Persians

A persian is a pastry that is only found in the city of my birth, Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada. It is a cinnamon bun doughnut topped with a strawberry (or raspberry or cherry) icing. You can buy these all over the city, but what you can't find is a recipe for it! I haven't been home in about 6 years and got the craving for this treat, so I decided to make up my own. This just may be the only copy of persians found on the internet now. I do hope you try it, and enjoy!

Persians

Yield: 24 persians

INGREDIENTS FOR DOUGHNUTS

2 cups scalded milk
1/2 cup butter
2/3 cup sugar, divided
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons yeast
4 eggs (beaten)
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
7 cups sifted flour

INGREDIENTS FOR FILLING

2 tablespoons melted butter
1 tablespoon cinnamon
3/4 cup brown sugar

INGREDIENTS FOR ICING

1/2 cup butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 cups icing sugar

1/3 cup chunky strawberry jam

2 tablespoons milk

DIRECTIONS

Melt butter in hot milk, add 1 tsp sugar and salt. Allow to cool.

Beat in yeast, nutmeg, eggs, remaining sugar, and 3 cups flour. Add 3 more cups of flour (dough will be sticky). Add the last cup of flour if needed. Knead for 5 minutes then cover with a towel and allow to rise for 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Mix together the filling ingredients, and set aside.

Divide dough in half. Take one half and roll it out into a rectangle approx. 16” by 11”. Sprinkle with half of the cinnamon sugar mixture, and make sure it’s spread evenly. Roll up the dough tightly starting with the long side. Pinch the seem closed. Cut the log into 12 pieces. Flatten each piece slightly to press the seems together tighter, and to shape into ovals. Lay them out with space to expand.

Repeat with the other half of the dough. Let the doughnuts rest for 30 minutes to rise.

While doughnuts are rising, make the icing by beating together all the ingredients. Add more milk or icing sugar to get the right consistency.

Heat oil to 365°F and fry the doughnuts 1 - 2 minutes on each side or until brown.

Let them rest on a paper towel. You can frost them when they are mostly cool, but still slightly warm. You can also store the leftover doughnuts and icing in separate containers, and then when you are ready to eat them, warm the doughnuts in the microwave for about 15-20 seconds, and then frost them.

Stir Fry

This picture is actually from dinner on October 3rd, 2012. I have been lax in updating here. :P I thought this dish looked really pretty with all the colours. Instead of serving this with rice, we loaded with lots of veggies and ate it by itself. Delicious!

Coconut Crusted Tilapia

I really loved my husband's coconut crusted tilapia from the fish tacos. We had them again one night with a mango salsa, coleslaw, and sweet potatoes.

Cassava or Yucca Root (with Fish "Tacos")

My husband and I are trying the Paleo diet for a month. No-to-low carbs, no added sugar, no dairy, and a lot of fresh meat and produce. Giving up potatoes and rice is hard work! We decided to try something new, a high starch root called cassava or yucca. I read a bit about it first because I wasn't sure what to expect. The first thing you need to know is that you should never eat it raw. It contains toxic substances when raw, but do cook out. The next thing to know is that it goes off quickly. For that reason, I wanted to make it as soon as we could, which turned out to be 2 days after purchasing it. Our yucca had a waxy coating like you'd see on turnips to help keep it fresh, but even then you can see that it was already going off. The brown end was rotting and I had to throw it out. Luckily, the rest of the root was fine.

I decided to go with this recipe for "Yucca With Garlic Sauce." Yucca itself doesn't have much flavour, but it soaks up the flavours around it nicely. It had a nice smell when peeling and cutting it, but is pretty bland when cooked plain. I read that it goes mushy, but I was still surprised at the texture. It was soft, yet very dry like if you roasted a potato for too long. I expected it to be softer like a sweet potato. In the recipe I linked, the first part of the directions seems to be missing something. I assumed it meant to boil in water with the juice of one lime added to it. The yucca sucked up that lime juice, but because it was so diluted, it was very pleasant, just the right amount. The garlic sauce... well, the name is misleading. It's more like lemon onions with very little sauce to be seen. The lemon was very strong, and I can't decide if that's good or bad. I liked how the strong flavour was on the onions and mixed in with the yucca and not overpowering the yucca itself.

One little change I made to the recipe was I cooked the onions and garlic in about a tablespoon of coconut oil. And then when everything was cooked and tossed together, I added a drizzle  (1-2 tablespoons) of olive oil when it came off the heat, just to make it paleo friendly. This recipe was a great introduction to yucca and I'm glad we went out and tried something new. I definitely want to make yucca again, and I really want to try adding it to a soup or stew. I think it would be awesome in the slow cooker.

We had the yucca with some super awesome tilapia my husband cooked. It's always a treat when he cooks for me. The fish was amazing. He marinated it and then coated it in a mix of coconut flakes and coconut flour.

We made fish "tacos" with the tilapia. My husband made a spicy mayo dill sauce, a tomato sauce, and we added avacado. Yum yum! The whole meal was very filling! I didn't make it through both tacos.

Strawberry Vinaigrette

My hubby's secret Strawberry Vinaigrette salad dressing. It was amazing!

Rainbow Cupcakes!

My daughter's class was having a party to celebrate their last day of Senior Kindergarten. We made rainbow cupcakes to share with all her friends. I heard back that the kids in her class loved them. It's super easy to do!

Start with a white cake batter and separate it into bowls. One bowl for each colour. Add your food colourings and make sure it's well stirred.

Then spoon the batter into the cupcake liners (or directly into a greased muffin pan). Just layer it and try not to bump or stir when you add your coloured batter.

So fun!

Italian Stuffed Jumbo Shells

One of my favourite dishes. Cheesy gooey yummy!