Bratwurst and Pierogies

Tonight and Tomorrow, Ste. Eulalia's Roman Catholic church in Coudersport, PA, is having its annual church festival.  Since there is a strong Polish Catholic community around here, we usually rock out with some polka and Eastern European food, including Latkes ("potato pancakes", like a McDonald's "hash brown"), Kielbasa, Cabbage rolls, and Pierogies.  I, myself, am 1/8 Polish (as well as a mixture of mostly Irish and German, with one French and one Native American in the tracable family tree) and was raised as a Roman Catholic, too.  So this food is "ethnic food" for me.

I worked overtime tonight, and was unable to attend the festival, although it rained for much of the evening and was pouring when I got home with my kids.  Since I didn't make a dinner for 4 tonight (the kids ate at their babysitter's house) I am giving you pics of a dinner I made several months ago.

 

Specialty hot dogs (cheddarwurst, bratwurst, jalapeno dogs, etc) were on sale that week for $2.50 a pack (I hate to think what they must normally cost).  They came six in a package.  I'm not sure how much the pierogies cost (as I dug them out from the depths of the freezer, and don't remember when I bought them, much less what they cost) but I know they are frequently on sale for $2.00 a box.  I checked this week's sale fliers and Jubilee is selling generic pierogies for $1.67 a pack.  I know these ones were the good ones.  Now, the traditional Polish pierogies involve pan-frying them in butter and onions, but these were frozen and already had onions in them, so I just deep fried them.  The bratwurst, oddly enough, I pan-fried.  Although I bought hot dog rolls ($1.50 for a package of 8), the kids all wanted theirs plain.  Well, with ketchup.  But not rolls.  

I don't remember what we served for dessert that night and there are no pics to remind me but I know if I were down at the festival I'd be buying us slices of homemade pie.  In fact, that sounds delicious.  A large homemade pie can be made for about $3.50, (less if the fruit filling is free, like berries picked off bushes, maybe?  Or rhubarb?) and will last 2 nights even if every member of my family has some.  Yes, I am thinking that when I am done typing tonight, I'm gonna make a pie.

So, a quick total is: 19 cents for the one hot dog roll I ate, $2.00 pierogies, $2.50 specialty hot dogs, and less than $3 mystery dessert gave the four of us a dinner for under $10.

And that would make anyone happy