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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

Pork Roast with Garlic, Mayo and Spices

Yet another pork roast - and it is spicy one. Slow cooking turns meat in this roast tender and juicy and it makes great dinner.

To save some time on preparation you can marinate meat in advance and then just put it to the oven 3 hours before it needs to hit the table.

Juices produced while meat was cooking make great addition when poured over the meat or its side dish of potatoes served with it.

Whole Chicken Roast with Oranges

This roast chicken was a first real food we cooked in our new home since the move (yep, we got a house!). So it was kind of the "celebration of new home" meal :).

If you are looking for some easy recipe for some special event - search no more: whole chicken roast stuffed with oranges is very-very juicy and has a bit unusual sweet taste.

It goes good with mashed potatoes or plain boiled rice as a side dish.

If you don’t like taste of orange zest - peel oranges before stuffing, that will smooth taste a bit.

Lazy Cabbage Rolls

Lazy cabbage rolls, or “lenyvi golubtsi” how this dish is called in ukrainian, is an easier version of ukrainian cabbage rolls.

Since it doesn't require assembling of rolls it is much easier to prepare, and taste is very similar to cabbage rolls.

Lazy cabbage rolls taste great when seasoned with a bit of chopped garlic and a bit of mayo.

Duck Stewed with Potato and Eggplants

I love duck meat. And other day we were lucky to find a couple of duck breasts in Market District opened recently near by (nice store by the way).

So, I got them, also eggplant and some potatoes, and cooked this nice dinner.

Any duck meat will work just fine for this stew, I was just lazy to remove bones.

Chicken Pilaf

An easy tweak to classic pilaf recipe – chicken instead of lamb – will make this dish to shine all different colors. Chicken require less time to cook, it is more lean so, let's say it is more healthy and also faster to prepare :)

Using whole chicken is an option, but in this case you probably need to bone it first (unless you like to chew on bones).

Take boneless thighs, if you don't like to spend time removing bones. Chicken breasts can be used as well, but may end up being too dry – mix them up with some other parts such us thighs or so.

Another trick to this recipe is using cast-iron pan, ideally round one. It makes rice to cook more evenly which is more important part – get soft not overcooked rice.

Cabbage and Chicken Salad

I love cabbage. It is available in the stores whole year, and it somehow manages to preserve such important nutrient as vitamin C (and some others) till late winter. This makes cabbage a good choice of food when your body particularly needs more vitamins.

I consider this a winter salad: cabbage is available any time in the store, as well as chicken and cheese; but it will also taste great when prepared from fresh young cabbage, which is much softer and more juicier.

Additionally, I usually season this salad with dry bread cubes right before serving. I prepare them myself from leftover bread: just dice it and dry in the oven (can't call them croutons, as they don't have any seasoning or oil added in the process of preparation). But I guess you can use croutons from the shop instead or skip this part all together.

Veal Roast with Mustard and Garlic

This veal roast is a good choice for romantic or family dinner. Meat can be prepared for cooking in advance, like a night before, and then roast day after. That will make meat even better marinated.

I think veal is the best for this recipe, but since veal is hard to get and can be quite pricey - beef can be used as well. If you choose to cook beef – increase roasting time a bit.

Veal roast can be served warm straight from the oven, as one piece or spiced into portions. It also tastes good cooled down.

Easier Borscht with Precooked Beets and Beans

One of the challenges when cooking classic beet root soup, borscht, is to get all vegetables (and there are quite few) cooked till perfect readiness at the same time.

Considering different vegetables require different cooking time it is sometimes hard to achieve. For borscht you need to make sure beens are soft, while potatoes are not over cooked and beets don't lose their color.

So, to make this happen: I cook beens in a separate cooking pot (just until they are soft and ready), cook beets skin on (like for salad) in separate pot in advance, and add these two to the main cooking pot at appropriate times.

By the way, using of canned beets and beens instead of cooking them yourself is an option (which I never did, but it may safe you some time).

