Cardamom is the secret in these gingerbread cookies

Title: Piparkakut (Finnish Christmas Gingerbread Cookies)

Description:
My Mother says, "The aroma of these cookies baking takes me back to my childhood in Finland." We make various large to small sizes of these in heart shape and hang them in the kitchen window during Christmas. Heart is the symbol of Christmas in Finland. We also had plenty of other shapes to eat as well.

Ingredients:
3/4 c margarine or butter
3/4 c sugar
1 egg
2 T dark Karo syrup
1 t cinnamon
1 t cloves
1 t ground cardamom
1/2 t baking soda
2 1/2 c flour

Directions:
Cream margarine and sugar. Add egg, spices and syrup. Then add flour and soda sifted together. Form into a ball and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill the dough overnight in the refrigerator. Roll out on floured surface very thin and cut into desired shapes with a cookie cutter. Bake on a very lightly greased cookie sheet about 5 min at 375 degrees. Do not overbake! Store in an airtight tin and they will keep "forever".

Tin Can Ice Cream & The Ice Cream Truck

Our children love it when the Ice Cream Truck stops by. Here they are buying ice cream from him just a few days ago.

And then the youth in the ward, in honor of pioneer day, were on the edge of the street briskly rolling back and forth tin can ice cream. when the ice cream truck drove by! lol

We stopped him and asked him if he wanted to buy any ice cream. He paused for a picture with us. A few minutes later our boys found him and bought ice cream from him and tasted the tin can ice cream.

If you want to try TIN CAN ICE CREAM you'll find the recipe below.

Kid's Tin Can Ice Cream

1 #10 clean cannery can

1 1 lb. clean can

duct tape

2 or more kids

Ingredients:

1 c. milk

1 c. whipping cream

1/2 c. sugar

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1 egg (optional)

fruit, smashed, chocolate, etc.

rock salt

ice (crushed or small cubes)

Pour all food ingredients into 1-pound can.

Duct tape lid on securely.

Place inside 3 lb. (#10 size) can

Layer ice and rock salt around sides of small can.

Duct tape lid on.

Roll briskly on hard ground for 10 minutes - cement works best.

Open lid and drain ice water. Open smaller can and stir, scraping sides well.

Retape. Re-pack big can with ice and salt.

Re-tape and roll again.

Makes about 3 cups of ice cream.

Rosettes

My Mother has requested Rosettes for her birthday since it's so close to May Day.  In Finland, rosettes may be served at May Day (Vappu) celebrations as an alternative to funnel cakes (tippaleipä).  They are traditionally made during Christmas time in Scandanavia.  Rosettes are a thin, cookie-like deep-fried pastry of Scandinavian origin. Rosettes are made using intricately designed irons. The iron is heated to a very high temperature in oil, dipped into the batter, then re-immersed in the hot oil to create a crisp shell around the metal. The iron is immediately removed and the rosette is separated from the iron. Usually, the edges of the rosette are dipped into frosting or sugar. Rosette recipes are popular in the United States among families with Scandinavian ancestry. 

Her Finnish friend sent me this recipe which I am translating from Finnish to English and converting from metrics too. 

ROSETIT 30 kpl (makes 30)

2 eggs 2 munaa
2 tsp. sugar 2 tl sokeria
1/2 tsp. salt 0,5 tl suolaa
0.63 cups milk 1,5 dl maitoa
0.63 cups flour 1,5 dl vehnajauhoja

Beat the eggs, salt and sugar;  add milk and flour. Batter will look thin.  Heat 1 quart oil to 350 degrees in a 2 quart pan.   Put the rosette iron in to heat up.  Quickly dot the iron onto a paper towel to remove excess oil.  Now dip the rosette iron into the dough careful not to get it on the top of the iron then turn it upside down for a second.  Next immerse the iron into the hot oil and fry until a light golden brown.  I count to about 55-60 with each one.  Remove from oil and gently remove from iron.  Lightly sprinkle with powdered sugar.  These are not very sweet.  Another day I'll make a batch where I add some vanilla sugar and another where I add cardamom to taste test the difference. 

