Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Wear green and enjoy this simple yet delicious food. You can't go wrong with corned beef and cabbage. This is what I made for our St. Patrick's luch:

I didn't make soda bread so just got some store-bought, and it turned out to be very good. 

Overall, it was a great special occasion meal but also easy to put together. Love it!

Rocky Road No-Bake Cheesecake

My honey's birthday was coming up, and I was looking for a perfect cake recipe. I browsed through all my cooking books but could not pick anything. Everything seemed just wrong. Suddenly, an idea came to my mind. Rocky Road! It is Dave's all time favorite ice cream and candy bar. It would be just perfect. 

The next moment I was googling. No-Bake Cheesecake? Hm, I made a regular cheesecake before, it worked for me but this no-bake version seemed easy yet delicious. I decided to give it a try.

Hello Kitty Cake

For Trinity's birthay this year I decided to make her Hello Kitty Cake. She still enjoys the brand, and it is easy to find all kinds of Hello Kitty ingredients in stores. Just a few pictures of the final result.

St. Patrick’s Day 2012

I’ve been off this blog for a few weeks. Not good at all. I would not say I was cooking something special to write home about. I am observing Lent and while there are tons of creative Lent-friendly recipes I’ve being lazy sticking to simple rice and veggies/salads menu. Nevertheless, I am expecting a great guest post from an amazing cook who will share her lenten and yummy recipes with us. So stay tuned. 

Lent is Lent, but there are also days that traditionally call for a certain meal. St. Patrick’s Day is one of them. We were driving back home from picking up the kids last Friday when my stepson Xavier asked if we would have corned beef and cabbage. That very moment I knew my plans for the upcoming Saturday.

Last year St. Patrick’s Day fell on a week day, and we had my father-in-law who brought lots of great food. This year I was going to try and make it myself. 

Flourless Chocolate & Guinness Cake on St. Valentine's Day

It all started at the Periodicals section of our local Barnes&Noble. I opened Food Network Magazine Special Chocolate issue, and I just could not put it down. The recipe for Towering Flourless Chocolate Cake looked so good! It asked for lots of chocolate and also some Guinness beer, both Dave’s favorite so that very minute I knew what I would make for my husband on St. Valentine’s Day. 

Last year I had kept it low key making just heart-shaped cookies so this year I was thinking about treating him to something unusual.

Orthodox Christmas 2012

My second Christmas this holiday season, and my second Orthodox Christmas in the States. We decided to keep it quiet and simple, have some food (and gifts, of course) and invite my father-in-law over for a family night. As for menu, Dave was really craving Thanksgiving food - I think because last year we skipped it (read here why). 

I didn’t see any problems with that but my cooking adventure started with an epic fail - I forgot to thaw the turkey:((( My fault, but my wonderful husband came to my rescue and while I was watching pirozhki being baked in the oven, he rushed to the store and brought two giant turkey legs already cooked and a nice piece of ham. I was saved!

Fish&Chips on New Year’s Day

New Year’s Eve in the States is not what it is in Russia: it is much smaller than Christmas, and many people put down their Christmas lights and decorations on December 31st, but it doesn’t mean people don’t celebrate. 

We rang in 2012 at the Embarcadero in San Francisco surrounded by thousands of pot smokers (oh well), with a good bowl of clam chowder (you can never go wrong with it), champagne (thank you, our snack bag!) and amazing fireworks. Not our typical New Year’s Eve but it was an experience.

Merry Christmas!

Last night I was staying up late and then I noticed that our radio in the bathroom was not playing Christmas songs anymore. Christmas is over, at least the first (Western) one. Hope everybody who celebrate it December 25th had a merry and joyful one. We spent the Christmas Eve at my father-in-law’s with the family, lots of food and Christmas music and movies. It was good to see everyone and have some peace and quiet together (well if you can have peace and quiet with 4 kids running around:) 

Upon my husband’s request for Chritsmas party I was making Russian salad (aka Olivier salad) and pirozhki. I’ve made it several times before so I won’t repeat the recipes. Pirozhki really worked out this time, and everybody enjoyed my food. 

Happy Halloween!

