Another family tradition

The week before Christmas, my Grandma and I make Kolachkys. They are a Polish cookie made from pie dough and fruit filling. We use apricot, raspberry and a few prune (for Grandpa!). My Grandma has been making these since she was a little girl and she taught me when I was a little girl. It's so much fun to make these little treasures of yumminess. Over the years, I was voted (by Grams) as the best 'pincher'...but the last 2 years I've been promoted to the 'dough roller'. My Grams just doesn't have the strength anymore. But I am Kolachky police! They have to be pinched correctly or they open up. And we are Polish and make them the correct Polish (closed) way. I'm picky about my Kolachkys. So, if someone isn't pinching properly I fix them!

Here they are ready to be put in the oven..

And here they are piping hot. As you can tell...someone wasn't pinching properly!


And here they are after the have been properly sprinkled with powdered sugar!

I had 2. (even though they are not part of my diet..) But no Christmas is complete without a Kolachky or 2...

Do you have any traditions passed down by your Grandparents?

Practicing to be a housewife

For the last few years, I've been in charge of bringing food to family holidays and get-togethers. It's fun for me because I love to cook. And I hear that once you are married-it's your obligation to make something for every party.. So, here is what I am making for Thanksgiving.

Appetizer

Taco dip
Ingredients:
2 pkg. (8 oz. each) cream cheese, softened
1 cup sour cream
8 oz. taco sauce or salsa
2 tsp. ground cumin
1 can (15 oz.) refried beans
1 cup shredded lettuce
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 md. tomato, diced
1/4 cup ripe olives, chopped
1/4 cup canned green chilies, chopped
Tortilla chips or Pita chips

In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and sour cream until smooth. Stir in taco sauce and cumin; set aside. Spread the refried beans over the bottom of a serving platter or 13x9x2-inch dish. Spread cream cheese mixture over the beans, leaving about 1 inch uncovered around the edges. Top with layers of lettuce, cheese, tomato, olives and chilies. Serve with tortilla chips or pita chips.

Dessert

My wonder Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients:
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 cinnamon
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1-1/2 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups rolled oats (I used Quaker Oats-Old fashion oatmeal)
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Beat butter w/ electric mixer on medium-high for 30 sec. Add brown sugar, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Beat until combined...scraping sides of bowl. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Beat as much flour as you can...then stir in remaining flour. Stir in rolled oats and chocolate chips.

Drop dough by rounded teaspoons 2inches apart onto ungreased baking sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes or till the edges are light brown.

And I will also be making a tossed salad and the mashed potatoes to serve with dinner.

Happy Turkey Day!!

Tuna Dip

I have a healthy low-carb recipe to share! As you have noticed, I have been loosing weight in the last few weeks. And it’s due from following the South Beach diet. I warn you: this diet is not for everyone. But it surely works for me. I’m down 22lbs in just 10 weeks!

Tuna Dip

1 large can tuna, drained

2 (8oz) Philly cream cheese, softened

6 tbs mayo

1 tsp lemon juice

½ tsp hot sauce (or to taste)

In a bowl, combine tuna, cream cheese and mayo.

Add lemon juice.

Add hot sauce.

Refrigerate for a couple of hours.

Serve with whole grain pita crackers, triscuits, or any whole wheat cracker.

(You may also use low fat cream cheese and mayo-but do not use fat-free! It tends to be higher in sugar.)

Enjoy!

Week 10: weigh in

When we got back from vacation I thought for sure I had put on a few pounds. I was eating crappy and I stopped my exercise regimen (except for the dancing at the wedding..) And on top of it, I was PMSing.

But I got on my scale anyway. It didn't move! I stayed the same! I was ecstatic! Then for the rest of the week I was bad and didn't excerise...but I followed a healthy diet. And guess what?! I'm down 3 more pounds! Equally a full 20lb loss! WOO HOO!!!!!!!

I reached Goal 1. Which was to loose 20lbs. Now I want to loose another 20lbs by April. A month before our wedding. Just in time for dress fittings, etc. As I said before, I just want to be healthy for when I get pregnant after the wedding. But looking good in my dress is an added bonus!

One of my favorite foods to eat is chili. And in the diet I follow it's allowed. Thank god. Mike always says my chili is the best he's ever had (even after the chili cook-off they had at his work!) So, I'm going to share this special recipe with you!

