Joanna in the kitchen

super healthy spirulina smoothie

2012-01-31T09:56:00.000-08:00

On Sunday I wrote about a dietary supplement, spirulina and today I want to show how can you use it in the kitchen. The first proposal is this supergreen, superdelicious and superhealthy smoothie. It's very easy to prepare and can be perfect as a breakfast (together with a sandwich with peanut or almond butter) as a snack or as a light supper in the very evening. It's great for both vegetarians and vegan so if you're brave enough you won't regret it :-)

wersja polska

Ingredients (1 serving)

1 small banana

soy or other vegetable milk

2-3 kiwis

1tsp of spirulina powder

1. Blend all the ingredients until smooth

spirulina (dietary supplement)

2012-01-29T01:05:00.000-08:00

wersja polska

Spirulina is a nutritional supplement being produced from algae and is regarder as a good source of proteins, vitamins, iron and other micro and macro elements. This dark green powder is great especially for vegetarians and vegans, although some sources claim that the vitamin B12, which is searched for by vegans especially, cannot be absorbed by humans. Spirulina is supposed to treat and prevent cancer and viruses, boost immune system, aid digestion, improve skin hair and nails condition, regulate intestinal bacterial flora, regulate weigh and many more. Seriously? Even if only some percent of these promises are true I still go for it.

Still however, it is important to remember that spirulina is only a dietary supplement and should not replace the diversity in your diet.

The spirulina powder presented on the photos is a bit troublesome in the kitchen, because if not handled properly, within split seconds, it can be everywhere. But then on the other hand only powdered spirulina can be quickly and effortlessly added to both sweet and savoury dishes as a taste and colour enhancer. If you, however, opt for easier version just go for regular spirulina pills.

I will be experimenting with spirulina so expect the very first spirulina dish on Tuesday.

winter treat - hot chocolate

2011-12-10T04:13:00.000-08:00

Winter is coming to town and so inevitably is hot chocolate. It brings along good spirits and lots of comfort during this cold and unpleasant season.

wersja polska

Ingredients (1 serving)

50g chocolate (bitter or milk chocolate or combination of two)

2-3 tbsp cream (30 or 36%fat)

2-3 tbsp of milk

optionally spices (cinammon, chilli, ginger, cardamon, salt crystals, candied orange peels)

optionally splash of liquor (coffee, chocolate, orange, minth etc.)

1. Create a water bath by placing a bowl on a pot with boiling water.

2. Add chocolate, cream and milk into a bowl

3. As soon as chocolate starts to melt, mix all ingredients carefully by means of a whisk

4. A few second before the end add spices and liquor if using

4. Serve immediately when still hot

creamy spinach soup

2011-11-19T06:15:00.000-08:00

I absolutely love spinach. As proofs you can read about my savoury, vegan spinach tart or sweet spinach smoothie with oranges or nutritious smoothie. This time, it's time for creamy, spinach soup with a strong garlic aroma. It's delicious and healthy. And can be vegan too if only you want it :-)

wersja polska

Ingredients (2 servings)

500 g of frozen spinach

3 - 4 potatoes, peeled and diced

1 onion, chopped

4 cloves of garlic, chopped

rice oil

handful of puff croutons or crouton

50-100 ml of dairy cream in vegetarian version and soy cream in vegan version.

salt and pepper,

optionally chilli

1. Sautee onion of rice oilZeszklij cebulę na oleju ryżowym.

2. Add garlic,

3. Add potatoes and continue to sautee, taking care not to brown the garlic, cause it will get bitter

4. Add spinach and water

5. Boil until potatoes are tender

6. Blend thoroughly until smooth

7. Season with salt and pepper (and chilli if desired)

8. Add cream

9. Decorate with puff croutons and serve

swedish apple cake

2011-11-12T07:04:00.000-08:00

I found this recipe on "O pistachio" blog and immediately fell for this cake. From that day on it's quite frequent guest on my table. It is so frequent that I remember the proportion of ingredients by hearts. The cake is quick and simple to prepare and oh so delicious. And it dissapears from the table pretty quickly too.

wersja polska

Ingredients

3/4 cup of sugar

3/4 cup of flour

1 tsp of baking powder

125 g of butter or margarine

1 extra large egg (or 2 small eggs)

extra butter for greasing the baking dish

1 apple, peeled, cored and sliced into wedges

1. melt the butter and leave aside to cool

2. Beat egg/eggs

3. Add sugar and continue beating

4. Pour cooled butter while beating constantly

5. Add flour and baking powder and mix

6. Place the batter into the baking dish and decorate with apple wedges

7. Bake for around 40 minutes at 180 centigrades

Leeks & peas in cream sauce

2011-11-09T10:50:00.000-08:00

Autumn is coming to town and so are the leeks. It is one of my favourite lunch and dinner option. Classic comfort food that is not only delicious but also easy and fast to prepare. It's the best with either buckwheat or potato puree. And it can be either vegetarian (when using dairy cream) or vegan (when using soy cream).

wersja polska

Ingredients (1 serving)

2 leeks, chopped (I use only white and light green parts of leeks)

handful of frozen green peas (no need to defrost it)

ar. 100 - 150 ml cream (in vegan version use soy cream)

cooked buckwhear or potato puree

rice oil

salt to taste

1. To the pot add rice oil, leeks and some salt (Don't add leeks to hot oil, because leeks will burn quickly, will have no time to get tender and will become bitter)

2. Stir fry on a low heat until leeks get tender

3. Add cream and green peas

4. Cook for fe more minutes and add salt to taste

5. Serve with cooked buckwheat or potato puree

milionaire's cake

2011-11-06T07:12:00.000-08:00

Absolutey awesome and delicious cake. It requires a lot of time spent in the kitchen, but the end result is marvelously delicious and is worth all the effort. Trust me on this.

wersja polska

Ingredients for the shortcrust pastry

175 g all-purpose flour

125 g butter

50 g sugar

Ingredients for the kaimak and chocolate layers:

50 g butter

50 - 100 g sugar

400 ml condensed, unsweetened milk

150 g milk chocolate

1. In a bowl rub the flour and butter with your fingertips until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.

2. Add sugar and make a shortcrust pastry.

3. wrap in a foil and refrigerate for 30 minutes

4. spread thin layer of butter on you baking dish, so that the pastry will not stick to the dish.

