Otoe Pumpkin & Corn Recipe

Here is a recipe that is very near and dear to my heart. This recipe is a traditional Oto Missouria recipe. This particular recipe was first posted on my tribe's website by Linda Francis who is a member of the Owl Clan. My family is from the Coyote Clan, but this is well loved by all of the Oto Missouria Tribe. I hope you all enjoy this recipe as much as we do!

1 whole fresh pumpkin (you can also use canned pumpkin, but Linda recommends fresh)
1 bag dried sweet corn (can also use fresh)
Cinnamon—to taste
Sugar—to taste

Directions: Remove seeds and "guts" from pumpkin. Cut meat from rind. Cube pumpkin meat and place pumpkin in pot on stove. Cook until soft. Boil dried sweet corn. Corn is cooked when it is soft. Once cooled, combine cooked pumpkin and corn. Add cinnamon and sugar to taste. This amount varies depending on the size of your pumpkin and your preference. Add sugar slowly. You do not want to add too much sugar so that the flavor of the pumpkin is overwhelmed by sweetness. The combination should result in a gently sweet, pumpkin combination with a pleasant spice hint. VARIATION: Another tribal member recommends using brown sugar instead of the white sugar and cinnamon. Remember that our ancestors didn’t use measuring cups and spoons. Learn to trust your own palette and experiment with the balance of flavors.

For refference here is where the recipe originally is from: Otoe Pumpikn & Corn Recipe
That would be my tribe's website so, if you want to learn more about the Oto Misouria Tribe feel free to browse around.

Polish Rice Cakes

Hello everyone!
Sorry it seems like forever since I last updated. I've been super busy! At least things have slowed down quite a bit and I can now update regularly again. I hope. Anyways, to get things back to running in a fairly normal fashion, I will share with you a recipe that I adore like it's nobody's buisness. This is a delightful recipe that I aquired over in Europe a few years back for Polish style rice cakes. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

Ingredients

• 2 cups of white rice, preferable long grain, but if all you have is short grain that will work as well.
• 6 cups of milk, I prefer soy milk, but you can also use regular milk
• 1 teaspoon of sea salt
• 1 cup of butter. It has to be real butter! The fake stuff doesn't work on this recipe because it will not cook right.
• 8 ounces of
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup of half-and-half
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract. Not immitation! The recipe tasts funny if you use the immitation vanilla
• 1 cup of self rising flour
• 1/2 cup of raisins. You can leave these out or substitute them for another small dried fruit like cranberries if you like

Directions

• Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F
• Grease a 9"x13" glass baking pan
• In a saucepan; mix rice, milk, and salt
• Stir frequently and cook until all the liquid is absorbed by the rice
• Remove from heat
• In a large mixing bowl cream the butter and Neufchâtel cheese
• In a seperate bowl mix eggs, vanilla, and half-and-half
• Stir egg mixture into the cream mixture making sure to mix well
• Add in the rice and mix well
• Mix flour in making sure that it is well blended
• If raisins or dried fruit is being used stir them in
• Pour batter into the baking pan
• Make sure that you get as many of the air bubbles out as you can. An easy way to do this is to pour half in and then pat the top with a large wooden spoon and repeate with the other half of the batter
• Bake for 1 hour
• After taking it out of the oven let it set for at least one hour before serving

Kolache

Hello again everyone! Sorry it has been so long since I posted anything. I have been ridiculously busy with school and the like. I am back again and I will try to post something at least once a week. In celebration of spring I will be posting a lovely Czech recipe for a delicious pastry that most people know as a kolache.  In Czech it is called a koláč.  For people who have no idea what they are, think of a jelly doughnut, or this.

That is also a kolache. A highly decorated kolache, but a kolache none the less. Looks tasty! Today I will share my recipe with you all. I hope you enjoy. Keep in mind that this recipe makes about 70 of them. I have a huge family and require huge recipes to cook for them.

Ingredients

 2 ½  cups warm milk
 1 ½ (.25 ounce) packages active dry yeast
 ½ cup white sugar
 ½ cup shortening
 1 tablespoon sea salt
 2 eggs
 2 egg yolks
 6 ½ cups unbleached flour
 ½ cup fruit preserves of your choice

Directions

1.       Pour warm milk over the yeast, and let dissolve completely

2.       Add sugar, shortening, sea salt, eggs, egg yolks, and flour

3.       Stir until completely combined

4.       Remove the dough and place in a well-oiled bowl

5.       Turn once in the bowl to coat the surface with oil

6.       Cover bowl with a towel and place in a warm spot to rise until doubled (this takes about an hour)

7.       Spoon out dough with a spoon and roll into ball and set on baking sheet

8.       Brush the tops with shortening and let rise until doubled once again

9.       Flatten the balls and make a depression in the centers with the back of a spoon

10.   Pre-heat your oven to 375°F

11.   Fill the depressions with whatever fruit preserves you have chosen and allow to rise once again

12.   Bake 15-20 minutes or until lightly browned