Ukraine Unit

Okay, let’s dive into a fun country that I have to admit as I was looking it up I’d totally forgotten was the site of Chornobyl, because they always just say Chornobyl, not the country it happened in. Also, Chornobyl happened when I was 8, so it existed in my life as something that happened in that far off mysterious place of the Soviet Union. It’s kind of amazing how events that happen while you’re a child don’t penetrate your brain quite the same way as your history lessons do. All that to say our Ukraine Unit was a lot of new material for me to learn, and a unit for our geography lessons I thoroughly enjoyed.

(there are a few affiliate links in here)

Ukraine unit resources

Ukraine facts– Which reminded me about the Chornobyl disaster…

We’re finishing up Europe before Geography Now has reached the letter U, and my search for a video revealed….

THIS!

Which Batman, Superman, and I forced Princess to watch all of because we were all so highly amused while she sat there saying, “It’s killing my brain cells!  My poor brain!”

We then proceeded to laugh, and all agree we must force Jeff to watch it.

I am a cruel cruel person.

I regret nothing.

But, for the also important relatively current events, but long enough ago so that it’s starting to become history (I was taught events need to be at least 20 years in the past before there is enough space between the feelings and the events for people to look objectively.

Chernobyl Explosion

Okay, so is Chornobyl the local way to spell the city and Chernobyl is the English way to spell it? I’ve now seen it spelled both ways. There is also the HBO series Chernobyl from a few years ago.

Ukraine recipe: Mazuricks, Ukrainian meatballs

After a fair amount of searching, I found this recipe for Mazuricks that looked fun to try. I’m always intrigued to see how other countries make their meatballs, so I had to give it a try.

Ha! I totally forgot I’d made this because I cooked it before we’d learned about Ukraine, so I also found another recipe, Ukrainian dumplings….

Let’s make the meatballs!

Also, I apparently misspelled Ukrainian meatballs the first time I did the picture, I left out an “I” which is rather silly.

• 2 pounds of ground turkey
• 7 tablespoons melted butter
• 1/4 cup milk
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2/3 cups shredded cheese
• 3 eggs
• 3 tablespoons breadcrumbs
• 1/2 teaspoon thyme

1. Mix the butter and the ground turkey.
2. Then add the rest of the ingredients except breadcrumbs and mix until fully combined.
3. Shape into round balls or flat disks.
4. Dip in bread crumbs, and then store for 40 minutes.
5. Option 1: heat vegetable oil in pan with thyme and minced garlic. Fry the meatballs in the oil.
6. Option 2: bake meatballs in oven at 400 for 15-20 minutes until cooked all the way through.

Ukrainian meatballs

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Ukrainian meatballs for cooking around the world

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Additional Time 45 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 15 minutes

Ingredients

• 2 pounds meatballs
• 7 tablespoons melted butter
• 1/4 cup milk
• 2/3 cup shredded cheese
• 3 eggs
• 3 tablespoons breadcrumbs
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Mix ground turkey and melted butter together.
2. Add milk, cheese, egg, and salt and pepper. Mix thoroughly together
3. Shape into meatballs and dip in breadcrumbs. Let rest in refrigerator 45 minutes.
4. Option 1: heat vegetable oil with minced garlic and thyme and fry meatballs
5. Option 2: Cook in oven at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

Ukraine notebooking pages

Since we didn’t have our usual resources to find out more about the country, I don’t have as many fun facts. I learned the current president (for whenever the source I found was written) of the Ukraine once played the president in a comedy.

That and they’re currently fighting with Russia over the Crimea, this greatly amuses me because we’re currently listening to The Eyre Affair, an alternate history book where Britain is at war with Russia over Crimea and has been for 100 years.

All right, I’m insanely tired from not sleeping the night before I’m working on writing this, so I’m going to declare this Ukraine Unit done, and I may come back and add more later as I find more resources.

“Cathedral St.Vladimir Kiev Ukraine” by Valerii9116 is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0