Avocado Salad Dressing

This creamy avocado salad dressing somewhat resembles guacamole dip, after all it consists of almost the same ingredients, just in different proportion.

However it is much more spicy and more liquid which obviously makes it easier to dress salads with it: lettuce salad with tomatoes, avocados and shrimps is my personal choice for this dressing.

Ready spicy avocado dressing can be stored in the airtight container in fridge for several days.

Ukrainian Tomato and Cucumber Salad with Sour Cream Dressing

This simple salad with tomatoes and cucumbers is very popular in Ukraine, and I don't see any reasons why it wouldn't be liked in any other country which grows tomatoes, cucumbers, dill and sour cream with onions and garlic.

As opposite to summer salad with tomato and cucumbers with vegetable oil based dressing, this one uses sour cream and mayonnaise.

If you are trying to cut on calories – use mix of sour cream and low calorie yoghurt, or just yoghurt as a base for dressing, but, believe me, this salad tastes the best with real sour cream.

Spicy Guacamole Dip

First time I tried this green dip, it was served as a side dish to something very spicy in mexican restaurant, and it didn't impress me. Probably, that was about color: I never seen avocados before and their bright green color seem almost artificial.

Nevertheless, I tried it and since then these unusual and very nutritious fruits are very important part of my diet: amusingly they have more potassium than bananas, have high fiber content and rich on vitamins E, B and K.

This variant of guacamole is a bit spicy. If you want to make it mild: either increase amount of avocados or reduce amount of serrano peppers and onion; adding sour cream can help reduce hotness as well.

Beet Salad with Prunes and Walnuts

Beet salad with prunes, walnuts and onions dressed up with mayo or sour cream or both is one of the traditional salads of ukrainian cuisine.

Also, this dish is one of the not many dishes which uses beets as a main ingredient.

It is very important to use sweet and rich red color beets for this salad. So, when buying beets scratch their skin with a nail: dark red pulp under skin is a sign of good beet, not pink and not white.

It is also important to use good quality walnuts; taste before you buy them: old walnuts can be bitter and using such will make you salad taste bitter as well.

Potato Roast with Vegetables

Summer is here and summer is a perfect time to enjoy vegetables it brings along.

Bell peppers, eggplants, potatoes roast 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.

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.

Cream of Mushroom Sauce

I think that is one of the easiest cream sauces to do, but it is also a bit heavy due to usage of whipping cream as a main ingredient.

Personally I think the taste this sauce completely worth working out those extra calories later on. But it is for you to decide: try substitute cream with smaller amount of half & half to make it a bit lighter if you wish.

Cream of Mushroom Sauce is perfect addition for potato-based dishes: potato dumplings, potato pancakes or simply boiled potato; it will also benefit grilled or fried chicken meat or roast beef; as well as it can be served as a pasta sauce.

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.

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.

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.

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!