Fancy Frozen Food (Perogie Style)

(Image of amazing perogie feast is from Halina's Catering ...and Google Images because I don't know who Halina's Catering is, but I am sure they are very good. Especially from the looks of their food!)

Perogies are where it's at. They are not that expensive, take very little time to cook and can be dressed up in many different fancy little ways. You never hear somebody say "I don't like perogies" and if you do, they are crazy. Don't hang out with crazy people like that. And for the love of God, please don't cook for crazy people who don't like perogies because they probably are so crazy they don't like anything. And cooking for crazy picky eaters who don't like anything is horrible trouble.

With the sprit of soccer and its atmosphere that makes me crave fast food (ps good try Holland!). I decided that, yes, now is the time to spread the wisdom that is the student/lazy cook (synonymous?) staple of perogies. Stand back and be amazed (sit?).

When making a perogie purchase (see below "dealers"), I usually get the cheese and potato flavour. I love bacon (again, don't hang out with people who don't), but find that the simulated bacon flavour sucks. And plus, you can put bacon on perogies or even fry them in the bacon fat for a way better bacon taste. In consecutive order, these are the place I have found that sell the best perogies in Guelph:

1. Farmer's Market (go to the Greek man who also sells amazing cinnamon buns. They're not super cheap, but extra points go to him being so happy all the time!)

2. Market Fresh (the freezer section has a wide variety. I tried the chicken ones and would not count these as regular perogies; they were more like dumplings so they don't count)

3. M&M Meat Shop (very good for a fairly low price)

4. Any Large Grocery Store (cheap no-name perrogies are still good, especially when you dress them up with the suggestions below. So if you want to save money, just buy one of the bags of 50 perrogies for about $3-7)

Perogies are easy to cook and don't take too long. You can boil, fry and even bake perogies (I do not recommend the latter; the perogies are weird and have a tough texture when baked). I usually boil them for 3 minutes in salty water and then fry them with some oilive oil. Yes, you can make periogees plain but you can impress all your student friends with your mad cooking abilities by adding a few things to this simple freezer food.

1. Bacon and Green Onions (wake up early and go get the farmers market bacon. It is most definitely worth it! It is easiest and fastest to cook the bacon by cutting the raw strips in little square size pieces and frying them on a medium heat that way. Plus then you can cook the perogies in the bacon fat!)

2. Cheddar Cheese (shred some, or just cut thin slices, and let it melt on top for amazingness. Possibly, also even more amazing with bacon, as most things are.)

3. Garlic (just buy a container of already chopped garlic and throw it in the frying pan with the perigees)

4. Butter and Onions (very simple, very vegetarian, very unhealthy. If I had a deep fryer, I would recommend that here, just like the perogies on res (LA Pit!).)

5. Balsamic Vinigar (I tried this once and they were pretty good. Also not exactly necessary for sour cream with these. So this is for the lactose chumps without pills.)

Obviously these should be served with sour cream (and hot sauce if you're feeling crazy). Again, for lactose intolerant people who don't believe in Lactaid pills (I hate you :P) you can also put plain yogurt on them and it's not that bad.

PS. It looks like "perogies" may or may not be the correct spelling of the word. My apologies if it is horribly wrong. Wikipedia has a very weird way to spell it...