I was delighted to be invited to, and able to attend, a very nicely organized Ukrainian-Irish wedding.

I really enjoy weddings with numerous special traditions, intertwined with the typical wedding traditions, such as the cutting of the wedding cake, the garter and bouquet tossing, the mother-son dance, the father-daughter dance, etc.

I also like to photograph special decorations, the wedding cake, and other items that make the wedding different from all the rest.

This wedding also included many special rituals, practiced on many Ukrainian and Irish weddings.

I am very grateful to The Master of the Ceremony, who so kindly offered to share his copy of the explanations of these different rituals and blessings, which I could share with all of you.

The top picture in this post is the display of the Greeting Bread, The Korovai, Holy Icons,  Periwinkle Wreaths resting on an embroidered pillow, and gorgeous embroidered scarfs, “rushnyky”.  All these items have been used during the wedding ceremony and reception, and become keepsakes for the Bride and Groom.

This display is in front of the head table of the Bride and the Groom,  and the whole Bridal Party.

The Periwinkle Wreaths (or crowns in some churches), are placed on the heads of the Bride and Groom, during the Crowning Ceremony.  These wreaths represent love, purity, and fertility.  They are a symbol of dawn of the new kingdom to be ruled, side by side, by the newlyweds from this moment on throughout their married life.

The pillow for the periwinkle wreaths, was embroidered by one of the Groom’s  sisters, specifically for this special occasion.

The Korovai and the Greeting Bread was baked by the Groom’s 90 year old great-aunt, who also baked 6 beautifully decorated traditional Ukrainian Tortes, for the wedding reception.

The Korovai decorations (love birds, cones, Tree of Life branches) were created by the Groom’s sisters, who also assembled this whole Korovai.

The Groom’s mother was very proud of her Ukrainian heritage, and its rich culture.  She was passionate about Ukrainian embroidery, so I just had to capture a close up view of the intricate work on these embroidered scarfs (towels)- Rushnyky, displayed on the Korovai table.

Part of the wedding reception rituals was a traditional wedding gift giving to the Bride and the Groom.

These traditional gifts, would not be so traditional at a non-Ukrainian, or non-Irish wedding, but in this culture, they represent a long-standing tradition of bestowing gifts upon the Bride and the Groom on their Wedding Day.

Gifts can come in all forms, such as best wishes, friendship, homemade gifts, or store-bought gifts.  Some of the best traditional gifts are passed on from generation to generation.

Ukrainians and Irish have many such treasures to share, so I will share some of these with you, and include short captions of their symbolism.

Honey - is sweet as the love that binds the new couple.  They will adhere to each other for support and happiness.   Their sweetness will attract others to celebrate life with them.

Garlic – represents health and strength.  In presenting garlic, we wish them health and longevity, to enjoy many happy years together.  Garlic also supposed to ward off evil spirits from their home and family.

Irish Linen Hankie – a little Irish Luck is sure to come your way

by carrying this sweet hankie on your Wedding Day.

Pysanky - Hand decorated Ukrainian Easter Eggs.  The egg represents life, and new beginning.  The etchings on its shell are full of decorated symbols, representing health, happiness, love, eternity, and God’s Blessing.

Ukrainian Jewel encrusted Treasure Box filled with Gold Coins -  13 Gold Coins are given to the Bride as a symbol signifying that the Groom will support her.  The number 13, represents Christ and the 12 Apostles.  The coins hold good wishes for prosperity. They are housed in a traditional Ukrainian bejeweled box, representing the home.

There also was a bottle of Honey Wine (I did not capture it in my pictures), which was believed to be the best way to ensure a new and happy beginning for the marriage.

The Newlyweds also received a traditional gift of a 10 lbs. loaf of rye bread, which they shared with all the gusts later on.  This gift of bread signified well wishes of good luck, so their home and family will always have plenty of food, and never shortage of bread.

Another very special gift presented to the Bride and Groom, was this beautifully created ceramic plaque, with the Irish Blessing.  I was able to get a close enough picture to display the full script.

