Spicy quinoa and halloumi salad. Thoughts on motherhood and the year ahead.

January is always about intention setting for me. By the same token it's about looking back at the year that's just been, reflecting on what happened and why. What were the seeds planted and what may be learnt. One very important seed grew into a beautiful baby girl that's sitting in front of me right now, falling asleep happily while staring at the fairy lights. She's just wonderful and has opened my heart in unexpected ways. I was never sure if motherhood was for me, but an unplanned pregnancy and miscarriage in 2014 revealed a part of me that was ready to be a mother. It's funny how different things look in hindsight, when you're not longer just a bug in a rug, but can appreciate the whole tapestry. Even very painful events can be useful. Motherhood is a whole new world. You learn new things every day on this journey and I will compile a list of the more useful stuff I've learnt shortly, for people that are about to embark on it.

Another reason why last year was so important was my cookbook, due to come out next Summer. The world of publishing is new to me and getting book deal has been both a dream come true and a challenge. It reminded me that things worth having don't necessarily come easily, yet also that if something is meant to be then those doors do open for you. That its always better to be swimming with the tide. So this year I will focus on swimming along, being kinder to myself (and therefore others) in the process, trusting what happens, being more conscious and present in the moment while gently shaping my future. The book will definitely still be a focus this year and this is an example of what it will feel like. It will be a whole new perspective on Polish food, and show another side of my homeland, a side that's dreamy and romantic. We're not all about meat and potatoes, you know.

The world of motherhood brings with it many anxieties, many unresolved feelings and issues from one's own childhood. It's an ideal opportunity to face oneself and to let go, if you take it as such. I am therefore very focussed on being conscious and calm right now, to not take too much on. Yet I am enjoying cooking. Nothing elaborate, just simple, healthy food like this quinoa and halloumi salad.

Ingredients (about 4 portions)

250g Quinoa
2 Corn on the Cob, cooked with the corn taken off the cob
1 Avocado, chopped
1 Courgette, shaved
Halloumi, sliced

Dressing

Juice of 2 limes
3 tablespoons of good quality olive oil
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon Ghanan Shito sauce (or some chilli oil and fish sauce)
Salt and pepper to taste

Cook the quinoa and allow it to cool, while you prep all the other vegetables. Do use corn on the cob rather then the sloppy corn in the tin for this salad, it's worth the effort. Mix everything together with the dressing once cooled and allow to stand for about 15min while you fry the Halloumi until golden. Finish off with some black pepper. This salad benefits from standing around for a while, while it infuses with the flavours and its even better the following day.

Super healthy Polish sauerkraut soup

Sauerkraut doesn't sound terribly sexy I know. Yet it's one of the healthiest things you can eat due to its vitamin C, mineral and probiotic content. The juice from the cabbage is a brilliant hangover remedy, my dad assures me, although I haven't tried it myself. I do, however, crave this wintery soup from time to time.

I have limited the amount of pork that goes in to just some good quality lardons (from Ginger Pig of course) and used a beef rib for the stock. Since I've been working on the book I have realized how vague my recipes can be. It's because I see cooking as something that's adaptable and not an exact art, yet I can see that being vague often confuses perfectly simple matters, therefore it's something I've been working on and I hope my recipes now reflect this.

Recipe

2 litres water

500g sauerkraut

1 beef rib

150g lardons

2 potatoes, peeled and chopped

1 carrot

1 parsnip

1 onion, peeled and charred over stove

1 celery stick with leaves

2 bay leaves

5 allspice berries

5 whole peppercorns

1 teaspoon cumin

White and black pepper

Cook the rib with the carrot, parsnip, celery and onion with the bay leaves, allspice and peppercorns in the water for at least 1 hour, preferably 1.5 hours.

Remove the vegetables and beef, add the potatoes and sauerkraut. Add the cumin. Cook for a further 30min.

Meanwhile, fry the lardons on a frying pan until slightly crispy. Add these to the soup for the final 10min.

Season with black and white pepper. The soup doesn't need salt as the sauerkraut is already salty.

