Pink Pudding

This is what my daughter calls "dessert". Traditional Polish milk pudding. This is our dairy-free version.

2 cups of milk (we use almond but any dairy or non-dairy will do)
4 tbsp of potato starch (proportions may vary depending on the desired consistency, these are ours)
3-4 tsp beet water (left over from the beets boiled for the Chocolate Beet cake)
sugar/palm sugar to taste (if using liquid sweetener like maple syrup you may need to up the amount of starch a little)
rose water

In a small saucepan bring 1 1/2 cups of milk to boil. Mix the rest of the ingredients in a cup. When the milk starts to boil, reduce the heat, add the starch mixture to it and mix continuously until the liquid thickens. Pour into a bowl or a cup and cool. It will thicken more when cool. Serve on its own or with a drizzle of raspberry syrup.

Green Cream Soup

It's my daughter's favourite soup. She won't eat broccoli in any other form. I use potatoes (or left-over whole grain pasta) for creaminess instead of cream. To keep the colour green, do not add any red/orange/brown coloured spices and veggies. 

Ingredients:

homemade broth
broccoli (peel the branches to get rid of the fibrous outer layer)
1 potato
1 zucchini 
turmeric (optional)
herbs 

Simmer until tender, blend, serve. Don't use too much liquid, it should cover about half of the veggies - the broccoli heads and zucchini get tender enough with just the steam. 

Quick Choc Beet

The Midnight Banana recipe is my favourite in the whole world. I love it so much, I had to play with it a little (or a lot) because we were getting bored with it. Simply adding chocolate chips or nuts wasn't enough anymore. So one day, in desperate desire for some chocolatey goodness, I created a shortcut to the beet chocolate cake. It goes like this:

1 1/2 c cooked and shredded/puréed beet
1/3 c oil
2 eggs lightly beaten
1 c sugar (can be less)
cinnamon (optional)
1 tsp baking soda or baking powder
1 1/4 c of spelt or another wholemeal flour
1/4 cup cocoa (can be more, can be mixed with carob)

Preheat oven to 170 degrees C, mix the beet with oil, add eggs and sugar, mix (all by hand, no mixers), sprinkle the cinnamon and, if using, baking soda. Mix a little, then add flour and cocoa (and baking powder). Pour into the pan, muffin cups, madeleines forms or whichever form you feel like. bake for 50-60 minutes for loaf pan, 30-40 minutes for small cupcakes and madeleines. If using a gas oven, you might want to put a cup of water underneath to avoid dryness.
The loaf version is best when wrapeed in aluminium and kept in the fridge overnight.

Bon appetit :)

Chocolate Beet

Hi there! Yep, I'm still alive. And I have the yummiest chocolate cake for you. It's almost guilt-free as well. It contains beet. And yes, it is delicious. Seriously.

For a round cake pan 20cm diameter:

100 g wholemeal spelt flour
50 g ground walnuts or almonds
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
150 g brown sugar
250 g chocolate
100 ml oil
3 eggs
250 g cooked/baked beet

Grease the cake pan and put parchment paper on the bottom.
Heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
Melt the chocolate and put aside to cool. 
Purée the beet in the food processor.
Mix all the dry ingredients(flour, baking powder and baking soda, nuts and sugar) in a bowl.
In another bowl mix oil with beet. Add eggs one by one. Then incorporate melted and cooled chocolate, spoonful by spoonful. Now add the dry ingredients and mix until smooth. Pour the batter into the pan. Bake for 60-70 minutes. To avoid over baking the top, cover with aluminum foil halfway through. Wait until cool before taking out of the pan. Decorate and serve. Bon apetit!

I'm not promising anything but...

I’m back. Yaaaay. I have a bazillion things to blog about, some recipes to share but for some reason, might be my amazing gift for procrastination, I don’t. 7 weeks ago I gave birth to my second child and so the circle of feeds, diapers, sleepless nights and general exhaustion has begun. Add a 3,5 year-old to the mix and you can see I’m desperate to blog again. Anything to escape the motherhood, lol. 

Je t'aime, melancholie...

Ramadan is knocking and I got a bad bout of nostalgia. I miss UAE. I miss the mood, the food, I got a bad bad craving for Sarai restaurant food (the best Syrian food), I miss the evening crowds in shopping malls, the salty humidity blowing from the sea. I miss being able to go downstairs for a stroll after sunset with Little Miss and not only feel safe but see lots of other parents doing the same. I miss my girl being welcome in proper restaurants, I miss being able to eat anywhere and not worry about the almighty pork in pancakes. And I miss our apartment, not smelling cigarette smoke 24/7 from addicted neighbours. I miss the bread from Organic Café, I miss being able to wear the all-black abaya with black scarf without scaring the living daylight out of people... I miss the respect and courtesy regarding pregnant women, I miss so much...
This, too, shall pass but today I allow myself to indulge in memories.

Joys of multilingual life

Little Miss decided to be a French speaker. She started to speak and answer exclusively in French. She obviously understands when I speak to her and acts accordingly but answers in French. Counts in French, her letters are French. Only her food is still Polish but I guess it will change as soon as she actually learns French equivalents in kindergarden. Oh well, I always said what counts is that she understands my and husband's languages. This way the languages are imprinted in her brain and if one day she decides to use them, it will be so much easier. Understanding what people say to you and around you is very reassuring and confidence-boosting, as any TCK or foreign language learner will tell you. But for now, I have a little francophone at home. Can't wait for the Quebecer accent to come out!