EnjoyYourCooking.com

Ramps Spring Salad with Eggs and Cucumbers

Julia Volhina — Sat, 18 May 2013 12:00:33 +0000

Ramps Spring Salad with Eggs and Cucumbers

This salad filled with vitamins. But it is highly seasonal, unless you have fresh ramps at your disposal anytime of a year.

I saw them by in Whole Foods other day, and couldn't pass by, had to take an opportunity to make this salad.

Ramps have intense garlicky taste, if you want to make it less so, add a bit more sour cream to the dressing.

Beef Gyros with Vegetables and Spices

Julia Volhina — Sat, 11 May 2013 12:00:35 +0000

Beef Gyros with Vegetables and Spices Recipe

Beef sirloin steak meat marinated in gyros spices and vegetables turns out tender (if meat is of good quality) and somewhat spicy.

Meat needs to marinate for couple of hours, overnight is good, but it can go longer. I usually prepare meat and sear portion of it right before serving, and I store remaining marinated meat in fridge until I need it next time.

Accompanying beef gyros with Tzatziki sauce is a good choice, spices in meat and sauce blend in well.

Rhubarb Kompot

Julia Volhina — Sat, 04 May 2013 12:00:56 +0000

Rhubarb Kompot Recipe

This is another drink from my childhood. I must say I didn’t like it back when my grandma cooked it. But it changed since then.

I saw rhubarb stalks in store and it reminded me of her, so I decided to share this recipe with you.

If the taste of kompot is a bit too sour for your liking, add a bit more sugar.

Potatoes Fried with Garlic and Caraway Seeds

Julia Volhina — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 12:00:03 +0000

Potatoes Fried with Garlic and Caraway Seeds Recipe

An easy yet tasteful side dish to make. It goes well with meat or poultry or a vegetable main dish.

Caraway seeds in combination with garlic give this dish some fragrance and interesting taste.

A hint: you can boil potatoes well in advance and fry them right before serving to get side dish ready when main course is.

Veal Rolls with Feta Cheese, Garlic and Olives

Julia Volhina — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 12:00:51 +0000

Veal Rolls with Feta Cheese, Garlic and Olives Recipe:

This recipe is not so budgety, prices for veal in US are somewhat high, but I like veal meat: it is lean and tender.

To reduce cost a bit, another part of veal can be substituted for scallopini here, pieces should be sliced thin, beef will do too but may need to be cooked longer to be tender.

Use any kind of white wine you like, it can be also served later with the course.

Turkey Meatloaf

Julia Volhina — Sat, 13 Apr 2013 12:00:33 +0000

Turkey Meatloaf Recipe

This is another experiment with turkey meat, which I am not very familiar with. And I must say I like how it turned out.

I used ground turkey breast meat, but thighs would do good as well, or a combination of these.

This recipe is good choice for lunch or dinner, leftovers can be stored in fridge and warmed up before serving.

Seared Summer Squash

Julia Volhina — Sat, 06 Apr 2013 12:00:16 +0000

Seared Summer Squash Recipe

Easy and quick to make dish for summer squashes or zucchini. I actually used both to make this dish looking more festive.

I believe it is also light, especially if amount of oil used is reduced to minimum, squashes are actually being cooked in their own juices.

Seared squashes can be served as a dish on its own or as a side dish for a meat main course.

Blue Cheese Dip

Julia Volhina — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 12:00:18 +0000

Blue Cheese Dip Recipe

This dip is one of my US discoveries, along with celery stalks which I never tried before I came here.

These two I can eat together endlessly, as an appetizer, a side or just a snack. It just made a lot of sense to learn to mix the dip from scratch myself.

Blue cheese dip goes great with fresh vegetables (e.g. celery, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower), spicy chicken wings or as a fresh salad dressing (I would suggest to put a bit more kefir to the mix in this case).

Spring Radish Salad

Julia Volhina — Sat, 23 Mar 2013 12:00:16 +0000

Spring Radish Salad Recipe

Another spring-envy salad, probably not as light as one would want, mostly because of mayo. But in this one I wouldn’t suggest to replacing mayo with sour cream or yoghurt.

It doesn’t take much time to prepare, about 15 mins of mostly chopping. Boil eggs in advance, let them cool down till room temperature before adding to the salad.

Prepare this salad right before serving for best taste.

Cottage Cheese Pancakes

Julia Volhina — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 12:00:02 +0000

Cottage Cheese Pancakes Recipe

This is my attempt to adjust russian fresh pancake recipe to use domestic ingredients. Main ingredient - russian fresh white cheese - has much thicker consistency than cottage cheese which you can usually buy in the store.

By the advice of one of this blog readers, I tried cottage cheese produced by Friendship brand and the result turned out pretty good. Main challenge was to find a proper amount of flour, with about half of cup pancakes turned out very tender, but not too hard to handle.

If pancakes break when you try to flip them, make them smaller, these will be easier to handle. Enjoy for breakfast of brunch!

Potato and Mushroom Stuffed Dumplings

Julia Volhina — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 13:00:54 +0000

Potato and Mushroom Stuffed Dumplings Recipe

I am maybe getting old: firstly I was putting off this recipe for far too long, secondly after I finished up with assembling these dumplings, I could feel my back.

Nevertheless here is recipe: ukrainian handmade dumplings stuffed with potato and mushroom mix.

You can boil them as soon as they are assembled, or you can freeze them up and boil right before serving. No thawing in necessary.

Already boiled dumplings can be warmed up on a skillet with a bit of butter.

Lettuce, Tomato and Cucumber Salad

Julia Volhina — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 13:00:24 +0000

Lettuce, Tomato and Cucumber Salad Recipe

In anticipation of the spring in early March, here goes fresh tomato, cucumber and lettuce salad recipe.

These fresh vegetables taste so good in the Spring.

Prepare the salad soon before serving, cut fresh vegetables don't like to wait.

If you want to make dressing lighter, use light mayo and low-fat yogurt instead of sour cream.

Chicken and Celery Salad Sandwich

Julia Volhina — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 13:00:11 +0000

Chicken and Celery Salad Sandwich Recipe

This is a base chicken and celery salad recipe for sandwich to be served for breakfast or lunch.

The salad can be prepared in advance and used when needed, just store leftovers in fridge.

You can also use grilled chicken leftovers for this recipe or cook chicken breasts from scratch.

Fried Chicken Liver with Onions

Julia Volhina — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 13:00:15 +0000

Fried Chicken Liver with Onions Recipe

Dusting chicken liver with flour and frying it with onions is perhaps easiest way to cook it.

Step of soaking live in milk can be skipped; it is optional, but it helps to reduce bitter taste liver may have.

The best side dish for this one, to my opinion, is plain boiled potato or potato puree.

Mussels Steamed with Shallots in Wine and Butter Sauce

Julia Volhina — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 13:00:10 +0000

Mussels Steamed with Shallots in Wine and Butter Sauce Recipe

This is a recipe for tender mussels steamed with shallots, garlic and fresh greens in dry white wine and butter sauce. It will work great for a romantic dinner.

Use good white wine you would drink yourself for this recipe to achieve best results. And serve remaining of the wine along with mussels later.

