Healthy Vegan Pea, Bean and Flax Spread (Breakfast or Snack)

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If you are looking for an easy vegan breakfast option that is rich in fiber and protein, try this green pea, bean, and flax seed spread, which looks a lot like British mushy peas or avocado toast! This is budget friendly because the main ingredients are canned beans ($0.75 – $1.50) and frozen green peas ($0.79- $2.00 per 8oz). Just make sure your canned beans don’t have anything added other than water or salt.

Simply take a few minutes to make a batch, and have a container ready for the week. Pair this with a whole grain bread and voila, breakfast is served!

You can use these ingredients as a base and get creative with the flavors, additions, or toppings! Other ingredients could include garlic, nuts, nutritional yeast, red pepper flakes or lemon juice. You can top toast with things like smoked paprika, coarse salt, more flax seeds, fresh herbs, or really anything 🙂

Btw, flax seed has been having a moment as a super food, but are there any other Poles who have memories of drinking ground flax seed with hot water to cure numerous ailments in their youth? Or was that just me? I still enjoy flax seeds despite those experiences…anyway, hope you enjoy this.

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Polish Christmas Recipes

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Although nobody will be cooking for a crowd this year and celebrations will undoubtedly be different in many ways, maybe reaching for some nostalgic food can bring a comfort this people this Christmas. If you are looking Polish Christmas Eve (Wigilia) or Christmas Day recipes scroll down and see if anything strikes your fancy! Stay safe, stay healthy, and Merry Christmas/Wesołych Świąt!

Christmas Eve

Pierogi with Potato and Cheese (Ruskie Pierogi)

Pierogi are always a good option! These can be served on Christmas Eve or Christmas, or both.

Pierogi with Sauerkraut and Mushroom (Pierogi z Kapustą i Pieczarkami)

Anddd another filling option 🙂

Cod Cakes with Leek Mustard Sauce

Christmas Eve, known as Wigilia, is all about the fish, many many fish! Carp usually makes an appearance on Christmas Eve and is usually fried. This dish is good for a crowd (I see you, 2021…or 22) and is a nice change up.

Red Barszcz (Czerwony Barszcz Wigilijny)

Christmas Eve fish shares its spotlight with barszcz, which kicks off the meal. This meatless beet based broth is served with mushroom uszki or paszteciki (recipe below).

Paszteciki (Savory Mushroom and Cabbage Pastries)

Barszcz is traditionally served with mushroom uszki (similar to tortellini), but you can change it up by serving paszteciki on the side instead. These go quickly!

Christmas Day

Hunter’s Stew (Bigos)

This hearty dish made of sauerkraut, meat, and other veggies is good to make a day or two in advance because it tastes better after the flavors sit together. It also will make your fridge smell, but it tastes good, so make it anyway.

Vegetable Salad (Sałatka Jarzynowa)

Depending on where in the world you are, this salad goes by sałatka jarzynowa, olivier salad, Russian salad, or something else I don’t know about. This recipe is meatless, but you can add cubed ham or kielbasa. Either way, it shows up on many Polish holiday tables.

Łazanki (Noodles with Cabbage and Onion)

Caramelized onions and cabbage turn these simple and affordable ingredients into a satisfying meal.

Stuffed Cabbage (Gołąbki)

Cabbage rolls filled with meat are a classic. If you make these for a small 2020 Christmas (no big gatherings!!!), you will have leftovers for daysss. That’s a good thing!

Mushroom Soup

Mushrooms and soup…two things you can usually expect in some form at a Polish meal!

Pickled Carrot Slices

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This pickling recipe can work for cucumber pickles, or anything else you might want to pickle! It is a base that you can add to with other seasonings such as mustard seeds (a Polish classic), allspice, chili peppers, or many other things. This recipe is all brine, no vinegar!!!

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Blueberry Pierogi (Pierogi z Jagodami)

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Pierogi with fruit fillings are very popular in Poland, Ukraine, Belarus…that whole area. Blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, sour cherries, and plums are common because those grow so well in the region.

