Author Archives: Kirsten Vala Fong

Family Recipe: Grandma’s Runzas (Nebraska Meat Pies)

I’m so happy to finally post something dumpling-ish on this blog, and this is the perfect recipe. In Nebraska we have a fast food chain called RUNZA – the term “runza” is actually trademarked by the company, which is ridiculous because they didn’t invent the runza. A runza is a Russian meat pie made with yeasted dough, and it can be made in a variety of different shapes with different savory meat fillings. From Russia, the runza’s popularity spread to Germany, and they were brought to the Midwestern region of the United States by German immigrants.

Most Nebraskans know runzas as delicious fast food, but thanks to my Grandma Hazel, my family knows what a non-fast-food, from-scratch runza is supposed to taste like. I was so happy when my Aunt passed this recipe for grandma’s runzas along to me. My family might not be German or Russian, but we are 100% Nebraskan, and to me, this is Nebraska comfort food at its best.

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Healthy Everything Muffins

Whole Wheat Banana Blueberry Muffins

I’m really a good baker. I mean, I’m great at measuring and following instructions, just like my grandmas always taught me. But somehow, this morning, I decided I was going to throw every healthy ingredient I owned into a batch of muffins (and eat as many as I wanted without feeling guilty). And I’m talking about flaxseed meal, oat bran, oatmeal (is that redundant?), applesauce, a ripe banana, oh yeah, and the buttermilk I’ve been trying to use up all week. I was a little out of control. And I’m usually more of a, “cook it because it’s delicious and hope it happens to be healthy-ish” type of person, but I’m happy to report that, even though these muffins were baked as healthy treats, they just happen to be delicious.

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Olive Oil Cake Recipe

When I got the September 2009 issue of Bon Appetit, I was so excited to see my favorite pastry recipe from Abroco in NYC featured in the RSVP (reader requested) section. They read my mind! There’s nothing better with a perfect cup of coffee than a slice of simple, sweet cake, Italian-style. It’s moist and citrus-spiked with a subtle hint of olive oil.

I don’t have a good excuse for why it took me 3+ years to bake this cake (that’s a long time to keep a magazine mentally bookmarked), but I was absolutely craving it this week. And as of March 1st, my husband and I have officially moved to Massachusetts, and I’ve been sad thinking that Abroco is no longer just a subway ride away. I know I hate NYC subways and traffic and crowds and noise, but I really, really miss the food. This Olive Oil Cake is like a comforting taste of Manhattan, conjuring memories of coffee breaks with my sweetie pie (that’s my husband). Mmm. . . Now we just need an espresso machine.

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Coming Soon!

This is the future home of Dumplings & Doughnuts, a food blog all about global cuisines and cultures. I’m going to be sharing homemade recipes straight from my kitchen, inspired by my travels and my diverse heritage — there’ll be dumplings, doughnuts and much more.

DWK ARCHIVE: Pumpkin Bundt Cake

I loved my old blog, Dinner with Kirsten, and even though I’ve moved onto this new and improved site, I still like my old recipes. So, I’m moving my favorites over! Please excuse the old writing style and less-than-stellar photography. Heck, I’m still working to improve my photos, but looking back it’s encouraging to see that I have made some improvement since 2008.

My sister bought me a bundt cake pan as a present years ago, and I absolutely love it. But, I’ve only actually used the pan a handful of times. I lugged it from Nebraska to New York, then from my apartment to Geoff’s, and it has been sitting neglected in his cupboard ever since.

Every once in a while, riffling through cupboards looking for some dish or utensil, I bump into my bundt cake pan. Our encounters transpire like fleeting unexpected run-ins with old friends: We are happy to see each other and resolve to get together soon, but then we never follow through. Continue reading →

DWK ARCHIVE: Cinnamon Rolls (Almost like Grandma’s)

I discovered, through the course of random conversation, that Geoff had never had a homemade cinnamon roll. This boggled my mind! When I was young, my Grandma Lois would alternate between making cinnamon rolls and kolaches almost every weekend.

Grandma Lois was not a recipe filer by nature. She owned hundreds of cookbooks full of dog-eared pages and sticky notes, she had drawers and drawers of hand-written recipes and clippings from newspapers and magazines stuffed into books and “filed” randomly. Grandpa Ernie complained that she could never make the same recipe twice, even the good ones—they would get lost in the shuffle. Luckily, she knew family favorites by heart (with maybe a cheat sheet or two taped inside a cupboard door). But now that she’s gone I’m constantly on the look-out for Grandma-Lois-like recipes, and Geoff’s cinnamon roll predicament posed a new challenge.

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