[Oldmama]

Since I am keeping lthe faith here I am continuing with our preparations.

Starting with a new recipie using Kasha I am not, by any stretch of the imagination, much of a cook...but am taking our agreement to help our child keep as much of his culture as I can. That means my family suffering through some trial and error at the dinner table! haha

[k8c]

Do you mean buckwheat kasha? I never acquired a taste for it!

The most common way to prepare it is to boil it and then fry it in a little butter and perhaps with onion, according to my friends in St. Petersburg.

Blini taste MUCH better!

[Oldmama]

I used a recipie that included caraway seed. And the verdict....it was AWFUL! hahahah

I give a try the way you made it.

We have a Russian friend of the family helping us translate childrens books from English to Russian...possibly I should stick to that!

[ippichic]

Ha Ha, Oldmama, I love your efforts!! We have decided to try to learn to at least read Russian, so we're going to order some Russian lesson books off amazon.com. I LOVE to cook, but I'm much more of a healthy green foods fanatic, so I'm not sure that I would make the grade when it comes to fried kasha!

I love your idea about translating children's books! We've even talked about trying to find a Russian babysitter...

[alys1]

What age child do you think you'll have? Could be you already know this... Had two foreign students who were Russian, both *loved* bread. And not traditional American white air-bread wheat types, dense types. They extra-loved pumpernickel bread. I can eat a little, they were in love with it. I mean the type of loaf you get at the farmer's market and can pound a tent stake with. :-)

Have you tried borsch? Yum!

[k8c]

Ummm...I'm not saying the version I mentioned is tasty. ;> Bleh.

[Oldmama]

My kids said the Kasha looked and tasted like catfood...not sure it was the kasha itself or the caraway seed! haha Our Russia friends said Russian kids grow up on Kasha...I will try it another way I suppose. But I wonder if our friends are getting a nice chuckle at the breakfast table knowing I am trying to make this taste good. Maybe Russian kids really hate this too! haha

Yea, we have an age on our little guy and unless someone is pulling our leg, he is probably eating Kasha as a hot cereal or something. Ewwww. If I can't figure it out he will just have to just eat good old fashion American Cream of Wheat! haha

The brown bread is a good idea...I had heard that too. We have an outstanding bakery close by that makes bread from all over the world...and my family would not have to deal with my experimenting on THAT!

Anyone out there have any good recipies they have incorporated to help keep some culture for their kids?

[ippichic]

I actually really love rye and pumpernickel breads and other ethnic breads, though I don't each much bread these days. I've raised my 4 year old on whole wheat bread and I make pumpkin bread a handful of times during the year. I will definitely be looking up some homemade Russian bread recipes to try at home.

I want to get a feel for what the children start eating over there when they are weened off of a bottle. I'm sure it's not like most of us here starting with bananas or yogurt. My gut tells me those things would be pretty expensive over there so it's probably mostly "porridge" type foods or possibly soups or stews or cooked potatoes and other root vegetables.

I hadn't started looking for recipes yet, but this has inspired me a bit.

Thanks for the ideas!

[k8c]

Some breakfast foods that would be familiar...

--Kefir! (It's a bit like yogurt and a bit like buttermilk.)
--Oatmeal (even instant)
--fruit compote (often given in a bottle, too)
--bread


My daughter ate oatmeal, yogurt and a banana for breakfast most days the first year. (It seems like all our kiddos adore bananas when they get home!) She wasn't keen on cold cereals at first. She did like pancakes and French toast.