As I made fried these, my husband exclaimed that he remembers Rosettes.  His DODDs principal's Icelandic wife served them to his family at Christmastime when they lived in Iceland!

 

Fizzy Finnish lemon drink called Sima

One of the items I need to make ahead for my Mother's birthday this weekend is this fizzy Finnish lemon drink called Sima made somewhat like home made root beer with yeast. You need to make it about 3 days before you want to serve it. It will last unopened for about a week after that without going flat. 

Although traditionally served at May Day in Finland it was made for many celebrations in my home growing up. 

Title: Sima -- Finnish Drink

Ingredients:
4 quarts water
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 1/4 cup white sugar
2 lemons
1/4 t dry yeast
3-4 T warm water
sugar
raisins

Directions:
Make in the evening. Wash the lemons; use a carrot peeler to get the peel from the lemons; use only the yellow; peel and discard the white; slice the lemons; put lemons and sugar in a 6 quart kettle (unless you are very good at full kettles like Mummo is). Pour the hot water over all of this; let come to a boil but do not boil for very long; let sit until it cools--a couple of hours.
Mix 1/4 t dry yeast in about 3-4 T warm water to dissolve; sprinkle a little sugar to help it rise; pour this into the cool sima and stir; put a lid on it over night. In the morning strain the lemon pulp out. Pour the sima into Martinelli's bottles. Add 2-3 raisins and 1 t sugar per bottle before capping it.

Leave the bottles on the counter for a couple of days until the raisins swell and come to the top. Now it's time to place in a cooler place to chill it. Be careful when you open it! Open it at a slant with a glass under neath it to catch any spills.  Many are the stories of this drink being served over the years because of the yeast. 

Number Of Servings: 4 bottles

Easter Bird Nests

Grandma made the traditional bird nests for us this Easter.  The recipe is rice krispie treats.  

She only uses 1/4 of the butter nowadays.  

She also wets her hands when she works with the stick treats.  

She quickly scoops them in to muffin tins and uses her wet hands to quickly spread them around.  

Allison's Chocolate Torte

http://spindyeknit.com/2008/07/torte-reform/

Alison Hyde’s chocolate torte–makes two

Snap out the bottoms of two 8″ springform pans (flat bottomed preferred). Cover bottoms with foil, snap them back in, butter the sides and the foil-covered bottoms.

CAKE:

Melt 1 lb. butter, beat with 3 c. sugar and 2 tsp bourbon vanilla
Add in 1/2 c. manufacturing cream, 6 egg yolks

Add in: 1 1/3 c. cocoa that has been mixed with 1 c. flour till smooth. Dutch process cocoa will give you a different flavor from that of Hershey cocoa; my favorite is Bergenfield’s Colonial Rosewood cocoa. The non-dutched cocoas are healthier.

Beat separately: 6 egg whites and 1/4 tsp. cream of tartar. Underbeating is better than overbeating.

Fold egg whites into chocolate mixture. Put in the two pans and bake at 350 for 42-45 minutes. Center will not be solid and cracking should appear. Run a knife carefully around outer edges; cake will fall, and you want the top to fall in one piece.

Cool at least an hour. Loosen springform sides and remove. Put a plate on bottom of cake and flip over. Peel off bottoms of pans, then the foil. Glaze when cool.

GLAZE:

Chop one Trader Joe’s Pound Plus Belgian bittersweet chocolate bar (500 g) and melt with 1 1/3 to 1 1/2 c. manufacturing cream. Double boiler or microwave. Try not to incorporate extra air in as you stir. Also, it is important that every edge of every piece of chocolate be fully dunked down in the cream before heating or that piece of chocolate could possibly seize into a hardened, unmeltable lump with the combination of liquid and heat.

