Tag Archives: Vareniki

V is for…

For April I’m challenging myself to an A-Z photo a day excluding Sundays and in addition to any regular posts that come to be.

Today is Friday April 25th and we are on the letter V.

V is for Vareniki or Vareniky~ A Russian traditional cheese filled dumpling. I will add a recipe at the end of this post.

The first sets of vareniki day in Southern California are when our mom was still on this earth.

I think this set of photos is from 2004.

In 2008 while Greg and I were living in Camarillo I was able to join in for the family day of making Vareniki for our Christmas celebration.

This photo above is from 2012, the last Vareniki day with our mom. Our mom was promoted to heaven in September of 2013.

The next set of photos are from Vareniki day in 2020.

Vareniki are a Russian treat we’ve enjoyed at Christmas for many years. Vareniki can be enjoyed any time of year but our family has made it our Christmas dessert tradition. This year the crew included my two older sisters, one sister-in-law, 4 of our nieces and one grandniece. My mom would be so proud of them all!

My oldest sister Kathy with the finished product which is first boiled and then ready to freeze and then bake in half and half and butter on Christmas Eve. Our family tradition is to stuff these dumplings with a cheese filling and serve them as a dessert or for breakfast in place of pancakes. We serve them with a dollop of sour cream and maple syrup.

Pierogi and Vareniki are actually the same thing. Again, stuffed dumplings, they are common throughout Central and Eastern Europe and most of the old Eastern Bloc states. While Vareniki is the more commonly used term in Russia, pierogi are the national dish of Poland, Ukraine and Slovakia.

Here’s the recipe from our family cookbook that our sister Vera created.

 

 

Say Cheese Hodgepodge

Joyce has a new set of questions to get our brains going for Wednesday Hodgepodge.

1. It’s National Cheese Day (June 4)…does anyone not like cheese? What’s your favorite? Last thing you ate or made with cheese? 

We do keep cheese around and enjoy it. I enjoy sharp cheddar, gouda, swiss and a specialty cheese thrown in here and there. The last thing I ate with cheese was a cheese and meat roll-up. Not too exciting. We enjoy Mexican food that seems to have a lot of cheese. Cheese filled Blintzes or cheese filled Vareniki are my favorites. We do enjoy a good cheesecake, too.

 

2. Last time you were instructed to ‘say cheese!’? How do you feel about having your picture taken? 

This probably happened the weekend we were on the other side of the mountains with our ‘coast’ kids. I’m okay with having my photo taken digitally since we can see the results immediately and know right away if we need a re-do! 🙂

3. What’s your travel packing strategy? Are you typically a light packer or do you throw in everything but the kitchen sink?

Depends on where we are going and the form of transportation. If we are driving somewhere I’m not concerned with throwing in everything we might need on the trip. When we are traveling internationally the strategy is totally different. We try to take as little as possible and only take one small rolling bag and a backpack. We purchased smaller lighter weight bags with great rolling ease for our last trip overseas and didn’t regret it.

When flying do you check a bag or aim for carry on only? 

We generally are okay with checking a bag when traveling. When there are connecting flights we try to carry-on so our bags don’t get sent off to a different location than our final destination.

4. What is it about people’s cell phone habits that you find most annoying? 

It is annoying when people talk loudly on their phones in a restaurant or other indoor public space.

5. What will be your summer mantra/slogan? 

Eat less, exercise more.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

The end of this week we are participating in a group garage sale and I’ve been busy pricing our stuff for that. Today we deliver all of our stuff to the site and set things up. Having a group that trades shifts to man the sale is a huge bonus. Continuing in the process of downsizing our stash of stuff has great rewards. I’ll be slow getting around to everyone this week.

Happy June, Hodgepodgers!

Vareniki, Christmas Tradition

These are photos from over 5 years ago on two separate cooking days before Christmas. I got the photos from my nieces.

This photo above is from 2012, the last Vareniki day with our mom.

It’s been 5 years now since my sisters and nieces have been able to have Vareniki cooking day with our mom. This event usually happens the weekend before Christmas. Our mom left this earth in September of 2013. I’m proud of my sisters and nieces for keeping this tradition alive without our mom’s guidance. It’s our family tradition to have these filled cheese dumplings for dessert on Christmas Eve. The cheese filling is a lightly sweetened Russian style farmer’s cheese. These filled creations are enjoyed after dinner on Christmas Eve. After making the dough, filling them with cheese, pinching them just right like our mom taught us, they are simmered until they float, cooled, and stored for Christmas Eve. To serve they are placed evenly in a glass casserole dish and baked with butter and half and half until bubbly. They are served hot topped with sour cream and syrup.  I’m going to have to have a breakthrough and try making these with my girls. We also enjoy them for breakfast.

Today my two older sisters, one of my brothers and sister in laws and 3 of my nieces are getting together to continue the Vareniki tradtion.

I received this next photos from my nieces at their Vareniki making today at my oldest sister’s home. I loved the hashtags my nieces used like #webelongtomoisiandnadia #newkitchenhelpers #makingbabaproud

My sister Kathy with her grandson, Jackson.

My sister Vera, niece Debbee, sister Kathy, grandniece Avery, niece Melissa, niece Michelle, and sister in law Letty.

My niece Michelle teaching her daughter, Avery, the pinching skills.

My grandnephew, Jackson. Two new helpers this year from the next generation!

The Five…

Today is Friday and I’m joining Susanne at Living to Tell the Story for her Friday’s Fave Five. It’s good to think back over the past week and see the good things in life that God has blessed you with to enjoy.

1. Vareniki have become traditional for my family to prepare together before Christmas and then to serve on Christmas Eve for dessert. My mom’s version are larger and fancier than these but when I don’t get my mom’s these are the next best thing. I can buy them at a European Deli not too far form my home. They call them perogies but the Russian on the upper left translates to Vareniki with cheese. After they are formed, filled with cheese and sealed they are boiled cooled and frozen. We like to serve them hot out of the oven after they are cooked from their frozen state with butter and 1/2 and 1/2. Then we plop some sour cream on top and cover them with good maple syrup. Delicious! We had these for breakfast last Saturday before we started in on cleaning out the garage loft.

2. When we crave a good meatball sandwich we drive to a pizza joint in Lynnwood. We’ve tried to find a good one closer to us but they always disappoint. These were delicious as usual. I brought half of mine home for another day. All my favorites aren’t about food but it seems the freezing snap we’ve had since last Friday made us seek out some of our favorite comfort foods.

3. Our favorite sons both have birthdays this week. We are so thankful that God blessed us with them. Each one is unique and appreciated!

4. I’m thankful for the local library where I can put books on hold and then check out to enjoy without spending lots of money. The book in the middle is co-authored by our friend Lela Gilbert. Lela has a new book out that I’ve ordered from Amazon called, Saturday People, Sunday People. I’ll share more about it after it arrives. Without Reservations was recommended to me by Susan in Switzerland after she read about our upcoming trip to Milan. The Unofficial Downton Abbey cookbook is just for fun.

5. We are excited about finally sending our chairs out to be reupholstered. They were in sorry shape after 36 years or so of wear and tear. We are looking forward to their new look and feel.

In the meantime the table is very lonely.

Looking forward to coming around and seeing your favorites this week. What’s in store for your weekend? Some of us in the U.S. get a long weekend since Monday is Martin Luther King, Jr. observance. Dear’s company doesn’t give him the day off. We hope to celebrate with Josh and Laura on Sunday if they are well enough. (Lousy illnesses gripping our world!) We also are plowing forward to try to  finish the clean up in the garage. Blessings!!