Sweet potato and smoked gouda perogies

I'm slightly obsessed with perogies, especially after living in Winnipeg which I think is pretty much the perogy capital of Canada. Montreal has alot of good things for sure, the onion soup, the poutine, but good perogies are hard to find around here.
I just tried this new kind of perogy from this cookbook, Rebar, and it's delicious.

Filling:
5 lb (2.3kg) sweet potatoes or yams
2 tbsp butter
3 large leeks chopped, mostly whites
1 tsp salt
1 lb (450g) smoked gouda, grated
cracked pepper to taste

perogy dough
4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 tsp salt
4 egg yolks
1 cup hot water
2 tbsp vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F, scrub the yams then poke them a bit with a fork. Put on an oiled baking sheet wih a bit of water and bake until they're sofy and puffy. Cool them a bit, then mash them.
While the yams roast, heat butter in a frying pan and sautee the leeks until golden and a little caramelized. Add this to your yams along with the cheese, salt and pepper to taste and a little more butter (mm butter). Put this in the fridge.
To make the dough, mix the dry ingredients together. Add the rest and mix with a wooden spoon (or your clean hands) until the dough is smooth, cover it and let it sit at room temp for 30 min.
Divide the dough into quarters, roll it out to about 1/8th of an inch thick (a pasta machine works well for this), then cut out circles with a wine glass, put a tsp or so of filling in the middle, fold it and pinch it closed. Boil the perogies until they rise to the top, toss them with more butter. Serve them of course with sour cream and caramelized onions.
If you want to freeze them, after boiling put one layer on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and after theyre frozen stick them into some ziplock bags.
** note: for simpler, traditional, just as delicious perogies you substitute sweet potatoes for white potaotoes, and the gouda for sharp cheddar cheese
Whew!

Carrot Cumin Soup

2 large onions, chopped
3 garlic cloves, diced
5 or 6 cups chopped carrots
1 large potato, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
6 cups vegetable stock (or water)
3 tsp cumin
salt
2-3 tbsp olive oil
fresh ginger

1) Saute onions and garlic in olive oil on medium heat until onions are soft and translucent.

2) Add carrots, celery, cumin, and salt and stir for about a minute.

3) Add stock and potato and bring to a boil, then simmer for about 25 minutes.

4) Remove from heat and puree.

5) Grate fresh ginger over each serving to taste

The great thing about this recipe, besides the fact that it's pretty tasty, is that it's cheap! And vegan too (in keeping with the vegan theme...)

Shitake Tofu Potstickers

1 oz dried shitake mushroooms
1/2 block of tofu, pressed under a cutting board and a couple of textbooks for at least an hour (to let the water out so whatever seasoning you put into it will be absorbed quickly)
1 Tbsp canola oil
1 Tbsp sesame oil
1 Tbsp minced ginger
3 garlic cloves, minced
4 green onions, minced
1/4 tsp red chile flakes
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cracked pepper
2 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp minced cilantro
30 round wonton wrapppers
1 tbsp cornstarch
4 Tbsp water

Fry onion, ginger, garlic, and onions in oils. Crumble tofu into mixture and then add soy sauce. At the very end add the cilantro and let mixture cool. Soak dried mushrooms in boiling mushrooms for one hour, then dice and add to tofu mixture. Put filling in middle of wrappers and pinch the edges in an artistic way. Fry the wontons in a thin sheet of oil, when they turn brown add 1/2 cup of water, cover, and steam. Serve with a sauce mixed with 1/2 part soy sauce, 1/ water, a few tbsp of sesame oil and a few tbsp of rice wine vinegar. It's yummmy, and you'll only receive praises from you guests.

Side note: It's totally vegan! please send me your comments on how you feel about craving and eatib meat. I'm definitely not against it, but meat makes me feel bad sometimes.

Sweet divine tomato sauce that youy can study with in the wintertime!

