Planning ahead: mushroom sauce with spinach

#easyfoodcreations #healthyeating

I started planning meals for the first two weeks of January as my work schedule is completely crazy then and I know that finding even 20 min to prepare a meal is a luxury that I might not be able to afford on many days. During these days I want to make sure we have something healthy on hand, ready in a few minutes, so we do not need to resort to packaged food that we try to avoid as much as possible.

I made a batch of mushroom sauce with spinach, which can be served with potatoes, kasha, barley, pasta, or kopytka, to add some variety.

Ingredients:

680g fresh mushrooms

100g fresh spinach, you add more or less

1 onion, chopped finely

2-4 garlic cloves

4 tbsp butter

2 tbsp dried thyme

1 tbsp dried majoram

3-4 tbsp whipping cream (you can use soft goat cheese instead)

1-2 tbsp lemon juice

Salt, pepper

1. Melt the butter and cook onion and garlic on a low heat for about 5-7 minutes.

2. Add finely chopped mushrooms and spinach, cook for another 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

3. Add remaining ingredients, lower the heat to 1.8 and cook for another 40 minutes.

4. Enjoy!

Polish Christmas: Gingerbread Cookies

#easyfoodcreations #cookies #Polishchristmas

I made gingerbread cookies for the first time this year. I used a recipe that my mom gave me years ago; I believe it came from some Polish cooking magazine she was ordering.

I timed making cookies just right for Christmas, as they develop taste over time. We found that they tasted really good after 3 days; they tasted a little bitter right after baking. They were so good that they were all gone a day before Christmas Eve... nothing left for your guests. But I can promise to make them again next year, probably a larger batch.

Ingredients:

1.5c all purpose flour

4 tbsp unsweetened cocoa

1 inch fresh ginger, grated (or 1 tsp ginger powder)

200g melted butter

2 egg yolks

0.5c brown sugar

Pinch of grated nutmeg

Pinch of salt

For icing:

1.5c icing sugar

3 tbsp lemon juice

1-2tbsp water

1. Mix flour, cocoa, ginger, nutmeg, butter, sugar, egg yolks, salt.  

2. Flatten the dough on the parchment paper and put in the fridge for about 1 hour, or 15-20 min in the freezer.

3. Roll the dough to about 3-4 millimetres thick. Cut shapes with cookie cutters.

4. Place in the preheated oven to 175c for 10 minutes.

5. Prepare icing by heating icing sugar with lemon juice, add water as necessary.

6. When cookies cool down, decorate them with icing.

7. Enjoy! Keep in mind they taste best after 3 days resting uncovered in the room temperature. 

Home made pasta

Pasta is one of the food ingredients that we do not consume often. I find it almost impossible to find any kind of pasta that taste good and truly complements the other ingredients. 

In Poland for years we used to make pasta at home and since it takes more time to make it, it's not an ingredient often featured in the Polish cuisine. At Christmas it used to me by dad's job to make pasta dough, roll it, cut it. I remember it as a very labour intensive activity. However, with today's kitchen gadgets the whole process is a lot less labour intensive and amazing pasta can be produced in just a fraction of the time.

To make pasta I use my Cuisineart food processor with a dough insert. Mixing takes about 5 minutes. Within this time I have a pretty elastic dough with well developed gluten. 

Ingredients:

3 cups of all purpose flour (about 450 g)

2 eggs

2 egg yolks

2 tbsp whipping cream

150 ml warm water

1 tsp salt

Dried herbs (optional)

1. Mix all ingredients in the food processor for about 5 minutes. You will see them all coming together, if they don't you may need to add a little bit more water.

2. On a board sprinkle some flour and roll sections of the dough at a time. With this quantity I do it in 5 batches. Rolled dough should not be thicker than 1 millimetre. 

3. Cut rolled dough into strips of your preference.

4. Sprinkle with more flour, separate each pasta string and let them dry. Once they are dried they can be stored in containers. Fresh soft pasta can be cooked.

5. Cook for about 5 minutes to you liking.

6. Enjoy!

Polish Christmas Eve: Barszcz (vegan beet soup)

#easyfoodcreations #Christmas #healthyeating #PolishFood

Barszcz takes a little bit of time to cook that is why we always make a big batch; It never lasts too long.
I love anything with beets - soups, salads, smoothies, juices, cookies - but peeling beets is one of my least favourite activities as it severely stains your skin and it is extremely difficult to remove. Hence when handling beets I use latex gloves which effectively solve the problem.