5. Place the pastry dough onto your baking dish in a thin layer on the bottom and stab with fork in few places

6. Bake in the oven heated to 190 centigrades for 20 - 30 minutes until it turns golden - brown.

7. Allow to cool

8. In a pot heat condensed milk, sugar and butter.

9. Boil on a low heat, stirring constantly until thick and golden kaimak is formed (it may take a "while")

10. When the kaimak is thick and golden, spread it swiftly onto the cool shortcrust pastry.

11. Melt chocolate either in microwave oven or in a heatproof bowl placed on the pot with boiling water

12. Spread swiftly the melted chocolate on the kaimak

13. Cool down in refrigerator

When baking this cake I always use the recipe from the book "120 baked goods" by Emmy Patmore.

gold-of pleasure oil

2011-09-28T11:30:00.000-07:00

wersja polska

Olej rydzowy called gold-of-pleasure or camelina oil is a polish oil produced from the plant Camelina Sativa ie. gold-of-pleasure or false flax. It is delicious, golden oil with unexplicable taste and wonderful aroma. It is healthy too, due to great combination of saturated and insaturated fatty acids. This oil is very reach in Omega 3 acids, so it is perfect replacement for fish for all vegetarians and vegan.

How to eat it? The best solution is to simply deep a baguette into eat. This is my favourite way, but you can also pour some of the oil onto a salad or prepare vinaigrette out of it, but I encourage you to experiment and find your ways to get to know and then enjoy the taste and aroma of this oil.

This post is based on application for a registration of traditional specialities guaranteed prepared for European Union.

sweet&sour baked beets with cream

2011-09-25T01:37:00.000-07:00

If you have already baked lots of beets according to my previous recipe, you can pretty easily bathe them in sour cream with lots of lemon juice and you will be really amazed, how good those beets can be.And it can be vegan to if you switch dairy cream for a soy cream.

wersja polska

Ingredients (1 serving)

around 200 g of baked beets according to the this recipe

100 - 150 ml of cream (it can be vegetarian if using dairy cream or vegan if using soy cream)

juice of half of a lemon (you can add more or less according to your likings)

freshly ground pepper

1. Mix all ingredients and serve

sweet&sour baked beets

2011-09-10T02:55:00.000-07:00

Baked beets are not only extremely healthy but also delicious both as they are baked and as a basis for further culinary experiments.

Baked beets take time to prepare so I always prepare them in a big batch. Some of them I consume immediately after baking, cause they are soooo good. The rest of them I either refrigerate or freeze for a later use.

wersja polska

Ingredients

2-3 kg beets

freshly ground pepper

salt

olive oil

balsamic or wine vinegar

optionally: fresh thyme

1. Peel beets (I recommend using rubber or latex gloves, not to ruin your manicure)

2. You can bake whole beets, or cubed or cut in wedges according to your preferences

3. Place beets in baking dish

4. Pour olive oil and vinegar onto beets, sprinkle with salt, pepper and thyme

5. Cover tightly with aluminium foil

6. Bake at 200-220 centigrades for about 2-2,5h. Beets after baking should be Piecz w piekarniku nagrzanym do 200 - 220 stopni przez około 2 - 2,5 godziny.

mint and chocolate mousse

2011-09-05T10:33:00.000-07:00

Vegan, healthy, easy to prepare and sooooo smooooooth chocolate mousse with just a hint of chocolate mint. This mousse is addictive so beware. And so versatile. As an addition I used chocolate mint leaves. But you can experiment with raspberries, strawberries, orange zest or chilli. You can add a few drops of Cointreau or Baileys. Feel free to experiment.

wersja polska

Ingredients (4-6 servings)

250 g of soft silken tofu

sugar or any other vegan sweetener (amount according to you likings)

cacao (amount according to you likings)

optionally few leaves of chocolate mint, finely chopped

mint leaves and raspberries for garnishing

1. Blend all ingredients except those for garnishing

2. Garnish

3. Chill in refrigerator or serve

spicy green beans

2011-08-30T10:23:00.000-07:00

This is typical side dish in Poland, but not typically spiced with thyme and chilli. Try it once and you will definitely gonna stick to this version.

wersja polska

Ingredients (2 servings)

200-300g of green beans

1-2 tbsp breadcrumbs

1-2 tbsp of butter (vegetarian version) or margarine (vegan version)

few sticks of fresh thyme

chilli

salt

1. Cook or even better steam green beans

2. Heat butter or margarine on the pan, add breadcrumbs, thyme, chilli and salt

3. Heat breadbrumbs stirring until they turn golden brown and crispy

4. Spread fried breadcrumbs on top of cooked green beans

cucumber salad full of summer aromas

2011-08-28T05:00:00.000-07:00

Cucumber salad, originally prepared by David Lebovitz , is a perfect, summery combination of freshly chopped parsley, dill and mint. This refreshing, aromatic and savoury salad is best either with toasts spread witg fresh garlic or with cooked, young potatoes sprinkled with freshly chopped dill.

wersja polska

Ingredients (2 servings)

1 large cucumber

1 pack (around 200 g) of feta cheese cubed or crumbled

handful of freshly chopped mint

handful of freshly chopped dill

handful of freshly chopped parsley

few drops of lemon juice

0,5 tbsp of sour cream / creme fraiche

freshly ground pepper

salt

olive oil

1. Remove seeds from the cucumber

2. Sprinkle with salt and set aside for around 30 minutes.

3. After 30 minutes drain the cucumbers cut into cubes

4. Mix with other ingredients, seasoning with salt, pepper and lemon juice according to taste

Blueberry corn muffins

2011-08-28T03:52:00.000-07:00

Those cuties are soooo good, soooo soft, soooo moist delicious that I can't stop eating them before the last one is in my mouth.

wersja polska

Ingredients (12 - 14 pc)

125 g of margarine or butter

150 g of flour

100 g of cornflour

1egg

160 g of sugar

125 ml buttermilk, kefir milk or natural yoghurt

200 g of blueberries

2 tsp of baking powder

0,5 tsp of soda (optional. without soda they are equally delicious)

1. Beat egg with sugar until creamy and pale

2. Add margarine or butter and continue beating

3. Add buttermilk (or kefir or yoghurt) and continue beating (the mixture can desintergate at this step. Don't worry since it has no effect on the final results)

4. Add flour, cornflour, baking powder and soda

5. Mix quickly byt well

6. Add blueberries and mix very carefully not to smash blueberries into puree.

7. Place a dough in muffin moulds. I did that by means of ice-cream scoop.

8. Bake for 15-20 minutes at 200 centigrades.

Sweet, raspberry tartelettes

2011-08-12T02:37:00.000-07:00

The weekend is coming. After all this work during the week it is time for some reward. We all deserve it. Those little tartelettes can be perfect reward. Delicious but easy to prepare so that you don't have to spent ages in the kitchen, but enjoy quality time with your family and friends. So spend few minutes in the kitchen and then enjoy your life full of sweet flavours :-)

wersja polska

Ingredients (15 tartelettes)

15 pcs of ready, store-bought tartelettes

250 g of mascarpone cheese

2-4 tbsp of sweetener of your choise (powder sugar, honey etc.)