Stuffed Pork Rolls with Mushrooms (Kruchenyky)

Kruchenyky or zavyvantsi – meat rolls prepared with pork (less often with beef) and stuffed with various mixes. This is very popular dish of traditional ukrainian cuisine.

Stuffings for kruchenyky, as well as sauces, vary from region to region and, actually, from cook to cook.

I like kruchenyky prepared from pork loin and stuffed with mushrooms or mushroom mix with some other ingredients, fried and then baked under cream sauce. Just like in this recipe.

It may seem like lot of hassle to cook these stuffed pork rolls, but it is really not as hard as it looks; and is really tasty :)

Chicken Schnitzels (Chicken Tenders)

This recipe for chicken tenders (or beaten chicken cutlets) is somewhat similar to pork schnitzels, except for the fact they are made from chicken, of course.

In additional to breading (for which, I must say, ground breadcrumbs work the best), cooking of those require some agility to cut chicken breasts into flat portion pieces: so if you are wondering how to do that – keep reading :)

Chicken tenders are perfect for dinner; you can store leftover tenders in the fridge and warm them up for lunch or eat cold and they are great for sandwiches.

Meatballs with Carrot-Tomato Sauce

Russian meatballs (or “tefteli” how they are called in Russia) are prepared from ground beef and rice mix and cooked under some kind of sauce. They usually have big size (1 or 2 meatballs is enough for a serving).

This is a recipe for “tefteli” my mom uses: big meatballs, dipped into flour, then fried over in some oil and cooked with vegetable sauce (carrots, tomatoes, onions and dill) until ready.

I've modified recipe a bit to use freshly pureed tomatoes instead of tomato paste. However, if you don't have fresh tomatoes under your hands, you can use canned tomatoes or tomato paste diluted with water.

Boiled potatoes or mashed potatoes are usually the first choice of side dish for tefteli for me, boiled buckwheat or pasta work good too.

French Onion Soup

I absolutely love this tender onion and cheese soup with a light hint of spices and dry white wine. It is very good choice for home dinner party or romantic dinner just for you two.

You can prepare most of the steps in advance (from step 1 to step 9), then pour soup to the bowls, add bread and cheese and put them to the oven right before serving. That will save you a bit of time and ensure every meal comes fresh and warm at the right time.

My advice would be to use home prepared broth, cooked with good quality beef, carrots, onions, parsley and celery for this soup. If you need some hints on how to prepare beef broth, follow these instructions.

Lasagna with Beef and Vegetables

Several weekends ago, when I asked Yuriy what should we prepare for dinner, I got an answer – lasagna, and I was intimidated a bit - I never prepared lasagna before. So I spent some time in internet researching recipes and found several I liked. I've combined them, added some touch to my taste and prepared this lasagna.

This was my first attempt to make lasagna. And main challenge for me was to properly prepare noodles: according to the instructions on the pack they required boiling before using. I've added 2 tablespoons of oil to the boiling water and was boiling them layer by layer and it totally helped to prevent noodles from sticking while boiling.

This lasagna turned out perfectly: balanced combination of meat and vegetables (just how I like it), noodles were very tender, it was totally worth all the time I've spend boiling them, getting out of water and trying arrange them in the pan.

Macaroni with Ground Boiled Beef

Lots of recipes require using clear soup (meat broth, stock), however not all of them also require boiled meat which is often used to prepare meat broth. So the question is, are there any good recipes which actually require boiled meat and no broth?

This is one of them: russian pasta with ground boiled beef and fried onions (btw, it is called “makarony po-flotski” in Russia; I have no idea why, but we always called this dish so).

Any “al dente” kind of pasta will work here: I've used penne, just read instructions on the pack and cook them accordingly. You may also vary proportion of meat to pasta to taste.

Pork Roast with Garlic Recipe

Pork roast by this recipe usually turns out juicy and flavored. It is nice dinner dish, can be served warm or cooled down; leftovers are good for sandwiches.

It takes about an hour to cook from beginning till end. It is very easy to prepare recipe. Apart of main ingredients, which are mainly pork and garlic, you will also need a sheet of cooking foil.

