Menu Lilies XX

Bring milk and water to a boil and immediately stir in bulgar and honey. The milk doesn’t seem to boil over as much the almond milk. Simmer over low heat stirring every 15 minutes until the desired texture, approximately 45 minutes. I didn’t add any spices, but a little poudre douce would probably be nice with it.

Almond milk kasha:
1 cup milk
2 to 2 1/2 cups water
1 cup bulgar (cracked wheat)

Bring almond milk and water to a boil and immediately stir in bulgar. This likes to boil over so be ready to add the bulgar right away. Simmer over low heat stirring every 15 minutes until the desired texture, approximately 45 minutes. This seems to thicken quicker than the milk kasha, which is why I have the extra ½ cup of water to add during the simmering process if needed. I’ve used both homemade almond milk and store-bought almond milk. The homemade milk seemed to make the kasha sweeter and didn’t need any added sweetener.

Almond milk:
½ cup (2 oz) slivered almonds
1 cup water

Food process almonds (or grind some other way) until as fine as possible. Slowly add water while continuing to process the mixture. Then process for a full minute to get as fine a blend as possible. Use as is for the kasha above, or strain out the nut residue.

Chicken kasha:
3 cups water
3 chicken boullion cubes
1 cup bulgar (cracked wheat)
2 whole eggs or 3 egg yolks, beaten lightly.

Bring water and boullion cubes to a boil and immediately stir in bulgar. Simmer over low heat stirring every 15 minutes until the desired texture, approximately 45 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the beaten eggs, then put back on low heat a few minutes and stir continually until egg coating is cooked.

Bread:
Hy-Vee shephard’s bread, Kiev pumpernickel bread.

Chicken a la Rus (a combination of Chicken a la Stasi and Russian "Chickens Stewed in Sour Cream"):
14 (?) pieces of chicken (breast, thighs, drumsticks)
Bacon (to wrap the chicken)
8 turnips
1 tbs butter
2 c sour cream
Greek seasoning
1-2 small cans of mushrooms
15 peppercorns
2 bay leaves

Wrap each piece of chicken in bacon and sprinkle with Greek seasoning. Place chicken in crock pot. Peel and cube turnips and saute in butter until lightly brown. Add to crock pot. Add remaining ingredients to crock pot. Cook until chicken and turnips are tender. Barely fit in the crock pot and bubbled over a little making a small mess. Froze well.

Beef pirogi:
1 medium onion, chopped
1 lb ground beef
2 hard-boiled eggs, chopped
½ tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
¼ tsp dill
Several shakes of garlic salt
Pre-made frozen pie crust for about seven 9-inch pies, cut into 4ths

Cook onion in skillet over medium heat until soft and transparent, but not brown. Add ground beef and cook until completely brown, breaking up the lumps as small as possible. (The original recipe calls for grinding the meat-onion mixture after it’s cooked!) Drain any excess oil. Combine meat mixture with eggs and seasonings. Roll out pie crust to usual pie crust thickness (about 1/8 inch) and cut into 5 inch rounds. Put a couple of tsp of the filling onto one half of each circle, then fold over to make turnovers and seal the edges. Bake at 400 degree for 20-30 minutes until golden brown. Makes about 30 pirogi. Freezes well.

Cabbage pagach:
1 large onion, chopped
1 medium cabbage, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste (I think I used 1 tsp and 1/8 tsp, respectively.)
Enough frozen pie crust for five 9-inch pies.

Cook the onion in a large skillet until soft. Add the chopped cabbage and seasonings and cook covered until soft. Roll out 9-inch crust and put into a pie tin. Put cabbage mixture on one half of circle. Fold over other half of dough to form a large turnover and seal the edge, leaving half the pie tin free to hold another pagach. This recipe will make about 5 of these. Bake in preheated 400 degree oven about 30 minutes or until golden brown. Freezes well.

Trudonoshi:
24 oz. cottage cheese
2 eggs
1/3 c sugar
pinch of salt
Pre-made frozen pie crust for about seven 9-inch pies, cut into 4ths

Food process all the filling ingredient about 30 seconds on low speed (need to do in batches). Roll out the pie crust 4ths to usual pie crust thickness (about 1/8 inch) about 5 inch round. Put a couple of tsp of the filling onto one half of each circle, then carefully fold over to make turnovers and seal the edges. (This was very tricky since the filling turns out rather runny.) Arrange on baking sheet with "sealed" edges up, to minimize leakage. Bake at 400 degree for 20-30 minutes until golden brown. Makes about 30 pirogi. Freezes well. Tastes like little cheesecakes.

Served with raspberry sauce (frozen raspberries with sugar, as I recall) and with blueberry sauce based on the recipe for the blueberry pirogi below (boiled briefly to activate the flour for thickening).

Blueberry pirogi:
One 16-oz. package frozen 1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
3 tbs all-purpose flour
Pre-made frozen pie crust for about seven 9-inch pies, cut into 4ths

Toss together blueberries, sugar, cinnamon and flour. Roll out pie crust 4ths to usual pie crust thickness (about 1/8 inch) into about 5 inch rounds. Put a couple of tsp of the filling onto one half of each circle, then fold over to make turnovers and seal the edges. Arrange on baking sheet with "sealed" edges up, to minimize leakage. Bake at 400 degree for 20-30 minutes until golden brown. Freezes well.