Index

Komst Borscht (Cabbage Soup)

This is a favorite Mennonite soup of mine.It's the perfect way to use that cabbage that you don't know what to do with. Like most soups, this tastes better the day after it was made because all the flavours blend more. This soup also freezes well, just pour it into a jar, filling it about 3/4's full and put it in the freezer. Voila, a ready soup to toss into the microwave for a quick meal when you're on the run.

Boil together for at least 1 1/2 hrs the soup bone and water. Add more water as it boils away to make 2 qts before adding vegetables. Add all vegetables except tomatoes and add seasonings. Cook until vegetables are done. Add tomatoes and bring just to a boil.* Just before serving, add cream.*
*NOTE*The cream is optional. It does enhance the flavour and my husband loves it that way. I, on the otherhand, prefer it without the cream. I usually put the cream on the table and let each person add the cream to their taste.

If you want to change the flavour of this borscht, instead of using a soup bone, use ham or farmer sausage to make the broth with. Some people even chop up the ham or sausage and leave it in the borsct. More veggies can also be added.

This is a great soup to make if you have any dill or beets in the garden, or if you can pick them up at the farmers market.
This soup has quite the sharp tast because of the beet greens so to this soup I like to add the cream, even for myself. This of course is optional and to your own taste.

Boil the ham bone in the water for an hour to make 1 Qts of soup broth. Add the vegetables and greens. Boil until the veggies and leaves are done. Add the cream and serve hot.

This is one of my most favorite soups. I look forward to the summer when the veggies are picked straight from the garden. This is one soup that my mother in law makes every year and always with fresh vegetables so we don't get to have it very often. Knowing how much I love this soup and how bad I am with growing things she always gives me enough fresh veggies from her garden to be able to make and freeze a couple batches of the soup.

Cover ham bone with water and boil for 45 minutes. Skim the scum as it cooks. Remove the bone and add vegetables. Simmer for about 1 hour. About 15 minutes before serving, add the summer savory and parsley. Remove when serving. Just before serving, add the butter. Stir and serve hot.

This is a great soup. The homemade noodles really add to the flavour. However, if making noodles isn't your thing, adding any store bought egg noodle works just great also.

Cut chicken into serving pieces, add to water and bring to a boil. Take off scum as it forms. Allow to simmer for 3 hrs, covered, adding more water as required. Half hour before serving skim off fat. Add pepper, salt, onion, bayleaf and parsley.
Suggestion I like to make this soup, as well as any soup made with a meat broth the day before serving, or in the morning. Then I can let it cool so that the fat can rise and harden at the top of the soup. This makes it so much easier to take off all of the fat and make it so much more healthy.

These noodles take a little time to prepare. This recipe makes a large batch of noodles and often they aren't all needed for a single recipe of soup. A great way to make these noodles is to make a couple of recipes at once, then store in a plastic bag and store until needed. They last that same way as store bought noodles. That way you have them when needed.

Of course, the time to cut and roll the dough is shortened considerably if you have a noodle maker. My mother in law uses one but I don't.

1. Mix the first 3 ingredients well. Add enough flour to make a stiff dough.
2. Knead well with hands.
3. Divide dough into 2 or 3 pieces and form into balls.
Roll these balls until you have a very thin sheet.
4. Spread sheets out on a table until dry but not brittle.
5. Cut into 1 1/2 inch strips.
6. Pile 5-6 on top of each other and cut into thin noodles. As dough is dry, you won't need to flour between the layers.
7. Cook in salted boiling water until done. Put in collander and drain. Quickly rinse with cold water and put back into pot.
8. Add some butter to prevent them from sticking.
9. Add the soup to the noodles and serve.

The low German (Plot Deutsch) is a little difficult to pronounce with this recipe. LOL, I still get it wrong after all these years. My husband pronounces it like this " cheeltche ". If anyone out there knows a better way to describe it, email me and I will change it.

1. Mix all ingredients together to make a hard dough. Knead well.
2. Roll out very thin, then flour both sides, cut in half and set 1 half aside.
3. Starting at the edge closest to you, roll the dough up until it is one long thin roll. (Like a jelly roll)
4. Starting at one end, cut off in narrow sections, about 1/4 of an inch.
5. Place in a colander. When finished cutting the row, shake the excess flour from the noodles. You will now have long thin noodles.
6. Do the other half of the dough.
7. Cook in boiling water (time depends on the thickness of noodles) until the noodles start rising to the top and roll in the water.
8. Quickly rinse the noodles under cold running water, drain and place in a bowl.
9. Mix in the *Cream Gravy*, stir and serve.

Fry some onions and add to the Kielke at serving for extra flavour.

The pronounciation for this is "Varenetche". There are many different fillings that you can use for these perogies. My husband grew up with them filled with Cottage Cheese as did most of my friends. I personally don't like cottage cheese, so I like mine filled with something else. My husband also likes just the empty pockets with strawberries on top. He's also used to them just being boiled, not fried, though over the years, he's started to really like them fried with onions.
My personal favorite is with them filled with any potatoe combination, boiled, then fried with butter and that great Mennonite Cream Gravy over top!