300 g of fresh raspberries

1. Mix sweetener with mascarpone cheese. Add sweetener according to your taste taking care not to add to much

2. Scoop portions of mascarpone mixed with sweetener onto tartelettes

3. Decorate with raspberries

Quesadilla

2011-08-09T13:10:00.000-07:00

Quesadilla is more than easy to prepare, requires almost no effort and the taste is very rewarding. Still however this is not an option for those on a diet due to incredibly sinful amount of cheese inside. I like to serve it along with spanish gazpacho in order have a decent amount of vegetables in a meal.

It's perfect both for a party or for lunch but have to be served straight from the pan. The cheese is then warm and melted and torillas are crispy.

wersja polska

Ingredients (2 servings)

4 tortillas (the size of the bottom of the pan. Sometimes the help of scissors is necessary)

200 g grated cheese (cheddar)

half of red paprica, cut into small cubes

half of small zucchini, cubed

chilli paste (e.g. harissa)

1. Place one torilla on the pan

2. Sprinkle with small amount of grated cheese

3. Arrange paprica and zucchini on the cheese

4. Again sprinkle with grated cheese

5. Spread some chilli paste on the secon torilla

6. Place the second tortilla on the pan, chilli paste downwards

7. Press lightly the second tortilla and wait until the cheese melts and glues both tortillas and vegetables together.

8. After few minutes turn quesadilla upside down and fry for few more minutes

9. Remove from the pan and cut into wedges by means of a sharp knife

10. Repeat all steps to prepare second quesadilla

Peaches in white wine

2011-07-28T11:17:00.000-07:00

It cannot be more simple, fresh, light and delicious than this lovely, summer dessert. Sweetness of ripe peaches with refreshing orange juice and just a hint of white wine is simply perfect combination.

wersja polska

Ingredients (2 servings)

2 big or 4 small, ripe peaches that can also be replaced by nectarines

4-8 tbsp of powder sugar

juice and grated skin from 2 oranges

400 ml semi-sweet or sweet white wine

fresh mint leaf

1. Remove stones from the peaches and cut them into chunks

2. Sprinkle with powder sugar

3. Pour wine and orange juice over peaches

4. Refrigerate for at leas an hour

5. Sprinkle with orange skin, garnish with mint leaf and serve

Recipe taken from book called "Italian kitchen" within the series "from the kitchen shelve" written by Penny Stephens

vegan cabbage, polish style

2011-07-23T12:48:00.000-07:00

I veganized the old, very traditional polish cabbage dish, despite everyone around telling me that it will loose all its taste and flavour without all the bacon that should be added to it. And, guess what? It didn't. The taste is marvelous, sweet and sour and absolutely delicious. It is best served with young potatoes that are sprinkled with freshly chopped dill.

wersja polska

Ingredients (3 servings)

half of cabbage, shredded (not too thinly and not too thick)

2 onions

2 fresh tomatoes or half of canned pelati tomatoes

lemon juice or citric acid

sugar

salt

freshly ground pepper

rice oil

1 tbsp of vegan butter

1 tbsp of flour

1. Pour boiling water over the cabbage, until it's completely covered and cook for 5 minutes

2. Drain cabbage and again pour boiling water but this time only small amount so that the cabbage can simmer without burning.

3. Continue simmering

3. In the meantime on the separate pan fry onions with rice oil and a pinch of salt

4. Add onion to the simmering cabbage

5. Add tomatoes to the cabbage

6. On the separate pan prepare roux. Melt vegan butter and then add flour and mix until well combined. Add the roux to the cabbage.

7. Simmer until cabbage is cooked

8. Season with pepper, citric acid/lemon and sugar in order to make the cabbage sweet&sour

watermelon salad and party finger food

2011-07-18T11:10:00.000-07:00

Watermelon, feta cheese and black olives. It's for sure quite brave, but those that have enough courage to try, will be rewarded with a perfect combination of tastes. Ideal both as a summer salad for lunch or finger food during a party. So grab your watermelon and start being brave ;-)

wersja polska

Ingredients for a salad

feta cheese cut into cubes

watermelon (preferably without seeds) cut into cubes

black olives, pitted

salad mix (I strongly advise you t include in your mix a hint of sth bitter e.g. few leaves of radicchio or chicory)

extra virgin olive oil

1.Place salad mix on a serving dish

2. Arrange watermelon, feta cheese and olives on salad mix

3. Add splasg of extra virgin olive oil

Ingredients for watermelon finger food

feta cheese cut into cubes

watermelon (preferably without seeds) cut into cubes

black olive,s pitted

toothpicks

1. put one black olive, one cube of feta cheese and one cube of watermelon on a toothpick

2. Continue with the rest of toothpicks.

creamy risotto with fava beans

2011-07-16T11:37:00.000-07:00

Risotto is pretty easy to prepare yet it requires your time, effort and ability to stir constantly. That's why I never prepare risotto when I'm in a hurry. Time spent on preparing the risotto pays back with perfect and creamy texture and great taste. It's like moving meditation. You stand still, observe and stir. And calm down, hopefully.

wersja polska

Ingredients (2 servings)

3/4 cup of Arborio rice

1 onion

200-300g fava beans that was earlier cooked and peeled

50g grated parmesan cheese

rice oil

salt & pepper

1 tbsp of butter

around 0,5 - 0,75 L of boiling water

1. Chop onion very finely

2. Saute onion on with rice oil

3. Add rice and continue sauteing for 2 more minutes on low heat

4. Add around 100 ml of water, stir constantly and wait until almost all water is absorbed. Continue adding 100ml portions of water, but remember to add next portion only after the portion before is absorbed.

