Another year is passing us by, and a new one is just around the corner.

There is no better way to farewell an old year, and welcome in the NEW YEAR, than to do it with food and friends.

If you are planning such a fun gathering, and searching for some tasty appetizers, you stumbled upon the perfect site to get this information.

Since I am still dealing with leftovers from Christmas, I will not be posting new recipes this week, but will provide you with links to yummy recipes already posted.

Selection A:

• Tzatziki Dip
• Rye Bread Dip
• Hummus
• Chick Peas Vinaigrette
• Veggie Platter
• Ham Canapes

Selection B:

• Jalapeno Corn Dip
• Buffalo Chicken Dip
• Seven Layer Guacamole Dip
• Swedish Meatballs
• Texas Caviar
• Caramel Apple Dip
• Mrs. Z’s Deviled Eggs
• Pesto and Sun-Dried Tomatoe Cheese Spread
• Honey Apple Brie Bites
• Turkey Taco Ring

Selection C:

If you are looking for a more substantial food selection, in addition to the appetizers, you may want to check these out:

• City Chicken
• Chicken Paprikash
• Chicken/Turkey Tetrazzini
• Calico Beans
• Homemade varenyky/perogy
• Cabbage Rolls (vegetarian, or with meat)

I believe this list should be very helpful for you, and by next year, I should have more recipes for you to try.

Enjoy your party.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Ukrainian Christmas Eve is not only very rich in traditional foods prepared freshly that day, and shared by the family during the Christmas Eve 12 course meatless dinner, but also myriad of traditions are practiced before and after the meal.

This holiday was a lot of fun for children in the olden day, especially village children, as they had more freedom to frolic in the straw and hay brought into the home, and strayed over the floor and dinner table.  This act was a reminder for everyone of the nontraditional environment Mother Mary and Joseph faced that night, as they were awaiting the birth of Jesus.

Once the meal was all ready, and the children announced a siting of the appearance of the brightest star, the head of the household, normally the father or the grandfather, would bring into the home a beautifully arranged sheaf of wheat, and greet the whole family with a special greeting, and place the sheaf on wheat in the corner of the dining room.

Today, we usually have a flower arrangement with wheat stalks, or a dainty, miniature sheaf of wheat tied neatly with a red ribbon, and displayed in the home.

The above displayed picture of a miniature Ukrainian Ceramic Vase with Oats stalks, is my family replica of this Christmas tradition.  the Oats were grown on my Grandfather’s farm in Europe, and brought here on my last family visit.

A sheaf of Oats, rather than a sheaf of Wheat,  was our family tradition for Christmas Eve.  The sheaf was present in our home until the Jordan Water Blessing Day (Epiphany/Theophany), after which time it was sprinkled with the freshly blessed water brought from church, and given to the farm animals to consume.  Also, the Oats seeds were pulled off the stalks on New Year’s Day, and sprinkled at relatives homes, by the youngest boy of the family, visiting and greeting them with a special New Year’s greeting, to bring prosperity, health and good luck, in the new year.  He would be rewarded with tasty baked goods, and money.

In the city, these traditions were not possible to follow, due to small living space, so a handful of hay was placed in the middle of the table, or under a freshly pressed, pure white table cloth, rather than strewn all over the floor.

Kolach, a special bread adorned with a burning candle, takes the center stage on the dinner table.  Picture of this kolach was taken at a cultural display during a Ukrainian Festival in PA, prepared by an unknown to me contributor.

On the other side of the Kolach is a dish of honey, accompanied by chunks of bread, and peeled cloves of garlic (I use chopped garlic in flax seed oil).  Our family display also includes a special Christmas Eve wafer (Oplatek), normally used by Roman Catholics to share on Christmas Eve.  These wafers  are presented to us  by members of our family who also practice Roman Catholic traditions, as this unites us all together at least in spirit, on Christmas Eve.

This special arrangement is passed around the table and shared by everyone, right after we finish our before meal prayer, and  greet everyone with a special greeting “Khrystos Narodyvsia” -  Christ Is Born, with an appropriate reply “Slavyty Yoho” -  Glorify Him.

Another very important item for that evening is the Kutia. A  whole wheat grain dish, cooked and flavored by honey, poppy seeds, walnuts, and raisins.

In the past, the head of the household, would take a spoonful of the Kutia and toss it toward the ceiling, and the more of the grains that stuck to the ceiling the more bountiful the future crop would be.  This tradition died out over the years, for practical reasons of course.

Next dish served is the Christmas Eve Borscht with Vushka.