Halloween is just round the corner, and the Halloween weekend is in its full gear now. Last year I missed this holiday just by a few days but this year I can feel it approaching. We are not doing any Halloween parties (yeah we are that boring:), and the kids said they are too old for trick-or-treat. OK, but we are also doing Halloween our way. 

Last weekend we went to a pumpkin patch and got our pumpkins. The patch itself I didn’t find too much fun but I am glad I checked it out. Then the kids and I had a great time carving the pumpkins and just lonely my cleaning up the mess:) The whole past week we’ve been enjoying our Jack-o-Lanterns, and it is something really delightful.

Pumpkin “Envelope’ Pies

With Thanksgiving just round the corner and pumpkin being in season it is a great time to enjoy the variety of dishes you can make using this wonderful ingredient. Today I want to share one of my all time favorites: it is easy and fast recipe that allows you to make it in volume practically in no time - just perfect for throwing a party or having all your big family over for Thanksgiving. 

Творожная пасха / Cottage cheese paskha

Now when the main Easter celebrations are over I can get back to blogging. I can honestly say: this Easter was the best ever! I am very happy that everything I planned to cook worked out, my family enjoyed it and we all had a terrific day. 

As I mentioned in my previous post on Easter kulich, Good Thursday I was also making a paskha (пасха). It is a traditional Easter dish (‘Easter’ in Russia is also ‘Paskha’) made from cottage cheese - its white color symbolizes the purity if Christ and also the joy of the Resurrection. There is also a version that the paskha ingredients (cottage cheese, butter, sour cream) represent to Russian peasants the wonderland where there are ‘milk rivers and kissel shores’ (compare this image to the Promised Land). Paskha is a symbol of joy, life in paradise and blessed Eternity.

Пасхальный кулич / Easter kulich

Ready Easter kulichs

This is my first Easter in the States, and it is very exciting. First, Easter is one of my most favorite holidays, second, it is my first time celebrating it in a non-Orthodox country and also combining two different traditions. Quite a challenge! I am not used to all those Easter bunnies (they are cute, I admit) and egg hunt but I am dying eggs, baking ‘kulich’ (Easter cake) and making cottage cheese ‘paskha’. Those are essential elements of Easter dinner back home, and of course I wanted to make it here and also introduce Dave and the kids to this tradition.

Birthday Cakes

Princess Cake for Trinity

Actually, I am not a big fan of baking but I am sure nothing express love better than a homemade cake, and when it comes to birthday parties a cake is a must. Last weekend we celebrated Trinity’s 11th birthday, and of course, I made a cake for her - it was all pink chocolate & vanilla princess cake topped with multicolor sprinkles and a Tinkle Bell candle. Trinity totally loved it, and it made me very happy. Mission accomplished.

Happy Women’s Day To My Girls!

Today, on Women’s Day, I’ve decided not to cook or share any recipes but to write a tribute to the most important women in my life who taught me everything. They are thousands miles away from me right now but always in my heart and close to me. 

The Best Mom in the World!

Evgeniya, my Mom, the best Mom in the world, who has been supporting me in everything I am doing even when she was not sure it was the right thing to do. Being an amazing cook, my Mom taught me the most important thing: kitchen and dining room should always be extra clean. She is the most organized person I’ve ever known, and I can only hope I can be like her in that. Thanks to my mom I never left dirty dishes in the sink, know how to bone a chicken, make the best salads, eat healthy and enjoy it and do anything in the kitchen without a microwave!

Red hearts for St. Valentine’s

St. Valentine’s Day has come, and I wanted to treat my honey to something sweet. Plus, I was also going to see my father-in-law. So why not to make some cookies? Heart-shaped cookie cutter was obtained from Target last Saturday. Red food paint is the pantry. Yes, cookies, an all time favorite treat by a cooking anti-fan:)

My first Orthodox Christmas in the States

Here in the States people start Christmas celebrations just after Thanksgiving and some even put down their Christmas tree before New Year’s but for me it is a matter of tradition, culture and religion to celebrate my Orthodox Christmas January 7th. Normally back in Russia I would have a family dinner on Christmas day, but since January 6th was our 2 months wedding anniversary we decided to do Christmas Eve.