2 Tbsp olive oil
1 yellow onion, diced
6 garlic cloves
2 bay leaves
a pinch of chili flakes
1 cup of wine
Tomatoes (1 can canned pureed tomatoes or 30 peeled fresh tomatoes)
Fresh basil (about 1/2 cup)
2 chicken legs or whatever bones you can find (omit if vegetarian, no big deal)
Fry the onions and garlic until golden, fry the meat until it's browned but not cooked. Then add the wine. When reduced by half and you can't smell the alcohol cooking off of it, add the tomatoes and bay leafs. Let simmer for at least one hour. It get's so much more yummy with time!

cookies for lazy people

These are cookies that my mom used to make all the time when I was a kid. They are dangerously addictive and easy to eat, especially since they are best raw, right out of the freezer. These are so good that I seriously haven't made them in years- because I literally cannot stop eating them. But what the hell, it's Christmas right?

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup peanut butter
2 cup brown sugar firmly packed
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cup flour
2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cup oats

Cream first 5 ingredients thoroughly.
Combine flour, baking soda, salt, and stir well.
Add the dry mixture to the creamed mixture, mixing well.
Stir in the oats.

Shape dough into rolls about 2 inches thick in diameter. Wrap in wax paper and chill for several hours before baking.

Slice at least 1/4 inch thick for baking. Place on ungreased cookie sheet, and bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes.

Or do like me, and don't bake them at all. And voila! Cookies for lazy people.

South Indian Dahl

My nana's recipe

1 & 1/2 cup red lentils
H2O
5 cloves of garlic
1 onion
2 zucchinis
1 large tomato
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp salt
8-10 peppercorns
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 tsp dried red chilies
1/2 tsp black mustard seeds
Few shakes of Hing (Asafoetida), found in indian grocery stores

Remove any stones from the lentils and rinse them. Put the lentils in a pot and cover them with water, about 2 inches above it. Add the cumin, salt, peppercorns, 3 cloves of mashed garlic, chopped zucchini, onion, and chopped tomato. Simmer until lentils are fully cooked and you can't see the individual lentils.
When this happens, heat oil in a pan on high and add the mustard seeds. Fry them and shake them around until they start popping then add two cloves of finely chopped garlic. When garlic is almost burnt, add two shakes of "hing". Then add this mixture to the pot. You can even add some of the soupy mixture to the pan to make sure you got it all. Then simmer for a few more minutes, and eat with rice and lemon pickle.

Italian style tofu and rice

Hi folks, I am a crazy stressed-out and overworked student, and so I've decided to take a few minutes away from work (but still on the computer so as not to feel TOO guilty) to post one of my favorite recipes.

It's easy and delicious. You will need:

1 package tofu cut into one inch cubes
olive oil
2 medium onions cut into wedges
2 medium sized zucchini (though any vegetable would do)
a couple handfuls of small mushrooms
1 or 2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tbsp flour
1 14oz can diced tomatoes, undrained OR the equivalent amount of fresh tomatoes (so good)
3/4 cup veggie broth
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp oregano
salt and pepper
sharp cheese

and your grain of choice - I've only made this with Basmati, though I'm sure it would be great with any other type of rice, with couscous, buckwheat, or maybe even quinoa?

Cook tofu in the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat until all the sides are browned, about 5-7 minutes. Remove from the saucepan and set aside for later.

Add the onions, zucchini, mushrooms, and garlic to the pan and saute for about 5 minutes. Stir in the flour and cook for another 1 or 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes, broth, herbs, and tofu; heat to boiling.

Reduce the heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender. Season with salt and pepper, serve over warm rice, and top it off with some freshly grated cheese.

note: this is a great recipe because these are ingredients that you likely already have kicking around the house. When without tofu, just replace with chickpeas and skip the first step. Also, I think it would make an excellent spicy dish. I'll probably try that next time....

Quinoa Stir-Fry

My friend Suzanne wanted this recipe, so here you go.

1/2 block of tofu
1/2 onion chopped
1 inch of ginger, peeled and diced
4 cloves garlic
Vegetables, any kind you want, I used lots of mushrooms, broccoli, and snowpeas
2 Tbsp Tamari (or "real" soy sauce, I stopped using regular no name brand since it contains virtually no trace of actual soybeans)
2 Tbsp sesame oil
1 Tbsp of Sambal Oelek or red chili paste, or some chili flakes. Use less if you don't want it too spicy.
1/4 cup water
1 cup Quinoa, rinsed. Or brown rice would be good too.

