My husband’s mother is Polish and we always have a huge traditional feast every Christmas eve complete with borscht, uszkas, perogies, fresh bread, kucia (a dessert) and even pickled herring. To make things even more interesting, my husband’s father, who is from India, often prepares a traditional Indian dish as well. It is a foodie’s dream, really.
I wanted to contribute this year as I had some free hands (last year I was baby-minding) and was eager to learn the art of making traditional perogies. Being the holistic foodie that I am though, I had to find a way around the white flour dilemma, so I decided to make them with half spelt flour. My mother-in-law gave me her blessing.
I wanted to involve my little Oskar in the process, partly to introduce a family tradition and also to encourage his support in the kitchen. I hope that this will develop a healthy love of food including its preparation.
I strongly encourage all parents to involve your kids in the kitchen, from a young age, and especially if they are finicky eaters. It has shown to significantly improve their eating habits and it is a wonderful way to bond with your child, especially if you create a loving and patient environment to practice in. When involving little ones, be prepared to spend more time and make more mess…but also a LOT more fun!
NOTE: If you’re making your own perogie recipe I’d suggest using the above 50:50 flour ratio first and experimenting with other ratios after you see what this one is like. Be extra diligent about not letting them stick together (ie: flour the counter well and use some olive oil in the water when boiling them). Also, be sure to boil them after putting them together if you plan to refrigerate or freeze them before serving as they get increasingly sticky in storage (I learned that the hard way.)
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