Simple cabbage salad

This entry is part 4 of 4 in the series Go Vegan!

I used to get this salad in the kindergarten as a kid. It’s simple , yet nutritious. It’s considered that raw cabbage helps fight cancer cells, therefore you should eat it more often.

Preparation Time: 5 minutes.

Serves 2 pesprinkle the salad. ople.

White cabbage shredded- 2 cups

Carrot shredded – 1/3 cup

Onion choppped- 1/4 cup

Vinegar – 1 tablespoon

Sugar -1 teaspoon

Salt – 2 pinches

Dill – 1/4 cup

Olive il – 2 tablespoons.

Shred the cabbage and the carrot, add the chopped onion. Squeeze the cabbage well and add sugar , salt and vinegar. Chop the dill and  add it to teh salad. Sprinkle with olive oil, mix well and serve.

Tastes amazingly delicious with any dish or if you are dieting it’s a great snack.

Enjoy!

Love,

Light cauliflower soup with chicken

This entry is part 5 of 5 in the series Soup

This soup is light  and is a great comfort food. I like to have this warm soup for dinner after a very busy day.The best thing is that you can prepare all the necessary veggies when you have time (or buy the ready mix) and just enjoy the soup in 20-40 minutes. You can also prepare the chicken broth a day (or an evening before). All in all it’s agreat comfort food for the whole family.

 

Serves: 4 people

Preparation time 20-30 minutes

Cooking time 20 minutes

Ready in 40-50 minutes

For the soup you will need:

Veggies:

1 finely chopped onion

1/2 big shredded carrot (or you can just slice it width-wise)

1 medium bell pepper (yellow or orange)

4-5 medium potatoes cut in cubes

1/2 of large cauliflower (flowers cut separately into a mid-sized chunks)

Poultry (not  a must , but I cooked it  as a non vegan soup. You can easily eliminate all animal based food if you’d like to).

2 chicken thighs ( skinless)

Herbs:

1/4 cup of dill

1/4 cup of chives

Salt

Pepper

Preparation:

Wash the chicken thighs,take off the skin and cut off the fat.

Set to boil in a 3-4 quart saucepan, add the salt and pepper (I add about 1-2 tablespoons of salt and 1/2 of black pepper).Boil for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile prepare the veggies: Peel the potatoes, onion and carrot,  wash carrot, potatoes, bell pepper and onion.

After the 20 minutes are up and you see that the chicken thighs are cooked, take them out of the saucepan and let them cool down on a plane. (So that you could cut then in cubes as well)

Cut the potatoes in cubes (mid-sized) and add to the saucepan. Shred the carrot and chop the pepper and onion.  Put everything  in the saucepan. At this time, turn the gas down to medium-low and continue simmering your soup.

Take the cauliflower, cut the flowers of , wash them and them cut the flowers in quarters or halves (depending on their size).  Set the cauliflower aside, you will throw them in 10 minutes before turning the gas off).

Now work with your cooked chiken- just cut off some meat from the chicken thighs, so that they wouldn’t be so huge and  impossible to serve in a plate.

After cooking the veggies for another 20 minutes, add the cauliflower and the chicken into the saucepan; wash and chop the hers.

Stir everything well , taste for salt and spices.

The soup will be ready in 10 minutes after you have added the cauluflower.

Serve warm!

Tuna soup with beans

Tuna soup with beans.

The idea of this soup belongs to my in-law, when she was was trying to fix  s soup fast. Originally it  was different, but I liked the idea, and in fact it’s a great anti-stress soup.  So i improved the soup a little and voila: the combination of creamy pinto beans and salty chunks of tuna works just fine.
It doesn’t require high qualifications either , just chop everything and mix in a saucepan ;)