5. Smash half of fava beans by means of fork

6. After approximately 5-7 minutes add smahed fava beans

7. Continue stirring and adding water in portions for another 10-12 minutes until rice is cooked al dente.

8.Add butter, grated parmesan cheese. Season with salt and pepper and serve immediately

Coconut clouds

2011-07-12T01:53:00.000-07:00

I adore those cookies. They are sweet, light and have intense coconut flavour and they are simple and quick to make too. I can't ask for more. Please be aware, that they disappear pretty quickly from the cookie jar!!!

wersja polska

Ingredients (around 20 big cookies)

2 egg whites

100 of powdered sugar

few drops of lemon juice

pinch o salt

110 g of shredded coconut

1. Whisk egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff

2. Add powdered sugar spoon by spoon whipping constantly

3. Add few drops of lemon juice

4. Very carefully stir in shredded coconut

5. Spoon cookie size portions on the parchment paper remembering to save some space between cookies

6. Bake for around 20 minutes at 150 centigrades.

7. Allow to cool

sunny peach smoothie

2011-07-10T01:46:00.000-07:00

Summer rain is not what I was expecting, so instead of dealing with my weather dependant and pretty long to-do list I can pretty much enjoy doing nothing in the company of pretty generous serving of delicious, sunny peach smoothie. Prepared with buttermilk instead of my favourite soy milk is much more tangy and refreshing but equally delicious

wersja polska

Ingredients (2 servings)

4 large, sweet peaches

200 ml of buttermilk

optionally sugar or honey as additional sweetener

mint leaf for garnishing

1. Blend all ingredients into smoothie
2. Pour into serving glasses, garnish with mint and serve

super healthy fava beans hummus

2011-07-07T11:36:00.000-07:00

It cannot be more simple than fava beans' hummus. And more healthy. And more delicious. And more seasonal. So I advise you to enjoy whenever you can spot those lovely beans on the market. It's delicious as a spread for sandwiches and as a dip for carrots and cellery sticks.

wersja polska

Ingredients (2 servings)

200 g of cookes fava beans, skins removed

3-4 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil

salt and pepper for seasoning

1. Blend fava beans with olive oil

2. Season with salt and pepper

summer mess

2011-07-05T11:26:00.000-07:00

If there is eton mess, why not to introduce summer mess? Prepared from fresh, summer vegetables, healthy quinoa, tofu and cashews with no spices except salt is perfect for simplicity lovers. It looks like mess, that is in fact true, but who cares. It's delicious and healthy mess so why not give it a try. Feel free to serve it both warm or cold according to your likings.

wersja polska

Ingredients (2 servings)

200 g of hard tofu, cubed (you can prefry it for extra crispiness)

1 onion, cut into thin slices

2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

handful of cashews

150 g green beans

200 g cauliflowe cut into small flowers

80 g cooked quinoa

pinch of salt

rice oil for frying

1. Fry onion on rice oil with a pinch of salt

2. Add garlic and continue frying, but be careful not to brown the garlic, since it will get bitter

3. Add green beans, cauliflower and few spoons of water. Cover the pot/pan and simmer for few minutes until all water is absorbed.

4. Take the pot from the source of heat and leave covered for few minutes in order to make vegetables cooked, but still firm

5. Place the pot again on the heat source, add cashews, tofu and quinoa.

6. Stir gently and cook for few more minutes so that all flavours can combine well.

Farfalle pasta with green olives

2011-06-14T05:36:00.000-07:00

I absolutely adore olives so they frequently appear on the menu. This time they go with farfalle to create simply easy and delicious pasta dinner. I only recommend to use the best olive oil , extra virgin of course, that you can buy and the best olives according to my golden rule that the simplier the recipe and the less ingredients you need, the better quality of ingredients is necessary to enjoy all the flavours and taste. It's best with light, red wine.

wersja polska

Ingredients (2 servings)

200 g of farfalle pasta (you can also use vegan orecchiette or any other vegan pasta according to your preferences)

2-3 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil

150 g of pitted and chopped green olives (my gigantic olives well pitted and stuffed with small green chilli peppers so my pasta was sharp and a bit spicy)

salt

1. Place pasta in boiling water and cook until al dente (according to cooking time on the packaging)

2. Drain pasta and place once again in the pot in which you boiled it - it will be still warm

3. Mix in olive oil and green olives and serve immediately

strawberry sorbet

2011-05-29T12:18:00.000-07:00

Do you remember my strawberry coulis? When freezed it becomes delicious, healthy and refreshing sorbet, that I can eat guilt-free, because it's both vegan and healthy (well healthier than any ice-cream containing a lot of fat) and of course extremely easy to prepare.

polska wersja

Ingredients:
Strawberries
Caster sugar up to taste

optionally few drops of lemon juice

1. Blend strawberries together with sugar in a blender

2. Optionally you can add few drops of lemon juice

3. Freeze for at least 4 hours

finger food from turnip cabbage

2011-05-27T09:49:00.000-07:00

I love experimenting in the kitchen and turnip cabbage with peanut butter spread was one of my experiments. Very successful experiment, to tell the truth. Unbelievably good and soooo easy to make. Perfect as a snack or finger food during a vegan party.

polish version

Ingredients

turnip cabbage

1 tbsp of peanut butter

1. Peel turnip cabbage and cut into thick slices or thick julienne

2. Spread peanut butter on turnip cabbage

Savoury carrot salad

2011-05-22T12:41:00.000-07:00

I know sweet and David Lebovitz's sweet & sour sides of the carrot but savoury was total stranger to me. One day, hopefully thanks to my curiosity (and also my laziness) I discovered this delicious, healthy and extremely easy recipe.

wersja polska

Ingredients (2 servings)

2 big carrots

bunch of parsley leaves

flaxseed oil (you can also use extra virgin olive oil as well)

salt to taste

1.grate carrots (the most coarse as possible)

2. Mix in chopped parsley, oil and salt

Swiss chard soup

2011-05-22T06:53:00.000-07:00

Delicious and very healthy swiss chard soup is more than easy to prepare and it's sooo delicious. Ideal spring soup, sweet and sour, light and delicious. Can be eaten hot during rainy days and lukeward during much warmer and sunnier days.

wersja polska

Ingredients (2 servings)

1 bundle of swiss chard

100 g of prebaked or precooked beetroot (I bake mine in bulk and then freeze in small portions)

