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.

Sorrel and Pork Soup (Green Borscht)

Sorrel and pork soup, or as it is called also green borscht (obviously because of the color), is one of these dishes you can rarely eat in US, unless you are ukrainian, poland, russian family or visiting one of those :).

I was a bit unlucky in buying sorrel this time. Sorrel is very seasonal (meaning available only on spring), and for some reason WholeFoods (the only place where I was able to find it) carries it in herbs section - read this as 2-3 branches per a pack.

I ended up getting last 3 packs they had in their stock, but even that was less then needed for this soup (I am actually still wondering, who buys sorrel in WholeFoods in such packs and for what?).

Anyway, if you are more lucky than me and either know where to buy enough of sorrel or growing it by yourself, you can safely use more, and by more I mean much more: 3-4 cups is good. If you want to make it’s sour taste a bit less intense - fry it before adding to the cooking pot or/and use more water when cooking broth.

Crab Sticks Salad with Napa and Cucumber

It is time for summer cookouts yet? I bet it is! Who said cookouts should be all meat and bread - add a bit of vegetables and crab sticks :)

Napa gives this salad tender filling; however you can substitute white cabbage for napa - it will work fine, just remember to tenderize shredded cabbage with your hands.

If you use frozen crab sticks, make sure they unfreeze completely and all extra liquid is removed before adding them to the salad.

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 :)

Lithuanian Borscht (Cold Borscht)

Are you suffering from hot weather like me? When outside feels like in the oven there is no better food to eat than cold soup. Lithuanian borscht is a nice refreshing buttermilk based cold soup you can put together without any extra hassle and then enjoy it sitting on the patio.

The real trick to Lithuanian borscht is to find good kefir – it should be original kefir which hasn't been flavored with any tastes, not salted and not sweetened. I used plain unsweetened kefir (can be replaced with buttermilk) from Lifeway and it worked out perfectly.

The rest of ingredients: vegetables (beets, cucumber and greens) and hard boiled eggs, are easy to get and not pricey at all. And btw, even though this soup is called a “borscht”, the only thing it has in common to other borschts, I guess, is the color.

Cabbage and Cucumber Salad

This is one of my favorite salads for fresh young cabbage – fast made slaw with eggs and cucumbers seasoned with fresh dill and mayo to taste.

Usually I take small white head cabbage or a half of it, however it will be the same good with red cabbage (the color will look interesting in this case too :) ) or napa.

Don't forget to cool down hard boiled eggs before adding them to the salad – it is not recommended to mix fresh vegetables with hot ingredients.

Stuffed Egg Shells

Egg shells stuffed with mushrooms, eggs and onions mix is an appetizer I asked my mom to do for each celebration, we had, when I was little.

It is still my favorite dish; now I cook it myself when have enough time and special state of mind to stub some eggs and dice everything into little pieces :)

To get empty egg shells is the most tricky part in making stuffed egg shells: you may waste one or two eggs while learning to do so, just be brave and persistent.

You are lucky if chickens, which produced eggs you are planning on using to prepare this appetizer, have had enough calcium in their diet, that will make the whole deal with getting nice looking egg shell halves much more easier. Unfortunately, it wasn't a case for me: the shells of eggs I had were crushing when breathed on.

That didn't do any bad for taste (believe me!), just made pictures a bit less nice looking than I expected, but I hope you will still like the recipe enough to try it out.

Mimosa Salad

Mimosa, as a fish layered salad, is very popular in all countries of ex-USSR. As well as Herring Under Fur Coat and Salad Olivier, Salad Mimosa finds its place on the table for big holiday celebrations, such as New Year, Christmas, birthdays and others.

It is easy and fun to cook, and due to the layered structure of the salad it should be prepared several hours in advance before serving to allow layers to soak. So the good idea would be to assemble the salad a night before you are going to put it on the table.

By the way this salad name – Mimosa – comes from the bright yellow color and a texture of its last layer which looks very similar to the yellow blossoms of the plant called “mimosa” in Russia.

Okroshka

Okroshka is traditional russian cold soup. It is perfect meal for hot summer weather as it is prepared on the base of kvass - russian bread drink – and it is light and very refreshing.

Finding good fresh kvass for okroshka can be challenging outside of former-USSR. You may try russian or ukrainian shop, or, of course, you can prepare kvass yourself. But If you are not lucky with any of these, you can also replace kvass with mineral water, kefir diluted with boiled cold water or even light beer.

Napa Slaw with Eggs (Cabbage Salad)

You can take any kind of cabbage for this salad, however I prefer napa cabbage (one of variants of Chinese cabbage), as it is more soft and tasteful.

In general this salad is easy to make (as I think any slaw is), very fast to do and of course is nutritious: napa cabbage is rich on vitamin A/Carotene and vitamin C.

If you use napa cabbage, don't make more salad than you will eat for one meal, napa cabbage salads are best to be eaten fresh and loose taste after stored in fridge.

Radish and Soft Cheese Salad

Radish and Fresh Cheese Salad is a tasty way to feed yourself and your family a bit of calcium :)

I did have some troubles finding a suitable fresh cheese for this recipe, it should be fresh white quark (russian: tvorog), neither cottage cheese nor cream cheese will work here.

So if you have the same problem finding quark style fresh cheese like I had, try local Russian / Ukrainian / Polish store, most probably they have it. Of course, you can also make homemade soft cheese yourself, but guess I am too lazy for this, who isn't?..

Egg & Ham Salad

One more option for your everyday food. Healthy and tasty, and easy to make salad.

Egg & Ham Salad is perfect for breakfast or midday break food as it doesn't contain onions.

Russian Salad (Olivier)

Usually people outside of former-USSR call it Russian Salad, however its original name is Salad Olivier.

This salad was and maybe still is the most traditional dish for the home New Year celebration for russian people.

Crab Sticks & Rice Salad

Everybody who tried my crab stick salad fell in love with it after first bite. Now I have no problems deciding what to bring to the party.

This salad is easy and fast to do and the taste is just great. Try it, you will like it!