My No-meat Dishes
August 28th, 2010 in Main Dish Recipes, No-meat Dishes by MeCooking Oladi, or thick pancakes prepared from kefir based batter, is traditional russian breakfast food. Batter is easy to assemble and whole dish doesn’t take much time to cook.
Kefir gives a distinguishing taste to oladi, but it probably can be replaced with buttermilk in case you are having troubles finding kefir.
Oladi can be served plain or with some kind of a topping: jam, syrop or honey, as well as fresh fruits. I love oladi with sour cream.
Tags: breakfast, buttermilk, egg, flour, kefir, kid food, lenten, no meat, pancake, russian
July 31st, 2010 in Egg Dishes, Main Dish Recipes, No-meat Dishes by MeCooking French toasts are easy to do and very tasty. They fit perfectly for breakfast or brunch, or as a quick to prepare snack.
It is good to use not so fresh, 2 or 3 days old bread for french toasts. However it you only have fresh bread – just dry slices of it in the toster for a bit, it will make preparation easier.
French toasts can be served plain or with various topping: honey, berry jams or syrups. I prefer them topped with shredded cheese or mix of cheeses.
Tags: bread, breakfast, cheese, egg, french, snack
July 10th, 2010 in Main Dish Recipes, No-meat Dishes, Side Dish Recipes by MeCooking Summer is here and summer is a perfect time to enjoy vegetables it brings along.
Bell peppers, eggplants, potatoes roasted together with olive oil based dressing with garlic and herbs can be a perfect dish on their own as well as a side dish to meats or poultry.
Once veggies are all sliced and mixed with dressing (can be prepared in advance), it takes about an hour to roast them in the oven.
Roasting doesn’t require much of attention, just stirring from time to time. So I consider this dish easy to prepare.
Tags: bell pepper, eggplant, garlic, no meat, potato, roast, shallot, side dish, vegetables
April 17th, 2010 in Main Dish Recipes, No-meat Dishes by MeCooking Varenyky with fresh cheese (perogies or vareniki with fresh cheese) is one of the traditional Ukrainian dishes for dumplings. You will need fresh white cow milk cheese (quark) to prepare those, which can be a bit hard to find (try some east european store, if that is the case).
To your taste, you can make these dumplings sweet (by adding sugar to cheese) or savory (skip sugar in the filling all together); either kind will taste great with sour cream.
Prepared not boiled fresh cheese dumplings can be frozen up and boiled when you need them; which makes them perfect food for lunch. Boiled dumplings maybe be stored in a fridge and warmed up by frying with a bit of butter over moderate heat.
Tags: dinner, dumplings, flour, fresh cheese, kid food, lunch, perogies, polish, ukrainian
April 3rd, 2010 in Main Dish Recipes, No-meat Dishes by MeCooking For some reasons, I always cook a bit too much than we can eat at once, especially when it comes to crêpes.
So there are some times when I am wondering what to do with all those extra crêpes left from the yesterday.
Here is nice idea how else you can eat left over crêpes: stuff them with honey and apples – those will get you full fast, and because stuffing is pure apple – you will also eat good nutritious breakfast.
If you are interested to know how to cook thin crêpes – read here.
Tags: apple, breakfast, honey, pancake, snack, stuffed
February 27th, 2010 in Main Dish Recipes, No-meat Dishes by MeCookingPotatoes fried with porcini mushrooms is one of the most delicious lenten recipes. It is also very-very russian. I believe russians eat that kind of food for centuries 
This main dish contains no meat, however mushrooms perfectly substitute meat in both – taste and nutrients – they contain vitamins, minerals and dietary fibre while are low on fat and easily absorbed carbohydrates.
All of that make potato fried with mushrooms and onions perfect main dish for Lent. Needles to say what any combination of potatoes with mushrooms can’t taste bad, so I really hope you will enjoy this dish just like I do.
Tags: dinner, lenten, lunch, mushroom, no meat, onion, porcini, potato, russian, vegetables
February 6th, 2010 in Main Dish Recipes, No-meat Dishes by MeCooking Potato pancakes, prepared from fresh chopped or grated potatoes, onions, eggs and flour, are commonly associated with various cuisines of Europe. In Ukraine they are called “deruny”, in Russia and Belarus “draniki”; similar recipes can be found in Polish, German, Austrian, Czech cuisines.
Potato pancakes are usually a main no meat dish for lunch or breakfast; it tastes good topped with sour cream or mushroom sauce.
Even though potato pancakes are good enough as a separate dish, they can be also served as a side dish for vegetable or meat main dish course.
Tags: breakfast, egg, flour, lenten, lunch, no meat, onion, pancake, polish, potato, russian, soft food, ukrainian, vegetables