Now you know what I meant at the beginning of this display, that these “traditional” gifts are not so traditional at other weddings, yet they are very special to this couple, and add a special tough to their Wedding Day celebration, reflecting their family traditions.

Last, but not least, is the gorgeous Wedding Cake.  It looked stunning, and it was equally delicious.  To support the Bride’s Irish tradition, it was made with Irish Whiskey.  It was one of the best tasting wedding cakes I had in a long time.

You know how I love flowers, and admire beautiful crafts, thus I had to share a close up view of the wedding cake decorations.

Hope you enjoyed this post, and learned a lot about  wedding traditions you have not heard of, or seen before.

As for me, I am looking forward to another wedding, so I can take more pictures to share with you.

Roses and chocolates are most popular to impress your Special Valentine with, but these heart-shaped cookies are even more special.

They are very delicate, delicious, and quite simple to make.

Your sweetheart will definitely be impressed with your baking skills, and best of all, you both can enjoy them together.

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup butter, softened at room temp
• 2 egg yolks
• 2 whole eggs
• rind of 1 lemon
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1½  cup powdered sugar
• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• Strawberry jam for filling

Directions:

1. In a large mixing bowl, blend softened butter, egg yolks and eggs.
2. Mix in the lemon rind, vanilla extract and powdered sugar.
3. In a separate bowl, mix flour and baking powder.
4. Mix flour mixture into the egg mixture, until well blended. You can use a mixer, or work the dough by hand.
5. Cover the dough, and keep it refrigerated for at least an hour, or overnight.
6. Once chilled enough, work with a 1/4 of the dough at a time.
7. Massage the dough in your hands, for a minute or so, to soften it.
8. Place it on a floured work surface, flatten slightly, flour lightly on top, and roll out to 1/8 inch thickness.
9. Cut out cookies with heart-shaped cookie cutter.
10. Cut out a circle, or a small heart, in the middle of 1/2 of the cookies, so the jam will show through, once filled and sandwiched together with the whole cookies.
11. Place cookies on an ungreased cookie sheet, at least 1/2 inch apart.
12. Bake in a preheated oven, at 350 degrees F, for 10-15 minutes, or until set, and the edges are lightly golden, not browned.
13. Remove baked cookies onto a wire cookie rack, to cool completely.
14. Spread a thin layer of jam on the whole cookie, and top it with the cookie with a cut out circle or heart.
15. Press together gently.
16. Store in an air tight container, in a cool place.
17. Before serving, sprinkle tops of cookies with powdered sugar.

Enjoy.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

TIP: These cookies freeze well.  Place them in a zip-lock freezer bag, and freeze up to 3 months.  Thaw in the same bag, in a refrigerator, for at least 12-24 hours.

If you have been following my blogs, you already know that I enjoy cooking and baking, and admire the same in others.

I have been very fortunate to find a great job at a  medium size, family owned company, where everyone is treated like a family member, rather than an employee number.  These are some of the advantages of working for a smaller company, rather than a large corporation.

We are quite spoiled by decadent baked goods, created by Sue, one of the members of the Board of Directors of our company.

She always bakes something different for everyone’s Birthday, so I decided to dedicate each month to pictures of these wonderful creations.

Marbled Chocolate- Peanut Butter cupcakes.

Very moist, and delicious, Pineapple Upside Down cupcakes.

As you already know, I love trying new recipes.  Most of the time I try a recipe based on a sample I enjoyed, made by someone else.  Other times, I just try a recipe based on the ingredients, and a picture of the finished product.

This time I was looking for some “light and healthy” cookie recipes, to cater to some of my guests who are dieting, yet wish to satisfy their sweet tooth.

The Ginger-Lemon Pinwheel Cookies in this post, were one of the ones I decided to try.

The picture looked very appealing to me, and the ingredients did not call for anything out of the ordinary, so it sounded like a great choice.

Normally I only share successful recipes, but even though I was slightly disappointed with the final result of this recipe, I will share it any way, because it might appeal to someone who is looking for low calorie cookies.  Actually, I will probably make these again, and play with the recipe a little.

