Russian Pelmeni

So Ive been homesick for Russia a lot lately, as well as having some major cravings for some of my favorite foods from there. The other night I decided to make some Pelmeni. Mmmmm...
Nina, our area coordinator in Voronezh would teach us how to make some common Russian dishes, but she often didn't have ingredient amounts, so this is kind of my adaptation to the recipe.
Pelmeni are kind of like ravioli, in a sense, since they are 'filled little pasta-guys'. The filling is usually a meat mixture, but is also really good when just red peppers and tomatoes and etc. (The pictures shown were actually my first time making them in years, and my very first time using meat) They're really simple to make, need only a few basic ingredients, and only take a few minutes to cook once assembled! Russians usually eat them with sour cream and butter... but vinegar, ketchup (Russian ketchup comes in flavors and is awesome), or your favorite pasta sauce. They also freeze well and can be frozen for large amounts of time! This recipe makes about 30-40 pelmeni.

Ingredients:

Dough:
2-4 cups of flour (depends on consistency... it needs to be a manageable but slightly sticky dough)
1 cup milk
a 'dash' of salt
1 tbsp oil (I used olive oil this time but veggie is ok)
2 eggs

Filling:
Some finely chopped veggies (red peppers, tomatoes, etc)
....or some sort of meat mixture.
For the meat I did:
1 lb ground beef
1 sm. chopped/grated onion
1 crushed clove of garlic
(garlic)salt and pepper

Directions:
Mix meat/filling mixture and dough in separate bowls.Roll out and gently knead dough. (You can either roll out entire thing of dough very thing and cut out circles with a cup... or, you can do it like me) Break off about a tablespoon sized piece of dough and rolling to a ball, then flatten into a thin circle (the thinner the better, mine are never quite as thin or as small as the Russians, but they still taste the same! -just beware that they plump up a lot when cooked) In the center of your dough circle, put about a teaspoon sized dab of you filling. Fold dough in half over it and pinch edges to close. (so it should have a flat edge and a half circle rounded edge with the filling inside. Take your two corner edges and pull around to meet, making a ball/circle shape and pinch together to hold. (I should've taken pictures for you since that was probably confusing, but my hands were too doughy! They should look similar to the finished -uncooked- ones pictured below though)

They're really simple and quick to make, but I probably wrote that so it was pretty confusing, sorry! Hope the picture helps!
Then boil a pot of salted water and add a few pelmeni at a time. When they are cooked they should float to the top. (when I did the meat ones I let them boil while floating at the top for a few extra minutes just to be safe that it was cooked enough)
Once finished, dab with a bit of butter, a blob of sour cream, and salt and pepper (I use garlic salt on mine) or other sauce that sounds good... Dan mentioned that they'd probably be really good with soy sauce as well(though that would make them more like Asian pot stickers! *wink*)
Enjoy! -let me know if you have any questions! (I will have to add some pictures to illustrate the wrapping so its not as confusing)

Chicken & Veggie Stirfry

I love making this! Its so simple, pretty quick, and a good way to get in TONS of veggies! Dan laughs because I call this 'My Experimental Stir-fry Veggies with a Hint of Rice' ... its always different depending on what we have available at the time (hence 'experimental') and its like a whole pan full of veggies .... with a little rice. :) This is totally one of those meals you just make up as you go with what you have and what sounds good!

Ingredients:
Chicken breasts (we usually do 2-3)
Veggies, chopped (various peppers, peas, carrots, corn, squash, zucchini, water chestnuts, etc)
Rice (I go by looks since we keep our rice in a plastic container, but usually its about 2 cups)
Soy Sauce and/or Teriyaki Sauce
Salt & Pepper to taste *optional

Directions:
Cube and cook chicken well in a large frying pan. (Add a splash of Teriyaki if you like)
On another burner cook your rice. (we usually have the 'instant' kind around, so it only takes a minute or so)
Chop and add your veggie medley to the pan with the chicken. Saute until tender.
Add rice, some soy sauce, and mix well. I usually cook it all together for another minute or two after adding the rice.
Add soy sauce or seasoning as you like it and enjoy!
(makes about 6 servings)

Bow ties with Veggie Cutouts

One of my favorite cookbooks growing up, ...well, make that 'ever'... is the Disney Family Cookbook! Its not only yummy (and adorable!) recipes, but they're also recipes made to try to interest kids in cooking. I seriously recommend it. :)
Ive been looking around for a yummy recipe to make with squash and zucchini.... not only because I like it and my lovely friend Tannie gave us some form her garden, but also because it needed t be something yummy that I made with them so as to help convince my veggie-hating-husband that he likes them too. I kept coming back to this recipe(which Ive always wanted to make -probably mostly because its the cover picture and is so cute!) so I decided this was it.
....Not only did we all (including Addie) like it, but it was super easy and really quick! -which is always a big plus right?! :)
**I couldn't find a picture online, and I didn't take one of the meal I made because we didn't have all the ingredients so it wasn't as 'pretty' as the photo in the book -though it was still just as yummy! The only photo I could find to use (for now) is a picture of the cover of the book. Doesn't show it too well, but you get the idea right?