Steamed mussels go great with toast garlic bread or a baguette with garlic.

Brussel Sprouts with Mushrooms and Onions

Julia Volhina — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 13:00:21 +0000

Brussel Sprouts with Mushrooms and Onions Recipe

Brussels sprouts cooked in mushroom and onion sauce can be served as a dish on its own, or as a side dish for a meat main course.

You can use fresh or frozen brussels sprouts for this recipe, frozen ones don’t require thawing, but may need a bit less time for cooking.

Vary amount of water (or broth) and flour while cooking to reach desired thickness of the sauce (more flour and less water will make it for thicker sauce).

Lemon Garlic Butter Sauce for Seafood

Julia Volhina — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 13:00:30 +0000

Lemon Garlic Butter Sauce for Seafood Recipe

Nice and quick recipe for simple sauce to serve with seafood: crab legs, mussels, clams, lobsters, etc.

You can use use fresh garlic or garlic powder, as well as fresh lemon or lemon juice, whatever is at your disposal.

When served, make sure it can be kept warm enough to prevent butter from thickening.

Boiled Snow Crab Legs with Old Bay Seasoning

Julia Volhina — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 13:00:17 +0000

Boiled Snow Crab Legs with Old Bay Seasoning Recipe

If you saw frozen snow crab legs in store and wanted to try them, but wasn’t sure how to cook them - this recipe is for you.

It is easy and fast idea for lunch or dinner, assuming the crab legs are sold pre-cooked (have somewhat orange-red color) and only need to be warmed up and seasoned with some spaces to taste.

You can cook raw crab legs like this also, it may require a bit more time for cooking.

Turkey Breast Roast with Garlic, Paprika and Black Pepper

Julia Volhina — Sat, 12 Jan 2013 13:00:51 +0000

Turkey Breast Roast with Garlic, Paprika and Black Pepper Recipe

I think this is last recipe using turkey meat for me for a while. I got a little carried away with it around Thanksgiving.

It is quite easy, but takes about 4.5 hours of time: first to soak turkey breast in salted water, and then to cook it in cooling down oven. So make sure you leave yourself enough of time.

This turkey breast roast tastes perfect served warm with a side dish or cooled down in salad or on sandwich.

Baby Back Ribs with Soy Sauce, Ginger and Leeks

Julia Volhina — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 13:00:55 +0000

Baby Back Ribs with Soy Sauce, Ginger and Leeks Recipe

In this recipe baby back ribs are first boiled, then fried and then stewed with sauce prepared with leeks, ginger, soy sauce, wine and balsamic vinegar.

It is good way to cook ribs if you don’t have or don’t want to use grill.

Serve ribs warm with side dish of potatoes, pour sauce over ribs.

Turkey Pie with Grated Potatoes

Julia Volhina — Sat, 29 Dec 2012 13:00:05 +0000

Turkey Pie with Grated Potato

It took me a bit of time to master this recipe: somehow I was either getting too much potatoes (honestly I have to get myself a cooking scale for Christmass) or potatoes I used were too juicy, so it was hard to get meat stuffing in the middle of the pie without sinking it into the batter.

Apparently this issue was easy to fix with draining redundant potato and onion juices using colander (ofc getting the right amount of potatoes helped a bit too).

Using of springform pan is convenient for this recipe however, if you don’t have one, any other baking pan of similar size will work fine.

Sour Cherry Dessert with Whipped Cream

Julia Volhina — Sat, 22 Dec 2012 13:00:33 +0000

Sour Cherry Dessert with Whipped Cream

This is easy to make and tasty sour cherry dessert recipe. However I must warn you: because of alcohol content it isn’t suitable for children.

Either pitted sour cherry will work for this recipe whatever they are fresh, frozen or canned; of course, fresh ones will taste the best, but they are hard to come by, so I used canned ones from the local European store.

You can beat cream yourself or use some N2O charged cream whipper: just add cooled cream, confectioner's sugar and liqueur to whipper and mix before pulling in the charger.

Roast Turkey Breast with Onions and Herbs

Julia Volhina — Sat, 15 Dec 2012 13:00:29 +0000

Roast Turkey Breast with Onions and Herbs

Roast turkey can be served warm with a side dish as a main course, in salad or on sandwich if cooled down.

I used Herbs of Provence mix for this recipe, it includes thyme, marjoram and rosemary. You can use the same or just mix the same herbs to your taste.

Adjust cooking time for breast piece smaller or bigger than mentioned in the recipe.

Juices produced while cooking can be used to prepare sauce for the meat. You can either pour them over the meat or cook them together with flour to thicken them and then chop with hand blender.

Pork Roast with Apples and Mustard

Julia Volhina — Sat, 08 Dec 2012 13:00:05 +0000

Pork Roast with Apples and Mustard

This is one amazingly easy to do pork roast with apples and mustard: one and half hour from beginning to end.

Just pork loin, apples and mustard; hard sour apples will work the best for this recipe.

Serve the roast with potato side dish, boiled or baked, mashed potatoes work good too.

Brussels Sprouts in Tomato and Soy Sauce

Julia Volhina — Sat, 01 Dec 2012 13:00:09 +0000

Brussels Sprouts in Tomato and Soy Sauce

I got probably my last catch of brussels sprouts for this year and had to throw away some of it, that is why I only had three quarter of a pound left. If you manage to get whole pound, just increase ingredients proportionally.

In this recipe tomato can be replaced with tomato paste with water, but I like fresh tomatoes more than canned substitutes.

A note: recipe doesn’t call for salt for a reason: the soy sauce is salty enough.

Whole Roast Turkey with Couscous Stuffing

Julia Volhina — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 13:00:20 +0000

Whole Roast Turkey with Couscous Stuffing

I am publishing this recipe earlier than usual schedule, just in case some of you find it interesting enough to cook for your Thanksgiving dinner.

It was my first attempt to prepare a whole roast turkey. And I must say it was a good one: turkey turned out very juicy, by the way I used cranberry sauce from last week post for this recipe.

If you are using turkey bigger than 11lbs, you may need to adjust cooking time and maybe use meat thermometer (which I never can figure out how to use myself) to make sure meat is properly cooked through.

Cranberry Sauce for Meat

Julia Volhina — Sat, 17 Nov 2012 13:00:06 +0000

Cranberry Sauce for Meat

Cranberry sauce seem to be one of traditional dishes served on Thanksgiving dinner.

Since I didn’t have many of these (being in US for about 4 years now and not having family here) I had to do a bit of research to find a recipe.

I apologize in advance if the recipe doesn’t look too traditional. Please, feel free to share yours in comments, I promise to try them out!

Jellied Meat (Kholodets)

Julia Volhina — Sat, 10 Nov 2012 13:00:12 +0000

Jellied Meat (Kholodets)

Another traditional dish of various east and west european cuisines (russian, ukrainian, polish, and many others): jellied meat, also knows as kholodets, studen, dragli, aspic, and many other names.

Main ingredient to successful preparation of jellied meat is using meat with cartilages (hocks, years, tails, etc), without these broth will not jelly (pig or chicken skin helps too).

If broth doesn’t jelly (too less cartilages used) you can dissolve a bit of gelatine in the broth before pouring it to the dish. I don't like using gelatine, but it can be a fail-safe mechanism if you want to make the dish is ready in time for an important event.

