipe that made for a very rich, delicious loaf. I cut some fat by going with fat-free sour cream and yogurt instead of buttermilk, so it’s a bit more guilt-free.

With this many raisin, (I’m talking 3 cups) I was curious of the end result, but it really did all come together just fine.

After adding all of the dry ingredients including the two stunners in the bowl, the raisins and caraway seeds, you add the dry ingredients, then put it in a 9-inch pan and you’re basically done. No kneading, or anything.

While that was basking in the oven, I started getting the rest of the meal together. But here’s where my recipe got a bit confused. In the HSUS recipe, it tells you to add the broth and other ingredients together to presumably marinate the beef. Well, what it actually did was replace the word “beef” with “broth” so you can imagine where the confusion came from. On top of that, I was not about to wait 2-hours for full marination, so I sorta cheated and tried to infuse the flavors quickly.

I also didn’t happen to have pickling spice kicking around, so I had to improvise and mix up my own (including some of my favorites from the Alden Mill House). I really gave my spice cabinet a workout.

After getting the spices together, next up is the broth. And since I’ve been on a constant hoarding and freezing routine, I just so happened to have some hearty, homemade veggie broth in the freezer just calling out to be used here. Once it was defrosted, I added the white wine, some of the spices then started heating it up.

After the broth is lightly boiling, add the potatoes, onion and cabbage and cover until it’s all soft.

At this point, the Soda Bread was about halfway done, so I took the beef tips, added more seasoning, some marinade and baked it until browned.

Once it’s browned properly, set it aside and keep warm until the rest of the meal is ready to devour.

And look at that, it just so happens that the rest of the meal is, in fact, ready to be eaten since the potatoes and cabbage are tender.

I had to cut up the cabbage a bit more, since the quartering the recipe called for was just too big in my opinion. So I halved the quarters once they were out of the pot, making perfect sized wedges.

Just before plating the feast, I sliced up the Irish Soda Bread, then slathered it with some deliciously fatty Irish butter.

As I was serving, I doused some malt vinegar on top of everything, to add some extra character and whoa, there you have my St. Patrick’s Day feast. It had some minor hurdles, but when it was all said and done, it was devoured quickly and enjoyed by all. I’ll be sure to be adding this to my recipe box for St. Patrick’s Days to come. I’ve reposted the recipe below (with some edits) for all of anytime you have the crave for a vegan Irish meal.

Vegan Corned Beef and Cabbage

(Tweaked from Corned Beef-Less from Meet the Shannon’s/ HSUS)

And I did just that. Taking complete health-consciousness out of the picture for a moment was key. Instead of my usual dance around “how can I cut the fat” or “well that’s lower in sugar” I gave in to my dream and let the food steer me.

And I made this:

A slice of Breakfast Lasagna

After last time, I knew I wanted a few things in the lasagna:

1. Scrambled eggs
2. Lasagna noodles
3. More cheese
4. Gravy

Somehow, I could bring all of my favorite breakfast foods together between lasagna noodles. I think I can, I think I can.

I was a little nervous to say the least (and may have been still feeling my rager the night before), but I started off with making a sausage gravy. Sure it was part selfish, but since I don’t eat meat, I used the lightlife veggie sausage. I swear, it’s one of those non-meat products that are out there that can easily be passed as real meat.

I started with frying the sausage in a bit of oil, and followed my usual sausage gravy recipe. Browned it, floured it, seasoned it, then milked and creamed it. And voila, my lasagna sauce was ready for its debut.

Veggie Sausage Gravy

This is where I start getting nervous. 

I know my gravy is good, it’s time tested. But is it going to work as normal lasagna sauce? Eeeks. I’m biting my nails here… but a house full will be over in an hour, so I don’t have a choice but to push on. advil. must. get. advil.

While my gravy is getting to the perfect thickness, it’s time to get on these scrambled eggs. I take 10 eggs and scramble them up in a pan with a some milk to make them a good level of fluffy. Be careful here, remember, these are going to be in a baked lasagna, so stop the cooking a couple of minutes before you normally would.

Eggs a Scramblin’

So I took my baking dish and greased it. Then, like the start of a normal lasagna, laid down a building block of sauce.

