I was frustrated with store-bought tartar sauce; one disappointing can after another. Solution: homemade tarter sauce. Making your own is really easy. It’s fresh and amazing for fish sticks or breaded fish fillets. See those fish sticks there; yeah; those are from Costco. Maybe one day, I’ll make my own fish sticks, but for now; these are really good (the Trident brand). Sometimes I find that I eat more tartar sauce than fish stick (sounds gross, but this sauce is THAT GOOD!). This recipe stays fresh in the fridge for a few days.

Servings: Makes 1 and 1/2 cups tartar sauce
Cost to Make: $2.50-$3.00

Ingredients for Tartar Sauce:
1 cup real Mayonnaise
1 cup finely chopped pickles
1 tbsp dill (fresh or frozen), OR 1 tbsp finely chopped fresh parsley
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 tbsp finely chopped onion is good too, but optional (I usually skip it)

How to Make Tartar Sauce:
This is really complicated so pay attention. Are you ready?…
1. Combine everything and give it a good stir.

… the pictures are just for fun. Kicks and giggles are important.

Tea sandwiches are perfect for any occasion and people can’t seem to stay away from them. The inspiration for the carrot and cheese spread comes from something we tried at a Russian restaurant. I wanted to make my own version and I must say it turned out great. The canapes are especially amazing when broiled just until the cheese melts; lots of gooey cheese in this recipe!

Cost to Make: $6-$7 for the spread.
Servings: Makes about 3 cups of spread. Makes about 75 small canapes

Ingredients for Russian Carrot and Cheese Spread:
4-5 medium carrots (1.5 to 2 cups grated)
2 cups mozzarella cheese, finely grated
2 cups medium cheddar cheese, finely grated
3 medium/large cloves of garlic, pressed
1 cup real mayonnaise

Other things you will need to make canapes:
2-3 long baguettes (I buy pre-cut at FredMeyer).
1/2 stick butter, melted

How to Make Carrot and Cheese Spread:
1. Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add carrots, cover and boil 15 minutes.
2. Remove carrots from water and allow them to cool while prepping other ingredients. Once carrots aren’t too hot to handle, peel the skin and grate on the larger grater. Place into a mixing bowl.
3. Grate mozzarella and cheddar cheese on the fine grater. Add to the bowl.
4. Measure 1 cup real mayo and add pressed garlic to the mayo.
5. Combine everything (carrots, 2 cheeses, pressed garlic in 1 cup mayo) and stir well. You may add more mayo or garlic in accordance with your taste buds but I thought this was perfect.

Assembling Carrot and cheese canapky (canapes):
1. Preheat the Oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Butter a large, rimmed cookie sheet and add arrange baguette slices on top.
3. Melt and brush butter on the tops of the bread.
4. Bake 5 minutes. Bread should still be soft in the center.
5. Once bread is cooled, add the spread.

Ok, here is pure awesomeness. Try putting the finished product under the broiler for 5 minutes or until the tops are just golden. The cheese melts and the garlic seems to have a little less bite. Oh my goodness! It’s goodness for sure!

My son loves to chase me around the house growling “cookie monster!” He’s so fearsome! It’s the cutest thing in the world. Surprisingly he doesn’t eat cake or cookies (nope, not even Kiev cake or cheesecake!), but he ate one of these. That says something. I’ve had several requests for this recipe. It was actually sent to me by one of my readers (you know who you are and Thank You!). After all, what is a food blog without a good chocolate chip cookie recipe? These stay soft. Mmmm Cookie!!!

Cost to Make: $5-$6
Servings: 60-75 cookies

Ingredients:
2 sticks (1 cup) of unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
2  1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 cups (12 oz) milk chocolate chips

How to Make Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease cookie sheets.
1. In a large bowl, w/ paddle attachment, on high speed: cream together the butter, brown sugar and white sugar until light and fluffy, scraping bowl and breaking up clumps as needed.

2. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well with each addition, then stir in vanilla.


3. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt and gradually stir into the creamed mixture.

4. Finally, fold in the chocolate chips.

5. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto the prepared cookie sheets. Mine fit onto 3 cookie sheets and I made about 75 cookies.