Horseradish and Beets Relish

Julia Volhina — Sat, 03 Nov 2012 12:00:10 +0000

Horseradish and Beets Relish Recipe

Yuriy calls this relish, made of horseradish and beets, Ukrainian wasabi: it is sharp and flavorful and goes great with meat dishes, sausages, jellied meat.

In Ukraine it is often served on Christmas and New Year.

Fresh horseradish can be tricky to handle - vapors may irritate nose and eyes, especially when chopped. That is why using blender or food processor is the best choice here.

Duck Stew with Prunes

Julia Volhina — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 12:00:28 +0000

Duck Stew with Prunes

As I mentioned before, I love duck meat dishes. And, as it looks to me, not many people cook ducks in this part of the globe.

So here is my contribution to promote that kind of meat: a recipe for duck stew with prunes. The recipe calls for whole young duckling, but duck breasts or/and legs can be used instead.

Cast-iron cooking pot is the best for this kind of stew if you have one.

Green Beans and Eggs Salad

Julia Volhina — Sat, 20 Oct 2012 12:00:37 +0000

Green Beans and Eggs Salad

Another recipe for green beans and eggs, now in a form of egg salad with garlic and mayo.

As all foods prepared from green beans I know, it doesn’t require much time to do: about 20 mins from beginning to end or even less if you use cooked eggs and thin french green beans.

Adjust amount of garlic and mayo to your taste.

Salmon and Potato Chowder with Cream

Julia Volhina — Sat, 13 Oct 2012 12:00:02 +0000

Salmon and Potato Chowder with Cream

There is no better food for crispy fall weather than a cup of thick freshly cooked hot chowder.

This chowder is prepared using salmon and potato as main ingredients and cream and potato starch for thickening. Lemon is optional and can be omitted.

You can regulate thickness to your taste by adding more or less of the starch.

Chicken Meat Roasted with Pineapple and Bananas

Julia Volhina — Sat, 06 Oct 2012 12:00:00 +0000

Chicken Meat Roasted with Pineapple and Bananas Recipe

This easy yet very tasty chicken meat roast is perfect choice for romantic or family dinner.

If you buy pre-packaged boneless skinless chicken thighs (like me) all you need to do is to arrange them in baking pan, cover with layers of pineapple chunks, bananas slices, mayo and cheese, then stick pan to the oven.

Serve hot with mashed potatoes or rice.

Pasta with Chicken and Mushroom Sauce

Julia Volhina — Sat, 29 Sep 2012 12:00:41 +0000

Pasta with Chicken and Mushroom Sauce

Creamy chicken and mushroom sauce with feta cheese and parsley will work for any kind of pasta.

Don’t forget that different kinds of pasta require different time for cooking: check instructions on pasta package and adjust steps accordingly so both sauce and pasta are ready approximately in the same time.

By the way, white champignons can substitute for brown cremini mushrooms in this recipe.

Yeast Pancakes (Russian Oladi)

Julia Volhina — Sat, 22 Sep 2012 12:00:34 +0000

Yeast Pancakes (Russian Oladi)

Using yeast in batter is pretty common in Russian cuisine. They not only make batter fluffy but gives it a distinctive taste.

Yeast are very picky about temperature: if it is too cold yeast will not start fermenting and if it is too hot yeast will die. Temperature of mixture should be warm and stable.

That is why I usually set my plastic mixing bowl in a cooking pot filled with hot water and I make sure bowl doesn’t touch water so it isn’t too hot to ensure comfortable conditions for yeast to ferment.

Consistency of the oladi batter should be a bit more stiff than kefir. If you fry pancakes and they don’t rise upon frying that may mean the batter is too liquid, to fix it mix in a bit more flour and let batter rise for 10-15 mins before trying again.

Roasted Spaghetti Squash with Tomato Basil Sauce

Julia Volhina — Sat, 15 Sep 2012 12:00:57 +0000

Roasted Spaghetti Squash with Tomato Basil Sauce

Cooking spaghetti squash was yet another food-related discovery for me since we arrived to US.

What makes it interesting is spaghetti-like strands of pulp which can be scooped out with a fork after squash is cooked.

That gives so much room for creativity :) . My first attempt was an easy choice: roast spaghetti squash and mix its pulp with simple tomato and basil sauce.

I hope you will like it.

Minced Fish Cutlets with Rice

Julia Volhina — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 12:00:07 +0000

Minced Fish Cutlets with Rice Recipe

Tender fish cutlets can be prepared of many kinds of fish to your choice (I used tilapia fillets for example).

If fish you are planning on using has bones, they will need to removed before mincing, skin can be kept intact (presuming scales and fins removed as well).

Fish cutlets can be served warm or cooled down, boiled whole potatoes or mash potatoes are good side dish for these, a dash of mayo is a nice addition.

Steaks Marinated in Onion Juice

Julia Volhina — Sat, 01 Sep 2012 12:00:07 +0000

Steaks Marinated in Onion Juice

A simple recipe to marinate steaks for a cookout: onion juice tenderizes meat without draining its own juices and no need to clean onions themselves as if you would need to do when marinating meat with chopped onions.

I used only salt and ground black pepper as seasonings this time, but other spices can be used to your taste: bay leaf, allspice, paprika, whole peppercorns, whatever you like.

Any meat cut will work here, more lean meats may require more time for marinating.

Parmesan Chicken with Tomato Basil Sauce

Julia Volhina — Sat, 25 Aug 2012 12:00:37 +0000

Parmesan Chicken with Tomato Basil Sauce

Chicken fried in breadcrumbs and parmesan breading, baked with tomato basil sauce is a perfect dish for the romantic dinner with mediterranean hints in taste.

You can use canned tomatoes instead of fresh to save some time and possible money, but I believe sauce prepared with fresh tomatoes tastes a way better.

Breadcrumbs are also easy to make at home by drying and then crumbling in blender couple of slices of italian bread.

Cauliflower and Chicken Soup

Julia Volhina — Sat, 18 Aug 2012 12:00:58 +0000

Cauliflower and Chicken Soup

Unusual soup (at least for me): cauliflower florets and with tender chicken boiled in chicken broth and milk thickened with semolina flour.

It requires much less work to prepare that usual soup do: boil chicken and cauliflower and wait until they all become soft to taste. Not much peeling, blanching, slicing, dicing, etc.

You can adjust thickness of the soup by varying amount of water, milk and semolina flour. Add mozzarella directly to a serving bowl if you like taste of melted cheese, or skip it all together if you want to make soup skinnier.

Fresh Broccoli Salad with Raisins and Sunflower Seeds

Julia Volhina — Sat, 11 Aug 2012 12:00:43 +0000

Fresh Broccoli Salad with Raisins and Sunflower Seeds

Broccoli is one of vegetables I never tried before we came to US. Amongst other foods prepared of broccoli, fresh broccoli salads are pretty popular here.

And I think variation with fresh broccoli, onions, raisins, sunflower seeds and bacon crumbles is the most popular one.

If you wish to make salad lighter skip the bacon (obvious decision) and use lighter mayo.

