Lazy Pierogies

Did you catch the Real Farmwives of America & Friends over the weekend? We had a freezer cooking extravaganza! (Search #FarmGirlsFreeze on Twitter or Instagram to see what we were up to.) Ten of the ladies got together and cooked 11 batches of each meal to share. Holy moly – that was a lot of cooking! We worked hard, we had a blast, and we each came home with a freezer full of meals for this harvest season!

We all cooked from Gooseberry Patch’s cookbook, “Our Favorite Freezer-Friendly Recipes”. And we found some great stuff in that cookbook!

Let’s start with the basics… what the heck is a pierogie? I grew up with these tasty things, and I was surprised to hear that many people in Indiana have never heard of a pierogie, let alone tried one. Basically, pierogies are pasta pockets that are stuffed with mashed potatoes. They’re like ravioli, but instead of cheese and meat inside, there is mashed potatoes with garlic, onion, and cheese inside. So, think “potato ravioli” when you hear pierogie. (They are Farmer Doc-approved, if that helps.)

And what makes this dish “lazy”? Well, as much as I love my Real Farmwives, I don’t love them enough to make a whole bunch of individual potato raviolies for each of them. (Frankly, I’m not sure I love Farmer Doc that much!) So instead of potato ravioli, this dish is potato lasagna instead. See? Lazy!

Start off with 15 cooked lasagna noodles. Set these aside, you’ll need them in a few minutes.
Then grab your mashed potatoes. I will freely admit, for 11 batches of mashed potatoes I cheated and used these Idahoan mashed potatoes mixes. But, I have to say, they are pretty yummy! I used half roasted garlic and half four cheese. You’ll be adding more flavor to the potatoes as we go, so if you want to use plain mashed potatoes, that will work great, too. (This would also be a great way to use up leftover mashed potatoes from Thanksgiving in a few months!)

The directions on this package say to make the potatoes with water, but I use milk instead. I think that makes them more creamy, and gives them a better flavor. Do what you like.

Okay. Giant bucket of mashed potatoes. For one batch of the lazy pierogies, you’ll only need 2 cups of mashed potatoes. I had 22 cups. (That was a heavy bowl!)

I split these into two giant bowls, and then added the extra stuff. For each batch you are making, you will need:  2 beaten eggs, 8 ounces of shredded Cheddar cheese, and as much garlic salt, black pepper, and onion powder as you want. Mix it all up until everything is incorporated.

(If you’re doing the math, I used 22 eggs, 6 pounds of cheese, and a whole bunch of seasonings.)

Mmmm… cheesy potatoes…

Then layer your lasagna. Start with a lightly greased 9×13 baking dish. Cover the bottom with 5 lasagna noodles, then spread about half of the potato mixture over the noodles. (Careful, the noodles will slide all over your lightly greased surface!) Top with 5 more noodles, the rest of the potato mixture, and finish with the last five lasagna noodles. Set your pan aside for a few minutes.

Chop up an onion. (or eleven) Melt 1/2 cup of butter in a skillet over medium heat, and saute the onion in the butter until it is nice and tender. (Two pounds of butter and eleven onions means I needed a bigger pan. Or to work in smaller batches.)

Then just pour the onion with all that butter over the top of the lasagna. And that’s it! (Wow, it sounds easy to make just one batch… maybe I should have started with that?)

If you’re ready to bake and eat tonight, then cover lightly with aluminum foil and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Let the lasagna stand for 10 minutes before cutting and serving.

If you want to freeze this for later, cover tightly with aluminum foil and freeze. The day before you’re ready to eat, thaw it overnight in the refrigerator. Then just follow the same baking instructions!

Trust me, if you’ve never had pierogies before (or never heard of pierogies before), you’ll love this dish! Pasta, cheese, onion, and potato… what else do you need? (Well, maybe a little bit of garlic. So I used garlic flavored potatoes!)

If you’re looking for more great freezer cooking recipes, be sure to check out the Real Farmwives of America & Friends blog later this week. We’ll be posting a Recipe Recap of all the recipes we cooked during our #FarmGirlsFreeze marathon. And be sure to check out “Our Favorite Freezer-Friendly Recipes” from Gooseberry Patch for even more great ideas!

What is your favorite meal to stash in the freezer for an emergency?

{Gooseberry Patch did give me a copy of “Our Favorite Freezer-Friendly Recipes” to review. All thoughts, opinions, and photographs are my own. Affiliate links were used in this post. Baby Doc is coming in 6 short weeks!}