Fluffy pancakes

This recipe was born as I had some quark (presses cottage cheese) left over from making pierogi. I decided to incorporate them into pancakes.

Ingredients:
500g quark/pressed cottage cheese (low sodium)
1 cup sprouted spelt flour
3 cups traditional oats (milled into flour)
3 tbsp flax seeds (milled)
1 tbsp baking powder
2 cups milk of choice
1 egg (optional)

Steps:
1. Place all ingredients in a high speed blender and blend until fairly smooth.
2. Heat the pan for a few minutes, until hot (no oil required as flax will act as fat in this recipe).
3. Add dough to the pan and cook for 3-5 minutes on each side
4. Serve with maple syrup or your favourite fruit sauce
5. Enjoy!

Pierogi Fillings - mushrooms, cabbage and mushrooms, potato and cheese

For Christmas I usually make 3 different fillings, mushrooms and cabbage and mushrooms are traditional filling at Christmas time. My son only likes the potato and cheese filling so I make this most common in Poland pierogi filling as well.

Mushroom filling
Ingredients:
1 cup of dried wild mushrooms, soak (water from soaking can be added to the cabbage stew, cabbage and mushroom filling, or barszcz)
2 cups of mixed mushrooms. Usually I opt for mushrooms like oysters, shittake, chanterelles, or any mushroom available locally
1 large onion
sea salt, pepper to taste

Steps:
Sauté finely chopped onion for a few minutes
Add finely chopped mushrooms (both soaked dried and fresh) to the pot
season with salt and pepper
Usually there is no need to add any water as salt will pull water from mushrooms so you will have enough juice for cooking.
Cook on a very low heat for several hours (gas mark 1.6-2.2 for 4-6 hours), stirring occasionally (once every 30 min or so).


Cabbage and mushrooms filling
Ingredients:
0.5 cup of sauerkraut (drained)
0.75 cup of fresh cabbage
1 large onion
1 cup of mushrooms (dry and fresh)
0.25 tsp caraway seeds
salt and pepper to taste
2 prunes (might be needed if your sauerkraut is very sour)

Steps:
Sauté finely chopped onion for a few minutes
Add finely chopped sauerkraut, fresh cabbage, and mushrooms
Add the spices - caraway seeds, salt, and pepper
Cook on a very low heat for several hours (gas mark 1.6-2.2 for 4-6 hours), stirring occasionally (once every 30 minutes or so).


Potato and cheese filling
Ingredients:
500 g of cooked potatoes (soft like for mashed potatoes)
500 g of quark or pressed cottage cheese (you can make your own with milk and yoghurt)
1 onion
1 tbsp ground cumin
salt, pepper to taste

Steps:
Sauté finely chopped onion for a few minute
Mash potatoes with cheese
Mix all ingredients together

Spring Sorrel Soup

I grew up waiting for Spring to eat my favourite soup - the Sorrel Soup. Sorrel is one of my key indicators of Spring and upcoming warmer weather. I remember being excited seeing sorrel in the store when I was a kid and asking my mom to make sorrel soup. I love everything about sorrel - its color, its tanginess, how well I feel after eating it (It is a high oxylate - remember to rotate your greens!).

Since I left Poland it was one of the foods I was missing the most; food I could not get enough of during each of my visits to the country. Once I started my little garden patch it was obvious that sorrel is going to be one of the plants in it.

Today I am sharing my sorrel soup recipe.

