Claudia's Cookbook

Dinner, Ukrainian Dishes

Cabbage Rolls

Claudia's Cookbook - Cabbage Rolls

You don’t get any more Ukrainian than Cabbage Rolls. I wouldn’t be surprised if I was fed these as my first experience with “real food” as a baby. Not one special dinner has gone by in our family without cabbage rolls being served. There are many variations. But I can tell you now that nobody’s cabbage rolls compare to the ones that Claudia makes. They are simple the best. Not too tomato soupy, not too cabbagey. They are perfect little delights. However, I learned in this blog process that I apparently haven’t inherited the Ukrainian cabbage rolling gene, as I found the process extremely frustrating. My 1/4 Slovakian genes took over my hands and rendered me incapable of “tucking and rolling” the rice and cabbage. But do not fret kids….if you weren’t blessed with the Ukrainian cooking gene like me, it just takes a bit of practise and patience. …and Claudia laughing at you when you curse the rice that fell from your hands and onto your clean floor.

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Desserts

Pumpkin Pie

With Canadian Thanksgiving coming up this weekend, we decided it was a perfect opportunity to share Claudia’s special pumpkin pie recipe.

Now, there is a furious debate in our household on whether or not pumpkin pie should be eaten warmed up with vanilla ice cream or with whip cream. Now, when I say in our “household” I mean it’s a debate between my immediate family (i.e. my brother, Claudia, my Dad and me)  against the newcomers – my boyfriend and my brother’s girlfriend. My family feels that anything other than vanilla ice cream on pumpkin pie is simply absurd. The newcomers (and apparently everybody poled on our Facebook fan page) think otherwise. I still stand by my ice cream opinion.

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Dinner

Nasi Goreng

First off, we want to say a big thank you to those who follow our lovely blog on Facebook and Twitter. We really appreciate all the comments and support! The comments inspired the next few recipes that we will be sharing on our blog. As the temperatures continue to cool down (well, unless you’re in Los Angeles), we asked our readers what their favourite meals are in the autumn season. The theme was easy to pick out – simple, warm and comforting.

Claudia and I thought her Nasi Goreng was the perfect mix of all those elements which our followers love in a recipe. Hearty wild rice, warm curry flavour, and buttery chicken. What more could you want on a cool autumn evening….besides a blanket that is.

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Healthy, Soups, Ukrainian Dishes

Borsch

Well kids, you don’t get any more Ukrainian than this. Borsch – i.e. Beet soup. Whatever you want to call it, it doesn’t change the fact that it’s one of the most traditional and delicious recipes my Mother inherited from her own Mother (my Baba).

Claudia typically makes Borsch mid-to-end of summer when there is an abundance of beets in our garden in Saskatchewan, and on every holiday occasion (Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas). For a recipe that is relatively simple to make, there are so many variations around. I am pretty certain I’m biased, but this one is truly the best out there.

Growing up we always had meat in our Borsch – usually boiled chicken or pork. I don’t know about you, but I’ve never been a boiled meat kinda girl. So when I got old enough and decided it was time to throw a fuss, Claudia only served this vegetarian-style Borsch recipe to our family. Yes, I am a spoiled princess. But I’m still right – this rendition tops the meat varieties any day.

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Desserts

Poppy Seed Chiffon Cake

Claudia is finally back from her 3-week vacation in the country. Just in time for her birthday. Last week, I posted my absolute favourite birthday cake that Claudia makes for me every year. With Claudia’s return and birthday looming, we figured it would be fitting to post HER favourite birthday cake.

Because I pride myself on being a good daughter, I asked Claudia upon her return from vacation last week what kind of cake she would like for her birthday. Not even a split second went by before she blurted out excitedly “Poppy Seed Chiffon Cake!”  Looks like Claudia prepared herself for this question and contemplated it quite heavily on the 5-hour drive back to the city!

Up until last week I had no idea what this cake was, let alone how to make it. So Claudia showed me her favourite recipe (a combination of two recipes – one consisting of a recipe card with ingredients written via typewriter and the other out of an old classic cookbook for the assembly and baking instructions). She wasn’t kidding around. A few days went by and I received a phone call from Claudia, insisting that she help me with her birthday cake. Yes folks, she wanted to make her own birthday cake.  Mother-daughter baking trust issues? Perhaps. Perfect opportunity for a blog post? Absolutely.