The lasagna foundation

Let’s get some layering action on. Now, to make this venture even more risky, I decided to use no-boil lasagna noodles for the first time. It sounds easy, and looks easy, but is it? I soon found out that yes, yes they are. If I had a nickle for every lasagna noodle that got all stuck and crumpled up during the boil stage…

On top of the even layer of noodles goes 3/4 of the scrambled eggs. Then a good dose of cheddar cheese. Remember what I said about that whole healthy thing! Then put a light coat of gravy on top of the eggs.

Time for another layer!

In theory, here you’ll have more gravy to put down. But, I ran out of that already. So we’re mixing it up.

Put the rest of the eggs on top followed by another good layer of cheddar cheese , finally sprinkle with grated Parmesan. I was getting a little worried about moisture ratio, so before finishing, I added some milk on top and around the edges for extra creaminess. *Keeping my fingers crossed*

After the milk, I add some dried sage leaves for flavor and presentation and away it goes in the abyss of my oven.

Waiting… Waiting… Turning oven light on.. Waiting… Smelling… Ugh, still waiting…

Then it’s time and this is what I’m met with:

The baked breakfast lasagna

So the top layer of the lasagna noodles got a little weird, but that’s easy enough to deal with. Ok, feeling more confident now. And phew, that advil is really helping.

The table is almost full, but I’m going to make people wait a little bit longer just to make sure this thing sets up properly.

Hmm, ten minutes-ish, that seems good enough.

Holy crap. What the..? Wow. I’m a bit confused. Somehow, this madness worked! Like, it really, really worked. I taste all of my favorite breakfast things right now. Crap, I better hurry and eat if I want a second piece, it’s going fast.

It’s almost gone! But look at those layers!

Seriously, you guys, this was a home-run. I may even be close to calling the Case of the Breakfast Lasagna officially closed. But I won’t yet. Because in my world of wanna-be perfection, I have a few minor things to adjust (not having a wild night before hand may be a good start). But I’m almost there.

What do you think? What would you do differently? Should I add something else?

Chris’ Breakfast Lasagna V.2

But, I just can’t quit. I welcome the challenge (not the frustration and shouting that often follows) and know it’s all about trial and error and patience. Yeah, that P-word is not one of my favorites…

But it’s summer, and there are few desserts that shout summer as much as a sour cherry pie.

Gluten-Free Cherry Pie

It was a sad year for these beautiful fruits. My home state of Michigan, the state that grows more sour cherries than anyone else, suffered a huge loss of around 90% of their crop this year. A crazy warm front came in early spring, and then lots of frost followed it, so those baby buds couldn’t even compete. Hey, I’ve heard of this thing called global warming, have you?

Funny story, Michigan was actually somewhat able to survive, due to sour cherries imported from Poland. Rather interesting, but apparently the Polish variety are similar enough that the Michigan fruit production industry could make do.

Back to pie. Gluten free baking is definitely a challenge, or can be for a novice. But if you can set some time aside, as well as a pile of something to throw every now and then, you’ll do just fine. And the end result (even if the cherries are from the NW)? The flakiest, most delicious gluten-free crust ever. I hate the time-consuming-over-night-forced-crust as much as the next guy, but for a stellar crust, you really have to do some planning the night before.

There are only a few ingredients, but simple is really the best sometimes.

Flaky Gluten Free Pie Crust

You’ll notice my mixture of fats. But this is really what sets this crust out. I try my best to cook and bake as healthy as possible, but pie crust is one of the exceptions to that rule, slightly. If you want a flaky crust, you have to have some good fats. But mixing a few here will give you the best of both worlds.

Gluten-Free Latice

The lattice is where this dough gets tricky. Gluten free dough is sticky and may not come together as nicely as you’d like. If this is the case, cheat a little and reform strips atop of the pie. It’ll work out fine, I promise!

If lattice work is too daunting, relax and just make a flat-top. It’ll still taste and look beautiful.

Sour Cherries before Pitting

Now for my filling.

This part is pretty easy, but feel free to deviate as you see fit.

I recently got a cherry pitter and let me tell you, LIFE CHANGING. this little $5 tool make the art of cherry desserts really shine.

So pit 5 cups of sour cherries to start. Once they’re pitted, throw them together with 1 cup of sugar, 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract, 3 tablespoons of corn starch, 1 teaspoon of lemon juice and a dash of salt.

Put your filling inside the pie before assembling the top crust and you’re golden! (you like that one?)

