Golubtsi

My sister-in-law Rachelle, asked me if I was going to make a Russian recipe in honor of the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, and actually, I had thought about it.  This recipe according to Natasha of Natasha's Kitchen is a classic Russian/Ukrainian dish. This morning was exciting, when I went shopping for this recipe.  I felt like a New Yorker.  I still couldn't get my van out of the ice and snow, so I took my son to preschool on the MTA bus.  Thankfully the butcher shop I have chosen to go to is just down the street from the preschool.  I came prepared, wearing a backpack for my shopping trip.  I went to the butcher and asked for the meat needed for tonight's and tomorrow's dinner.  It was fun watching the butcher prepare the meat.  He was very nice.  After I went to the butcher, I went down the street to a grocery store next to the train station and bought the other ingredients for my Russian inspired meal.  I needed to go to the train and refill my MetroCard before I could go home.  It was cold, but I loved filling my backpack and walking around town like a true New Yorker.  On we go to the recipe.  Golubtsi is basically Russian stuffed cabbage.

 It tasted really good.

 Ingredients for this recipe are: 1 small head of cabbage, 1 1/2 cups carrots, 1/2 lb. ground pork,
1/2 lb. ground turkey, 1 1/2 cups cooked brown rice, 1 1/2 cups marinara sauce ( I used homemade, recipe found here), 4 tablespoons vinegar, 2 tablespoons butter(not pictured), 4 tablespoons olive
oil (not pictured), 1 egg, and 1 1/2 tablespoons salt.

Preheat oven to 450 Fahrenheit

Fill stock pot with water 2/3 full.  Add vinegar and 1 tablespoon salt to water.   Cover with lid.
Turn on burner to medium-high.  Bring water to boil.

 Grate all the carrots.  Saute half with 2 tablespoons oil and 1 tablespoon butter over medium-low
flame until tender.

 Add 3/4 cup marinara sauce and simmer for 1 minute.

 Put rice, meat, egg, carrot marinara sauce and 1/2 tablespoon salt in bowl.

 Mix it until it looks like this.

 Water is boiling, after removing core of cabbage add to water with core facing up. 

 Boil cabbage for five minutes.  Flip over and begin peeling off each layer, with tongs I was able
to peel two layers after five minutes.  

 Remove middle vein with paring knife.

 Add a golf ball size amount of meat mixture to cabbage leaf half.

 Fold leaf over meat.

 Now roll.

 Done, repeat with the second leaf.  Once you have filled to leaves you can peel two more and
repeat same process.  Each two layers will be ready after filling the previous two leaves.

 Place filled cabbage leaves in a oven safe dutch oven or other oven safe dish with lid.  After all the filling has been used, keep the pot of water on the stove.

 Saute other half of carrots in 2 tablespoons olive oil and 1 tablespoon butter over medium
flame until tender.

 Add remaining 3/4 cup marinara sauce and simmer for 1 minute.

 Pour 1 1/2 cups cabbage water and remaining 3/4 cup marinara sauce over rolls in the dutch oven.

Bake for 20 minutes then lower temperature to 350 Fahrenheit and bake 1 additional hour.

Serve immediately.

Enjoy!

Blackberry Bread Pudding

I pinned a recipe for blackberry pudding with lemon sauce recently and bought the blackberries and was ready to make it today when I realized the recipe used canned biscuits.  I don't buy canned biscuits and store bought yogurt.   Well since I don't buy either of those foods anymore that meant it was time to start over and remake the recipe my way.  This pudding has very little added sugar versus the pinned recipe and I used Agave instead of sugar, I substituted and changed the desert and well it is similar to the recipe but with my own spin.

It isn't very pretty, but it does taste yummy.

Preheat oven to 425 Fahrenheit

 Ingredients for the biscuits are: 2 cups self-rising flour, 1/4 cup coconut oil, and 2/3 cup buttermilk(I used homemade, recipe is here).

 Mix flour and coconut oil together creating small pea size balls. Add buttermilk and knead dough lighty, create a ball.

 Roll out dough to 1/2 inch thickness.  Cut into triangles.  Place on coconut oil greased cookie sheet.  Brush coconut oil on biscuits.

 Bake biscuits for 10 minutes.

 Break biscuits into 1 inch pieces and put in greased 9x13 cake pan or round 9 inch tall cake pan.

Lower oven temperature 350 Fahrenheit

 Ingredients for custard are: 1 cup heavy cream, 16 ounces plain Greek yogurt(I used homemade, recipe found here), 1/2 cup agave syrup, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, 4 eggs, 2 cups blackberries, and 1 cup blueberries.

 Add ingredients to bowl, do not add fruit. 

 Beat with whisk, until mixed.  After mixing add fruit and stir.

 Pour ingredients onto bread.

Bake for 40-50 minutes.

 Test center with toothpick, does it come out clean?

Again it isn't pretty in a bowl, but it tastes yummy.

Enjoy!

Fruit Snacks

This is the recipe my oldest son proclaimed was the best thing I have ever made.  Fruit snacks are super popular in my family and they go super fast when I buy a box of them from the store.  This recipe thankfully is very easy to make and the recipe list is super short.  I have been thinking about making fruit snacks for awhile.  It was a trip to Ikea that finally got me to make them.  I needed a mold to make them, and I didn't want the individual wells to be too big.  In other words I didn't want huge fruit snacks.  Ikea had chocolate molds, 3 for $1.99, so I snatched up four packages.  My next purchase was fruit juice concentrate (as in frozen fruit juice concentrate).  I didn't think finding frozen fruit juice concentrate would be so hard, but it turns out it is.  I ended up making my own frozen fruit juice concentrate for this recipe.  I'm guessing the rest of you will actually be able to find fruit juice concentrate in your local grocery freezer section.  If by chance you don't find it, you can make it by freezing fruit juice and placing it upside down at an angle inside a tall container (a pitcher works) and allow the juice to thaw slowly.  When the ice left in the juice is clear mostly then your done and can discard the ice.  The juice will thaw faster than the frozen water.  For fruit snacks, choose string flavors of juice such as grape, cherry, cranberry.  Avoid pineapple juice the enzyme in pineapple will prevent the gelatin from working.  Also avoid apple.  I prefer 100% juice but that is my preference and you may choose otherwise.

