Home made "kluski" = noodles

Kluski i a name given in Polish to any noodles and pastry you make by using various types of flour and eggs.

1. Type of "kluski" called "kluski z dziurka" (noodles with a hole)

What you need: packet potatoe (or fresh potato), potato flour (maka ziemniaczana) and one egg.
Make packet potato (don't make it watery). Add 1 whole egg and a few spoons of potato flour. Knead the pastry. Make small balls, put a finger in each to create a hole (hence the name). Put into boiling, slightly salted water. They are ready, when they start floating.

Hint: These "kluski" go well with savoury or sweet additions. You can serve them with meat or with strawberries and cream. Try it.  They are delicious.

Potato flour can be purchased from any Polish shop.

Pork cutlets

Pork cutlets are great for dinner. If you do not have much time for cooking, grill them with slices of onion on top. Just place aluminium foil on top of the grill and place cutlets on it. Sprinkle onion on top. Season it with a pinch of salt and pepper.
If cutlets have too much fat, cut it off and add to a soup you are going to make. Fat gives a good flavour to any soup and you don't have to eat it, if you are on a diet.

Mashed potatoes go nicely with this meat; if you are in a hurry, make potatoe mash from a packet. As a salad, you could grate  some apples.

Hint: when buying apples, look at the price for kilo. It is often the case that you can get twice as many loose apples than you would  get in a pack. Don't pick up any bruised ones, as they will go off quickly.
Don't mke a habit of using a packet potatoes, keep it just in case, when you are in a rush.

Way to saving even more money...

Don't waste food. Whatever you do, don't waste it. Don't pile up on your plate, if you are unsure if you are going to eat it all. You can always take a second-helping. Teach everyone not to waste food. When you throw food away, think about people, who suffer from hunger! Don't leave any leftovers lying around, store them in the fruidge. Change your bad habits. It's never too late.

Bulgar and its usage

Bulgar can be used in many ways:

• as an addition to the soups (goes extremly well with vegetable soup)
• as an addition with your main dish (make sure you prepare some sauce, so the meal is not very dry). Bulgar will go with chicken pieces or any mince meat.
• some people add bulgar to salads.

In whatever way you wish to serve it, it gives a good alternative to potatoes.
Hint: when buying bulgar, notice the difference in the price between organic and "regular" one.

Frozen veggetable

I was lazy on Sunday, so I prepared soup from a packet... Today, I am making veggie soup. Frozen veg: carrots and peas. And I cut three celery stems and added them to the saucepan. From pork pieces for tonight, I cut off the fat and added it to the soup. I also had bacon bits left from yesterday. I added them to the soup as well. It's simmering now.

Combined dinner

For tonight I have, once again, left overs from yesterday and fresh meat that is being defrosted.

Hint: Defrost the meat overnight by taking it out of the freezer and storing it in the fridge overnight. In the morning place the meat in a bowl and put it away somewhere (in my case in the cold cupboard, away from my cat and any flies:-)) If you wish to cover it, don't use plastic bag or cling film, just another plate or bowl. If it is very warm, cook(fry it a bit, to prevent going off or developping bacterias.
You can marinate meat by adding a few spoonfulls of a sauce of your choice before frying it. I cut pork in tiny slices and left it marinating in mild curry sauce till evening. With boiled rice, I have a quick meal. If you are on a budget, don't go for basmanti rice, use ordinary, cheap stuff. You can flavor it by adding a small spoon of turmeric to the  water before you start boiling rice.

By defrosting food overnight you save energy (you don't use microwave!).

Fried pierogi

Today I am going to serve fried pierogi, which are delicious. I have them left from yesterday, so they will make a very nice and easy meal.
One thing you need to remember: when you have fresh, raw pierogi and nobody can eat any more, boil them anyway. Once they cool down, store them in the fridge and consume within a day.

I served pierogi with cream, but children had them without it. Try whatever works for you. Enjoy!

Pierogi with meat

Pierogi is a Polish name for a pastry with some filling. Similar to samosas. Tonight, I want to make "pierogi" with vegetables and meat.
I defrosted mince meat (a mixture of pork and beef). I seasoned it with salt, pepper and sweet chilly sauce. I added sliced big onion and fried it all until meat was cooked.
In the afternnon, I will add tinned corn and cooked carrot bits. (buy loose carrots, look at the price for kilo, dice them and boil until soft).
The last thing to do is to prepare the pastry. I use white plain flour and half  a cup of warm water. Pour the water into a bowl, bit by bit add some flour. You need the pastry that is going to be easy to knead. Roll it flat, cut cirles. Fill them with the filling (meat and veg) and put into a saucepan of slightly salted boiling water. When they are ready, they will be floating on the surface.

Pierogi are delicious served with cream and bits of bacon. The filling may be different: white cheese, fruit etc. I will post another recipe soon.

A quick meal

Today I will be really struggling to accommodate everything, so I have to think about a very quick dinner. I intend to serve: soups from yesterday (I have white borsch and vegetable soup). As a main dish ( I forgot to defrost the mince!) I will fry some bacon with tinned tomatoes and whatever noodles I have left in the fridge. I will make a quick salad to accompany: diced tomatoe, cut lettuce, diced cucumber plus white vinegar and olive oil.

Mastard and Cress for...Easter- not only

When I was still at home, we used to sow mustard and cress especially for Easter, as at the time of the year it is still quite cold in Poland and you don't see many green plants. As everyone was looking forward to spring, you really needed to see fresh roots...I would wet some cotton wool and place it around a clay pot turned upside down to create a small hill. Then I would sow the seeds. If I did it in around 3-4 days prior to Easter, we would have an ornament for our Easter breakfast table. After Easter, the cress would be thrown away...
But, I have never thought about using it until I became a mother myself. To add some veggies to our diet, I started planting mustard and cress without any special occasion. Once it grows, I cut it and chop on the board. Then I add it to a buttered piece of bread, before I place a slice of ham or cheese. It is delicious.

