Carrot cake

Made it first time and wasn't expecting too much. But it was super delish! And healthy, I guess because it has a whole POUND of carrots in it! It's sweet, but at the same time, it's a way to trick your kids into eating vegetables. ;-)

Here is the recipe



2 1/2 C. all-purpose flour
1 1/4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/8 tsp. cloves
1/2 tsp. salt
4 large eggs, room temp
1 1/2 C. granulated sugar
1/2 C. packed light brown sugar
1 1/2 C. veg oil
1 lb. carrots, peeled and grated (tiny tiny!)

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat the oven to 350. Lightly coat a 9 by 13 cake pan with veg oil spray.  Whisk the flour, baking soda, spices, and salt together in a large bowl and set aside. Whisk the eggs and sugars together in a large bowl until frothy and the sugar is mostly dissolved, about 2 mins. While whisking, slowly add the oil until the mixture is thoroughly combined, about 1 min. Whisk in the flour mixture til no streaks remain. Stir in the carrots. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake until center of cake is done, 40-50 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through baking. Let cake cool in pan on wire rack about two hours.


 Cream Cheese Frosting8 oz. cream cheese, softened
5 T. unsalted butter, softened
1 T. sour cream
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/4 C. powdered sugar

Mix the cream cheese, butter, sour cream and vanilla with an electric mixer til combined. Add the powdered sugar and mix til smooth.
Or you can use this

http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=677753373225338482#editor/target=post;postID=3380414281172579936;onPublishedMenu=posts;onClosedMenu=posts;postNum=17;src=postname

Cherry nobake cheesecake

It's easy to make and very delish

You will need
Crust

1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs

1/4 cup margarine, softened

1/4 cup sugar

or you can just buy it

 

Filling

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese

1 cup powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup heavy cream, whipped

1 (12.5 ounce) can cherry pie filling (or

other filling of your choice)

 

Directions

 

 

.1	Mix together graham cracker crumbs, margarine, and sugar in a bowl until well incorporated and crumbly. Press into a pie plate, going up the sides as much as possible.
2.	Beat together the cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla in a bowl until smooth and spreadable. Whisk whipped cream into cream cheese mixture until smooth. Pour cream cheese into prepared crust. Smooth the top with a spatula, and refrigerate until firm, about 4-5 hours. Spread the cherry pie filling over the top, and refrigerate until serving.

Anastasia's rice

My recipe. Just made up yesterday.

You will need.

1/2 cup uncooked rice

1 big tomato

1 onion

1 can of mushrooms

1 2 cups of cured ham 

Salt, paper and seasoning for your rice. 

Directions. 

Cook your rice. (I cook it in a rice cooker) 

Cut your onion and tomato to a bite pieces and cut the ham to a long ...don't know how to describe it ... pieces maybe? See picture below.

Sauté veggies, ham and mushrooms with salt and pepper, you can also add some soy sauce (optional). 

Mix with cooked rice. And it's ready. 

Potato ham soup

My favorite ham potato soup. I found this recipe in a Weight Watchers book.  It's very easy to make, doesn't take a lot of time, and very delish.  Both my kids like it, and that's saying something, since my son doesn't like to eat healthy food! ;-)

You will need

3 1/2 cups peeled and diced potatoes 1/3 cup diced celery 1/3 cup finely chopped onion 3/4 cup diced cooked ham 3 1/4 cups water  2 tablespoons chicken bouillon granules Directions 1. Combine the potatoes, celery, onion, ham and water in a stockpot. Bring to a boil, then cook over medium heat until potatoes are tender, about 10 to 15 minutes. Stir in the chicken bouillon, salt and pepper. 2. In a separate saucepan, melt butter over medium-low heat. Whisk in flour with a fork, and cook, stirring constantly until thick, about 1 minute. Slowly stir in milk as not to allow lumps to form until all of the milk has been added. Continue stirring over medium-low heat until thick, 4 to 5 minutes. 3. Stir the milk mixture into the stockpot, and cook soup until heated through. Serve immediately.