These special traditional foods, are followed by, several different fish dishes, including pickled herrings, a must at Christmas Eve.  Next you will be served varenyky (pierogi) with various fillings, holubtsi (cabbage rolls) with rice/mushroom filling, or buckwheat filling, mushroom gravy, cabbage with beans, other bean dishes, pickled mushrooms, kompot (cooked dried fruits drink), jelled fruit dish, and a nice selection of baked goods.

Pampushky (homemade donuts), were always my mom’s favorite dessert, prepared just before Christmas Eve dinner, so they were very fresh, and absolutely delicious.

After dinner, the whole family gathers around around the Christmas Tree to sing Christmas Carols.

Ukrainians normally do not exchange gifts on Christmas, since they already received gifts from St. Nicholas on December 6th, but in the Diaspora, the children receive small gifts from St. Nicholas, and then again additional gifts are exchanged on Christmas Eve, after dinner and caroling is all done, but before the midnight liturgy, which everyone is obligated, and encouraged, to attend.

Khrystos Narodyvsia – Slavyty Yoho!

Merry Christmas!

The Great Lent has began, thus many of you are preparing more meatless meals, during this time, than any other time of the year, and searching for new recipes.

If you are not used to meatless cooking, it could be quite challenging to figure out what to cook.

I used to be in that predicament in my early cooking years, but by now I would easily become a vegetarian, if only the rest of my family developed the same taste for meatless dishes.

To simplify your search for the meatless recipes I have posted so far, please click on the provided links below, or search my “Meatless Dishes” category.

Homemade Varenyky/Pierogi – Recipe & Technique

Whole Wheat Varenyky(Pierogi) – Recipe

Potato Dumplings (Palushky)

Sweet Potato (Palushky) Gnocchi – Recipe

Steamed Fruit Dumplings – Recipe and Technique

Halushky (Ha-loosh-ky) – Vegetarian Recipe

Pasta with Portobello Mushrooms and Sauce – Quick and Inexpensive Meal

Pasta With Stir-Fry Veggies – Vegetarian Recipe

Cabbage Rolls – Vegetarian Recipe & Technique

Fruit Filled Crepes

Pan Apple Fritters (Ratsushki)- Recipe

Tuna Melts – Recipe

Broiled/Grilled Salmon – Recipe

Veggie Burger – Recipe

Tomato Soup – Recipe

Ukrainian Christmas Borscht with Vushka – Recipe

This should give you an easy access to these recipes, and a good start for meatless cooking.

If you are not following the Great Lent, but love meatless dishes, enjoy these recipes.

Please share your comments.

If you like stuffed peppers, but are looking for a healthier grain, rather than white rice, Brown Rice, Quinoa, or Bulgur, are great substitutions.

Today I will share a recipe I recently tested, and loved, for Stuffed Peppers with Bulgur and ground turkey.

Ever since my Fat Smash Diet experience, I am really paying more attention to my eating style, and into wholesome foods.  I still use white rice, breads and potatoes, but periodically try to alternate with other healthier substitutions .

I also realized that I stuff lots of the foods I prepare, such as cabbage rolls (holubtsi/golabki), chicken breast, Green Peppers, beef, varenyky (pierogi), and many other ones, which I have not posted yet.

I guess it creates a more filling food item, almost like having a whole meal in one, and adds to its presentation.  Don’t you agree?

Ingredients:

• 6 medium peppers (green, red, yellow, or orange)
• 1 lb. ground turkey (or beef)
• 1 cup Bulgur, uncooked
• 1 ½ cups sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
• ½ cup chopped onion (one small onion)
• 1 cup fresh tomatoes, diced (2 medium tomatoes)
• ¾ cup tomato sauce
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped (or ¼ tsp. garlic powder)
• 1 tsp. Worcestershire Sauce
• ½ tsp. oregano, ground
• 1 Tbs. olive oil (or canola oil)
• 1 ½ cups water

Directions:

