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 Spaniko-pierogi Total time: Approximately 1.5 hours.
The August 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge was hosted by LizG of Bits n’ Bites and Anula of Anula’s Kitchen. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make pierogi from scratch and an optional challenge to provide one filling that best represents their locale. Potatoes are local to me (my state ranks “first in per-acre yield of potatoes, far above other potato-producing states and countries, and 57 percent more potatoes per acre” than Idaho), but I thought I’d go with spinach (which my region has 2000-3000 acres dedicated to seed growth alone).
Dough Ingredients
2 to 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 large egg
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 to 1 cup lukewarm water
Filling Ingredients
1 bunch of spinach, cleaned, rinsed, separated and drained
1/2 c feta cheese
1/2 onion, diced & sauteed in butter until golden brown
1 egg
1/4 tsp salt (optional)
 Spaniko-pierogi in the toaster oven Chop spinach leaves into “salad size” pieces. Place in a large, microwave safe bowl and microwave on high for 1 minute. The spinach should wilt to about 1/4 of the original size. You may want to drain in a colander. Let cool 3-5 minutes. Scoop your wilted spinach up in one clump if you can and cut it into bite sized squares. Transfer to a towel (or a pair of paper towels), and attempt to squeeze the remaining water out or let it drain in the towel for 5-10 minutes.
Mix together with remaining filling ingredients and chill completely before use.
Place 2 cups flour in a large bowl and make a well in the center. Break the egg into it, add the salt and a little water at a time (in my situation 1/2 cup was enough). Bring the dough together, kneading well and adding more flour or water as necessary. Cover the dough and let it rest 20 minutes.
On a floured work surface, roll the dough out thinly (1/8” or as thin as you can go) cut with a 4-inch round or glass. Spoon a portion (tablespoon will be the best) of the filling into the middle of each circle. Fold dough in half and pinch edges together. Gather scraps, re-roll and fill. Repeat with remaining dough.
 Deep Fried Spaniko-pierogi Bring a large, low saucepan of salted water to boil. Drop in the pierogi, in a single layer in the pan. Return to the boil and reduce heat to medium. When the pierogi rise to the surface, continue to simmer a few minutes more (usually about 5 minutes), until they’ve started to puff out.
Toast in a toaster oven at 375F for 10 minutes or until puffy and light brown.
I find phyllo dough to be expensive if purchased and a real pain to make from scratch. This works for me, and it’s awesome.
There’s a difference in using fresh spinach versus frozen spinach, and that difference is mostly moisture and texture. If you’re not sure how to clean fresh spinach, check out this vegancoach tutorial.
 2-inch "Baked Potato" Pierogi Total time: Approximately 1.5 hours.
The August 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge was hosted by LizG of Bits n’ Bites and Anula of Anula’s Kitchen. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make pierogi from scratch and an optional challenge to provide one filling that best represents their locale.
Makes 4 generous servings, around 30 dumplings
Traditional Polish recipe, this is Anula’s family recipe
Dough Ingredients
2 to 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 large egg
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 to 1 cup lukewarm water
Filling Ingredients
3 big potatoes, cooked & mashed (1 1/2 cup instant or leftover mashed potatoes is fine too)
1 cup cottage cheese, drained I went with cheddar, and I omitted the Tbsp of melted butter
1 onion, diced & sauteed in butter until clear I went all the way to gold and sweet, with 1/2 tsp of garlic, too
3 slices of streaky bacon, diced and fried till crispy
1 egg yolk (from medium egg) Bah! I put the whole egg in!
1 tablespoon butter, melted omitted
1/4 teaspoon salt I put 1/2 tsp.
pinch of pepper to taste 1/4 tsp it is.
1/4 tsp of ground rosemary
 2-inch "Sweet Potato Pie" Pierogi 1. Combine all the ingredients for the filling (it‟s best to use one‟s hands to do that) put into the bowl, cover and set aside in the fridge until you have to use it.
