Category Archives: Mennonite Girls Can Cook

Apple Bundt Cake

This is an easy apple cake recipe with a nice moist result.

The most time consuming part of this recipe will be preparing the apples.

Apple Bundt Cake

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups sugar
    2 eggs
    1/2 cup oil
    2 cups flour
    1 Tbsp. cinnamon
    2 teaspoons baking soda
    1/2 teaspoon salt
    4 cups diced apples (approx. 4 apples)
    1 cup chopped walnuts
    1 teaspoon vanilla

Method:

  1. Beat eggs and sugar well.
  2. Stir in next 5 ingredients and mix.
  3. Add next 3 ingredients and mix well.
  4. Pour batter into prepared bundt pan.
  5. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.
  6. Let cool in pan 10 minutes before removing onto serving plate.
  7. When the cake has cooled completely dust it with powdered sugar.

I used Pam baking spray with flour for my pan and the cake came out nicely.

When the cake has cooled completely dust it with powdered sugar.

Butterflied Leg of Lamb Roast

My parents were born in the area of Southern Russia between the Black and Caspian Seas and then with their families escaped into Persia which is now Iran. Lamb was part of their regular diet. This is a wonderful way to cook lamb. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

You can ask your butcher to bone and butterfly your leg of lamb. If there is a lot of fat you can trim some of the fat.
Ingredients:

  • 1 leg of lamb (4-6 pounds) boned and butterflied.
  • 4 red potatoes
  • 1 large onion
  • Olive Oil

Seasoning Mixture:

  • 1-1/2 Tablespoon Kosher Salt
  • 2-Tablespoons minced fresh rosemary
  • 4 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1/2 cup Dijon Style mustard
  • 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
  1. In food processor add the salt, rosemary, garlic, and process as fine as possible.
  2. Add the mustard, balsamic vinegar, and lemon juice and process for a minute longer.
  3. Place lamb on baking rack fat side up and spread the processed mixture over the fat side of the lamb.
  4. Let sit at room temperature for 1 hour.
  5. In the meantime wash and cut 4 red potatoes (or any potatoes you desire) in half lengthwise.
  6. Quarter the large onion.
  7. Place the potatoes and the onion in the baking dish, sprinkle with Olive oil and toss the onions and potatoes so they are coated nicely.
  8. Place the rack with the lamb over the vegetables.
  9. This method of roasting will give the vegetables nice seasoning from the drippings off the roast.
  10. Roast the lamb at 450 degrees for 20 minutes.
  11. Turn the lamb over carefully and roast an additional 20 minutes.
  12. Let the roast stand for 15 minutes and then slice on the grain and serve.
  13. Serves 4 to 6.

If you use a 6 pound leg of lamb add more potatoes to serve more people.

Breakfast Casserole

This a tasty breakfast casserole that will feed about 8 people.

Ingredients:

  • 30 ounce package of frozen hash brown potatoes
  • 1/2 cup butter, melted
  • 1 (10-ounce) can cream of chicken soup
  • 1 pint sour cream
  • 1/2 cup scallions/green onions
  • 1/2 cup cilantro (optional)
  • 1 or 2 jalapeno peppers seeded and chopped (optional)
  • 2 cups cheddar cheese, grated
  • 7 ounces ham, farmer’s sausage or other breakfast meat, chopped into bite size pieces
  • 8 eggs beaten
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon pepper

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Prepare an 11 x 14 baking dish with cooking spray.
  3. Mix all the ingredients together adding the hash browns last and place in prepared pan.
  4. Bake for 45 minutes or until cooked through.
  5. Your baking time could take up to 70 minutes depending on the type of pan you use.
  6. Check the casserole initially at 45 minutes and continue cooking till cooked through.

Antipasto Pasta Salad

 

This recipe will feed approximately 12 people or more as a side dish. Make it up ahead of time when you know company is coming.

1 lb. cooked pasta shells or bowties drained and cooled
16 oz. Italian Mix Giardiniera (marinated carrot, cauliflower, peppers, celery, pickles, onion)
12 oz. marinated artichoke hearts
1 cup baby spinach leaves, julienned or whole
1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion,
1/2 cup Italian salami of your choice, cut into strips or cubed
1/2 cup shaved or grated Parmesan cheese
White balsamic citrus basil dressing or any Italian dressing you prefer to taste
Salt and Pepper to taste
Fresh chopped parsley to garnish
Garbanzo Beans (optional)

Mix all ingredients together. You can serve it immediately or if you want a more marinated taste let it sit in the refrigerator for a few hours. If you have ingredients that are your antipasto favorites go ahead and add them to the salad. If you like a meatier salad add more than 1 type of Italian salami to the bowl. Be creative to your families taste buds! This can be made a day ahead. After it has sat in the refrigerator you might want to add more dressing before you serve it…

 

Seernaya Paska ~ Sweet Cheese Spread for Kulich (Paska)

My Russian heritage affords me some really good Easter eats. Every year we look forward to having our Easter Bread which we call Kulich in Russian and my Mennonite Friends called Paska.

We also make this yummy cheese spread to spread on this Easter Bread!

