Russian Wednesday World Wonder Night

So after a very busy weekend I am finally able to sit down during clients to write this! I hope you all have gained some extra ideas to apply towards your family time. I am overwhelmed by the response and am blown away when I realized my blog has had over 1000 views! I'm positive 850 of them are mine but still this is awesome.

Lets recap what Wednesday World Wonder night is:
1)A family dinner themed around a specific country or culture
2)Family participating in a great and fun new way to explore cuisine from around the world
3)Educational, creative and fun activities

There are lots of other reasons but those are the main focal points. This week is Russia and I hope you have started to do some research for it. If not do not fret I am here to guide you along the way.

Lets start with the bare bones of it:

Menu for Russia
I have an obsession with Borscht its not everyones cup of tea per say but I absolutely adore this traditional Russian soup. You can opt to not include this if you feel your gag reflex HOWEVER remember your kiddos learn by example. If you are not willing to try new things they too will follow suit.

Here is the Borscht recipe for those who enjoy cooking fresh from scratch http://www.food.com/recipe/russian-borscht-169711
For those of you on a limited time schedule substitute canned beets for fresh. Be careful not to over cook the canned beets or they will turn to mush. I do recommend making this the night before. The longer it sits the better it is as with most soups. Also do include the sour cream topper thats what makes this soups flavor stand out!

I'm also making Piroshki which are basically Russian hot pockets! You can fill these with beef and cabbage or potato and cheese etc. Here is the recipe for these http://greek.food.com/recipe/piroshki-a-savoury-filled-pastry-76375 or allrecipes.com/recipetaylors-piroshki  I know the food.com one says greek food but I assure you they are Russian. As we know most cultures have some for of a "pocket" food. If you don't want the hassle of making the dough simple get a can of biscuit or breadstick dough. Make sure you do the egg wash to give them that awesome golden glow.

Other recipes to consider are Stroganoff or Chicken Kiev
http://www.food.com/recipe/beef-stroganoff-from-the-old-russian-tea-room-30862
http://www.food.com/recipe/baked-chicken-kiev-21080

*A common misconception is that Stroganoff is served over noodles. I found it fascinating to learn that Russian recipes do not commonly use pasta. They use rice.

For dessert I chose Russian Apple pie. It is done completely different from our traditional pie. Instead of the crust being the framing of the pie its the apples. This recipe sounds very simple and I look forward to trying it! http://www.ruscuisine.com/recipes/desserts/n--38/

I think I  may keep the beverage simple and serve black tea over a thin slice of apple with sugar and lemon on the side. This technique is amazing and is fun for the kids because you can eat the apple after the drink is gone.

I hope this helps you plan your menu out and overall its very simple. Tomorrow get the kids prepped and ask them to start researching table decorations. The nice thing about Wednesday World wonder night is you can do all your research the day of if you'd like!

I will post another blog tomorrow and give some links to some sites for kids to do some safe research. Remember to share this blog and facebook page with your friends and family! Thanks
Laura