NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� It started with a simple salad. Natasha Kravchuk began building a cooking mini-empire by combining cucumber, tomato and avocado. When a TV anchor shared the recipe on Facebook in 2015, the dish went viral.
鈥淚 think that was the recipe that kind of gave us the first lift,鈥� says Kravchuk, whose online hub Natasha's Kitchen has grown to some 13 million followers across social media. 鈥淚 think that鈥檚 trademark for what you can find on Natasha鈥檚 Kitchen.鈥�
Kravchuk's philosophy is indeed mixed into that salad 鈥� flavorful food that doesn't take a long time, uses regular ingredients and doesn't hurt the pocketbook.
鈥淚t鈥檚 turning humble and just simple ingredients into something really delicious,鈥� she says. 鈥淭hat just has always carried through with me. I don鈥檛 think you need saffron to make something taste incredible, you know?鈥�
This fall, Kravchuk has put her expertise into her debut cookbook, which includes dishes such as Salmon Piccata and Turkey Meatball Soup, and Crispy Bacon Jalapeno Poppers.
鈥淚t鈥檚 approachable. You can look at the list of ingredients and be like, 鈥極K, I have most of those things already.鈥� The steps are simple and they are recipes that work,鈥� she says.
The book is classic, chicken-soup cooking 鈥� and, indeed, there's a recipe for that on page 115. There's even a dish 鈥� Zuppa Toscana 鈥� inspired by an Olive Garden offering. 鈥淚 make it better,鈥� she says, laughing.
There are American classics like baked mac and cheese and blueberry muffins, and gentle nods to Mexico, Italy, France and Asia. There's a heavy lean on passed down from Kravchuk's mother, like classic borscht and pierogies.
鈥淲e cook a little bit of everything now, but I think people trust our taste in food and and they can relate to the values that we have,鈥� she says.
Ukrainian-born Kravchuk and her family fled religious persecution in the 1980s and eventually found their way to Meridian, Idaho. At one point, they relied on food banks, a fact not lost on her these days. 鈥淚 was telling my husband, 鈥楪od has a sense of humor to give this refugee a cookbook,鈥�" she says.
She didn't start cooking until later in life and started blogging in 2009. 鈥淲hen I got married, I wanted to recreate the same foods we grew up loving and enjoy. So I started learning how to cook. I started going to the library, getting stacks of books, asking my mom, my mother-in-law for recipes and friends.鈥�
Susan Roxborough, Kravchuk's editor at loved Kravchuk's personal story and her book proposal 鈥� especially the teriyaki salmon, with brown sugar, hoisin, soy sauce, garlic and ginger. She found the author down-to-earth and relatable.
鈥淚t was easy to imagine her as your next-door neighbor or maybe a fellow parent at a bake sale at your kid鈥檚 school," Roxborough says.
Roxborough and her daughter made Kravchuk's pierogi together 鈥� a fun time bonding, as well as delicious 鈥� and says she's become obsessed with the recipe for Tres Leches Cupcakes. 鈥淚t鈥檚 dangerously good,鈥� she says.
The cookbook, which last week debuted at No. 2 on The New York Times' Advice, How-To & Miscellaneous list, contains a dozen or so reader favorites, but most of the recipes are new, split into breakfast, snacks, salads, soups, mains, sides and desserts. A battalion of over 300 testers have kicked the tires on each dish.
The book includes She says they puff up like donuts when they hit the hot oil, and have a subtle sourdough-like flavor.
鈥淭hey just need a little bit of time to pop up. But the beauty of those is you can make them and enjoy them for several days, whereas the typical pancakes with baking soda or baking powder, they鈥檙e really only good the first day,鈥� she says.
Another favorite is a chicken pot pie, which Kravchuk says is a top 10 favorite on her site. 鈥淚t鈥檚 such a comforting meal. There is just no comparison to store-bought,鈥� she adds. 鈥淚t really isn鈥檛 complicated. I think people realize that the first time they make it, that it鈥檚 just such a comforting thing to make. And it reheats well, too.鈥�
Kravchuk spotted two items to put together during warm weather 鈥� bacon and corn 鈥� and came up with a dish that will cause every parent to slap their forehead because they didn't already do it by now. One of her nieces named it 鈥淏a-Corn鈥� and that simply can't be improved upon.
Kravchuk didn't follow the food world's traditional route for a rising chef.
鈥淲e鈥檙e still seeing books and publishing books and buying books from chefs or from people who have deep expertise around a certain kind of cuisine. But there is also room and a desire and an interest in people who are coming from a different perspective," says Roxborough. "There鈥檚 room for them.鈥�
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Mark Kennedy is at
Mark Kennedy, The Associated Press