 Do your kids come screaming when you say you have fruit snacks?  Mine do.

 Ingredients for this recipe are: 1/3 cup favorite fruit juice concentrate (Mine are Greek, how about yours?) 2-3 packets of gelatin (2 creates a squishy fruit snack and 3 will create a firmer fruit snack), molds to make them in or a 8 in square pan.

 Pour juice into small sauce pan, and add gelatin on top.  Turn burner to medium and whisk until
gelatin is dissolved.  Remove from heat and pour into measuring cup.

 Spray molds with non-stick spray.  Pour liquid into molds and allow to set for 20 minutes.  I doubled this recipe for my peach juice and tripled it with the sour cherry juice I used.

 These are my sour cherry fruit snacks, work quickly this sets up fast.

 Look at all those fruit snacks.

I used a toothpick to remove mine from the molds.  My children and I both agree that the sour
cherry were better, I think because the flavor was more pronounced.   These were a big hit.
I will definitely make these again.

Enjoy!

Baked Beans

Every once in awhile my refrigerator surprises me with just the right leftover to make something I enjoy eating, and it didn't even take much effort.  Today was one of those days, a spontaneous recipe came to my mind.  Remember when I made white bean and vegetable soup?  I used only half of the brined beans and put the other half in my refrigerator.  My mind immediately thought of those beans today and decided it was time to make baked beans.   Granted, neither my mind nor my body knows how to make baked beans from scratch.  When I looked up a recipe, I was surprised to find that almost all of the recipes started with a can of pork and beans.  This won't do.  I have uncooked beans and a van frozen on the street.  The buses are not working in my favor (late and sporadic).  Only one answer, make it up, find the ingredients that produce the wonderful flavor of baked beans and make it or fake it. I should mention, none of my family like beans.  So, when I make beans, it is really just for me and so this recipe doesn't feed a family (you'll need to double it if you are feeding more than two people).

 What do you think for my very first totally from scratch baked beans?

 Ingredients for this recipe are: Water, 1/2 lb. white beans(already brined, recipe for quick brining here), 1 small yellow onion, 1 green bell pepper, 12 slices bacon, 1 cup barbecue sauce (I used homemade, recipe found here), 1/2 cup turbinado sugar (brown sugar would also work), and 2 tablespoons
spicy brown mustard.

 Dice onion and bell pepper.

 Saute vegetables in your choice of 2 tablespoons of oil.  I used Olive Oil.

 Cut six slices of bacon into 1 inch pieces.

 Saute bacon slightly, to render some of the fat (reduce the fat).

 Just a little golden brown, and a little less fatty.

 Add all the ingredients (only add 1/2 cup of the barbecue sauce) and enough water to cover beans by two inches, to a pressure cooker pot, or a stock pot.  Cover with lid, set pressure cooker to high for 30 minutes.  Cook on stovetop on medium until boiling, reduce heat and simmer for 1-2 hours until beans are tender.

Preheat oven to 325 Fharenheit

 Using a slotted spoon or fine mesh spoon ladle everything into an oven safe dish.  I used a 9 inch
square non-stick metal pan.

 Add 2 tablespoons molasses and 1/2 cup of barbecue sauce.

 Cook the remaining 6 pieces of bacon slightly, until some fat is rendered and golden brown.

 The beans with the extra goodness added.

 Place bacon on beans.  Bake in oven for 1 1/2 hours.

 Do you see the difference?  Oh my goodness does this smell spectacular?

I dished some up for me and my friend Whitney and she said they were even better then her
mom's.  The good news is, you can make baked beans from dry beans to finish and they taste
 amazing.  Whitney's husband love's baked beans so I sent the other half home with her.  Again
this doesn't make very much, so remember if you are cooking for a family, double it.

Enjoy!

Barbecue Sauce

We ran out of barbecue sauce last month, and I haven't needed it truthfully.  Today I did see a need for barbecue sauce and felt inspired to make it myself for the first time.  I love barbecue sauce.  It adds so much flavor to meat, poultry, and food in general and reminds me of my California roots.

 Homemade barbecue sauce, what could be better?

 Ingredients for this recipe are: 1 cup ketchup, 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar, 1 1/2 cups turbinado sugar (brown sugar will also work), 2-3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce, 1 tablespoon Spicy Dijon Mustard, 2 teaspoons paprika, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper.

Pour all ingredients in a blender.

 Blend all ingredients together until smooth.

Pour sauce into sauce pan over medium-high heat and bring to boil.

After boiling, simmer for five minutes.  I love the color, the smell is incredible too.

Bottle it up.  I had enough for a pint and some left over for my baked beans (stay tuned for this recipe).

Enjoy!

Stephanie's Kitchen Drawer: Rice Cooker

Before we moved to Queens I had a rice cooker I bought at Costco.  It was also the Aroma Brand. When I went shopping for a rice cooker not long after moving here in Queens, I went shopping at Target and found this 20 cup Aroma Rice Cooker.  It has several functions including slow cooker and steamer.  I have used this to make white and brown rice, baked potatoes, mashed potatoes, and also sweet potatoes.  This cooker has a delay start timer so I can put the food in it and set it to be ready when we are ready to eat.  Check it out on Amazon here.