Crepes with Honey and Walnuts

Crepes

Eastern European Cuisine

I’ve been planning to post this recipe for quite some time now. This is a long time favorite in our home and I love it because you can always change the filling and make it look like a totally new dish. Some of our favorite fillings for sweet crepes are Nutella, nutella and bananas, honey and chopped walnuts, lemon curd and berries, jam, sugar.

You can also do a savory variation – usually I replace 1/3 of the milk quantity with tomato juice and add fresh herbs to the mixture. For savory crepes filling we like sauteed mushrooms and onion, cheese and ham, cheese and fresh herbs.

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Refried Beans

Eastern European Cuisine

Don’t worry this recipe does not involve any frying, this is how my mother taught me to cook refried beans and it’s the recipe she has been using for years with our family, there might be other recipes out there that actually involve frying but not this one. I tried to name this dish differently however, to resonate with the readers, we will stay with refried beans name. This is a staple dish of the Romanian cuisine ‘Fasole Batuta’ and especially served during lent, there are probably hundreds of recipes of this dish and each house has its own, needless to say that I find this the most delicious so give it a try.

It can be served as a meal, a dip or side dish; works great with sausage and some pickles.

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Seeds and Olives Bread

Eastern European Cuisine

I make most of the bread we eat in our home and we really enjoy it. If you want fresh bread in the morning you can try the No-Knead Dutch Oven Bread I posted a while back as you get everything ready in the evening and you just need to warm up the oven and let it bake in the morning. The below is a recipe that will take you about 2 -2.5 hours from start to finish, I usually make it during the weekend and it lasts our family of 5 for a couple days.

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Creamy Spinach Salmon

Eastern European Cuisine

I love salmon! It’s easy to cook and tastes delicious, my entire family loves it so it’s a win-win dinner option for us. It goes well with so many sides – my favorite include mashed potatoes, rice, farro, steamed potatoes, steamed veggies – or you can serve it over a salad; leftovers can be used in our Baked Salmon Patties recipe. This time I tried a creamy spinach sauce and we served it with Farro and a red cabbage salad. It was so good that I completely forgot to take a picture of the plated meal but i’ll do so next time I cook it.

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Lavender

All Lavender

Eastern European Cuisine

My Lavender obsession is at all time high these days. I absolutely love this plant. First it’s just beautiful and smells divine; I dream of someday having a lavender field but that is a far away dream as all the Lavender plants I used in my garden have never survived the Ohio winter so every spring I plant new ones but they don’t grow to their full potential.

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zucchini

Sautéed Zucchini

Eastern European Cuisine

More on my zucchini mania – I just love this vegetable, it’s so versatile you can include it in both sweet and savory meals. It will be as tasty in a soup as it would be in a zucchini bread or my delicious zucchini doughnuts. I love including them in different dishes this time of year because we start getting our own zucchini in the garden or buy local grown zucchini from the farmer’s market and they are so delicious.

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Homemade Ribs Sauce

Eastern European Cuisine

Believe it or not BBQ Sauce is not the only sauce that goes with ribs. Next time you grill I challenge you to leave the BBQ sauce away and try to find something new, your own unique home recipe – maybe it’s a garlic and yogurt sauce, or a grilled pineapple and lemon sauce or maybe it’s a guacamole sauce. You will see that the different sauces you use will change the flavor and looks of the dish and it will be like a new dish every time. Ours is really simple and it includes ingredients that you find in any refrigerator – ketchup, mustard, sour cream and garlic.

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Zucchini and Feta Cheese Fritters

Eastern European Cuisine

Yesterday I went to the farmer’s market and I got 6 fresh local zucchini. I absolutely love zucchini and my favorite way to eat them is to slice and sautée them with garlic. However, since I got 6 I though I would try  both sweet and savory dishes so I used 2 for our potato and zucchini soup for lunch today, 2 went into our zucchini and feta cheese fritters (recipe coming next) and I am saving the last 2 to make zucchini doughtnuts tomorrow.

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Baked Salmon Patties

Eastern European Cuisine

A great idea for dinner or lunch these Baked Salmon Patties are delicious. You can serve them as an appetizer, over salad or in a bun. I made a yogurt – garlic – dill dipping sauce to go with the patties and they were a great success at the table. The fresh salmon can be substituted with canned salmon or even leftover salmon (already cooked)

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Baked Salmon Patties

 

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Hot Wine, Mulled Wine, Glühwein

Eastern European Cuisine

If you have visited Europe during winter months you have definitely seen Hot Wine as an item in restaurants or sold on the streets. No Christmas market would be complete without Glühwein; the image of people dressed in winter clothes strolling the streets while sipping a cup of Hot Wine and looking at the unique items christmas market vendors have to offer is something I miss every year I spend Christmas in the US.

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