2. Place 2 cups flour in a large bowl or on a work surface and make a well in the center. Break the egg into it, add the salt and a little lukewarm at a time (in my situation 1/2 cup was enough). Bring the dough together, kneading well and adding more flour or water as necessary. Cover the dough with a bowl or towel. You‟re aiming for soft dough. Let it rest 20 minutes.
3. On a floured work surface, roll the dough out thinly (1/8” or about 3 millimeters) cut with a 2-inch (5 cm) 4-inch round or glass. Spoon a portion (teaspoon will be the best) of the filling into the middle of each circle. Fold dough in half and pinch edges together. Gather scraps, re-roll and fill. Repeat with remaining dough.
4. Bring a large, low saucepan of salted water to boil. Drop in the pierogi, not too many, only single layer in the pan! Return to the boil and reduce heat. When the pierogi rise to the surface, continue to simmer a few minutes more ( usually about 5 minutes). Remove one dumpling with a slotted spoon and taste if ready. When satisfied, remove remaining pierogi from the water.
5. Serve immediately preferably with crème fraiche or fry. Cold pierogi can be fried. Boiled Russian pierogi can be easily frozen and boiled taken out straight from the freezer.
6. Fry in a pan with melted butter until golden brown on both sides, about 5 minutes… OR toast in a toaster oven 10 minutes or until puffy… OR bake at 350F for 10 minutes or until puffy.
I freeze mine on a cookie sheet before boiling them, and I just increase the cook time by 2 minutes if it’s frozen when I first put it in – no problem. I was really favoring the boiled-then-pan-fried method, until I thought I’d test out the toaster oven; boiling then tossing in the toaster oven makes a nice puffy, soft, slightly chewy pierogi and has less oil than the pan-fried. Every cook method I’ve tried has been incredibly tasty, so long as I boiled them first, before doing something else, and they taste fine just boiled, too.
I found that I liked the 4-inch circular cutter over the 2-inch cutter. The difference is a tablespoon of filling in a 4-inch or a teaspoon of filling in the smaller one. If you’re looking for bite-size, go with the 2-inch cutter; we prefer to make them finger-food rather than bite-size, and the 4-inch works for me. Cooking time is only increased by a minute or two, depending on how big the boiling pot is and how many pierogi are in the pot!
Other filling ideas:
meat and cabbage … soybeans … sauerkraut, mushrooms and carrots …
sweet potatoes and marshmallows … fruit …
 Gluten Free Indecision Dessert Total time: 3-4 hours.
When tasked with creating a gluten free dessert, I immediately turned to the Celiac Teen for assistance and inspiration. What I found was this yummo looking Lemon Cheesecake Brownie Pie she calls the “indecision dessert”. I altered it to meet what I had in stock.
1 pre-baked gluten free pie crust
1/2 c almonds, ground to just over 1/4 cup
Cheesecake Layer (see below)
Brownie Layer (see below)
Cheesecake Layer
8 oz cream cheese (one block), softened
1/2 c sugar
1/2 c gluten free sour cream (read the label, check the websites)
2 eggs
1 tsp gluten free vanilla extract (read the label, check the websites)
Completely combine or blend all of the cheesecake layer ingredients. Cover and chill for 1-4 hours.
 Cheesecake Brownie Pie Brownie Layer
3/4 c semi-sweet chocolate
6 T butter
1/2 c rice flour
1 T gluten free potato flour
1/2 c sugar
2 eggs, beaten
In a small microwave safe bowl, combine and heat butter and chocolate for 30 seconds. Stir well. Heat again for 30 seconds, stir well, and set aside.
In a large bowl, combine eggs and sugar. Mix, blend, or whisk it up until the sugar is completely incorporated and the egg mix appears “airy”. Add chocolate mix to the egg mixture, stir completely. Add flours and mix well.
Assembly
Spread cheesecake layer over the bottom of the pie crust. Sprinkle ground almonds over the top of the cheesecake layer as evenly as possible. Spread brownie mix over the top of the almonds.
