Recipe Binder: The Polish Edition

Having just returned from my "around the world" cooking course I thought I'd share the meal we cooked today. As last week's was cancelled (courtesy of the snow) we simply did Polish week this week rather than skipping it altogether. I wasn't too sure what to expect and was a bit worried that the food would be really complicated and hard to recreate, but it wasn't at all!

We made a soup and a main dish, recipes for both are below, and I can assure you they are as simple to make as most meals.

Borscht soup

This is basically beetroot soup. Apparently you should only have a bit of it rather than the whole lot so I'd estimate this serves 4+ depending on how much. It says it's best served with sour cream or crumbled feta cheese.

• 1/4 onion
• 1 carrot
• 1/4 stick of celery
• 1/4 packet beetroot
• 1 small garlic clove (or puree if you prefer)
• 1/2 tsp caraway seeds
• bay leaves
• 1/2 beef stock cube

Add the chopped onion, garlic, beetroot, carrot, celery, seed and bayleaf to a pan and cover with beef stock. Simmer for 45 minutes then season and blend.

Kielbasa and cabbage

Kielbasa is a Polish sausage. If you can't get hold of any then you can substitute with normal sausages.

• 2 rashers bacon, chopped up
• 1 1/2 sausage, sliced
• 1/2 pint water
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1/4 onion
• 1 tsp garlic puree
• 1/2 tsp chilli powder
• 1/2 tsp caraway seeds
• cabbage (approx half of a big one) thinly slice

In a large pan, cook the sausage for approx 10 minutes, before adding the bacon and cooking until the sausage is browned. Remove the bacon and sausage. Add everything else to the pan and cook for 10-15 minutes (or until the water is virtually gone) and then add the meat back in for approx 10 minutes.

And there you have it, two Polish dishes for you!

Meal Planning Monday; 28th January 2013

Hello everybody, what a relief it is to finally be rid of all our snow! Last week was still rather quiet but we managed to get outside a few times, just to help break out from the cabin fever. Bubbah also expanded his enjoyment of running water (he gets very excited when I fill the sink to wash up) via a bath toy fish:

Last week's meal plan went fairly well, although home made pizza got swapped for Domino's and chicken tikka was swapped for previous batch cooked meals from the freezer (although the chicken tikka was made and frozen for future use). I catalogued our freezer this weekend (because clearly that's a high priority thing everyone should do...right?) and discovered that hubby has loads of meals stacked up in there when I batch cook and he decides he then doesn't fancy it for ages afterwards. However, not for much longer!

This week the meal plan is fairly simple and consists of mainly food from the freezer that's begging to be used up...

• Freezer meal - ratatouille for hubby and bolognaise with potato for me
• Freezer meal - vegetable bake for hubby and mac n cheese for me
• Vegetable soup for hubby's fast day, mayonnaise pigs in blankets for me
• Hunters chicken (jarred sauce as it was on offer and I wanted to examine the ingredients before trying to make my own) with roast potatoes
• Home made pizza
• Vegetable soup again for hubby's fast day, fish pie or fish fingers and chips for me.

I'm also batch cooking vegetable pasta bake (tomatoes, two different types of peppers, red and white onions, mushrooms and sweetcorn) for hubby to take to work for his lunches. I'm hoping to make a few mini batches of cheesy vegetable bake, mac n cheese, apricot rice and chicken, turkey tikka and potato slices for Bubbah to enjoy over the next few weeks.

This is what happens when you let a baby feed themselves...

As always I am linked up with Mrs M so head on over there and have a nose at what everyone else is cooking up this week.

What I did this week

Well it took a while, but the snow is finally gone! It was a bit scary travelling out with Bubbah along all the icy paths but we managed to have a few trips out. This week we;

• holed up inside after cooking class was cancelled on Monday
• saw my best friend
• journeyed into town and loaded up on Pop Tarts (my new food love, courtesy of American sweet shops)
• ventured out along the icy paths and got Bubbah weighed before...
• ...enjoying yet another morning at baby group where Bubbah and I made a new friend!
• made (and ate) a lovely double chocolate chip cake

And that was our week.

Don't make me go outside!

What I Did: the white week

Oh my goodness, all this snow! It's been snowing literally all day here and you can no longer see our garden past the white blanket covering it. But that's not to say we didn't do anything this week!

This week I...

• braved a two hour separation with Bubbah in crèche at our local sure start centre while I attended a cooking class I'd signed up to. He was fine until I got back and realised I'd been gone while he was distracted with the toys and burst into tears!
• squeezed in a trip to town and grabbed a few essentials, some non-essentials (books are my weakness) and spent my Next birthday voucher (courtesy of mum)
• welled up at Bubbah acknowledging me as "mama" for the first time (while gripping my arm with his pudding covered hand)
• endured a grouchy baby courtesy of teething and a cold
• was thankful for smiles when they did happen (see below)
• laughed in amazement as Bubbah worked out that he could use a stand alone toy as a climbing tool and gained access to the sofa(!)
• had a lovely leisurely lunch with my mum at our local carvery
• managed to squeeze in the weekly shop before we got snowed in!

And that was my week!

Meal Planning Monday; 21st January 2013

Wowser, it's like a scene from Day After Tomorrow outside as I type this! Thankfully we managed to squeeze in a weekly shop in between all the snow so we have a fully stocked house; just the thing we need when it looks like we might be snowed in for a while!

