How about a plate of Ukrainian borsch? Nothing can warm your heart and stomach better than this traditional soup.

Borsch is beet soup and can be described as the national soup of Ukraine. Filled with beets and other vegetables from a typical Ukrainian garden, it is a hearty soup which could be found on almost every dinner table. Here is one of more than 500 versions of borsch recipes.

Ingredients:
1/4 pound salt pork, diced
1 large leek, thinly sliced
1 medium onion, sliced
1 celery or parsley root (about 6 ounces), peeled and cut in thin strips
3 beets (about 1/2 pound), peeled and shredded
1/2 heads of cabbage (about 1/2 pound), thinly sliced
2 quarts water
1 1/2 pounds cooked meat such as Kielbasa (Polish sausage), ham, beef, or pork, diced
1 can (8 ounces) whole tomatoes
1 cup rye flour "kvas"
2 tablespoon white flour
1 tablespoon salt
1/2 ts pepper
1 1/2 ts lemon juice or vinegar
1 c whipping cream or dairy sour cream horseradish (optional)

Fry salt pork until golden in a 5-quart pot. Add leeks and onion. Fry until onion is transparent. Add celery root, beets, cabbage, water, and meat. Cook until celery root is crisp tender; about 25 minutes. Add tomatos and kvas, mix. Cook over medium heat for 30 minutes. Make a smooth paste of butter and flour and stir into the simmering soup. Cook and stir until soup thickens. Add salt, pepper, and lemon juice; mix in. To serve, spoon a small amount of cream and horseradish into each bowl. Ladle hot soup into bowl and stir to blend with the cream and horseradish.

As a delicious appetizer or snack you can try Elena special - cucumbers or radishes in sour cream.

Ingredients:
3 cups sliced cucumbers
salt
1/4 c chopped fresh dill or 2 tablespoons dill weed
1 c dairy sour cream or yogurt

Sprinkle cucumbers with salt. Let them stand for 30 minutes. Pat them dry with paper towels. Stir dill into sour cream. Add cucumbers; mix well.

Radishes with sour cream: follow directions for cucumbers in sour cream; substitute radishes for cucumbers and omit step 1.

Cottage cheese fritters

Ukrainian syrnyky, or cottage cheese fritters, is a traditional Ukrainian dish. These tasty little pancakes are usually topped with jam or sour cream.

Your sweet Elena from Nikolaev will please you with the perfect syrnyky for breakfast or lunch!

Ingredients:
1 lb of cottage cheese
1/2 glass of sugar
3 eggs
2 glasses of flour
2 oz of melted butter
1 glass of sour cream
a little salt

Whisk eggs with salt and sugar into thick froth. Add minced cottage cheese and 1.5 glasses of flour. Knead thoroughly. Put the dough onto the board sifted with flour and form a thick roll. Slice it into pieces as thick as a finger. Put each slice into flour and make its form like a cutlet with a knife. Fry in butter in a frying pan at the medium heat, both sides.
Serve with sour cream.

Preeyatnava apetita! Your Anastasia�s favorite will tell you while serving this wonderful dish.

You answer should be "Balshoye spasiba, daragaya moya!" (Thank you so much, my darling!)