1. Put 1 Tbs. of olive oil in a large skillet, warm it up.
2. Place the ground meat into the skillet, and brown it up (about 10 minutes), stirring frequently for even cooking.
3. Add the bulgur to the meat, and sauté until browned (about 10 minutes), stirring frequently, to prevent burning (the bulgur wheat makes a lot of crackling sounds, while cooking).
4. Add the onions, garlic, tomatoes tomato sauce, oregano and Worcestershire Sauce.
5. Mix well.
6. Add the water, cover the saucepan, and simmer for about 15-20 minutes, until all the water is absorbed.
7. Uncover, and mix in 1 cup of Cheddar Cheese, until melted.
8. Prepare the peppers by, removing the tops and seeds. You can use whole peppers, but I  sliced some of my peppers in half, lengthwise, and used only the bottom half of the red pepper (as these were very long).  Fill a medium pot with water (enough to cover the peppers – about halfway full). Bring to boil.
9. Place the peppers in boiling water and cook for 15 minutes.
10. Remove from water, and drip off any excess water.
11. Place peppers in a casserole dish.
12. Fill with bulgur/meat filling.
13. Sprinkle the remaining Cheddar Cheese on top of each pepper.
14. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
15. Bake peppers, uncovered, on the middle oven rack, for 20 minutes.
16. Remove, and  serve.

Enjoy.

TIP: You can easily make a vegetarian version of this recipe, by substituting the meat with veggies (shredded carrots, zucchini, celery, mushroom, etc)

Did you ever have a moment when you set your mind on preparing something for dinner, and then you realize that you are short on the amount of the main ingredient?

Well, this happened to me today when I was so set to make some varenyky (Ukrainian word for Pierogi), and realized that I was one cup short of  all purpose flour, and had barely any sour cream available.  I could not stop my project now, since I already prepared the potato filling, so in disbelief I began to search my cupboards, and found  a bag of Whole Wheat flour.

I used Whole  Wheat flour before, to make homemade pasta, and it was great, just a bit nutty tasting, so I decided to use it for my varenyky today.

I used the same recipe as I already posted on this blog before, with the following changes:

1. 1  cup of Whole Wheat flour in addition to 3 cups of all purpose flour.
2. 1/4 cup of vegetable oil, and 1 Tbs of sour cream, instead of 1/2  cup of sour cream.
3. I might have used a little more liquid, to get the dough to the same consistency as with regular flour.

The directions are the same as for my regular varenyky, with the exception of rolling out the dough much thinner, so the finished product will not be too tough, since the whole wheat flour makes the dough a bit denser.

They looked tan, rather than their usual color, but tasted great, and after all,  were healthier for the family, as whole wheat flour is known for those qualities.

I sauteed a lot of onions in vegetable oil and butter, to serve with these varenyky, as you already know, I did not have any sour cream left on hand.

As the old saying goes “There is always something good, that comes out of something bad”, and this cooking experience proved that point very well.

I hope you enjoyed reading about my experience, and next time you just might want to try making your varenyky (pierogi) out of whole wheat flour as well.

photo credit: sweetonveg

The Great Lent began about two weeks ago, which means that those who follow this tradition, abstain from eating meat at least on Friday of every week, or some even do it on Wednesdays as well.

If you are like me, and are used to having meat at least once or twice per day, preparing meatless meals a couple of times per week might create a challenge.  I used to really stress out about this during my early years of cooking, but after a while I built quite a long list of meatless meal choices, and could easily be a vegetarian, if I could only win my family over to that eating style.

I have been posting some of my  meatless recipes during this past year, so if you are searching for ideas, here are the links to these posts:

Palushky (Potato Dumplings)

Halushky (Pasta with cabbage)

Vegetarian Holubtsi (Cabbage Rolls)

Varenyky (Pierogies)

Homemade Pasta (in the lower section of the linked post)

Crepes

Tuna Melts

Veggie Burgers

Tomato Soup

Red Beet Soup

Sorrel Borsch

If you are interested in a rather quick meal, there is always Macaroni and Cheese (you can add in some steamed broccoli, or any other of your favorite vegetables), Tuna Fish Salad, Egg Salad, Shrimp Scampi, any other fish which may be fried or broiled, pasta with steamed veggies, pasta with tomato sauce, pizza, PBJ, etc.

With so many different choices, the few meatless days during the 40 days of lent, pass by so quickly, that before you know it, you are back to the old meat cooking routine.

Sometimes  I actually miss a meatless meal, so I whip one up for a change, just to add a new twist to my meal planning.

As always, please share your favorite meatless meal idea with all of us.

One of the most popular dishes in Eastern European cooking is Filled Dumplings, known as: Varenyky,  in Ukrainian (also very often referred to, incorrectly, as “Pyrohy” ), or Pierogi in Polish.  They are made from homemade pasta dough, and filled with variety of fillings, but potato and cheese filling being the most popular.

It is definitely “labor of love” for those who make them from scratch, as it requires several hours of preparation time, but it is so well worth it.  The store bought “Pierogies” just do not measure up to the homemade version!!!  I was so proud of my daughter when she made these for the first time, without asking me for assistance.

