Allergy Remedy from Babcia

I've had a terrible bout with allergies for almost two weeks now.  I'm very congested and coughing often.  The kids have the same symptoms.

I called my Babcia today to see how she was doing, since it has been warm in Poland for the past couple of days.  In Poland, most people do not have air conditioners, primarily because most of the time the weather just never reaches into the 90's or extremely high humidity range.

She has been hearing me sound congested and my cough for almost two weeks now.  Today, she gave me an Old World remedy to cure my congestion.

 

Polish Remedy for Cold, Allergies, Congestion:

1/4 an Onion
tablespoon or so, Sugar or Local Honey



Peel, wash and grate the onion into a bowl.  Add sugar or honey, mix well together.

Drink the juice from this mixture.

Babcia also reminded me to eat the grated onion, as this also is loaded with vitamins and would be a waste of food and medicine if you threw this part away.



I did as any good Polish Wnuczka would do and, upon proclaiming our love for one another and wishing each other beautiful colorful dreams and sending our hugs and love, I went to my kitchen to concoct this remedy.

It works.  It isn't very pleasant to eat if you hate raw onions as much as I do.  But my congestion has cleared up for the past hour.  I doubt it will work all day but I can always do it again later.

Na razie...

A Different Version of a Polish Poppyseed Roll

In my house, we love Makowiec so I decided to try this carrot version called Marchwiak (pronounced Mahr-veeahk). 

Let me tell you how I came across it, as it isn't a family recipe.  I was online looking for inspiration for what to do with the 20 lbs of carrots my husband recently bought.  I've already made a massive dent in it with my Polish twist on a stuffed carrot cupcake and a few other recipes.  This recipe I found on Milk and Pumpkin sounded interesting.

I used the recipe I had used 4 times before for the dough, which is a different version than the one Ewa from Milk and Pumpkin offers.  But I'm sure both doughs are tasty. 

I also was measuring out ingredients for the dough in the midst of dealing with my two daughters wanting snacks.  So, I accidentally measured out too little butter for my own personal taste.  I prefer 1 1/2 sticks of butter but instead used 3/4 of a stick. 

The dough was delicious, just not as buttery as I like.

I also split the filling into two rolls since I added raisins and a tablespoon of butter to the filling.  Next time, I will double the filling since my husband likes his rolls to have a more equal amount of filling to dough.

The children loved eating this and my father and husband both thought it was interesting and delicious enough to try again with the above modifications.  I will be adding this to our family recipes quite happily.



Ingredients:


Filling (per roll):

3/4 cup grated Carrots
1 handful Poppy Seeds
tablespoon of Butter
handful of Raisins, soaked in hot water or warmed rum for 10 minutes
1 Egg White


Dough (for two rolls): 

1 .25 oz packet active dry Yeast
1/4 cup warm Water
3 cups all-purpose Flour, unbleached
2 cups whole wheat Flour
1-2 tablespoon wheat germ or milled flax seed *
1 1/2 sticks Butter
2 Eggs
2 Egg Yolks
1/2 cup Sour Cream
1 cup Powdered or Regular Sugar
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1/2 teaspoon Salt
2 teaspoons grated Lemon Peel, if you like


Glaze:  (optional)

Powdered Sugar
just enough milk to be able to drizzle



Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Proof the yeast in the warm water and a teaspoon of sugar or flour for about 5 minutes.   You can skip this step and just add to the dough if you like as well.

Combine ingredients for filling.  Set aside.

Combine the two flours and wheat germ.

Cut the butter into the flour blend until the mixture resembles course crumbs.   Add the salt and sugar.

Mix in the yeast, eggs, egg yolks, sour cream, vanilla extract, and lemon rind.

Mix until it forms a ball of elastic dough, turn out onto a work surface and knead for 8-10 minutes (or use a stand mixer to knead for 5-8 minutes) until the dough is smooth and satiny.

Cut dough in half, roll each piece out into a rectangle, and smear with egg white (a tip from Milk and Pumpkin's recipe that I found to work well in helping to keep from having gaps between dough and filling.  My Ciocia said was something she did as well on the phone Sunday).

Place on baking sheet.

Add filling, allowing about a half inch to inch border around so that the dough is easy to seal.

Roll dough, seal well, place in a warm place covered with a moist clean kitchen towel and allow to rise for about 1 1/2 hours.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes, until the exterior is golden brown. Allow to cool.  You can either serve as is or add a glaze.

Smacznego!



Notes:

Butter, Eggs, Egg Yolks, Sour Cream and all other ingredients should be at room temperature to help the yeast roll to rise better.

*I have returned to adding a tablespoon or two of either wheat germ or milled or whole flax seeds to all my dough recipes or to fillings. 
The reasons are because of the many added health benefits:  added fiber, protein, iron, vitamin E, folic acid, calcium, Lignans, Alpha-linolenic acid (Omega-3 fatty acid).  
Because the benefits are so many and it's so simple to add just a tiny bit and make a positive impact on our health, this Polish Mama would recommend this simple step to anyone. 
While these ingredients may seem expensive, you only need to add a very small amount and the benefits will make a large impact on you and your children's health for a long time. 



Other Recipes You Might Like:

Carrots in Cream Sauce

Cold Carrot Salad


Also, if you enjoy my recipes (and perhaps the stories, photos and other topics on my blog) it would be really appreciated if you donated whatever you felt comfortable with using the Donate using the PayPal button on my sidebar.  Every little bit helps.  Thank you.

Pickle Hamburgers

For Father's Day, I made a dish which forces my father and husband to eat every time I cook it.  Not because of their size, but because they are so delicious that the two men in my life can't eat just one.  I have to point out that these two are not over eaters.

The reason I make the burgers the way I do is, so that as a Mama, I can sneak more vegetables into my 5 year old.  I think most moms will agree that they can relate to that struggle.  My husband is not a big vegetable eater, so I sneak it into his diet this way as well.

I am also not the person who cooks them on the grill.  That is my husband's responsibility.  Meat on fire, man's job.  He uses hardwood, no starter fluid, only natural woods.


Ingredients:

2-3 lbs. ground Beef (can also blend with ground lamb, veal, or pork, if you like)
4-6 Polish Pickles, depending on their size (not the kind with yellow food dye, real pickles), finely chopped
1/2 Sweet Onion, finely chopped, can be caramelized in oil beforehand if you like *
1 Egg, slightly beaten
1/2 teaspoon, Pepper
1 clove Garlic, finely diced
1/2 teaspoon salt or 1/4 stalk celery, finely chopped *

Either:  1-2 teaspoons chopped Dill or
1-2 teaspoons chopped Dill and 1 teaspoon Paprika or
1 teaspoon Paprika and 1 tablespoon Curly Parsley


Combine all, shape into patties, and grill.

Serve on bun with cheese and mustard, or on plate with horseradish sauce if you like.

Smacznego!



*My Mama Tips of the Day:

If you are trying to lose weight or keep extra weight off, a tip my mother would always do is if a recipe calls for salt and finely chopped celery can be used instead, she would use the celery.  Celery naturally has salt in it and requires more calories burned to digest it than the amount of calories you take in by eating celery in the first place. 

If you suffer from digestion issues, raw onion or garlic can be a culprit.  Caramelizing the onion or garlic ahead of time before using in a recipe can help for some people.

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