Czech Fruit Dumplings

When I would teach at English camp over the summer in the Czech Republic, my favorite meal was the blueberry dumplings!  They are so delicious and such a precious little treat.

The last time that I was in the Czech Republic, I picked up a cookbook for the sole purpose of making fruit dumplings.  There are many great recipes inside, but I am sure that these are the best, hands down.

I finally got around to making them!  Here is the recipe (I have tried to make it understandable, because it is a bit confusing and I actually had to start over, when the first time failed, within the first few steps):

Fruit Dumplings, Using Yeasty Dough

400 g medium fine flour (3 cups Flour)

25 g yeast (3 packets yeast)

1 teaspoon castor sugar

Approx. 200 ml milk ( 1 cup, I had to add more, you might have to as well)

Flour for rolling out dough

Fruit (blueberries, apricots, bilberries, plums, etc.) I used frozen blueberries.

Butter, melted (this is for drizzling on finished dumplings before dusting with sugar)

Confectioner's sugar for heavy dusting

I got these conversions by rounding up to the nearest whole, that was given to me from this amazing website: Convert-Me (It has saved me on a few occasions.)

1. In a medium bowl, sift the flour.

2.  In a separate bowl, combine the yeast and sugar, then add 2 Tablespoons warm water.  Mix into a paste.  Cover the bowl and when the yeast has fermented (grown in size), add salt and then add to flour, working it into a dough.  Add milk, dust with flour, cover and leave to rise. (**This was the tricky step because the directions are not written anything like this.  I think some things are lost in translation, I hope that this step is clear for you.  I adapted this after my mistake and a waste of yeast and an unwanted trip to the store to get more.**)  Note: My dough was still pretty dry after one cup of milk and I had to add more.  I added as much as I saw fit, in order to get a dough that was pliable.

3.  Turn out the dough on a board and cut it into equal size pieces. (I ended up with 14 and I probably could have made them smaller.)  Take each ball of a dough, one at a time and flatten into a disc.  Add fruit to the middle and fold dough around fruit, making a ball.  Make sure that this is completely sealed or it will bust when boiling.  Leave dough to rise another 5 minutes. Drop dumplings into boiling water in small batches and boil for 8- 10 minutes depending on size.

4.  Lift the dumplings out of the water with a slotted spoon and immediately puncture them  with a fork, a few times.  This will prevent them from congealing.

5.  Arrange dumplings on a plate and drizzle with a generous amount of melted butter and dust liberally with confectioner's sugar.

Note:  The next time that I make these, I am going to lightly sweeten the fruit, before wrapping it in the dough.

Eat up!  They are very good! And actually quite easy to make!

S'mores Cookies

Can't get to the beach any time soon?

Don't think you'll be able to have a bonfire this year?

I've got you covered!  I found this recipe for S'mores Cookies about 4 years ago on Tasty Kitchen, and they are always a big hit.  I recently made them for a friend's 30th birthday celebration and I went home with none.

They are very easy to make and very delicious!

** Note, baking is a two step process, you must bake the cookie partially and then add the toppings, and continue to bake.  So, make sure you have time to do that. **

Photo by:  Me, Tiffiny

3 sticks butter, cold and sliced

1 cup white sugar

1 cup brown sugar

2 whole eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

2-1/2 cups flour

2 cups graham cracker crumbs

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 bars (6.8 oz bar) chocolate, giant sized (I used fair trade chocolate chips from Equal Exhange)

1 bag mini marshmallows

Heat oven to 375 degrees. In a mixer, combine the butter and both sugars. Mix in the egg and vanilla until well combined. In another bowl, combine the flour, graham cracker crumbs, salt, and baking powder. Add to the mixer and mix well. Place dough balls on cookie sheets covered with parchment paper. Bake for about 8 minutes. Remove from the oven and press broken chocolate pieces (I used Symphony bars) and marshmallows into the cookies. Place them back into the oven for an additional 3 to 4 minutes. Let cool. 

This will take you to the Tasty Kitchen page, for this recipe.  Enjoy!

Black Bean Soup

I am not a huge fan of soup... never have been.  However, I really love the black bean soup served at Panera Bread.  It is just so good!  So, I have been wanting to make my own black bean soup for quite some time now. I recently found a recipe from my beloved Pioneer Woman.

I made this recipe on Sunday and I must say that it is quite good.  I will most likely add more spiciness to it the next time that I make it.

