Have a Happy Day!

Baba's Potato Soup with a kick of Cajun Spice

 

Ingredients

§  6 slices Thin Bacon, Cut Into 1-inch Pieces

§  1 whole Medium Onion, Diced

§  3 whole Carrots, Scrubbed Clean And Diced

§  3 stalks Celery, Diced

§  5 whole Small Russet Potatoes, Peeled And Diced

§  7 cups water mixes with 2 Knorrs chicken stock boullion

§  ¼ cup  All-purpose Flour

§  1 cup Milk

§  1/2 cup Heavy Cream

§  1/2 teaspoon Salt, More To Taste

§  Black Pepper To Taste

§  ¾  teaspoon Cajun Spice Mix

§  1 teaspoon Minced Fresh Parsley

§  1 cup Grated Cheese Of Your Choice

Preparation Instructions

Add bacon pieces to a soup pot over medium heat and cook bacon until crisp and fat is rendered. Remove the bacon from the pot and set it aside. Pour off most of the grease, but do not clean the pot.

Return the pot to medium-high heat and add the onions, carrots, and celery. Stir and cook for 2 minutes or so, then add the diced potatoes. Cook for 5 minutes, seasoning with salt, pepper, and Cajun spice.

Pour in the broth and bring it to a gentle boil. Cook for 20 -30 minutes till veggies are tender.  Remove half to 2/3 the soup and blend in a blender/food process until completely smooth. Pour it back into the soup pot and stir to combine. Let it heat back up as you taste for seasonings, adding more of what it needs.  .   Make a browned roux out of butter and flour and add milk, stirring until smooth.  Add the roux to soup stirring to combine smoothly.   Stir in whipping cream, ( you can use half and half)  but not as good……then stir in parsley, if you like or garnish.  You can add the crumbled  bacon as a garnish  last or just throw into the pot like I do.  Sprinkle shredded cheese and eat hot….The Cajun spice gives it a nice bite.

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Lasagna with Egg Noodles

I always have a problem with lasagna because I find the lasagna noodles too dry.  They are dry out of the oven and dry the day after.  Problem solved...use egg noodles. I used 1 jar sphaghetti sauce, but could use 1/2 a jar more if you like it runnnier for the next day.  Noodles soak up all the moisture for reheating.  Delicious and not dry. 

 

 

1 bag broad egg noodles

1 package ground beef

1 Jar Tomato Basil Sphaghetti sauce

1 container Ricotta Cheese

1 cup sour cream

1 diced zucchini

1diced green pepper

1 small box sliced mushrooms

1 can spinach (if desired in place of other veggies)

6 green onions chopped

2 cloves garlic

salt and pepper

oil

Italian Seasoning

 

 

 

Prepare noodles in boiling water about 10 minutes. Fry in oil,  on medium heat, peppers, mushroooms and zucchini to sweat the moisture out.

 Set aside. In same skillet brown meat and onions and garlic, and add sphaghetti sauce...simmer 20 minutes. I added some italian seasoning.

 

 

 

 

 Mix Ricotta and sour cream and when noodles are cooked and rinsed with cold water...add to cheese mixture. 

 Layer 1/2 noodle and cheese mixture in

the dish, followed by 1/2 meat mixture.  Add pepper, zucchini and mushrooms.

This can be substituted for just canned spinach if you like. Top with remaining noodles and cheese, followed by meat mixture and sprinkle mozzerella cheese over it all.  Bake 30-40 minutes at 350 degrees. Serve with salad.

 

 

 

 

Peach and Cream Cheese Muffins

 

 

 

Peaches and Cream Cheese Muffins

4 oz. cream cheese

½ cup sugar +1 Tbsp sugar/ divided

¾ tsp. cinnamon/ divided

1 ¾ cup flour

½ tsp. salt

2 ½ tsp. Baking Powder

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup peach yogurt

½ cup sour cream

6 Tbsp. melted butter

1 cup diced frozen peaches

 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease 12  muffin tin or use liners.

Mix cream cheese, 1 Tbsp. sugar, and ¼ tsp. cinnamon…set aside.

In a large bowl whisk flour, salt, Baking Powder,1/2 cup sugar, and ½ tsp. cinnamon….set aside.

In another bowl combine egg, vanilla, peach yogurt and sour cream.  Add melted butter and set aside.

Make a well in dry ingredients and add wet ingredients. Stir gently and add peaches.

Spoon batter into muffin tins and top with a spoonful of cream cheese mixture.  Sprinke a bit of sugar and cinnamon on each muffin and bake for 20 minutes.  Delicious!

 

  

 

We called City of Edmonton...they did nothing.

Baba's Rancher's Cookies

 

 

 

Rancher’s Cookies

1 cup Golden Crisco shortening

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup white sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

2 cups flour

1 tsp. Baking Soda

½ tsp. Baking Powder

½ tsp. salt

2 cups Oatmeal

1 cup shredded or flaked Coconut

1 cup Rice Krispies

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Cream shortening, sugars and eggs.  Add flour, B.Powder, B. Soda, and salt, blend, add rolled oats, blend and then add coconut and krispies. Dough will be nice and soft. Form small walnut shaped balls and press down with fork on lightly greased baking pans. Bake 10-12 minutes. I use light, silver coloured baking pans…old fashioned ones….because I find the newer ones burn too quick. Depending on how large your cookies are…you can easily get 5-6 dozen.

Really good cookies with Hot Chocolate or Tea.... 

