At the beginning of the month I was asked by a Facebook group of moms to share my story with them. I loved their questions because they summarized the entire story, so I decided to share this interview with you.
My About Me page is really outdated and missing a lot of information, so this is a bit of an update to the blog. We do plan to update the About Me page sometime soon.

Where does your passion for cooking come from?
As most Ukrainians, my mom cooked each day. Soups and simple quick meals were huge in our family. I grew up holding love for cooking, even took a cooking class in High School. But, being the youngest out of five kids, my โchoreโ at home was to clean. So it wasnโt until I got married that I began exploring the kitchen, ohh my poor husband ๐
Ingredients you canโt stand? Which one canโt you live without?
I absolutely hate cilantro, makes me sick. I love my parsley garlic salt, there are a few more you can see on my Youtube Vlog videos (search for โMomโs Dish Vlogsโ)
Are there any cooking techniques, dishes or styles that particularly intimidate you and you have yet to try?
For the longest time I was so scared to work with yeast dough, but when I mastered it, I truly felt like a real cook:) Now, I donโt have a huge fear of certain foods, but I canโt stand pretty platting.
Share your worst cooking nightmare.
Any epic recipe failures?
So my worst one would be, cooking for in-laws for the first time and serving them raw potatoes in the end. Oh my, I made it up to them later ๐
Another horrifying story, is cooking canned condensed milk. It blew up in our kitchen, damaging the ceiling, and made a mess to a point of us having to remodel a kitchen. My husband woke up thinking we had an intruder in the house.
Whatโs the most adventurous dish youโve ever eaten?
Main thing that comes to mind would be frog legs. I know I am boring, I love my simple meals.
Majority of us are Mom’s and some with a very tight schedule, what do you suggest for Mom’s who cannot make/prep a dinner every night? Slow cooker recipes? Prepped frozen meals?
I work full time with a total of three hour commute. Also, I have kids and a blog so you can only imagine. We try to eat homemade meals most of the time. I would say to make a menu ahead of time, it makes a world of difference. You can buy things ahead of time and have all the prep work done for you. Also, make dishes like soups, which you can eat for a few days or grilling a bunch of chicken and reusing it in several different recipes. I have some slow cooker recipes and a ton of frozen meals on the blog.
Any suggestion you can give from a food blogger point of view?
If you make a recipe from any blog, like it or donโt, please leave comments. Or even if you donโt make it, just share your feedback. I get a bunch of traffic on my blog, private messages, hiโs on social media, but not as much comments on the blog posts. I love hearing feedback form from each reader. Bloggers often feel like they are talking to themselves, even though we get thousands in traffic every day.
Now let’s step away from cooking and talk about being a Parent
How many kids do you have and their ages?
I have two boys, Jacob 7 and Ethan 5. They are complete opposite, the older they grow the more I love being a mom. If you are a mom with babies, it gets easier, I promise ๐
How do you balance it all?
Honestly, I am realizing that you canโt do it all and trying to learn to be ok with it. Dust and messy home can wait but kids will keep growing. After work, I try to concentrate on them and while they do their homework, I make a quick dinner. Laundry gets done in between it all ๐ My husband is huge, huge help with kids. He is wonderful, makes them breakfast and takes them to school. We have a rule at home that weekends are for family, so we always try to take a short trip or go out on weekends.
Are your kids picking up on your passion?
Not yet, and I am not pushing it on them at all. I want them to show me interests. During the holidays we baked a lot of cookies together.
Any suggestions you can give from a Mom’s point of view?
Kids grow very quickly, donโt try to achieve that perfect, clean house. Spend time with them. But one of the most important things, have the best relationship with your spouse. Kids are much happier if they grow up in a happy home. Go out on dates, be best friends and just love, love, love ๐
If you have any questions, you may ask in the comment section. I would love to hear from you.
just discovered your blog. like it a lot, and the recipes are interesting. good luck Dusia
Hi!!! Welcome to the blog. Nice to meet you and thanks for saying hi ๐
Totally agree with cilantro hatred!
I had such a fun time reading a little bit about you. I guess you can say I'm a nosy one since my favorite posts are those where the blogger tells her readers about herself. I heard that with cilantro it's either way, you either love it or absolutely hate it. In my case, I love cilantro but won't judge you for hating it hehe
I have a one year old and I love your tip to spend more time with my child rather than focusing on housework ๐
Oh I could use my own advise today ๐ lol... Life still gets in a way and it's hard not to be guilty. I am nosy as well. I love those personal pots
I really enjoyed reading your story and getting to know you a little more. I don't like cilantro either, but love parsley and garlic salt. I agree with you about commenting on blogs. Same on my blog. I used to have more comments with much less traffic, now it's oppoite.
I love hearing from people and their stories. Getting to know them. Now I know what we have in common;)
I hate cilantro with passion too ๐
This quote made my day - "Go out on dates, be best friends and just love, love, love ;)" ๐ ๐
P.S - it's kind of ironic I totally forgot about the interview that facebook mom group asked for...