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Desserts

Skor Cake

With the last week of Claudia’s vacation coming to an end, I decided to make my all-time personal favourite cake. Sure…cheesecake is pretty good, and nothing can truly compare to an amazing piece of red velvet. But THIS cake is simply the best (sorry but I had to quote the Queen, Tina Turner there).

My brother and I were born 2 years and 1 day apart from each other. Growing up, we often shared birthday parties.  We actually still do to this day.  The one thing that Claudia did well was although we never really had individual birthday parties, we always had our own cake. Probably because she knew I’d throw a fit if I had a Superman themed cake and my brother would be the laughing stock of his friends if he had to have a Strawberry Shortcake themed cake. But I digress…

Skor Cake is now my staple birthday cake every year from Claudia. My brother also gets Skor Cake, but his typically comes from Dairy Queen in ice cream form. Again, even in adulthood, we still need to keep our birthday cakes different. I encourage you all try Skor Cake for your birthdays. Friends – you are worth it!

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Desserts

Pumpkin Scones

I realize that the spicy and savory taste of pumpkin is typically reserved for autumn when the weather becomes slightly cooler and you need something warm to pick you up – not when it’s +40 celsius with the humidity in August. As I mentioned in my last post, this is week two of Claudia being on vacation. This recipe is her most favourite that I bake and she requests it often. These scones are dense and almost exactly like the pumpkin scones you will find at your neighbourhood Starbucks. I was given this recipe from a friend of mine a few years ago. I’m actually not entirely sure where she found it, so I apologize if I’m not giving the proper recipe credits. In other words, please don’t sue me if this is your recipe. I’m just trying to be a good daughter, after all.

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Desserts

Blueberry Lemon Loaf with White Chocolate Icing

For the next few weeks, I am cooking and baking alone. Claudia has decided to leave me and head out of town for a well-deserved vacation. As she left, she gave me simple, yet specific instructions for the blog –  post her favourite recipes of mine that I make for her. Simple enough.

This first “on my own” recipe is a new addition to my baking repertoire. I’ve adapted this blueberry loaf recipe from Jen on her How to Simplify blog by adding lemon zest to the loaf batter and making my own white chocolate, lemon icing to go along with it. This recipe makes a dense, sweet loaf which is perfect for blueberry season. Onward!

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Dinner

Dill Potatoes

This particular recipe caused a lot of different philosophical cooking debates between myself and Claudia. The largest being that young garden potatoes should only be used in this recipe. ONLY THIS RECIPE. I learned this the hard way when Claudia called me up last week to tell me she dug out some “nice young potatoes” from our garden in Saskatchewan. When she told me this I was quite happy, as I had my eye on this great potato salad recipe that I wanted to make for her and my Dad the following week. BIG mistake. BIG. A mere two seconds went by after the words “use these young potatoes for potato salad” flew out of my  mouth when Claudia interjected with one word – “No”. Being quite a stubborn daughter and fond of debate, I then asked her why I couldn’t use the “young garden potatoes” for my potato salad. Her answer (said in a sarcastic ‘well aren’t you a piece of work’ response – quite possibly rolling her eyes at me): “Because, young potatoes are for dill potatoes only.” Fair enough Mom, fair enough.

Dill potatoes are very common in Ukrainian households. Maybe it’s because potatoes were a staple on the farm or in gardens. Probably because it was dirt cheap (no pun intended) to grow and cook with in general. Either way, they are so simple to make, yet so comforting and delicious. Best in summer when you have “young potatoes” and fresh garden dill. Now, when I asked Claudia her definition of “young potatoes” for this post, I didn’t get a really clear, definite answer. Essentially, they are potatoes that are pulled out of the ground at an earlier stage and not left to fully mature. P.s. they are delicious!

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Dinner, Healthy, Salads

Strawberry Spinach Salad

I will be the first one to admit that I can be pretty lazy when it comes to cooking. I would be lying if I said a tuna sandwich and basic salad (we’re talking chopped up romaine lettuce and salad dressing from a bottle) doesn’t find its way into my dinner rotation three-plus times a week. With summer here, and my own motivation for cooking dwindling, Claudia decided it would be best to share one of our all-time favourite salads. It is simple, colourful, and most of all – flavourful. Did I mention how easy it is? Seriously, the hardest part about this salad is grating some onion. I would have said slicing strawberries, but come on – grating onion is definitely more lackluster and not as glamourous as slicing strawberries. Back to the recipe!

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