Kulich

If you've been to Pascha in Russia, then you've probably seen the dozens and dozens of kulichi in baskets waiting to be blessed on the holiday. They're a standard part of every Pascha basket and Bright Week meal, and are pleasantly versatile, working well when fresh and slathered in syrnaya paskha and when older, toasted, and eaten with butter, jam, or another spread.

A Pause in Posting

I am currently out of town completing a teaching certification course and I expect my life to be in transition for quite some time after, so I likely will not be posting about any culinary adventures here for a while. As sad as it makes me to write it, in all likelihood I will not be doing much real cooking until I am actually living somewhere again. That includes over Pascha, which is normally such a joyous time of baking and food preparation. Such a sadness, but God willing I am laying the foundations for a better future (and better cooking! ;-) ) through all of this running about. So, until the next time, whenever that may be!

Cottage Cheese Syrniki

This is one of my favorites from the former USSR, albeit in a North American incarnation. Normally - in Ukraine or Russia anyways - these would be made with творог ("tvoroh" or farmer's cheese), not cottage cheese. Farmer's cheese is usually less accessible where I live than cottage cheese is, however, hence the substitution! I've enjoyed these for years, so if you live somewhere with a similar issue this recipe is worth a try!

Apple Cake with Caramel Sauce

Okay, so here's the deal: I'm not a big fan of baked apples. Apple pie? Meh. Apple crumble? Pass the crumble please! All the same, when I was looking for a dessert to make for Sunday lunch at church this weekend I ran across an apple cake recipe that made me hungry. (I think it's the repressed American inside me - he just can't help wanting to be free now and again ;-).) Halfway through the baking process I started wondering what kind of a horrible mistake I'd made - apples? In a cake??? But this cake is the real deal! I can no longer say I hate baked apple products, 'cause this was amazing. Especially with the caramel sauce, but even without it!

Gnocchi Vegetable Soup

A lovely, warming vegetable soup for cold winter nights when you're fasting. (Or just being you if you're vegetarian or vegan!) This recipe is based on a recipe I found online for Italian gnocchi soup. Sickness is always stalking the house during the winter, so I threw some extra garlic in this to help stave some of that off. (Plus it just tastes good :-).) Less can always be added, or more if desired! Same for everything else in this, for that matter.

Quebecois Potato Pancakes

This potato pancake recipe is a blend of the recipe for 'crêpes à Nicole' from Julian Armstrong's delightful A Taste of Quebec cookbook and a couple of recipes for potato pancakes from online.

Creamy Potato Soup

I can't believe how long it's been since I posted anything! In my defense, life picked up pace just before old style Nativity and has remained somewhat hectic since as I prepare to move. That plus the end of the Advent Fast has meant I haven't been so much cooking as slathering cream cheese on things and pouring eggnog ;-).

Cabbage Bean Soup

Here's yet another fusion of scavenged recipes coupled with my own personal tastes. After the excesses of the holiday season a simple soup like this is both much welcome and much needed :-), and a good way to get back on the fast for those of you who are still in Advent, but didn't escape the American Christmas festivities unscathed. (Or unfed rather ;-).)

Roasted Carrot Soup

This is a nice, flavorful soup and great on a cold winter night with a piece of baguette. If I make this in the future I want to try adding some dill to the seasoning mix, and perhaps also some peas or cubed carrots. As usual, if you dislike something or think the recipe needs more of something else, then go for it!

Fe'asting Bread

We're officially well into December, which means it's almost time to celebrate the feast day of St. Nicholas of Myra (6/19 December), under whose protection I placed my family not long after my conversion to Orthodoxy. Having a patron saint for an entire extended family is primarily a Serbian Orthodox custom, but when I first came across it the whole idea struck me as extremely practical. I try to pray, but I don't do anywhere near as much praying as I ought to, and so asking someone whose whole life was and is permeated by prayer and who always went out of his way to help others to pray for my family just made sense.