Ukrainian borscht vegan style

This entry is part 3 of 3 in the series Soups

Ukrainian borscht is normally cooked with meat )pork or beef) and is eaten with sour cream of course.

I think that sometimes it comes out way too rich and fatty.

I love to lighten the food and avoid cholesterol and its derivatives by all means.

Vegan borscht is a great analogue of Ukrainian vegan borscht that I published some time ago on my blog.

This soup doesn’t include anything meaty or fried. It’s a great comfort recipe for every day.

Cooking time: 55 minutes 

Preparation time: 25 minutes

Serves: 6 people 

Ingredients:

Pinto beans – 1 cup

Cabbage shredded – 2  cups

Beet shredded – 1 pcs

Carrot shredded – 1 pcs

Potatoes peeled – 6 pcs

Tomato juice – 2 cups

Red bell pepper – 1 pcs

Onion – 1 pcs

Dill – 1/2 cup

Garlic – 2 cloves

Salt and pepper – per your taste

Preparation:

Pre-soak the pinto beans before going to work or going to bed. So that when you are ready to cook the they will be pre-soaked and ready for boiling. Set the pre-soaked beans to boil, pick  4 qt sauce pan for this soup . Meanwhile: peel the beets, potato and carrot. Clean the red bell pepper out of seeds.

Shred the beets and carrots and add it to the boiling beans, then add to the sauce pan the peeled potatoes cut in cubes.

Chop the onion and red bell pepper and add it to the boiling veggies. Pour 2-3 cups of tomato juice into the soup.  Season according to your taste. I normally add 2-3 teaspoons of salt and 1 teaspoon of pepper.

While the veggies are boiling shred the cabbage and add it to the saucepan. Stir the boiling soup well.

The soup should be cooking for 25-30 minutes by now.

Let it boil for more 20-25 minutes and when all the veggies ready, finely chop the garlic and dill.

When serving the soup sprinkle the garlic and dill  on top of the soup. It will be just delicious.

This soup is served with special biscuits , but ordinary buttermilk biscuits will also work fine.

I served it with Uzbek flatbread. It’s very delicious and you can find it in pretty much any Asian or Russian store.

You can sprinkle the flatbread with garlic and dill as well.

Serve the soup warm and enjoy the flavors!

I pictured this recipe on my handmade tablecloth. The embroidery is unique  and made by my Grandmother for my 30-th birthday. I just love the colors of it and it’s very traditional pattern for Ukraine. Hope you  love it same as I do and enjoy the vegan Ukrainian borscht!

Love,

Vegan tender asparagus in orange sauce

This entry is part 3 of 4 in the series Go Vegan!

Scrumptious recipe, simple as that.

Asparagus is considered to be a luxurious plant as it not harvested for at least three years after being planted. Plus asparagus needs a lot of space to grow.Main nutritional benefits of asparagus is that it has  No Fat, contains No Cholesterol and is low in Sodium, what can be better?

Asparagus has number of health benefits, such as: anti-cancer benefits, heart health and anti-inflammatory benefits etc etc.

Asparagus is easy and fast to cook, so when I came onto discounted asparagus at my produce store I was excited.

I wanted to experiment and cook it without animal-based ingredients, as I usually use butter for my orange sauce.

If you don’t know how to trim the asparagus, it’s really as simple as snap!

Please see the video tutorial here.

Ingredients:

Asparagus- 1 lb

Orange- 2 pcs

Salt- 1 tablespoon

Black pepper- 1 teaspoon

sesame seeds- 1/3 cup

Olive oil – 1/3 cup

Water- 3-4 qt.

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time 5 minutes

Ready in 15 minutes

Serves: 2-3 people

Cooking Level: Easy

Preparation:

Wash and trim the asparagus as shown in this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhVEBsOWJDA&feature=colike

Set a 3-4 qt. saucepan with water to boil. Put your asparagus in boiling water and set the heat on medium. Boil for 3-5 min.Add 1 tablespoon of salt just 1 minute before taking the asparagus out.

Meanwhile, prepare the sauce:

Take the juice of two oranges, pour it into preheated frying pan, simmer for 2- minutes, then add olive oil, salt, pepper and oregano. Simmer for 2-3 minutes.

Put the sprouts of prepared asparagus on plate(s) and pour the sauce on it, cover with sesame seeds.Enjoy!

As you see I didn’t add no mustard and butter , which is normally added in the orange sauce. I wanted to make this recipe as light as possible. It’s good with brown rice or white rice.

The dish is light and is good for those working on their weight loss or for people with heart conditions.

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!

 

 

 

Soup with meatballs, mushrooms,spaghetti and cheese.

This entry is part 4 of 5 in the series Soup

This is a great warm winter soup. It takes only 30 minutes to cook, but it vanishes even faster than it took you to cook

 

it.

Cooking time 30 minutes.

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Serves 4 people.

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Turkey soup with beans, tomatoes and herbs.

