From Breakfast to Canned Recipes - Everything About My Day

Hello everyone, my dear friends, it’s so nice to greet you. I’m starting my post today with the breakfast preparations I made in the kitchen. It was a weekday, I woke up before everyone else, made breakfast and then my husband woke up shortly after. When breakfast was ready, I sent my oldest daughter to school. Breakfasts are always simple and quick. Most of the time I make a type of oatmeal, with buttered and honeyed sandwiches on the side. Sometimes eggs or an omelet are included in the menu. I can also make boiled eggs and sausages. There's always buttered bread with cheese, salami, ham, chicken rolls, fish sandwiches, or paté sandwiches. I usually use whatever ingredients I have on hand. If I’m making eggs or an omelet, I always add some vegetables. Alternatively, instead of a sandwich, we might have cheese pancakes or pastries with ricotta. If I’ve made something sweet at home, that’s also included in breakfast.

As for the meals at school my daughter doesn’t eat at the school cafeteria. She doesn’t like it, finds the food tasteless. In elementary school, before my other daughter was born, she used to go to dance classes. Two days a week at two in the afternoon, I would pick her up from school in the first grade, we’d go home, rest for a bit and then I’d drop her back off at dance. During that time, I could go shopping or do things at home. But after my younger daughter was born of course, it became harder to keep up with that pace. So my daughter started staying at school on dance days. For those days, I would prepare lunch for her, but we had difficulty with the food situation. She didn’t want to eat at school, didn’t eat the food she got there. The teachers would check on her because they were worried she would go hungry. But she would either eat very little or not at all. So we couldn’t find a solution for the school food. Now the number of lessons at school is usually 7-8, sometimes 6. Six lessons is the minimum. It’s tough not eating for such a long time, so my daughter takes a snack with her every day. Usually, it’s a sandwich, but I also give her other things. After all, it’s not easy to carry soup or pasta in a thermos. But if it’s a sandwich, I always make it with whole wheat bread and vegetables. I add tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce and cooked chicken to the bread. Cheese pancakes or pastries with ricotta are also a nice addition. She also gets fruit, nuts, or cookies as snacks. And she takes tea in her thermos, which we specifically got for school.

Today interestingly, there were only 5 lessons. The class schedule isn’t fixed yet, it changes constantly, so maybe that’s why today was just 5 lessons. The last lesson was physical education. My daughter had been having pain in her foot for the past few days. Something happened to her heel, but we couldn’t figure out exactly what. It wasn’t a fall or a sprain. She didn’t even notice anything, but the next day her foot was really swollen. In the end, we decided to take her to the doctor. I told her to go after school. She didn’t go to physical education, of course and I informed the teacher, saying, “She has a problem with her foot and will leave after the fourth lesson.” I told her not to wait for physical education class. She only had four lessons and I packed her some cookies and tea. The doctor took an X-ray of her foot and said there was a strain in the ankle ligaments, prescribed some cream and advised her to keep her foot elevated. When she got home, she kept her foot on something like a pillow while resting, or stretched her legs out while sitting at the desk. Now, she’s doing better, just a slight pain, but everything seems fine.

I continue with my daily tasks. Today I made my favorite apple cookies. I’ve shared the recipe with you before, so I won’t go into detail this time. But I make them often because we love them. This time I made double the amount so my daughter could take some to school and share them with her friends. As for the school food situation, here’s how it is for us: my daughter doesn’t eat at school, so I send her a snack every day. She prefers not to eat at school because the food is generally bad. Other parents also complain about the school food. For example, I’m not too confident about the milk, butter, or cheese served at breakfast. The butter and milk are things she doesn’t like at all. I also suspect that the meat in the meatballs is very little. Sometimes, the food at school is so heavy that it’s as hard as a rock on the plate. But the teachers say the school food is fine, so I guess it depends on everyone’s perspective.

My husband apparently loved the food at school, but I never liked it. Even in elementary school, I didn’t enjoy eating in the cafeteria. I remember there were breakfasts and lunches at school back then. The food was usually simpler, like puff pastries or pizza sometimes. At my school, we typically had six lessons and I would buy small snacks after school. Of course, every school is different. I’m not criticizing anyone. Everyone has their own preferences.

I baked cookies and I got two trays out of it. But I forgot to take pictures while making them.

Later, I made savory pastries with cottage cheese and froze them. This way, I can easily bake them tomorrow morning, super convenient. Plus, when my daughter wakes up, I’ll prepare her breakfast with those pastries too. Here’s the recipe: Mix 500g cottage cheese, 1 egg, 2 tablespoons semolina, 1 tablespoon flour (if using homemade cottage cheese, add 2-3 extra tablespoons), a pinch of salt and 2 tablespoons of sugar (optional). Then fry them in a pan.

As for my little daughter, things are a bit complicated right now. We’re still waiting for our turn to enroll her in daycare. We applied recently and we’ll find out about placement soon. Finally, our turn has come to get her into the same daycare her older sister attended! We love that daycare. It’s truly amazing. We’ll be in the same group, which is wonderful. We even met one of the teachers there, turns out she used to teach my older daughter! She’s an incredible woman, so kind and genuinely loves children. We all adored her. People like her, who build such great relationships with kids, are truly valuable.

Lately I’ve been preparing preserves for the winter. Today, I made a zucchini and eggplant appetizer. You can make it with 2 zucchinis, 2 eggplants, 2 teaspoons of sweet pepper, 2 carrots, 2 onions, 2 tomatoes, 6 cloves of garlic, 1 tablespoon of salt (extra for the zucchinis), 1 tablespoon of sugar, black pepper to taste, 3 tablespoons of vinegar (9%) and 2 bay leaves.

First, I peeled and diced the zucchinis, salted them and let them sit for a bit to release water. Meanwhile, I chopped and sautéed onions, carrots, sweet peppers and eggplants. Then, I added tomatoes and garlic to the mix. After combining everything in a large pot and cooking it for a few more minutes, I added salt, sugar, spices and some vinegar. I packed the mixture into jars and sterilized them. In total, I made four jars.

That's all from me for now. I hope you like my post. See you soon.