Homemade Mayo with Egg Yolks and Mustard

Julia Volhina — Sat, 04 Aug 2012 12:00:36 +0000

Homemade Mayo with Egg Yolks and Mustard

I am surprised how hard it is to find decent quality mayonnaise here, in States. For a while we were getting away with mayo from the local European store. But for some reason they recently ran out of the brand I liked and stopped carrying it.

So I was left out to make my mayo myself. After all it is also better to know what the mayo you eat is made of, that is: egg yolks, mustard, oil, vinegar, salt and sugar to taste, that is it.

Whatever tools you use for mixing, mayo make sure that mixing part can reach all sides and bottom of the mixing bowl, it is important that the oil is mixed in completely and it should not sit on the sides.

I used hand blender with wire mixing attachment which only has fast speed, so I had to pulse it so it doesn’t overheat (keeping handle vertical helped prevent spilling). I also had to make sure to keep cap from rotating, I would prefer to have 3 hands to make it more elegant: one to hold cap, one to hold blender and one to gradually pour oil in.

Curry Chicken with Prunes and Dried Apricots

Julia Volhina — Sat, 28 Jul 2012 12:00:13 +0000

Curry Chicken with Prunes and Dried Apricots

I wasn’t a big fan of curry, until I actually tried it.

Some time ago we discovered a small family owned buffet which serves pakistani food that with no surprise comes with a lot of curry. And I like it a lot, in fact we are lunching there at least once a week.

So I wanted to try to cook with curry myself, and this is a dish I attempted first: creamy chicken with prunes and dried apricots and, of course, curry.

And it turned out great.

Chicken and Feta Stuffed Mushroom Caps

Julia Volhina — Sat, 21 Jul 2012 12:00:05 +0000

Chicken and Feta Stuffed Mushroom Caps

I saw these gorgeous fresh mushrooms in the store, and it seemed they were asking to be stuffed - clean, big and even sized.

I decided to stuff them with creamy chicken and feta cheese mix dressed with sour cream and a bit of fresh parsley. If this sounds like a good idea to you, try this recipe.

And by the way, it can be served as an appetizer (especially if you use bite size mushroom caps), snack or even main course.

Tuna Salad Sandwich

Julia Volhina — Sat, 14 Jul 2012 12:00:05 +0000

Tuna Salad Sandwiches

Tuna salad sandwich is a great choice of food for a lunch or to take with you when you are on the go.

This tuna salad with eggs, bell pepper and a bit of onions is easy to do, and can be stored in a fridge for couple of days if needed.

I use tuna chunks in water, but tuna in oil will work as well, if you like it more - use it.

Listed amount ingredients is enough for 11-12 sandwiches.

White Wine Jelly with Bananas

Julia Volhina — Sat, 07 Jul 2012 12:00:52 +0000

White Wine Jelly with Bananas

Tipsy wine-based banana jelly isn’t the kind which comes to the mind first when talking about jelly desserts. It has unusual taste and as you can guess includes some alcohol, which makes it not suitable for children.

Any white wine will work for this recipe. Taste of the dessert will vary based on the taste of the used wine, adjust amount of sugar to your liking to get the best results.

Using silicone molds will give you more festive shaped jelly portions, however be aware that getting jelly out of the molds in one piece isn’t that easy (especially if the molds you use are such small ones like mine).

Russian Meat Dumplings (Pelmeni)

Julia Volhina — Sat, 30 Jun 2012 12:00:12 +0000

Russian Meat Dumplings (Pelmeni)

Pelmeni (russian meat dumplings) is one of the dishes which take a lot of time to make.

However once done, you can freeze them up for future use, which is perfect for times when you are short on time and need to get something fast to eat.

And just a hint, it goes faster if you are not assembling them alone.

You can use already ground meat, or grind meat yourself and if you choose to do so - grind onions together with meat.

Chicken Liver with Mushrooms and Sour Cream

Julia Volhina — Sat, 23 Jun 2012 12:00:52 +0000

Chicken Liver with Mushrooms and Sour Cream

This is tender dish made of chicken livers cooked under sour cream and nutmeg sauce with mushrooms and carrots.

I love chicken liver for its texture and easiness to cook. However if for some reason you don’t like it or don’t have it, this dish can be also cooked with beef liver, just slice it in smaller pieces.

Chicken liver with mushrooms and sour cream goes great accompanied with boiled potatoes or buckwheat as a side dish. Serve it for lunch or dinner.

Red Wine Sangria with Peaches, Oranges and Lemons

Julia Volhina — Sat, 16 Jun 2012 12:00:00 +0000

Red Wine Sangria with Peaches, Oranges and Lemons

I think there are many recipes for sangria which use various ingredients, but they all are similar in one thing: usage of wine and fresh fruit.

Wine can be either white, or red, or rose; fruits can pretty much anything you have available. Some of sangrias include a bit of rum or brandy.

This recipe calls for red wine, oranges, lemons and fresh peaches. I also add cinnamon and cloves to my taste, but these are optional. And I don't use harder liquor than dry wine.

Any type of dry red wine will work, just pick something not very expensive. If wine is too sour - add more sugar or honey or both.

Russian Vinaigrette Salad (Salad Vinegret)

Julia Volhina — Sat, 09 Jun 2012 12:00:59 +0000

Russian Vinaigrette Salad (Salad Vinegret)

Vinaigrette salad (or salad “vinegret” how it is called in russian) is traditional salad of russian cuisine.

It is made of boiled vegetables (beets, potatoes and carrots), onions, sauerkraut and cucumbers pickled in salt.

Some recipes call for peas instead of boiled beans, some others skip beans all together. But to me real vinegret is the one with beans.

Traditionally this salad is dressed with sunflower oil, but it can be substituted with other oil to your taste.

Cabbage Braised with Bratwurst

Julia Volhina — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 12:00:42 +0000

Cabbage Braised with Bratwurst

I had some bratwurst left from last cookout and instead of sticking it to the freezer, I decided to cook this bachelor food: braised cabbage with brats and tomato paste.

There is not much hassle with meat, cabbage is hard to mess up, just fry all ingredients together and salt to taste.

You can replace brats with any kind of sausage to your taste, even sliced bologna will work.

Diluted tomato paste can be replaced with fresh tomatoes, peeled and pureed, but that is an exercise for an experienced bachelor...

Chicken Stuffed Leeks

Julia Volhina — Sat, 26 May 2012 12:00:00 +0000

Chicken Stuffed Leeks

When I saw recipe for stuffed leeks first time I decided for myself that I get to try cook something like this for sure: it looks unusual, have a lot of vegetables and doesn't look hard to cook.

I decided to stuff them with chicken mince and rice and accompany it with tomato and bell pepper mix.

I did 2 layers pipes, but if you want to use less leeks you can separate leeks into 1 layer.

Veal with Mushrooms and Carrots

Julia Volhina — Sat, 19 May 2012 12:00:34 +0000

Veal with Mushrooms and Carrots Recipe

This is a recipe for tender veal stewed with mushrooms, carrots and pickled cucumbers in dry red wine and tomato sauce.

If you are searching for some main dish for special occasion or romantic dinner check it out.

In my opinion mashed potatoes are the best side dish for this main dish, if you are looking for one.