Method:
Cook Quinoa in 1 1/2 cups water like you would rice. (Bring water and Quinoa to a boil, then cover and simmer until all the water is absorbed and the Quinoa is soft.

In a frying pan, fry onions, ginger and garlic in sesame oil until soft. Crumble tofu and add. Add Tamari, sambal oelek, and 1/4 cup water and let it cook for 10 minutes on medium heat. Add your veggies, cover until they're cooked. Serve it over the Quinoa. It's very delicious and I think it's pretty healthy too.

In a Frenzy yet?

Hello all frenzy-ists. I am new to this blog. Some call me Wolfboy, others call me Lorne.

Anita has graciously invited me to join, but I'll be honest. I seldom cook from recipe for myself--usually i just sorta throw stuff together that I've experimented with in the past and I know will work.

I will, however, try to document my experiments for you, and am certainly going to use recipes from here and will post my comments.

I wish I could email all of you some of my low-fat, sugar-free, carob and banana oatmeal cookies.

Quinoa Questions

I just bought a bunch of Quinoa, and I was wondering if anybody had any creative ideas on how serve it? I know the whole salad bit, with vegetables and vinegar, but what about soups and curries. Anybody thought about that?? Hey??

Mom's Leche League Banana Bread

Do you have lots of old brown bananas in your fridge? I do.

I cup mashed bananas (3 old brown bananas)
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup honey or brown sugar or both
2 eggs beaten
1 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup hot water
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 tsp vanilla

Method:

Heat oven to 325 degrees. Beat oil and honey together. Add eggs, mix. Stir in bananas. Add dry ingredients. Mix until smooth. Bake in greased, floured, standard loaf pan for 55-60 minutes.

Pumpkins, sweet potatoes and thailand oh my?

I know I'm such a nerd. But this soup is delicious to the MAX people!

1 large onion, coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
1 tablespoon chopped peeled fresh ginger
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 cups pumpkin, baked and pureed
1 sweet potato, baked
1 cup dry white wine
4 cups chicken stock
3 lemongrass stalks (bottom 5 inches only), coarsely chopped
1 (1-inch) piece galangal (thawed if frozen), peeled and coarsely chopped
3 to 5 fresh (1 1/2-inch) Thai chiles or 2 fresh jalapeño chiles, trimmed and coarsely chopped (seed chiles if a milder flavor is desired)
4 kaffir lime leaves (fresh or frozen)
1/3 cup fresh lime juice
1/4 cup Asian fish sauce
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 cup coconut milk

Method:
Cook onion, garlic, and ginger in 1 tablespoon oil in a 5-quart heavy pot over moderate heat, covered, stirring occasionally, until onion is softened, about 4 minutes. Add pumpkin and wine. Boil, uncovered, until wine is reduced by about half, about 5 minutes. Stir in stock and simmer, add sweet potato in chunks, covered, until pumpkinand potato is tender, about 20 minutes.

Heat remaining tablespoon oil in a 10-inch heavy skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, then sauté lemongrass, galangal, and chiles to taste, stirring, until lightly browned, about 1 minute. Remove from heat.

Stir in lemongrass mixture, lime leaves, lime juice, fish sauce, and sugar. Simmer, uncovered, 20 minutes. Season well with salt and pepper. Add 1/2 cup of coconut milk if you want.

Let your tastebuds take control!!!

Malnutrition

Help!

Too busy to eat healthy food!
MAke large amoutns of food in the hopes of eating leftovers for the week but get tired of leftovers mid-week!

Help!