6. Bake for 8-10 min in preheated oven, until edges are light brown (mine took 8 minutes
7. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 min. before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
Once they are completely cool, store in tupperware.

The Royal Bakery & Cafe is just two years young and we’ve recently discovered it. We were impressed. I guess I’ve never been to a classy Russian restaurant or cafe before.  The food is authentic and the owner, Galina, can sure cook! Her cakes and pastries are quite popular (get ready to drool!). Galina was kind enough to allow us to photograph her shop top to bottom and even sponsored a generous giveaway. Thank you Galina for your hospitality and for bringing your cafe to Idaho. I love it when Idaho becomes more culturally diverse!

(Pardon the glare:)My hubby and son waiting for their orders.
I ordered the Pelmeni. Mmmm. I could have easily eaten three bowls.

Park yourself on a cozy couch while choosing a cake for your next occasion.

Location, Hours, Directions

The Royal Bakery and Cafe is located in Nampa, Idaho, across from Macy’s. Because I’m no good with giving directions (i.e. “turn left at the tree and hang a right after the big grey building…”) I’ve provided a map, so you can’t blame me if you get lost.
Hours: Mon 10-7, Tues 10-3, Wed 10-7, Thu 10-6, Fri 10-7, Sat 11-7, Sun Closed.

THE GIVEAWAY:

Here’s the fun part. We are giving away free lunch for two at the Royal Bakery & Cafe! Pick any two lunch entrees on the menu FREE!!! Woot woot! Please enter only if you can actually use the gift certificates (i.e. locals or if you plan to visit). Bummer I can’t enter myself because I would happily get two more bowls of pelmeni.

How to Enter:

Leave a comment below telling me all about your favorite dessert. It could be Russian or any dessert that you wish you had in front of you. No recipes required but if you do care to share, I will throw lots and lots of kudos and thank you’s your way. One entry per person. If you have a large family, you just got lucky, because you can all enter. This is one of the perks of being in a giant Russian/Ukrainian family. One blessed winner will be drawn on Saturday, January 28th, 2012.

And the Winner Is….

Fedor, who wrote: “Cherry cheesecake. The bomb especially cold with a latte in the morning”

Congratulations Fedor! I’ll be contacting you shortly! Thank you for entering the drawing and I hope you enjoy your lunch for two! Let me know how you like it.

Winner was selected using random.org; a random number generator.

P.S. We now have a (reliable) subscription service. Our old one failed. Turns out I was the only one receiving email updates. Unfortunately, I can’t just transfer all my subscribers over, so if you were one of the 500 wonderful people who received updates in the past, please plug in your email here, or to the right (just below my picture).

You can also subscribe to an RSS feed. Truth be told, I’m not sure what an RSS feed really is. But I saw them utha blogs doin it, so I dun it too.

-Natasha

This punch is easy peasy. It requires very little effort. All you do is stir! I can’t really call it a recipe; more like a great idea. The punch may lose a little fizzle but will taste great for the life of your party. Make this for your next event and your punch bowl will stay busy.

Cost to Make: $7
Servings: 20-22

Ingredients:
2 (2-liter) Bottles of Sprite, refrigerated
1 (2-liter) bottle of Club Soda, refrigerated
24 oz tub sliced strawberries in sugar, thawed

Instructions:
1. Combine 2 bottles sprite and 1 bottle club soda in a large punch bowl.
2. Mix in strawberries and Stir.
3. Add ice cubes if desired.

It felt like that scene in ratatouille when the food critic took a bite and remembered his childhood, except I was remembering all the Russian weddings I’ve been to. Russian wedding food typically includes marinated mushrooms. These were just right; my Mama-in-laws recipe. My Dad was especially fond of them. He wasn’t very happy when he found out I took home the leftovers, but I assured him I’d whip up another batch. If you are making marinated mushrooms for a party, double everything. Two pounds of mushrooms may seem like a lot raw, but remember they shrink.

