Cooking Zone
They say most of us rely on 10 set meals to feed our family. Well, that certainly is true in my house, on a bad day. However over the years we have compiled "Our Family Cookbook", which contains our most favourite every day dishes, Polish cooking, as well as special occasion seasonal meals.
Our Favourite Easy Cook Budget Meals including Polish Cooking
Salads / Sałatki
Sauerkraut Salad - Surówka z Kiszonej Kapusty
Soups / Zupy
Cabbage/Sauerkraut Soup / Kapuśniak
Bean Soup / Fasolowa
Barszcz z Uszkami
Barszcz z Pierożkami
Chicken Soup / Rosół
Pearl Barley Soup / Krupnik
Beetroot Soup / Buraczkowa
Tomato Soup / Pomidorowa
Main Meals / Obiad
Bigos
Stuffed Cabbages in Tomato Sauce / Gołąbki w Sosie Pomidorowym
Pork Chops / Kotlety Schabowe *
Mince Meat Burgers / Kotlety Mielone
Chicken Roast with Home Roast Potatoes / Kurczak Pieczony z Ziemniakami
Coq au vin / Kurczak w sosie *
Potato Pancakes / Placki Ziemniaczane *
Apple Pancakes / Racuchy
Desserts / Słodkości
Cream Cakes / Kremówki
Goosberry Cake / Ciasto z Agrestem
Jelly Cake / Ciasto z Galaretką
Lip Licking Lemon Pie / Sernik Cytrynowy na Zimno
Healthy Eating Tips
Want to loose weight ? The best thing to start with is - forget diets. The secret is to heat healthy and eat less. Avoid snacking during the week - best way to do it just don't buy any snacks! But have a treat on weekends. Nothing beats a nice chocolate cake with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, especially if it's shared with your best friend.
Sticking to 5-a-day of course helps, as by the time you finish all those apples, bananas and veg, you'll be so full there won't be any more space for anything else.
But what if you don't like any fruits and vegetables. What if you or your children are fussy eaters?
The short answer is - you just have to "train yourself" to like it.
Here's a few tips that I have changed in my life that helped me lose my post-pregnancy weight, and keep it off.
Healthy Lunch Box
My 6-year old designed a lunch box for a school competition. Here's her award-winning healthy lunch box design... And that's what she gets to eat most of the days anyway.
The best way to decide what to put in a lunch box for your child is to ask them. That way, they will get to "decide" for themselves and thus are more likely to actually eat it.
However, you need to gently steer them in the right direction - I recommend researching - on the web, library, there's lots of different advice out there with sample "lunch box menus", and then design a choice list - based on what you already know they like, plus sneaking a few new things to try - so give them a choice of different options (all of them healthy of course). But don't go over the top with exotic stuff especially if you need to stick to a budget - after all, it's only a lunch box, not a fancy picnic or a meal out. If it takes you more than 10 minutes in the morning to prepare the lunch box, then it's too fussy.
Nowadays children learn at school anyway what is healthy and what is not, so things like crisps are a no-no (don't buy them they they won't miss them), but you may put in an odd chocolate chip cookie in... As long as you use brown bread, tuna or chicken (preferably home roast leftovers rather then shop-bought ready made, and none of this cheap processed ham), cheese (grated if they don't like it sliced), and layers of tomato/cucumber salad (ok you can remove the salad bit if they really don't like it). Alternate different sandwiches throughout the week so they don't get bored. I also recommend you use a separate small box for carrot/cucumber sticks, or raisins - that will make them fell it's a little snack to go alongside main sandwiches.
Of course, if you have a choice, and you can afford it (not with the recent government child credit tax cut backs, which will, in my opinion, spell the death of school dinners), you should go for school dinners. They will learn important skill of eating proper dinner and have a varied choice of menus, prepared by dedicated school cooks.