Seernaya Paska for Kulich (Russian Easter Bread) The X and the B are for Xpucmoc Bockpec (Christ Arose)

paska class 005

 

Seernaya Paska  (Сырная пасха)

Ingredients:

18 – hard boiled eggs /
3 pounds Farmers cheese /a dry curd cheese like a dry cottage cheese can be substituted.
1 pint whipping cream /
3 cubes unsalted butter (12 oz.) /
3 cups sugar /

Press the Farmers cheese through a sieve. (This is the hardest part of the recipe) If you find a very small curd cheese you won’t have to do this to the cheese. I usually use a wooden spoon and press it through a wire strainer a little at a time. Separate the egg yolks from the whites. (You will not be using the whites).

Press the egg yolks through the sieve. Cream the sugar and butter together. Beat in the egg yolks. Beat in the cheese. Add whipping cream and mix well. You will place the mixture into a strainer lined with about 3 layers of cheesecloth. You will need enough cheesecloth to wrap up and over the top of the cheese. Place the cheese mixture into the cheese cloth lined strainer or another container to mold into shape. Bring the ends of the cheese cloth up and tie the ends on top of the cheese in a knot. Place the sieve into a larger bowl suspended with enough room for the cheese to drain without sitting in the drained liquid. Place a plate on top of the cheese an place a heavy rock, brick, or other weight on top of the plate. Refrigerate over night.

I have used different shaped plastic flower pots to drain and mold the cheese into a higher domed result. If you choose to use a flower pot make sure there are enough holes in the bottom of the pot so the liquid can drain well.

This recipe is enough to feed an army. If you don’t have to feed an army here’s a scaled down version :0)

If you just want a normal amount, cut the recipe in thirds. (6 cooked egg yolks, 1-lb. cheese, 2/3 cup whipping cream, 1 cube butter and 1 cup sugar. Enjoy!

Farmers Cheese or Hoop Cheese can be hard to find. There are Russian delis that sell a dry curd cottage type cheese that will work. If you can find a dry cottage cheese at the grocers that will work too.

Here are examples of the Seernaya Paska I have made over the years.

I’m Late, I’m Late…

…for a very important date!

In March of 2007 when my brother told me he was going to start a blog for me I was a little afraid that I wouldn’t be able to handle the technology. He convinced me everything would be ok. We were at Greg’s brother’s home in Anaheim Hills, California. We started brain storming about what I should name it. We came up with a few fun names but the way I came up with my keeper is…

a. I’m generally a very happy person.

b. I’m also someone who wonders about a lot of things and have a deep need to know.

So as we were discussing point a and b my husband came up with The Happy Wonderer.

As far as the purpose of my blog I chose “to Honor and Encourage”. I’m an encourager to people around me and I wanted that reflected in the relationships I’d develop on my blog. It is very important to me to Honor Jesus Christ who is my LORD.  I want my words and posts to be things that will encourage people and be something that won’t reflect poorly on my relationship with Jesus.

My blog was born on March 3, 2007 which means I’m a little late in celebrating my 17th Bloggy Anniversary! 

I’ve had a few headers over the course of the 17 years.

Conwy Castle from our trip to Wales, Scotland and England in 2006 was one of my first headers. Greg took that photo.

I had a different view of this table from our Mennonite Girls Can Cook Tea to celebrate our second cookbook as my header for a few years.

My current header is just a stock header that I find easy to look at.

I used Photobucket for several years to store and post my photos to my blog and sadly they stopped being a free service and hijacked my photos.  They will let me have them again if I’m willing to pay but it is more than I want to pay. That was very disappointing to me. I have a lot of clean-up to do on my older posts.

I did have some technical challenges off and on with my blog and my brother Steve was my go to person who could fix things for me at the beginning.

I’m not participating in many blog carnivals anymore. They were very helpful at the beginning to get connected with others in the blogging community. Blue Monday, Tablescape Thursday, Photo Hunters, Friday Feast, Mosaic Monday, ABC Wednesday, WFMW, Show and Tell, Thankful Thursday, Friday’s Fave Five, Sky Watch, Recipe Round-Up, Ruby Tuesday, Before and After,  Wordless Wednesday, and many more were fun to join.

These days I’m participating in Hodgepodge Wednesday. On Thursdays I have my Truth for Today Bible Verse posts. Sundays are my Hymn days. The rest of the days are for what’s happening with family, our country bungalow, weather, travels and other events.

A big thanks to my brother Steve for nudging me into this fun activity that has opened up so much more of the world to me. Blogging has also improved my photography and given me ‘eyes to see’.

Lovella’s Blog is what connected me to my Mennonite Girls and my life is better because of my relationship with these ladies.

I’m grateful for the many friendships that have developed over the years with fellow bloggers. I met my walking buddy, Willow, in Camarillo through our blogs. I’ve been able to meet up with other bloggers from California, Kansas, Canada, Utah and Washington.

Thank you for visiting my blog and for the comments you leave. I have one survey question for fellow bloggers and those of you who leave comments. Do you prefer a reply to any comments even if it isn’t a question that you leave on a blog or would you rather someone visits your blog in return and reads and comments on your posts? Hope that question makes sense.