Try to make these when blueberries are in season, usually late spring through summer, because they ARE the filling. Out of season, blueberries tend to be, but are not always…flavorless. If you have a craving you can’t beat, you can use frozen blueberries and thaw them before use. 

Once pierogi are assembled, your can refrigerate them and cook them the next day, or you can freeze them for a few weeks.

This make about 3-4 dozen pierogi.

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Łazanki (Noodles with Cabbage and Onion)

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Łazanki is Polish recipe that typically combines wide flat noodles with cabbage (or sauerkraut), onion, and sometimes meat and/or mushrooms. Łazanki also refers specifically to the wide noodle used. If Wikipedia is to be believed, then łazanki came to Poland and the region in the 16th century when the Italian born Queen Bona Sforza introduced a multitude of new foods, including lasagna-type noodles. I believe it! Bona Sforza brought all sorts of vegetables up north-east with her and the Polish names of some of these foods sound like their Italian counterparts, like tomatoes (pomidori-pomidory).

This recipe is vegetarian, but you can add kiełbasa or bacon and use melted pork or chicken fat as well. Łazanki noodles are difficult to find outside of Polish delis, so you can use wide egg noodles, or even break up lasagna noodles instead. It is important that you give the onions and cabbage enough time to cook down and naturally sweeten.

Smacznego!

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Red Barszcz (Czerwony Barszcz Wigilijny)

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Barszcz, borscht, borshch, are all names for beautiful beet-based soups of Eastern European origin. Beyond beets, there are few similarities between barszcz recipes from country to country, region to region and family to family. Many people typically think of a Ukrainian variety (barszcz ukraiński), filled with chunks of vegetables, and some with meat. There’s also chłodnik, a refreshing cold beet summer soup that is served with sour cream or buttermilk.

This barszcz is more of a broth, with small bits of grated beets on the bottom and is the variety that is always served for Wigilia, or Christmas Eve. This soup is usually paired with small mushroom dumplings.

Many other Christmas Eve barszcz recipes yield a sweet flavor. I don’t know if this is a regional variation or simply a family variation, but I did not grow up eating barszcz with any sugar or sweetness beyond what came from the beets themselves. To each their own! Continue reading →

Lentil Soup

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Have you ever neglected to go grocery shopping for a while, looked in your kitchen and wondered what on earth you were going to cook? Well if that happens, chances are that you have at least 75% of the ingredients necessary to make this dish.

Flavorful, economical, and easy, this is a great soup to make on a Sunday and bring to work, or have ready for dinner for a few days when your day is over. If you don’t have all of the spices, don’t worry! Soups are rarely a perfect science, so just omit it if you don’t have it! Continue reading →

Savory Sweet Potato and Harissa Waffles

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This is a breeze to put together and is a good waffle to throw into the rotation if you like savory options. The harissa I have has red bell pepper in it so it is not as spicy as other varieties I’ve had. If you have one that’s all/mostly chili pepper, cut the harissa down to 1 tbsp to adjust the heat level. Continue reading →

Cheese Burek (Cheese Pies)

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Ingredients:

  • 12 oz feta cheese block
  • 5 oz shredded Parmesan cheese
  • 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
  • 1/4 cup chopped green onion/scallion
  • 1/4 tsp cracked black pepper
  • 1/4 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 egg
  • 2 packages (4 sheets total) puff pastry dough
  • *Optional sesame or poppy for topping*

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Zebbug Mimli (Maltese Stuffed Olives)

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This recipe takes us south to the Mediterranean island nation of Malta. In an effort to dabble in the culinary traditions of the other half beyond pastizzi, a delicious Maltese cheese pastry, I present a version of zebbug memli. If you can’t be anywhere near the turquoise blue Maltese water, then have some of these tuna stuffed green olives, close your eyes, and just pretend. Continue reading →