Author: Nadia
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Farmers Cheese Muffins
These muffins are actually a healthier variation of Farmers Cheese Pancakes. The main ingredients are the same, but the way of cooking is quite different. It’s baking instead of frying – a preferable way to cook in the age of fat phobia. I used tvorog bought at a Russian market, but farmers cheese will also…
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Boiled Corned Beef & Veggies
Not that I have Irish ancestors to celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day, but I really like this corned beef & veggies soup. It is simple and rustic, but very aromatic and filling. It does take a lot of time to boil meat, but if you cook in two stages, it’s really not that bad. The meat could…
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Carrot Omelet on Toasted Rye Roll
On a lazy Sunday morning the time goes by slow. You don’t have to frantically rush about to get ready for a new workday and then shoot out and along the street as a madman. No. You leisurely move around your still quiet dwelling with this warm feeling inside, the feeling of being-at-home-in-the-morning-without-the-need-to-move-anywhere-else. Oh my,…
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No-Egg Yeast Dough Pies
No-egg yeast dough is a real savior during Great Lent that started about a week ago and will last until Orthodox Easter. During this time one cannot eat anything of animal origin – no milk, no eggs, no meat, no butter. They say it’s the time of cleansing your body and soul, time of praying…
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Yeast Blini
Yeast blini have been traditionally prepared in Russia at Pancake Week (Maslenitsa). Before Christianity onset it was a week of pagan celebrations when people parted with harsh Winter and welcomed long-awaited Spring. Nowadays it is a week of festivities at the end of winter, before Great Lent that lasts until Orthodox Easter. People gather in still snowy parks to sing,…
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Impromptu Dessert Minis
When you are not inclined to spend hours mixing, grating, and baking, but still crave a homemade dessert, this improvised creation could come handy. The Muse of Improvisation visited me and pushed some buttons of my imagination. I rushed to my fridge where I had a cup of leftover sweet crumbs, the rest was done…
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Belyashi : Fried Pies with Meat
These small meat pies come from Tajik cuisine, but were traditionally cooked in Russia. In the Soviet era they used to sell hot belyashi from big pots right on the corners of busy streets, where hungry students immediately formed a line to buy a hot pie for about 15 kopecks each. It was not as…
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Red Lentil Soup
Red lentil soup is one of the fastest soups to make! And it is good for you because lentil is one of the healthiest world foods. You come home tired and hungry, you certainly don’t want to spend hours cooking, not even one hour, not even 45 minutes… This soup takes 30 minutes of your time…
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"Bewildered Turkey" Meatballs
Meatballs is not quite the right word. In Russian, тефтели (pronounced: tef-teh-lee) is the name for meatballs that contain a large portion of rice or potatoes in addition to meat. This recipe uses turkey meat, which is lower in fat and has a milder flavor than beef. To make up for this mildness, I went…
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Layered Mini-cakes "Isabella"
For many years these sponge-like minis were one of the favorite festive desserts in my family. Not pretentious, pretty easy to make, they do not require a lot of baking skills or fancy ingredients, yet every time a serving plate of “Isabella” excites a cry of joy in all the participants of a party. I…
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Spiced Roasted Duck with Fennel and Prunes
Despite Alex’s plea, I did not agree on traditional goose for this year’s First Night dinner. The flow of time is rushing forward so fast that we barely have a chance to start missing something from the last year, goose is one of those things for me. Even buying a Christmas tree is not that…
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Christmas Morning Pancakes
On Christmas morning the house is quiet, all are asleep after yesterday’s celebrations, the gifts are waiting to be opened, and you want to treat your crowd with something special. This time I had a recipe in mind that was inspired by the one found on Dr.Oz’s website, but modified on the go. These pancakes…
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Fish Soup – Ukha
When you buy fish at a fish market they usually ask if you need it to be trimmed, beheaded, scaled, skinned, and filleted. Well, if you need just pieces of flesh for a main course – yes, but not when you intend to make a fish soup. Ukha (Russian fish soup) is made out of…
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Fireplace Cooking in the Storm
Strange as it is, this sudden October snow freed me of a lingering writers block, hopefully for a long time. It was a fortunate coincidence (though she may disagree!) that Masha came to visit that Saturday, October 29. After a trip to Tower Hill Botanic Garden to see Ikebana arrangements that were magically enhanced by…
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Roasted Chicken Thighs to Die For
This roasted chicken thighs recipe was inspired by Jamie Oliver‘s TV series. This English guy is an extraordinary chef. I adore his unpretentious way of cooking, and I love him for his efforts to change school food and end mental retardation and sickness among children. He cooks as if he is playing a fascinating game. His style…
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Open Fish Pie
Baking fish pies in winter was a tradition in our family. Fish was abundant and readily available, thanks to my father’s rewarding occupation. He was a pilot of a small meteorological crew, and brought sacks of frozen fish and many other goodies from his flights to the north. The Soviet food industry was near to…
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Red Radish Salad
An advocate of minimalism in life, which unfortunately is possible mostly theoretically in our world of consumerism, I adore simple dishes that do not involve many ingredients. Some of those dishes come from my childhood in Russia, where minimalism was dictated by permanent deficit. Our memory carries on all our life impressions including food, and…
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Black Currant Ice Cream
Buckets of free black currants is what we were used to. Every summer we picked them in our own garden, ate them with relish (until our tongues ached) and preserved them to last through the long Siberian winter. In America currants are not easy to find, and when you do find them be ready to…
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Fried Smelts
Do not panic – this fish will not eat you. Just kidding…:) But you will definitely eat it with great pleasure, nibbling on crunchy tails and fins, savoring the tender meat drizzled with lemon juice, and following all this by a couple of cherry tomatoes and a sip of chilled white wine… Sounds good? I…
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Beet Smoothie Soup
This recipe has been brewing in my mind for awhile – a smoothie and a cold soup in one. The best part – it is almost no-boil, where most of ingredients are fresh vegetables. And the best best part is – the proportions are quite arbitrary, just flow with your desires and you will be…
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