__janice Weinrick Recipes

VERENIKA

Steps:

• In a blender, combine cottage cheese, 2 eggs and ground black pepper to taste. Cover and blend until smooth, or beat with an electric mixer until smooth; Set aside.
• In a large bowl, stir together flour, milk powder, baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon salt. In a small bowl, beat together 2 eggs, water and oil; combine with flour mixture.
• On a floured surface, knead dough about 10 times or until smooth. Divide dough in half and roll out each portion to a 1/8 inch thickness. Using a 4 inch round cutter, cut out rounds of dough.
• Place 1 tablespoon of filling in the center of each circle. Moisten the edge and fold over to form a half moon shape; pinch to seal.
• Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add half of the dumplings and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until tender; remove with a slotted spoon and drain. Repeat with remaining dumplings.
• While the dumplings are cooking, prepare the gravy. In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium-low heat. Stir in ham, and cook until ham is light brown. Add 3 tablespoons flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper. Stir. Pour in milk all at once, stirring constantly; cook and stir until thick and bubbly. Serve over the dumplings.

COCKTAIL WIENERS

Steps:

• Stir barbeque sauce and grape jelly together in a slow cooker; add cocktail sausages and stir.
• Cook on Low for 2 to 3 hours.

MY GRANDMA'S SUPER EASY RECIPE FOR BIEROCKS

Steps:

• Sauté ground beef with sliced onion, minced garlic, smoked paprika, cayenne and cumin until browned and crumbly. About 10 minutes. Drain the excess fat and allow the meat to cool in the strainer for a few minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350F, shred the Gruyère and drain the sauerkraut.
• Gently mix together the ground beef mixture, shredded cheese and sauerkraut in a large bowl.
• Roll out each biscuit flat on a floured surface. Place 3 - 4 tablespoons of the filling in the center of each biscuit and fold up the sides like a steam bun to seal.
• Place uncooked bierocks, seam side down, split among two parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake for 17 - 19 minutes, or until golden. Allow the bierocks to cool on a wired baking rack for 2 - 3 minutes before consuming. Enjoy!

__BEATRICE HARLIB

Steps:

• Beatrice Harlib's twin sons, Sam and Joel, helped her come up with her Snappy Turtle Cookies--the famous combination of chocolate, caramel and pecans. "I have always had a very loving family, always," Beatrice says. After winning the Grand Prize in the fourth Bake-Off® Contest, and after being welcomed back to Chicago by the mayor and a police escort, and being congratulated in public ceremonies with thousands of spectators, Beatrice found "I had been called upon to make so many appearances... that I have become quite at ease before groups and enjoy speaking, whereas previously I was very shy and timid and dreaded talking before crowd. "Beatrice went on to become president of the Children's Asthma Research Institute and later became a key executive in an early feminist group, Women's Share in Public Service, which helped to promote women in public office and worked to advance women's political and economic status. Beatrice reports that her Bake-Off® experience gave her just enough celebrity to be noticed and the confidence to move into these highly visible offices.It's incredible how much happiness can be achieved through the simple addition of caramel to chocolate, of cookies to a lunchbox or of public confidence to an already special woman.From "Pillsbury Best of the Bake-Off® Cookbook." Copyright 2004 General Mills. Used with permission of the publisher, Wiley Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

__ELLEN BURR

Steps:

• So much of American cooking has international roots, but a sense of what the cooking of indigenous Americans was like can be gleaned from Cape Cod resident Ellen Burr's harvest. "I love to gather wild edibles: bolete mushrooms, dandelion greens, sassafras leaves (to dry for file powder for gumbo). I pick lots of berries--blueberries, strawberries, shad berries, raspberries, blackberries, gooseberries, cranberries, elderberries, rosehips, rum cherries, and English blueberries--for desserts, for freezing, for preserves, and for jellies. I also dig clams, gather oysters and mussels, go crabbing and fish for trout and perch." Although Ellen has devoted so much of her keen attention to native foods, she also turns to foods with an international heritage for inspiration, and comes up with hits like her Dotted Swiss and Spinach Quiche.From "Pillsbury Best of the Bake-Off® Cookbook." Copyright 2004 General Mills. Used with permission of the publisher, Wiley Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

__TED VIVEIROS

Steps:

• "Then young Ted Viveiros's father passed away, his mother went to work and he had to learn to cook. "I made an apple pie--apples, sugar, crust--and it was awful. The apples were undercooked and the crust was really tough." But Ted toughed it out himself, and grew to be an innovative, no-nonsense cook. Doughnut cravings lead most people to a store, but not Ted. He was in the mood for doughnuts one night, so he just made his own. "By the way," he says, "I now make dam good apple pies, and know enough to add cinnamon and butter." Sometimes our early mistakes provide thought to fuel a lifetime of productive, and sometimes tasty, work.From "Pillsbury Best of the Bake-Off® Cookbook." Copyright 2004 General Mills. Used with permission of the publisher, Wiley Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

__JANICE WEINRICK

Steps:

• Bake-Off® winners' creativity is not confined to their cooking. Janice Weinrick was equally innovative when deciding what name to use after she was married. "In keeping with merger mania," Janice tells us, "we took half of my husband Michael's name (Weintraub) and half of mine (Myrick) and created the name 'Weinrick,' which became our legally married name." With her mind again on mergers, Janice adapted a traditional Costa Rican Cream Cake for the contemporary American kitchen, proving that doing things by half measures is sometimes a brilliant solution.From "Pillsbury Best of the Bake-Off® Cookbook." Copyright 2004 General Mills. Used with permission of the publisher, Wiley Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

_ MORE CELEBRITY NOTES

Steps:

• Academy Award-winning Best Actresses Greer Garson (1942, Mrs. Miniver) and Helen Hayes (1932, The Sin of Madelon Claudet) smiled as other women received what some have called the Oscars of the kitchen in 1958 and 1959. Movie stars Irene Dunne, of the classic My Favorite Wife (with Cary Grant), and Jeanette MacDonald, best known for her musical films with Nelson Eddy (Love Me Tonight), floated through the crowds in the 1950s too, delighted to pose with the finalists who were the stars of their own kitchens. Television hosts have always paid an important role in the Bake-Off® Contest. Art Linkletter's antics provided thousands of wonderful Bake-Off® moments. Later, Bob Barker hosted eleven ceremonies. Recent years have seen television personalities Gary Collins, Willard Scott and Alex Trebek leading the festivities. Celebrities and diamond-clad stars aside, the joy of the Bake-Off® contestants always shines the brightest.From "Pillsbury Best of the Bake-Off® Cookbook." Copyright 2004 General Mills. Used with permission of the publisher, Wiley Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

__LILY WUEBEL

Steps:

• Part of Pillsbury's reason for starting the Bake-Off® Contest was to celebrate the many unsung heroes of America's kitchens, who hadn't received public credit for the trays of cookies, the platters of cakes and the baskets of bread that issued from their kitchens.Of course, for every Bake-Off® winner, there is still an unpublicized kitchen hero for whom the appreciation of her family is reward enough. Lily Wuebel was lucky enough to have both. When asked what he thought of his wife's $25,000 cake, Peter Wuebel said he'd always loved the cake, and "it's worth a million to me."From "Pillsbury Best of the Bake-Off® Cookbook." Copyright 2004 General Mills. Used with permission of the publisher, Wiley Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

__GILBERT (GIL) SOUCY

Steps:

• A good number of the men who come to the Bake-Off® Contest do so from the army, or from a similar situation in which they've been cooking for their coworkers. Firefighter Gil Soucy works "saving lives, saving homes, saving and helping my brother firefighters." But when times are quiet, Gil doesn't let them stay that way, spicing things up by cooking for the firemen at his station and trying new dishes on them. "It makes for great fun. One time I made some venison, telling them it was steak. It came out good, and I never told them what it was." His fellow firefighters may not always appreciate Gil's mischief, but they always come running when a lively dish like Bean Picadillo Tortillas is served.From "Pillsbury Best of the Bake-Off® Cookbook." Copyright 2004 General Mills. Used with permission of the publisher, Wiley Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

__NINA REYES

Steps:

• When Nina Reyes came to the United States from Cuba to attend school in Pennsylvania, she knew right away that she had found her true homeland. When she returned to Cuba to marry, Nina decided, "I will never give up until I return to the United States and this time it will be for good. Because this is the country of my heart."Nina and her husband did return to the United States and raised their family in Miami. She entered numerous recipes in cooking contests. "Every time I entered, my son would say 'Mom, don't you ever give up?' and I said 'I'll keep on trying, and we shall see who laughs last.' Many times I lay awake at night, mixing up things in my dreams. If I can't go to sleep, l cook in my mind. Sometimes I get up and write the idea down, so I don't forget."One night Nina's dreams turned to what has been called Cuba's national dish, Picadillo. Picadillo is a special dish, almost like barbecue, or chili, in that every cook prides herself on her own version, with many variations. Some cooks use beef, eggs, wine, peppers, raisins or almonds others wrap their picadillo with a yeast bread instead of a pastry crust."I used to use so many people for guinea pigs," recalls Nina about testing her Bake-Off® Contest recipes, "and everybody feels differently. This time I thought, 'I'm not going to ask anyone how they like it. I'm just going to make it and send it in." Nina says she quit making her picadillo for years "because my crusts were nothing to brag about," but when she discovered refrigerated pie crusts she started making it again. Now Nina's Chicken Picadillo Pie is on its way to becoming an American classic. "That makes me so happy," says Nina.From "Pillsbury Best of the Bake-Off® Cookbook." Copyright 2004 General Mills. Used with permission of the publisher, Wiley Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

WIENER WINKS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Take 1 slice of bread and spread 1 teaspoon of butter on one side. Turn the bread over and place a slice of cheese on the bread. Place a frankfurter diagonally on the cheese. Fold bread corner to corner around the frankfurter. Insert a toothpick to hold together. Repeat steps for the remaining frankfurters.
• Bake in a preheated oven for 20 to 30 minutes or until golden brown.