Bake 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted through just the brownie layer comes back clean.
Want step by step instructions? Click the link to Lauren’s website above.
The sideview picture of the slice is a bit misleading. If you don’t spread your brownie out evenly, you get these great big hills and valleys in the final product. The other side of the slice was almost oppositely striped, with the cheesecake appearing thick and the brownie appearing thin.
If you didn’t know any better, you’d have no idea this was gluten free. The crust is amazing, and I might just replace my regular graham cracker crust with this one; it’s perfect for cheesecake.
 Gluten Free Pie Crust Total time: 20 minutes.
1 1/4 c rice flour
2 T gluten free potato flour
2 T ground almonds
1 T sugar
1/2 tsp salt
7 T gluten free vegetable shortening (read the label, check the websites)
1/2 c milk
Preheat oven to 400 F.
In a large bowl, whisk together all the dry ingredients.
Cut in shortening with pastry blender, or the double-knife trick that no one I have ever met has been able to master, until the mixture is similar to cornmeal.
Add milk and incorporate completely. This will give you a really soft dough.
Press dough into a 9 inch pie pan. It helps to create a ball, and start to flatten/spread the ball out with your hands above the pie pan before placing the flattened disc into the dish. Spread dough from the inside outward.
Poke several fork holes into the bottom of the crust.
Bake 10 minutes.
Cool completely before using.
 Banana Bread (with walnuts) Total time: 1 hour 10 minutes.
1 1/2 c flour
1 c sugar
2 bananas, mashed (about 1 cup)
1/2 c vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch of allspice
1/2 c chopped walnuts (optional!)
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Butter a 4 x 8 loaf pan.
Combine flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder, set aside.
In a large bowl, mix together sugar, oil, mashed bananas, eggs and vanilla. Add flour mix and stir until just combined. If you’re including walnut pieces, fold them in now.
Pour batter into loaf pan and bake for one hour.
What worked for me last time was to bake it for 45 minutes on 350 and then drop the temperature to 300 for the last 15 minutes. It smelled burned, but I was unable to find any burned bits.
 Fan-tans, for guests (made 16) Total time: 4 hours.
Adapted from Buttermilk Rolls in the Joy of Cooking.
Makes 12-24, depending on how you want to rock it.
4 c cheap all purpose flour
3/4 c plain yogurt
3/4 c milk
1/4 c sugar
2 T melted butter
1 T active dry yeast
2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
4-8 T softened, spreadable butter at room temperature
Combine yogurt and milk, mix well. Spoon out 1/3 to 1/2 cup of milk mixture and heat to about 110 F. Stir well and often.
Remove from heat and add yeast, stir well. Let set 3-5 minutes or until frothy.
Stir yeast mix into original yogurt mix. Add baking soda, salt, and sugar, and mix well. Add 2 cups of flour and 2 T melted butter. Stir or mix until incorporated, then add remaining 2 cups of flour.
Place dough in a greased bowl and cover (with a towel or greased saran wrap). Let rise until more than doubled in bulk, about 3 hours.
Punch down dough and knead lightly in the bowl. Separate the dough into 2 parts. Roll each part into a square about 1/8 inch think. Let sit 2-3 minutes.
Spread softened butter in a thin layer over both pieces. Cut into strips 1 to 1 1/2 inches wide. Stack them into 6 or 8 layers. Using an extremely sharp knife or kitchen string, cut pieces off the stacks 1 1/2 to 2 inches wide. Place cut stack pieces into greased muffin tins, with the cut edges facing up. Cover with towel or greased saran wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size again. (Click here for a great example on how to do this, plus another great fan-tan recipe.)
Bake 15-20 minutes, in a preheated 425 F oven, until well browned.
Most often when I make these, I only make 12 rolls, and the rolls look like stay-puffed marshmallows trying to fit into a thimble. They’re pretty epic, and sometimes they stick together completely, and I can just dump the whole pan upside down to get them out.