Ingredients:
6 cups of vegetable stock
2 carrots
4 potatoes
1.5 medium size onions
3 garlic cloves
4 cups of fresh sorrel
2 egg yolks
1-2 tbsp of cream (optional)
2 bay leaves
4 whole allspice
3 tbsp of ghee
sea salt
pepper

Instructions:
1. Cook the vegetable stock with bay leaves, chopped carrots, and chopped potatoes.
2. Heat the ghee and gently fry chopped onions and crushed garlic cloves. Once done, add them to the stock. Cook for approx 20-25 minutes.
3. Boil a pot of water, add chopped sorrel. Cook on a high heat for 2 minutes. Remove sorrel into the blender.
4. Add few spoons of the soup with some chunks of vegetables. Quickly blend it, it does not have to be smooth. Add back to the soup. Cook for another 5 minutes.
5. Take 2 yolks and whisk them with a fork. You can add cream if you want. If you added cream you need to add some soup to warm it up before adding it to the pot. If you only have egg yolks you can whisk them into the soup.
6. You can serve it with cooked egg sliced, or cut into quarters.
7. Enjoy!

Butternut Squash Soup

I had been struggling a bit with allergies over the last couple of weeks. This has been eating up my time as I had to focus on reducing my symptoms rather than enjoying life.

This soup is low in histamine and will help everyone suffering at this time of the year. The recipe is based on Yasmina, the Low Histamine Chef.

Ingredients:

1 large butternut squash

1 large onion

3 garlic cloves

0.5 can of coconut milk

2-3 tbsp of black sesame seeds

pinch of saffron

5 large basil leaves

3-4 cups of water

sea salt

pepper

ghee

Instructions:

1. Roast the whole butternut squash 

2. Use ghee to fry chopped inion with crushed garlic cloves.

3. Fill the pot  with 3-4 cups of water and coconut water, add the roasted squash chunks, fried onion with garlic. All all remaining ingredients. 

4. Cook on a gas mark 2.6 for about 25 minutes.

5. Blend all the ingredients.

6. You can serve the soup with with fresh herbs.

7. Enjoy!

Cabbage Stew (Kapusta Wigilijna)

I have been struggling to make a perfect cabbage stew for years. I tried many recipes and modification and could never get it just right...until this year!

Ingredients:
0.5 kg sauerkraut; pour hot water over it to remove excess sourness
0.5 kg fresh cabbage
1.5 cups of dried mushrooms, soaked, retain water
1 large onion, cut into thin strips
100 g butter
4 whole allspice
5 white pepper corns
1 tbs caraway seeds
5-6 prunes

1. Chop fresh cabbage and place it together with sauerkraut in a pot with butter. Cook on a low heat (gas mark 2.4; after 1 hour lower it to 2.2)
2. Roughly chop soaked mushrooms; add them to the cabbage mix. Also add most of the soaking water.
3. Saute onion for a few minutes until softened; add to the cabbage mix. Continue cooking; mix occasionally.
4. Finely chop prunes, add to the cabbage mix together with spices. Continue cooking, and stirring occasionally.
5. Cook for about 6-8 hours over 2 days. You may need to add some water.
6. Enjoy!

Polish Christmas: Honey Cake (Piernik po Staropolsku)

#easyfoodcreations #healthyeating #PolishChristmas

Here is the 12th century recipe I found on the internet for the traditional Polish Piernik a while ago. Unfortunately it was years ago and the printed sheet did not have the credentials.
The spice mix I created myself as I was not be able to find anything similar ready to use in Canada.
I have to say that my son absolutely loves this cake; it is his favourite.

Ingredients:

0.5 kg rye flour

250 g all purpose flour

0.5 kg honey

4 eggs

250g sugar

250 g jar of jam (sour cherry, plum, or black currant are best)

250 g butter

3 tbsp unsweetened natural juice (sour cherry, blueberry, plum are best)

1 tbsp very strong coffee

1 tbsp unsweetened cacao powder

2 tbsp baking powder

1 tbsp baking soda

2 tbsp lemon and orange peel

0.25 c dried fruits and nuts (optional)

Piernik spice mix 

Piernik spice mix:

10 coriander seeds

5 cloves

1 allspice

0.25 tsp grated nutmeg 

3 poss of cardamom

1 tsp grated cinnamon

0.5 tsp vanilla powder

0.5 inch fresh ginger, grated 

1. Heat half of the sugar, honey and butter in a pan (gas mark 2-2.2); mix occasionally. Let it cool off.

2. Egg yolks mix with remaining sugar for about 5 minutes; add flour, soda, baking powder. Then add honey mix, juice, jam, coffee, cacao, and Piernik spice mix.