Preparation time:  15 minutes.
Cooking time: 45 minutes
Ready in : 1 h
Ingredients:
4 qt. water
2 cups of pre-soaked beans(overnight)
1 medium carrot (grated)
3 big potatoes (peeled)
1 small bell pepper
2 small onions
2 tuna cans
2 eggs ( hard boiled and grated)
1 tablespoon of salt
Black pepper
1/2 cup of finely chopped dill
2 tablespoons of sour cream.
1 teaspoon of vegetable oil
 Preparation:
Pre-soak the pinto beans (better overnight).
Set the saucepan at the medium heat and boil the beans for20 minutes ( they should be cooked by this time, if pre soaked overnight)

Peel the potatoes, onions and carrot.  Wash and cut the potato in cubes, wash and grate the carrot, wash and cut in small cubes the bell pepper.  Wash and cut in cubes the onion( divide it in two halves) Put everything ( except for the onions, put ONLY half of the onion chopped ) in the saucepan with beans and simmer for the next 20-30 minutes.

Meanwhile hard boil the two eggs. When the eggs are ready let them stand in hot eater for 10 minutes,then drain  and let them cool down.
Shell the eggs and grate.
When the veggies are cooked add the tuna, mix everything very well, add 1 tablespoon of salt ( this is to my taste, taste maybe you will need only 1/2 of tablespoon or maybe you need more), add black pepper according to your taste.add the grated egg and mix everything very well. Turn the gas to low heat.
Take the other half of onion and prepare the sauce with sour cream (2 tablespoons) , onion ( the half that is left) and the dill finely chopped. Proceed in this manner: start frying the onion on medium heat, then add the sour cream and then finely chopped dill, stir everything and pour the sauce in your soup.
Simmer for the next 5 minutes and your soup is ready!
Serve warm.
Enjoy!

Aspic or meat jelly – famous Slavic Dish!

This entry is part 7 of 7 in the series Holidays

This dish is very popular in Slavic countries. I have never seen it being cooked in the US, but I know that in European
countries is’s still quite popular.

Historically, meat jellies were made before fruit and vegetable jellies. By the Middle Ages at the latest, cooks had discovered that a thickened meat broth could be made into a jelly. A detailed recipe for aspic is found in Le Viandier, written in or around 1375.


In Poland, (known as “galareta”), in Russia and Ukraine (known as “kholodets’”), in Serbia (known as “pihtije”), and in Romania (known as “piftie”) aspic often takes the form of pork jelly, and it is popular around the Christmas and Easter Holidays.Any way how you call it it is really god and simple to cook, your family will be surprised by the new dish and it is very delicious when served with horseradish or Dijon mustard.I cook it with gelatin, but my grandma cooks it without gelatin just boils a nice thick broth with chicken feet and/or pig feet.

This Christmas I cooked it just with chicken thighs and added gelatin as I didn’t have time to cook broth for a long time.

For the dish you will need:

1 lb chicken feet(optional, long to cook but delicious)

1 lb pig feet (optional long to cook)

1 lb of chicken meat (breast, thighs,etc)

6 eggs

8 cups of water

2 boiled carrots

3 envelopes (packets of gelatin)

herbs (dill parsley , lemon basil, chives etc)

2 -3 teaspoons of salt (but taste the broth, because to me 2 teaspoons are fine)

Cook the broth with 6 cups of water, salt , freshly ground pepper (you can add some herbs, garlic and celery if you like). Depending on if you are using the chicken and pig feet, cook the broth between 30 minutes and 3 hours:-)

When the broth is ready take out the meat, let it cool. Gradually mix gelatin in 2 cups of water. Do it slowly and step by step, so that your gelatin wouldn’t turn into one massive gelatin ball:-) Let your gelatin stand for 1 hour until it dissolves into the water stir the water occasionally. (the water should be room temperature) (If you are using chicken and pig feet use less gelatin- 1-2 packets. As you wish, generally, just I like using more gelatin because it’s less trouble).  And by the way gelatin appears to be very useful for our body and health. It’s considered that gelatin promotes joint health and triggers human growth hormone. Although I didn’t find any scientific proof to it so far I am planning to look more carefully into this matter. Meanwhile let’s just enjoy the food.