These dumplings were made for generations, but if you ask your mom of grandma for a recipe, you get a very vague list of ingredients, and even less detailed preparation instructions.  The first time I made Varenyky, I also played by ear with measuring the ingredients, but with some luck, they turned out quite well.

Currently, thanks to Internet, you can find any recipe you can think of, but I will share my own ingredients, directions and pictures, so if you have the will power, you can give it a try, and enjoy homemade Varenyky/Pierogi made by YOU.  The filling needs to be prepared ahead of time, before the dough, so it has time to cool down.

Ingredients for dough:

• 4 cups flour (all purpose – King Arthur or Pillsbury)
• 1 tsp. Salt
• 1 egg (slightly beaten)
• 1 cup whole milk
• ½ cup sour cream

Directions:

1. Measure 4 cups of flour and place it on your counter top in a mound, making a well in the middle.
2. Add the egg, salt and sour cream into the well.

1. Using a spoon, start incorporating the flour from the inside of the well, into the wet ingredients, forming soft dough.
2. Keep on adding the milk slowly into the mixture in the well, until all used up.
3. Continue to mix in the remaining flour until soft dough is formed.  You might have some left over flour, depending on how dry the flour is that day.  You might have to leave some of the flour, or add some more milk to the dough.

1. Knead the dough for about 5 minutes, adding a little bit of flour so it does not stick to the countertop, but not too much so the dough does not become to dense.  It should feel like fresh pizza dough, or slightly softer.
2. Place your dough on a floured part of a countertop, cover with a tea towel, and let it rest for 15 minute

1. Clean you work area of the countertop, sprinkle generously with flour, cut the dough in half, place one half on the floured work area, leave the rest covered for later use.
2. Flatten the dough, and using a rolling pin, keep on rolling it up and down and side to side, until it is uniformly thin to about 1/8 inch.

1. Using a donuts cutter, or a rim of a glass, cut out circles from the rolled out dough, until all is used up.

1. Place the circles on a floured tea towel, and cover with another towel to keep them from drying out.

1. Form a new dough ball from the remaining dough left from the cut outs, and repeat the above rolling/cutting out process.
2. Once the dough starts to get too thick, do not use it for Varenyky, but you may make it into pasta or just discard it.
3. Repeat the process with the second half of the dough, which was resting during this time, until all used up.
4. Now you are ready to fill your dumplings with your favorite filling, which needed to be prepared ahead of time, so it had a chance to cool off.
5. Place a heaping teaspoon of filling in the middle of a dough circle.

1. Fold in half, and pinch sides together well enough so they do not open up.  If you do not seal them well, the filling will boil out during cooking time.

1. Repeat the filling/pinching process until all circles are filled.

1. Keep the finished product covered with a tea towel, until ready to cook.
2. Fill a large pot with salted water and bring to boil.
3. Drop slowly 8-12 Varenyky into the boiling water; keep close to the surface of the water to avoid splashing hot water on you.
4. Stir gently, with a wooden spoon, to prevent Varenyky from sticking to the bottom of the pot.
5. The Varenyky will float to the top of the water.  Do not cover the pot.
6. Bring back to boiling point, and boil for 2 minutes.
7. Remove with a slotted spoon onto a strainer placed over a bowl.
8. Bring it over the kitchen sink, fill the bowl with cold water and place the Varenyky in it for a couple of minutes, then pour out into the strainer again to let the water drain off.  Then pour them out onto a large plate to cool off.
9. By this time your water is boiling again, so repeat the cooking process until all Varenyky are cooked.

Potato filled Varenyky are best served warm, with onions sautéed in lots of butter, accompanied by a dollop of sour cream. YUMMY!!!!!

They also freeze very well. You need to make sure they are cold and tossed with some oil, to prevent sticking, before freezing them. I use a zip lock bag, and freeze one dozen at a time.

Potato/cheese Filling:

• 8 medium potatoes (Yukon Gold, Red, or Idaho)
• 1/4 lb Yellow American Cheese
• ¼ lb White American Cheese
• ¼ cup sour cream
• 1 large onion, chopped and sautéed in ¼ cup butter
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Peel and quarter potatoes.
2. Fill a medium size pot with water, add potatoes and bring to boil.
3. Cook until done.
4. Sauté onions in butter, until golden.
5. Drain water from cooked potatoes.
6. Add sautéed onions, sour cream, cheeses, salt and pepper.
7. Mash well.
8. Cool before using.