Russian Vareniki - Strawberry Dumplings

If you have a wonderful Russian in your life like I have one in mine, then you may have experienced the heaven that is Vareniki yourself. If not - tune in and give it a whirl yourself!

Ingredients

• 2 C flour
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 tsp veggie oil
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 lb strawberries

Instructions

1. Mix flour, salt and egg into a dough.
2. Add water and knead away.
3. Egg oil and continue kneading.
4. Cover bowl of dough with a towel and move on to strawberries.
5. Chop strawberries into small pieces and place into bowl
6. Add sugar to berries
7. Mix and set aside.
8. Go back to dough and break into manageable sections
9. Roll out the dough, and use a cookie cutter to pull out circles
10. Place a small amount of strawberries (you will figure amount more as you work) on one side
11. Fold half of the circle over into a moon dumpling shape.
12. Use water to seal the edge.
13. Use a fork to seal the edge.
14. Complete this process until the dough is gone.
15. Place dumplings into boiling water.
16. Once dumplings float, remove.
17. Serve warm. You can drizzle remaining strawberries and juice over the dumplings. We added vanilla bean greek yogurt as well and it was to die for!

Blueberry and Goat Cheese Empanadas

I wanted to make something different for the boys to enjoy tonight. Josiah likes most things with strawberries, but I am about sick of strawberry everything, so I went with a blueberry option. And in honor of Millie and Billy we went with a goat cheese empanada for the win.

This was super easy to make and absolutely delicious to taste.

Ingredients

• 2 cups blueberries
• goat cheese
• 1 T flour
• 1 T brown sugar
• 1 t vanilla extract
• empanada dough (freezer section in grocer)
• egg
• table sugar

Steps

1. defrost empanada shells
2. preheat oven to 400
3. pour blueberries in a bowl and add flour, brown sugar, and vanilla extract and mix it up
4. lay out empanada shells and use water to keep them sticky
5. place a spoon of goat cheese and a spoon or two of blueberry mixture in shell
6. fold shell over
7. use a wet fork to press edges tight
8. poke holes in top
9. use egg mixed with water to wash the top of the shell
10. sprinkle table sugar over nadas
11. bake for 15-20 mins or until browned shell
12. enjoy!

Spiced Pork Chops & Mango Salsa

Rare is the day that I touch meat. But every once in a while I have to get down and dirty in animal flesh for my boys. So when I saw that Publix had pork chops on BOGO this week I decided to make it happen. I found some recipes and tweaked them to our taste.

Pork Chops

• pork chops
• allspice
• berbere
• salt & pepper
• rosemary
• basil
• honey
• evoo
• balsamic vinegar

Mango Salsa

• 2 diced mangoes
• mint
• chives
• lemon rind
• lemon juice
• stevia
• red pepper

1. slice tofu, dry, and marinate in allspice, bebere, rosemary, basil, salt, pepper, a tiny bit of honey, evoo and balsamic in the fridge for a few hours 
2. chop mangoes and mix with mint, chives, rind, juice, stevia, and red pepper to taste 
3. saute tofu in nonstick pan until crispy 
4. serve with salsa drizzled over

Toast with Strawberry Jam and Hummus

This morning I happened upon a delightful creation by accident. I was putting strawberry jam on my flat-bread after heating it. When my son said "you putting peanut butter and jelly on it?". And I thought - hmm peanut butter would be good. But when I reached into the fridge for peanut butter my hand hit the bowl of hummus. And a lightbulb went off.... Hummus is similar in consistency and taste to peanut butter. So I spread it on lightly on one side of the toast (in case it was horrid) and left the other side with just strawberry jelly. Brought it up to my office... and tasted heaven. So here ya go.

• strawberry jam
• hummus
• toast

1. Spread jam and hummus on toast
2. Enjoy :)

Make your Own Strawberry Jam

This past weekend we took Josiah strawberry picking and when we came home with buckets of strawberries, I knew jam would need to be produced. After some google searching I found the recipe to use, modified it for my own purpose and got cooking. I share it here with you, so that you can make your own jam for your family.

• 6 cups of chopped strawberries
• 1.5 boxes of low sugar needed pectin (this is what thickens and jels the jam)
• Sweetener (we used 2 cups of agave nectar but you can also 4 cups sugar or your sweetener of prefernce)
• 6 bell jars including tops
• funnel

1. Sanitize your jars and lids in your dishwasher or in boiling water. Keep them in the heated dry until they are ready to use (or boiling water) so they are the right temperature and dont go to hot too fast and possibly crack.
2. Pick or buy your strawberries. Wash them. Chop off the tops. Chop or food process them to your preferred consistency. The more they are crushed, the more natural pectin comes out in its own consistency. You want 6 cups of it after it is crushed so you will need 8-10 whole.
3. Measure a quarter cup of sweetener with your pectin until it is blended well.
4. Mix this sweetener/pectin blend in with your strawberries.
5. Put the strawberry blend in a pot and bring slowly to a boil under medium/high heat.
   (If you do not use pectin you will need to take a much longer time over heat to get it to the right consistency, and double the sweetener. Pectin is a natural chemical extracted from apples - so nothing to worry about there)
6. Once they have come to a complete boil, remove them from heat and add the remaining sugar.
7. Bring to a boil again and let it boil for 1 minute. The slower you bring it to boiling the less foaming you will experience.
8. Remove from heat.
9. Skim the excessive foam and place in a bowl. You can microwave it for 60 seconds and throw it in the fridge for fresh jam.
10. Here is where you get to test the JEL factor. Keep a cup of ice water with a spoon in it. Pull the cold spoon out and spoon out some jam. Let it cool to room temperature. Then see if it is the right JEL factor for you - if its not jelly enough add more pectin and reboil for one minute. Otherwise you are good to go.
11. Let it stand for 5 minutes
12. Stir completely
13. Remove your jars from the dishwasher/hotwater and start funneling in the jam. Immediately place the tightly closed jar with jam in a pot of boiling water where the water covers the lid a couple inches.
14. When the jars are all in the boiling water they should boil for about 10 minutes depending on your elevation.
15. Remove carefully from the boiling water with tongs and place to set.
16. After 24 hours they should be processed and set. You should be able to tell that the tops will no longer pop in or out. If they pop then store it in the fridge since it won't last as long before spoiling.
17. Processing the jars like this ought to keep them in a cabinet for 6-12 months.
18. Serve, share, and enjoy :)