Recommended with Borscht

I had the privilege of visiting Russia in the spring of 2005 for a missions trip.  I spent time at two orphanages and helped share the gospel and new hats and shoes with the kids.  While I was there, I tried hot tea for the first time.  Oh the memories!  They served it with sweetened condensed milk, so of course I loved it.  I also got to try borscht, a soup made with beets.  I really liked it, and when I was wanting to expand my cooking options this winter, I decided to try making a batch.

I blended together this recipe from Natasha's Kitchen and this recipe from All Recipes.  I'll often go off book when testing our a recipe, and thankfully, that worked out just find with this dish.  I ended up using three beets, some potatoes, cabbage (of course), carrots, oinion, and celery for my vegetables.  I didn't have any caraway seed, so I used fennel instead, which was fine.  I also did not use any ketchup, toamatos,  tomato paste, beans, or honey, and I used apple cider vinegar for my acid.

I loved my borscht!  The broth's flavor turned out just how I wanted it to!  The flavor of the beets came through really nicely, and I also liked how hearty the soup felt with all those vegetables in every bite.  I topped it with sour cream, but without it, the soup is very, very low fat.

I took some of my borscht to work, and I have a Russian friend there I asked to taste it.  He said that he'd recommend shredding the cabbage thinner, but other than that, he said it was good!  He also said that there' no such thing as traditional borscht, because every home makes it differently.  Let that be an encouragement if you're thinking about trying this recipe!  Feel free to adjust ingredients like I did or even bring in new ideas!  My mom made a version once that had very few vegetables and included mushrooms.  Let me know if you try it!

And now, recommended with borscht...

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This dog is a prefect representation of how I am in my relationship with Caleb.  Haha!

And wow!  These dogs are so well behaved!

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The most beautiful bra

Any Jessica Jones or Doctor Who fans out there?  This made me laugh.

Now that I'm older, out in the world, and no longer in college, I spend a lot of time with people who are different than me.  We make different decisions, and I know that I sometimes stand out because of how I live my life.  That's why I want everyone to read this post from Yes and Yes.