Jenny's Chili

Ingredients:
1lb ground lean ground beef
1 medium or large onion (diced or minced)
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tbs of olive oil
3 cups of water
1 can kidney beans
1 can Zesty Chili style diced tomatoes
1 can tomato sauce
1 heaping palm full of chili seasoning
1/2 palm full of cumin
1/2 tsp of oregano
a dash of red pepper flakes
a few sprinkles of sage
salt and pepper

Heat oil in a large pot. Saute onions and garlic. Add ground beef and the dash of red pepper flakes (or more if you like it really spicy). Brown meat and drain. Then add tomatoes, tomato sauce and kidney beans, all your spices, including salt and pepper. Mix all together and add 3 cups of water. Bring to boil. Then set to simmer. Simmer for 1 hour (uncovered). Then you're ready to eat! We like to sprinkle cheddar cheese on the top before eating.

Serves 4-6 people

Enjoy!


What is your favorite healthy recipe??

Healthy Peanut Butter cookies

I have a weakness for sweets. However, I cannot have them because of my Insulin Resistance. I have to stay away from sweets to prevent myself from becoming diabetic. So, over the last few years I have found healthy sweet recipes. And I wanted to share one with you....

I found this from Kalyn's Kitchen. But I've added my own 'twist'...to make it a little better. Since they are flourless and sugarfree-they tend to get a little dry.

Flourless, Sugar-Free Peanut Butter Cookies
(Makes about 2 dozen small cookies, recipe adapted from Flourless Peanut Butter CookiesCookie Madness.) from

1 large egg
1 cup granular Splenda
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. Mexican vanilla (or vanilla extract)
1 cup creamy natural peanut butter (check sugar content, the one I used had only 1 gram sugar per serving)
1 tsp. water
1 bag sugar-free Hershey chocolates (milk or dark-whatever you prefer)*
1/3 cup chopped peanuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 F.

In mixing bowl, use electric beater to beat together the egg, Splenda, baking powder, and vanilla for about a minute. Add peanut butter and water and beat together. (The mixture was fairly dry and broken apart. Just be sure the peanut butter is mixed well with the other ingredients.) Add peanuts if using, and blend into dough.

Use a large non-stick cookie sheet. Measure out a heaping teaspoon of batter for each cookie, then smash down with a fork. Bake 15 minutes, or slightly longer, until cookies feel firm and are slightly browned.

*Now here is my little 'twist' I was telling you about...Cut the sugar-free chocolates in half and place them on the warm cookies. The chocolate will melt and they will become chewy PB/chocolate goodness!

Enjoy!!

Jenny and Mike Crocker...

We are both going to change our last name to Crocker.

Seriously.

We decided to bake some goodies for the lady who gave us the 'wedding' bubbles...(as stated in my previous post)

First, we made chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. Mmmm...


While were we letting the cupcakes cool...we started on the Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies.

Here they are right before we put them on the cookie sheet to bake..


And here they are right out of the oven.


Our house smelled heavenly.....

We took a small break to say Hi!

Then on to the cream cheese frosting....

Here it is all ready to get put on the cupcakes...


Finished product..cooling.


And I bought this cute little basket to put the cookies and cupcakes in! I'm going to be delivering them to her tomorrow. I hope she likes them!

One of our favorite things is to cook/bake together. We have so much fun...and our finished product is always delicious. (Even though I can't have any.....I still 'taste tasted'!!) We have this passion for cooking. I can't explain it. We just Love. It.

If you want any of the recipes just comment me..and I'll give it to you!

(Mike HIGHLY recommends the cookies!)

Quick and Easy dinner.

It was my fiancé's first day at his new jobby job today. And my first 10 hour day of the summer. I am exhausted. Not only was I really busy today...but from sleeping so much over the weekend I couldn't fall asleep last night. I think I managed about 4 hours of sleep. I definitely cannot wait to go to sleep tonight!

So..with that...I decided it was going to be easy dinner night! (This is also a no-carb option - yet one of my favs!)

I call it....
Jen's Quick Parmesan Chicken

Ingredients:
2-4 skinless/boneless chicken breasts
1 can of Diced or stewed Tomatos-with Basil, Garlic and Oregano
1 tablespoon olive oil
shredded mozzarella cheese
(Instead of the diced tomatoes you could use any spaghetti sauce you prefer, too)

First, heat olive oil in skillet on medium heat. Add chicken and and brown on both sides (about 5-6 minutes). Second, add your can of diced/stewed tomatoes. Bring to a boil and let simmer (covered) about 30 minutes or until done. And if you want, sprinkle a little mozzarella cheese over the chicken 5 minutes before it's done.