Tastes good accompanied by dry red or rose wine.

Soup Puree with Broccoli and Chicken

This bright green colored soup-purée (or cream soup) made of chicken, broccoli and some other vegies is probably the quickest to prepare soup I know.

It is also nutritious: loaded with healthy vegetables and white chicken meat, which are boiled, pureed and blended together for tasty creamy texture.

All that makes this soup very good choice not only for kids, but also for people who prefer soft food.

Beef Roast under Cheese and Onion

That is probably one of my favorite dinner recipes: slices of beef roast under mayonnaise, shredded mozzarella and onions, and it is very easy to cook.

You can make steps 1-7 some time in advance, then put meat into the fridge and continue later; just get meat to the preheated oven about 1 hour before you are going to serve it. That comes extremely handy when you need to get a lot of other things taken care of right before the dinner.

Some dry red wine is a nice addition to this dish, especially if the dinner is going to get romantic.

Fried Beef Liver with Onions

Liver is an irreplaceable source of various nutrients which are very important for human health. It has biggest concentration of a vitamin A comparing to all other food sources; natural source of vitamin D, B12 and C, phosphorus and copper; it is high on protein of animal origin; and the most important, it is rich source of easily absorbed iron – that made liver a part of the treatment for pernicious anemia.

Saying all of that, I was very surprised of how hard it was to find fresh beef liver in a local shops (true to tell I didn't try a local farmer markets, didn't locate any around yet). I am also pretty sure, what liver dishes are not very popular in this part of the earth globe, however they are traditional in Europe: Germany, Russia, Ukraine, and a believe a lot of other countries.

So here is my attempt to fix that: fried beef liver with onions – is perfect lunch or dinner dish, it is very easy to cook and, as I already mentioned above, it is very nutritious. Important tip: do not overcook liver, to preserve as much goodness as you can.

Fresh Cheese Dumplings

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.

Stewed Beef with Onions

It felt like a time for some nice beef stew recipe, so here it goes: beef stewed with onions is a dish my mom was always cooking, when I was little. Well, maybe she didn't put a wine, but besides of that – that is the dish I am used to from my childhood.

It is very easy to do, probably the easiest stew recipe I know, and doesn't take much time to cook. Wine adds a nice hint to the taste, but it is completely optional: just replace it with a cup of water if you don't have a cup of dry red wine.

This dish goes good with mashed potatoes or boiled buckwheat as a side dish.

Fried Chicken Recipe

It is the easiest way to cook chicken: get meat pieces, rub them with salt and spices, and then fry. Nothing complex and yet still very tasty.

Whole chicken legs are the best for this recipe, you can even get into more extreme and fry whole halves of chicken or cornish hen (bigger pieces are more juicy, but you may need to increase cooking time for big portions of meat).

Drumsticks, thighs and even wings can be cooked the same way: but you may need to reduce cooking time and increase amount of spices – just keep proportion of spice the same: 1 part of cumin to 1 part of ground black pepper to 2 parts of ground coriander - and it will be fine.

Fried Potato with Porcini Mushrooms

Potatoes 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.

Russian Sauerkraut Soup (Schi)

Sauerkraut soup, also called sour schi, is a traditional russian main first course dish for several hundreds year.

Original recipes for schi (there are more that one: sour schi, grey schi, green schi) usually include some kind meat, some kind cabbage, carrots, potatoes and spices. Sour schi are prepared with sauerkraut or mix of sauerkraut and fresh cabbage.

I do cook schi with just sauerkraut and I prefer pork broth for sauerkraut schi, however you may use beef for it if you don't like pork.

Minced Beef Cutlets

This it a traditional russian recipe for minced meat cutlets which includes meat, white bread soaked in milk and a lot of onions. Some people prepare those cutlets from beef only, some add a bit of pork or pork fat in them. I prefer just beef.

You may grind or mince meat yourself or buy a ground one and simply add finely chopped or grated onions: whatever you prefer. Either way I am sure it will taste delicious!

I've served those cutlets with fried potatoes and greek salad, just in case you were curious.