After 1 hour passed take you broth mix it with gelatin and heat it at the medium heat until it starts slightly boil. Mix the gelatin broth mixture all the time.

By this time boil the eggs and a carrot. peel the carrot and slice it. Shell the eggs and cut the in halves.

Now the meat: choose which meat you are planning to use in your aspic.

If you are using whole chicken feet fine, I never use them neither I use pig feet. I chop the chicken breast or take the chicken meat off the bones (if I use drumsticks or thighs) and then chop them.

When you chopped the meat take the dishes that you will use for your aspic. Now in Ukraine we don’t turn it over like a cake and serve it in a dish just as you see. In some over European countries  the cooks do. It’s up to you yo decide.

Put the meat as the first layer in your dish then add carrot and herbs and the eggs. Pour in the broth and let it cool of a little bit outside of the fridge. Then put the aspic in a fridge for the night.

When the aspic is firm like jelly cut it in cubes, just in the dish and serve in a dish.

Don’t forget to serve it with Dijon mustard or horseradish.

 

Top 5 holiday vegan dishes. Pick yours!

This entry is part 6 of 7 in the series Holidays

Christmas is when you spend a lot of time with your family, give a lot of presents and cook  a lot of food. Even if you have a vegan or vegetarian family member or friend there’s virtually million of dishes you can treat them with. I chose my 5 favorite Christmas vegan dishes for the holiday table.I y will have them on mine. If you have any other favorite dishes you want to share with me post the picture of the dish and recipe link below! Happy holidays!

Green beans with sesame seeds.

Simple, yet delicious, this dish is great for holiday table.Sesame seeds and olive oil give the dish rich taste and doesn’t matter if you are vegan or not, you will anyway enjoy it a lot!

Healthy and Easy Vegan beet salad with prunes.

Beets with prunes have sweet taste, if you add a little garlic the dish will be more  more salty and this contrast will be very appealing to your senses. In addition to this this dish possesses  many healthy benefits, so don’t leave it behind. Enjoy!

Read the recipe

 

Pickled eggplants with carrots, garlic and herbs

Goes well with mashed potatoes and with broccoli, with rice and beans. Great contrast dish, but takes time to prepare.

See the recipe

Delicious braised cabbage with raisins

Great as the main and side dish, sweet raisins and bell

pepper and salty cabbage go well together.

There won’t be too much of this dish it will vanish fast!

 

 

Read the recipe

Vegan spicy sautéed mushrooms in 10 minutes.

This is a very fast to cook dish chop mix and saute and you have a great dish in matter of minutes. It’s up to you to decide if you wanna make it spicy or not! I like it spice with saurkraut `and cranberries on the side. Read the recipe

Homemade Sauerkraut with cranberries! Easy in 1-2-3!

This entry is part 5 of 7 in the series Holidays

I bet you bought sauerkraut in the closest supermarket to make hot dogs. It is sour…mmm, very sour, with lots of liquid in a bag…generally sauerkraut sold in stores aren’t to my taste, I guess you noticed it. And maybe there’s nothing wrong with, just I love sauerkraut with cranberries and onion and sunflower/or olive oil. It’s the best winter dish for the family. It’s great for Christmas too. It is light and goes great with meats and  mashed potatoes or fish. All in all you’ll love it at first bite because this is the best one you will ever eat!

To prepare  sauerkraut  you will need:

3 lb of cabbage shredded (it is one big white cabbage, normally…)

1 cup of shredded carrots (normally it is one big carrot)

1/2 teaspoon of bay leaves grinded

10-15 black peppercorns

1 liter or 33.81 fluid ounces of water

2 tablespoons of salt

1.5 tablespoons of sugar

1 cup of cranberries

Preparation:

Now you have to understand that pickling cabbage takes time, BUT! it comes out very delicious. A family of two will eat 1.5 lbs of cabbage in 3-4 days during family dinners.

I normally cook 1.5 lbs to 10lb. depending on t

he occasion that and mood.

