Recently, my kids have taken an interest in helping in the kitchen. I'll be honest, I am not a huge cook - and if I do cook I need it to be simple - with minimal use of pots and pans and other things that I need to clean! I was approached by Produce for Kids to come up with a recipe using Real Sweet Onions from Shuman Produce, and I immediately thought of the perfect recipe. We serve this pretty much every holiday in our house - as it is a "hack" on pierogis. For those of you that don't know what a pierogi is - they are filled dumplings and amazing! I grew up eating them. You can buy them frozen but they are much better homemade, just a little time intensive.
So a few generations ago my family started making "American Pierogi". We called it this because our ancestors were from Poland and it was joke that this was made when they came to America and didn't have as much time to make traditional pierogis!
The ingredients are simple - mashed potatoes, elbow macaroni, butter, chopped onions, and white American cheese. It really depends on the size of the casserole dish that you have, but you basically layer like lasagna. First put a layer of mashed potatoes, then a layer of chopped onion sauteed in butter, then a layer of cooked macaroni elbows, and finally a layer of white American cheese. Repeat until you get to the top of your casserole dish and then heat in the oven on 350 degrees until all the cheese is melted (usually about 30 minutes).
Here's a video that my kids and I made this week making "American Pierogi"
I'd also like to give a shout out to Produce for Kids. They are an amazing organization that believes in creating a healthier generation! Their website provides families with more than 300 healthy and easy recipes and offers tons of tips like how to select the perfect avocado and how to cut a mango. Over the years, Produce for Kids has worked to raise more than $6 million for families in need through organizations like Feeding America. Definitely worth checking out!
I received compensation and product in exchange for this review. All opinions are my own.