Cover crust of pie lightly with aluminum foil so it doesn’t burn and then bake pie in a 400 degree oven for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 and bake for another 40-50 minutes, or until filling is bubbly and the crust is golden-brown.

Look, my lattice isn’t perfect, but I’m ok with that. Practice makes perfect, right?

We’ll get through this gluten-free baking thing together, I promise. Until then, have a piece of pie.

Gluten-Free Cherry Pie Cooling

That’s a flaky crust!

What to do with lasagna noodles, when you want to clean out your cupboard? And it hit me like a speeding train: BREAKFAST. LASAGNA.

I mean, think about it, it’s doable, right? You have a carb, you have a sauce, and you have a protein/ veggie filling. It’s gotta work, right?

Well yesterday I embarked on just that, my first venture into breakfast lasagna. It was definitely good, but I have some new ideas for the next one that I might just have to make this weekend. Who’s coming to brunch?

So I bring you: Chris and the Case of the Breakfast Lasagna.

It took some time to think through. Store-bought noodles, hand-rolled, potato-based? Something else? And while the cat is not entirely out of the bag after the first go-around, I went with some hash-brown layering to give it an extra breakfasty kick. (It also didn’t hurt that I had some potatoes that started to grow things and were begging to be sliced and diced.)

The filling was a balanced layering job of  sautéed swiss chard (from my garden!), local oyster mushrooms, yellow onion, purple bell pepper, cheese and lots of egg, of course.

This is usually the point where you’ve seen a few photos. Well, yes, that  should have happened. But, my time-planning for brunch preparation wasn’t the best this time around, and my minutes were too short to spare, and taking photos just weren’t really an option if I wanted food to be nearing completion as guests walked in the door.

My Review. So it wasn’t exactly what I was hoping. It was good. It was yummy. But it wasn’t my vision from that night long ago. The consistency here is a bit more like that of a quiche-casserole type of thing, so not quite the lasagna I was going for.

But the good news for you: I have more of a vision, and it’s coming to fruition. As much as I want to tell you all about what my next one is going to be like, I’m going to bite my tongue, avoid my desire to rant (who, me? never.), and instead just make you wait to see the finished product.

Served up with some chocolate-cherry muffins, some fresh squeezed tomato-juice bloody marys and some watermelon gazpacho, it made for quite a lovely Sunday.

Happy eating.

Chris’ Breakfast Lasagna V.1

Instead of pretending that I will be able to finish every saved draft I’ve created and forgotten about. Let’s try killing a few birds with one stone. I present to you my compilation: My Month in the Kitchen (or so). Here are some of the fun things that I’ve been up to over the last couple of months…

Bourbon Brownies

More Spinach Pie!

I’ve made my love for spanakopitapretty well known, but it’s really one of those cultural staples that I can never get enough of. It’s where I can pretend that I was raised in more of my natural heritage than I actually was, while also enjoying real delicious-ness. When I was back in Michigan, I made some of these guys up for a family member’s party, and made bite-size portions instead of my usual large edition.

Pearl Onions

Sautéed Spinach, going all traditional this time.

Feta Cheese, it doesn’t get much better.

Spanakpoita Triangles

And then Spring Started to Spring

Late spring is fabulous. The weather starts breaking, patio season begins, and some amazing produce pops up for limited periods of time. I’m talking green garlic, morel mushrooms, fiddlehead ferns and the like. Wait, what’s that, you aren’t familiar with fiddleheads?

I was introduced to these oddities a few years ago when I was working in Ottawa, a place where fiddleheads are aplenty in late spring. Earthy. Grassy. Fibery. They are definitely different, and not everyone’s cup of tea, but the uniqueness of them is all part of the allure.

I struck out a bit this year, not being able to find them anywhere. So, after somewhat of a search, I found them at an over-night foraging company in BC, Canada. For a… not so cheap, price, I ordered them. But then, as luck would have it, my local CSA had some, so it was double duty fiddleheads. I can’t wait to use the surprise frozen bag of them later this summer or fall!

Flax Flatbread, with Mushrooms and Fiddlehead Ferns

Sautéed Fiddlehead Ferns

Then Summer Produce Started Peaking

Strawberries. As a kid, the run-of-the-mill Driscoll’s white-in-the-middle berries never did it for me. Actually, I stayed as far aways as I could. And now as I’ve gotten older, my tastes have refined, and maybe my maturity has moved up a tid bit, I still find these white-centered berries shun-able.

