Lazanki with cabbage

#easyfoodcreations #healthyeating #PolishCooking

Today I made a Polish village food -lazanki. Cabbage is everywhere and is one of the cheapest food items you can find in Polish markets. My grand mother learnt how to make lazanki during the war when she was staying with one of the Polish village families. During the war they used just cabbage and pig fat but I made a more luxurious version by adding a local sausage, dried mushrooms, and onion.

Pasta lazanki is so quick and easy to make that I would never be able to justify buying it.

Ingredients:

1 small head of local green cabbage 

0.5 large local onion

2 sausages (I used chili, garlic and rosemary sausage made by our local butcher)

1 tsp whole caraway seeds

2 tbsp butter

For lazanki pasta:

2 cup all purpose or bread flour

2 eggs (you can go anywhere between 1 to 3 eggs depending on your preference, or you can use egg substitute of your choice)

4-6 tbsp water

1.  Chop onion and sausage and fry them with caraway seeds for a few minutes.

2. Chop cabbage and cook with butter on gas mark 3.

3. Add fried sausage and onion to the cabbage pot, stirr every 10 minutes. Turn heat to gas mark 2.8.

4. Set pot of water with salt to boil for lazanki.

5. Mix flour with eggs and slowly keep adding water to make a dough. The dough should be fairly smooth - it takes about 5 minutes of kneeding by hand.

6. Split into 2-3 parts and flatten it. If you have a pasta making machine you can use it or you can use rolling pin. Cut flat dough into squares or any other shape and size you like. To cut dough I use pizza cutter, but you can use pasta knife or regular knife, even cookie cutter.

6. Place cut lazanki in a boiling water and cook only to the point when they float up, it is almost instatenious. They should be still slightly hard when taken out. You don't want to overlook ithem as we will be cooking them for additional few minutes with cabbage. You don't have to cook them right away, you can store them for later. Just let them dry and then place them in the air tight container.

7. Add cooked lazanki pasta to the cabbage mix and let cook for another 3-5 minutes. Serve warm.

8. Enjoy!

Break-fast: raw granola bar

#easyfoodcreations #healthyeating #seeds

Sometimes I need a quick snack - something small yet nutriticious and I feel this bar fits the brief perfectly.

This recipe makes 8 bars. 

Ingredients:

1c traditional oats

4 Tbsp nut or seed butter ( I used peanut butter, but you can substitute with sunflower butter, hemp butter, or almond butter)

0.5 lemon, juice

2tbsp raw honey (you can substitute with a very ripe banana)

1tbsp flax seeds, whole

2 tbsp sunflower seeds

3 tbsp pumpkin seeds

0.5tsp cinnamon.

1. Mix everything well.

2. Flatten on a parchment paper and cut into 8 pieces.

3. Pack individually and store in the fridge. I left them overnight in the fridge before eating. 

4. Enjoy!

You should be able to store them for 2 weeks in the fridge; 1 week if you used a banana instead of honey.

Wholesome seed muffins

#easyfoodcreations #healthyeating #muffins #seeds #vegan

Ingredients:
5 tbsp sunflower seeds (pumpkin would work well too)

1 tbsp sesame seeds

1 tbsp flax seeds

2 tbsp chia seeds

1 tbsp poppy seeds

2 tbsp flax meal

0.5 c water

1 c milk (I used coconut milk)

2 tbsp olive oil (you can use butter or coconut oil)

1 c all purpose flour

0.5 c coconut flour

0.75 c oats (I used whole but you can grind them)

5 tbsp honey

2 tbsp baking powder

0.5 tsp Salt

1 lemon, juice and zest

1. Preheat oven to 177c

2. Mix flax with water and let it sit for a few minutes.

3. Mix all wet ingredients

4. Add dry ingredients and mix well

5. Place muffin dough into muffin containers to 2/3 full

6. Bake for 35-40 min

7. Enjoy

Fibrous Bean Cakes

#easyfoodcreations #healthyeating #beans

Ingredients:

540 ml canned beans, I used Lima 

0.5 medium onion

1 clove garlic

0.5 red pepper

1 egg

1 tbsp milled flaxseeds

3 ryvita or wasa bread

3 tbsp oats

0.5 tsp turmeric

0.5 tsp salt

O.5 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp ground cumin

Handful of finely chopped fresh parsley

1-3 tbsp check pea flour (if needed)

Oil for pan frying

1. Take onion, garlic and pepper and process until smooth

2. Mash beans (I used potato masher)

3. Add all ingredients to mashed beans and mix well.

4. Form into balls then flatten forming small cakes.

5. Shallow fry on a medium low heat (gas mark 3) for up to 5 min per side.

6. Enjoy!

Banana Cheesecake

#easyfoodcreations #healthyeating #cheesecake

Today we are celebrating our 16th wedding anniversary. It is incredible how fast time goes.

