The Challenge and the Journey

So, on our return from vacation, my husband challenged me to cook with just straight natural in the rawest form ingredients.  (OK....he really said he didn't think I could) .  I love to cook and think I am pretty good at it, but to say I couldn't do something in the kitchen....GASP!!  Well, if you know me, I do not take challenges lightly!  Told him I would give it a go and we would take it further than that and give up all the yuckies (i.e. fast food, Mama Rita night at the Amigos, and processed foods).  

So, that was several weeks ago and we are adjusting.  I am so glad I have my new kitchen, because there is a lot involved in not buying from the middle of the store!  It has been great, though, because the kids are really into helping with the cooking now.  As for other parts of the challenge, we have not stopped at our favorite chicken place for breakfast or lunch since well before the last week in July.  We have only cheated once and bought lunchables for the kids.  (They love those things and it is so easy to rip that bad boy open and there is lunch without any Mommy work.)

What is a dinner these days around here with no yuckies?  It really isn't bad!!  Here is a sample:

Tonight's dinner was  homemade pierogi, piroghi or pierogie (depending on where you are from and how Polish your heritage is).  Some people have probably never heard of or enjoyed a pierogi before, but being a Pittsburgh, PA native.....I LOVE them!  There was a restaurant down the road from my old work facility in McKees Rocks that only served pierogies!!!  Yep, we ordered from Pierogies Plus weekly back in the day!! http://pierogiesplus.com/

I didn't just make regular pierogies tonight though!  Instead, I included my obsession in there and made Potato, Cabot cheddar, bacon and onion pierogies!!  They were awesome (if I can say that about my own cooking)!!

 Here is everything prepped (minus the dough which was chilling the the fridge).  Red potatoes on to boil, onion cooking with a tiny bit of olive oil, bacon cooked and crumbled, and cheese grated.  

Everything was mashed by hand to make this:

 This is where I get the kids involved!  They both took turns rolling out the dough, which was made from whole wheat flour, an egg from our own chickens, organic butter and organic sour cream.

Then, their job was to cut out the circles.  I used the sandwich sealer I got from Pampered Chef several years ago.  It worked perfectly!

I stuffed them and then they sealed them with the sandwich sealer.  Here they are ready to be cooked!

The final product with a little sour cream and a nice tomato salad!