Pickling cabbage by this recipe takes 3-4 days. In my house it takes 3 days , in you house it may be ready sooner or slower, everything depends on the place and the temperature in your house. The cabbage has to “sit”in the dark and warm place and you have to choose a container for pickling that will keep the cabbage pressed and warm during the process of pickling.

Step 1. Shred the cabbage and the carrots. (carots should be previously peeled and washed). Squeeze and mix carrots and cabbage, Put in a pickling container.

Step 2.Prepare the pickling mixture: preheat the water, when it starts boiling add: salt, sugar and bay leaves. Wait until it will start boiling again and turn the gas off. Cool the mixture and pour it into container with cabbage.

Step 3. Take the peppercorns and put it inside the cabbage as many as you wish. Press the cabbage and  put into a dark warm place. (I put it on my fridge under a wok frying pan)

Step 4: Stir every days so that the juices would spred evenly.

Step 5. On day 3 or 4 check for readiness. The cabbage should have  slight foam on top. Not a lot.

If the cabbage is ready, take the handful of it squeeze and put in another clean container. When you put all the cabbage into a new container, put washed cranberries on top and coverwith lid.

Serving:

To serve the homemade sauerkraut just finely chop the onion, take from your container as much cabbage as you need. add salt and pepper and 1 tablespoon of olive oil and mix everything very well.

Serve with mashed potatoes and with a bird.

Enjoy!

P.S. you can cook soup or bake a pie with this sauerkraut, as well as make a lot of salads. Just let me show you in my next posts.

Apple and prunes mustard stuffing for turkey chicken or duck.

This entry is part 3 of 7 in the series Holidays

This stuffing “lives” in my family for decades. I remember my grandmother cooking it since I was a little child.

Preparation time: 5 minutes.

Cooking tome: 10 minutes

Ingredients:

4 apples (peeled and cored)

1/2 of white onion

1 carrot

1 pinch of salt

1 pinch of pepper

1 pinch of cumin

1 pinch of oregano

8 prunes

1 tablespoon of olive oil

2 tablespoons of prepared honey mustard

Step 1. Peel carrot, apples and onion.

Step 2. Cut the apples in quarters and cut the core with seeds.

Step 3. Shred the carrot and  Finely chop the onions.

Step 4. Wash the prunes.

Step 5. preheat the frying pan at max heat. Then turn it to medium, add the olive oil, put the apple quarters, cover with shredded carrots and onion. Braise for 5 minutes at medium heat.

Step 5. in 5 minutes add the salt, peppel and spices. mix everything, add the mustard and braise for another 3 minutes.

Step 6. 2 minutes before turning the heat off add your prunes, mix everything and braise for another 2 minutes.

Done!

This stuffing may be used for any bird. It will be good with duck and chicken and with turkey. It may be cooked overnight or the day when you plan to roast your bird. Just  remember to not use too much stuffing in your bird!

Have a great holiday and  a great time with your family!

 

 

 

Diet meatballs with rice and herbs

Meatballs are traditional dish not only in Italy, but in many Slavic countries. The most popular meatballs recipe in Ukraine is”Fried meatballs”, but realizing the amount of cholesterol contained in this dish I prefer to cook braised meatballs with rice. I cook them in deep frying pan, so that they would be cooked through properly. Some people prefer to add tomato sauce to the dish, but I try to avoid it as well. The reason for this is a heartburn that tomato gravy may sometimes be associated with. This is a diet dish for the meat lovers, dress it up with herbs and serve it with mashed potatoes. I am sure your family will love it.

1/2 lb. minced meat (pork or turkey);

1 cup of cooked rice;

½ of white onion;

¼ of shredded carrot (use the small shred);

2 teaspoons salt;1 egg;

1 teaspoon black fresh ground pepper;

1/3 cup of fresh lemon basil;

1 cup of water.