Matcha and marshmallow cake: an alternative Christmas cake

Otherwise known as the "Waiting Cake". I am more than 1 week overdue now and even though I know my baby will make an appearance soon I am feeling under pressure to start already. I like my hospital (Whittington) and all the staff I've met are lovely, yet I can't help noticing that everyone is very keen to get this baby out as soon as possible. Why? Surely, the baby should come when it's ready and not when everyone else is ready. Sometimes, it feels like our culture/society has got it's priorities wrong. I watched "Birth Story" recently and it's made me feel very hippy about the whole process (or perhaps it's just reinforced my natural hippiness). I've managed to put off my sweep until Monday, so that gives our little girl the weekend to get going. In the meantime, I am trying to relax so that I'm not hindering her with anxiety or fear. Breathe, meditate, eat. Of course, this is the problem - when you feel rushed, you aren't naturally relaxed. There is something inherently relaxing about baking though, especially when you go freestyle. This cake turned out quite Christmassy with it's soft green sponge and snowy white logs. It would work very well in cupcake form too.

Recipe

100g butter

50g coconut oil

150g plain flour

150g icing sugar

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 heaped tablespoon matcha powder

1 tablespoon plain yoghurt/ soured cream

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Icing

100g mascapone

50g icing sugar

1 teapsoon matcha powder

1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence

Marshmallows to decorate

I used my favourite method of baking, which is to melt the butter and coconut oil first in a pan, then combine it with the sugar and then slowly to soft the flour in while mixing all the time. About half way through adding the flour, crack the eggs in and carry on with the rest of the flour and cream of tartar. Finally, stir in the match powder, vanilla and yoghurt. I put in some marshmallows at this point too, but they just melted into the cake rather than create chewy bits, so I don't think there's much point in doing that. Bake in a small loaf tin that's been greased with coconut oil or butter. You can of course replace the coconut oil with more butter if you don't have any - I like to make my cakes a little bit healthier by using some coconut oil. Of course, matcha is crazy good for you too. It takes 30min on 180 degrees C. Allow it to cool before icing and decorating.

Six recipes with six dates for pregnancy

I've been eating dates religiously since finding out that they could potentially lead to a shorter labour. My life has been so busy recently with TV work, writing my book (manuscript's due in September) and travelling - I am currently in Greece - that at times I forget the even bigger changes and challenges ahead. Eating a few dates a day has been something simple that I can do to prepare every day. Whether it actually works or not is yet to be confirmed but the mere act of eating dates brings my mind back into focus. It's something that I can still find time to do (mostly), even if other things such as friends and blogging have fallen by the wayside. Sorry about that, by the way, if you've been affected. I won't bombard you with false promises, let's just agree to some time apart and I will resume my previous blogging schedule once I have handed in my cookbook, agreed?

I'm in my third trimester now and my passion for dates has also waned somewhat, so I decided to find new (or old and lost) ways of ingesting this lovely (and potentially miraculous?) dried fruit. 6 is the magic number when it comes to dates apparently. Here are my favourites:

The date breakfast

300g oats

18 dates, pitted and chopped

1/2 litre almond milk

10-20 pecans halves

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 tablespoon honey

Boil the almond milk, pit the dates and chop the pecans into smaller bits. Once the almond milk has frothed, take it off the heat, add all the other ingredients, cover and leave overnight. The next morning put it in the fridge, and eat for breakfast for the next 3 days.

The date shake

6 Dates

250ml spelt milk 

Banana

1 tablespoon lucuma powder

Spelt milk makes everything taste amazing and lucuma powder is my favourite pregnancy replacement for maca, which you should avoid during pregnancy. Just blitz all the ingredients together.

The date flapjack

You will find the recipe for these here

The date snack

Dates

Mascapone cheese

Pecans

Stuff each pitted date with a teaspoon of mascapone and a couple of pecan halves.

The date dessert

6 dates

Greek yoghurt

1 tablespoon good quality honey

1 tablespoon crushed pistachios

Enjoy and happy labouring!