Important note - never cover beet soup while cooking it as it will become brown; you want to maintain beets beautiful ruby colour.

Ingredients:

4 carrots

2 parsnips

0.25 large celery root

9 medium sized beets

1 leek

1 onion

3 garlic cloves, peeled and cut in half

3 whole allspice

10 black pepper corns

3-4 tbsp vinegar or lemon juice (helps in preserving the colour)

10 dried mushrooms

1. Peel and clean carrots, celery root, parsnip, leek, onion. Cut into large chunks, it will be taken out later and used in a Polish Vegetable salad.

2. Soak dried mushrooms for about 15 minutes.

3. Place carrots, celery, parsnip, leek, onion, dried mushrooms, and all spices (other than garlic and lemon/vinegar) in a large pot, add 2-3 litres of water. Bring to boil then lower the heat to gas mark 2.4 and cook for about an hour.

4. Peel beets, but into 6-8 pieces each. Set aside.

5. Take out all vegetables from the soup leaving mushrooms in. Set them aside to cool.

Add beets, vinegar and garlic. Cook on a low heat 1.8 - 2.0 for another 3-4 hours. Add more water if needed. If you use too high heat you will lose the ruby colour of beets. 

6. Take beets and all other spices and vegetables out. Since we don't like wasting food we keep the beets and use them in salads.

7. Serve clear soup in a cup or a bowl.

Beet soup can be served with uszka - Polish dumpligs with mushrooms. This way it would be served in a bowl.

Other alternatives are pasztecik - yeast cakes, or kulebiak - cabbage cake. This way we serve it in a cup as a drinking soup.

8. Enjoy!

Polish Christmas Eve: Traditional Vegetable Salad (Saladka Jarzynowa)

#easyfoodcreations #healthyeating #leftovers #PolishChristmas

This is a Polish traditional salad that we eat for Chistmas. It is made of vegetables used in the cooking of the vegetable broth used in the Christmas Barszcz. Quantities of ingredients are quite flexible and each household might have a slight variation. I usually make a big batch so you can easily cut it in half or even quarter. 

Celery root can be quite bitter to some people so you may want to adjust the quantity to your taste.

Ingredients:

Cooked carrots, I had 7 on hand

Cooked celery root, I used 0.25 of large one 

Cooked parsnip, I used 2

0.5 kg of potatoes, cooked

4 medium dill pickles

3 hard boiled eggs

2 apples peeled, core removed

1 small can of peas (you can cook frozen peas and use that instead)

4 tbsp mayonnaise (you an also make a lighter version using greek yoghurt)

2 tsp yellow mustard

Salt, pepper

1. Chop all vegetables and fruits into small pieces.

2. Mix mayonnaise with mustard and salt and pepper. Add to the salad, mix everything carefully so all pieces are covered in the mayonnaise sauce. 

3. Serve as an appetizer or for breakfast.

4. Enjoy!

Note: the salad has to be stored in the fridge; it stays good for up to 7 days.

Christmas: Caramelized Beets

Beets are a very common ingredient during Christmas time in many countries around the world. In Poland we eat a lot of beets in form of soups, salads, juices, and even main dishes.

In this dish we are using leftover beets from barszcz/borscht/beet soup or whatever else you might call it.

Food waste has always been on my mind as I grew up during communism time and back then food was very valuable, many ingredients were scarce which contributed to our economical living.  We used almost as much as possible of each ingredient throwing out very little. This type of economical cooking is quite evident in our Traditional Christmas dishes. We use leftovers from one dish in another - vegetable salad is a great example of it.  

Important note: when cooking beets do not cover them as they will become brown. Even though I knew that I put them in the oven to reheat - the result were delicious beets but they did not look too appetizing so no photo this time.