For those of you who aren’t in a northern state, let me first apologize. You are missing out. Northern strawberries are the sweetest, redest, best baking friends a guy could ask for. They are quite a bit smaller than the genetically modified junk you get at your chain store, and the taste really indicates it.

As summer starts, there is only one dessert that brings in the season: strawberry rhubarb cobbler. Organic, local rhubarb, and local strawberries is one helluva sexy marriage, after all. Add some sugar, a nice oatmeal-maple top, and your day just got a lot better.

One day, we will realize that bigger fruit, is not always better. Until then, I will passive aggressively blog about it.

Local, Organic Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp: messy, but heavenly.

Local, Organic Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp. It was a major hit!

And Every Boy Needs His Brunch

Plus, I’m always a fan of adding caffeine to my food. So some chai tea concentrate, some cinnamon some vanilla, all added to a solid pancake base and BAM! That’s a real way to start a morning.

Spicy Chai Pancakes

Farmer’s Markets Change Lives

I have such a love/hate with DC farmer’s markets. They remind me of days when I lived in Michigan and could drive out to the local farms and fill up my trunk for $20. It’s been a serious chore to try to detach myself from that idea. It’s DC. It’s yuppie. It’s hipster. It’s gentrified HQ. So of course, everything is inflated to hell.

That being said, I still love the DC markets. You can get some really good quality produce — not even comparable to the rotten stuff they sell at our grocery stores here. So, I go. I sample. I buy. Then I’m broke.

One of my favorite vendors is the mushroom man. Not only because all the workers are cute, but because they have some really good quality ‘shrooms.

I feel guilty every time I buy some funky looking mushroom, and a recipe calls for pulverizing it into tiny pieces. So if you have some really good, different wild mushroom recipes, please share them!

Wild Mushrooms from the Dupont Farmers Market

This time around I tried out a few different things: wild mushroom risotto, easy mushroom pizza (aka, my dough didn’t turn out so I resorted to tortilla pizzas) and mushroom tempeh tacos.

Making the Risotto

Wild Mushroom Risotto

East Wild Mushroom, Garlic, Swiss Pizza

Chipotle Wild Mushroom and Tempeh Tacos.

The Schnozberries Taste Like Schnozberries

Gooseberries. They’re so Wily Wonka. So British. Besides hearing the word, what does anyone actually know about these mystery fruits?

The market had some last week, and since I was already binging, I knew I needed to give them a shot. They remind me a lot of rhubarb, they’re definitely sour, but put into a dessert, the sour blends perfectly.

I only bought a small box, so ended up making a gooseberry cobbler for two.

The Gooseberries Taste like Gooseberries!

Baked Gooseberry Cobbler for Two

Baked Gooseberries

A slice of Gooseberry Cobbler

Then it was DC Pride, and Time to Throw a Party

We held a pretty big party in our backyard to celebrate the weekend, and even though it was a happy hour party, I obviously still had to cook a few things up.

Feta, Radish, Yogurt Dip

Michigan Strawberry, White Chocolate Cookies

Bourbon Brownies

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is all the stuff I’ve been forgetting to post. And now, I’m hungry to eat all of it, don’t mind if I do.

And let’s face it, we’ve had our share of hurdles with the little princess, but any way you shape it, this little girl has changed our lives for the better. She may not be the most dog-friendly, and she still may have accidents (or puke on the carpet right after we had it cleaned) but she’s one of the best cuddlers a guy could ask for, and helps make the apartment feel warmer.

To celebrate her one-year since being born again, I decided she needed a special treat. Instead of having a full-blown party like I actually debated, I just went for a cake for the little girl.

As much as I wanted to let her eat the whole thing… I knew it was in the best interest of my floors that it be divided up over a few days.

Sophia’s First Glance

For those of you who haven’t baked for your dog before, the trick is to use as little sugar and dairy product as possible. So really, go as bland as possible, while still making it somewhat appealing.