When glazing, I make a backwards J from the center, turn the cake slightly, and repeat all the way around. If you use the smaller amount of cream it holds the indentations better.

Glazes two cakes.

Enjoy!

Cranberry Apple Pies and Finnish Meat Pies

Today, for our daughter's birthday,

I made

Finnish Meat Pies

Click here for my Mother's Recipe

and 

Apple Cranberry Pie 

Click here for Recipe Girl's Recipe

and I've added her text below.

A different take on the apple pie.

CRUST:
3 cups rolled (old fashioned) oats
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
½ tsp (rounded measure) salt
1½ tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 cup + 2 T. brown sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 cup butter (2 sticks), melted

FILLING:
7 cups peeled, sliced Granny Smith apples
1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries
3 Tbs fresh lemon juice
1½ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground allspice (or ground cloves)
¼ tsp ground nutmeg (fresh is best!)
½ tsp grated lemon rind
3 Tbs unbleached all-purpose flour
¼ cup brown sugar (packed)
½ cup sour cream

1.  Prepare crust: Combine all crust ingredients in a medium-sized bowl, and mix well. Press firmly and evenly into the bottom and sides of a 9 or 10-inch pie pan, forming a thick crust. Reserve about a cup of the crust mix for the topping.

2.  Preheat oven to 375°F.

3.  Place sliced apples and cranberries in a large bowl. Drizzle with lemon juice and sprinkle with spices; toss until well coated. Add rind. Sprinkle in flour and mix again. Gradually add brown sugar and sour cream as you mix. Don't worry if the apple slices break a little while being mixed and tossed.

4.  Distribute the filling into the unbaked crust. Sprinkle the reserved crust crumbs over the top and pat neatly into place.

5.  Bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until the apples are soft and the crust is nicely browned on the edges. Note: If the top appears to be browning too quickly during baking, cover loosely with foil (check after about 30 minutes).

6.  Serve hot, warm or at room temperature. This is doubly good with a nice scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Yield: 1 pie

Cooking Tips

*Depending on how thick you'd like the crust, you may have some crust mix left over. Use any remaining crust crumbs in little ramekins to make a couple of extra "apple crisps!"

Recipe Girl's Recipe Source
Adapted significantly from The New Enchanted Broccoli Forest

Hubby makes Prime Rib

After I cooked (yet had lots of help from all of the family) several traditional Finnish Christmas dishes on Christmas Eve, my hubby decided he'd make the dinner on Christmas. He chose prime rib.

Here are some pictures he took while he was making it. I know he packed it with just the right granulation and amount of salt and tested the temperature often.

When it came out of the oven, we put *yesterday's casseroles back in cooling oven to reheat as we'd opted to just have left overs for the rest of the meal:)

Wonderful Roasted Prime Rib

The recipe my hubby used says "This method makes the BEST roasted prime rib. It never fails to produce a tender/juicy prime rib for me. Don't worry, the salt mixture will not affect the taste. It's purpose is to seal in all the flavor and juices".

SERVES 10

Change to: Servings US Metric

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5

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Ingredients

• 1 (3 lb) box of morton kosher salt
• 4-6 lbs prime rib roast

Directions

1. Slowly add a little of the water to the Kosher salt and stir; then add a little more water and stir. Continue until the salt becomes the consistency of "snow" so that you can "pack" it on the roast and it sticks like snow (Sometimes you may need a little more or less of the water) -- YOU DO NOT WANT TO DISSOLVE THE SALT.
2. Pat some of the salt mixture in a foil-lined pan in a rectangle big enough to put the roast on.
3. Place the roast on the salt and pat the remaining salt mixture on the roast, covering completely.
4. Inset a meat thermometer.
5. Bake at 425 degrees for about 2 hours.
6. (140 degrees for rare, 160 for medium).
7. Remove the roast when the thermometer registers 5 degrees BELOW desired doneness.
8. CRACK AND REMOVE ALL OF THE SALT CRUST.

