December 2008

Welcome to the Leake's Frugal Family Website. Stop by any time to see the latest deals, freebies, and coupons! You'll also find some of our family recipes, our family photos and home movies, and read the latest happenings of John, Anna, our son Camden, and our two feisty cats.

December 25, 2008, at 10:06 am

Czech Recipe – Koláče

This is one of the best Czech desserts – Koláče! I’m not talking about the fake, American version of koláče sold in some donut shops and wanna-be koláče bakeries. Those that I have tried are are NOT real koláče. I’m talking about delicious, authentic Czech koláče like my mom used to make. Mom would make large, 12-14 inch koláče with poppy seed, prune, apricot, and cream cheese fillings sprinkled with posypka. During my 3 month stay in the Czech Republic, I would often go to a bakery down the street from my grandmother’s apartment and purchase small, individual sized koláče (about 3-4 inches in diameter) like those I made below:

Below is the recipe I used. After baking, I realize there are some things that I’ll need to change next time I make these. First, I believe I need to reduce the amount of yeast (to 1 tablespoon). Second, instead of dividing the dough into 16 pieces, I might be able to get away with doubling that (to 32 pieces) resulting in koláče not as large as those pictured above.

Koláče Recipe:

Prepare the same dough as the Vánočka. Allow it to rise in a warm location for 60 minutes.
Punch dough down, place on a floured surface, and divide into 16 pieces. Roll into balls about 2 inches in diameter. **I will try making these into 32 balls next time.**
Place dough balls onto a lightly greased cookie sheet. Cover with a dish towel and let rise in a warm place for 30-45 minutes.
Flatten the centers of the dough balls with the bottom of a drinking glass dipped in flour. This will give you a nice, mini “pizza” shape with a rim around the edge to surround the filling.
Brush the rim of the dough with whisked egg.
Pipe the desired filling into the center. My ABSOLUTE favorite filling is cream cheese – see recipe below. I placed the cream cheese filling in a gallon-sized zip top bag and cut off one corner of the bag to pipe it in.
Sprinkle with posypka (see recipe below).
Let rise 15-20 minutes.
Bake in a 350^oF oven for 20-25 minutes. Cool and enjoy!

Cream Cheese Filling:

16 oz softened cream cheese
2 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine the above ingredients. Mix until creamy.

Posypka:

1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
1 tablespoon melted butter

Combine the above ingredients until it resembles a dry meal.

December 23, 2008, at 8:10 pm

Czech Recipe – Vánočka

This is the one Czech food that makes me so incredibly proud once I’ve finished – Vánočka (Czech Christmas Bread)!! My mom made it every year during the holidays and it just doesn’t feel like Christmas without it.

Below is the recipe I’ve used over the last few years – I leave out the raisins, other dried fruits, and the lemon rind found in other recipes (John won’t eat it otherwise). Also, this is the first time I placed slivered almonds on the outside – I think I’ll pass on them next year as I don’t like the way it looks once baked.

Small Bowl	Kitchen Aid Mixing Bowl with Dough Hook	Other Ingredients Needed
1 1/2 tablespoons of Active Dry Yeast 1 tablespoon sugar 2 tablespoons flour 3 tablespoons warm milk (not hot – warm!)	1 cup warm milk 2 eggs 1/2 cup melted butter 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup sugar	5-6 cups all purpose flour 1 egg – whisked slivered almonds
Combine the ingredients above in a small bowl. Cover with a dish towel and allow to sit in a warm location for 10 minutes.	Combine the ingredients above in the mixing bowl. Blend the yeast mixture from the small bowl into this bowl once 10 minutes have elapsed. Slowly add flour.
Place dough onto a floured surface and knead until it is no longer sticky. Place dough in a bowl. Dust with flour, cover with a dish towel, and let rise in a warm location for 60 minutes. Punch dough down, place onto floured surface, and briefly knead. Shape dough into a long loaf. Divide the loaf into thirds. Divide each third into thirds for a total of 9 dough pieces. Roll dough pieces into 9 long tubes of about equal length – wetting hands lightly helps during this process. Layers of the Vánočka: Bottom Layer – 4 dough tubes braided together. Below is a great YouTube video of how to braid this layer (do not roll it into a ball as shown at the end of the video). Place this layer onto a greased cookie sheet. Indent this layer down the center with the side of your hand and brush the center lightly with water or a whisked egg. Middle Layer – 3 dough tubes braided together. Indent this layer down the center with the side of your hand then set this on top of bottom layer. Brush the indentation lightly. Top Layer – 2 dough tubes twisted together. Set this on top of the middle layer. YouTube Video of the Entire Vánočka Assembly: Place 1 long wooden skewer on each end and 1 in the middle (through the top and straight down to the cookie sheet – see the video above). This will keep the Vánočka from deforming during the baking process. It’s a tall loaf of bread – the top layer may slide to one side during baking. Cover the Vánočka with a dish towel, place in a warm area and allow to rise for 60 minutes. Brush the loaf with the whisked egg. Sprinkle with slivered almonds if desired. Cook at 350^oF for 35-40 minutes. The loaf will brown quickly towards the end of baking, so covering it with foil the last 5-10 minutes will help prevent this. Allow the Vánočka to cool. Sprinkle with powdered sugar when ready to display/serve.

I forgot to buy wooden skewers this year so when I baked my Vánočka, the top layer started to slide to one side resulting in a crooked loaf.

December 23, 2008, at 9:11 am

Czech Recipe – Bramboračka

This recipe is my mom’s Czech potato soup (Bramboračka). She’s been gone for many years and each time I eat this I’m filled with wonderful memories of her. Camden absolutely loves this soup and I’m glad! It’s a great way for him to get his vegetables and to taste a little of his Czech heritage. This picture (not taken by me) shows the soup served in beautiful Czech Zwiebelmuster porcelain made by the company my father once worked for.

1 cup chopped fresh mushrooms
1 stalk of celery – chopped
6 baby carrots – chopped
1 medium onion – chopped
1/4 teaspoon caraway seeds
1/8 teaspoon marjoram
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
6 cups of water
3 medium potatoes – peeled and cut into cubes
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
fresh parsley

Boil 6 cups of water. Add mushrooms, celery, carrots, onion, caraway seeds, marjoram, salt, and pepper. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 1 hour.
Add cubed potatoes. Cook for an additional 30-40 minutes until potatoes are tender (but not mushy!).
Melt butter in a small pan and add flour. Add to soup and stir until well blended. More salt and/or pepper may be added if desired.
Garnish the soup with fresh parsley and enjoy! This recipe serves 4.

December 14, 2008, at 10:49 am

Over Budget!

Well, every single thing that I purchased online has arrived. I have also made a few more purchases as items have gone on sale. The poor mail carrier – I think she is getting very tired of having to come out of her vehicle to deliver packages to our door. Yesterday when she was driving up to our mailbox, Camden ran out to meet her to see if she had any more boxes to give us. She told Camden that maybe on Monday he’ll get more. As the boxes were arriving, they would get piled up on our dining room table – it was beginning to look like a warehouse! Throughout the last couple of weeks, as I’d get home from work, I’d hide the packages throughout the house. I hope I can remember where I put everything! UUGGHH – now I have to wrap everything and I hate wrapping presents!

We have spent WAY too much money on Christmas gifts this year! Camden is getting a ridiculous amount of gifts from Santa and Mom/Dad. John and I were talking the other day about Camden and how he has SOOOOO much more than we ever did as kids. I guess we (or actually, I) end up buying him all the fun things that we/I would have wanted as a kid.