WeeMunch: Your Guide to Real Food for Kids: spelt flour

1 cup Oil (unrefined canola oil) or melted organic butter
1.5 cups unrefined sugar (Panela)
Add 4 eggs, 1 at a time until fluffy

Mix all the following ingredients together and gradually add to above
2 cups spelt flour
3 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. non-aluminum baking powder
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. unrefined salt

Then add 3 cups grated carrots (approx. 3 med.-large ones)
And 1 cup walnuts
Bake at 325 degrees in a 9x12 pan for 45-55 minutes until a toothpick comes out fairly clean (it can still be a bit moist just not gooey)

Icing:
4 oz cream cheese
2 tbsp organic butter or ½ cup organic whipping cream, whipped.
½ tsp. vanilla
Add 2 cups sifted maple sugar or maple syrup (note: the icing will be a bit runnier with the syrup

Recently I prepared perogies from scratch for the first time. It was a daunting thought at first but I decided I was up for the challenge.

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.)