Desserts

Red Velvet Cake Balls

We are just waking up from our holiday food comas. We hope that the holiday season is being kind to you all! We did a fair amount of baking leading up to Christmas, therefore the next few posts will be of the dessert variety. We honestly couldn’t wait to share this new recipe of ours with you.

This recipe is actually not a Claudia original. I actually found it on the blog by the wonderful and talented Bakerella. We tried it for the first time last week and everyone who has tried these little darlings has fallen in love. So of course, we simply had to share the love with you as well!  I think these little babies would be a fun addition to any New Years Eve potluck party. The only downside to this story is that you need Red Velvet cake mix. I haven’t been able to locate this in Canada, so I typically stock up on this when I hit Target in the USA. I highly recommend you give the Duncan Hines variety a try.

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Desserts

Date Squares

For as long as I can remember, Date Squares (aka Matrimonial Cake) were always on Claudia’s Christmas baking list. I’ll admit that when I was younger I didn’t fancy them too much and chose holiday desserts on the table that had a lot more chocolate on them. But as I get older (and wiser of course) I have grown to absolutely love them. The buttery crumbly layers and the sweet date filling makes this the perfect recipe for your own holiday baking list.

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Dinner, Ukrainian Dishes

Perogies

Today is my Baba’s (Claudia’s Mom) 82nd birthday. There really isn’t a better way to celebrate her life (and Claudia’s essentially) than to post the staple of my Ukrainian childhood (and the best food she ever made) on this day. That being perogies. No one, and I do mean no one, can ever top my Baba’s perogies. They are simply the best. I know there are a lot of you who say the same thing about your own family recipe. But I kid you not, my Baba made and sold hundreds (if not thousands) of dozens of these little nuggets of gold for people just like yourselves after they realized they did not have the best family recipe. Trust me on this one. I grew up on this stuff after all!

Claudia and I spent all Saturday afternoon perfecting the dough and creating dozens of differently filled perogies. We finally came up with what we thought Baba would deem as worthy to share with friends. Perogies are the ultimate comfort food. I have never grown tired of them. My hope is that after trying these for yourself, you won’t either.

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Healthy, Soups

Hearty Soup

I’m not really a carboholic. I’m more of a sugarholic. I like sweets..the more chocolate in those sweets, the better. However, there is something to be said about the weather changing your eating habits. As the weather continues to flirt with below freezing temperatures, I find myself craving heavier foods. Casseroles and soups have been my addiction the past few weeks. I can’t get enough. Not to mention this is probably one of the busiest times for me professionally, so the easier that carb-loaded meal is to make, the happier I am.

Hearty Soup is probably the easiest recipe Claudia has in her cooking repertoire. It’s so easy that while my Dad watched me and Claudia make this soup for the blog, he proclaimed that even he could make it and continued to copy the recipe for his own meal arsenal for an upcoming hunting trip. Beats his pickled eggs recipe he currently has that’s for sure. This soup is so delicious, it leaves you wondering how something so simple can be so good.

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Uncategorized

Tag, we’re it!

We were tagged by our new friend and fellow Manitoban Alison at Prairie Story  to take part in this great little game of “get to know you”.  The rules are pretty simple, we answer the 8 questions asked by Alison and in turn, pose 8 questions of our own to 8 new bloggers! Pretty cool! Here we go:

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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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