Runzas

Ingredients:
4 1/2 cups all purpose flour, divided
1/2 cup sugar
2 pkgs. active dry yeast
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup shortening
2 eggs
FILLING:
1 lb lean ground beef
2 small onions, chopped
4 cups chopped cabbage
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Directions:
In a large mixing bowl,  place 1 3/4 cups flour, sugar, yeast, and salt. Heat milk, water, and shortening to 120 degrees F to 130 degrees F. Pour over flour mixture; add the eggs. Beat with an electric mixer on low until blended. Beat 3 additional minutes on high. Stir in the remaining flour; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Place dough in a greased bowl; cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.

Meanwhile, brown beef and onions in a skillet. Add the cabbage, salt, and pepper; cook until cabbage is wilted. Punch dough down; roll into 12 6" squares. Top each square with 1/3 cup meat mixture. Fold into triangles. Pinch edges tightly to seal and place on greased baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees F for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Serve hot.

**These are a little time-consuming but not really hard. They turned out delicious! Steve and his sister Kathy even said they were really good (Rose makes something similar, but I didn't hear "You should try my mom's recipe instead."). You could adapt the recipe for you picky eaters by substituting cheese for the cabbage. Maybe even try meat with some spaghetti sauce for Italian runzas. This recipe is from Allrecipes.com.

Strawberry Coffee Cake

2 c. flour
1 1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. butter or margarine, cut into small pieces
1 t. baking powder
2 eggs, separated
1 c. milk
1 t. vanilla
2 – 2 1/2 c. strawberries

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour and sugar. Cut in butter or margarine, or mix with an electric mixer on low speed, until crumbly. Reserve 3/4 c. crumb mixture for topping.

2. To the remaining mixture, add baking powder, egg yolks (reserve whites in a separate bowl), milk and vanilla. Beat until combined, about 1 minute.

3. Whisk the reserved egg whites until soft peaks form. Gently fold into the batter.

4. Pour the batter into a greased 13×9 casserole dish. Cover with strawberries. Sprinkle reserved crumb mixture over the strawberries. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 – 40 minutes, until lightly browned and fully cooked.


I found this recipe here: http://stolenmomentscooking.com/blueberry-coffee-cake/. The original recipe is obviously for blueberry coffee cake, but I used strawberries and it tasted great. And I mixed up the whole thing in the food processer! So easy!! It's almost like having a Kitchen Aid mixer.

Stained Glass Jello

(also known as Broken Glass Jello)
Yield: One 9×13-inch pan

4 boxes (3-ounces each) Jello (or store brand gelatin dessert) in different colors

14-oz can sweetened condensed milk

2 envelopes unflavored gelatin (Knox)

Water

1. For each flavor, dissolve one box of Jello in 1 cup of boiling water. Pour into a square container that is about 6 to 8″ square and chill at least 3 hours, or overnight. (Try to use the same size for all four so that the blocks will come out the same. In this case the smaller the better – I used 8″ pans and felt my “blocks” were a little too flat.)

2. After chilling the flavors, cut them into small blocks.

3. Carefully mix the blocks in a 9×13-inch pan.

4. In a separate bowl, sprinkle 2 envelopes of unflavored gelatin into ½ cup cold water. After the gelatin blooms, add 1½ cups boiling water and dissolve. Add the can of condensed milk. Stir and let cool. Pour cooled milk mixture over Jello blocks in 9×13 pan. Skim off any small bubbles that are created when you pour the condensed milk on the Jello pieces. Chill overnight or at least 3 hours until firm.

5. Cut into blocks or shapes and serve.

(Recipe adapted from The Food Librarian)

I found this recipe at browneyedbaker.com and this is the recipe as it is on her website. So the notes about "I used..." are not mine. I used this recipe for 4th of July (that is my picture), but I can't wait to make some yellow and green jello for a Pius event.