Cost to Make: $8-$10
Servings: 8-10 (Makes 6 cups of marinated mushrooms)

Ingredients:
2 lbs fresh mushrooms, quartered, halved or even whole if they are small.
16 cups water + 3 tbsp vinegar

Marinade Ingredients:
1/2 cup vinegar
2 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
3 Garlic cloves, chopped
2-3 bay leaves
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
1 Red pepper, chopped
1 and 1/2 tbsp dill weed (fresh, frozen or dry)
2 cups water
1/2  cup oil

How to Make Mushroom Marinade:
1. Make the marinade first (before rinsing mushrooms):
In a medium saucepan, combine vinegar, salt, sugar, garlic, bay leaves, ground black pepper, red pepper and dill. Simmer marinade for 5 minutes.
2. Add 2 cups water, bring to a boil and simmer another 5 minutes.
3. Lastly, add oil and turn off the heat.




Prepping the Mushrooms and Assembly:
1. Boil 16 cups (4 quarts) Water with 3 tbsp vinegar (or juice from 1 lemon) – to prevent browning of mushrooms.
2. Rinse mushrooms (immediately after rinsing mushrooms, cut mushrooms into quarters, halves or even whole if they are small) and place in boiling water. Stir, cover and cook 3 minutes.


Drain mushrooms and pour marinade over them.


Boil another 2-3 minutes in the marinade.

Cool to room temp and refrigerate overnight.

Enjoy!!!

Throw these skewers on the grill and you will see your neighbors noses peeking over the fence. They smell and taste phenomenal! My cousin Alla shared this shish kabob recipe with me. Apparently it’s quite popular in Washington state. Alla, I’m so glad you introduced me to this healthy and delicious marinade. The first time I made these skewers I thought they were pretty good except I forgot the salt! Salt is a wonderful and necessary thing you know. Ofcourse, I knew I had to make them again. And now, I will make them again,… and again, and again!

Servings: Makes 11 (12-inch skewers) or 15 (10-inch) skewers
Cost to Make: $18-$25

Ingredients for Marinade:
2/3 cup olive oil
3 medium lemons, juiced
2 tbsp vinegar
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tbsp sugar
1 and 1/2 tbsp salt (There. I made it bold, so you won’t forget )
1 tsp pepper
5 garlic cloves
1 handful of parsley
1 handful of dill (I used frozen dill and it worked well too)

Ingredients for Shiskabobs:
2.5 to 3 lbs chicken breast or chicken tenders, diced into 1-inch squares
2-3 large red or yellow bell peppers or 3 medium Zucchini, 1/2-inch thick slices
2 medium red onions, sliced into 1-inch pieces
1.5 lbs button mushrooms, whole (pick the smaller ones if you can)
15 wooden skewers
Note: you may also use Mexican squash or any other squash you like.

How to Make Alla’s wonderful chicken and vegetable marinade:
1. In the bowl of a food processor, combine all marinade ingredients and pulse about 15-30 seconds until well blended/chopped. You don’t even have to chop the garlic or parsley by hand. Don’t forget the salt. Done!
2. Mix Veggies, chicken and marinade well. Refrigerate for at least 4-8 hours or overnight, stirring occasionally. You don’t have to get up at night to stir unless you are having trouble sleeping (I hope that’s not the case!).
3. Preheat your BBQ (dust it off if it’s been neglected all winter).
4. Soak wooden skewers in a water bath for 1 to 2 hours before putting them on the grill. This keeps the skewers from burning.
5. Thread meat and veggies on the skewer and grill over medium heat with the lid closed, turning every 2 minutes until chicken is fully cooked.
Enjoy this super flavorful kebab recipe!

Notes: I used bell pepper the first time around and they add a nice pop of flavor and color so, yes, I would recommend them.

Merry Christmas!! Europeans celebrate Christmas January 7th; oh my the party continues! You don’t have to wait for a party to make these puff pastry cream horns. They are easy and super impressive. Mom has a large stash of these molds and we made trubochki together (i.e. she did most of the work while I took pictures). I purchased 12 of my own Cream Horn Molds from Amazon (I picked the Fox Run brand, but they are all very similar). They don’t take long to bake so 12 would be enough but it’s more efficient with more. 30 would be ideal; make them in 2 batches and be done with ‘em.