Bigos (Cabbage and Pork Stew)

Bigos, as a cabbage and meat stew, is very popular second course dish in countries of East Europe. I believe it was originated in Poland, however recipes similar to polish bigos can be found in cuisines of Lithuania, Russia, Ukraine and maybe some others. In Poland bigos is traditional dish to be served on Second day of Christmas.

Ingredients for bigos vary, some of them may or may not include tomatoes, mushrooms, carrots, onions, garlic, honey and even prunes; beef, veal, pork, bacon, smoked ham, smoked sausages or a combination of those.

I cook bigos (by the way it is called “solyanka” in Russia and Ukraine, even though there is a soup with the same name) with pork, a lot of cabbage (fresh and sour), carrots, onions, bay leaves and spice it with whole black peppercorns, just like it was always cooked in my family. Hope you will like it too.

Lenten Borscht with Mushroom Dumplings

In a lot of countries Christmas Eve dinner gathers whole family around one big table. Borscht with mushroom dumplings is the one of 12 dishes which usually are on that table by tradition in West Ukraine (by the way those dumplings are called “vushka” in ukrainian, which means “small ears”, I guess because of the shape).

Of course, because that is the Christmas Eve and Nativity Fast isn't finished yet there is no meat used to prepare it: just vegetables and dried mushrooms. This borscht like the rest of the Christmas Eve's traditional food is lenten, it is very tasty and isn't heavy at all – most of the vegetables are used to prepare clear broth only and don't get served with the borscht itself.

At first glance, it may look like cooking it is a bit of a hassle and time spending: so many steps (I've prepared 34 step-by-step pictures for this recipe!) and so many manipulations with different cooking utensils. However, you can complete preparation steps a day in advance – for example soak mushrooms, boil them or/and boil beets, you can even make dumplings a day before, freeze them and prepare the borscht next day. And then, nobody said you need to make everything yourself: involve your family into helping you! And have a Marry Christmas!

Pork Schnitzels

Schnitzels or beaten cutlets can be prepared of almost any kind of meat: pork, beef, vial, lamb, chicken or even turkey.

The preparation method stays pretty much the same for any of those: you take meat, tenderize it, deep into flour (or breadcrumbs), deep into egg mix and fry. It is that easy!

Of course it is your choice which meat to use: pork is usually more fat and considered less healthy choice before beef, vial or chicken, however beaten pork cutlets are more juicy and tasty, so I prefer to use pork for this recipe.

Salmon under Capers and Dill Sauce

Capers and dill, butter, wine and shallots – those are ingredients of very good sauce for fish. Personally I pick salmon, because it is especially good when boiled or even simmered like in this recipe. However I think it will work with other kind of fish without any problem.

Should I also remind you what fish is an important part of the healthy diet?

Got a romantic dinner coming up and want to surprise your date with something special? I recommend this tender salmon dish, especially if after preparing of it you still have a few sips of Chardonnay left to accompany it with.

Cabbage Rolls in Tomato Dill Sauce

Cabbage rolls (stuffed cabbage) dish is very popular food in Eastern Europe. No wander you can easily find cabbage rolls among traditional recipes in cuisines of Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Romania and many others countries.

Making of cabbage rolls from the scratch (including grinding meat, boiling and separating cabbage and then preparing them one by one) would take some time, so it is better if you start cooking in advance. However you can leave prepared cabbage rolls in the oven with heat turned off for up to 1 hour, so they stay warm if you want to postpone serving.

This recipe describes step-by-step process of preparing cabbage rolls in tomato-dill sauce. Enjoy the taste of traditional dish of Eastern European.

Baked Spicy Chicken

It is chicken time! And I think, one of the easiest ways to prepare various parts of chicken (or even chicken in a whole!) is to bake them with some spices.

Baked Spicy Chicken dish is great for the dinner: its cooking doesn't require much of attention, which gives you time to take care of other important things :). However you will need to start cooking it in advance to let chicken soak in the sauce.

So let's mix up some spices, garlic, mayonnaise, pour it over the chicken and bake it all together.