Kefir Crepes

Julia Volhina — Sat, 12 May 2012 12:00:05 +0000

Kefir Crepes Recipe

Kefir based crepes have more tender than milk based ones, but they are also harder to do.

Amount of flour to use will depend on thickness of the kefir you have (an that will vary based on brand), somewhere between 2 cups and 2 and half that is what I usually use. If you have choice - use more runny kefir.

There are couple of things you can do if crepes tear when you try to flip them: one of them is to add more flour - but that will not work good if kefir you are using is too thick, then you can put more eggs, and the last resort it to use smaller skillet - then flipping will be easier.

Chicken Roast with Pineapples, Bananas and White Wine Sauce

Julia Volhina — Sat, 05 May 2012 10:40:02 +0000

Chicken Roast with Pineapples, Bananas and White Wine Sauce

Hens cooked by this recipe turn out juicy, seriously juicy. If you don’t have cornish hens - you can cook pieces of chicken like this with similar result.

About 3 hours of marinating is enough, but if you want it can be done overnight, just make sure that chicken is fully covered with marinade.

Leftovers can be stored and warmed up in the same pot with sauce, the meat will not lose its juiciness.

Zucchini Pancakes with Sheep Cheese

Julia Volhina — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 12:00:06 +0000

Zucchini Pancakes with Sheep Cheese

These are zucchini based vegetable pancakes with a bit of fresh sheep cheese, which can be optional if you don’t like sheep cheese, but to my opinion it benefits a lot to the taste.

You can use zucchini or other kind of summer squash; remove seeds they already formed before cooking.

Vegetable pancakes are good choice for breakfast, brunch or lunch. Serve them warm with sour cream or sour cream and garlic dip how I did.

Sour Cream and Garlic Dip

Julia Volhina — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 12:00:18 +0000

Sour Cream and Garlic Dip

If you are bored with plain sour cream for dipping, try this improvement: add garlic, fresh greens and a dash of ground black pepper and you will get the same creamy but a bit spicy dip.

It goes great for any kind of savory vegetable pancakes (potato, zucchini, cauliflower), meat or vegetable dumplings, or even like a salad dressing for fresh vegetables - tomatoes, cucumbers, radishes, etc.

Prepare dip can be stored in fridge for 2-3 days, just stir it from time to time.

Fried Battered Salmon

Julia Volhina — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 12:00:27 +0000

Fried Battered Salmon

Salmon fried this way turns out juicy. All you need is salmon, eggs and flour to make batter. Amount of flour may vary - just add flour until batter gets desired thickness.

Fried battered salmon if good choice for lunch or dinner; tastes good with potato as a side dish: fried or boiled.

Serve fried salmon as soon as it is cooked - it tastes better straight from the frying pan.

Chicken Soup-Puree with Eggs

Julia Volhina — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 12:00:48 +0000

Chicken Soup-Puree with Eggs

If you have hand blender this is a soup recipe to try for you: pureed chicken in vegetable broth thickened with flour and beaten eggs.

Hand blender works great to mince chicken meat as well as to break any knots in flour feeling (if needed).

Stand blender or meat mincer will work as well, just mince meat with a bit of broth before adding it to the pot.

Cabbage and Carrots Salad with Oil

Julia Volhina — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 12:00:21 +0000

Cabbage and Carrots Salad

As you probably guessed already, this simple salad consists of two main ingredients: cabbage and carrots, dressed with oil (I take sunflower oil for this one), ground black pepper and celery seeds (both of which are optional), and salt.

It takes about 15 mins to prepare this salad. It can be served as a side dish or an appetizer. It also works good for a snack when you need to make something tasty fast.

Leftovers can be stored in fridge for a few days, salad doesn’t lose taste with time.

Chicken Stew with Cauliflower and Tomatoes

Julia Volhina — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 12:00:54 +0000

Chicken Stew with Cauliflower and Tomatoes

This is another recipe from “Modern homemade cuisine” book which I mastered. This dish goes great for dinner and leftovers can be warmed up for lunch.

Chicken is served with cauliflower so there is no need to cook separate side dish unless you want to.

Important note: when cooking chicken with sauce make sure it simmers slow, because sauce has flour and it will burn on high heat.

Eclairs with Vanilla Custard

Julia Volhina — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 12:00:22 +0000

Eclairs with Vanilla Custard

While preparing for this post I got some difficulties translating name as well as figuring origin of the recipe.

I guess the general decision was that the recipe is french, however I never ate eclairs prepared by french cook, so I can't prove that this is exactly the same recipe.

This is recipe as eclairs are cooked in Russia, russian name of that pastry is “zavarnye pirozhennye” and it relates to the way the dough is cooked by boiling.

The common name in english speaking worlds seems to be eclairs, however this only related to long shaped pastry. Round ones are often called cream puffs, even though they are only different in shape.

I do fill these with vanilla custard, but other fillings can be used as well: whipped cream (these would need to be served as soon as made or cream needs to be stabilized), butter and condensed milk filling, and so on.

Vanilla Custard

Julia Volhina — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 13:00:31 +0000

Vanilla Custard

I use vanilla custard to fill eclairs and cream puffs. It is easy to do (just don’t forget to stir) and tastes delicious!

This custard can also be spread thin dry layers of multi-layer cakes such as “Napoleon”.

Vanilla custard calls for egg yolks, so you can find these recipes which call for egg whites somewhat useful.

Veal Roast with Pureed Vegetable Sauce

Julia Volhina — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 13:00:21 +0000

Veal Roast with Pureed Vegetable Sauce

If you are looking for a dinner roast recipe, this one is for you: juicy homemade veal roast with pureed sauce prepared from carrots, onions and tomatoes stewed in dry red wine and meat juices.

Pureeing vegetables makes sauce more homogeneous (and looking and tasting more like a sauce), however you can also pour cooked meat with cooked vegetable mix without pureeing it, that may save you some time if needed.

Meat roasted this way tastes great served straight from the oven as well as cooled down.

Omelette Stuffed with Mushrooms and Onions

Julia Volhina — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 13:00:42 +0000

Omelette Stuffed with Mushrooms and Onions Recipe

This is a nice breakfast or lunch recipe for two: tender omelette stuffed with mushrooms and onions braised with a spoon of sour cream and seasoned with shredded cheese.

Amount of ingredients listed here is yields exactly 2 omelettes, if you want to cook more - just increase amounts of ingredients accordingly.

And if you fry omelettes one after another, use warm plates to make sure first one is still warm when the last one is cooked.

Ground Beef and Potato Casserole

Julia Volhina — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 13:00:16 +0000

Ground Beef and Potato Casserole Recipe

Taste of this dish reminds me of lasagna, with the difference of that it doesn’t include neither noodles nor cheese. It also requires much less time to cook than classic lasagna.

Meat sauce prepared of ground beef or veal (or mix of these) with onions, tomatoes and fresh parsley is juicy and very tasty. Bechamel souffle gives it nice hint in both taste and presentation.

Did I mention that this recipe is great for some special occasion?..