 Deviled Egg Potato Salad (Leftovers) Total time: 2 hours.
Not for Dad. Serves 4-6.
4-5 medium potatoes
2 hard boiled eggs, diced + 2 hard boiled egg yolks
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1-2 celery stalks, sliced
1-2 dill pickles, minced
2 tsp pickle juice
2 tsp dijon mustard
1 tsp ground yellow mustard
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp paprika
salt & pepper to taste
Wash potatoes well, remove sprouts and blemishes, and either peel or don’t peel them. Cut potatoes into bite size or larger cubes. Place potatoes in a large pot, and fill with water 2 inches higher than the highest potato. Cook covered or uncovered 20-40 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Drain well.
Rinse potatoes with cool water, drain well, and refrigerate for 20-30 minutes.
In a large mixing bowl, mix together mayonnaise, hard boiled egg yolks, celery, pickles, pickle juice, dijon mustard, dry mustard, salt, paprika, and optional salt & pepper to taste. Be sure to crush the egg yolks to make them smooth. It should taste on the salty side. Refrigerate for 20-30 minutes.
Add potato and egg pieces to the dressing and mix well. Chill for 20-30 minutes to let the flavors settle.
If you’re wanting a picnic salad, you really shouldn’t use eggs.
I use a full teaspoon of salt, plus 1/2 teaspoon of pepper, so that I don’t have to salt and pepper my salad on my plate. Most people will probably be fine with just 1/2 tsp of salt, though.
 Beef with Curried Tomato Almond Sauce Total time: Approximately 1 hour.
The July 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge was hosted by Margie of More Please and Natashya of Living in the Kitchen with Puppies. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make their own nut butter from scratch, and use the nut butter in a savory recipe. The original recipe given called for chicken, I used beef, and I substituted heavy cream in place of milk.
1 Tablespoon (15 ml) olive oil
24 ounces beef, cubed or diced
Salt to taste
Spice Blend:
1.5 tablespoons (20 ml) garam masala seasoning
1 teaspoon (5 ml) ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon (2 ml) ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon (1 ml) black pepper
Sauce:
4 tablespoons (60 ml) butter
1 large onion, cut in half pole to pole
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 (15-ounce/425 g) can tomato sauce
1/3 cup (80 ml) almond butter
1/2 cup (80 ml) heavy cream
½ to ¾ cup (120 to 180 ml) chicken broth or water, more as needed
1 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)
 Almond Cream Directions:
Mix together almond butter and heavy cream in a food processor or blender (or whisk until smooth). Set aside.
Stir garam masala, ginger, cinnamon, and pepper together in a small bowl. Set aside.
If desired, pound meat to ¼ inch (6 mm) thickness to promote even cooking. Sprinkle with a bit of salt and pepper to taste. Heat 1 teaspoon (5 ml) olive oil a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add half the meat; sauté 3 to 5 minutes on each side or until cooked through. Cook the meat in 2 batches, adding more oil if needed for second batch. Set aside on clean plate and keep warm.
Melt the butter in large nonstick skillet over medium-low heat. Add the onion and cook gently for several minutes to infuse the butter with onion flavor. Keep the heat low to avoid burning the butter; a little color is fine. Add the spice blend and garlic and cook for 1 minute or till fragrant, stirring constantly. Add the tomato sauce, stir well, and bring to boil. Reduce heat to simmer. Whisk in almond cream until thoroughly combined with tomato sauce. Return to simmer. Add broth (or water) to sauce to reach desired consistency; return to simmer. Add more broth (or water) as needed to thin sauce as desired.
Transfer sliced meat to sauce. Simmer gently for a few minutes until meat is heated through.
Serve meat and sauce over rice. Garnish with chopped parsley and/or sliced almonds if desired.
