perfect, perfect blintzes and cherries.

It has been a while, and I apologize. I have been busy, like always, and it is simply too hot to be in the study where the computer room is. On days when its not too hot, I always have other things to do. I've been reading the last 3 installments of Harry Potter. My sister came back from her long vacation to the west coast, visited for a few days, and I am currently planning a vacation for myself. In August there is a family get-together for my mom's side, Alex and I planned to take a long weekend but, since he is starting school and thus we won't be making it to Europe to see (meet) his family, we're taking a week off instead. We're going to Maine, to go camping and see a very good friend of mine from summer camp when I was little. I can't wait. I love camping, I have hardly been out of the city in months, and I haven't seen the ocean yet thos year. My heart hearts. Blintzes
The beautiful picture at the top was taken by my sister and her fancy camera. We went to see Harry Potter (again) but everyone was slow in getting ready/waking up so I made blintzes. I haven't ever made blintzes before, but I love them. I just finished reading a fantastic old cookbook called Love and Knishes (my copy is from 1957 and looks nothing like this copy, however, its the same book). I dogeared the page for blintzes, which needed 1/2 cup potato starch and 1/2 cup matzo cake meal, figuring I'd give it a shot. I even went out and bought cottage cheese, not something I eat ever, in hopes that it would give me the push to make the blintzes. It did. And my God, were they fantastic. I served them with an avocado, with salt and olive oil, which obviously didn't go but needed to be eaten and was delicious.

Recipe adapted from Love and Knishes. I halved the recipe, which says it makes 22 to 24 blintzes, as I was only feeding 3 people. Half the recipe was enough for the three of us.

1/2 cup potato starch
1/2 cup rice flour mix
1/2 tsp salt
6 eggs
1 1/2 cups water
Maybe 2 Tbs sugar
1/2 tsp xantham gum

Sift together dry ingredients, beat eggs until light and fluffy, and add 1/2 cup of water, then beat again. Add remaining water to dry mix, stirring until smooth, then gradually beat in egg-water mixture. Grease a small skillet lightly, heat over medium-high heat, and pour in just enough batter to coat the bottom of the pan. For the pan I was using, I needed about 1/3 cup batter. Cook the batter on only one side, until dry and bubbled, sliding the finished blintz onto a plate or cutting board. Start cooking another blintz. Place 2-3 Tbs filling in the center of the finished blintz, fold down the top edge, then fold the sides in, and fold over. Repeat with remaining blintzes. When all the blintzes are formed, add a little more butter or oil to the pan and fry the folded blintzes on the bottom to seal in the filling. Serve as is or with blueberry sauce.

Blintz filling
One 16 oz container of cottage cheese, drained for an hour
2 eggs
sugar to taste
1 Tbs lemon juice

Combine all ingredients.

Blueberry Sauce
About 1 pint of blueberries, frozen
2 or 3 Tbs sugar
1 Tbs water
1 Tbs lemon (or lime, or orange) juice

Put most of the blueberries in a small pan, add remaining ingredients. Cook over medium-low heat until thickened, then add the rest of the frozen blueberries.


I had some other stuff to talk about, like how I made cherry pie from that pretty bowl of cherries, how I made pork and tomatillo stew in my slow cooker from a book my mom got me for my birthday, how I discovered a pizza dough recipe thats as good as regular dough and how I've been making it almost every night. And how I'm corning beef to make corned beef, which will be ready on Monday. Next time! Maybe. Now it's back to Harry Potter.

Edit- I made the banana bread recipe a post of its own for BBD #2!