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.

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)

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

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

Cauliflower Pancakes

This is my recipe in support of Faina's with Cucee Sprouts cauliholic addiction. I hope you will like it :)

Yet another vegetable pancakes recipe. These are usually healthier choice: they contain much less flour (comparing to usually flour-based pancakes) - batter mostly consist of vegetable goodness and, of course, a bit of eggs :)

I love cauliflower in any of its appearance, and I consider cauliflower pancakes to be one of the easiest and fun ways to cook it.

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.

Chicken Salad with Celery and Grapes

I never tried fresh celery stems before we got to US. I was more familiar with celery root – it is largely used to prepare soups and stew or even salads of European cousines, but I can't say eating stem parts of it is as popular in Europe as in US.

According to wikipedia, celery is a source of good low-calorie dietary fibre, which makes it not only tasty (btw I found taste of it fascinating) and also healthy.

Saying all of that, here comes the nice salad recipe for fresh celery stems and boiled white chicken meat; grapes give it a little kick in flavor, as well as almonds. Hope you will like it.

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.

Baked Egg Omelette

Egg omelette with ham or canadian bacon and vegetables is a nice breakfast dish. It takes more than an hour to prepare, but it totally worth it.

Unlike most of other omelettes which are usually fried eggs with some other ingredients, this one is prepared by baking them in the oven.

It is a bit hard to tell exact baking time for this dish - it depends a lot on the size of the baking pan you use and amount of ingredients: my advice would be to test omelette with wooden toothpick (pierce it through from top to bottom and remove it) – if it does come out clean - baked omelette is ready.

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.

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.

Deruny (Potato Pancakes)

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.

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.

Bacon and Eggs with Tomatoes

Fried eggs dishes are usually breakfast food, however they are also coming handy when you need to prepare and eat something fast.

Fried eggs with bacon and tomatoes is my favorite way of preparing eggs: easy, tasty and fast. The ingredients in recipe will make a portion for a breakfast for two, adjust amounts if you need more or less.

Cherry or campari tomatoes are perfect for this dish, but if you have any other kind – that will work as well. And if you don't like bacon for some reasons - replace it with half spoon of butter, however I advice to keep it in, for the perfect taste.

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.

Chicken Soup with Egg Linguine

I think - and I hope you will agree with me - nothing tastes better in the cold fall weather than a bowl of hot soup. Make it a chicken soup and it will be hard for you to stop feeling warm and cozy even if outside it is raining since the last week.

Should I also mention what soups, especially chicken soups, are very good for the digestive system, especially if body is weakened by recently or ongoing illness. What can be better for the upcoming flu-season?

Lets gather the ingredients and make tasty noodle soup: Chicken Soup with Egg Linguine, it is really easy after all.

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.

Chicken with Pineapple Salad

This is one of my favorite chicken salads, you can also call it potato salad or salad with chicken, pineapple and potato. Whatever you call it, it is still delicious. After all, chicken and pineapples are a good combination.

I also found what fire roasted marinated bell peppers are good substitute for the home pickled ones in this salad, and good thing is: those you can actually find in the nearby shop. But you can also use homemade ones if you've got some.

I hope you will enjoy this tasty chicken salad as much as I did yesterday.

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!

Zucchini Pancakes

I prepared pancakes from zucchini, but they are also good prepared of any other kind of summer squash or even mix of them.

Soft and tender vegetable pancakes, they are easy and very fast to do. Perfect dish for breakfast or lunch, or for any other “hunger feeding” quick food break.

Odds are your kids will love them (even though they consist of pure vegetables)!

Greek Salad

This is the recipe of Greek Salad how I used to eat it. This is prepared of mix of fresh vegetables with a light hint of Greece in mix of oregano with extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice, enriched by taste and texture of feta cheese.

Please note, the recipe I use can be very far related to the original greek recipe. I never been to Greece and mostly enjoy Greek cuisine from what I can find in local shops and restaurants.

This particular recipe describes the way how Greek Salad is prepared in Russia, so maybe it should be called Russian Greek Salad instead :) Enjoy!

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.

Crepes with Fresh Cheese

If you've got some crepes left or thinking about how to make them more tasteful and nutritious then stuff them with fresh cheese. You can prepare stuffed crepes and store them for future in the freezer. After, all you have to do to get a fresh and tasty crepe with cheese is to get it out of freezer and warm it up.

The only hassle with this recipe can be to find (or prepare) good quark-kind fresh white cheese. Try Russian, Ukrainian or Polish shop if you can't locate it local supermarket.

Crepes with Fresh Cheese are good for breakfast or snack, also they make perfect food for kids.

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.

Herring Under Fur Coat (Herring Salad) Recipe

To prepare russian herring salad, “Herring Under Fur Coat”, you need to have whole salted herring. And of course you need to know how to fillet it, so read this post if you don't.

Herring Under Fur Coat is a word-to-word translation of russian name of this salad: “Seledka pod Shuboj”, which represents salted herring under a “coat” of boiled vegetables. So, as you've probably guessed, you will also need boiled vegetables (potatoes, carrots and beats) and green onions. In the rest this is 5-layers salad with a lot of mayonnaise.

This salad requires some time and agility to assemble it, also it needs at least 12 hours for layers to soak after it is assembled. So make sure you have enough time if you decide to make it.

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!

Potato Cakes in Tomato-Mushroom Sauce

Potato, mushrooms and onions are almost all you need to make potato cakes in tomato-mushroom sauce.

Original vegetables only (no-meat) main dish recipe which doesn't require a side dish.

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).

Stuffed Bell Peppers

My better half doesn't like fresh bell peppers, so I do stuff them with ground beef and rice and stew for a bit and here we go, it is his favorite meat dish.

Stuffed Bell Peppers are easy and fast to do. They are being served without side dish and are tasty!

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?..

Fast Salted Salmon

Even though it is called fast salted it still requires at least 12 hours to be ready for eating. So it is good idea to start preparing Fast Salted Salmon an evening before you are planning to put it on the table.

Due to the big amount of oil it is good to be served with simple boiled potatoes and bread.

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.

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?

Green Tuna Salad

Good, nutritious and light salad with tuna and lettuce.

An easy good way to watch your weight without feeling hungry all the time.

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!

Carrots and Stewed Mushrooms Salad

Here comes the first recipe of this blog: step-by-step photo recipe of amazing and nutritious salad with carrots and mushroom sauce.

This salad is a perfect dish itself, there is not meat used to prepare it, just a lot of mushrooms and vegetables, however it can be served as a side dish for any meat, poultry or fish main dish if you like.

Carrots and Stewed Mushrooms Salad tastes good as warm as well as cooled, leftover can be easily stored in fridge. Hope you will like it!