100 ml of soy cream

pepper

juice from half of a lemon

3-5 tsp of sugar or any other sweetener

1. Wash swiss chard very carefully, because there might be a lot of sand in between the leaves

2. Pour 1L of boiling water to a pot and add chopped beetroots from swiss chard together with lemon juice

3. Simmer for around 5 minutes

4. Add chopped swiss chard leaves and prebakes beetroot cut into small cubes

5. Simmer for 3-4 more minutes

6. Add soy cream

7. Season with pepper, sugar and lemon juice in order to make the soup sweet&sour.

spinach tart with tofu and cashews

2011-05-08T01:47:00.000-07:00

If you are a spinach addict this tart is perfect for you. It requires some kitchen work but the end result is worth all your time and effort. It delicious both as a warm dinner and as a cold snack or appetizer.

wersja polska

Ingredients for the pastry

245 g of sifted flour

pinch of salt

1-1,5 tbsp of spicy paprica (if you are using cayenne pepper, use less than I suggest, because it's more spicy)

105 g vegan margarine

2-3 tbsp of cold water

Ingredients for the filling:

750 g of frozen or fresh spinach leaves

3 cloves of garlic

ok. 100 g of hard tofu

handful of cashews

rice oil

salt

pepper

1. Mix well salt, spicy paprica and flour. Combine with vegan margarine and work the dough with your fingers till crumbles are formed.

2. Add cold water and work the dough until pastry is formed.

3. Refrigerate for around half and hour

4. Roll the pastry and place in a baking dish

5. Makes some holes in the pastry by means of fork, cover with aluminium foil and spread dry beans or glass balls, so that the pastry does not rise during baking.

5. Bake at 180 centigrades for around 15 minutes

6. Remove dry beans/glass balls together with alluminium foil and bake for 5 more minutes to brown the pastry a little bit

7. Saute garlic on the pan

8. Add spinach to the garlic and saute for few minutes. Let all the liquid evaporate so that it will not sog the pastry

9. Place the spinach on the pastry

10. Place tofu and cashews on the spinach

11. Bake the tart for 10-15 minutes more

Simple and delicious tart with tofu and zucchini

2011-04-27T13:10:00.000-07:00

For those lovely and delicious tarts I use store-bought french pastry so preparing them is more than simple. I like it served warm, for dinner but also served sold as a snack.Simple yet soooo delicious.

polska wersja

Ingredients (3 servings)
store bought french puff pastry
3 small zucchinis, cubed
200 g of tofu, cubed
oregano, salt and pepper to taste
oil for sauteeing

1. Cut french puff pastry into three rectangles. Wrap the edges and press them to the bottom of the tart
2. Using oil saute zucchini. After few minutes add tofu
3. Add oregano, salt and pepper to taste
4. If necessary remove liquid that was created during sauteeing in order not to soak the puff pastry
5. Place zucchini on prepared puff pastry rectangles
6. Bake for around 20 - 30 minutes and 200 centigrades taking care not to burn the edges.

nutritious green smoothie

2011-04-26T13:14:00.000-07:00

Finally spring is coming to town. I feel happy, light and energetic, but not only because of the sun and fresh grass but also because of this wonderfully nutritious and delicious breakfast smoothie that gives me all that I need in the morning.

wersja polska

Ingredients (1 biiiig serving)

1 cup of fresh and washed spinach leaves

almond milk

1,5 tbsp of flax seed oil

1 tsp of flax seeds

0,5 of large banana or 1 small

1 juicy orange

few drops of fresh lemon juice

1. blend thoroughly all the ingredients and enjoy

delicious spinach smoothie

2011-04-17T13:32:00.000-07:00

I was visiting other blogs and I have seen lots, lots of green smoothies but to be quite frank I haven't expected that they are eatable. To my surprise they are unbelievably delicious. And the spinach that gives this lovely green colour, does not influence taste of smoothie.

wersja polska

Ingredients (1 serving)

1,5 cup of raw, washed spinach

1 juicy orange, peeled

150 - 200 ml of soy, rice or almond milk

1. Blend all ingredients until smooth and serve

homemade carrot - orange juice with a gingery kick

2011-04-13T08:33:00.000-07:00

Carrot juice was never my favourite because it was weird in taste and sometimes pretty bitter. But then I have discovered that it can be mixed with orange juice and a hint of ginger. It then becomes delicious, sweet, wonderfully refreshing and of course super health. Perfect for spring rejuvenation.

Ingredients (1 big serving ie. 500ml)

3 big carrots

2 juicy oranges, peeled

slice og ginger - the thicker the slice, the bigger the kick

1. Grate ginger

2. By means of juicer make a juice out of carrots and oranges.

3. Mix with grated ginger and enjoy your juice straight ahead

apples covered with cozy, crunchy crust

2011-04-11T13:06:00.000-07:00

It sounds unbelievable, but this dessert is not only delicious but also healthy, so it's pure pleasure, guilt free.

wersja polska

Ingredients (8 small servings, 4 normal)

5 - 8 apples (sweet and juicy are the best)

cinnamon

around 7 tbsp of sugar

1/3 cup of olive oil

3/4 cup of oats

1 tbsp of whole wheat flour

handful of sunflower seeds (you can also use any nuts, chopped)

optionally raisins or dried cranberries

1. Peel apples, remove seeds and cut into thin, small slices

2. Add cinnamon and 3 tbsp of sugar to apples. At this stage you can also add raisins or dried cranberries. Stir well

3. Place apples in the dish in which you will prepare the dessert.

4. In a separate bowl mix oats, olive oil, remaining sugar, cinnamon, whole wheat flour - this is your crunchy crust.

5. Spread the crust on your apples

6. Sprinkle with sunflower seeds

7. Bake at 180 centigrades. If you want your apples to be slightly al dente, bake for 30 minutes. If however you want your apples softer, then bake the dessert for 40-45 minutes.

the easiest vegan coleslaw on earth

2011-04-06T12:35:00.000-07:00

It cannot be more simple than to unpack the store bought shredded cabbage and prepare the basic coleslaw out of it.

wersja polska

Ingredients (1 serving)

Shredded cabbage (with small addition of carrot and leeks) - preferably store bought for simplicity

1 tbsp of soy mayonaise

salt and pepper to taste

1. Take as much of shredded cabbage as you need

2. Add soy mayonaise, salt and pepper to taste, Mix well and serve

vegan green soup

2011-04-02T23:33:00.000-07:00

This delicious, healthy, nutritious, and easily digestible soup will heal any cold or flu.

wersja polska

Ingredients (3 servings):

around 100g of tofu

handful of broccolli flowers

0,5 cup of pearled barley

2 potatoes peeled and cubed

100 g of spinach

4 cloves of garlic, chopped

handful of green peas

250ml of concentrated vegetable stock

4 slices of ginger

chilli to taste

soy sauce and salt to taste

1. Pour the vegetable stock and water to a pot, add pearled barley, potatoes, ginger and garlic and cook for around 10-12 minutes

2. After 5 minutes add spinach and green peas

3. 1 minute before the end of cooking add broccolii, chilli, soy sauce and salt

4. Pour the soup onto plates and decorated with cubes of tof

green beans with parmigiano reggiano

2010-08-10T10:24:00.000-07:00

So simple, yet so sophisticated. Perfect combination of flavours absolutely not possible to replicate with any other vegetables. It just have to be the freshest, the firmest green beans you can find, young garlic and parmigiano reggiano. And that's it. Nothing more. Maybe a glass of white wine...