Mussels Steamed with Vegetables in White Wine

Julia Volhina — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 13:00:12 +0000

Mussels Steamed with Vegetables in White Wine Recipe

This not complicated recipe is my first attempt to cook mussels. They turned out juicy and light. Thanks to Hans-Peter and his cooking lessons :)

Vegetables cooked this way, with wine and mussels juices, taste great as well as mussels themselves, serve them all together!

By the way, 1lb-1.5lb of mussels per serving sounds about right, this way amount of ingredients listed in this recipe is enough to feed 2-3 people.

Chicken Lasagna with Spinach and Fresh Cheese

Julia Volhina — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 13:00:45 +0000

Chicken Lasagna with Spinach and Fresh Cheese Recipe

Don’t get scared by amount of ingredients: it isn’t that complicated to cook chicken lasagna with spinach and fresh cheese at home, especially if you have noodles which doesn’t require boiling.

Of course it will take some time too cook stuffing as well white sauce, but at the end you will get whole baking pan of tasty creamy lasagna.

I used fresh spinach, but frozen will work good too, just thaw it before cooking and drain liquid before mixing with cooked chicken. Tvorog (fresh cow cheese) can be replaced with ricotta of the same weight as well.

Serve lasagna 10-15 mins after you take it from the oven; leftovers can be stored in fridge and re-heated in microwave.

Layered Liver Cake

Julia Volhina — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 13:00:23 +0000

Layered Liver Cake

Layered liver cake, dish of traditional Ukrainian cuisine, is often served as appetizer on various celebrations, in fact I tried it first time on a wedding.

For this recipe I used chicken liver, but beef liver will work good as well.

Carrots and onions stuffing can be skipped all together - it will decrease cooking time and reduce amount of mayo to be used (since layers will not need that much mayo to stick together). However carrots go great with liver.

How many layers you get from this amount of ingredients depends on the size of the frying pan you use. I think 11” frying pan is the best - not too big not too small. The ideal amount of layers for this recipe is about 12; if you get more split them in half and assemble 2 cakes.

Oven-Roasted Herbed Redskin Potatoes

Julia Volhina — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 13:00:11 +0000

Oven-Roasted Herbed Redskin Potatoes

I think any kind of potatoes can be cooked this way, however red skin ones are the best here. You can take big potatoes and slice them in smaller wedges or smaller ones and cook them whole or sliced in halves.

Vary amount of herbs as well as herbs themselves to your taste, in additional to rosemary, thyme, oregano you can use parsley, dill, black pepper, etc; I would just advise to keep rosemary in - it goes great with potatoes.

Over-roasted herbed redskin potatoes can be a no-meat dish on itself or you can accompany a meat entry with it as a side dish.

Celery Root Salad with Apples and Eggs

Julia Volhina — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 13:00:24 +0000

Celery Root Salad with Apples and Eggs

Knowing me you can probably guess that this tender slaw-like salad made of grated fresh celery root, apples and chopped egg is dressed with mayo.

By the way, celery root here is hardly recognizable: it has nutty taste and (if you are not used to it) tastes nothing like celery stalks, maybe because of apples.

I would define this taste as unusual; if you stumble upon fresh celery root in a store - give it a try, after all celery is known as low-calorie source of dietary fiber.

“Firewood on Snow” Cake

Julia Volhina — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 13:00:23 +0000

“Firewood on Snow” Cake

This cake looked unusual even for me when I saw it first time: doesn't it resemble a bunch of firewood covered with a snow to you?

This recipe is Yuriy’s mom speciality dessert and it often appears on the table during family celebrations. Yuriy's mom preserves pitted sour cherries in their own juices under sugar each season, so there are always plenty of them ready for use.

If you don’t have sour cherries preserved in such way - you can always go with pitted cherry kompot like I did, but in this case add a bit of sugar to the dough, or cake will not be sweet enough.

I would want to tell you that this cake is easy and fast to do, but I can’t. It took me quite some time to make dough, prepare “firewood” sticks and then assemble the cake; but that is probably because I cooked it first time in my life.

After cake is assembled allow some time for layers to soak in sour cream frosting to get soft: leave it in cool place (but not fridge) at least over night (depending on how liquid sour cream is it may take longer). It is good idea to prepare cake at least a day before you are planning to serve it.

Vegetable Soup-Puree with Mushrooms

Julia Volhina — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 13:00:35 +0000

Vegetable Soup-Puree with Mushrooms

If you are looking for easy to cook recipe for soft pureed soup with vegetables, mushrooms and cream this is it.

Boil vegetables, add fried onions and mushrooms and blend it all together with heavy cream. By the way, using hand blender makes cooking of this soup much easier.

If you want soup-puree to be more liquid, keep water left from boiling vegetables and add it to the soup at the end to receive desired thickness.

Cabbage Rolls in Sour Cream Sauce

Julia Volhina — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 13:00:43 +0000

Cabbage Rolls in Sour Cream Sauce

Another variation for ukrainian cabbage rolls: meat staffed cabbage rolls with gentle sour cream and onion sauce.

Making these from scratch will take some time as any recipe for cabbage rolls even if you use ground beef and don’t need to prepare it yourself, you still need to separate cabbage, assemble rolls and then cook them.

But don’t let this to stop you - even though it is time consuming to cook cabbage rolls you will get enough rolls for later - just store left overs in fridge or freezer.

Semolina Porridge (Mannaya Kasha)

Julia Volhina — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 13:00:42 +0000

Semolina Porridge (Mannaya Kasha)

Mannaya Kasha is one of foods associated for russian people with their childhood. When I was little I was always told it is rich on nutrients and required for healthy kid growth - every kid knew that to grow strong and healthy they need to finish up their plate with semolina porridge.

Just as a note: while researching for proper translation for this recipe, I stumbled on information that semolina porridge isn’t recommended for kids younger than 3 years (which was new to me) as it contains high amount of gluten and also phytin. But because it also has a lot of proteins and high content of vitamins E and B1 it is very good for kids after 3 year old who have no gluten intolerance.

While cooking it is important to stir mannaya kasha all the time (I use whisk for this and it helps a lot), or you will get clots and no kid likes them in their mannaya kasha.

Veal Stew with Chanterelles and Peas

Julia Volhina — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 13:00:25 +0000

Veal Stew with Chanterelles and Peas

Chanterelles are mushrooms which I simply can’t pass in the shop, even though they are seasonal or maybe because of that.

It is my shame, but I don’t know any way to prepare them other than this stew with veal and peas, but it sure tastes great!

You can substitute beef for veal, just increase cooking time to ensure meat is soft enough. You can also substitute white dry wine for water, if you feel like this.

Kvass (Russian Fermented Rye Bread Drink)

Julia Volhina — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 13:00:14 +0000

Kvass (Russian Fermented Rye Bread Drink)

Kvass (kvas, quass) is probably a bit of unusual drink to this part of the globe.

Indeed, if you read ingredients list: dried rye bread, water, sugar and yeast - it probably will not strike you as something delicious. However this is one of soft drinks which is, according to Wikipedia, popular in Eastern Europe countries, especially Russia, since ancient times.

It is not hard to prepare kvass at home: you just need 2 big cooking pots, a funnel, cheese cloth, rye bread (which can be a bit of challenge to find) and about 3 days. Any type of rye bread will work.