Ingredients:

0.5 large onion, sliced very thinly

2 pressed garlic cloves

2 tbsp red wine vinegar

3 tbsp brown sugar

1 glass red wine

around 300 g of beets left over from Barszcz/Borsch

2 tbsp butter

1. Sauté onion and garlic with butter for about 3-4 minutes.

2. Add vinegar, sugar. Cook for another 2 minutes, then add wine. Cook on a low heat, gas mark 2.2 for 20-30 minutes.

3. Add beets, glaze them in the onion and wine reduction. Cook on gas mark 2.2 for 15 minutes.

4. Serve warm.

5. Enjoy!

6. If you made this recipe share it and tag it @healthywithjoanna

Memories from the Island: Conkies

#easyfoodcreations #healthyeating #desserts #pumpkin

When I was in Barbados I had a chance to try Conkies, which is a traditional dessert Bajan's eat to celebrate their independence in November. This treat had quickly become my favourite dessert of all times. These cakes are so nutritious and filling that they can be served for breakfast.
And what is better on the weekend than a dessert for breakfast that is actually good for you.

Ingredients:

1 small pumpkin or squash (about 0.5 kg)

1 sweet potato

1.5 very ripe bananas

1 can coconut milk

1.5-2 c cornmeal 

0.5 c grated coconut (I use unsweetened organic brand, but if you use sweetened you may want to adjust bananas, coconut sugar, and raisins)

2-5tbsp Coconut sugar (optional. I find all other ingredients sweet enough but if you like sweet food you may want to add some sugar)

0.5 tsp grated nutmeg

1.5 tsp grated cinnamon

0.5 tsp allspice

3-7 tbsp raisins

5 tbsp melted butter

1. Bake pumpkin and sweet potato for 40-50 minutes at 220c.

2. In the blender add peeled and cut pumpkin and potato, cut banana, and coconut milk. Blend until smooth.

3. Move pumpkin mix to the bowl and add all remaining ingredients, mix well. The consistency should be fairly dense, you may need to adjust cornmeal quantity.

4. Make packets from banana leaves (gives a superior taste, but this time I could not find them anywhere) or aluminium foil (it sticks a little bit) by putting the mix on the cut out pieces and folding it. I heard that you can also use parchment paper but I did not try it.

5. Put packets in the oven preheated to 180c for 50-60 minutes.

6. Enjoy warm or cold.

Winter time: chicken pie

#easyfoodcreations #healthyeating #chickenpie

Here is an easy chicken pie with one of my top secret ingredients - Boursin Cheese. I often use Boursin if I need a quick sauce for some veggies and pasta. Minimal effort, maximum taste!

Unprocessed goat cheese works well as an alternative. 

Ingredients:

5 chicken thighs, cut into small pieces

1 medium carrot, grated

6 small potatoes with skin on, cut into small pieces

0.5c peas

1tbsp dried thyme

1 garlic Boursin (or you can use goat cheese with pressed garlic)

2tbsp butter

Crust:

1.5c all purpose flour

8tbsp butter, cut into smaller chunks

5-6tbsp ice cold water

1. Preheat the oven to 220c.

2. To make crust, put all ingredients in the processor and pulse until it start sticking together. Divide into two. Roll one part, fill the pie dish. Place in the fridge for 30 min or so. Roll the other part and place in the fridge.

3.  Melt the butter, add chicken and vegetables. Cook for about 20 minutes. Add Boursin, still well until melted. Cook for another 10 minutes.

4. Take the pie crust out if the fridge. Add the chicken filling. Prepare the top layer of pie crust with your own designs.

5. Bake for 40-50 minutes.

6. Serve warm. Enjoy!

Breakfast Dessert: Rice Apple Cake

#easyfoodcreations #healthyeating #leftovers

This recipe is inspired by one of my childhood favourite dishes and probably most Polish kids  favourite dish - rice baked with cinnamon apples.  I put my own spin on it and it ended up being a great success. 

Typically we eat it as a dessert or a last evening meal; I like serving it for breakfast.

Ingredients:

1.5 c leftover rice (it is an estimated quantity), you can use whatever you have left

0.5 c milk

4 tbsp butter

2 ripe bananas

3 apples

1 tsp cinnamon

0.5 tsp vanilla powder

2 tbsp ground flax 

Grated nutmeg

1. Preheat oven to 180c

2. Grate apples on a large eye grater

3. Mix flax with 2 tbsp of water, let it sit for a couple of minutes (you can substitute with 1-2 eggs)

4. Melt half of the butter

5. Mix all ingredients together

6. Spread butter in the baking form 

7. Put mixture in the baking form, level it by pressing firmly

8. On top place few slices of butter

9. Place in the oven for 45-50 minutes

10. Serve warm or at room temperature

11. Typically we serve it with fruits, jams, yoghurt, cream, or whipping cream