Gingerbread cookies with vanilla frosting :-)

Yumm...

For the cookies:

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup butter, divided (half soft, half melted)
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon water
• 3/4 cup brown sugar dissolved in 1/4 cup hot water
• 1/4 cup white sugar

1. Sift together flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves and salt. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the two butters and 1 cup sugar until light and creamy. Beat in the egg until it is well-incorporated, then stir in the water and the brown sugar once it is dissolved in the hot water.
3. Gradually stir in the sifted ingredients into the mixture.
4. Cover dough in foil or some kind of wrapping and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
5. When ready, take out. Dough should not be firm but not as sticky as it was when you put it in the fridge. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and lightly grease baking pan with no-stick cooking spray.
6. In a small bowl, dump 1/4 cup of white sugar. With floured or greased hands (so the dough doesn’t stick easily) roll the dough into walnut sized balls or as desired (I did mine half the size). Then roll the balls into the bowl of white sugar until fully coated. Place cookies 2 inches apart on baking sheet and flatten slightly with the back of a lightly greased cup.
7. Bake for 10 minutes in oven. Let cookies cool on the pan for about 5 minutes before removing

For the frosting:
1/2 cup shortening

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 tablespoons warm water

1 (16 ounce) package confectioners' sugar

In a large bowl, combine shortening, salt, vanilla, water and confectioners' sugar. Beat until light and fluffy.

Butternut squash

It was my first try and it turned out great :-)

Ingredients

• 1 (2 pound) butternut squash - peeled, seeded, and cut into large chunks
• 4 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
• 1 onion, peeled and chopped
• 1 (2 inch) piece fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
• 1 1/2 quarts water, or amount to cover
• 1 cup plain yogurt
• 1/2 tspoon curry powder
• salt and ground black pepper to taste

Place the squash, sweet potatoes, onion, ginger, and garlic in a large pot. Pour in enough water to cover the vegetables. Bring to simmer over medium heat, and cook until vegetables are tender and can be easily pierced with a fork, 30 to 45 minutes.
Remove pot from heat. Place soup in batches into a blender or the bowl of a food process. Pulse until smooth. Return soup to pot, and whisk in yogurt. Season with curry powder, salt and pepper to taste. If necessary, reheat soup over low heat, but do not allow to boil.

Turkey leftover goodness

...yumm

INGREDIENTS

1 can (10 3/4 oz) condensed cream of celery soup

1/2 cup milk

2 cups Green Giant® frozen mixed vegetables (from 1-lb bag)

2 cups cubed cooked turkey

1 cup chive-and-onion sour cream

1/4 teaspoon poultry seasoning

6 Pillsbury® Grands!® frozen buttermilk biscuits (from 25-oz bag)

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat oven to 375°F. Spray 8-inch square (2-quart) glass baking dish with cooking spray. In 2-quart saucepan, mix soup, milk and vegetables. Heat to boiling over medium heat, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking.

2. Stir in turkey, sour cream and poultry seasoning. Cook and stir just until thoroughly heated. Spoon into baking dish. Arrange frozen biscuits over hot mixture.

3. Bake uncovered 30 to 35 minutes or until biscuits are golden brown

Meatballs appetizer

Well, my husband said that now it's one of his favorite dishes...I absolutely agree, it was one of the best appetizers I have ever had!

Ingredients:
1 cup ketchup
1 cup maple syrop
1/3 cup reduced sodium soy sauce
1 tspoon ground allspice
1 tspoon dry mustard
2 tbspoon water
1 package fully cooked meatballs
1 can pineapple chunks in juice, drained
Combine ketchup, maple syrop, soy sauce, pineapple, allspice, mustard, water in a slow cooker, Carefully stir in meatballs. Cover and cook on LOW 5-6 hours. Stir before serving, insert coctail picks to serve!

Vegetable bake

I made this for Thanksgiving. It tastes amazing and it's the best side dish for turkey or ham or whatever you want :-)
EASY!

I used - baby carrots, broccoli, onion, red bell peppers, asparagus. But you can use whatever vegetables you have in your fridge.
Just cut everything in big pieces, pour 2 tbs Extra Virgin olive oil on a baking dish, place all the vegetables there, add
1 tbspoon paprika
1/4 tspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 tspoon salt
1 tspoon pepper
1 tbspoon Italian herbs
Mix the vegetables, so all the herbs and oil are married together, cover with foil and bake 40 minutes at 400 degrees in the oven! It is ready to go! :-)

Pasties aka Uych-Pach-Mak

Well, the name Uych-Pach-Mak is from the Russian republic Bashkortostan, the capital of this republic is Ufa (I'm from there). So backhome we make these pasties in the shape of triangle and it's a really popular and very old dish.... but apparenly these kind of pasties are also pretty popular in Ireland but the shape is different.
So, who made it first? We will never know but we can enjoy them now and here :-)

Let's begin!

