Baked Oatmeal and Raisin Yummies

       I have made oatmeal and raisin cookies many, many times over the years. But I had not tried baked oatmeal until recently. How silly it sounds now;  this delicious, warm and wonderful comfort food is a must have for family night or on a rainy day! How did I ever miss this one when the boys were small!?! It simply was not a staple in the house I grew up in, and not a recipe I adopted until recently. Oh!!!!!!!!!! How I wish I had tried this recipe sooner! I hope you love it as much as I do!

Baked Oatmeal and Raisin Yummies. 

Serve warm with extra milk.

Preheat oven to 350 F and prep a 9x9 baking pan.
In large bowl combine:
3cups quick oats
1 cup brown sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp real salt
1 tsp fresh ground cinnamon
Sift until mixed together well.

in another bowl whisk together:
1 egg
1/2 c applesauce
1/2 c coconut oil (or real butter)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 c milk

Stir this liquid in with the dry oatmeal mixture and combine well. Lastly, add in 1/2 c raisins and give one final stir. (You can also add 1/2 c of any fruit or nuts mixture you'd like- chopped apple bits is especially good! a small handful of chopped walnuts perhaps?? or both?)

Spoon mixture into 9x9 baking pan and bake for 40-45 minutes. Serve warm, with milk for fantastic breakfast, or anytime energy treat.  My kids love it on a rainy day!!!! Some people drench it in milk in the bowl, others serve milk on the side, my son tries to get a scoop of vanilla ice cream with it. Me? I love it plain. To each his own, yes?

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Homemade Biscuits

Homemade Biscuits

 

4 tbsp cold real butter or cold lard
1 tsp sugar or honey
2 c whole wheat flour
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp real salt
3/4 cup whole milk, or half and half

 Preheat oven to 425F.
Cut butter into slices and in bowl,  sift together the baking powder and wheat flour and sugar and salt. Using a pastry cutter, or fork, combine until mixture is small crumbs. Add milk all at once and stir until batter follows fork, place on lightly floured surface and barely knead with hands a few times (comes together fast and do not over work).
Roll out dough to about 1/2 inch thickness. Cut out biscuits using a cookie cutter, biscuit cutter, or I used a juice glass with edge lightly floured :). Place biscuits on an un-greased cookie sheet.
Bake for approximately 10 minutes, or until light brown on top. Do not over bake - or the bottoms will burn.

Awesome, flaky, and easy alternate to pre-made biscuits; making this a healthier Real Food alternate to the convenience prepackaged foods containing unnecessary preservatives and fake ingredients.


Note: This is an excellent recipe for teaching the kids dough, measuring and mixing, following instructions, and baking. Fun for all! Make memories in the kitchen!
Kid Idea: Make small amount of  bacon and scrambled eggs, and grated cheese; allowing the kids to stack their own breakfast sandwiches. :)

Slow Cooker Stuffed Cabbage

Slow Cooker Stuffed Cabbage

Cut  and wash half a cabbage pulling leaves apart as whole and large as is possible.

In a bowl, mix:
2 lbs ground meat ( you can use hamburger, ground beef, ground sausage, ground turkey or chicken)
1 cup bread crumbs
1/2 cup oats (if using ground turkey-or chicken eliminate the oats as this will be too dry a mixture to hold)
2 eggs
seasonings - pinch of cumin, paprika, garlic powder, salt and pepper.
(Other seasonings that are really good in it are  basil, oregano, green onion, minced garlic, chopped onions, etc.)

Combine all ingredients in bowl, and form med sized  meat balls - wrapping each ball with cabbage and place in the slow cooker/crock pot. Add all unused cabbage to the cooker surrounding the stuffed leaves.

Fill the remaining spaces in the casserole with cleaned and cut potato and carrot wedges.

Pour over all of it 1 quart jar of homemade canned tomatoes -which is  my favorite-juice and all- and  cover. Cook on high for 3-4 hours until meatballs are completely done in center.

That's it- additions to the casserole can include celery, carrots,  onions, squash, whatever you feel would match the cabbage taste. You can use canned tomato sauce, or tomato soup instead of whole tomatoes if you prefer. So easy- so versatile. And very filling!  Serves at least 4-6.  I usually have left overs, making this one of my favorite frugal recipes!. Enjoy!


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Potato Vareniki -Russian, Volga Russian-German Potato Dumplings

Potato Vareniki 

-Russian,Volga Russian-German Potato Dumplings

Note: this recipe fed the whole family - a large sitting and was a family event when Grandma would make it.

Filling:

2-3 pounds potatoes, boiled (save water from cooked potatoes- set aside to boil the dumpling in) (I make this using about 10-12 med. potatoes)

2 sm. yellow onions chopped small

1 jar saurkraut, drained and rinsed. (Large quart jar- homemade saurkraut is best!)

1 stick butter

Salt and pepper

Dough:

2/3 cups whole milk

2 large eggs

2 cups warm water

1 1/2 tsp salt

about 6 cups whole wheat flour

1 stick real butter (to serve at end)

To cook:

Filling: Peel and wash potatoes, cut into chunks and boil until soft and mashable. Put into Large mixing bowl and mash. set aside. In fry pan: Saute onion and drained saurkraut in butter until tenderand slightly browned, add this to the mashed potatoes and season with salt and pepper. Set aside.