You can have pasta along with the chicken or any veggie you like. Or nothing at all. Tonight I will be having a salad!


The whole process should take less than 45. And it gives you time to do other thing while its cooking! And you don't have to turn your stove on...this helps out in the summer when it's already 85 degrees in your house!

This is for you Bella...I know you were in a dinner rut not too long ago! Hope you enjoy it!

Potica...continued.

So, I've decided that Potica SUCKS! It was a hell of a day. The whole process took 9 hours. First had to get supplies, and fight through all the crazy people in the baking isle in Jewel. When I started to prepare the 1st batch of dough...Mike only put in a 1/2 a cup of milk instead of 1 and a 1/2 cups. And then put in too much flour. Threw that batch out. Second batch...took longer than normal to raise. And the filling was major headache too, Mike let it overflow all over my stove! 7 hours later......we were able to put the 4 loaves of Potica in the oven to bake. When the timer went off, I looked in the oven and they didn't even look done. I'm use to Potica being brown and it was definitely not brown. So, I left it in there an extra 45 minutes. Still wasn't brown but had to do. Didn't wait it to become dry and nasty. It tasted pretty good but wasn't like how I remember when I was little. Next year I'm going to have to find a different recipe. Oh, and I forgot the worst part of the day! The whole time we had the oven/burners on it stunk like gas. So, I was praying we didn't blow up! Needless to say our stove died. Couldn't use the stove for a few days...Dad cut the gas off. But I got a new beautiful stove with a griddle!!! And Gramps loved the Potica!!

Potica

As I was growing up I remember my Grandpa coming home with this yummy coffee cake bread, called Potica (Pa-teet-za). It's an old Slovenian/Polish (European) bread. His (older) lady friends in the neighborhood would bake them for him, because he was there "handy" man. Unfortunately, these ladies have past away or they are too old to make anymore. So, this year I am going to learn (and start) making it for him every Christmas. Hopefully starting a new family tradition. This bread needs to stay in the family. It's delicious!

I'm am going to share the recipe with you! (It is a 4 hour project)

2 Teaspoons dry active yeast

½ Cup warm milk

1 Tablespoon sugar

Dissolve yeast and sugar in milk let set 5 minutes to activate the yeast.

Dough

1 ½ Cups Milk

¾ Cups Shortening

5 Egg Yolks

¾ Cups Sugar

2 Teaspoons Salt

1 Tablespoon Vanilla extract

1 Teaspoon Nutmeg

7-7 ½ Cups All purpose Flour

Combine Yeast mixture and the rest (except 2 Cups of flour) mix add the remaining flour until the dough can be handled without sticking. It takes 20 minutes kneading by hand, 9 minutes on a mixer with a bread hook.

Put dough in a large greased bowl and cover with plastic rap and let it relax and double in size in a warm environment.

Walnut Filling

1 stick margarine or butter (¼ pound)

1 ½ Cups milk

2 Cups sugar

½ Cup honey

1 Tablespoon vanilla

Grated peel of a lemon (0r orange)

5 Egg whites

Cinnamon

Some other variations you can add at this stage;

Tbsp Instant coffee, Coco or brandy to taste and to add color.

Start with milk and egg whites in 4 quart saucepan (or double boiler) and bring to 120 F, add margarine, zest and honey, then combine the dry ingredients then add it to the mixture, then bring to a simmer.


Take the mixture off of the heat and add 2 Pounds Walnuts, ground fine.

Roll out the dough pretty thin (about 1/4 inch), spread the filling (should not be hot) on the dough and roll it up.

You want it to end up as a 4 inch diameter cylinder, cut into loaves that will fit in your bread pans. (Good Idea to have a little piece of dough to put over the ends) or you can also use a “bunt” pan.

Cover with plastic wrap and let it relax and rise (not quite double in size).

Egg wash the top if you want a shinny top.

Bake in preheated oven @ 325 F for 1 hour.

After baking for 1 hour, remove from oven and remove loaves from pans.

Paint the skin with a little vegetable oil.

This is how it will look. Yummm!!!!!!!!!!!!!