Bourbon balls - from I.C.

Combine:
1 cup finely crushed vanilla wafers
1 cup finely chopped pecans
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tbs unsweetened cocoa

Add:
2 oz. bourbon (I use Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey)
1 1/2 tbs. light corn syrup

Combine everything, blend well, cover & chill 1 hr. or more.

Shape balls (about 1 inch in diameter) & roll in powdered sugar.
Store in refrigerator or freeze.

Fried "pierogi‏"

Hank and I have been experimenting and after 2 complete failed attempts & 1 1/2 days wasted we got the perfect fried mushroom pierogi - just like my mom use to make or as close as we can get. Making mushrooms stuffing was easy - I guess I paid more attention to it when we made it with my mom, but I never liked to play with dough.

After each attempt of making that dough I was so disappointed that we could not get close to my mom's dough recipe. I am just glad that my mom did not see us dumping all that dough :-[ and Hank wanting to try again.
One of the disaster dough Hank baked as bread.
Hank went on internet & found recipe for Crispellis, from which we finally perfected the recipe to what we have.
http://recipecircus.com/recipes/DsNonna/ETHNIC/Crispellis.html
Our final product Hank did the dough by hand (did not use a bread machine), and we fried pierogi in Crisco one side & then the other for a few minutes until they are golden brown using an electric skillet at 360*.

Dough:
4 cups flour
Package of yeast
2 cups very warm water
1 ½ teaspoon sugar
½ teaspoon baking power
2 teaspoons salt

Mix the ingredients. After the dough is made, let it rise for at least 1 hr. You will have a very sticky dough that is hard to work with!

Mushroom stuffing was made with:
fried chopped onions (large)
fried chopped mushrooms (3 12oz. packages)
salt, pepper, & some breadcrumbs (I used 2 tablespoons - to keep the moisture from mushrooms - not too much of breadcrumbs)
When everything was mixed I send it through meat grinder.

Take about a 1 Tbs. size of dough and spread out in your hand to form a disk (not to thick).
Place about a 1 tsp of stuffing into the disk and seal the ends and gently roll into egg shape dough balls, set aside under a towel so they don't dry.
When you have made about 8-12 dough balls place into hot oil and fry for about 3 min. until golden brown then roll over and fry the top side until golden brown.
Remove and drain on paper towels.

We made 40 of the fried mushroom pierogi & I had a little bit of stuffing left.
I am keeping them for Christmas Eve - they freeze great.

Chicken -beef soup (from Babcia C)

Put in a pot with water:
beef
chicken
onion
celery
carrots
salt
pepper
chicken bullion
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On the side make some noodles for the soup

Babcia L's rosol (Chicken soup)

Ingredients:
water
2 lbs. chicken wings
1 onion
3 cut up carrots
1 ts. salt
3 bay leaves
1/2 cup of white rice
1-2 chicken bullion/s
1/4-1/2 ts. Accent (flavor enhancer)

1. Put your meat into a large pot and cover with water.
2. Bring to a boil, skim off any foamy crud that may float to the surface then immediately reduce heat to bring it to a simmer.
3. Add onion, carrots, salt, bay leaves, rice, and chicken bullion.
4. Cook for about 40 min. covered or partially uncovered.
5. Add Accent
6. Remove the bones, skin, bay leaves & discard them. Cut up rest of the meat & return to the soup.

white borsch (biały barszcz) - soup

Ingredients:
fresh pork kielbasa (about 2 lbs)
5 chopped garlic cloves
4 Bay Leaves
10 Whole black pepper
5 cans (4oz) of mushrooms with liquid
Citric Acid (about 1/2 ts.)

Preparation:
In a 4qt. pot with about 2-3 qts.of water add fresh pork kielbasa (about 2 lbs)
Bring to a boil, then add garlic, Bay Leaves, Whole black pepper, & mushrooms.
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Reduce heat and simmer, cover for about 1 hr.
Add some Citric Acid (about 1/2 ts.)
Mix about about 1/3 cup of sour cream with about 2 Tbs. of flour, then slowly mix in sufficient water to this mixture so it is smooth and does not have any lumps. Pour into the soup while mixing the soup; bring to boil.

When my soup is done:
1. I discard peppercorns & bay leaves from my soup
2. I cut up my kielbasa & return it to the soup

15 bean soup

15 bean soup (ham bean - Hurt's) soak beans for 8 hrs.
chopped:
carrots
celery
onion
salt
tomato paste (optional)
when everything is cooked add the package from 15 bean package.

Lentil soup (from Milly)

Lentils
carrots
onion
celery
4 bay leaves
bag of spinach
rice