When we are celebrating we typically have a dessert, which breaks the everyday routine by adding something sweet and special. 

As usual making a regular cheesecake would not be a challenge if I did not try to incorporate some healthier ingredients - today we have oatbran in the thin layer of crust.

Ingredients:

500 g white pressed cheese (unsalted or with minimal salt added). This is a key ingredient so it is important to get good quality stuff or even better making your own. I will show how to make it in a separate blog

150 g butter, leave it outside the fridge for about 20-30 min so it is a little softer

4 eggs

3 bananas, I used 2 overripe bananas and one ripe banana. Ripeness of bananas controls the sweetness of the cake so if you like it sweeter you may want to use 3 or even 4 overripe bananas. 

1 packet of vanilla sugar

8 arrowroot cookies (you can use other low sugar cookies)

2 Tbsp oatbran

0.25 tsp cinnamon

1. Preheat the oven to 150c

2. Spread a little bit of butter in the baking dish

3. Grind cookies and oatbran. Spread it evenly over the baking dish

4. Blend all remaining ingredients until smooth

5. Pour blended mix into the baking dish

6. Bake for 45-50 min
7. Enjoy!

Zucchini and lentil pancakes

To celebrate the Pancake day this year I decided to try something different. After all no one said that pancakes have to be sweet.

#easyfoodcreations #healthyeating #pancakes #zucchini

Ingredients:
1c red lentils, washed and soaked for about 30 min
3 zucchini, grated
0.25 medium onion
1 tsp cumin seeds
0.5 tsp turmeric (you can use curry paste)
2 tbsp flax meal mixed with 5 tbsp water (you can use 2 eggs instead)
0.25 - 0.5c coconut milk
0.5 c oats
salt, pepper
oil for frying


1. Blend all ingredients together into a smooth consistency.
2. Fry over a medium heat.
3. After all pancakes are fried, place them in a dish with a lid and place in a preheated oven on 150-177c for about 20 minutes.
4. Serve warm.
5. Enjoy!

Pasta with veal and zucchini tomato sauce

Over the last couple of months I had been investigating what types of food are appealing to my 2.5 year old son who refuses to eat any fruits and vegetables. The hate for all colourful food items is relatively new and is not caused by true dislike but a simple refusal to put them in the mouth. Faces made out of tomatoes, cucumber and corn did absolutely nothing, in fact they made a matter worse as he would refuse to eat anything after seeing them on a plate. I knew a different approach was required. I found the secret, it lies in finding those few accepted ingredients and building an increasingly healthy food repertoire.

#easyfoodcreations #toddlerapprovedrecipes #healthyeating

Ingredients:
500 g canned chopped tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato paste
5 prunes, chopped
1 tbsp dried oregano
2 chopped zucchini
1 tbsp finely chopped fresh parsley
500 g ground veal
3/4 medium onion, chopped finely
2 cloves garlic (optional)
3 tbsp oat bran
3 tbsp flax meal, mixed with 6 tbsp water
1 tbsp ghee, butter, or oil
1 -2 tsp allspice
Salt, pepper
4-5 dried wild mushrooms rehydrated and finely chopped

1. Melt butter in a sauce pan and add onion and garlic. For a few minutes until softened.
2. Add meat and dried mushrooms and cook for another 4-5 minutes.
3. Add remaining ingredients and let them cook on a gas mark 2 for 30-40 minutes. If you want you can hold off with adding meat and blend all other ingredients after about 15 minutes of cooking.
4. When the sauce is almost ready cook pasta.
5. Serve warm with some sprinkled cheese (optional) of your choosing (I used naturally smoked cheddar in this dish).
6. Enjoy!