"Natenna" a dish that I remember my Ukrainian mother preparing. It was so tasty. It was made from a weed (lamb's quarters) that grew in our garden. The dish contained lamb's quarters, rice, lots of garlic, onion, a little pre-cooked pork fat and sour cream. Does anyone out there remember having a similar dish prepared by their baba (grandmother). My mother gave me this recipe years ago, but I have not made it. My brother stumbled upon a large patch of lamb's quarters and asked if I had her recipe and low and behold I found it.
Please let me know if anyone out there remembers eating a similar dish.

Current River (Thunder Bay) Memories and historical information on this community can be found in newly published book - "Gedo's Hammer, Baba's Borscht - Raising a Family in Current River
1929-1989"
A great gift and an interesting read. Available at Thunder Bay Museum and Authentique Gift Shop

The flavour here is achieved by using cider vinegar, brown sugar, mixed pickling spice and *beet water.  White vinegar, white sugar and regular water are more commonly used, but I prefer the pickled beet taste that this recipe produces.
 

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Nana's Pickled Beets has been revised and the bread machine version of the Poppy Seed Roll has been added.

​Honey cake is traditionally served at Ukrainian Christmas.  Buckwheat honey gives this cake a distinct flavour. There are many honey cake recipes worth trying, but I have persevered with this one:  it is tasty, light and airy. The challenge is to get it not to fall while baking.

Gedo would go into the bush and come back with bags of field mushrooms (pecherytsi).  These would be dried in the oven of the old wood stove we had in the basement. In the winter, Baba would use them to make various dishes, one being pidpenky (dried mushroom) sour cream gravy.  The flavour was unique. I do not have Baba’s recipe, only the memory of the taste. This recipe comes close. It was delicious served alone as a vegetable or with pedaheh or holopchi. ​

Served not only at Ukrainian Christmas and special occasions, but anytime there was a craving.  They can be baked or fried in butter. The cheese filling can be savory or sweet.
Quite often I make the crepes only and serve them in place of pancakes for breakfast. 
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No meal was complete without homemade dills.   Baba made them every year. They were delicious.  ​

Quite often when Baba was making a pot of Chicken Soup, the cooked chicken would be removed, placed in a roaster and covered with a sour cream sauce, then placed in the oven for a while to enhance the flavours.   If we were lucky, Baba would also make Kulesha (like cornbread) for dipping into the sauce. ​