Thank you for visiting My Kitchen page!
Growing up in Eastern Europe and then moving to the United States later in life, I always was confused with kitchen measurements of cups, teaspoons, a pinch, Fahrenheit temperature, etc. It took me years to learn, and I still need to refer back to my conversion charts now and then.
Funny story… when I first arrived in the United States, I wanted to impress my fiancé by making chicken wings for him since I knew he liked them. So, after seasoning them, I put them in the oven to let them bake at 200 degrees. What I did not understand is the oven temperature was measured in Fahrenheit and not the Celsius measurement that I was familiar with. My fiancé had a shocked look on his face when he took his first bite of my nearly raw chicken wings. He knew exactly what happened, and after explaining to me the difference between Fahrenheit and Celsius, we put the wings back in the oven at 400 degrees and ate dinner later. While it turned out ok, I was so embarrassed!
Don’t be like me! When in doubt, refer to my free conversion charts for the kitchen!
Recipes
Utensils
Health & Nutrition
I truly believe that bringing the family together around a home-cooked meal improves communication, harmony, and understanding among family members.
When I was growing up, everyone in my family cooked. We cooked many of the traditional recipes from the Soviet Union. I started cooking when I was a child around 8 years old. My mom was working then, and my dad was a military man, so he wasn’t home very often. My brother always came home later than me from school. At first, my mom always left instructions for me to follow as I was learning the basics. Later I memorized the recipes that my family cooked and ate most often. Since that time, I have always loved to cook.
Today, I only follow recipes if I am cooking something special. For everyday meals, I usually cook “from my head” mixing ingredients by what looks right. Since I have been living in the USA, I enjoy trying recipes from other cultures and countries. There are so many interesting and delicious options here in the USA! Over the past 5+ years, I have started to cook more healthy recipes including gluten, dairy, and lectin-free recipes. Many of the recipes that I will share will be gluten and dairy-free but don’t worry, you will be able to find traditional recipes too!
Here are my tips for cooking delicious food:
- Always cook with love. Seriously, your mood and thoughts will affect the result of your cooking. Love is magic. This is a consistent theme in my blog posts.
- Preferably cook fresh meals every day. If it’s a big family meal, keep your leftovers in the refrigerator but finish eating them the next day.
- Combined meat with poultry and fish recipes. Don’t eat just meat.
- I highly recommend buying organic food. This is especially true of the USA where so many additives are present in the food you buy.
- Wash all fruits and vegetables very well before eating. Soak the produce in a bowl of water, add 1 tbsp each of baking soda and vinegar, mix, and let soak for 10 minutes.
- Yes, it is cliche, but eat more vegetables and fruits every day.
- The way you present and serve food matters. Take a minute to make the food you are serving look presentable.
- Teach your family members to cook too. It’s a great way to build connections between each other and bring the family together.
- Expand your palette and your skills by often cooking something new.