Ingredients (1 serving)

around 200g green beans

3 cloves of young, fresh garlic

around 10 g of parmigiano reggiano

olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

1. Cook or steam green beans, al dente at this stage

2. Smash the garlic with salt

3. Fry garlic on low heat taking care not to burn it, cause it will turn bitter

4. Add cooked green beans and fry a few more minutes so that the flavours can mix well

5. Adjust taste with salt and pepper if necessary

6. Place of a serving dish, garnish with freshly grated parmigiano reggiano i serve immediately, prefereably with glass of white wine.

Summery tagliatelle with fava beans

2010-08-02T11:47:00.000-07:00

Fava beans' tagliatelle for all those of you bored with consuming fava beans just as they are, cooked and eaten straight from the big bowl. This slightly modified Jamie Oliver's suggestion is light, rather garlicky and sophisticated. Creamy sauce is comfortably coating tagliatelle, timid fava beans and onion appear here and there playing supporting role and the garlic playing the leading role. Just as I like it to be...I want the summer to last and last and last...

Ingredients (1serving)

75g tagliatelle pasta

1 onion

2 cloves of garlic

around 100g fava beans

100ml double cream

salt and pepper to taste

olive oil

25 g parmesan cheese

1. Cook tagliatelle (Al dente of course)

2. Cook fava beans, peel and chop finelly or smash by means of fork

3. Fry onion with a pinch of salt and olive oil

4. Add garlic and fry a few more moments

5. Add fava beans and double cream and cook untill all ingrediens are well connected with one another

6. Add parmesan cheese and tagliatelle and cook for a few seconds stirring constantly so that the sauce can coat tagliatelle

7. Add salt and pepper to taste

8. Spinkle with freshly grated parmesan cheese and serve immediately

easy and sexy David Lebovitz's chocolate ice-cream

2010-07-30T07:28:00.000-07:00

Super easy, super quick and .... super sexy. Originally prepared by David Lebovitz this ice-cream with small modification on my side is a perfect summer option, but for grown-ups only (!!!) due to alcohol content. Smart combination of ingredients makes the ice-cream texture very smooth and creamy so that ice-cream maker is totally unnecessary. The same smart combination of ingredients, being most of them aphrodisiacs of different kinds, create a luscious dessert option, perfect for a romantic rendez-vous. Somehow I find this chocolate ice-cream very, very sexy :-)

Remember that it takes 4 hours for ice-cream to set in the freezer so plan accordingly.

Ingredients(6 popsicles):

1,5 very ripe bananas, peeled - please refer to David Lebovitz's manual ;-)

55 g bitter or semisweet chocolate

6 tbsp of milk

6 tbsp of Bailey liquor

1 tbsp of dark rum (e.g. Czech Tuzemak)

pinch of chilli (or maybe two or three) - up to your taste

1. Melt chocolate and milk in a bowl (you can do it in microwave, on the steam or on the radiator in the winter)

2. mash bananas by means of a fork

3. Combine all ingredients together

4. Place the mixture in popsicles' moulds or simply in any plastic or metal container and freeze for at least 4 hours before serving

finger food of the quarter of the year

2010-07-27T10:47:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time, during especially hot day in July I happened to find myself at a party named the party of the quarter of the year, in an apartment named the apartment of the quarter of the year....where the finger food of the quarter of the year was served - those simple and delicious cucumber bowls.

Ingredients:

3-4 cucumbers

some byndza soft cheese (can be replaced by feta cheese)

small jar of caviar

100 g of gorgonzola

few walnuts

honey - optionally

other ingredients if you feel like experimenting

1. Peel cucumbers and slice into 1,5 cm thick slices

2. By means of a teaspoon remove some part of the cucumber flesh of a thickness of 1cm in order to make a cucumber bowls out of a cucumber slices.

3. Place bryndza/ feta cheese and caviar into the first part of cucumber bowls

4. Place gorgonzola and walnuts into the second part of cucumber bowls and sprinkle with honey if desired

exotic, non-exotic tapioca pudding

2010-07-22T10:22:00.000-07:00

It's incredibly hot in here and exactly in such moments like this I desire properly chilled and sweet tapioca pudding. Here in exotic (coconut) non-exotic (home made plum jam) version. The way to cook tapioca was suggested long ago by Pascal Brodnicki and the idea of serving it with a plum jam is my creative invention.

Ingredients (4 servings):
- 200 ml water
- 400 ml coconut milk
- 50 - 70 g small tapioca pearls
- 4 tbs shredded coconut - fresh or dried
- 80 g sugar
- 4 tbs of plum jam (or any other jam)

1. Bring water and coconut milk to a boil
2. Add tapioca pearls and boil for arund 10 - 15 minutes stirring from time to time until tapioca pearls become soft and translucent
3. Add sugar and shredded coconut
4. Pour into serving bowls and refrigerate
5. Decorate with plum jam just before serving

Baked fig

2009-10-05T08:11:00.000-07:00

Baked fig is the power of simplicity. No effort and what a perfect dessert

Ingredients (1 serving)

1 raw and ripe fig

1. Cut fig making a cross starting from the top and finish just above the bottom of the fig

2. Bake the fig at 180ºC for 10 – 20 minutes

3. Serve hot straight from the oven

Easy and Elegant fig

2009-09-22T15:30:00.000-07:00

Finally fresh figs are in the season. I don’t know why but I find figs mysterious and refined. I simply love them. I could consume kilos of fresh figs every day without any additives or enhancements. Still however you can prepare wonderful, splendid and easy figs desserts like this as well. Fig with mascarpone cheese is not only a perfect option for elegant party but also for a romantic dinner with your loved one. Easy and delicious dessert that simply can’t go wrong.