Cake

• 1 cup of flour (I used whole wheat)
• 1 cup of grated, raw sweet potatoes
• 1 egg
• dash of vanilla extract
• teaspoon of baking soda
• 1/3 cup of peanut butter
• 1/4 cup of vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons of honey

Icing

• 1/4 cup of cream cheese
• 1/4 cup of peanut butter
• a few tablespoons of milk
• a few tablespoons of flour
• Food coloring

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Mix all cake ingredients into a stiff dough
3. Put dough into greased cake pan
4. Bake for 20-30 minutes, until golden on top
5. Let cool on cooling rack
6. Mix cream cheese, peanut butter and alternate the milk and flour until you get your desired consistency
7. Add food coloring
8. Once cake is cooled, frost, then serve to your puppy

Mixing Puppy Dough

Flattening the Bland Dough

Mixing the Icing

Cooling the Puppy Cake

Cake with Princess Purple Icing

Happy One-Year Sophia!

We weren’t sure what to expect when we put the plate down, but soon realized that Sophia’s only real interest was in licking all of the icing off the top. So to get her to enjoy the cake itself, I cut a slice for her, and the rest is history.

She Was Really Into the Icing

And then I cut a slice…

Nom Nom Nom

It’s been one-year with our little Frenchie, and we can’t wait for many more to come. Maybe next year she’ll have a brother or sister to share the cake with…

Oatmeal- peanut butter cream filled cookies and orange-chocolate scones

Firstly, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that although it was Mother’s Day (just wait for Georgene’s comment on here shortly…) I in fact did not spend it with mommy dearest. Instead I was in Houston with Gabe’s family, spending the weekend at his godmother’s house.

So of course, I had to find a way to go overboard with brunch — and not without some… hiccups, because it wouldn’t be a day in the kitchen without them, right?

In full disclosure let’s just get the dirty laundry out of the way quickly.

1) Only one oven of the double oven was working. And to make matters more complicated, the one oven that is working is a broiler oven, unbeknownst to me.

2) I made it to the grocery store at 11:30, when they closed at midnight, the night before brunch. We were able to get what we needed, but of course, I was up at 6:30 to go and get a bag-full of items I forgot, oops.

3) Being in a stranger’s kitchen, I had to improvise some kitchen tools, of course, later to find them hiding somewhere.

So problem #1 considered, we went for more of a …. 6-ish hour, spread out “brunch tapas” event. Yeah, that’s what we’re calling it.

So to start, I went with some breakfast pastries to pass because little is better than waking up nice and early to the aroma of freshly baked delicacies wafting throughout the house. In all of my recipes, I wanted to push the envelope a bit with some new things that some of the folks in attendance may not have tried before, we were in Texas refinery country after all.

Joy the Baker’s Orange/ Dark Chocolate scones were my first go-around and man were they simple! Scones always seem to amaze me. You can buy one at a coffee shop and its grossly hard and crumbly, and really not all that enjoyable. Or you can make them and they are flaky and soft and mind-blowing. I’m pretty sure we got close to mind blowing.

Adding the dark chocolate to the scones

Flattening the Scone Dough

After cutting the scones, it’s baking time!

My other early pastry was also courtesy of Joy and her baking with the oatmeal cookie, peanut butter sandwiches. Um, these things are incredible. I had to shoo a few people away from the kitchen as they tried to eat them up before I even got them filled!

Oatmeal Cookies

Peanut Butter Filling for Oatmeal Sandwich Cookies

Oatmeal Cookie, Peanut Butter Sandwiches

I also found a rather simple pecan sticky bun recipe from Martha Stewart. Now, you all know that I’ve had my problems with Martha and  her recipes. But this one was incredibly simple. I mean, for starters you can cheat and use refrigerated pizza dough, instead of making your own.

They are nice and easy, where you basically just stretch out the dough, coat it in butter, add the brown sugar and pecans, then roll it up, slice and bake away. As you’ll see, we got a little bit browner on top than would have been ideal due to the oven mishap, but the taste and underside were just right.

Sticky Bun log before being cut.

Now that we were just about at a sugar overload, it was time for something a bit more savory. And what could be better, but kale-feta pie. Now look, I have made some variation of spinach pie for years. It’s one of those recipes that I can throw together in a few minutes and it’s always delicious. But a top-burning oven sorta makes that a bit more difficult. So slow and steady definitely wins the race here. And by that, I mean an oven at 200 degrees, and checking it every few minutes. Yeah, it was a chore, but was necessary for the perfect flaky crust.

The topped off kale-feta pie

Here’s my kale-feta pie recipe.

Along with the kale pie, I brought out some delicious biscuits and gravy. For the biscuits, I used this recipe. They came out nice and flaky, but a little denser than would have been ideal, but obla di, obla da.