Want to try it? Here's what you need:

Ingredients:
2-3 cups vegetable cutouts (carrots, zucchini, yellow squash, red & green peppers, etc)
*the picture shows cute little 'cutouts' of veggies in shapes, but we just did the basic chopping veggies into bite sized pieces ... also, I didn't measure by cups, I just added 1 squash 1 zucchini, etc...
1 pound bow tie pasta, cooked (*we just used Penne because that's what I already had -and again, just 'dumped' a good amount in, didn't measure an actual pound)
2 Tbsp Olive oil
1/3 cup ground almonds (*we didn't have any and it was still good without it)
1/3 cup milk
3 crushed garlic cloves (again, I didn't have at the moment so improvised with garlic powder/salt)
1/2 tsp salt
black pepper
Parmesan cheese

Directions:
To make cutouts, slice the vegetables into 1/8 or 1/4"thicknesses, and cut into shapes with tiny cutters (cut from the fleshy side) .... OR, just be boring like me and chop your veggies into basic bite sized pieces. Set aside.
While the pasta is cooking, heat 1 Tbsp Olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Saute the vegetables for 3-4 minutes.
Remove vegetables and add the remaining olive oil and the almonds. Stir until lightly browned. (*again, we didn't have the almonds, so I just left the veggies int he frying pan and added the rest of the ingredients).
Return the vegetables to the pan and add the milk, garlic, salt, and pepper to taste. Cook for 1-2 minutes.
Drain pasta, and toss it with the vegetable mix in a large bowl. Serve with Parmesan if desired. (which we did).

It took like 10 minutes total, and was not only yummy, but a success in getting the picky husband (probably 'kids' in your case) to eat their veggies! *wink*

Ginger Molasses Cookies

*I found this recipe on a blog called 'The Toby Show' (the pic is also hers). I HATE the smell of molasses, but ohhhh these are yummy!

Ingredients:

3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted & cooled
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 egg
3/4 cup molasses
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
-----------------------------
1/4 cup granulated sugar
3 tbsp coarsely chopped crystallized ginger

Directions:
In a medium bowl, wisk together the melted butter and brown sugar. Wisk in the egg and molasses. Blend it all well. It will be very dark and creamy.
In a big mixing bowl, wisk together all the dry ingredients--except for the sugar & crystallized ginger.
Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until you have a nice thick ginger bread dough. Cover and refrigerate the dough for 1 hour.
Meanwhile, place sugar and crystallized ginger in a food processor or mini-prep and grind. Pour mixture into a small bowl.
Preheat oven to 375F and line cookie sheets with parchment.

Take half the dough out of the fridge, leave the other half in there while you work. roll the dough into 1 1/2 inch balls. Lightly roll each ball in the sugar mixture and put on cookie sheet, 3 inches apart.

Bake for 12 minutes or until starting to get golden brown around the edges. Immediately slide parchment onto cooling racks.

This recipe made 27 cookies. I baked 18 of them in 2 batches and put the other 9 balls in the freezer. I omitted rolling the 9 I froze in the ginger sugar. But there's enough ginger sugar left over that I put it in a small glass jar for next time. All I have to do is thaw them, roll them in the ginger sugar and I'm ready to go.

*I make the cookies bigger (like all my cookies) and bake them for less time, just checking until I think they're perfect.

Chocolate Cake Cookies

*I got this recipe (and photo) from Becky Higgins' recipe blog. These are REALLY chocolaty(<-- looks weird but spellchecker did it) and seriously like the easiest, quickest cookies ever!
Ingredients:
1 box chocolate cake mix
2 eggs
1/2 c. oil (I prefer olive oil)
1 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:
Mix all ingredients together. Bake at 350 for 8-9 minutes. Yield: About 3 dozen cookies.

My Favorite Snickerdoodles

*I LOVE these cookies, and I make them extra big and soft! I also usually double this because they don't last that long otherwise! :)

Ingredients:
1 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
3 cups flour
1 tsp cream tarter
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
cinnamon & sugar (for rolling balls in)

Directions:
Mix butter, sugar, and eggs. In separate bowl, mix dry ingredients. Combine both mixes, (I mix with my hands at this point) until its a nice even dough. Mold/shape into 1" balls and roll to coat in the cinnamon & sugar mix. Place on cookie sheet and bake at 400 degrees for 8-10 minutes. (I like mine 'fat' cookies and soft, so mine are usually finished around 8 minutes)
*dough also freezes well, and I save the extra cinnamon and sugar mix in a closed container for next time.

Easy Enchiladas

We love these because they're SUPER easy, quick, and good!... Also great, because you can easily tweak it to whatever sounds good to you.

Ingredients:
1 lb. extra lean ground beef
2 (10 oz.) cans enchilada sauce
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (you can also do mozzarella too)
1 pkg. tortillas
1/2 chopped onion
1chopped tomato
olives
sour cream for topping
*can also switch this out with chicken or beans
*I slice olives in half (long-ways) and lay one piece cut-side-down in center of each enchilada, just because my favorite Mexican restaurant (La Casita in Springville, Utah) always does that. :)

Directions:
Heat oven to 400°F. Brown ground beef over medium-high heat until thoroughly cooked; drain. Stir in 3/4 cup enchilada sauce, onions, tomato and 1 cup cheese. Spoon enchilada filling onto tortillas, roll up and place seam-side down in lightly greased baking dish. Pour remaining enchilada sauce over top; sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake 15 to 20 minutes.
*I usually serve with Mexican rice (from a box) that Ive added salsa and/or tomatoes to.