1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste 1 teaspoon ground white or black pepper, or to taste 5 tablespoons butter 5 tablespoons all-purpose flour 2 cups nonfat milk

Russian piroshki

From Wikipedia
"
Pirozhki (plural form of pirozhok, Russian: пирожок, пирожки, which means a little pirog), sometimes transliterated as pyrizhky (plural from Ukrainian: пиріжок), is a generic word for individual-sized baked or fried buns stuffed with a variety of fillings. The stress in pirozhki is properly placed on the last syllable: [pʲiroʂˈkʲi]. Pirozhok (Russian: пирожок, singular) is the diminutive form of the Russian cognate pirog (Russian: пирог), which refers to a full-sized pie. The Russian plural of this word, pirogi (Russian: пироги, with the stress on the last syllable [pʲiroˈɡʲi]), is not to be confused with pierogi (stress on "o" in English and Polish) in Polish cuisine, which are similar to the Russian pelmeni or Ukrainian varenyky.
A common variety of pirozhki are baked stuffed buns made from yeast dough and often glazed with egg to produce the common golden colour. They commonly contain meat (typically beef) or a vegetable filling (mashed potatoes, mushrooms, onions and egg, or cabbage). Pirozhki could also be stuffed with fish (e.g., salmon) or with an oatmeal filling mixed with meat or giblets. Sweet-based fillings could include stewed or fresh fruit (apples, cherries, apricots, chopped lemon, etc.), jam, quark or cottage cheese. The buns may be plain and stuffed with the filling, or else be made in a free-form style with strips of dough decoratively encasing the filling.
Potatoes among American crops became very popular when the vegetable was brought and adopted to the Eurasian climate. Before then, the ingredient was not available as it took more time to acclimatize to continental regions like Russia and Ukraine. Before then, the ingredients would contain more vegetables and fruits, as well as duck, goose and rabbit meat, uncommon today"



I love them but it was so hard to make them and takes several hours! I've been craving them since I left Russia, but I never tried to make them here in the U.S. because of how long it takes just to make the dough. But I found a super easy recipe and decided to try it, and it worked out very well!  Yummy! :-)

You will need
4 1/2 cups of flour
2 Tbsp sugar
1.5 tsp salt
A little bit over 2 cups of milk (500 ml)
11 grams of yeast

Mix everything well. Put it in a plastic bag and refrigerate for 2 hours That's it!

You can use any fillings - sweet or non sweet. (For example - potatoes and mushrooms, cabbage, eggs and green onion, apples, any berries etc)
There are 2 ways to cook piroshki - fry or bake. I fried this time.

PS You can also use this dough for pizza crust.

Sharlotka/ Russia apple cake

Easiest Russian cake/pie. 

Butter or nonstick spray, for greasing pan
6 large, tart apples, such as Granny Smiths
3 large eggs
1 cup (200 grams) granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup (125 grams) all-purpose flour
Ground cinnamon.
Powdered sugar.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan with parchment paper. Butter the paper and the sides of the pan. Peel, halve and core your apples, then chop them into medium-sized chunks. Pile the cut apples directly in the prepared pan. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, using an electric mixer or whisk, beat eggs with sugar until thick and ribbons form on the surface of the beaten eggs. Beat in vanilla, then stir in flour with a spoon until just combined. The batter will be  thick.
Pour over apples in pan, using a spoon or spatula to spread the batter so that it covers all exposed apples.  Bake in preheated oven for 55 to 60 minutes, or until a tester comes out free of batter. Cool in pan for 10 minutes on rack, then flip out onto another rack, peel off the parchment paper, and flip it back onto a serving platter. Dust lightly with ground cinnamon.
Serve warm or cooled, dusted with powdered sugar.

Anastasia's broccoli salad

I don't know where I found this recipe or maybe even made up but I love it and even my toddler eats it.  Healthy and yummy. And very easy and fast to make.
You will need
3-4 cups of cooked broccoli (frozen or fresh) I'd say frozen tastes better for some reason
1/4 cup bacon crumbs
1/4 cup cranberries or  raisins
Red onion as much as you'd like (I know some people don't like it), I usually use a little bit less than 1/4 cup
1/4 cup grated cheese (any kind) I use Cheddar (optional)

Dressing
3/4 cups of mayonnaise (sometimes I use 50/50 - mayo and sour cream)
2 Tbsp of vinegar
1,5 Tbsp of granulated sugar 
Mix everything in a salad bowl and add dressing right before you serve it.