Cost to Make: $6-$7
Servings: Makes 60 cream horns (trubochki)

Ingredients for Cream Horns (trubochki):
1 package (2 sheets)  Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry, thawed
Powdered Sugar

Ingredients for the Cream:
8 oz tub of cool whip
4 oz cream cheese, softened at room temperature
3 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp lemon juice
1/4 cup sweetened condensed milk, optional - cream becomes sweeter with it and is more lemony (is that a word?) without it.

How to Make Cream Horns (trubochki):
Preheat the Oven to 400 degrees F
1. Unfold one thawed puff pastry sheet. Keep the second sheet refrigerated. Use a pizza cutter to slice the dough into 30 even strips.
2. Roll each strip out until it is about 2.5 times in length.

3. Wrap the dough around the mold, pushing the dough down to seal it as you go.
4. Place the rolled mold on a baking sheet, with the end side down so it doesn’t unwrap or puff up.
5. Bake at 400 degrees F for 12 min until golden brown. 6. Remove Trubochki from the molds and start the second batch.
7. Once your trubochki (cream horns) are cooled to room temperature,you can pipe in the cream.
Puff pastry cream horns can be made even 3 days ahead; covered and stored in a cool, dry place.

Making the Filling and finishing touches:
1. Beat together cream cheese and sugar until well blended (1 minute on medium speed).
2. Mix in the lemon juice until well blended.
3. Fold in cool whip until smooth and fluffy.
4. Place filling in a ziploc bag (or pastry bag) and pipe it into each cream horn, making sure to fill the cone. Hold the bag with an oven mitt so the cream won’t warm up in your hand.
5. Generously dust with powdered sugar and enjoy!

You could make the filling a hundred different ways. What’s your favorite?

Lena, thank you so much for this amazing recipe. We loved it and so did the guys at our church construction site (see more about that below). They were easy and tasted amazing! I ended up grinding my own pork and beef but you may use pre-ground. I prefer ground chuck or ground sirloin (“beef” sounds like mystery meat to me!). This recipe is definitely a keeper!

Ingredients for Chebureki:
1 lb ground beef
1 lb ground pork
½ medium bunch of cilantro, chopped
½ medium bunch of parsley, chopped
1 large bunch of green onion (1 cup chopped)
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 tbsp milk

15 raw tortillas

How to Make the Meat Mix:
1. I ground my own meat with the KitchenAid attachment. I used boneless pork top loin and boneless beef country store ribs, Fresh is best and there’s no mystery about what’s in it. Mix ground pork and ground beef together (I use my KitchenAid with my paddle attachment to spare my fingers from freezing).

2.Stir in the cilantro, parsley and green onion. Add salt, ground pepper and milk.

Assembling Lena’s Amazing Cherubeki:
1. Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium heat. Add enough canola to cover bottom of pan. Use two skillets to speed up the process.
2. Place a heaping tablespoon over 1/2 of the tortilla.
Spread the meat over 1/2 of the tortilla, leaving about a 1-inch border.
3. Brush water on the entire border of the tortilla; enough so you can see that it’s wet, otherwise it won’t seal. 
4. Press the sides together and seal with a fork. Flip the tortilla over and seal the other side with the fork as well to make sure they don’t open while frying.This is the result of little fingers that really, really wanted to help (and mom turning away for a split second).
5. Saute 3 minutes on each side over medium heat. You may need to adjust your heat settings (not all ranges are created equal), but they do need about 3 minutes per side to cook through. Place them between paper towels when done.
They can get a little juicy inside so be careful that you don’t get a lap-full of juice when taking a bite.

I took a double batch of these to our construction site (we are building a church you know) and the guys loved ‘em! They gobbled them up so fast, with ooh’s and ahh’s galore. I only wish I had made more! I love this picture; it looks like my Dad is running to get some chebureky. That’s our church in the background. I’m so proud of the guys from church who put so much time into building our new church. They sacrifice so much! God bless you all for your hard work and perseverance. And, I’ll have you know that our church is definitely accepting financial contributions to help us build. You may contact me directly if you are interested in partnering with us (even a little bit is definitely appreciated). If you are interested (and what kind of Chlen/member would I be if I didn’t ask??) – please email me and I’ll get you in touch with the right people: Natashaskitchen(at)yahoo.com. Thank you to all my gracious readers! God bless you and I appreciate you all!
-Natasha