I recently discovered good borodinsky bread in nearby european store, we liked it a lot and now buying pretty often. I dice the bread leftovers and heels and dry them for 10-15 mins in oven; that way I always have dried rye bread for the next patch of kvass ready to go when I need it (and I also don’t need to throw bread out).

Prepared kvass can be stored bottled in fridge; serve it as soft drink or use to prepare okroshka soup.

Stuffed Spaghetti Squash

Julia Volhina — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 13:00:57 +0000

Stuffed Spaghetti Squash Recipe

My mom usually cooked big zucchini like this: stiffing it with ground beef and rice mince.

However I wasn’t able to find an “adult” zucchini in any shop here in US to cook it. It seems that they don’t survive long enough to grow big here (maybe green piece should look into that, I don’t know).

Anyway, I believe spaghetti squash is a good substitute for this recipe: it serves the purpose by being squash and providing a cavity to cook stuffing, and it also brings nice unique texture to the dish with its “spaghettiness”.

The taste here is similar to cabbage rolls (as if they were made of squash :) ), however the amount of work you need to put into this one is considerably smaller.

Crab Sticks Salad with Pickled Mushrooms and Apple

Julia Volhina — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 13:00:58 +0000

Crab Sticks Salad with Pickled Mushrooms and Apple

I didn’t post salad recipes for a while now, so wanted to come up with something special this time.

I chose salad made of surimi crab sticks mixed with tender pickled mushrooms, grated apple, fresh dill and parsley and dressed with ground black pepper and a bit of mayo.

This mix may seem unusual (especially here in US), however it is very popular in post-USSR countries. You can find it under name “Salad Anshlag” in menus.

Some people use boiled mushrooms for this recipe, however I prefer mushrooms pickled following this recipe: they are very easy to do and are less plain than just boiled; but this is a matter of preference.

Homemade Pickled Mushrooms

Julia Volhina — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 13:00:03 +0000

Homemade Pickled Mushrooms

Taste of homemade pickled mushrooms can’t be beaten by any brand from the store. If you pickle mushrooms yourself you can control spiciness and acidity to make sure they taste exactly as you want them to.

Champignon mushrooms are most commonly available that is why I used them, but this marinate will work for wild mushrooms: boletuses, honey mushrooms and other edible mushrooms as well. However for wild mushrooms you will need to increase boiling time and maybe change water trough boiling at least once.

Mushrooms pickled this way can be stored in the fridge for long time, if you want to preserve them outside of the fridge - use sealing jars and follow the instructions for proper sealing; however I don’t see a reason to do so: champignons are commonly available in every store and you can pickle them as much as you want without actually sealing into jars.

Duck Meat Stewed with Apples

Julia Volhina — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 12:00:04 +0000

Duck Meat Stewed with Apples

Duck meat does go great with apples; usually stuffing a whole duck with apples and then roasting it in the oven is a way to go. But first - it can take quite some time, and then - it bears hassle of dealing with bones when serving and eating.

All of that is gone if boneless duck breasts are sliced and stewed with apples in a deep skillet like in this recipe. It also makes it easier to serve exact amount of meat for each portion.

Any apples will do good for this recipe, however sour ones are better.

Russian Fried Pies with Meat and Rice Stuffing

Julia Volhina — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 12:00:13 +0000

Russian Fried Pies with Meat and Rice Stuffing

Fried pies (piroshki/pyrizhky), resembling individual size fried buns of yeast dough with stuffing, are very popular in all countries of ex-USSR. There are many stuffing variations for these: fruity and sweet or savory.

This is recipe for piroshki with boiled meat and rice stuffing - meat left over after preparing broth or soup is usually used to prepare these. And later fried pies can be served together with that soup or broth.

Piroshki are good choice if you need to take food to-go: they don’t require refrigeration to keep them fresh (for 1-2 days).

How to Make Unsweetened Yeast Dough

Julia Volhina — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 12:00:54 +0000

How to Make Unsweetened Yeast Dough

Yeast dough is commonly used for baked pies and fried pies/dumplings (pirozhki/pyrizhky).

Slavic cuisine features pies with various sweet and savory stuffing, and they all are usually prepared with dough as simple as this one.

Dough for small pies doesn’t usually require time for rising, you can start assembling them as soon as dough is kneaded: when you are finished with last one - first is ready to to fry/bake.

For whole piece pies you may need to set dough aside for 20-30 mins before cooking to rise.

Crepes with Boiled Meat and Rice Stuffing

Julia Volhina — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 12:00:50 +0000

Crepes with Boiled Meat and Rice Stuffing

A cup of beef broth with a couple of meat and rice stuffed crepes will always remind me of my childhood: mom used to cook these all the time.

There is always boiled meat left over from cooking broth, and stuffing crepes with it is easy way to prepare a nice meal to go with it.

Assembled meat and rice stuffed crepes can be stored in fridge for couple of days - you just need to warm them up by frying right before serving.

And if you cook a way too much (as I usually do) just seal some portion of stuffed crepes in a bag and freeze them up, this way you will always have some fresh stuffed crepes when you need to prepare some food fast.

Clear Beef Broth with Vegetables

Julia Volhina — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 12:00:19 +0000

Clear Beef Broth with Vegetables

Beef broth with vegetables is easiest liquid food to make, easiest to consume, good for your digestive system. Why not to cook it yourself instead of pouring it out from a can or a box?

All you need is beef with bones (I find shank cut very suitable for soups and broths), roots (carrots, parsley, celery), onion, fresh greens and this recipe.

Clear beef broth is nice to accompany any food prepared from that boiled meat cooked in the broth (since you don't need it after broth is cooked), such as crepes with boiled meat stuffing, savory pies or fried dumplings.

Baked Peaches with Chocolate and Ginger Stuffing

Julia Volhina — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 12:00:12 +0000

Baked Peaches with Chocolate and Ginger Stuffing

We bought a big box of peaches on our way back home from vacation in South Carolina ocean side. They were very ripe and sweet and most important they were a lot, much more than we can eat in 2, even for longer time.

Even after eating big portion of them fresh and handing some out, there were still some left. It was a time to cook peaches before they spoil.

I found this recipe for stuffed baked peaches, and must say that baked peaches become one of my favorite desserts - cooked peaches are very tender and flavorful.

I will definitely improvise more in this direction once my hands get ahold of more peaches to try various stuffings.

Russian Zucchini Paste

Julia Volhina — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 12:00:09 +0000

Russian Zucchini Paste

This is recipe of zucchini paste from my mom: easy to cook, contains only vegetables (zucchini, tomatoes and onions) and is very-very tasty.

I usually eat this paste on bread toast, for breakfast or as a snack; however it is also a nice side dish to help increase vegetable servings in your daily diet.

Zucchini paste can be served warm or cooled down.

Beef Stroganoff with Mushrooms and Cream

Julia Volhina — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 12:00:31 +0000

Beef Stroganoff with Mushrooms and Cream

This recipe features a small modification to the beef stroganoff recipe I posted earlier, but a good one: a cup of cream and cremini mushrooms give this dish a very rich taste.

Field mushrooms will also work good in this recipe, but cremini are the best.

As usual, I suggest serving beef stroganoff with a side of boiled buckwheat, it tastes great with mushrooms and cream and, of course, beef.