I tried to make this salad with hot broccoli and it also was very yummy.

Curried chicken

I love this recipe!! And so does my family! Pretty easy and doesn't take too much time.


You will need.

1 apple - peeled, cored, and chopped 1 onion, chopped 2 tablespoons butter 3 teaspoons curry powder 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup      Directions   Saute onion and apple in butter. Add soup, heavy cream, all spices. It will be your curry sauce.  Place the chicken and mushrooms in an 8x12 inch baking dish and cover with the curry sauce. Sprinkle the top with paprika. Preheat the oven to 350 F, bake your curried chicken for 30 minutes covered with foil and 20 minutes without foil. I usually serve this dish with pasta but it can be served with rice too.

1 cup heavy cream salt and pepper to taste 8 chicken thighs, cut into bite size pieces 3/4 cup fresh sliced mushrooms 1 teaspoon paprika

Golubtsi. Gabbage rolls.

From Wikipedia
"

Central European cabbage rolls

A cabbage roll (also stuffed cabbage or pigs in a blanket) is a dish consisting of cooked cabbage leaves wrapped around a variety of fillings. It is common to the ethnic cuisines of the Balkans, as well other parts of Europe such as Finland and Sweden, and the Middle East.
In Europe, the filling is traditionally based around meat, often beef, lamb, or pork and is seasoned with garlic, onion, and spices. Grains such as rice and barley, eggs, mushrooms, and vegetables are often included. Pickled cabbage leaves are often used for wrapping, particularly in Southeastern Europe. In Asia, seafoods, tofu and shiitake mushroom may also be used and Chinese cabbage is often used as a wrapping.
Cabbage leaves are stuffed with the filling which are then baked, simmered or steamed in a covered pot and generally eaten warm, often accompanied with a sauce. The sauce varies widely by cuisine. Always in Sweden and sometimes in Finland, stuffed cabbage is served with lingonberry jam, which is both sweet and tart. In Eastern Europe, tomato-based sauces or plain sour cream are typical. In Lebanon it is a popular plate, where the cabbage is stuffed with rice and minced meat and only rolled to the size of cigar. It is usually served with a side of yogurt and a type of lemon and olive oil vinaigrette seasoned with garlic and dried mint.
Popular among European Jews, and traditionally served on Simchat Torah, stuffed cabbage is described by Gil Marks to have entered Jewish cooking some 2,000 years ago. Recipes vary among Jewish communities depending on region; Romanians and northern Poles prefer a savory sauce, while Jews from Galicia and Ukraine favor sweet-and-sour, for example.<sup>"

You will need for 15-18 servings</sup>


 2  cups white rice
2 Medium Cabbages
2 pounds ground beef
2 eggs
6 medium carrots, grated (4 for meat mix, 2 for sauce)
(1) 26.5 oz can of Hunts Original Style Mushroom spaghetti sauce
4 Tbsp vinegar
2-3 Tbsp canola oil
1 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp sour cream
1 tsp seasoning you like (Veggeta would be perfect)
Salt
<sup>Directions

Cooking cabbage</sup>
 1. Rinse 2  cups white rice and cook in 4 cups water with 2 Tbsp canola oil and 1 tsp salt. Cover and simmer for about 20 minutes, or until all the water is absorbed.
2. Fill 2/3 of  large soup pot with water. Bring to a boil. Add 1/2 Tbsp salt and 4 Tbsp vinegar.
3. Peal and discard the top two leaves from each cabbage. Use a knife to cut out the core of each cabbage (see picture).

4. Put first cabbage in water, cork down, for about 5 minutes, then rotate and continue cooking. You will pull off leaves as they begin to soften. (bigger leaves will be a dull green) The leaves will cook faster if they are pulled apart. Remove the leaves to a platter to cool when they are done. You know they are done when they are soft and yellowish.
5. Repeat with the second cabbage.
 Reserve about 3 cups of water from the pot.