Buttermilk biscuit dough, being cut with a fancy dough cutter.

Gravy wise, I got a little selfish and used vegetarian sausage. Sure I wanted to be able to dig into biscuits and gravy, but I also figured with all the carbs and sugars, a little less fat wouldn’t hurt anybody!

For my gravy, I sauteed some onions, throw in the sausage, add some flour, the milk, a dash of nutmeg, salt and pepper then simmer it to thickness.

Buttermilk biscuit smothered in vegetarian sausage gravy

Mmm, it doesn’t get much better than biscuits and gravy.

It’s about time for some eggs, don’t you think?

As much as I try to break out of a box when brunching, there are a few natural fallbacks that I have a hard time escaping from. One of them is a tomato-basil quiche. Maybe I just love the tomato-basil-cheese combo, but it’s always a big hit. Pie crust + swiss cheese + sautéed tomatoes coated in flour + basil + milk + egg beaters. I had to be extra cautious here, again, with the oven, but I somehow got it to work.

Quiche Crust

sausage gravy, potatoes O’Brien, sticky buns, biscuits, tomato-basil quiche.

Potatoes O’Brien, brown sugar-pecan sticky buns, and biscuits and gravy

Ok, look, just reading this far along, I’m already full. But we already had the ingredients, and nothing else to do, so let’s keep it coming.

While I had some things baking away, I boiled a bag of redskin potatoes, just until they are soft. After that, I diced them, then whipped up some potatoes O’Brien with bell peppers and onions.

Potatoes O’Brien

Also to make these Texans content I busted out the bacon. Instead of just serving it as is, I went for a fun toast, egg and bacon cup. These were pretty fun, and came from Martha. They were definitely a hit too! It was a bit strange, bread in the bottom of a muffin tin, then a strip of bacon in it, and an egg cracked on top of it all.

Toast in the muffin tin for the bacon/egg/toast cups.

Bacon, egg and toast cups before going into the oven

Bacon, egg and toast cups ready to devour.

Bacon, y’all!

I even made a little friend with all of my leftover bacon. He wouldn’t stay out of the kitchen once he smelled it. Then he tried to snatch my iphone, but that’s another story.

Daniel waiting for his next piece of bacon

And in honor of mother’s day, I had to use one of my mother’s specialties: cinnamon-apple baked french toast. It’s sweet, it’s creamy, it’s oh so perfect.

French bread for the apple-cinnamon french toast bake

Apple French Toast

We were all basically in a food coma at this point, but it had to be dessert time. For a nice sweet and spicy ending, I called on Martha (hey look, my new friend) for her Carrot Tea Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting. It sounded like a simple carrot cake, but it had much more of a mature taste. A little spicier, a little drier, but all around, wonderful!

Grated carrots in the cake dough

Carrot Tea Cake with Cream Cheese Icing

What. a. brunch. The two hour nap following was definitely needed.

I’ve been making spinach pies for years, but lately, I’ve been substituting kale in the mix. You could use any green, leafy vegetable, but how can you go wrong with kale?

Green Onions in Cast Iron Skillet

The topped off kale-feta pie

• 2 bunches of kale
• 1 bunch of green onion
• 1 package of phyllo dough
• 1 pound of crumbled feta cheese (feel free to use low fat)
• 1 egg
• dried or fresh dill
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• olive oil

1. Chop kale leaves, stripping them from stems.
2. Quickly blanch kale in boiling water.
3. Finely chop green onions and sautee in olive oil.
4. Add sauteed green onions, kale, feta cheese, dill (to taste) egg, sour cream and feta cheese to bowl.
5. Mix to incorporate all ingredients.
6. grease a 9 x 17 baking dish.
7. Layer 4 pieces of phyllo dough on the bottom of the pan, coating each layer lightly with olive oil.
8. Pour kale mixture on top of phyllo.
9. Layer 4 more pieces of phyllo on top of mixture, coat top with oil.
10. Bake in a 400 degree oven until top is browned, about 40 minutes.

After my grandmother Zosia(Sophie)’s passing 6 years ago, no one in the family really had an interest in continuing the labor-intensive tradition of pierogi making. And then there was this weird little gay boy who liked getting dirty in the kitchen.

To celebrate my mother, the sheeny herself, coming for a DC visit, I decided to role out the cabbage-lined carpet and create a feast that would please even the frumpiest Stasho at the PLAV.