Dough: Mix together: 2/3 cup milk, 2 cups warm water, 2 eggs and 1  1/2 tsp salt until well blended.

Begin adding flour 1 cup at a time until mixed well and no longer sticks to bowl. Rest dough 15 minutes. Place the dough on a lightly floured surface. Roll out dough on a floured board to a 1/4-inch thickness. Cut dough into small squares and place a spoonful of potato mixture in the center of each square. Fold dough, pinch ends to form a triangle. Pinch well as they will boil apart if left open.

To Cook:

When all are made, and pinched tight, put into boiling potato water and boil for about 8-10 minutes. (They will act very much like a ravioli when done, floating only at top) Best to boil 4-5 at a time and pull when done. When all are cooked, drain, and serve with the remaining real butter melted, and drizzled over top. Grandma served this with pork chops or German sausage.

Homemade noodles the way my Grandma made them

Homemade Noodles and Chicken stock
2 dozen eggs, 2 cups water, 1 tablespoon salt, flour to make a very stiff dough
Mix well. Knead dough. Roll dough into large thin circles. Cut by hand into noodles or cut with pasta machine. Let dry in single layer. Store in airtight containers.

Grandma would spend an entire day making homemade noodles. While she used a handcrank pasta machine in her later years, I do remember the handcut ones from when I was really little. The dough would be rolled out across the entire end of her kitchen table and often a batch of her homemade noodles were a length of at least foot (something makes me want to say that was folded over the dryer dowl- so 1 noodle was approximately 24" long.)

 Every time she made the noodles, an entire chicken would be boiling on the back of the stove, in a kettle of water with 1 bay leaf, a tsp of allspice (with cloves removed) and salt and pepper. This was her homemade chicken soup stock for that evening dinner. She'd later remove the bones, and add the noodles. And we would all feast. Yum.
Each child and grandchild's household then left that night with a bag of homemade noodles from the day's event.

Russian Blintzes

Russian Blintzes

Grandma pronounced these with a fast accent to where it sounded like "flenzas"
Ingredients
1 c flour
1 egg
pinch of salt
pinch of baking powder
1/2 tsp sugar
1 1/3 c milk
Whip ingredients together, batter will be extremely thin. Heat fry pan with a dash of  unsalted butter, until sizzling. With ladle, pour in one spoonful of batter and pick up fry pan with a roll to spread out batter evenly. Fry until it begins to bubble and shiny in the middle disappears. Flip for just a minute to brown other side, plate with butter. You can fill with fresh berries, cut fruit, or ricotta cheese. Roll like you would a tortilla and serve with cream, yogurt, whipped cream or plain.

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Beerocks the Way Grandma Made

Certain recipes I remember my Grandma Schmidt making were always a family event.  They did not need a holiday to occur, they just needed Grandma to be in a mood to create. 
Mollie Schmidt, my Great Grandmother, loved to cook.
Her recipes were unique to the Volga Russia-German Heritage. This is one of my favorites.

Beerocks 
Ingredients
3 loaves bread dough  (frozen bread dough is available at any supermarket. or make any regular bread yeast dough to put the filling in.)

4 pounds Beef chuck roast, cooked; shredded, grind or chop after it is cooked. (Use food processor to make it easy!)
1 head cabbage, shredded
2 yellow onions, diced
2 cloves garlic, chopped,  Salt & Pepper, to taste
Preparation
In a large skillet, salt and pepper the roast on both sides.   Brown off roast on both sides. Add water to cover and cook roast on stove top or a 350º oven until roast is well cooked. Set aside and cool. When cool, shred the beef and remove all fat.
In another large skillet, saute the onions and garlic until onion is almost golden brown.
Add the shredded cabbage and cook until limp.
Add salt, pepper and shredded beef to the cabbage mixture and let stand until cool.

Assembly: Cut the bread dough loaves into 4 sections each and let rise.
Roll out each section into an 8 inch square. Place 2-3 tablespoons of filling onto the square and roll up, folding the sides in so no filling will escape from the roll. Set the Beerocks aside to rise again.
Place the beerocks on a greased baking sheet, or parchment paper lined sheet, and cook in a 350° oven for 25-30 minutes until golden brown.
Serve hot.

Note:
This easily makes 3 dozen. For our family of four- that can go a long way! But I love that they are wholesome and healthy alternates to today's hot pockets. The best part is they are Real Food minus the laden chemicals of supermarket fast food!
To keep: bake, cool completely, wrap in individually-either in plastic wrap or parchment paper, and store in Ziplock bags in the freezer.  I put 4 to a gallon freezer bag for future quick dinners for us.  They never last long. To reheat, set on a greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 25 minutes. Or you can microwave it if you use a microwave.
This makes so much, it ends up being a frugal, healthy recipe! If needed budget wise or you cannot find roast on sale, this recipe does work with 4 lbs of hamburger fried and minced fine- less traditional- but still delicious!   I hope you enjoy!





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