Meat mixture preparation


6. Mix ground meats and rice together in a large bowl.
7. Grate and fry 4 carrots in 3 tbsp oil and 1 Tbsp butter. Once they are soft, add 1/4 can tomato sauce and saute another minute.
8. Add carrot mixture to rice and meat. Add 2 eggs and 1 Tbsp salt. Mix well

Stuffing and cutting cooked leaves

 9. Large leaves: cut off center (tough part) – you will end up with 2 leaves.
10. Small Leaves: cut off the surface of the center tough part, just to flatten the leaf.
11. Fill each cabbage leaf with about 2 Tbsp meat mixture (or as much as you can fit – leaf sizes vary)
12. Large leaves: Roll the leaf into a cone shape and stuff the wide part into the top

Sauce

 14. Heat 2 Tbsp canola oil. Saute 2 grated carrots with 1 tsp vegeta. Stir until soft. Add 1 Tbsp sour cream and 3/4 cup tomato sauce. Saute another minute and remove from heat.
15. As you stuff your cabbage, arrange them either in the same pot you used to cook the cabbage . Pour sauce over the Golubtsi and add enough reserved water to almost cover them (2 1/2 to 3 cups).

My chicken salad

You will need

• 1 whole chicken (shredded or cubed)
• 1-2 stalk celery, cut into 1/4-inch dice
• 1/2 cup raisins
•  4 scallions, trimmed and thinly sliced or 1/4 cup sweet onion cut into 1/4-inch dice 

Directions
Bake chicken, let it cool off. Cut into small pieces or shred it (Tip: put the chicken in a bowl and use a mixer on medium speed, and it will shred the chicken for you)
In a mixing bowl, toss together the chicken, celery, scallions and raisins. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add mayonnaise (I add 50/50 sour cream-mayonnaise)

I've been having weird food cravings recently and I really wanted chicken salad in taco shells. We tried and we loved it! So yummy!

15 minutes pizza

First I want to say it not like regular pizza. Dough tastes different but still yummy.
You will need
Dough

• 4 TB flour
• 4 TB sour cream
• 1 egg   
• a little bit of salt

Mix everything together, put in the frying pan, add pizza sauce and your favorite toppings and fry over a low heat 10 minutes. And it's ready!

Homemade Bisquick mix

6 cups all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons baking powder
1 tablespoon salt
1 cup vegetable shortening

Directions:

1
Sift flour, baking powder and salt three times into a large bowl.
2
Cut in shortening with a pastry blender until mixture resembles fine crumbs.
3
Store mixture in airtight container in the refrigerator up to 4 months.
4
Use whenever your recipe calls for "Bisquick mix".

My favorite recipe of apple crisp.

Ingredients

4

medium tart cooking apples, sliced (4 cups)

3/4

cup packed brown sugar

1/2

cup Gold Medal® all-purpose flour

1/2

cup quick-cooking or old-fashioned oats

1/3

cup butter or margarine, softened

3/4

teaspoon ground cinnamon

3/4

teaspoon ground nutmeg

Cream or Ice cream, if desired 

 

 Directions

 

 

• 1 Heat oven to 375ºF. Grease bottom and sides of 8-inch square pan with shortening.
• 2 Spread apples in pan. In medium bowl, stir remaining ingredients except cream until well mixed; sprinkle over apples.

3 Bake about 30 minutes or until topping is golden brown and apples are tender when pierced with a fork. Serve warm with cream.

 

 

 

 

More printables

Another quote I like and pretty printable.  :-)

Kompot

From Wikipedia
Kompot is a non-alcoholic clear juice obtained by cooking fruit in a large volume of water, like strawberries, apricots, peaches, apples, rhubarb, gooseberries, or sour cherries.

In Russia we have dried fruits for kompot - here I couldn't find  that kind so I use fresh fruits.
Recipe is very simple - wash fruits or/and berries. Put them  in a pot, add water and sugar and boil for about an hour. Let it stay overnight and then you need to refrigerate it...or your juice will become alcoholic ;-)

Russian solyanka

From Wikipedia
Solyanka (Russian, Ukrainian: соля́нка; [sɐlˈjankə]) is a thick, spicy and sour soup in Russian and Ukrainian cuisine.
There are three basic types of solyanka, with the main ingredient being either meat, fish, or mushrooms. All of them contain pickled cucumbers with brine, and often cabbage, salted mushrooms, smetana (sour cream), and dill. The soup is prepared by cooking the cucumbers with brine before adding the other ingredients to the broth.


