love for the fam (and our traditions)❣

homesickness is real--i hate to admit it (or at least don't want my family to know i'm admitting it), but moving to a new school in a new town for the second time has made me miss them and all the things that come along with being around them...especially the food. we used to eat pierogies for christmas and would also buy them frozen to always have on hand because they are a DELICIOUS ukrainian staple (yes, i'm ukrainian)... and they are definitely one of my favorite comfort foods.
so when i woke up at 2 in the morning on the monday night of week 2 craving pierogies, i couldn't say i was honestly all that surprised. i proceeded to yelp at this ridiculous hour of the night to try and find some pierogies in southern oregon, but the bad news is that there's only one restaurant in the entire valley and get this--they want to charge me $12 for FOUR PIEROGIES. (yeah, um no.)
once i realized that the only financially reasonable solution to my craving was to figure out how to make my own, i started doing research...sleep is overrated anyway, right? (the good news was that it was tuesday, which means no classes for me this quarter and lots of time to sleep and cook!) i finally fell back asleep after looking at a few recipes, watching some youtube videos, and making a list of the things i needed to get from the store when i woke up.
my shopping list looked a little something like this:

• flour
• unsweetened original almond milk, but you can also use whole or soy milk! (these needed to work for my vegan roommate so she could experience the goodness too--shoutout to lana for being one of the main reasons this blog was even created❤)
• earth balance (an awesome vegan/lactose intolerant substitute for butter!)
• gold yukon potatoes
• red onion
• sauerkraut
• dried dill
• rolling pin

the way that i personally recommend making these after having done it a few times now, is to make the mashed potatoes in the morning and then go about your day, do some homework or maybe even some laundry if you're feeling extra productive, and then come back to them later! if it's your first time making this recipe it will probably take about 1 hour to finish prepping before you actually get to enjoy your creation, so plan accordingly!
also, if you're still reading this and wondering what the hell pierogies are, the way I like to explain them to people is "the ukrainian version of a ravioli".

and now for the recipe... just be aware i do not really measure when i am cooking savory foods, so i am going to estimate based on what i think i did and based on some of the recipes i looked at for reference.

for the mashed potatoes:

• 4-6 potatoes, depending on the size (you will want about 2 or 2 1/2 cups of mashed potatoes) *note: you can always use leftover mashed potatoes if you are looking to re-purpose them!*

1. bring a large pot of salted water to a boil 
2. peel potatoes, drop into boiling water, and cook for about 20 minutes so they are very tender
3. mash potatoes with a potato masher (highly recommend) or any other utensil you feel like using, and don't worry about adding any salt or pepper to them yet
4. chill potatoes in the fridge for at least 2 hours 

for the dough: 

• 2 cups of flour (i used generic brand, all-purpose flour, so almost any flour should be fine)
• flour for dusting/rolling
• 3/4 or 1 c. of almond milk (start with 3/4 c. and add to food processor to make the right texture)
• 2 tsp. salt

1. put flour and 3/4 c. of milk into a food processor and pulse until the dough forms into a ball; if the texture is too sticky, add a little more flour about a tablespoon at a time and if it doesn't quite form into a ball, add more milk also a tablespoon at a time (this doesn't need to perfect, i promise they will turn out well as long as they come out with the texture feeling similar to pie dough.)
2. cover a cutting board in parchment paper (or not) with a light dusting of flour on top for your work surface, and cover the rolling pin in flour as well. if you don't have a rolling pin you can use a second cutting board to smash the dough as thin as possible, but this method takes about one hour extra so i really don't recommend it!!
3. roll out dough to about a 1/8-1/4 inch thickness and cut into squares that are anywhere from 3x3" to 5x5"

for the filling:

• 2 cups of chilled mashed potatoes
• 1 can of sauerkraut, drained and finely chopped
• 1 red onion, finely chopped
• 4 tablespoons of butter or butter substitute 
• salt and pepper to taste

1. melt the butter in a skillet over medium to medium-high heat
2. stir in one half of the diced onion and cook until translucent
3. add sauerkraut, salt and pepper, and cook for an additional 5-7 minutes
4. add the sauerkraut/onion mixture into the chilled mashed potatoes and stir

to complete:

1. scoop about 1 tablespoon of filling into the center of each square (pictured on bottom left)
2. moisten the edges of the dough with a small amount of water (it is easiest if you have a small bowl of water next to your workspace)
3. fold over and press together with a fork to seal the filling inside, continue this process until you run out! (your pieorgi pile will look similar to this one below on the left) *make sure you are keeping your cutting board and rolling pin floured so the dough doesn't stick or get torn!
4. bring a large pot of water to boil, meanwhile saute the other half of the onion in butter, with 2 teaspoons of dried dill.
5. drop 4-8 pierogies in the boiling water at a time (depending on the size of your skillet)
6. when they start to float to the top of the water(3-5 minutes), move them from the boiling water into the skillet with onions and allow them to get brown and beautiful on both sides--the crispier they get the yummier they are, so don't be afraid to use a nice amount of butter!
   
   
   
7. remove from skillet to a bowl and continue the process until all of your pierogies are cooked.
8. serve with the sauteed onion and dill mixture! 

i hope you all enjoy these as much as lana and i did! (i made them the next week and still have some leftover dough sitting in the freezer for the next time our pierogi craving sets in...)

xoxo,
lexi ♡
(p.s. capital letters are so not my aesthetic so i opted to not use them, sorry!!)