Teriyaki Glazed Skillet Chicken

This is a simple tasty chicken dish made in the skillet. I was inspired to try it after seeing Bev’s tip on storing fresh ginger.

Teriyaki-Lemon Glazed Chicken

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup lemon juice
  • 1/2 cup low-sodium soy sauce
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 3 tablespoons brown sugar
  • 2 tablespoons water
  • 3 teaspoons garlic, minced
  • 1 teaspoon fresh ginger, micro-planed
  • 1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts thin cut

Method:

  1. In large skillet combine lemon juice, soy sauce, white and brown sugar, water, garlic and ginger.
  2. Cook over medium heat until sugar dissolves, stirring frequently. 2-4 minutes.
  3. Add the chicken and cook 15 to 20 minutes or till thoroughly cooked turning after 10 minutes.
  4. Optional: Remove chicken and cook down glaze till it thickens somewhat and drizzle over the chicken before serving.

Serve with rice and vegetables of your choice.
Serves 4

If you purchase whole chicken breasts instead of thin cut just halve the breasts lengthwise to make them thinner.

Pancake Tuesday

These were a nice change from regular pancakes made with yogurt instead of milk. We enjoyed them with a dollop of plain yogurt and pure maple syrup. Since childhood our family has enjoyed pancakes with sour cream and syrup. If you’ve never tried it you should.

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup flour
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 1-1/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup plain yogurt
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 tablespoons melted butter or vegetable oil
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla

Method:

  1. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
  2. In separate bowl whisk together the yogurt, eggs, oil or butter and vanilla.
  3. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients combining well.
  4. Heat pan to medium high to cook the pancakes with a combo of vegetable oil and butter.
  5. Use 1/3 cup measure to proportion the batter and end up with 8 uniform pancakes.
  6. Cook to a golden brown on one side and flip and cook the other side.
  7. Serve with your favorite toppings.

Yield: 8 pancakes

Double the recipe to serve more people.

We did not grow up with the tradition of Pancake Tuesday, Shrove Tuesday, Mardi Gras or Lent. We have always joyously celebrated Easter ~ Resurrection Sunday.  In fact we never stop celebrating Christ’s resurrection and what His death, burial and resurrection mean to us as Christians.

It is a good day for pancakes.

Egg Drop Soup ~ Happy Lunar New Year!

Today is Lunar/Chinese New Year. It was high time I made this simple soup that many Chinese Restaurants serve. Several recipes were very similar online so I really don’t know who to credit this recipe to. Our local restaurants call this soup Egg Flower Soup and another name is Egg Drop Soup.

Ingredients:
4 cups prepared chicken broth
2 Tablespoons chicken stock reserved from the 4 cups
1 Tablespoon cornstarch
1 Tablespoon soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon fresh grated ginger
2 eggs lightly beaten
2 green onions chopped
Salt and white pepper to taste

Make a slurry of the 2 Tablespoons broth and 1 Tablespoon cornstarch, set aside.
Pour the remaining broth into a medium sized pot.
Add the soy sauce and grated ginger to the broth.
Bring the broth to a boil.
Add the slurry slowly and stir to incorporate it all until the broth thickens for at least 2 minutes.
While the broth is boiling and the slurry thickens the broth add the beaten eggs slowly in a stream while stirring the broth in one direction.
Keep stirring and adding the egg as it becomes feathery in the broth.
After the beaten eggs are added turn off the heat.
Taste and see if you need added salt or white pepper.
Add the chopped green onions and serve.
Serves 4 people.

Happy Lunar New Year!

 

Pasta Carbonara

This is a pasta dish based on eggs, bacon or ham, and cheese.

Pasta Carbonara
Ingredients:

  • 1/4 cup butter
  • 4 eggs
  • 1/4 cup whipping cream
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 pound bacon or Pancetta, cut up into bite size pieces
  • 1/2 cup diced red onion
  • 1 clove garlic crushed
  • 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
  • 1 cup thawed frozen peas (optional)
  • 1/4 cup snipped parsley
  • 1 pound pasta of your choice
  • Pepper to taste

Method:

  1. Let eggs and butter stand at room temperature for 2 hours.
  2. Heat an ovenproof casserole dish (approx. 9 x 13) in a 300 degree oven.
  3. In a skillet, cook bacon or pancetta for a few minutes and then add red onion and continue cooking until red onion is soft, add garlic and heat for an additional minute.
  4. Remove this mixture and drain on paper toweling.
  5. Meanwhile, beat together eggs, salt, and cream just until combined.
  6. Add pasta to a large amount of boiling salted water.
  7. Cook 10 to 12 minutes or until tender; drain well.
  8. Turn hot pasta into the heated serving dish; toss pasta with butter.
  9. Pour egg mixture over and toss until pasta is well coated.
  10. Add bacon, onion, cheese, peas and parsley; toss to mix.
  11. Season to taste with pepper.
  12. The heat of the pasta and the casserole dish cooks the egg mixture…

Oops, on my Wednesday Hodgepodge I said I’d be sharing the Skillet Chicken today but that was scheduled for next Saturday.