I think that you should try it out!  
(Recipe is taken straight from the Pioneer Woman's website)

Photo by: The Pioneer Woman

• 1 pound Dried Black Beans
• 4 cups Low Sodium Chicken Broth
• 2 cups Water
• 3 cloves Garlic, Minced
• 1 whole Medium Onion, Diced
• 1 whole Red Bell Pepper, Seeded And Diced
• 1 whole Green Bell Pepper, Seeded And Diced
• 1 whole Yellow Bell Pepper, Seeded And Diced
• 1 teaspoon Kosher Salt (more To Taste)
• 1-1/2 teaspoon Chili Powder
• 1-1/2 teaspoon Cumin

• FIXINS
• Sour Cream
• Avocado, diced
• Cilantro Leaves
• Lime Wedges
• Corn Tortillas Cut Into Strips

Preparation Instructions

Place the beans in a bowl or pot, cover with cold water, and allow to soak overnight *OR* add beans to a medium pot and cover with hot water. Bring to a boil, then boil for 2 minutes. Turn off the heat, cover the pot and allow the beans to sit for 1 hour. Drain the beans and rinse them with cold water.

In a medium pot, add beans, chicken stock, water, onions, and bell peppers. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer for 1 1/2 hours. At that time, add salt, chili powder, and cumin and stir. Cover and continue simmering for another 30 minutes to 1 hour, until the liquid level is to your liking (anywhere from very thick to a thinner soup is fine!)

Taste for seasoning and add more of what it needs. Serve soup in a bowl with sour cream, extra diced bell pepper, avocado, cilantro, tortilla strips, and a lime wedge.

If you would like to print this out from the Pioneer Woman, herself,  go here.

An Excerpt

As I was cleaning my apartment today, I came across an excerpt from 'Black Boy'.  I had forgotten completely that I had taken the time to write this down.

I think this excerpt is important, because it still applies to our nation today.  Whether you are Black, Asian, Hispanic, Latino, Gay, Straight, or even White... this applies to you, because we are all getting so used to finding faults in others and then using that against them.  By doing so we create a space, a great distance between us and others.  We lose out on connections.  We miss out on many great opportunities that would be there, if we could just look beyond a skin color or sexual orientation.

So, here is to making new friends, and forging the path of love... no matter who you are, what you look like, or what your sexual preferences are.

An excerpt from 'Black Boy' by Richard Wright

"... As I, in memory, think back now upon those girls and their lives I feel that for White America to understand the significance of the problem of the Negro will take a bigger and tougher America than any we have yet known.  I feel that America's past is too shallow, her national character too superficially optimistic, her morality too suffused with color hate for her to accomplish so vast and complex a task.  Culturally the Negro represents a paradox:  Though he is an organic part of the nation, he is excluded by the entire tide and direction of American culture.  Frankly, it is felt right to exclude him, and it is felt to be wrong to admit him freely.  Therefore if, within the confines of its present culture, the nation ever seeks to purge itself of its color hate, it will find itself at war with itself, convulsed by a spasm of emotional and moral confusion.  If the nation ever finds itself examining its real relation to the Negro, it will find itself doing infinitely more than that; for the anti-Negro attitude of whites represents but a tiny part- though a symbolically significant one- of the moral attitude of the nation.  Our too-young and too-new America, lusty because it is lonely, aggressive because it is afraid, insists upon seeing the world in terms of good and bad, the holy and the evil, the high and the low, the white and the black; our America is frightened of fact, of history, of processes, of necessity.  It hugs the easy way of damning those whom it cannot understand, of excluding those who look different, and it saves its conscience with a self-draped cloak of righteousness.  Am I damning my native land? No; for I, too, share these faults of character! And I really do not think that America, adolescent and cocksure, a stranger to suffering and travail, an enemy of passion and sacrifice, is ready to probe into its most fundamental beliefs."

Can't we all just get along?  I feel like we should have figured this out by now, I mean it is 2014 after all!  But, it isn't just fashion trends that come back throughout the years.  Unfortunately, our lack of understanding is also something that comes back, over and over.  Hopefully, we will find a way to embrace others for who they are sooner, rather than later.

Hello, Gregory Alan Isakov !!

I honestly have no idea, how I have lived my life up to this point, without knowing of Gregory Alan Isakov!


His sound is so great.  I love him and I just found him today.  I already have plans of buying his albums on vinyl, because I think that that fits his voice better.


Some great songs:


The Stable Song

Big Black Car

Honey, It's Alright

Dandelion Wine


Who am I kidding?  All of his songs are great!  I've been listening to him all day long.  Now, don't you hesitate, give him a listen!!






I don't own this song, just sharing a new found joy in the music world!