Mix well.

3. If desired add finely chopped dried fruits and nuts. 

4. Beat egg whites until stiff. Then fold it into the cake mix.

5. Prepare the baking form by spreading a little bit of butter and flour so the cake does not stick.

Pour the cake mix in.

6. Bake in a preheated oven at 180c for about 60 minutes.

7. Let it cool off before removing from the form.

8. Enjoy!

Polish Christmas: Kutia (Wheat berries with poppy seeds)

#healthyeating #easyfoodcreation #PolishChristmas

Kutia is pretty much the same dish as pasta with poppy seeds except that it is popular during Christmas Eve primarily in the Eastern regions of Poland. It is healthier option but I still favour the taste of the pasta with poppy seeds I grew up with.

Ingredients:

1c poppy seeds

0.5c honey

0.25c Dried fruits: apricots, dates, figs, prunes

0.5c nuts and almonds

2tbsp whipping cream (optional)

0.5 (can be more) lemon or orange - juice and peel 

1c wheat berries

spices (optional): 3 cloves, 1 pot cardamom, 0.25 tsp nutmeg - grind into powder

1. Run boiling water through poppy seeds 3-4 times. Then pour 1c of  boiling water into a bowl, add poppy seeds and let it sit overnight.

2. Remove excess water. Place poppy seeds in a blender, add honey and lemon juice. Process for a few minutes; you should see milky liquid. 

3. Chop dried fruits and nuts into small pieces.

4. Cook wheat berries like all grains - 1:3 grain to water proportions, for about 40 minutes on a lower heat. Drain.

5. Mix all ingredients together.

6. Serve warm or at room temperature. If it becomes dry after a couple of days you can stir in more cream, honey, and/or orange or lemon juice. It keeps well in the fridge for a week.

7. Enjoy!

Vegetarian Moussaka

#healthyeating #easyfoodcreationg #vegetarian #moussaka

One of my favourite dishes is moussaka. However, with meat prices, especially lamb, are going through the roof lately. I decided to find an alternative cheaper and healthier option.
I successfully replaced lamb with beans, mushrooms, yellow pepper and tempeh mix.

Ingredients:
2 larger potatoes
1 large eggplant
4 tbsp olive oil
250 g tempeh, cut into smaller chunks
250 g mushrooms
0.5 yellow pepper
150 g mixed beans (I used leftover beans I had on hand - chickpeas, cannelloni, kidney), cooked or canned
1 medium onion
2 garlic cloves
4 tbsp tomato paste
1tsp dried thyme
2 tbsp dried oregano
1 tsp allspice
Cheese sauce:
1 egg
0.75 c milk
0.5 c cheese (I used smoked cheddar)


1. Thinly slice potatoes, spread some olive oil and a little bit of salt. Bake at 175c for 12-15 minutes.
2. Slice eggplant into thicker slices, spread some olive oil. Bale at 175c for 10-15 minutes.
3. Boil water; add tempeh. Boil for 2-4 minutes; drain and set aside.
4. In a meantime, chop mushrooms, pepper, onion, garlic.
5. Heat the pan and fry on a medium heat onion and garlic, then add mushroom, pepper. When mushrooms are getting soft add tempeh.
6. In a cup mix tomato paste with 0.5 water and herbs and spices. Add to the pan with vegetables and tempeh; mix well.
7. Arrange baked sliced of potato at the bottom of the baking dish; then add a layer of baked eggplant slices, then add about half of the vegetable mix. Follow by another layer of potatoes and eggplant, and remainder of the vegetable mix. On the to place any left over potatoes and eggplant.
8. Prepare the cheese sauce by blending milk with egg, then mix in the cheese. Pour on the top of the baking dish.
9. Bake at 175c for 40-45 minutes.
10. Serve hot.
11. Enjoy!