1. Sift flour and salt into mixing bowl, add eggs and milk. Mix until a medium soft dough is formed.
2. Roll out very thin and cut out into 4 inch circles or squares.
3. Add filling, about 1 rounded teaspoon. Moisten edges, fold over and pinch closed. Make sure that the edges are pinched tightly together so filling doesn't escape during boiling.
4. Boil in rapidly boiling water for about 5 minutes.
5. Once boiled fry in a hot skillet with butter and onions until a nice golden brown. (optional)
6. Serve with cream gravy or sour cream.

Fillings

- Cottage Cheese - to one pound of cottage cheese, add 3 egg yolks and 1/2 tsp of salt (or to taste).
- Mashed potatoes with bacon, cheese or onions. Make mashed potatoes according to the amount of perogies you've made. Add cheese (I melt mine a little), cooked bacon or thinly diced onions.
- Berries. If the berries are very runny, add some flour to thicken the juice.
- Anything that you want to experiment with!

This is a very rich and tasty gravy. It can be made in a pinch and it is so easy to make variations of this gravy so that it can be used with any meal. Like any gravy, this one certainly isn't for those on fat and cholesterol reducing diets.

1. Brown butter or drippings in a skillet.
2. Add the cream and bring to a boil.
3. Add flour, a little at a time, constantly stirring until the gravy is thickened to your preference. 4. Add the onions, or if you prefer a stronger onion flavour, cook the onions in browning butter at step 1.
5. Serve over Wareniki, Kielke, farmer sausage or meat of your choice.

This is a fast and easy supper to make. Any sausage can be used with this meal. Of course we prefer good ol' farmers sausage, but any kind of a "wurst" would do just as well.

1. Dissolve yeast in a cup of lukewarm water in which 1 tsp of sugar has been dissolved.
2. Scald milk and cool to lukewarm.
3. Add yeast to milk.
4. Add beaten egg, salt and enough flour to make a soft gough that can barely be stirred with a spoon.
5. Pour dough into a greased pan (about 10 by 12 inches).
6. Press 3 inch lengths of sausage quite close together into the dough.
7. Let rise for about 1 hour and then bake in moderate oven (350 degrees F) for 45 minutes.
8. Serve hot. Serves about 6 people.

This is a fried dough that was served on many a sunday afternoon for "Faspa" (afternoon teatime). Most people served this with watermelon. You can use it for spreading jam, peanutbutter or whatever you choose.

1. Sift flour with dry ingredients.
2. Add eggs and cream and enough ilk to make a dough that is easy to roll.
3. Roll out fairly thinly. Cut into strips about 2 inches wide.
4. Fry in deep hot fat until golden on 1 side. Turn over and fry other side.
*NOTE*The thinner that they are rolled the more crispy they fry up. If you like them more fluffy, roll them thicker.

Dust them with icing sugar for a sweeter taste when they are finished frying and have cooled for a little bit.

This is a sweet bread that shows up many a table at Easter time. Often it is served as a dessert or as part of a Faspa. You can use any pan to cook these, but traditionally they are round. My Mother-in-law uses washed coffee cans to make them perfectly round.

1. Soften yeast in 1 cup of warm water and 2 tsp. of sugar.
2. Beat eggs well and add sugar gradually and beat until dissolved.
3. Sift flour and salt. Make a well in flour and pour in scalded milk.
4. Stir and add egg mixture. Beat well.
5. Add softened margarine and fruit juices and rind.
6. Add yeast and knead adding flour as needed. Let this rise in a warm place. When light, punch and let rise again until double in bulk.
7. Grease old coffee cans and fill 1/3 with dough. Let rise until light.
8. Bake in 325 F oven for 1 hour.
9. When cool, sprinkle with icing sugar or spread with a cream cheese icing.
Yeild - 12 paska loaves. The amount made depends on the size of the container that you use to bake them in.

These are great cookies. I look forward to New Years every year for these. They are very rich and I loved them fried to a really crispy texture. The pronounciation for these would be parceltche.

1. Dissolve 1 tsp. sugar in 1/2 cup of warm water. Sprinkle yeast on water and let stand for 10 minutes.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients to the yeast.
3. Stir in enough flour to make a thick batter.
4. Let rise until double in bulk.
5. Drop by spoonfulls into hot, deep fat and fry until golden brown. 6. Cool and sprinkle with icing sugar.

These are a great cookie. They are soft and easy for anybody to chew.

1. Cream butter and sugar.
2. Add eggs and beat well.
3. Sift dry ingredients and add alternately with sour cream.
4. Roll out, cut with round cookie cutter and spoon on tart jam.
5. Fold over and seal the edges well.
6. Bake in 375 F oven till golden brown.

These are my husband's favorite cookies. They have a nice cool flavour and are great for dunking into coffee or milk.
This recipe calls for ammonia (don't ask me why) but so have all the recipes for these cookies that I've seen. Personally, the thought of putting ammonia into something gives me shivers, so I don't add it and my cookies turned out just fine. I have tasted cookies with the ammonia in them and I hadn't noticed any difference and, LOL...I'm still here to tell about it. I'm including the ammonia in this recipe just to keep it traditional, but please, if you feel the same way that I do about it, don't worry, it isn't necessary to add it just add that amount in water.

1. Dissolve the ammonia in hot water.
2. Mix the rest of the ingredients with ammonia and water.
3. Roll out not too thin. Cut with a round cutter.
4. Bake at 375 F until the bottoms turn brownish but tops stay fairly white.