For the pastry:
• 1 stick butter
• 1 cup cold water
• 3 cups plain flour, plus extra for dusting
• 1 tablespoon sea salt
Mix it all together and make dough, devide into 3 balls and set aside.

For the filling:
1 lbs ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped
2 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 tsppon salt
1 tspoon pepper
 mix all this goodness

Dust a clean surface and a rolling pin with flour and roll each ball out until it’s slightly thinner than 0.5cm.
Dust the circles with flour, and spoon your filling into the middle of each one. Brush the edges of the pastry with a little bit of water, then fold each circle in half over the filling and crimp the edges with your finger and thumb to seal them.
Preheat your ove to 350 degrees and place your pasties on non stick backing dish, I place the foil on the backing tray. Put your pasties in the oven and backe for 45-50 minutes.

Serveyour pasties with soup. Or if it's a separate dish, put some chili and shredded cheese on top, or you can even serve your beautiful pasties with gravy or just ketchup!
Bon appetite!!!

Delicious greek pasta salad

My husband said that it was the best pasta salad he has ever had!
Well, it was really delicious and actually you can make a hot pasta dish out of this salad if you are craving something different the next day. Just heat up the salad and add hot marinara sauce. Yummy!!!

1/2 cup olive oil

1/2 cup red wine vinegar

1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder

1 1/2 teaspoons dried basil

1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano

3/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

3/4 teaspoon white sugar

2 1/2 cups cooked elbow macaroni

3 cups fresh sliced mushrooms

15 cherry tomatoes, halved

1 cup sliced red bell peppers

3/4 cup crumbled feta cheese

1/2 cup chopped green onions

1 (4 ounce) can whole black olives

In a large bowl, whisk together olive oil, vinegar, garlic powder, basil, oregano, black pepper, and sugar. Add cooked pasta, mushrooms, tomatoes, red peppers, feta cheese, green onions, olives. Toss until evenly coated. Cover, and chill 2 hours or overnight.               

Yummy potato salad

It was my first time of making a potato salad and I found this recipe somewhere in the internet, made some changes and the final result appeared to be sooo delicious that I will definitely make this potato salad again, so let's begin

Ingredients

• 6 eggs
• 10 red potatoes
• 1 cup low fat mayonnaise
• 1/2 cup low fat ranch dressing
• 1/3 cup dill pickle relish
• 2 tablespoons prepared yellow mustard
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon paprika
• 1/8 teaspoon celery seed
• 1 onion, chopped         

 

   Place the eggs into a saucepan in a single layer and fill with water to cover the eggs by 1 inch. Cover the saucepan and bring the water to a boil over high heat. Remove from the heat and let the eggs stand in the hot water for 15 minutes. Pour out the hot water; cool the eggs under cold running water in the sink. Peel and chop the cooled eggs.

Place the potatoes into a large pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Drain and refrigerate until cold. Peel and cube once cold.               

Stir together the mayonnaise, ranch dressing, relish, mustard, salt, pepper, paprika, and celery seed in a mixing bowl. Add the eggs, potatoes, onion, pepperoncini, and olives; stir until evenly mixed. Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours before serving.

Apple breakfast Bread

Well, the taste of cinnamon and coffee in the morning is my favorite. So I decided to make something sweet and cinnamony :-)
Here it is!

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 2 apples - peeled, cored and chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease an 8x4 inch loaf pan.              

In a bowl, mix the butter and sugar until smooth and creamy. Beat in the eggs and add vanilla.             

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and cloves. Mix into the butter mixture until moistened. Fold in the apples. Transfer to the prepared loaf pan. 

 Bake 1 hour in the preheated oven, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 15 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Russian chicken-pineapple spread

We call it "salad" backhome but in Canada I think you guys would call it spread.
 I would advise you try it on a cracker or a toast for the first time.
Although in Russia we eat it as a salad, just from a bowl.
The dish is very tasty because the pineapple gives its sweetness and there is sour of the onion plus the texture of the chicken and eggs and cheese...all of it creates really interesting taste and I really want you to try it.

The Ingredients (makes 2 servings)
1 boiled chicken breast, boiled and chopped
2 hardboiled eggs, chopped
1 cup of shredded mozarella
1/2 medium onion, copped and marinaded (just put it in a bowl, pour some boiling water, leave it for 1 minute, drain the water and add 1 tbs vinegar)
1 cup chopped pineapples
4 tbs mayonnaise
1/2 t spoon paprika
salt, pepper to taste
All you have to do is mix all the ingredients together, that's it :-)
Enjoy!