Category: Cooking

Russian pickles with lemon, dill and horseradish

Cooking

I always mean to share more simple cooking recipes from my mom, as they are always very wholesome and don’t require a lot of time and work. Yet finding time to document it hasn’t been easy as Eleon shifted to only 1 nap a day and Ale is now rarely have naps at all. Fortunately, I managed to put together this little post while the cucumbers are still in season. 🙂 I think you will really enjoy this recipe. It tastes quite different from the pickles you normally find in the supermarkets in America as instead of vinegar we use salt, lemon juice and spices. I think in vinegar-based recipes the taste of vinegar is often over-powering. Here the flavor of spices and herbs compliments the cukes and neither overcomes the other. It is exceptionally quick and simple. And so so delicious!

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Summer in a jar – berry and fruits preserves

Cooking, Sustainable living

When we lived in California for 10 years I really yearned for seasons and snow. But now that we live in Colorado I wish summer never ended. I love everything about it – warm nights with candle lights and fruit tarts, picnics on the grass in our yard, flowers everywhere and of course all the fruit and berries!

Back in our dear Kazakhstan we used to have such abundance of fruit and berries that we always set some aside for varenje – Russian fruit and berry preserves. My grandma’s cellar was stacked with jars of preserves made from strawberry, cherry, currants, raspberry. And throughout the winter there were always little jars of various preserves at a table for a customary tea after a meal. What a life that was!

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Homemade applesauce

Being a mom, Cooking

I wanted to share a quick recipe for homemade applesauce. It is so easy to make, absolutely delicious and because it is homemade you know exactly what is in it (..or what isn’t). 🙂 We usually make it daily and it’s been great as a snack food for Ale as well as a natural sweetener for his cream of wheat or any other porridge and even plain yogurt. And while you can always buy organic applesauce free of preservatives, still nothing can beat applesauce just made from fresh apples.

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