*Christmas Eve Dinner included:
smoked salmon
rye bread
havarti cheese
rye and rice pastries (karjalan piirakka)
egg butter
ham
sauerkraut salad
rutabaga casserole (my Dad made this:)
carrot and rice casserole
potato casserole
strawberry rhubarb kisseli
pulla
lingonberry juice

Mrs. Newberry Biscuits for Thanksgiving

Categories: Breads

Usually I put space between each so they are round instead.

Title: Mrs. Newberry Biscuits

Description:
Thanksgiving dinner means you'll need the Mrs. Newberry Biscuits recipe. Our family always ate these then growing up. My Mother got this recipe from her neighbor Mrs. Newberry when they lived in Fort Riley, Kansas while my Father was assigned there for the military. My brother and I would smash our first one out of the oven, much to my Mother's shagrin, and smother it with butter. Later that evening we'd use them for turkey and tomato sandwiches. I think it's the sugar that makes them:)

Ingredients:
2 T dry yeast dissolved in 1/2 c. warm water with a shake of sugar on top
2 1/2 c warm water
3/4 c powdered milk (scant)
1 t salt
1 c sugar
1/2 c shortening or margarine
7 1/2 c flour (about)

Directions:
Mix and knead as any biscuit dough. Raise until double or about 1 hour in a warm place or a dishpan of hot water. Form into round balls, golf ball size or a little larger. Raise covered with dish towel in a warm place for 2 hours. Bake at 375 degrees for 12-15 minutes.

Roll 'em up and eat 'ems

A family food tradition we have is "Lattyja"  or Finnish Pancakes.  My good friend growing up couldn't say it, so her family called them "Roll 'em up and eat 'ems".  Growing up we'd have them for dinner on Fast Sundays.  

Title: Lättyjä (Finnish Pancakes)

Description:
Crepe like dessert. Made in Finland, Sweden, Iceland, Germany and other countries.

Ingredients:
5 cups milk (can use powdered milk)
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. salt
4-5 eggs
1/2 cup oil
3 1/2 cups flour or little more

Directions:
Mix all ingredients and beat well. Let stand at least 1 hour. The longer it stands the better. Fry in pan with margarine over high heat. Pour batter into middle of the frying pan. Pick up pan and pour the batter around until it is thin and lacy.
Serve hot with sugar or fruit with whipped cream, or fruit jams, or powdered sugar with lemon and butter or whatever combination you experiment with.

Number Of Servings:Makes about 2 dozen pancakes.

Preparation Time:
Fry one at a time or have 2 frying pans going. Can make somewhat ahead if you have a way to keep them warm. I put them in the oven with a bowl of water underneath to keep them moist. A tortilla warmer would work too.

Cousin E is a legend because growing up, he set the record for the nieces and nephews eating 24 lattyja at one time. Cousin C holds second. A may challenge them in a few years. Anyway, I made an observation, if this recipe makes 24, then E can eat a whole batch by himself!!! A batch usually fed the 5 of us growing up and now the 6 of mine at this age.

Homemade Pizza

My husband was in the mood for his Mother's homemade pizza for lunch.  It's so easy to whip up the crust and we didn't even wait to let it rise.  Our youngest was my helper and he put half pieces of string cheese near the edges and folded over the crust so it was like a Pizza Hut too.  It really did taste oh so good!  I hope you'll give it a try.

Title: Mom Adams' Pizza Crust

Description:
Made overseas over the years when pizza was not available to her children.  Now requested of Grandma at every family gathering, especially for birthdays.

Ingredients:
1 c luke warm water
1 T sugar
1 T yeast
2 T olive oil
1 t salt
3.5 cups white flour

Hunt's Garlic and Herb Spaghetti Sauce

Directions:
Dissolve yeast in water with sugar. Add remaining ingredients and knead. Let raise 15-20 minutes.  Grandma just uses spaghetti sauce nowadays, but used to make her own sauce.