This recipe yields about 40 cookies @ only 81 calories each.

Ingredients for Ginger Dough:

• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1/4 cup molasses (I used dark molasses)
• 1 large egg yolk (save the white for the Lemon Dough)
• 1- 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 tsp. ground ginger
• 3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. salt – (I used 1/8 tsp)
• 1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg
• Dash of ground allspice

Directions for Ginger Dough:

1. In a medium mixer bowl, combine butter and brown sugar.
2. Mix about 3 minutes, at medium speed.
3. Add molasses, and egg yolk, and beat until blended.
4. In a separate bowl, combine flour and all the spices.
5. Gradually add to the butter mixture, and beat at low speed until combined.
6. Wrap dough in plastic wrap, and chill for at least 30 minutes.

Ingredients for Lemon Dough:

• 8 Tbs. unsalted butter, softened
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg white (saved from Ginger dough)
• 2 tsp. ground lemon rind
• 3/4 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1- 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp. salt (I used 1/8 tsp)

Directions for Lemon Dough:

1. In a medium bowl, mix butter and sugar at medium speed for 3 minutes.
2. Add egg white and beat until blended.
3. Beat in lemon rind and vanilla.
4. In a separate bowl, mix flour with all the dry ingredients.
5. Gradually add to butter mixture, and beat at low speed until blended.
6. Wrap in plastic wrap, and chill for 30 minutes.
7. Unwrap ginger dough, roll between two sheets of plastic wrap, into a 13×8 rectangle.  Dough will be quite thin (3/16 inch).
8. Chill for 10 minutes.
9. Roll the lemon dough in the same way, and chill as well.
10. Once chilled, remove the top sheet of plastic wrap from the Ginger and Lemon Dough.
11. Stack Lemon Dough on top of Ginger Dough, leaving 1/2 inch border along the long side of the Ginger Dough.
12. Remove the remaining plastic wrap.
13. Starting with the long side without the border, roll up dough tightly, jelly-roll fashion. If you do not roll tightly, you will end up with a whole in the middle of your pinwheel.
14. Seal edges (do not seal ends of roll).
15. Cover with plastic wrap, and freeze for 30 minutes.
16. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
17. Unwrap dough roll.
18. Cut with a sharp knife, into 40 slices, about 1/4 inch thick.
19. Reshape rounds.
20. Line baking sheet with parchment paper (wax paper will scorch – do not use).
21. Arrange cookie slices 1 inch apart.
22. Bake one batch at a time, for 8 minutes, or until set and slightly browned.
23. Cool on wire racks.

If anyone tried these cookies before, please share your comments.

Some of my guests actually enjoyed them, even though these cookies are on a denser side, more like biscotti, or as I call them “dunking”  tea cookies.

If you are watching your diet, you definitely would have no guilt having a couple of these, instead of any of my other ones, which are scrumptious, but not so low in calories.

TIP: This would be a good cookie for Phase III in The Fat Smash Diet.

This recipe came up at a spur of a moment, after I made an error in purchasing chopped dates, rather than chopped figs, intending to make Cream Cheese Fig Bars.

Since I never baked with dates before, it was a wonderful experience, and the Granola Date Bars turned out great.

I will definitely make these again, since they make a perfect mid morning, or mid afternoon snack, not to mention the abundance of fiber in these.

Next time I will try to mix in some Super Cranberry, Cherry, and Almond Muesli, made by Dorset Cereals, which I love for breakfast.

I guess the good old saying  “If God gives you lemons, you have to learn to love lemonade”, pairs up well with the birth of this recipe.