The centerpiece was a behemoth platter of pierogi. And in full disclosure, I have to confess, that in the heat of the day of cooking, I somehow managed to forget to take photos of much of the end results. Not sure how this happened exactly, but I’ll blame the wine.

This time around, to make the actual dining day a bit smoother, I rolled out the pierogi dough a few days ahead of time. It’s a rather simple dough, but is a bit time consuming to roll out and cut. Since I wanted some extra, I decided to make a double recipe, as each batch usually makes about 40 little dumplings.

To start off, melt butter (it’s Polish food, so it’s not supposed to be healthy, but if you MUST, you can get away with margarine) in the a cup of warm milk. I usually just put the butter into the milk and microwave it slowly until it’s all melted, but not scalded.

Once it’s all melted, add egg yolks, then add flour and salt. Once the dough comes together, let it take a brief nap, covered and come back to it.

Give it a good knead for about two minutes, then let rest for another ten.

After the rest, divide dough and roll each half out to about 1/8 thickness. Once it’s rolled out, you want to cut them into three-inch rounds. If you don’t have a cookie or dough cutter, use an upside down glass.

Once you have all your dough cut, it’s time to fill!

This time around, I decided to go for four different fillings. The traditional are cheese, potato/onion and sauerkraut. To mix it up, and to use up the Dearborn Ham that my mother brought down for Easter, I made a potato/onion/ham version as well.

The cheese is simple, it’s just ricotta cheese, egg and sugar. The potato, also, fairly simple, mashed potato, onion, salt and pepper. Kraut, similarly, just uses some sauerkraut and onion. For the ham variant, I just three some chopped ham into some of the prepared potato filling.

For filling, take about a tablespoon or two of the filling of your choice, and place in the middle of the dough circle. The goal is to fill the pierogi as mucha s possible, while still being able to close the dumpling. After a dollop of filling, moisten one half of the pierogi and fold over. I now usually just seal them with my fingers, for a more rustic look, but you can also close with a fork if you prefer.

Potato/Ham, Potato, Sauerkraut, Cheese Pierogi fillings.

If you are storing the pierogi and not cooking immediately, be sure to coat them with Pam or a similar cooking spray so they don’t stick. There is nothing worse than spending all day rolling out dough, and then having all of your pierogi get destroyed before you even get to indulge.

When you’re ready to cook them, start off with a quick boil. By pre-boiling, it helps the pierogi stay together, and ensures an even cook.

After the boil, heat some butter or margarine in a pan and then throw the boiled pierogi in. After a minute or two, flip them over to get a nice, even brown coat.

Once they are nice and crispy, serve them with a side of sour cream and dig in!

Pierogi Dough Recipe

(makes 40 pierogi)

• 1 cup warm milk
• 4 Tablespoons butter (or margarine if you must)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4 egg yolks beaten
• 3.5 – 4 cups of flour

1. Melt butter in warm milk
2. Add egg yolks and beat
3. Then pour flour and salt into mix
4. Mix dough together then cover and let rest for 10 minutes
5. Knead for about 2 minutes
6. Let rest for another 10 minutes, then divide in half
7. Roll each half out to 1/8 inches thick
8. Once flat, cut into 3-inch rounds
9. Once cut, fill with a tablespoon or two of filling of choice, then fold in half
10. Once they are filled, pre-boil, then fry in butter

Cheese Filling

• 16oz. Ricotta Cheese
• 1 egg
• 1 Tablespoon sugar

1. Mix all ingredients together

Potato Filling

• 4 potatoes
• 1 onion
• salt/pepper

1. Peel and dice potatoes
2. Boil potatoes until tender
3. While potatoes are boiling, chop then lightly caramelize onions
4. Mash potatoes, salt and pepper to taste
5. Once potatoes are mashed, mix in browned onions

Ham and Potato Filling

• Potato Filling recipe (above)
• 1 cup of diced ham

1. Mix diced ham into potato mixture

Sauerkraut Filling

• 1 cup of prepared sauerkraut
• 1 onion diced
• butter

1. Melt butter in pan, add onions, then sauerkraut

I’ll be posting throughout the week with some more Polish delicacies that I concocted during the week. Be sure to check back for my sauerkraut recipe, dill pickle soup, Polish apple cake, and more! Dziękuję.