Add whatever toppings you enjoy.  She uses onion, green pepper, sausage, pepperoni, hamburger or ground turkey, mushrooms, cheese, etc. (I also like artichokes, black olives and tomatoes.)

Bake 425 about 15-20 minutes.

Delivering Harvest Treats to Harvest Workers

Twice this week we made  my Mother's Finnish recipe for  Old World Fresh Apple Butter Cake. Click on the title above and you'll find the recipe from a post I made last year.  

This year one of our sons helped his Dad make this as a bundt cake for my birthday.  We visited the place I first had my birthday cake during harvest time and ate my birthday cake there.  

Notice the white icing on it?  

Well, when I was 3 my Mother made me a beautiful white cake with white frosting and took it out to the field to share

 with the workers.  

When my Dad brought the combine to a stop, 

the white cake was suddenly a "chocolate" (dusty) cake!!  After that, my birthday cakes became bundt cakes.  This one is a favorite of mine.  I had to laugh when he put a white glaze on it because we were in the spud field after all.   Thankfully, this year, it had already been harvested there and we avoided the "chocolate".  

 

Then then we went to the spud cellars and delivered mini bundt cakes they'd made to the Harvest workers.  

Then I made them for the Young Women's activity where we deliver a treat one day of harvest to the other Young Women who are working in the Potato Harvest.  

I just love the memories, smell, sight, sound and touch of "Spud Harvest"!  

Huckleberrying

It's huckleberry picking time here. We went "Huckleberrying" in the woods with some friends.   We had bear spray with us, but didn't see any bears thankfully.  It's probably because we made enough noise to keep them away. We did buy some Huckleberry Gummy Bears at the local grocery store however to taste. As for real huckleberries, the rule was you could eat one for every 10 you picked. She was caught eating them! This guy was determined to fill his bucket with huckleberries before he left, but after 4 hours of picking, each family had just a gallon. Don't tell any huckleberry purists, but we broke off a limb full of huckleberries to take to Mummo, so could see, smell pick and taste them fresh from the woods:) And you can see , we had a nice break to eat our sandwiches in the woods too. It was so beautiful there.

My husband has been carefully sorting washing, drying and freezing our huckleberries.  He's been reminiscing about picking blueberries in Labrador Canada and I remember picking them in Finland this time of year as well.

Picking raspberries is a whole lot easier than picking  huckleberries is.   One neighbor's raspberries have grown under our fence and they've also given us permission to reach over the fence and pick some as well. Another neighbor has also invited to pick at their house.  After picking huckleberries all afternoon our kids picked raspberries at the neighbors house.  We've enjoyed huckleberries and raspberries alone, on waffles, in syrup and so forth today.  We could substitute them for the blueberries in the Cardamom Cake I posted earlier or in anything else which uses blueberries, but huckleberries are used sparingly, since they are so hard to get.  Maybe we'll make a cheesecake to sprinkle some on.  We'll freeze almost all of our huckleberries and bring them out on special occasions, like the first day of winter to remind us of our enjoyable outdoor summer adventure.  

Here is a link to some huckleberry recipes I found online. http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/uma/hucklebe.htm

As for the raspberries, I think I'll try what our neighbor served the recipe exchange the other night.  It's much like the strawberry rhubarb soup (kisseli) I've posted the recipe for before, but it made with berries, this time of the year, raspberries.  Yummy!

Maria's Swedish Berry Cream Dessert Soup

1 quart berries (straw, rasp, goose, blackberries or currants)
3 cups water
3/4 cup sugar
2 TBSP potato flour or corn starch

Clean berries. Bring water to a boil, add berries and sugar and boil several
minutes. Mix potato flour with small amount cold water, stir in and bring
again to boiling point. Cool covered and serve with cream or milk.

