Baby Food! Butternut squash soup.

So this time has come. My baby girl weaning time!!! Say no to baby jars, cook and freeze your own soups, pastas and others.  I will help you with some ideas! Lets start with Butternut Squash Soup:

Thinly dice/slice:
1/3 leak
1/2 courgette  (yellow one)
1 large sweet potatoe
1/2 parsnip
3 carrots
Put them into a pan with tea spoon of unsalted  butter. And cover with boiling water (just cover the vegatables)

Half butternut squash, get rid of seeds, put into ovenproof dish, add a bit of good olive oil and bake for about 30minuts, 180C, until soft.  We will use just half for this soup.

When vegetables are cooked, add baked Butternut squash  (just spoon it out), ad handfull of freshly chopped dill and blend everything together. 
You can make it into mash, or leave some lumps for texture.

This can be given as one of very first baby food just after 6 months old. Its tasty, filling, have all the goodness of vitamins!

This amount will make about 8 baby portions.  You can freeze them and keep for approximately 3months in -18C.

Cream Of Broccoli And Pea

Today is hot and sunny day. Myself and lityle lady fancy something light and fresh for lunch.
Pea a broccoli soup sounded briliant. Its vibrant and so summery colour is very tempting that I just had to make it.

Ingredients :
-1liter of home made chicken stock
-About 2 handfulls of fresh broccoli flowers and same amount of peas

Pouched eggs and toast to serve

How to make:

To boiling stock add vegetables, bring to boil and simmer for 3minutes. Do not cover and overcook greens! Or soup insteaf of vibrant green will be muddy brown.
Blend and its ready!!

You can add a little bit od freshly chopped mint to top up freshness in red hot day.

Serve with pouched egg and toast.

It just couldn't be easier and more perfect for summer days!!

New Beetroot Soup, With Boiled Egg

Its spring time, I just love the freshness all around me! All new vegetables, makes all my senses to wake up after winter!!
One of my favourite taste od Spring and Summer is New Beetroot. Not the big ones, but this little, the ones that are sold together with leaves. This leaves are the best what this beetroot has!

Here is very Polish and very different soup, that you have ever tried. Its worth to be adventures with this, just because it is delicious.

Ingredients:

2liters of home made chicken/ vegetable stock
2 big bunches of New Beetroots, together with its leaves!!
1 lemon
Big bunch of fresh dill
New potatoes
One hard boiled egg per person
Large onion
Smoked bacon
Single cream


How To Make:

Boil the stock.
Peel beetroots*, wash and dice them into small cubes. Wash properly leaves and chop not to thinly.
Add beetroots to boiling stock, turn heat down and bring back to boil, but on low heat. When this will be boiling again add the leaves and juice from whole lemon. Simmer on very low heat until beetroot is nicely cooked. Season, add small cream and freshly chopped dill.
Separately cook new potatoes. Fry sliced into small chunks bacon and chopped onion.

Serving:

Into large serving bowl add potatoes together with fried bacon and onion. Pour over soup. slice egg into quarters and place on the top.

*Hint: when handling any part of beetroots use kitchen gloves, and slice everything on the plate rather than chopping board, as the juices are very hard to wash off.

Leftover Chicken Pie

How many times we have some leftover baked/cooked chicken. In my house always after Clear Chicken Soup/making chicken stock/roasting whole chicken or even just chicken tights we have leftovers. Not always a lot, but always something. 
As u all know already I really hate wasting the food.
Here is some little tip, what to do with leftover chicken meat.
Take small food container, that can be use for freezing, put the leftover cooked, peeled, chopped and cooled meat inside. Label the date on the lid and freeze. U can add to this more and more chicken, as long as its cold and cooked thru.  It doesn't matter if it's from completely different diners.  Its even better!! Just make sure you use within 3 months from the label date.

When coitaner is full/3 months anniversary is fast approaching make a beautiful pie!!

The Leftover Chicken Pie

Ingredients:
Chicken meat (about 2 to 3 mugs of Chopped mixed cooked chicken meat)
500g of muchshrooms
2 large leaks
3 large carrots
Half of mug of frozen peas
Half of mug of frozen sweetcorn (u can use peas and sweetcorn form the tin)
Large single cream (or more)
3 tablespoons of white flour
Ready rolled puff pastry
Splash of oil and few knobs of butter
Salt, pepper, nutmeg, chopped parsley
Egg (for egg wash)

How to make it:

To preaheted large frying pan add splash of oil and butter. Sweat chpped leeks, add chopped mushrooms seazon with pinch of salt and cook them, they will half the size.
When the water form mushrooms will disappear add meat and grated carrots, fry for a while. Add sweetcorn and peas. When there will be no water of the pan, add flour and stir well. Now its time for cream.
Cook for a while and seazon well with salt, pepper, few pinches of freshly grated nutmeg and handfull of chopped parsley.
It should be thick but still a bit runny. 