Planning ahead

If you are working, it may be difficult to cook every day, so try to plan ahead while shopping, to make sure you always have the basics in the fridge to prepare something to eat swiflty. I usually prepare the soup (any one) the day before, in the evening. I cook it and store it in the fridge. It is very easy to dish the soup out (after warming it up) and serve it. If you don't have time to worry about any main dish, you can always place bits of meat in the soup and make it thicker plus more nutritious. You can also boil some noodles and serve it with your soup. Try and experiment. Any hot meal during the day is better than junk food.

Home made burgers

You need: pork and/or beef, onion, salt and pepper, rolls (optional).

I found out that home made burgers taste better if you use a mixture of pork and beef ( or lamb, turkey etc.) . Any mixture of meat, instead of one kind. Fry diced onion and add it to the meat. Mix well, add salt and pepper. Form balls and collapse them to form circles. Fry them on a little amount of oil. Too greasy are neither tasty nor healthy. If you intend to serve burgers with rolls, use healthy ones with seeds and serve salad as well. If you choose to have chips, do not fry them in old oil and don't serve heaps of them as potatoes contain starch, which results in weight gain.

Burgers should not be eaten frequently. Try to cook alternative dishes.

By the way, there was a special offer in my supermarket today: full fat philadelphia cheese (300g) for £1.00
Worth getting...

Tasty Leftoevers

We finished our vegetable soup tonight. As you remember, I added cuts of pork to add to flavour. These small bits ended up in a compost bin, as nobody really fancied them, but they are usually eaten.
As a main dish, we had remainder of pork plus pieces of fried bacon and rice. As rice was already cooked and it was cold, I warmed it up with the sauce from meat.

Hint: any food should only be warmed up once. It's always better to cook less and prepare fresh meal, than to have  a stomach upset. While shopping for your cereal, always look for the weight. 500g will last a family of 4 for a few days, but 375g will take you nowhere. Also, try to buy cereal that is reduced at the moment. e.g. I got a box of frosted shreddies for half  price. The best thing to do is to make a list of cereal that your family likes and try to buy whatever is cheaper the current week. Also, compare the prices with alternatives. At the moment it is cheaper to buy 2 packs of Bitesize Shreddied wheat (500g each) than shreddied wheat (750g).

Easy sandwiches

For lunch today, I am serving sandwiches: any bread you have (I serve white today and brown tomorrow, to supply enough fibre). Butter to spread ( it is more expensive than a spread, but you only need to spread it thinly- I was always told that margarine is not healthy as it releases too many hydrogen atoms in your body, but I am not an expert...so who is right?) I bought a few slices of "carver" ham, which I place on the bread. I also add a slice or two of yellow cheese (you can cut various shapes for youngesters , if you have time) and a lettuce leaf (obviously washed). If your child is not so keen on a lettuce, try a part of the leaf or a slice of cucumber or tomatoe.

For dinner, I am going to serve a vegetable soup (recipe below) - I used some left over potatoes - I cut them into slices and added them to the soup while it was boiling. I also cut some fat off from meat (pork) and added it to the soup to increase the flavour.
The pork was cut into small chunks, marinated in the sauce (left over from the other day, kept in the fridge) and fried. I will serve some noodles (worth getting a pack of two for £1.00) and apple quarters. I assume there will be some pork left, as I cooked 600g, so it will get eaten tomorrow.

Hint: Be careful about buying 2 for the price of 1. You may not be able to eat it all. Waste of food, waste of money. Even a few pence wasted every day amounts to a pound, and pound to pound gives you e.g. a toy for a child or other thing:-)

White cheese melody

I had to get milk today. While I was at the supermarket, I noticed that there was a special price for a box of  white cheese...25p !!!! For 250g , even though the label stated 200g. It was a great bargain.
So if you liked my Pascha, you had a chance to get another two boxes for 50p. And today (after Easter) a box of 15 eggs was available (surprise, surprise) for £1.46 instead of £2.5 Amazing, how a couple of days make a difference!

If you had some white left over from your baking for Easter, you can use it for lunch in a quick recipe:

dice half an onion, fry it a bit on the pan, add some white leftover. Stir well. Sprinkle some black pepper on top. Serve with toast.

Easter is almost over....but

Easter is almost over, so is my Pascha. It was delicious and so rich, that we couldn't eat much at one go. Since children are still off school, tomorrow (if I have time), I will make cheese doughnuts. The only thing you need is: white cheese, vinegar (!), flour, egg, sugar, oil and icing-sugar. Recipe to follow.

Pascha

I made a yummy Pascha -a cheese cake for Easter. Takes 10 minutes and is so rich, that you can't eat much in one go.

Here's the recipe:

500g of full fat white cheese ( I used Philadelphia full fat 300g cheese, but I waited when there was a special price -£1.00 for a box of 300g). You can cheat by using any other, cheaper full fat cheese.

50g of almonds (buy flakes as they are cheaper plus you save time on peeling almonds and chopping them up)- a pack of 150g costs 1.00
50g of raisins (I usually buy a packet of 500g and use 50g for the cake) -0.65
2 egg yolks - 6 eggs for 0.91
150g of  sugar  - 1kg for 0.98
100g of unsalted butter - special price £1.00 for 250g
2 spoonfuls of cream I use long life one)

Put yolks in the saucepan, add sugar and butter. Melt it on a very low gas. Make sure you stir the contents constantly. Don't allow eggs to go hard, just very hot. As soon as they are about to boil, switch the gas off. Add cheese, raisins and almonds. Mix everything thoroughly. Once it cools down, place it in the fridge.