Cold Lithuania Borscht aka the "Pink" Soup!

While living in London from 97 to early 99, I made some great Lithuanian friends Ilona and Mantas! At the end of my stay I was in a bit of a bind and needed some friends and distraction. Ilona and Mantas where there for me and helped me out tremendously.

We've spent the days working, Mantas tattooing his clients, just as he does today at www.mantas-tattoo.com and Ilona as a waitress, while I was still a personal trainer.  The evenings we spent at their Apartment in London, drinking wine, listening to music and eating delicious food. I especially loved Ilona's traditional Lithuanian Borscht!

This dish is fantastic for Summer! And if you love yogurt, cucumber and beets.... the more the better.

Cold Lithuanian Borscht is fantastic for those hot summer days, where your are hungy but you want to keep it light and fresh! A cold "Soup" that can be enjoyed alone or like Ilona served it with roasted rosemary potato wedges! YUM! Ok let's get to it!

You will need:

1 lb of beets cooked finely chopped
(I use cooked beets from the grocery store and I chop them with rubber gloves on, as not to stain my hands for days)
1/3 English Cucumber, diced
3 hard boiled eggs diced
1 small bunch of green onions (about for stems, finely chopped)
1 bunch of dill (finely chopped), keep some twigs for garnish
4 cups buttermilk or kefir
1 cup sour cream
1 cup water

Grab a big salad or other bowl, add the beets, the cup of sour cream, cucumber, eggs and stir carefully. Then add the chopped spring onions, the dill, the buttermilk (or kefir) and the water, stir and  season with salt and pepper to taste. Chill in the fridge until you are ready to eat!

Once your ready serve in bowls and garnish with a slice of cucumber, a dill twig and the half of a hardboiled egg if you have extra!

If you are on Keto Journey, this is a fantastic meal for Summertime!

If not, you can serve it with boiled or oven baked rosemary potatoes! If you don't feel like doing potatoes it's delicious also with a crusty slices of fresh bread!

ENJOY!!

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C.T.A. Salad with Shrimp and Lemon Vinaigrette

  

After a long day at work and some heavy food items for lunch, my hubby requested something light and refreshing for dinner, because he wanted something more substantial than just lettuce and tomatoes, i decided to make one of my favorite dishes.

My C.T.A. Salad with Shrimp and a Lemon Vinaigrette. It's light, refreshing, healthy and balanced. Just in case you want to make it, here  is what you need:


For the Salad:
1/4 of a small onion, finely sliced
1 small cucumber, peeled and cubed
3 medium roma or regular tomatoes cubed
1 avocado, cubed
1/2 to 3/4 lbs of cooked shrimp (small or medium)

For the dressing:
4 Tbs Olive Oil
2 Tbs Vinegar (I use Apple Cider, but you can use any kind)
1 Tbs Lemon Juice
2 1/2 Tbs Mayonaise
1 Clove Garlic, finely chopped or pressed through a garlic press
Seasoning Salt and Pepper to taste

When cooking, I like to prep all my ingredients before I start mixing them together. I start with the dressing, by adding all the oil, vinegar, lemon juice and mayo to my Zyliss shaker , it has a insert that helps break down the mayo and makes the dressing really creamy, add the seasoning salt, pepper and maybe some paprika. Peel  a clove of garlic (or more if you love garlic) finely chop or press through a garlic press (I just got myself the Zyliss Susi 2 and its the best thing ever, you don't even have to peel your garlic), add to the other ingredients and give it a good shake. Taste and add salt/pepper to taste.

       

Once the dressing is ready, rinse and drain your cooked shrimp, put them in a bowl and pour the dressing over them. Cover and chill in the fridge.

After you have your shrimp nicely marinating in the fridge, get going on the other salad ingredients. Peel the cucumber, cut down the middle lengthwise and then again cut the halves down the middle, then cut in bite size cubes. Proceed the same way with your tomatoes, holdback on the peeling though. Lastly slice your onion (you can use any kind of onions, if you want some more color use purple).

In the meantime your shrimp have had a nice bath in the dressing and you can now mix in the cucumber, tomato and onions. Lastly pick a nice ripe avocado, take out the pit, remove the skin and cut avocado in bite size pieces, gently fold into the salad.

Arrange on a nice platter and serve with a nice crusty bread! Works great with a crisp cold beer or a nice Chardonnay!

Enjoy! And let me know how you liked it!

PS: Just in case you don't like onions, you can leave them out completely and if you like your dressing creamier, don't hesitate and add some mayo.