Ingredients:

• 8 oz chopped dates (2 cups)
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 cup quick cooking oats
• 1/2 cup (Organic Vanilla Almond FlaxPlus Granola (or increase the oats by 1/2 cup)
• 1 -1/2 cups all-purpose flour ( I used unbleached flour)
• 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 3/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted (may use margarine)
• 1/2 cup chopped nuts (I used pecans)

Directions:

1. Combine dates and water in a medium saucepan.
2. Bring to boil, and cook 3-4 minutes on medium heat, stirring occasionally, until thickened.
3. Remove from heat, and stir in vanilla.
4. Set aside.
5. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
6. In a medium mixing bowl, combine flour, oats, granola,baking soda, salt and brown sugar.
7. Mix well, to incorporate all ingredients.
8. Stir in melted butter, and mix to moisten dry ingredients.
9. Measure 2-1/2 cups of oats mixture, and press gently into a 9 x 9 inch baking pan, to make the bottom crust.
10. Top with date filling, leaving 1/4 inch margin all around the edge, free of filling (to prevent filling from crusting up,  and burning during baking).
11. Combine chopped nuts with the remaining oats mixture, fill the margin around the date filling, and spread the rest on the top of the filling.
12. Press gently into the filling.
13. Bake at 350 degrees F, for 2o minutes.
14. Cool in pan on wire rack.
15. Cut into serving size, 1 x 3 inch bars, or 1 x 1 inch bite size chunks.

Enjoy.

TIP: This recipe is NOT for The Fat Smash Diet phase I, but is OK in phase III.

While most children are awaiting the arrival of Santa Claus, many others are expecting a visit from St. Nicholas.

My grandchildren are very excited about receiving  gifts from St. Nicholas, since they also get to participate in plays and poetry recitals at our local church, and youth organization.

It makes this holiday that much more special, feeling like a star, performing on a stage at such a young age of three.

This year, my granddaughter received a Gingerbread House kit from St. Nicholas, and could hardly wait to get home, to get the project started with her mom.

She was very patient, following all the instructions from her mom, and very meticulous about positioning all the candy in the proper places ( sampling few here and there…that’s part of the fun).

She was so proud of her completed project, and so were we, so I promised that I will post some pictures on my blog.

This is the front entry to the Gingerbread house.  She was deciding on the colors and type of candy to use, and the positioning of the figures. Her mom handled the icing part.  The white base was part of the kit.

She decided on a back entry as well, including additional windows. How cute is that.  Maybe that’s grandma’s private entrance?

A side view.  As you will see, she decided to decorate the house from all sides.  Good thing there was plenty of candy with this kit.

View of the other side, and top of the roof.  Not sure what all the gum drops represent on the roof top??

Close up view of the roof with a chimney.  She was very excited about the chimney, so I needed to point it out as well.

If you are looking for fun projects to do with your children, or grandchildren, putting together a Gingerbread House is a wonderful idea.

It lets you spend quality time with them, and makes their imagination run wild.

If your children, or grandchildren are older, you may want to make a Gingerbread House from scratch.

It is a known fact that holidays mean spending fun time with family and friends, as well as enjoying lots of delicious food and drinks.

As our family tradition, and to alternate with our married children in-laws, we celebrate Christmas Eve on December 24th, by the  Gregorian calendar , and then again the Traditional Ukrainian Christmas Eve, per Julian calendar, on January 6th.

I am still making all the traditional foods and baked goods for both dates, but have more time for shopping, as this year’s  gift exchange will take place in January.

Since I will be doing most of my baking later on this month, I will share links to my past year’s baked goods recipes, for your convenience and baking pleasure.

Cream Wafers

Miniature Nut Cups – Tea Tassies

Sugar Cut- Out Cookies

Sugar Wafers

Pecan Butterballs

Dycio Crescents

Frosted Lemon Cookies

Chocolate No-Bake Cookies

Chocolate Scotcheroos

Ginger Chocolate Truffles

This should give you a good start for early holiday baking.

Boys will always be boys…isn’t that the truth.

While little girls like to have cute party themes for their birthdays (Candy Land, Minni Mouse, Sesame Street), boys prefer to have fun with Pirate theme.

My previous post shared the numerous decorations and games for this Pirate Theme Birthday Party, so this post will be all about food, and the Pirate Theme appropriate labels for appetizers, and other foods.

If you only saw the labels, you would never guess what type of food would end up on your plate.

Here are some of the items listed on the menu.

OK, I think you get my point…..now let me show you the actual food next to these tags.

