Weekend food

This last weekend Mr Siili and I didn't do much, but we did make some yummy stuff in the kitchen.

On Saturday, we made some peruna rieska aka unleavened potato bread. This is the first recipe I shared on this blog back in 2008.

While the breads were baking, we made chicken soup for dinner. There was enough for us to have dinner for the next couple of days. I'll be thankful when it is gone today.

See the broccoli that I put in the soup? Well, that is about all the broccoli there was. This piece of broccoli, shown below, was the last one at the store and it was itty bitty. It only cost 0,16 cents! I just couldn't pass it up like everyone else had because I knew Mr Siili would find this lone piece of packaged broccoli as funny (and cute) as I did.

Then on Sunday, I made oh so Perfect Pumpkin Pancakes and Mr Siili helped me cook them. I've asked a co-worker to bring me more canned pumpkin and I think I'm going to have to ask my dad to bring some when he comes to visit too. These pancakes are that yummy!

Potato bread / Perunarieska

My sweet husband made me perunarieska (unleavened potato bread) today!
He also made it for me the very first time I came to Finland, just over 10 years ago. I ate so much of the perunarieska that I didn't feel too good. LOL.

The recipe came from my husband's babysitter when he was little. I don't think we've changed the recipe any, other than making a smaller batch than what the babysitter would have for all the kids she watched.

This recipe is easy to make, although it does take some time, but it's well worth it. I hope you'll enjoy it as much as we do! Just don't eat as many of them in one sitting as I did my first time around.

Perunarieska
Ingredients:
4 cups boiled and smooshed potatoes (not completely mashed, chunks are good)
3 cups milk
1 package (11 g) dry yeast
1/3 cup sugar
2.5 tsp salt
1 cup oats
3 cups flour
1 egg

Bake at 425F for 10-20 minutes

Directions:
1. Boil the potatoes. Once the potatoes are cooked (we leave the peels on, it's up to you), mash them into the measuring container and then dump them in a large mixing bowl.

2. Preheat the oven to 425F.

3. Add the milk, yeast, sugar and salt to the still hot/warm potatoes. Mix.

4. Gradually mix in the oats and flour and the egg. Mix everything together.
The dough will be semi-runny and lumpy.

5. Place a sheet of baking paper on the oven pan. Put 4-6 lumps (~1/2 cup), each spread out to about hand size on the baking paper.
(In the picture below, my hubby put only 4 lumps of dough, while you can see the brown color on the baking paper where I had previously put 6.)

6. Place the oven pan in the center of the oven.
About half way through the baking time, you will need to pull the pan out, flip the breads over and then put them back in the oven for a few more minutes. The exact timing of when to flip the breads will depend on your oven, but the main thing to look for is that the breads are slightly golden on top.
Flipping the breads makes them more evenly brown all over.

7. When the breads are done, take them out of the oven, remove them from the paper & pan.
Put another pan in the oven to cook.

Eat your breads right away! They are so yummy when they are hot! Be careful that you don't burn your mouth. We like to eat them with a bit of butter and cheese on them.

They are also yummy when cold...then we sometimes put on some tomato slices, cucumber and lettuce along with the cheese.

Yes, I did eat tons of the breads, they're that good!