Okay Wikipedia is confusing me. Solyanka in our family is not a soup. Yes, it's thick but I woudn't call it soup. My mom has her own recipe and I love it. No cucumbers! She taught me how to cook it. So this recipe is 90% hers (I changed some things)
You will need.

• 1 lb smocked sausage (you can use any meat - chicken, lamb, stewing beef etc. Last time I made it I used leftovers beef roast and some pepperoni )

• 1 carrot
• 1 onion
• 3 potatoes
• 1 head of cabbage
• 1 tomato
• 1/2 cup tomato sauce/puree
• salt and pepper to taste  

Directions

Cut, peel and rinse all veggies. In one frying pan mix meat, carrot, tomato,onion add some oil and saute  10-15 minutes. In separate frying pan - cabbage and saute it until it shrinks. Add 1/2 cup of tomato sauce/puree. So you will have 2 frying pans with ready to go stuff.

Boil your potatoes (bite pieces) until it's ready. Don't add too much water or you will get a soup.  When it's ready add your 2 frying pans of cabbage and veggies+meat. Add salt and pepper. Mix well. Let it boil 15 minutes. And it's ready! You can add mushrooms (optional)[

My husband doesn't like vegetables.  So I was concern about his reaction on this dish. He said it's otlichno (means great) And I liked it so much I (ahem) just had it for breakfast. :-)                                                                                

Sautéed cabbage (before I added tomato sauce)

Solyanka is almost ready (before I added cabbage)

Russian carrot salad

Great for kids because it's veggies and it sweet so they usually eat it and enjoy it.
You will need

1. 3 carrots, shredded
2.  2 clove garlic (use garlic press)
3. Sour cream (as much as you want)
4. Sugar to taste

Stir together the carrots, garlic,sugar and sour creame until evenly blended. Serve.

That's it. Very simple.

 

Whipped cream cheese frosting

My favorite whipped cream cheese frosting! So delicious! I could just eat it with no cake LOL
Here is the recipe
16oz cream cheese, room temperature
1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup heavy cream, cold. Higher the fat content, the better
Beat the cheese, sugar and vanilla until smooth and fluffy. In a separate bowl, beat the heavy cream to nearly stiff peaks, then add the whipped cream into the cheese mixture and quickly and briefly beat to combine. Do not over beat.
Using this recipe you will get enough frosting for 2 13by9 inches cakes. So A LOT!

Russian lazy dumplings.

Very fast to make, easy to cook and yummy to eat!
I use this recipe.

8	oz cottage cheese (tvorog)
2	TBsp sugar
2	large eggs
1	cup flour

  Directions

1. Bring to boil 2-3 quarts water, add some salt.
   
2. Meanwhile, combine tvorog with eggs, pinch of salt and sugar, vanilla (optional) And enough flour to make soft dough, that doesn't stick to your fingers. Divide the dough in halves, gently roll each part into 1' thick log, cut in 1/2' pieces with sharp knife.
   
3. Cook the dumplings in small batches in boiled water about 2-3 minutes, just let them float top and let water boil again. Gently remove with slotted spoon.                                                            You can freeze them and then boil (without defrosting) .I serve them with sour cream but jam or apple butter will work too. They are perfect as a kids meal. My 2 year old loves them!

 

Personalized tote for only 0,99c!

I just ordered mine

It was 0,99c. You just need to enter promo code 99tote. I think it's a great deal. :-)
Here is the link
http://www.yorkphoto.com/Content.aspx?Page=99TOTE&PK=e0e04a5e-5062-405d-aeb0-aa379be6bd58#.UeaPyW1DBec

Plov/Pilaf

From Wikipedia
Pilaf (also known as pulaw, pulao, polow, plov and pilav) is a dish in which rice is cooked in a seasoned broth.^[1] In some cases, the rice may also attain its brown color by being stirred with bits of cooked onion, as well as a large mix of spices. Depending on the local cuisine, it may also contain meat and vegetables.
Pilaf and similar dishes are common to Balkan, Middle Eastern, Central and South Asian, East African, Latin American, and Caribbean cuisines.

