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.

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.

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 Pancakes (Oladi) with Apple

This recipe is a step up for russian kefir based pancakes – oladi. My mom used to add slices of apple to oladi batter and that is the way how I prefer them – oladi with apple served warm with sour cream topping.

So the recipe is quite easy: prepare oladi batter, add slices of apple and fry pancakes.

This dish is a perfect choice for breakfast or brunch, or even fast prepared snack. I bet kids would love those pancakes as well. They taste good accompanied with a glass of kefir.

Crêpes Stuffed with Apple

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.

Uzvar (Dried Fruit Kompot)

Uzvar is a kompot made from dried fruits: mainly apples, pears and prunes, however various recipes include raisins, dried sour cherries and even dried apricots.

Even though this drink is traditionally served to Christmas Eve dinner in some countries of West Europe (e.g. Ukraine, Russia, Poland, Lithuania), I really can't find a reason why it can't be a great better choice to drink before all those sugary-artificially prepared sodas people consume so much those days.

Uzvar, or as it also called in ex-USSR countries – Kompot made from Dried Fruits, is very refreshing, tasty and easy to do. I highly recommend this drink to everybody, prepare it for your kids - they will love it!

Apple & Cranberry Kompot

Most of you probably wonders what the “kompot” is, as that is not very usual word in english speaking world. Some of you may also assume there is a grammatical error in the title of this post and I probably mean the apple & cranberries compote (stewed fruits, the dessert), however there is no error: kompot is a drink made of stewed fruits and/or berries, fresh or dried, or a combination of those, and it is traditional drink in many countries of Eastern Europe.

Making kompot is almost effortless, it takes not more then 20 mins (if you don't count cooling down time in) to get great fruit and healthy drink for you and especially your kids and I believe they will like it much more than those powder-produced drinks from bottles and cans people drinking so much nowadays.

Autumn is a time when fresh apples and cranberries are in every grocery shop and supermarket, Apple & Cranberry Kompot is one of easy way to prepare those two together and it goes good with Apple Cake.

Sponge Cake with Apples

Autumn always comes with tastes of a harvest: for me autumn tastes like apples, even though you can get them at any grocery shop any time of the year.

Since I've got my apples, a big pack of them actually, my house keeps smelling like autumn. During last weeks we had a duck with apples for a dinner, baked apples for a snack and even kompot with apples and cranberries.

I've also prepared this sponge cake with apples and light hit of cinnamon last sunday and now I can share this easy recipe with you, so you can enjoy the taste of autumn with me.

Duck Baked with Apples

I find duck dishes somehow not so much popular in US. Not every Asian restaurant has it in the menu, which surprises me a lot as I always thought about ducks being almost national Chinese food.

Maybe it has something to do with the so called “bird flu” which caused the panic a few years ago, or maybe it is related to the fact that ducks are not very diet food due to the amount of fat, or it could be just because people are too used to see those birds alive on the streets (yes, I live in Columbus, OH and there are tons of ducks and canadian geese slugging around on every parking place, as a result I see more ducks on the city streets than on the plates, which would be unbelievable in let's say Europe :) ).

Nevertheless, I like ducks. Taste of baked duck with apples reminds me of family celebrations in my childhood, such as New Year or birthdays parties. Fortunately I could find a deeply frozen duckling in the local Kroger. I baked it and, must say, the taste was delicious. So now I can share with you my article about how to prepare Duck Baked with Apples with step-by-step guide and photos included.