My New Niece and Grandma's Kugeli

There she is! My niece: 8lbs, 3 oz and 21 1/2 inches long. She was born on Wednesday morning at 9:50AM after nine hours of active labor and over twenty-four hours after my sister's water broke. And it was all done completely naturally. I am so incredibly proud of my sister and her husband. I was with them throughout the labor and after witnessing it and assisting when I could, I am now completely certain that my sister is the strongest, most incredible woman I know. I'll save the details for my sister to tell, but once that baby came out there was nothing I could do to stop the tears from streaming down my face. And I had the pleasure of telling the new Grandparents the sex and name of the baby, which brings me to something pretty neat: her middle name is my Grandma's name -- the same Grandma that calls me a good eatah.

So, in honor of the new baby and my Grandma -- I give you my Grandma's Lithuanian Kugeli recipe:

Grandma's Potato Kugeli (gluten-free and dairy-free)

8 slices of bacon (make sure it's gluten-free)
10 medium-sized potatos (any kind will do)
1 large onion
6 eggs, whisked
4 tbsp gluten-free flour (I use rice flour)
Salt and Pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pan fry the bacon until slightly crispy and reserve *fat and set aside. Coarsely grate the onion and potatos by hand or in a food processor. Let them stand for a few minutes and then with a clean kitchen towel wring out all moisture from the potatos and onion. Place the potatos and onion in a large bowl and add the eggs, a few tablespoons of the bacon fat, flour and salt and pepper and combine. Add the mixture to a caserole dish and top with crumbled bacon. Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until cooked thoroughly.

Enjoy with sour cream (if you can have it) or with some applesauce. It's great on it's own too.

*This is the traditional way that my Grandmother makes it, but to make it a bit healthier I'd use turkey bacon and replace the bacon fat with olive oil.