Ingredients (1 serving)

1 fig

1 tbsp of mascarpone cheese

1 tsp of goud quality honey

few almond flakes for garnishing

1. Cut fig making a cross starting from the top and finish just above the bottom of the fig

2. Put mascarpone cheese in the cut

3. Glace with honey

4. Optionally roast almond flakes on the dry pan until crispy and golden

5. Sprinke with almond flakes

delicious and crispy bran cookies

2009-09-07T13:33:00.001-07:00

Those cookies are real exception to the rule that all healthy cookies are not so good. Cookies are in fact healthy (if you consider anything containing sugar and margarine healthy) but they are also delicious and crispy. Many people believe that cookies from whole flour and bran are synonym of not so good sweets. And in this particular case they are so very wrong. The cookies are so good that anyone who doesn’t know that they are baked from bran and whole flour would have never guessed that.

I like to bake them small like a button for one bite only – then they are perfect for home parties - easy to consume and absolutely no crumbs around.

One thing to remember is to keep them in airtight container to protect cookies from getting damp.

This recipe comes from one of m favourite cookbooks about chocolate from the series „from the kitchen shelf” by Jacqueline Bellefontaine. Still however I wouldn’t be myself if I didn’t changed proportions a bit.

Ingredients (50 small cookies):

85 g margarine

7 tbsp of sugar

1 egg

50 g bran

110 g whole wheat or rye flour

1,5 tsp of baking powder

50 g of all purpose flour .

Whisk margarine with sugar until smooth
Add edd and continue whisking
Add bran, baking powder and both types of flour
Mix thoroughly
In case the cookie dough is too loose or too runny add a little more bran or whole flour.
By means of your hands roll small balls of dough and place on the parchment paper at a distance.
Press the balls with fork to flatten them and to gve them a nice pattern on top.
Bake in the oven at 180ºC for app. 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.
Cool after baking and store in airtight container so that they remain crispy or eat at once

gazpacho - perfect summer chill

2009-08-15T08:32:00.000-07:00

Another chilled soup perfect for extremely warm and sunny days. This spanish chilled gazpacho is more than simple to prepare and sooo delicious. As all simple dishes the perfect gazpacho is prepared with the best and most fresh ingredients you can get. As usual you can change the proportions of all ingredients. Be careful however when experimenting with white wine vinegar and lemon juice. If you added to much of those continue with adding more olive oil to bring back the crheamy consistency

Ingredients (3 servings):

4 ripe and fresh tomatoes – peeled

1 peeled cucumber

1 paprica

1 clove of fresh garlic (optionally)

lots of good quality olive oil - appr 0,5 cup or more.

0,5 tbsp white wine vinegar

0,5 tbsp lemon juice

salt and freshly ground pepper

1. Put tomatoes, cucumber, paprica and garlic into a blender and puree everything

2. While pureeing keep adding olive oil, white wine vinegar and lemon juice.

3. Continue pureeing until the soup is smooth and shiny

4. Season with salt and pepper

5. Chill in the refrigerator

6. Decorate with pieces of cucumber and paprica and serve with fresh baguette

Truly Italian risotto with green beans

2009-07-28T08:35:00.000-07:00

Many people are afraid that risotto is too complicated for them and they don’t even try to approach it. In fact risotto is more than simple to prepare and it is only a bit time, effort and patience consuming since during the whole cooking process you have to watch the risotto carefully. The best ingredients and a little effort will pay off. Risotto I simply heaven on earth and it’s really worth giving it a try.

Risotto is originally prepared from special rice variety called arborio rice and please I beg of you do not try to prepare risotto with basmati, parboiled, jasmine or regular rice. This will be something but not risotto.

Ingredients (2 servings):

1 cup of Arborio rice

1 onion

200-300g green beans cut into 2 cm pieces

50g grated parmesan

olive oil

Salt

Pepper

1 tsp of butter

1 glass of good quality white wine

appr. 0,5L vegetable stock

1. Chop onion

2. Fry the onion on olive oil until translucent

3. Add rice and continue frying 2 more minutes on a low heat

4. Add all wine, stir and wait till it almost evaporates

5. Add approximately 100ml of stock, stir and wait till it almost evaporates. Continue with consecutive 100ml doses of stock remembering to add another portion only after almost all of the previous dose of stock is evaporated.

6. After approximately 5 minutes of cooking in between of stock doses add green beans

7. Continue cooking for approximately 10 – 15 minutes until the rice is done,

8. Add butter, grated parmesan, salt and pepper and serve immediately

Lithuanian chilled beetroot soup

2009-07-23T07:20:00.001-07:00

During extremely hot days like today there is no Belter dinner option other than Lithuanian chilled beetroot soup. Easy to make, delicious and perfectly chilling. There are people that Clair that chilled soup is not a soup in fact but such argument is not convincing to me especially when it is so hot.

Taste of the chilled beetroot soup can be adjusted according to your liking. Feel free to experiment and to change proportions of the ingredients given below.

Ingredients (4 servings):
bunch of young chard
4-6 young and small beetroots
1 L of buttermilk or kefir
bunch of radishes
4 cucumbers (fresh or fermented)
dill
4 hard-boiled eggs
few drops of lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste

1. Wash chard and beetroots thoroughly
2. Chop chard finely
3. Grate beetroots
4. Place chard and beetroots in the pot add few drops of lemon juice and add boiling water so that there is app. 1-2 cm of water in the pot. Cook no longer than 5 minutes.
5. Chill beetroots and chard

6. Add finely chopped dill, radishes and cucumbers cut into chunks. Pour in buttermilk or kefir.
7. Season with salt and pepper
8. Chill again in the fridge so that all tastes can combine well

9. Decorate with hard boiled eggs before serving

Carmelized peanuts and pear

2008-11-11T06:34:00.001-08:00

Combination of soft and a bit sour pear and sweet crispy carmelized peanuts is realny great. This dessert is perfect for those who like to have a contracting tastes on one plate. It is more than extrememly simple to prepare and it looks so elegant served on a big white plates. Great way to impress your guests.

I was lucky to find carmelized peanuts in shop but if you can’t find any in your local store feel frez to prepare carmelized unsalted (!!!) peanuts on your own at home.

