And so it begins...

It's another grey summer day in Western Washington, my fridge is stuffed with food I've cooked up this week. If I add anything else it will undoubtedly burst. Last night I had to be very creative when trying to stuff my Roasted Tomato Soup into the the fridge. In the end, the strawberries had to suffer on the counter all night... So right now, even though I had a grand plan for making crepes, I can't because there's no room to store them. My other option is to read Harry Potter, but I think I'm all Pottered-out. Finished reading Book 4 yesterday morning and felt very accomplished and ready to go on, but then glimpsed at the last page of Book 5 and groaned. 870 pages! I'm not ready to take on another big tome right now. So here I am, doing what I've been told to do by my friends last summer when we sat at BJ's eating our thick-crust pizzas (Sweet Pig for me!) and I told them about how I want to cook Russian food all summer. Well, that plan went awry, but here is another summer before me. I had no plans but to read Harry Potter and a million other books. The weather is bipolar. I think our January was warmer than our June (except for the past two days) and I said to myself, "I think I will blog!"

So here's the plan--to teach myself to cook Russian food, as I am part Russian, although I've never been to the country itself. But whatever, it was all one big Soviet Union at one time and I speak Russian so hence, I pronounce myself Russian! And proud of it...although I my language is getting rather rusty...

Since I came up with this idea on a one rainy summer morning last week, I've made vareniki, plov, zapekanka, and a radish-cucumber salad. I still have to work out the plov recipe. It was too sticky for my liking, but I got a lot of great suggestions from my Facebook friends, which I will have to try out. Anyway, I plan to blog as I go, and I have a feeling I probably will cook up something today as the weather is not improving and Harry Potter is not calling my name...

Oh and here's a recipe if you're also in the mood for some Russian food =) If you try it, let me know how it worked for you. I'm ready to tweak my recipes.

Zapekanka

Resembles an American cheesecake

16 oz. cream cheese, softened

16 oz. cottage cheese, strained through a cheese cloth

1 cup cooked farina (see recipe below)--aka Manka

1 1/2 cups sugar

7 eggs

1 cup raisins

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9 x 13 inch baking dish with non-stick spray

2. Beat cream cheese, cottage cheese, farina, and sugar in a stand up mixer until combined.

3. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition.

4. Fold in 1/2 the raisins.

5. Pour batter inot prepared baking dish. Sprinkle with remaining raisins.

6. Bake for 1 hour, until golden brown on top.

7. Cool completely, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

Farina

1 cup milk

5 tbsp. farina

1 tbsp. unsalted butter

Heat milk on medium-high temperature until steamy, but not boiling. Reduce heat to medium-low and whisk in the farina. Keep whisking until the farina thickens. Stir in butter. Cool before using in zapekanka.