As this is, I couldn’t possibly label it as Indian, but it definitely has an Indian flavor to it. So if you’re looking for something reminiscent of Indian food, and you’re not a fan of cumin or fenugreek, this is definitely a winner.
 Pecan Butter Total time: 10-20 minutes.
The July 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge was hosted by Margie of More Please and Natashya of Living in the Kitchen with Puppies. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make their own nut butter from scratch, and use the nut butter in a savory recipe.
3/4 cup coarsely chopped pecans*, toasted
3/4 tsp salt, more as needed
1 – 2 tsps vegetable oil (optional)
Instructions for nut butter, by Margie and Natashya:
Pour nuts into bowl of food processor. Grind the nuts in the processor until they form a paste or butter. The nuts first turn into powdery or grainy bits, then start to clump and pull away from the side of the bowl, and finally form a paste or butter.
The total time required depends on the fat and moisture content of the nuts; grinding time will vary from roughly 1 to 4 minutes (assuming a starting volume of 1 to 2 cups [240 to 480 ml] nuts).
You may add oil as desired during grinding to make the nut butter smoother and creamier or to facilitate grinding. Add oil in small increments, by the teaspoon for oily nuts like cashews or by the tablespoon for dryer/harder nuts like almonds. You may use the corresponding nut oil or a neutral vegetable oil like canola. The inclusion of salt in the nut butters is optional and to taste. If you make nut butters from salted nuts, peanuts or cashews for example, you will not need additional salt.
 Almond butter made with toasted almond slivers (no skins) It’s helpful to keep in mind that the yield of nut butter is about half the original volume of nuts. If you start with 1 cup nuts, you’ll get about ½ cup nut butter.
Roasting the nuts before making nut butters is optional according to your preference. To roast nuts in the oven, preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C/Gas Mark 4). Spread nuts in a single layer on a baking sheet or roasting pan. Bake for approximately 10 minutes or until nuts are fragrant and a shade darker in color. Allow nuts to cool before grinding. Roasted nuts will make butter with darker color than raw nuts.
 Curried beef with vegetables on rice Total time: Approximately 1 hour.
The July 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge was hosted by Margie of More Please and Natashya of Living in the Kitchen with Puppies. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make their own nut butter from scratch, and use the nut butter in a savory recipe.
1 pound sliced beef
14 ounces (1 can) coconut milk
2/3 cup peanut butter or other nut butter*
1 carrot, sliced or julienned
1/2 bushel of fresh spinach, rinsed well
1/4 cup Thai red curry paste or more to taste
1/4 cup soy sauce (or 2 Tbsp fish sauce)
1/4 cup loose (not packed) brown sugar
1 Tbsp chopped onions (optional)
1 Tbsp vegetable or other oil
* To make your own nut butter, process in a food processor an amount of nuts equal to double what the recipe requires. In this case, I used 1.5 cups of salted, unshelled peanuts, and processed until a smooth paste formed. Some nut butter might require oil (to process and make smooth) and salt (to taste).
This is a stirring-constantly stir fry.
Heat oil in a large skillet on medium-high. Add onions (it should sizzle) and cook until clear or golden brown, 3-5 minutes. Add sliced beef and cook until brown on all sides, 2-3 minutes. Add curry paste and mix well until all pieces of meat are coated.
Add carrots, coconut milk (remember to shake it before opening it!), and peanut butter. Stir well. Add soy sauce and brown sugar, mix well, and cook until it just starts to boil. Cover and reduce heat to low, cooking until the carrots are tender or desired doneness, 5-10 minutes. If you like your carrots firm, skip the reduction.
Add spinach and stir well until the spinach wilts and is completely covered in sauce.
Serves 4-6.
This is a little more sauce than there is food to coat, so if you have more vegetables, you should probably add them.
The flavor of your red curry paste will vary, so use caution if you don’t like a lot of heat. I never put seafood anything in my curry paste, and I always use the full amount of peppers, because you never know if you’ll get “lame duck” peppers instead of the good hot kind you really want.
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