Cardamom Crumble Cake

My husband helped me make this red white and blue "Cardamom Crumble Cake" the morning of July 4th when we were headed to the parade and needed a breakfast to take with us.  Our neighbor who sat by us at the parade requested the recipe, so here it is.

Cardamom Crumble Cake
2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
3 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1/3 cup softened butter
1 cup milk
1 egg
1 cup frozen blueberries
1 cup frozen raspberries

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare the streusel topping (recipe below). Beat remaining ingredients in large bowl. Gently add and fold in 1 cup frozen blueberries and 1 cup frozen raspberries (optional, as he added them for the 4th of July). Spread half of the batter into a greased 9x13 pan; sprinkle with half of the streusel; top with the remaining batter; sprinkle with the rest of the streusel. Bake until toothpick comes out clean about 35-40 minutes.

Streusel
1 cup chopped nuts
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. cardamom
6 tbs. firm butter
* or use 1 tsp cinnamon and omit cardamom and vice versa according to your taste. This day it was only cardamom.

Mix all ingredients until crumbly.

Let's Make and Break Bread Together

My Mother-in-law can whip up some homemade bread, rolls, french loaves or cinnamon rolls in nothing flat it seems. She uses this recipe for all of these variations. It's a family favorite which I've never made myself until today. It was so easy and is so yummy. Thanks to her for sharing her recipe with me and others all over the world over the years. She has taught many to make and break bread together!

Darla's Bread or Roll Recipe

In a large bowl or mixer, mix the following ingredients together (in order given):
2 1⁄2 cups of lukewarm water
2 tablespoons of yeast
3 tablespoons of sugar (white)
1 tablespoon or 2 teaspoons of salt
5 tablespoons (tbsp) of light olive oil or canola oil
6-7 cups of flour (may substitute) a couple cups of whole wheat flour

Blend in half of flour and mix well. Stir in the remaining flour a little at a time until dough rolls into a ball without being sticky. Lightly oil outside of ball with a small amount of oil on your hand, cover and let double in size.

For French Loaves: Cut dough in half and roll into two rectangles. Roll into loaves. Roll into a roll. Put seam on the bottom. Make slashes on the top of loaves with a knife and brush with egg whites. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Bake on a stone or cookie sheet in hot oven (400/425 degrees for 20 t0 25 minutes until golden brown. Let cool on wooden board or something that won't sweat. Enjoy!

For Dinner Rolls: Shape as desired and bake same temperature for about 20 min.

For Cinnamon Rolls: Cut dough in half. Shape into a rectangle and spread with a thin layer of margarine. In a small bowl mix approximately 2 cups of brown sugar with about 4 tsp. of cinnamon. Spread about half of the mixture on the rectangle. Roll up and slice into about 1 inch cinnamon roll slices. Turn on sides and place on a cookie sheet. Let them double in size. Bake as above and ice with the following glaze or frosting:
2 cups of powdered sugar or icing sugar
1⁄4 cup of margarine
1 tsp vanilla
Just enough milk to make a thick icing. Spread a thin layer on rolls while warm.

May Day May Day It's Snowing!!

Hauskaa Vappua!  Happy May Day! 

It's snowing here today and in Finland it's a beautiful spring May Day.  

My Mother almost always served sima as the drink with her Finnish meals for guests.  In Finland, her Mother only made it on  May Day.  My Dad made the sima a few days ago and I'm making the sugar dougnuts, something they used to make in her town as well.  See last year's blog post for the other pastry usually made in Finland. 

As I understand it, to make sima, my Mummo, would first wash and clean her milk bucket.  Second, she'd prepare the lemons and add the sugars and then pour the boiling water over it.  Next she'd let sit until it cooled enough to add the yeast.  After that, she'd cover the milk pail tightly and let it sit overnight.  In the morning, she'd strain out the lemon pulp and peel, and bottle it.  So, to make sima, you will want to make it 3-4 days before you want to drink it.  Here's my Mother's Sima recipe:

Sima 

1 lemon, (peel and pulp)

1 kettle of 4 quarts water

2 1/4 cups white sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar

Boil a few minutes. Cool.  Add 1/4 tsp. yeast (mixed in a little warm water).  Cover tightly.  Let stand overnight.  In the morning, strain.  Bottle, add a few raisins and cap.  Put in dark, cool cellar for 3-4 days.  Serve chilled. 

Note:  Much more yeast is used as you make it at sea level, as Finland is.  As my Mother experimented in the mountains, she had a few surprises:)

Pikamunkit -- Quick Sugar Doughnuts

2 1/4 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
3 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cardamom
1 1/4 cups cream
2 eggs

Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl. Add the cream and eggs. Mix into a smooth dough. Take small dabs of dough and drop them immediately into hot 350F oil . Cook until light brown, about 4-5 minutes. Roll in sugar while still warm and serve as soon as possible.

Earliest Easter for the rest of our lives

Easter Menu March 23, 2008

Appetizer -- Veggie Rabbit (see recipe in previous post)

Leg of Lamb -- I fixed lamb for my Mother.  I found this recipe at http://www.recipezaar.com/55600 and like it much better than what I tried on my Easter 2007 post.  If I didn't cook last year's so long, it would have been much better.  

Spiral Ham (our kids haven't grown lamb tastebuds yet)

Small yellow potatoes with drippings from lamb

Karelian Rice Pastries (see recipe below)

Egg butter

Broccoflower and Carrots, steamed
Jello Eggs on bed of lettuce

Blueberry muffin bunnies

Peeps tulips
Dessert -- Strawberry Shortcake

Title: Karjalan Piirakka (Karelian Rice Pasties)

Description:
Comes from the Eastern part of Finland, Karjala, where Mummo was born. Nowadays they are popular all over Finland. Served often at our Finnish dinners. Always a part of our Christmas Eve dinner.

Ingredients:
For the Rice Filling, use the recipe for Rice porridge on this site (Dec. 2006).   Just omit the sugar.

For the crust:
1 c water
1 1/2 t salt
1 2/3 c rye flour
2/3 c all purpose white flour
Mix water in bowl, salt, stir, add flours slowly. It will be a sticky messy job. If too sticky to roll, just add a little more flour. Can make ahead and put in a ziploc bag and roll out when ready.

For egg butter:
1 cube slightly softened margarine or butter
2 hard boiled eggs, chopped,
a tiny bit of salt since butter already has salt
Mash and mix together.

Directions:
Roll out crust in a thin oval shape. Place rice porridge in the middle. 

Pinch sides of crust up around the filling. 

Place on cookie sheets close together. 

Bake at 375 or 400 depending on your ov

en, until light brown. When light brown, open 

your oven and lift up one to make sure the bottom isn't brown. They do not taste good if they are. One the stove top, melt a stick of margarine and some water in a kettle. Use tongs to remove each pastry and dunk it completely in the mixture. Prepare a couple of old towels laid out with wax paper on them. Place the dunked pastries on the wax paper and then wrap the wax paper and towel combination up over them to keep them warm. This process softens them. Mummo says to keep them under the towel as long as you can stand it. She samples them at many stages.

Serve with egg butter, or cheese or lunchmeat or plain butter on top of the rice part.

Peter Rabbit in Mr. McGregor's Lettuce Bed

Our youngest saw this "Veggie Rabbit" on Studio 5 http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=204&sid=2882245
earlier this week and wants to help me make this Rhodes Rolls Veggie Rabbit for Easter, so we'll do just that!

My Mother often served veggie baskets. Her comment is, the bunny will be easy, it's all the time to prep the veggies. I think that's because her veggies were an art form unto themselves.

