Ukrainian Christmas Feast

The year came and went. Time flew by so quickly; I barely had time to absorb it. A new year, a new start.  

I started CreComm in September 2014, and I just began the second semester less than a week ago.

The break in between semesters was just enough time to forget about school and laze around without an agenda.

I almost forgot about the previous months in which I had sacrificed my soul to the Red River College in exchange for a diploma.

Lucky for me, I loved every single minute of it.

Now, I’m back to share another topic that I’m passionate about—food!

I’ll be testing out some kind of cooking/baking/restaurant-style grub each week in my blog post, but be careful—it’ll make you hungry.

 My family is Ukrainian, although we haven’t ever celebrated Ukrainian Christmas. That all changed when I met the love of my life, Billy, and his Ukrainian family. God bless his cultural background traditions, because I now get to celebrate two Christmas’s in less than three weeks of each other.

Now, both of these Christmas’s include gifts of some sort, as well as big feasts—but they are very different.

Christmas usually includes Turkey, ham, stuffing, cranberry sauce, potatoes, etc.

Ukrainian Christmas dinner

Ukrainian Christmas is like regular Christmas on steroids, because not only did it have turkey and ham, but it had two different kinds of perogies, gravy with mushrooms, fresh baked bread, mashed potatoes, salads, fish and more.

So what is Ukrainian Christmas you ask? It is for those who follow the Julian calendar, a reform of the Roman calendar. The Julian calendar has a regular year of 365 days divided into 12 months, the same as the calendar that we follow today.

Traditional Ukrainian Christmas is from January 7-14. It is a time to dress up, visit family and sing (We don't sing, but I'm sure it would be lovely if we did).

Some of the interesting dishes at Ukrainian Christmas included Kutia, a sweet grain pudding, and Holubtsi, stuffed cabbage rolls.

I am thankful that I get to have home-cooked feasts. Although I am a big fan of restaurants, nothing beats mom's homemade meals. 

The only problem with dinner is that I didn't have enough room to go for seconds.

If you ever want to make your own Ukrainian feast, look up a recipe for perogies. Not only are they cheap to make, but they are easy! It takes a bit of setting up and it's time consuming, but the results are worth it! 

Perogie Recipe from http://allrecipes.com:

Ingredients

Original recipe makes 60 perogies

• 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 2 cups sour cream
• 2 eggs
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil

• 8 baking potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
• 2 tablespoons processed cheese sauce
• onion salt to taste (optional)
• salt and pepper to taste

• PREP
  2 hrs
• READY IN
  2 hrs

Directions

1. In a large bowl, stir together the flour and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the butter, sour cream, eggs, egg yolk and oil. Stir the wet ingredients into the flour until well blended. Cover the bowl with a towel, and let stand for 15 to 20 minutes.
2. Place potatoes into a pot, and fill with enough water to cover. Bring to a boil, and cook until tender, about 15 minutes. Drain, and mash with shredded cheese and cheese sauce while still hot. Season with onion salt, salt and pepper. Set aside to cool.
3. Separate the perogie dough into two balls. Roll out one piece at a time on a lightly floured surface until it is thin enough to work with, but not too thin so that it tears. Cut into circles using a cookie cutter, perogie cutter, or a glass. Brush a little water around the edges of the circles, and spoon some filling into the center. Fold the circles over into half-circles, and press to seal the edges. Place perogies on a cookie sheet, and freeze. Once frozen, transfer to freezer storage bags or containers.
4. To cook perogies: Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Drop perogies in one at a time. They are done when they float to the top. Do not boil too long, or they will be soggy! Remove with a slotted spoon.