This was a very refreshing White Rum Punch, with  a very special pirate ladle, and plastic skulls floating on the surface of the punch.  All the Adult Pirates loved this punch!

Some of the appetizers, and snacks, displayed here (Pirate Shoe Leather, Swords and Peg Legs, Polly Parrot’s Treats, Seaweed Salad, Desert Pudding, etc.).

So, if you are not able to read this tag, these are the “Octopus Legs and Eyeballs”…..very appropriate label, don’t you think?

No, we did not hunt for Parrots….this is a Rotisserie Chicken, cut up into serving pieces, served with a special basting sauce from Phil’s Chicken House, located in Endicott, NY (part of the Triple Cities around Binghamton, New York).

This is the best chicken ever, so if you are ever around that area, I recommend this place for some finger licking meal.

This was a wonderful display of fruits (oranges, pineapple, kiwi and star fruit), labeled as “Tropical Sea Creatures Salad”.

The center piece of the party display, a Pirate Ship Cake, with Captain Maks in charge, and a close up of the ocean waves, water and sharks.  Special creation by mom of Captain Maks.

Personal cake for the Birthday Boy – Captain Maks, with some edible Gold Coins, to add to the cake decorations.

These delicious, chocolate cupcakes were nestled in special Pirate Ship wraps, surrounded by many other sweet treats, for everyone to enjoy.

My hat’s off to Captain Mak’s parents, for planning the party in such a creative way, and for organizing the whole event.

Each family was assigned a day of the week to prepare a dinner for everyone, leaving one day free of cooking, to enjoy a dinner out.

It was lots of fun, since we had a different theme meal each day, and each group only cooked once during the whole week.

The weather was fairly cooperative, so there was time for sun bathing and walking on the beach, as well and taking the children on boardwalk rides, flying kites, and building sand castles.

The grandparents checked out the nearby casinos in Atlantic City, which was lots of fun, but no big winnings…..sigh.

Hopefully you will find these ideas very useful, and perhaps your next special birthday party will also be as creative, and enjoyable.

As always, I am looking forward to hearing your fun stories.

Our grandson turned ONE, and of course a wonderful, and lots of fun, Birthday Party was prepared by his parents.

With careful planning, they rented a beach house in Ocean City, NJ for a family vacation, which included the whole family from both their sides, thus total of 17 people.

What could be a better theme for a birthday party celebrated by the beach, than  Pirates?  Totally awesome!

My daughter-in-law, a teacher by profession, was very creative with the whole pirate theme, and decorations, which I will share with you in this post.

This is the beach house where the family vacation took place, including  and very special birthday party.  Special Pirate Flag was flowing in the air during the party (it also came in handy for the grandparents to recognize the right house, while returning from a morning walk on the beach.  As you can imagine how tricky it can be to spot the right house,  since most of them look very similar from the beach side, plus, there are no visible house numbers to go by).

Special balloon arrangements with a Pirate Ship balloon, lots of flags, treasure chests, and fishing nets with fun sea creatures, were part of the birthday decor.

Everyone had lots of fun watching these expandable,  spongy, sea creatures expand, while submerged in a pan of water, over a 24 hour period.  They increased in size at least 200%, and turned into super fun decorations.

These were some of the games the children played at the party.  The inflated baby pool was filled with plastic balls, so the little ones could jump in, and roll around.

Each parent was given a supply of several pieces of fabric, ribbons, sashes, etc. to create a saw free pirate outfit for their child (two variations shown above).

Also, some stick on Pirate Tattoos were available, and special name tags, for children and adults.

The outdoor games included a water balloon toss, during which the children would smash the water balloons on rubber duckies and plastic boats, scattered all over the play area.

The “Walk the Plank” piece was leaned against the edge of the ball pool, and the little pirates (with parent’s assistance) walked up the plank,  and plopped into the ball pool.

Everyone really enjoyed these outdoor activities, and the pirate outfits turned out adorable.

This was the Birthday “Thank You” Favorites corner.