This entry is part 2 of 3 in the series Soups

Great soup, if you have turkey leftovers from holidays or if you just wish to have a rich, hearty soup for lunch. Any part of turkey will be good (I cooked mine from turkey neck and some leftovers). It takes 30-40 minutes to cook and the taste is amazing. The key to great taste are tomatoes and herbs.

Serves 6 people

Cooking time :40 minutes.

Preparation time: 20 minutes.

Total time: 1 hour


2/3 lb of Turkey meat1 white onion1.5 cup of boiled pinto beans (boil separately or canned rinsed very well)

1/2 can of diced tomatoes
2-3 potatoes
1/2 of red bell pepper
1/2 teaspoon of cumin
1/2 teaspoons of basil
1/2 teaspoon of oregano
Pinch of black pepper
Pinch of salt.
1 carrot (optional)
3 quarts (approx.) of water;
1/3 cup dill

  1. Prepare the vegetables: peel onion, carrot and potato. Wash everything carefully.
  2. Shred the carrot, cut the potato in mid-sized chunks, and finely chop the onion. Set half of onion aside.
  3. Wash and chop the red bell pepper.
  4. Take a 4 quart pan, put the turkey meat and cover it with water (approximately 3 quarts), set on medium heat and wait until it starts boiling. Take away the scum if any. Add salt, pepper, bell pepper, carrot, potato and onion. Boil for 15-20 minutes, then, add the tomatoes(canned diced tomatoes) and spices: cumin, basil, oregano. (if you have fresh herbs basil ,oregano etc. – add them at the end). Let the soup boil for 10-15 more minutes and then, just before serving add the finely chopped dill.
  5. Serve warm, with toasted bread or garlic bread.

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.

 

National Sandwich day and my favorite sandwich!

This entry is part 4 of 6 in the series Breakfast fast!

This is one of my favorite things to eat for breakfast! because it is fast and nutritinal.

 

You will need :

 

1 egg

2-3 slices of cheese

2-3 slices of ham or Canadian bacon

pinch of salt

pinch of pepper

1 bagel

2-3 slices of tomato

pickles (optional)

1 teaspoon of cooking oil

Beat up an egg and pur into the frying pan. Fry until golden brown on both sides (3 minutes). when fried on both sides put the ham and cheese slices on top and let the cheese melt a little.

Take the bagel put the egg with ham and cheese on one side , cover it with tomato and pickles and top it with another side of bagel.

ENJOY!

Vegan spicy red cabbage

This entry is part 7 of 7 in the series Delicious fried veggies

I hope you love the colors of this dish: it’s so autumn and bright! My family members call this dish “weird braised cabbage”:-)

To me the red cabbage tastes absolutely different, than the ordinary green one. It’s more flavorful, tender…. mmm, it’s more autumn!

 

For this recipe you will need:

1 lb of red cabbage (shredded)

1 onion

1/2  red bell pepper (or yellow one for the color)

1 chili pepper (small)

2 tablespoons of vegetable oil

1 pinch of salt

Serves 4 people.

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 20 minutes

Shred the cabbage carefully, peel, wash and chop the onion, wash and chop the red bell pepper.

Chop the chili separately.(you will throw it in 3 minutes before serving).

Season the cabbage and squeeze it , so that it would be more juicy!

***Tip from Helen*** You can add 1/4 of shredded carrot if you would like to. I sometimes do.***

Start braising the cabbage with onions, then add peppers after 10 minutes of braising and 3 minutes before taking your cabbage off the stove throw in the chili.

*** Tip from Helen*** be careful with chili , wash carefully your hands and don’t touch your eyes when just worked with chili. Wash the knife and your cutting desk very well.

If you need during the cooking add some salt as well, I don’t as I don’t like too much salt in my food.

Vegan spicy sautéed mushrooms in 10 minutes.

This entry is part 6 of 7 in the series Delicious fried veggies

It is mushroom season, and I wrote a lot about (button) crimini mushrooms lately.

Button mushrooms have an excellent amount of selenium, zinc and manganese; all three are great antioxidant minerals. Also daily intake of crimini mushrooms for 1-2 months can reduce levels of total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, and TGs. And if you are not convinced yet then you gotta know that One cup of button mushrooms provides a good, very good, or excellent source of 18 different vitamins, minerals & antioxidant phytonutrients.

So this recipe should be fast and delicious for you, same as nutritional and helpful.

For this recipe you will need:

1 lb button mushrooms

1 small chili pepper

1 medium carrot

½ red bell pepper

½ white onion

1 tablespoon of vegetable oil

1 pinch of salt

Wash the button mushrooms (clean them if you normally do it).

Peel the white onion, wash the red bell pepper and chili, take away the seeds out of both of them.

Finely chop the onion, red bell pepper and chili. Peel the carrot, wash and shred it.

Now: preheat the frying pan, add the cooking oil, throw in the mushrooms, season and braise at the medium heat for 5 minutes covered with lead.

Add the chili pepper and red bell pepper with onion and fry for additional 5 minutes at the medium heat without the lead.

Serve on a leave of romaine lettuce separately or with a brown rice.

Enjoy!

***Tip from Helen*** I normally add little or no salt to my dishes, so add additional salt according to your taste if you need to.***