Last week was rather quiet and non-eventful as I was getting over the news that my grandad passed away the day after my birthday. However last week I did keep up the cooking around the world class I'd signed up to (where we made chicken tikka with rice, dip and home made naan bread) and took Bubbah to a local baby and toddler group but have been pretty much house bound since then. Bubbah has also started teething (after a break of about a week) and has come down with a cold at the same time so he was feeling quite miserable too, meaning I didn't particularly want to drag the poor boy around outside given the weather.

Enjoying the ball pit at baby and toddler group

Something that happens when Bubbah is feeling ill/teething/both is a complete and utter disregard for sleep. Normally he's very good but the last week has seen him sleep for an hour, refuse to go back to sleep for several hours then finally giving in around midnight where he'll wake up again after a few hours and only sleep if I'm in the room. As such evenings have become quite hard to cook so this week's plan reflects this. One good thing about Bubbah being up is that he helps with the housework...

Late night hoovering

Does this turn the tumble drier on mummy?

This week involves lots of previous meals dragged up from the freezer, a bit of batch cooking.

• Sausage honey and mustard bake with roasts and various veg
• Sweet potato bake/steak and kidney pie
• Risotto/fish pie
• Mac and cheese batch cooked for easy lunches
• Home made pizza
• Chicken tikka with rice or mash, depending on mood and time 

    

I may also do some baking towards the end of the week, probably just some cupcakes and/or biscuits, when the cupcakes I made Saturday afternoon run out.

And that's the lot! Hope everyone stays safe and warm in this weather. Head on over to Mrs M see what everyone else is cooking up.

Meal Planning Monday; 14th January 2013

Hello everyone! After my birthday weekend I'm coming back round to normality again (and scoffing my remaining birthday cake of course) and settling into meal planning. Last week's meal plan went pretty well as I think we got every single meal into the week's events.

Bubbah has been getting more confident on his feet, although he's still wobbly and walks (as my step mum observed) like a Thunderbirds' puppet but he gets so excited about it, especially when he walks along the sofa to throw himself on me!

This week I'm starting a "cooking around the world" course at my local health centre so Bubbah is having a couple of hours without me as he's in the crèche on site (clearly you can't have a dozen or so babies crawling/cruising/walking around while their mums are cooking). The course is four weeks so over the next month a few more exotic dishes may be making an appearance in my meal plan.



My meal plan this week is as follows:

• breaded mac and cheese
• soup a couple of days for hubby as he's back to his 5:2 diet
• fish pie for me on hubby's soup days
• Pizza
• bbq chicken and curly fries

And that's my meal plan! For more menus to inspire you this week, head on over to Mrs M.

Keep on dancing like we're 22

This Saturday saw the arrival of my 22nd birthday and my first as a mummy! Bubbah (via my mum) got me a bunch of yellow roses which are on proud display in the kitchen. I had a lovely day with the hubby in London dragging him around vintage shops and stalls in Camden followed up by a rather gorgeous lunch in Belgo, complete with decadent chocolate fondant pudding with toffee ice cream.

Nothing like an indulgent birthday pudding

Bubbah was looked after by my dad and step mum which thankfully went very well as his separation anxiety is in full swing. Personally I think their dog helped things as Bubbah loves dogs to the extent he'll laugh and wave at any (and every) dog we see on walks out. He wasn't too impressed when we got back and ruined his play time with boring things like dinner, although he eventually forgave me...

My day ended with a Chinese take away and cake made by me the day before and...er staying up until midnight with a sleepless Bubbah. Whoops! Oh well, I had a lovely birthday anyway!

Meal Planning Monday; 7th January 2012

Hello and happy first Monday of the year to everyone! We had a quiet night in for New Year's Eve although Bubbah seemed to pick up on some of the late night element of the night and refused to go to bed at his normal time...

No sleep for me!

It's been a bit slow moving this week as routine falls back into place so not really much to report although (drum roll please) Bubbah took his first steps! Imagine my surprise when, while sitting on the floor with him playing, Bubbah responded to my "come to mamma" by sticking his arms out like a tight rope walker and wobbling over to me! He's still getting used to his balance and getting over excited and trying to run before he can walk properly but I imagine he'll be tearing around by the time it's his birthday next month and giving me a good workout!

Last week's plan got changed about a bit as I ended up buying a selection of meat on offer when I did my shopping and so I ended up having a bit of a batch cooking session. Over the course of the week I made:

• sweet potato and vegetable bake
• tomato and vegetable risotto
• lamb casserole
• bbq chicken
• home made burgers (including mini ones for Bubbah)
• quiche

However, that made this week's plan a bit easier to cobble together as our freezer is groaning from the extra portions in Tupperware taking up any and all space. So, without further babbling from me, this week we are having:

• risotto for OH, casserole for me
• Quiche with home made wedges
• Aforementioned bake for hubby and either casserole, sausages or fish fingers for me
• Various soups for hubby a couple of times (green veg, veg, carrot and coriander  All shop bought to save me time and because they were half price)
• And I'll have casserole/sausages/fish fingers depending on mood (and to clear up freezer space!)
• Pizza

I'm also baking this week, as it's my birthday I decided I'm allowed cake (everyone should have cake on their birthday, no exceptions!) and who better to provide it than myself? I'll probably have a marble cake melded together with Nutella and served with ice cream or squirty cream.

Saturday night is off the plan as hubby is taking me to London (Camden market vintage stalls here I come!) for the day and I'm not sure when we'll be back. I might request a naughty Chinese or Indian take away.

And that's pretty much it! As usual, I'm linked up to Mrs M so head on over there to have a nosey at what everyone else is cooking up on their plans, and have a good week!