Ingredients (2 servings):
1 ripe pear
2 handfuls (or more) of carmelized peanuts

1. Cut pear in half and spoon out the pits
2. Cut the thicker parto f pear in thin slices in such a way that the thinner parto f pear is untouched by knife.
3. Press down the pear slightly in order to make a small fan out of it as on my photos
4. Sprinkle with carmelized peanuts and serve

Sweetness of the pumpkin soup

2008-10-26T04:23:00.000-07:00

This pumpkin soup is extremely easy to prepare. With minimum effort in 10 minutes we get delicious, healthy and nutritious diner for sweet dishes lovers. I prepare this soup for lunch at work because it give a good portion of energy to get through the rest of the day.

Most often I eat this soup with brown rice but feel free to choose any other type of rice. Or maybe you can choose sweet croutons instead of rice.

Ingredients (1 serving):
400 g pumpkin
around. 50g bron rice of croutons
2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp milk

1. Wash the pumpkin thoroughly, peel, and remove pepitas and soft part of flesh.
2. Cook rice. If possible use rice cocker since that’s the fastest and easiest way to cook rice.
3. Dice the pumpkin
4. Cook pumpkin in 200 ml of water until tender. Depending on the type of pumpkin it may take from 5 to maximum 10 minutes if the dice is small.
5. Blend pumpkin with cooking liquid, milk and sugar. If the soup is too thick add more hot water.
6. Pour the soup over rice and serve.

delicious and crispy vegetarian chops

2008-10-12T06:40:00.000-07:00

I absolutely adore those vegetarian chops especially when they are freshly fried served straight from the frying pan. I never stick to the recipe so much, so I always get slightly different taste. I also mingle different sorts of vegetables but I never forget about potatoes. I saw this recipe in Indian cuisine written by Shehzad Husain and after few modifications I immediately felt in love in those chops.
As usual in my recipes I invite you to modify this recipe according to your own taste. Fell free to use different vegetables and different spices.

Ingredients (10-12 servings)
2 large potatoes
50 g green peas
1 onion
100 g of haricot beans
2 green chillies
Pinch of salt
Pinch of freshly ground pepper
Pinch of turmeric powder
50 g of bread crumbs
Oil for frying

1. Steam diced potatoes, green peas, onion, haricot beans
2. After all vegetables are cooked and tender pure them by means of fork, so it's not entirely a pulp but you can still feel few pieces of vegetables.
3. Add chopped chili, pepper, salt, turmeric powder and mix well
4. Form small flat chops. If it is difficult add a bit of bread crumbs into the mass to thicken it
5. Cover your chops in thin layer of bread crumbs
6. Fry on hot oil until brown and crispy

tomato in a cottage cheese

2008-08-24T06:17:00.000-07:00

Today I would like to present you another easy yet delicious recipe. Great breakfast option. I discovered this dish when I was in yoga resort in Brzozówka in Poland and since then it often appears on my table.

Ingredients (1 serving):
250g cottage cheese or white cheese
1 big ripe tomato
Handful of lucerne (alfalfa) sprouts
Salt up to taste

1. Dice tomato
2. Combine cheese with tomato and spouts
3. Season with salt

olives in cottage cheese

2008-07-26T13:37:00.000-07:00

Cottage cheese with a kick. I came across this cottage cheese when I was living in Denmark. At the very beginning it seemed to me a way too original so I was hesitating quite a while before I finally bought it. Hopefully one day I was brave enough to purchase it and since that day on it is quite a regular breakfast option.

Ingredients (1 serving)
200 g of cottage cheese
olives – as much as you want
pinch of sweet pepper
pinch of salt

1. Chop olives
2. Mix well all ingredients

Liquid strawberries

2008-07-13T02:58:00.001-07:00

Another extra easy proposal for all strawberry lovers. Delicious, simple and multifunctional strawberry coulis. Thick, aromatic liquid strawberry is perfect on its own as a drink but it is also a perfect toppping for ice-cream or pankaces. Frozen coulis becomes divine strawberry sorbet. Equally delicious coulis can be prepared from fresh raspberries.

Ingredients:
Strawberries
Caster sugar up to taste

Blend strawberries together with sugar in a blender and serve.

simple yet elegant strawberries

2008-06-09T12:41:00.001-07:00

This recipe is wonderfully simple yet elegant. It’s easy but it calls for high quality ingredients. The best, most fresh strawberries, thick balsamic vinegar and freshly ground pepper.

Those strawberries are a great option both for a romantic dinner and for a garden party.

Ingredients:
fresk strawberries
freshly ground pepper
Balsamic vinegar
Wooden sticks/ toothpicks

1. Stab a wooden stiuk into each strawberry
2. Dip strawberries in balsamic vinegar
3. Dip strawberries in pepper and eat straight away

simple and natural fruity yoghurt

2008-05-12T13:48:00.000-07:00

Today I have something for those of you who are not big fans of store-bought yoghurts with fruits. For me all those fruity yoghurts taste no good. And I can hardly find any natural looking and tasting fruit in there. Especially since I have very demanding taste buds. I definitely prefer someting healthier, more tasty and natural. That is why I am preparing my luxurious version of yoghurt with loads of fruits. During summer I use fresh strawberries, raspberries or blueberries and during Sumer I use defrosted ones. This recipe and many on this blog is meant to be an inspiration so I do not give the exact amounts and I invite you to experiment.

Ingredients:

Plain yoghurt
Fruits fresh or defrosted. The best are strawberries, rasperries or blueberries but feel free to experiment with other fruits.
Sugar, honey or fructose
Almond flakes for decoration

1. Blend cheese or yoghurt with fruits and sweeten according to your taste.
2. Decorate with almond flakes.

Divine baguettes

2008-04-12T14:10:00.000-07:00

This recipe is time and strenght consuming but definitely worth all your efforts. It is actually the best baguette on earth. And I really mean it. Especially when eaten just after taking it out from the oven. I know, I know. It’s not healthy for your stomach but so delicious you simply won’t be able to resist temptation. Your baguette will stay fresh for quite long compared to store bought ones.

Ingredients (2 baguettes)
500g of flour
300ml of lukewarm water
10-20 g of salt
30g of fresh yeast
10-50ml of olive oil or melted butter

1. Dissolve yeast in the lukewarm water
2. Add yeast and water mixture to flour mixed with salt
3. Mix until all ingredients are well combined.
4. Knead the dough well for approximately 10 -15 minutes. In general the longer the better. When I want my baguettes to be divine I knead the dough for even 30 minutes.
5. