Pierogies Yay!

I don't know about you but to me, sour cream and potatoes are major comfort food. Wrap those yummy potatoes in dough and wow what a tasty meal. I've always loved pierogies, a traditional polish dish, and I thought to myself why not make them. As you can already guess I like to simplify things. So instead of making the dough from scratch, I decided to use ready made puff pastry squares. This will cut the time on your recipe and give you a crispy, flaky, outside versus a gummy one cooked in boiling water. The addition of caramelized onions is the longest part but well worth the flavor.

Ingredients

1 package puffed pastry squares
2 onions sliced into thin rings
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
4-6 potatoes boiled tender
1 tbsp butter softened
2 tbsp light cream

Sour cream for serving.

Caramelize your onions first. This will take around 20 minutes. Heat the olive oil first then add the sliced onion rings using your spatula separate the rings and stir occasionally. When onions begin to get translucent hit them with paprika, and salt. The onions will turn a reddish color. push them to one side of the frying pan and let them cook till they start to turn light brown. Once they are light brown, hit them with some balsamic or wine vinegar to de-glaze the pan. Add another hit of salt, stir for two or three minutes, then turn off the flame. Set aside for later.

Preheat your woven to 375 degrees. Meanwhile take your potatoes which, should be room temperature. Mix in the butter and cream and mash them up nice and smooth. Gently fold in the onions that you previously caramelized. Spray a cookie sheet or two with non-stick cooking spray. Using a teaspoon add one or two rounded teaspoonfuls into each dough square. Have a little dish of water next to you, and when you finish filling the squares, use your finger tip to spread the water on the edges. Fold them into triangles and crimp with the tines of a fork.

Bake 30 minutes till flaky and golden. Serve with sour cream and enjoy!

B'tai Avon

Easy One Pot Meal

In the winter when days are short and cold there's nothing like coming home to a hot home cooked meal. Except as the main cook in my house, I usually am the one who has to cook it, not come home to it. That's why I love my slow cooker, because it allows me to come home to a meal that took minimal time, and prep work and is fresh, easy, and delicious.

Most of us take the slow cooker out once a week for cholent and it sits unused on the shelf, just taking up space the rest of the week. So take the slow cooker off the shelf and get ready to use it because the possibilities are endless. From soups to one pot meals it all is in one pot, the crockpot.

I came up with this easy recipe, you can play with it and add or subtract things as you please, what I'm really teaching is a method.

Ingredients

1 onion diced

1 tsp. fresh chopped garlic

1/2 package to a whole package ground beef

2 stalks basil leaves

4 mini vine tomatoes quartered or any type of tomato diced

2-3 baby bella mushrooms ( I find that these hold up better and have a meatier flavor but any type of mushroom will do)

4-5 fingerling or red bliss potatos cut in rounds

3 tbsp marinara sauce mixed with 1/2c cup Kedem sherry cooking wine ( or any red wine you have lying around)

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

Turn the slow cooker to keep warm. Drizzle a little extra virgin olive oil at the bottom of the pot. Toss in the garlic and onions. Add the meat and break it up with the side of a wooden spoon. Sprinkle salt and pepper over the meat.Toss together so the meat mixes with the garlic and onions. Add in the tomatoes. Pull the basil leaves off of the stems and tear the bigger leaves in pieces. Drop them in the pot. Add the mushrooms and potatoes and pour the sauce (marinara and wine which you've combined) over everything and give a quick stir to combine the ingredients.

Turn up the slow cooker to low heat and let cook for 6-9 hours.

Come home and enjoy!

( Remember you can substitute any ingredients with what you have in the house)