I cooked huge beef roast this Sunday and it turned out great. But it was too much for our small family and of course we had a lot of leftovers.  So I decided to cook Plov. I didn't have recipe so this is what I did...
You will need
2 cups of uncooked rice
1 carrot
1 small onion
1,5 cup cooked meat (I used beef) chicken,pork or lamb will work. Lamb actually would be perfect.
Salt, pepper to taste
A little bit of paprika and a little bit of rice seasoning. (I used Ukrainian)

Derections
Saute onion and carrot with a little bit of oil.
In a pot mix water, rice, meat and add sauteed onion and carrot. Boil until rice is cooked. Don't forget to add seasonings. 
I cooked Plov in multicooker. I use it to cook everything except desert. http://www.overstock.com/Home-Garden/Cuisinart-FRC-800-Fuzzy-Logic-Technology-Rice-Plus-Multi-cooker/4816959/product.html
It's so simple and healthy. My husband (pasta lover) says Plov was great. :-)

Syrniki.

From Wikipedia
In Russian, Belarusian, Lithuanian, Polish, and Ukrainian cuisines, syrniki (Russian: сы́рник[и]; Ukrainian: сирники; Belarusian: сырнікі) are fried quark pancakes, garnished with sour cream, jam, honey, or apple sauce. The cheese mixture may contain raisins for extra flavor. In Russia they are also known as tvorozhniki (творо́жники).

Russian Syrniki with Kissel

Syrniki are made from creamy quark, mixed with flour, eggs, and sugar, sometimes adding vanilla extract. The soft mixture is shaped into cakes, which are fried, generally in vegetable oil. The outside becomes crisp, and the center is warm and creamy. They are sweet and served for breakfast or dessert. Their simplicity and relative lack of expensive ingredients makes them very popular in Eastern Europe.^{[neutrality is disputed]}.
The name syrniki is derived from the word сыр in Russian or сир in Ukrainian (transliteration: syr), meaning "cheese" in both languages. Although the modern meaning of the word сыр (syr) in Russian is hard yellow cheese, the original word in Slavic languages stood for soft white cheese (similar to today's quark cheese, which is still called сир in Ukrainian but metamorphosed into творог, tvorog in Russian).^[1] Thus, the word syrniki, derived from the old meaning of syr, came to designate pancakes made from soft white cheese.
  My recipe
You will need
16 oz of cottage cheese
1 egg
Sugar to taste (I usually use 1/2 cup)
1 teaspoon of backing powder
2 cups of flour
Oil or butter for frying
I simply mix everything in a bowl, form patties from the dough  and fry them on each side in preheated oil until they are golden. 
 You will need to add more oil/ butter as you go.

Serve with sour cream.

Marshmallow treats

Couple friends asked if I can post a tutorial on how to make those marshmallow treats I made for baby shower. Here we go.
You will need

• Cookie/lollipop sticks/ paper straws (found at Michaels)
• Marshmallows
• White chocolate melts (found at Michaels)
• Food color (found at Michaels)
• Sprinkles and other food decor

First you need to prepare your marshmallows.
 Cut a small slit...don't poke! Insert paper straw /cookie stick. Then put them to a frizer for 15-20 minutes.

 Meanwhile, melt the chocolate melts (I'd recommend double boiler). Add food color (I planned make them blue and pink but my son "helped" and it turned out blue and purple :-)) Then dip your frozen marshmallows in your chocolate (as fast as you can).And then roll in sprinkles or whatever you have (coconut, etc)
And they are ready!! It took 20 minutes to make them.

Thank you Oreo much!

Sometimes I want to thank people I barely know and don't really know how. There is a family in our ward (church congregation, for those who don't know I'm LDS aka Mormons) who babysat our son 2 times and they don't want to take money. And I don't feel very comfortable about it because I feel (and want) to do something back.  So I came up with this idea. It took me 20 minutes total to complete it.
I bought this

No bake, takes 15 minutes to make. Very yummy and light. I love filling:-)
And the I created this tag.