Salmon Roast in Foil

Julia Volhina — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 12:00:42 +0000

Salmon Roast in Foil

For me the best tasting salmon - is boiled salmon, and with this recipe I get taste of boiled salmon without actually boiling it. The same as boiled salmon this one tastes great garnished with mayo; a glass of white wine is good accompaniment as well.

This salmon roast can be cooked on the grill as well, just pack each fish piece into separate piece of foil and then cook without pan until ready.

Onions here are optional, they give a bit of taste to the dish but they also make sure that fish doesn’t touch the foil.

Pork Loin Roll with Prunes and Carrots

Julia Volhina — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 12:00:54 +0000

Pork Loin Roll with Prunes and Carrots

Ingredients in this recipe for most part are the same as in meat stew with prunes and carrots, however for this one I suggest using pork loin - it is tender and much easier to slit flat to be able to roll it with stuffing.

Prunes are go great with pork meat. If you have dry prunes with pits - soak them in boiled water for 15-20 mins to soften and then remove pits before continue with recipe.

Boiled potatoes are great side dish for this entree, whatever you decide to go with mashed potatoes, baked potatoes or simple boiled potatoes, it will work good.

Ukrainian Sour Cherry Dumplings

Julia Volhina — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 12:00:12 +0000

Ukrainian Sour Cherry Dumplings (Varenyky z Vyshniamy) Recipe

I didn’t believe my eyes when I saw sour cherries (pitted!) in the Andersons grocery store. It doesn’t happen that often to me here, in US. So I couldn’t simply leave that store without my portion of sour cherries...

Of course, we enjoyed them plain with a bit of sugar, and also made some cherries with whipped cream dessert, however most of sour cherries went to ukrainian sour cherry dumplings - “varenyky (vareniky) z vyshniamy”, and for this one we made plenty of pictures.

With mentioned amount of ingredients you will get about 50-60 dumplings. Most probably you will not need to cook all of them right away - so just freeze remaining potion of dumplings for later use (first put wooden board with dumplings to the fridge until dumplings are frozen, then move them to a ziploc bag and store frozen). Frozen dumplings can be boiled right before serving, just like you usually do it.

Roast Brussels Sprouts

Julia Volhina — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 12:00:11 +0000

Roast Brussels Sprouts

Roast brussels sprouts are great as a side dish or a snack. They don’t require much of attention while cooking: just clean sprouts, put them to a baking pan, toss with oil, salt and pepper and roast until ready.

You can cook them to your liking: increase temperature a bit and you get crunchy outside and soft inside, decrease temperature and increase cooking time - get softer sprouts.

Hope you like them!

West Ukrainian Cheese Cake

Julia Volhina — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 12:00:11 +0000

West Ukrainian Cheese Cake (Syrnyk)

This cake is similar to the cheese cakes so popular in west part of the globe. However this one is made from quark cheese (fresh farmers cheese), not from the cream cheese.

It is very popular dessert treat in West Ukraine. It is often being made with raisins, however I don’t like raisins, so I am doing it without any filling. Just add them if you like.

During the baking this cake will rise in the oven, and then it will fall down a bit while colling down. That i s ok, just important not to open oven while baking or cooling.

To make up for a bit uneven shape, you can cut uneven sides off before serving it.

Minced Cutlets Stuffed with Mushrooms

Julia Volhina — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 12:00:12 +0000

Minced Cutlets Stuffed with Mushrooms

This is a tasty tweak to original minced beef cutlets recipe. The mince is prepared exactly the same way and mushrooms and onions stuffing gives ground meat juiciness and extraordinary taste.

A bit of agility is required to put stuffing inside of minced meat cutlets, but once you get it - it seems easy: meat is sticky, so if you get some holes, they can be easily patched by adding a layer of mince on top of the hole.

To prevent meat from sticking to hands - rinse hands with cold water from time to time while assembling minced cutlets.

Tomatoes Stuffed with Fresh Cheese

Julia Volhina — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 12:00:26 +0000

Tomatoes Stuffed with Fresh Cheese Recipe

These campari tomatoes stuffed with fresh quark cheese, chopped greens and garlic can be nice addition to any celebration table or a cookout: they look festive, taste good and can be easily eaten with fingers.

If you can’t find quark cheese (sometimes called farmers cheese, or fresh white cheese, or tvorog in russian) it may work with feta cheese, but I like it more with quark.

Seeds and pulp from tomatoes as well as top parts - once removed - are not needed for this recipe. You can discard them, or use in some other dish.

Many kind of stews and soups would only benefit from fresh tomatoes. I used seeds and juice from this batch to marinate a nice ribeye steak.

Fried Pork Chops

Julia Volhina — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 12:00:21 +0000

Fried Pork Chops

This is probably the easiest way to cook pork chops - simply beat them up, dust with flour and fry until ready. Actually you can fry any kind of pork meat like this: pork loin slices, pork chops, cutlets, shoulder parts, etc.

For thicker meat cut increase cooking time: it is important to cook pork thoroughly, when cut with a knife it should produce clear juices, especially near the bone.

Lemon juice gives pork meat a nice sour kick in taste; garnishing with chopped greens looks pretty, but is absolutely optional.

Clearly Fresh Bags

Julia Volhina — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 21:52:07 +0000

Clearly Fresh Bags Review

“How to keep products fresh longer after purchase?” is a question right answer to which can save you significant amount of money: if you don’t need to throw spoiled food – then you don’t need to restock.

Looking for more income, grocery stores are trying to make you buy bigger amounts giving smaller prices per item. However, what do you do when you buy these, but don’t have immediate use for all of it?

I tried "Clearly Fresh Bags", read my review.

Green Salad with Tomatoes, Avocados and Shrimps

Julia Volhina — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 12:00:52 +0000

Green Salad with Tomato, Avocado and Shrimp

This is one of the salads which uses avocado dressing from the last week recipe. It is green, fresh summer salad topped with boiled shrimps with a hint of spiciness provided by the dressing.

My advise is to assemble this salad right before you are planning to serve it: it calls for avocados, tomatoes and lettuce (all of which react to oxidation by loosing taste and pretty look).

However avocado dressing can be prepared in advance and stored in airtight container in fridge.

Avocado Salad Dressing

Julia Volhina — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 12:00:03 +0000

Avocado Salad Dressing

This creamy avocado salad dressing somewhat resembles guacamole dip, after all it consists of almost the same ingredients, just in different proportion.

However it is much more spicy and more liquid which obviously makes it easier to dress salads with it: lettuce salad with tomatoes, avocados and shrimps is my personal choice for this dressing.

Ready spicy avocado dressing can be stored in the airtight container in fridge for several days.

How to Skin Avocado

Julia Volhina — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 12:00:27 +0000

How to Skin Avocados

Ripe avocado pulp is very soft and their skin is dense and resembles a shell. And it is very easy to scoop pulp from the skin with a spoon if you are going to prepare avocado guacamole-like dip, salad dressing or milk shakes (yep, I was surprised too!), where avocados are mashed and it doesn’t really matter how you extracted pulp.

However if you need avocado in whole pieces for salad or sandwich, you will need remove pulp from the skin without damaging it.

So here are instructions how to do this easily.