Cook the rice up to the point when it’s almost cooked, but has 5-7 more minutes to be completely ready. Cool off the rice; add the minced meat and egg. Peel the onion, and the carrot, then chop the onion finely and shred the carrot using the small shred. Season everything and get ready to shape your meatballs. Take a bowl with cold water, before shaping your meatball put your hands in cold water for a second then take the meatball mixture and shape your meatballs.

Remember, before shaping the meatballs put the hands in the bowl with cold water, so that the meat wouldn’t stick to your hands.

Put your meatballs in a deep frying pan and add ½ cup of water, braise for 15 minutes on one side, then for 15 minutes on the other one. Add the other half of water from the cup when turning your meatballs. ***Tip from Helen*** Turn your meatballs carefully, so that you wouldn’t deform their shape.***

Decorate your meatballs with the basil just before serving them, preferably, when your meatballs are ON the plate.

Enjoy!

Top 3 Fall Soups

This entry is part 1 of 3 in the series Soups

 These three soups are the best comfort meal for the lunch in fall: it enegrizes, keeps you warm and boosts your taste buds. You can add lots of flavors to these soups by experimenting with herbs: basil, dill, parsley and others.

 

Vegetarian Pea Soup 

Vegetarian pea soup is good those days when you want a rich-creamy soup without any meat component in it. It’s a comfort food perfect right for the days when it’s chilly and drizzly outside. This recipe has simple ingredients and doesn’t require to be a skillful chef to prepare it.

All in all perfect autumn soup for the family. Read more

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pumpkin crème-soup with shrimp, cream cheese and basil.

It’s autumn and it means that it’s time for a great pumpkin soup with shrimp that I just LOVE cooking.

It doesn’t require a lot of effort but it comes out perfectly smooth, bringing in the autumn flavors and colors into your kitchen.

I tasted this soup long time ago in Europe, brought it into my kitchen and my family just loves it. Hope, you will too. Read more

 Zucchini crème-soup

This is a very simple crème soup. It takes 40 minutes to cook and your family will enjoy this meal. It’s a great summer or fall soup for your to enjoy! Simple and flavorful! It takes little effort to cook and it’s a really light  dish. It gives you energy and makes you feel good. Read more

Vegetarian Pea Soup

Vegetarian pea soup is good those days when you want a rich-creamy soup without any meat component in it. It’s a comfort food perfect right for the days when it’s chilly and drizzly outside. This recipe has simple ingredients and doesn’t require to be a skillful chef to prepare it.

All in all perfect autumn soup for the family. 

Cooking time: 1 h

Preparation time: 15 min

Inactive time: 30 min 

1 cup of peas

3-4 qt. of water

1 teaspoon of salt

1 teaspoon of black fresh ground pepper

3 tablespoons of sour cream

1 tablespoon of cooking oil (vegetable better)

1 medium white onion

1 carrot

3 medium potatoes

1 red bell pepper

2 bay leaves (or 1 teaspoon of crushed bay leaves)

Pre-soak 1 cup of peas for 30 minutes. (Use hot water and twice bigger bowl, in order for you to keep the beans in the bowl not outside of it:-).

Peel and wash the veggies: onion, carrot, potatoes and pepper. Shred the carrot and finely chop the onion and pepper. Cut potato in medium sized pieces. Put the half of the chopped onion aside.

Set a 3 quart saucepan with water and add the veggies plus couple of bay leaves, add salt and black pepper.

Simmer for 10 minutes and then add the peas. Boil the soup for 30-40 minutes at the low heat.

Set a frying pan and add 1 tablespoon of cooking oil and the chopped onion. Fry on medium heat, until golden brown and then add 3 tablespoons of sour cream or cooking cream. Braise for 5 minutes and then pour the sauce into the soup and stir very well.

Simmer the soup for another 20 minutes or until the peas dissolve in the soup, truning it into the rich creme-soup.

Serve this soup warm, you may add some sour cream in each plate separately.

I fry the fine italian bread cut in medium squares with salt and pepperand add it to the soup when eating.

You can choose to do the same if you’d like.