French Onion Soup

Julia requested that I post this one, but it actually comes from the Joy of Cooking so I can't take credit for it:

1 1/2 cups sliced onions
3 T butter
6 C Beef of Chicken bouillion (I just used the cubes and water)
fresh ground pepper
dash of cognac or sherry (i think this is optional, I've never had a bottle of one of these in my life!)
6 slices toasted french bread
1 cup mixed grated swiss and whatever other cheese you want to use, I used some cheddar.
sprinkle of parmesan

Saute the onions in the butter until they're very brown but not burnt. Add the broth and a dash of fresh pepper. Simmer for 30 minutes. Put the soup into a casserole dish and you can add the sherry now if you have it Cover it with the bread (I just used store bought croutons which was Yazmin's idea), and then the cheese. Sprinkle some parmesan cheese on top. Heat it in the oven at 275 degrees until the cheese on top is bubbly.

It's not very original I know, but I get cravings for this sometimes!

Has everyone stopped cooking?

Hey, I can't do this blog alone! I need some motivation, some teamwork!
Otherwise, sadly I will have to delete this wonderful blog.
Or else I might ask my Dad to join.

Did you hear me, my Dad!

Peach Pinwheel Coffee Cake

Ingredients:

Cinnamon Topping:
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
1/3 cup flour
1-1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup butter

Cake:

1 can peaches
2 and 1/4 cup flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 and 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup sour cream
3 eggs

Mix the dry ingredients for the cake. Combine sugar and butter in a separate bowl. To this mixture, add the eggs, one at a time while beating with a whisk. Stir in dry mixture. Now add the sour cream. Spread half the batter into a baking dish, add half the cinnamon topping. Put the rest of the batter in then add the rest of the topping. The arrange the delicious peaches atop in a decorative fashion. Bake at a350 degrees F for 50 minutes, or until a toothpick comes clean out of it. Enjoy! Its really yummy, don't be swayed by this horrifying picture!

Curry marinade for barbecue

This recipe is good especially with kebabs on the barbeque, but you can use it with any kind of meat or vegetable, and you can also cook it in the oven.

2 inch piece of ginger, skinned
1/3 of a green pepper
1 large onion
5 cloves of garlic
juice of one lime
a small bunch of fresh coriander

Puree this mixture in a blender or food processor, then add Garam Masala curry powder until the mixture turns brown. Add salt to taste. Cover your meat or vegetables with the marinade and cook on the barbeque or in the oven. Melt a bit of butter and add it to what's left of the marinade to baste your kebabs while they're cooking. It's good with natural yogurt or mint chutney on the side!

Wow, more garlic! I don't mean to give any of you indigestion!

My secret guacamole recipe

This makes the best guacamole that I've ever tasted in my life if I do say so myself. It took me awhile to wean my addiction to this stuff.

2 ripe avocados
1/4 of an onion
1 clove of garlic
a small bunch of fresh coriander
2 tablespoons of banana peppers
a dollop of sour cream
juice of one lime
salt to taste

Mash the avocados with the lime juice and sour cream. Chop the onions, garlic, and banana peppers finely and add. Pull the big stalks off the coriander, chop it, and add it too. Add some salt, and that's it! If you have a food processor (you lucky bastard) you can just blend it all together. Some do like it chunky though.

Garlic burps and farts Hummus

Here's a simple hummus recipe!

A can of chick peas, drained except for a little juice
a few cloves of garlic, minced and slated, and pressed with a fork
tahini, 3-4 tablespoons(a big dallop)
the juice of a lemon
some paprika, the redder the better

dippibles could include pita, toast, veggies, fingers

Mustard Chicken

My Dad gave me this recipe over the phone a few years ago, it is sooo yummy!

2 Large chicken breasts
Dijon mustard
1/2 cup of cream
I large onion, coarsely cut
3 pieces of bacon
1/2 cup of dry white wine.

Rub chicken breasts with mustard. In a pan fry bacon until crisp, then take it out of the pan.

Put the chicken and onions into the pan with the bacon oil and fry until onions are caramelized and the chicken is brown over high heat. Take chicken out of pan and add wine to pan until it is reduced by about 2/3. (you can smell the alcohol burning off!). Lower heat and add cream. Put the chicken back in. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve over small shell or penne pasta. It's soooo good! You can add mushrooms which is good too.