There were “Thank You” favorites for adults – Pirate Trunk full of gold chocolate coins, Pirate Popcorn, and a sample bottle of White Rum.

The “Thank You” favorites for children consisted of a large bag (see above), filled with an inflated Pirate Sword, Pirate Hat, Pirate Eye Patch, Tattoo stickers, small games, and Kraft Materials for the Pirate Outfits.

Since I dedicated this post to decorations and games, my follow up post will be about, the cake and the fun foods, all in Pirate  Theme of course.

Lots of interesting stuff, I promise, so please stay tuned.

This torte recipe was passed on to our family by our cousin Ira (Eera), from Ukraine, hence the name “Torte Ira”.

The filling for this torte is quite different, since it uses a rather non-traditional main ingredient.

Most torte fillings are made mainly with butter, powdered sugar, chocolate or cocoa, plus various flavor enhancers.

This filling uses it’s share of butter, and much less sugar than most, but the bulk of the filling is made out of cooked Cream of Wheat.

You would never guess that Cream of  Wheat is the main ingredient of this filling, by just tasting it, because it is very creamy and light, despite the amount of butter it contains.

This torte is best refrigerated, to keep its ideal texture, thus  suitable mostly as an after dinner dessert, rather than a party dessert, requiring an extended exposure to room temperature.

Torte Ingredients:

• 4 oz semi-sweet baking chocolate (4- 1 oz squares), melted
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 4 eggs
• 1 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup all purpose white flour

Torte Directions:

1. In a double-boiler, melt the chocolate and butter.
2. Add vanilla extract.
3. Remove from heat, pour into a large mixing bowl, and cool.
4. In a medium bowl, beat the eggs with salt, until light and fluffy.
5. Add sugar and beat a couple of minutes longer.
6. Fold the egg mixture into the cooled chocolate mixture.
7. Add sifted flour, and blend it in well.
8. Grease a lightly flour, a 9 x 13 x 2 sheet cake pan.
9. Preheat the over to 350 degrees F.
10. Pour the torte batter into the prepared pan.
11. Place on a middle oven rack, and bake for 25-30 minutes.
12. Remove from the oven to cool in the pan. (see TIP below)

Ingredients for Filling:

• 2 cups whole  milk
• 4 Tbs Cream of Wheat
• 1 1/2 cup butter (3 sticks), room temperature
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 Tbs fresh lemon juice
• 1 Tbs alcohol (brandy, liquor, cognac, whiskey), or your favorite extract

Directions for Filling:

1. Use a 2 quart sauce pan.
2. Add milk and Cream of Wheat, and bring to boil.
3. Cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring occasionally so it does not stick to the bottom and burn.
4. Set aside to cool off.
5. In a medium bowl, add softened butter, juice and extract.
6. Mix to blend well.
7. Mix in the powdered sugar, until creamy.
8. Add cooled Cream of Wheat, and mix to blend all well together.
9. Spread filling over the cooled cake.
10. Set aside.

Chocolate Icing Ingredients:

• 8 0z semi-sweet baker’s chocolate (8 – 1 oz squares)
• 4 Tbs whole milk, or heavy cream for whipping

Chocolate Icing Directions:

1. In a double boiler, melt the chocolate.
2. Add milk, and incorporate into the melted chocolate.
3. Remove from heat, and pour over the filling.
4. Smooth out with the back of a spoon, for smooth, even finish.
5. Cool in the refrigerator, until it begins to firm up.
6. Remove from the fridge, and pre-cut through the chocolate icing, to form serving pieces.  This will ease the final cutting to serving pieces later on, once the chocolate fully cools and hardens.
7. Cover, and keep in the fridge at least over night.
8. Just before serving, cut through the filling and the cake, place on a serving platter, and serve.

Enjoy.

Please share your comments.  I love to hear your feedback.

TIP:  Please don’t be alarmed after the cake is baked, because it will seem very dense and brittle.  It will soften up by the moisture from the Cream of Wheat filling, seeping down into it.

That is another reason, why this torte does hold up well, exposed to room temperature for an extended period of time.  It holds its shape best, being refrigerated.