“I'm going to show you how to make baked apples and wait till you see what's inside. We'll start with the filling in a small bowl, combine brown sugar, cinnamon and grated nutmeg.” That’s food blogger Natasha Kravchuk sharing her recipe for easy baked apples on her website Natasha's kitchen.
“Then add some dried cranberries. You can also use raisins or craisins. Next, wash and core the apples. You can use a melon baller to scoop out the core or a small paring knife. Set those in a casserole dish and stuff them with the filling,” Natasha continues as though she’s been cooking all her life. But she says that’s not the case.
Food is such an important way to feed and nourish your soul as well.Natasha Kravchuk
“Actually, when I first got married, I didn't know how to cook very well, and that was 20 years ago,” she says.
Natasha came to America from Ukraine as a refugee in 1989 with her parents and her four sisters when she was just four years old.
“We left Ukraine escaping Christian persecution because it was the former USSR then…And it was definitely a tough start for our family. We basically came here with nothing but a stack of suitcases,” she remembers.
Eventually, she and her husband made Idaho their home and when she started learning how to cook she says “we wanted to recreate the things that we grew up loving, you know, the classic Ukrainian dishes that our moms made.”
Now she creates all sorts of delicious foods, like blueberry scones, turkey meatball soup, crispy bacon jalapeno poppers, and chicken schnitzel.
“Chicken Schnitzel is kind of a play on Pork Schnitzel, and it's basically meat that you pound thinly, which tenderizes it and makes it cook more evenly. And then it's breaded with a simple flour, egg, breadcrumb batter that's seasoned to perfection and then it is sautéed in oil. It's super simple and I love that.”
When she decided to write her first cookbook "Natasha's Kitchen,” she had to include chicken schnitzel.
“It really portrays what's in the book, you know, simple recipes that people will love, that they'll make over and over that they know will succeed.”
That's like the heart of what we do…share recipes that bless families.Natasha Kravchuk
Her cookbook comes out Oct. 3 and she says she’s very excited to share it with her millions of followers. She says her goal is to share good food that’s easy to make.
“That's really important to me to make sure that those recipes are, you know, accessible for everyday families.”
Natasha will be at the Boise Barnes and Noble to help launch her new cookbook Oct. 11.