Pork Pilaf

Typical Pilaf (plov, pilav) is prepared from rice and meat, and seasoned with spices. It is a dish, various recipes of which can be found in Middle Eastern, Central, South Asian and East African cultures, from where it was borrowed to various cuisines: so now dishes similar to pilaf can be found in every country recipes list.

Having roots on the East, original pilaf usually being made from lamb or mutton. However, I believe, it can be made pretty much of any kind of meat: beef, pork, chicken, duck, whatever you prefer.

I am not the big fan of lamb, so I usually prepare pilaf with a pork meat (which is a step away from the original recipe, but I like it). Feel free to replace pork with any other kind of meat you like and create your own pilaf recipe (you may also need to adjust the cooking time accordingly as different kinds of meats requite different time of preparation). Treat yourself to a delicious meal with a hint of orient spices!

Beef Stew with Vegetables

One of the most delicious ways to prepare beef is to stew it with vegetables. Stewed meat shares its juices with vegetables which makes the dish not only nutritious but also very tasty. Stews are a bit time consuming to prepare, but it is totally worth it. Serve stews hot without side dish.

In this post I've prepared beef stew with potato, bean, carrots and tomatoes. Read step-by-step instructions how to prepare Beef Stew with Vegetables with pictures.

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.

Ground Chicken Cutlets

Cutlets prepared of soft ground chicken meat are delicious main course dish. I have a meat grinder, so I like to grind the meat for cutlets myself. However you can also buy a ground chicken meat and just mix minced or grated onion into it instead.

Ground Chicken Cutlets taste good with steamed or sauteed vegetables, fresh vegetable salads (e.g. carrots and garlic salad or cabbage slaw) and, of course, potatoes (fried or mashed), feel free to pick up a side of your choice.

Moussakas

In Greek cuisine, moussakas (moussaka, musakka) is a layered casserole made of vegetables (eggplant as a main ingredient) and minced meat.

It takes a bit of time and require some coordination in order to make it. But even if you spend a lot of time preparing moussakas, it totally worth it! It is great dish, and it tastes good served as hot as well as cold.

Tzatziki is good addition for Moussakas Casserole.

Meat with Prunes

For meat with prunes you can use either pork or beef. I think, pork tastes even better prepared this way, especially if prunes you have are not too sweet, so I advise you to go with pork.

However if you don't like pork for some reasons or if you don't have it just like I did when I were writing this article, you can use beef. I must say it tastes also delicious!

Cotopulo Gyros (Chicken)

Gyros is Greek meat dish (right, it can be not only chicken gyros, but also beef, pork or lamb).

To make it: marinate sliced meat, place it on a tall vertical spit, which turns in front of a source of heat and cut meat out when is ready...

Well I don't have such vertical spit at home, so I prepare gyros in a different way.

And I like the gyros made of chicken more, so it is why that post about “Cotopulo Gyros” after all. And yes, it is spicy!

Stewed Chicken in Mushroom Sauce

Chicken and field mushrooms are very nice combination for any dish, as well as mushrooms and sour cream, as well as sour cream and dill.

So let's mix them all and enjoy the result: Stewed Chicken in Mushroom Sauce! Best to be served with Potato Puree (Mashed Potatoes).

Beef Stroganoff with Buckwheat Side

I believe there are a lot of recipes which are called “Beef Stroganoff”. This one is the recipe my mom uses to prepare her Beef Stroganoff, so do I.

It goes very good with potato puree and even better with boiled buckwheat.

Fried Cod

I've prepared the pan fried cod for this photo recipe, but you can cook pretty much fresh fish of any kind in the same way. Just make sure you scale fish before (if it has scales) and cut into portion pieces suitable for frying.

I like to serve fried fish with Potato Puree, but you may find some other side dish for it.

Beef Stew with Carrots and Bell Pepper

Delicious meat main dish with a set of vegetables. You will need to spend a bit of time to get it done, but the result will not leave you disappointed.

Stewed vegetables and tender beef, what can taste better?