These oven baked chicken legs are so versatile and are a great base for spices. They are inexpensive, easy to make and taste great!!! They do not require much hands-on time, at all. You can marinate them a day in advance. Combine all the ingredients in a bowl, wrap well with plastic wrap and refrigerate; bake when you ready. It’s that easy.
Shakshuka, Eggs Poached in Tomato Sauce makes a wonderful meal for breakfast, lunch or dinner. It is a very popular dish in Israel and Middle East. The original recipe is without sausage but I had to add my own little twist to it. This recipe requires minimal, simple ingredients and very easy and not time consuming to make. I love having some crusty bread with that will mop up the delicious sauce. It is another chance to have eggs for dinner; not just for breakfast. Hope you enjoy as much as we did.
This is my mom’s recipe for an easy ultra moist roast turkey using an oven bag. She has used this recipe for years. Continue reading →
Cabbage is one of my favorite vegetables. I make cabbage salads often, red cabbage salads, stuffed cabbage rolls, etc. This dish is very similar to my traditional Russian dish- Tushenaya kapusta with Chicken except it’s vegetarian. Couldn’t be easier and, although there isn’t any meat or bacon, I added Zucchini and rice and the resulting flavor is incredibly delicious.
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Pad Thai is one of the popular dishes at Thai restaurants. It was always such an intimidating dish for me to make at home but with the help of store bought Pad Thai sauce I was able to recreate this simple and delicious dish at home. Continue reading →
Enjoy this delicious restaurant favorite at home with your choice of side and fresh garden salad. This recipe has very few ingredients but is very delicious and easy to prepare; It sure pleased my entire family.
Chicken and Mushroom Lasagna with Béchamel sauce is a twist to the traditional lasagna since it is made with creamy Béchamel sauce instead of the traditional tomato sauce. Béchamel is a white sauce made with butter, flour and milk. It is one of the mother sauces of French cuisine. My family prefers white sauce over tomato sauce so I used the Béchamel sauce for my lasagna and my family really enjoy it.
My friend Marina shared this fabulous dish with me. It has a mixture of brown and wild rice, barley, red barley and topped with a creamy chicken mushroom sauce. She served it at a church luncheon; and I am a white rice eater, not really into brown and wild rice much but let me tell you- I LOVED it. It’s so easy to make and it’s also healthy and delicious. Rice can be cooked ahead of time to speed up the process. You can find Brown Rice Medley at Winco, in the bulk food section or Costco and Trader Joe’s. I hope you give this fantastic dish a try! I guarantee you’ll love it. 
Manti is a type of dumpling that very popular in Russia. Manti are normally made with either seasoned lamb or ground beef wrapped in homemade dough. Manti are cooked in a steamer and then topped with either butter, sour cream, or onion (or garlic) sauce. Manti recipes varies from region to region. I learned my version from my aunt Vera. I was very excited when she offered to show me how make these delicious dumplings because aunt Vera prepares dishes the authentic way. No short cuts here, we made everything from scratch.
Delicious creamy Alfredo sauce with fish katleti over pasta. I combined two of my recipes to make this dish – Fish (Salmon balls), and Salmon Fettuccine Alfredo.
I figured that these fish katleti will go well with creamy Alfredo sauce and pasta; so here we are ~Parmesan Fish Katleti with Alfredo Sauce and Pasta.
I wish I could find a better name for this. Parmesan Fishballs with Alfredo Sauce? Parmesan Fishball Alfredo? Alfredo Parmesan Katleti? Katleti with Alfredo Sauce? Anyways… you could call it so many ways, but “deliciously- mouthwatering” is definitely one of them.
This homemade Alfredo sauce is not even close to the store-bought jarred ones. And it’s not even difficult to make.
Not big fan of fish??!! No problem, you totally can use ground chicken.
These stuffed peppers are loaded with flavor and make a great healthy lunch or dinner. Unlike to my Stuffed peppers with tomato sauce, this time I cut peppers in half and stuffed them with buckwheat and ground beef topped with shredded cheese. My family loved them. Make extra so you can have leftovers for lunch.
My husband enjoys fishing so we have fish for dinner quite often. Salmon is one of our favorite fish. It’s a rich source of heart healthy omega-3 fatty acids and it tastes great. For the sauce, I use a base of cream with touch of white wine and fresh chopped dill. I love the flavor of fresh dill and salmon together. The two combination of flavors play very well off each other.
I remember going to grandmothers house-(where my mother grew up) during the summer time to visit her. I would only go there in the summer time, New Year’s or Easter because she lived 4 hours away; during my summer break, I would stay there for couple of months.
I remember one summer my grandmother made some special meat balls. No meatballs that I ever had before could compare. They were chicken meatballs stuffed with raw rice and stewed in a thick flavorful gravy. Once the meatballs were cooked, the rice became infused with the spices from the gravy and meatballs. The meatballs were so good that I licked the plate clean every time. Also, grandmother would always make fresh bread to go with meat balls and gravy. When I was old enough, my grandmother taught me how to make the meat balls. Continue reading →
Breakfast is a meal that I love. Especially on Saturday mornings, when I eagerly get up early in the morning to cook a delicious breakfast for my family. There is something so comforting about eating breakfast as a family.
This is another easy and delicious one pot recipe. This classic dish starts with saffron, curry, cumin, smoked paprika and garlic. Add in the Basmati rice and bits of chicken to complete this hearty meal. This recipe easily doubles for a larger crowd and is always a big hit.
I love to serve up this dish with a little hot sauce on top and a simple salad on the side.
***Saffron is world’s most expensive spice by weight and comes from dried stigma from the inside of the flower of the saffron crocus (Crocus sativus) plant. It takes 150 thousand flowers to get just 1 kilogram of Saffron. The reddish dark orange thread of Saffron (Kesar) gives food a bright yellow color with a peculiar subtle aroma and flavor. Saffron (Kesar) is used in many rice dishes.