Baba's Blintze's with Raspberries

     Blintzes:

        4 large beaten eggs

        1/2 cup water

        1/2 cup milk

        1/2 teaspoon salt

        1 cup all-purpose flour

        Filling:

         1 pound ricotta

         1 tablespoon melted butter

      1 large egg yolk

      2 teaspoons vanilla

      1/4 cup sugar or more or less  to taste

Preparation:

1.    To make the blintzes, beat together all the blintz ingredients and let the batter rest for at least a half hour. Heat a small crepe pan and add a pat of butter. Pour about 1/4 cup batter into the pan and swirl it around….burner set on 5.  Don't let it brown. Flip and cook the other side for a few seconds. Then turn blintz out onto a towel. Repeat with  remaining batter and pats of butter. I used ¼ cup and got 10 crepes with a bit of filling left over,  and  found the crepes too thick and had filling left over.  Next time I would use 1/8 of a cup of batter( maybe a smidge more) and make about 20 blintzes.

 

2.    To make the filling, mix together all the filling ingredients in a large bowl.

 

 

 

3.    To assemble, place 1 blintz on a work surface and place 1 tablespoon on top. Fold envelope style and roll up. Continue with remaining blintzes and filling.

 

 

 

 

 

 Can be frozen at this point if you like and just reheated in frypan frozen when desired.

4.    Fry filled blintzes in butter until golden brown. Serve with whipped cream and / or fruit or sour cream.

Or…

 

turn oven to 350 degrees.....arrange crepes in 9 by 13 pan…dot with 2-3 Tbsp. butter…cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes……take off foil and bake for another 10-15 minutes until browned.  This way the egg cooks right through the crepe.

 

 

 

 

 

Most beautiful Boyz

Moonstruck eggs and toast

So I wake up and have this craving for toast and eggs. My coffee is brewing and as I make way into the kitchen to start breakfast I remember that I have no toaster. My fairly new Black and Decker Stainless steel toaster has seen the last of it's two years. So much for technology, Black and Decker and all this "Made in China" crap.  So what do you do?  You improvise.

Butter 2 slices bread on each side and use your multifunctional Tomato Paste can to cut out two rounds.  No high powered tools here.

 

 

Save rounds as you will be frying these too.

 

Place in medium heated fry pan and break an egg into each hole.

 

Just keep checking on the underneath of toast for browness and then flip with ready. By the time toast is grilled brown and you flip and get the other side brown you will have an all white cooked  over easy egg.  If you want it harder..smash down with spatula and leave and flip a bit longer. The toast is buttered so it will stay moist. The rounds become dippers.

Voila....no toaster but have eggs n' toast with my coffee

 

Aselin Debison - The Gift

Video 18 with Lukee

Best, best Christmas presents

 

This is one of my nicest Christmas presents from a 75 year old client....does she have class or what?

 

 

Cutest hair....lost glamour

 

 

Cute nails

 

Karpatka Polish Mountain Cake

 

 

On a dreary day when there is no sunshine and it is snowing what do you do? You make a cake, a dessert or some soup. So I always try to draw some cooking creativity from Polish cusine. When I was in Poland and Ukraine I loved this cake. They have many versions of these custard filled pastries, unlike our dessert shops here. The thing that is more common there is that you will have this in someone's home versus a pastry shop. This is a peasant cake resembling the Carpathian mountains covered in snow. It has a puff pastry crust and delicious custard filling.  The puff pastry rising like a mountain range in the oven.  Absolutely gorgeous! No storebought pastry will tase as good as when you make this yourself. Easy recipe with normal ingredients. No running to the store to buy some 10 dollar bottle of something of which you only need a pinch. Unless of course you want an expensive bottle of red wine to wash it down....then run to the liqour store. Absolutely scrumptious looking and tastes as good as it looks. . Double yummo! Smaczny! Smaczny!

 

Ingredients

 

1 cup water

1 cup flour

1 Tsp. baking Powder

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 cup butter

5 eggs

4 cups milk

1 cup sugar

5 egg yolks

2 Tsp. vanilla

5 Tbsp. cornstarch + 5 Tbsp. flour

1 cup butter at room temperature

Icing Sugar

 

Bring 1 cup water and butter to boil. Add flour, BPowder and salt stiring quickly on low heat. Remove from pan and mix 1 minute until dough easily comes off walls of pot.

 

 

 

Set aside and cool.  Transfer to  a mixing bowl with whisk and one by one add one egg until smooth like butter.  Grease two 9 by 13 pans and lightly dust with flour. Patiently spread 1/2 mixture into each  pan until base of pan is covered.

 

Pop into a preheated oven at 400 degrees for 25 minures.  I used the top rack in my oven.

 

It comes out looking like the mountains.
Gorgeous!

 

While crust cooks, in a bowl whisk together 1 cup milk, vanilla, yolks and cornstarch and flour until smooth.

 

 

In a saucepan put the remaining 3 cups milk on medium until sides of milk get tiny bubbles..do not boil.  Add the sugar stirring quickly until well combined and melted. Slowly add the flour-egg mixture whisking consistently on low-medium heat until everything starts to thicken like a pudding.  Remove from heat and pour into a bowl and cover with saran so it doesn't form a layer of skin on top of filling.  Let cool. In a mixing bowl mix 1 cup butter and slowly add cooled custard to butter until well combined.

Remove one crust from pan and set on a wire rack.

 

 

 

  Line the  empty  pan with overlapping parchment paper.  Set crust back in pan. This is for easy removal later.  Spoon filling over crust in pan and cover with remaing crust pressing down gently.  I actually had to slice a bit of my high mountain top off before it spooned on the fillling. Cool in fridge for 2 hours.