Veggie Rabbit

Ingredients:
2 Loaves Rhodes™ Bread Dough, thawed but still cold
sliced almonds
2 large raisins
1 egg, beaten

Cut one loaf of bread into 1/4 and 3/4 portions. Shape 3/4 portion into egg shape for body and place on a large sprayed baking sheet. Shape 1/4 portion into pear shape and place above body for head. Clip side whiskers with scissors. Cut second loaf in half. Cut one half in half again for ears and roll into two 16-inch ropes. Fold together and place on top of head. With remaining half of loaf, divide dough in half. Take one half and cut into two pieces. Shape into 2 large thumper feet and place under bunny. Clip toes. Divide last piece of dough into 1/3 and 2/3 portions. Divide 2/3 portion into two hands and place on side of body and clip fingers. Divide remaining 1/3 dough into two large balls and one small ball. Place two large balls on face for cheeks and one small ball for nose. Place 2 raisins on face for eyes and 2 almonds for teeth. Brush everything with beaten egg, even the teeth. Cover with sprayed plastic wrap. Let rise 15-30 minutes. Remove wrap and bake at 350°F 30 minutes or until browned. Let cool. Hollow out tummy and fill with your favorite dip.

White Taco from Arizona's Salt River Valley

Title: White Taco

Description:
White Taco originated in the Salt River Valley of Arizona and has been handed down from my husband's Mothers line. My Mother-in-law serves it, as does her sister-in-law and several aunts and their daughters too. Now it's my turn to start making it. I'm making it for the Recipe Exchange -- themed "our very BEST no fail recipes/crowd pleasers". Since most of mine are desserts, I asked my husband and he suggested this one, without hesitation.

Ingredients:
1.5 lb hamburger
1 onion
1 can green chiles
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1 can evaporated milk
grated cheese
1 pkg. of 12 corn tortillas

Directions:
In a large skillet, saute 1 to 1.5 lbs. ground hamburger or
ground turkey and a chopped onion. Drain the grease and
add a 4 oz. or 7 oz. can of mild, fire roasted, peeled and
diced, green chiles. Use the bigger can if serving adults only
and the smaller amount for kids. Remember jalapenos come
in the same size can, so avoid grabbing them, as they will
make it too hot. Now stir in 2 cans of cream of chicken soup
and 1 can evaporated milk. If it's a little bit thick, add a little bit
of regular milk. You want it a little bit soupy, but not too soupy.
Mix this altogether in the skillet. You may try diced, cooked
chicken, if you desire.

Spray your 9x13 glass pyrex with Pam and set aside. Slice 1
pkg. (12) corn tortillas down the middle, then slice each half
again lengthwise for a total of 3 times. Then line up like
noodles and cut into strips.

Put half of the tortillas strips in the bottom of the 9x13 and then
pour the filling from the skillet in. Sprinkle with Mexican mix or
cheddar cheese. Now add the rest of the tortillas. Bake for
30 min at 325 degrees (glass) until it looks bubbly all over.

Serve with salsa and a green salad.

What do you make with pomegranites?

It was time for the annual Ward Christmas Party. We had great local entertainment and it was fun to have the kids visit Santa Claus again. The youth served us potatoes and beef and the salads and desserts folks brought. I wanted to use some great pomegranites we had, so I looked around and chose

Pomegranite Apple Salad I found at http://kosherfood.about.com/od/koshersaladrecipes/r/pom_apple.htm. It was yummy and colorful.

INGREDIENTS:

• DRESSING (can be made days in advance):
• 1/3 cup vinegar
• 3/4 cups sugar
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. dry mustard
• 1/2 small onion
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 Tbsp. poppy seeds
• SALAD (make fresh):
• 1 head lettuce
• 1 pomegranate, seeded
• 1 green apple, chopped

PREPARATION:

DRESSING:
1. In a food processor, combine vinegar, sugar, salt, mustard and onion. After the ingredients are well blended, slowly add in oil.
2. Pour dressing ingredients into a jar. Add poppy seeds and shake well.