Transfer it all to ovenproof dish.

Beat one egg for egg wash.  Cover the dish edges with it and place pastry on top. Make sure it stick to the dish.
Put egg wash on top of pastry. Pirce with knife in few places so the steam can come out.

Bake for about 40 minutes, until pastry is nicely golden brown in preheated oven. Gas mark 6 (190/200C).

Nice midweek family dinner.

Brekfast Pancakes with Blueberry and Maple Syrup

Quite a while ago I was watching Nigella Lawson making pancakes with Blueberry and Maple Syrup, and told myself that I have to try it!!

Today I woke up with craving, for something sweet and comforting for breakfast!! I looked at my sweet little girl, ad I new!! Her name is Blueberry and I instantly new what I want!!
Decided to try Nigella syrup.

It came up delicious!! I am not a huge fan of Maple Syrup, but this combination, of hot, running Syrup, boiled with blueberries was so tempting!! And came up just delicious!

The portion is for breakfast for family of 3(well 3 and a half) : 1adult+ 1pregnant adult+1 toddler.

Pancakes:
3 eggs
1 mug of flour
1/4 of melted butter
2 tablespoons of caster sugar
1 teaspoon of baking powder
some milk
and splash of oil for frying

Syrup:
1 mug of maple syrup
125g of blueberries

How to make:
Separate egg whites and yolks. Bit white stiff, add slowly biting all the time: yolks, sugar, flour, baking powder, and few splashes of milk, then butter,  and again some milk if its to stiff. The batter has to be runny, but not as for crepes.
Fry butter (we like hand sized pancakes, but you can make big ones) on moderate heat, on very hot pan with splash of oil, on both sides until golden.

In mean time boil maple syrup together with blueberries.

Serve all hot!!

 

 

Not So Baked Beans

Baked Beans are in English cuisine like rice in Asian, you just cant miss it.

Normally is a side dish.

Today I want to show you haw to prepare it differently. That much different that is the main dish on its own. Filling and delicious.

You have to put some effort and time, but believe me, its worth it!! Once made, you can freeze it for later. Because it take some time to prepare, I always make a big pot at once.

Ingredients:

1kg Dehydrated Butter Beans (you can find them on organic isles in supermarkets, or in shops with organic food. As well as in all polish shops "Fasola Jas")
1kg of good quality smoked sausage
250g of smoked bacon
(if you have, but not necessarily skin from smoked ham, that part that you do not eat, but is brilliant for cooking and giving a lot of flavour)
1large onion
4 cloves of garlic
1 tube of tomatoes pure
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
salt, pepper, sugar and dried marjoram (marjoram in Polish cooking is like thyme in English)

How to prepare:
Put Butter Beans into large bowl and cover them with cold water for at least 12 hours.
Before putting into large saucepan, you have to drain the leftover water and wash them in cold running water.
In large saucepan cover Beans with water, add the smoked skin in you have one, and a spoonful of salt. Cover and simmer for about 2 hour on low heat, until beans are tender. You have to stir it once in a while or it will burn at the bottom!!
In mean time slice bacon and fry it, till crispy. Put bacon away and on the same pan, fry sliced sausage, when its golden ad chopper onion and let it "sweat".
When beans are tender add all the friend meat with onion. Together with tin of tomatoes and tomato pure and simmer for another half an hour/hour. Do not forget to stir it once in a while.
Now its time for tasting. Press garlic in garlic press, add handful of dried marjoram and spoon of sugar. Taste and add salt and pepper to your liking.

This tastes the best "next day" when reheated.

Serve with fresh bread.

Loin Of Pork with Apples and Cheese

Different view on Sunday Roast? Fancy something easy, quicker than Sunday Roast, but still nice and suitable for all family?

Why not try Pork Loin baked with grated apples and cheese??

Ingredients
1 kg of fine pork Loin, no bone!!
4 big apples (peeled and grated)
greater cheese
salt and pepper

Slice pork loin into about 2centimeter slices and tender the meat with mallet. Season with salt and pepper on both sides.

Put meat into glass ovenproof dish, "like sardines in a tin". One on the other but still as spread as possible, so every single peace can be cover as much as possible with apples. Put grated apples over the meat. meat has to be cover with about 1cm layer.
Put grated cheese over the apples. Again all apples has to be cover, we like it quite thick, but you can put as much or as little as you like.

Cover the dish with kitchen foil and bake in pre heated oven (gas mark 6) for 35 minutes. Then take foil off and bake for further 15 minutes until cheese is golden brown.

Serve with roasted vegetables and mash potatoes.