Used some green ribbon to attach it to the dish and voila!
Unfortunately I didn't take a picture of my thank you gift because I had to run. :-(

Napoleon.

Very popular and traditional Russian cake. Super YUMMY!!
A little bit of history.
The cake did originate in France. But not because of Napoleon Bonaparte. The French call the cake Mille-Fueille, which means "thousand leaf." It is also called the vanilla-slice, cream-slice, and custard-slice in the UK.
The cake originated from France in 1651, which was nearly 100 years before Bonaparte was even born. This clearly proves Napoleon had nothing to do with the naming of the cake, or even its origination (which is still unknown, save for where and when. As for who made it originally, no one knows).
I ate it once here (USA) on New Year celebration 2013, bought it in my fav Russian grocery store.  Bread loaf size was like $10.
And it looked like this.

It was so so so yummy!!!
I never tried to make it myself because look at those layers!! Time and fear that it won't turn out prevent me from trying and make it.
BUT i was craving it so much yesterday - I decided to try. I used this recipe.

Ingredients:

For Pastry:

• 1 egg
• ¾ cup water
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• Pinch of salt
• 18 tablespoons (1cup +2 tablespoons, or 250gr) unsalted butter, cold
• 3 cups (500gr) flour

For Filling:

• 1 cup milk
• 1 tablespoon flour
• 1 ½ cups sugar
• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:

Pastry:

1. Mix together the egg, water, baking soda and salt.
2. Blend cold butter cubes with flour. Add egg mixture and mix until well combined.
3. Divide the dough into 5 equal pieces.  Wrap each ball in a plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30-60 minutes.
4. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
5. Roll each dough ball into 10-inch circle on slightly floured surface. Transfer it onto a baking sheet and pierce it with a fork everywhere.
6. Bake each layer for 10-12 minutes, or until golden brown.

Filling:

1. Mix flour and milk and whisk until well combined. Bring it to boil on medium heat, stirring frequently. Once the milk mixture is thick, let it to cool completely.
2. Beat softened butter and sugar until sugar is mostly melted. Add vanilla extract.
3. Add cooled milk mixture and beat everything on high speed until well combined.

Assembly:

1. Once every layer is baked and cooled, trim each layer, using a 9-inch round plate.  Save the leftover crust edges.
2. Spread the filling between each layer and stack them up on top of each other.
3. Frost the entire cake with the remaining filling.
4. Crush the saved crust edges into crumbs, using rolling pin or blender.
5. Sprinkle the crust crumbs all over the cake. 

Here is some pictures from my cooking

Making pastry. I used this metal thing to cup cold  (name? if somebody know please)

Making filling

Of course my toddler helped. A lot. Mostly eating uncooked stuff LOL

And of course he got a reward for his help - lick the spoon/beater. 

Forming dough balls.

Result.

My review.

It took me at least 2 hours if not longer to make it. I didn't have enough filling so it's a little bit dry. It was hard to roll those dough balls into circles. the recipe doesn't say anything but they are supposed to be thin. I'd say 6-7 layers would be better. Other than that the cake is yummy.
Next time I will just buy ready to go dough and filling and just assemble it. Too much work especially if you have young kids and they distract you all the time. ;-)

I found a different recipe but didn't try it.

Ingredients

---

• For pastry:
• ==========
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup sour cream (regular or light)
• 2 sticks unsalted butter
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/3 tsp baking soda
• 1 tbsp white vinegar
• all-purpose flour enough to make soft dough
• For cream:
• ==========
• 1 1/2 quarts of whole milk
• 1 cup of milk (this is not a mistake)
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 4 egg yolks
• 4 very full tbsp flour
• Pinch of salt
• 1 shot of vodka, brandy, or rum
• (Amaretto or Bailey's are also good)
• 1 lemon (zest only)
• vanilla essence or vanilla powder to taste
• Pinch of nutmeg
• 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter

How to make it

---

• Pastry:
• -------
• Mix eggs, soft butter and sour cream together till they blend well.
• Add salt.
• In a table spoon, dissolve baking soda in vinegar - you will see "bubbles". When bubbling stops, add soda+vinegar to your mixture. Stir well.
• Start adding flour, cup-by-cup, make soft smooth dough. Don't knead it too much, just enough to make it smooth and "un-sticky".
• Split dough into 16 pieces, form little balls.
• Cover the dough with plastic, and put in the fridge to chill.
• While it's chilling, prepare cream.
• Custard Cream:
• --------------
• Pour 1 1/2 quarts of milk into thick bottom pot and bring it to boil. Don't use aluminum pots - it will burn !
• While the milk is warming up, prepare the cream mix:
• Separate egg yolks and stir them very well with sugar and a pinch of salt - until mix turns very light yellow.
• Add flour, mix well.
• Add 1 cup cold milk, mix very well. Avoid lumps.
• When your milk starts to boil, reduce the heat immediately to low.
• Pour the cream mixture into boiling milk very slowly, using a whisk to stir the cream.
• Bring the mixture to boil again, constantly stirring it. When it starts boiling, you will see it become thicker. Let it simmer for 2-3 minutes, don't forget to stir at all times.
• Remove from the stove, add lemon zest, vanilla, nutmeg, and vodka (rum, brandy, or liquor).
• When you are able to touch the pot, add butter and mix it in as it melts. Set aside.
• Now back to pastry:
• -------------------
• Preheat oven to 420 degrees F.
• Turn off the phone, so no one can distract you for 1 hour. :-)
• a. Get 1 piece of dough from the fridge, roll it into a very thin crust on well floured surface - as thin as you can, forming a round or a square crust.
• b. Roll the crust onto rolling pin, and unroll it onto UNGREASED baking sheet.
• c .Pierce crust with the fork all over.
• d. Bake in the oven for 2 minutes or until lightly golden. Don't over bake. It is better when it is not dark.
• e. Remove the crust from the oven and put aside.
• Repeat steps a-e for all the rest of the dough.
• Never leave the kitchen while the crust is in the oven - check it all the time - it bakes very quickly.
• Bake the last crust a little longer than others, letting it turn brown.
• Put one crust on the cake dish.
• Pour a ladle full of cream onto it.
• Use skimmer to spread the cream evenly on the crust. Repeat for all crusts, except for the brown one.
• Crush the brown crust on the board, using the rolling pin - just roll it over the crust several times - it will make great fine crumbs.
• Pour the crumbs over the top layer of the cake.
• Let the cake soak for 2-3 hours. Cut out the uneven edges, forming your favorite cake shape - square or round, or oval. You get to eat all of the cut-offs... mmmm...
• *Hint: making round-shaped cake produces more cut-offs, which means, more for you!

Be amazing!

It's still July so stripes are still appropriate. I don't remember where I found this printable but I like it and going to leave it not just for July.
It looks like this on my entertainment center.And it's 8/10

Here is the link.
Be Amazing printable

And different color

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0Byy24UQnLuVwNlY4UWRDbUJraWc/edit?usp=sharing 

Meatballs Russian way.

My mom always made them for me when I was a child. And I loved them! So I decided to make them here (in the States) and they turned out great!! Even better than my mom's. LOL. :-)
You can also freeze them (non cooked) and then when you need something quick for dinner but you are tired to cook you can just put them in the oven and your dinner/lunch is ready in 45 minutes! I usually serve them with mushed potatoes. You don't need gravy because meatballs  go with yummy sauce. :-)
You will need:
1,5 pounds of ground beef
1 cup cooked rice
1 egg
3 slices of bread
1/4 cup of milk
Salt and pepper
For sauce
2 carrots
1 medium  onion
1 can of cream of mushrooms
2/3 cup of heavy cream.
 Directions 
Dice

onion and carrots. Saute them for 2-3 minutes. Add cream of mushrooms and heavy cream. Let it boil for 2 minutes. Sauce is ready. Put it aside.
Mix ground beef, egg, salt and pepper and rice.
In a separate small bowl - put 3 slices of bread and add milk. Let bread  soak in it for a minute. Then add bread slices (not too moist) to the ground beef mixture. Mix well. Form meat balls. Spray 9/9 casserole dish with cooking spray. Put meatballs and sauce over them. Cover with foil and bake at 350F 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake another 15 minutes. And they are ready! Can be frozen.

Half cooked.