Borscht and Pelmeni

For our wellness challenge, we had to eat some unusual (meaning unusual to your normal diet) veggies this week, so I decided to make borscht.  Borscht was my favorite food during the semester I taught English in Russia, but I hadn't made it since.  

The beets were so pretty after I peeled them.  (They also turned everything pink.)  

Borscht is basically beef stew with beets.  The beets add a unique flavor and turn the soup red/ pink.  It is SO delicious!  I went backwards 12 years the moment I sampled it.  So not only was it tasty, but it was nostalgic.  One of my friends that is doing the wellness challenge with me joined us for lunch.  None of our kids were brave enough to try it, but she said she liked it.  Jim had some today, and he wasn't sure what he thought.  It's pretty strange eating brightly colored soup if you aren't used to it!  Our kids finally tried it today, and Alex LOVED it! 

I had leftover cabbage after making the soup, and I had Russia on my mind, so I went the extra mile and made pelmeni.  Pelmeni are like dumplings filled with ground meat, cabbage, and onions.  We had problems with the dough, and the kids were helping, so the dough wasn't thin enough and they were sort of hideous.  They tasted right, though.  (Aside from the dough being too thick.)  Annie and Jim really liked these.  The boys tolerated them.