I did is right away because I knew I would totally forget later. They came back with some really good questions too.
Now we can hate cilantro together ๐ lol
Natalya, we do not comment a lot on your blog because we are usually too busy eating delicious food that was inspired by your recipes. Then I go back to comment on something i get distracted by other recipes and it starts all over again.
Oh that one was a good one, almost forgive you ๐ it's nice to hear from ppl. Comment just like now made me smile. Thank you!
I still can't get over the fact that you hate cilantro! Seriously? How is that possible??? You're a good mama and wifey. (and a friend) keep on doing what you're doing girlfriend. I miss your butt ๐
lol, my butt misses you too. I has so cilantro on Naan bread I got from trader joes. I picked and picked through everything ๐
Thank you for a great post! I enjoyed reading it. Awesome job with the blog & thank you so much for taking the time from your busy life to share those wonderful recipes with the rest of us. I've made lots of them & a favorite of mine is the crepes with condensed milk. Blessings to you & ur beautiful family!
Thank you Olga, your words are very encouraging and sweet. Btw, we love those crepes too ๐
Hello Natasha! Thank you for this post. You have an awesome blog. I've made a few of your dishes & especially love the poppy seed filled buns. I too was very intimidated to work with yeast dough, until my sis in law came over & shared her mamas recipe for bread with me. After I made it myself, I became a little less intimidated. Again, thanks for your blog, all you do, & for being so easy going & REAL! God Bless your beautiful family & best wishes for the future of your blog.
Natasha, thank you so much. Those are very sweet words. Means the world to me when I see how the blog impacts others. I appreciate you taking your time to write me. Blessings to you and your family as well!
Thank you so much for participating!!!
If anyone is interested in joining our FB group, it's https://www.facebook.com/grouโฆ
or we have a new one for Christian Mom's
https://www.facebook.com/grouโฆ
Thank you for coming up with the questions. You are very smart!
First of all, Natasha, you look so beautiful and fit) I love how white color looks on you) I can definitely tell that you are loved by your hubby and you love him) those happy eyes show it) plus, I have been watching your vlog and it's noticeable )
Thank you for sharing about kids and how to spend more time with them. I realize that I often make a priority to clean and pick up in the house knowing that they would love to spend time with me. I have 4 kids and am busy like a bee....
How did you realize that? If you don't mind sharing.
Lastly, I appreciate your hard work and effort you put in your blog. I love many of your dishes ) last one I made was chicken back with your dough recipe. My kids really loved it. Said it's better than at costco)) and my girlfriend made sure if I was the one who made them)) if they weren't store bought. They were that good)
Love you, Natashka!
We do kinda love each other ๐ He is a really good husband, I feel like I am lucky.
Speaking of kids, I dont know how exactly I realized. I remember as a child, my dad was working on the farm. He worked really hard and we never got to see him much. I knew that when I have my own kids, I would do everything in my power to be with them as much as possible. Trust me, I really feel like a failure with kids because I still dont spend as much time with them as I wish I could.
Thank you about recipe comment. It makes me happy when people love the recipes. We actually used frozen chicken bake today after school snack for kids.
Awesome!
Thank you for taking time to reply)
This sounds like my life after work.. I work 5 days a week but cannot imagine a 3 hour commute every day! I am always so happy to hear that other full time moms have the same struggles as I do. I just started a blog a few months ago and it is a lot of work, especially now with warm weather still around. Your blog is awesome by the way ๐
Oh and my husband hates cilantro too, while I love it! I read it's a genetic thing due to your sense of taste
Oh that's interesting about cilantro.
Where do you work? I know what you mean about relating with others. Makes me feel better that I am not the only one as well. Good luck on your blogging journey.
I work at Ohio State University as an accountant ๐ Our city isn't that large, I can get to downtown within 20 minutes, so my daily commute is about 40 minutes each way including dropping off my daughter. I have a really good job but I miss my daughter half the time. What about you?
Oh I miss boys so much. But they are in school most of the day now. I come right after they come back from school.
๐ really like your update.. and totally agree with you kids will grow up fast and messy and dust house can wait...
Yes ๐ but I hate it when it's messy lol
same here... I and my husband are crazy about having a clean house and work in clean environment... Yeah and totally agree with working moms it is good to have meal planning and prepare soup in advance so that you can eat for at least 2 days...
Yes for sure ๐ I am making a giant pot of soup today ๐
It was nice to read a little about you. I like your easy going personality. Thank your for sharing your personal life. MOLODETS!!!!!
Thanks Angie. I try not to be controlling but it's a huge part of me. ๐ easy going is way easier to survive! Lol
Love, love, love this! Your picture is being adorable! I completely agree when you say that you can't do it all, so in my case if you are a working mom with a blog to run, getting a cleaner was the best decision of my life! You just have to choose where to spend your time, right!
Thank you! With a part time job it's probably easier to have it all ๐ you got it all Julia! Heheh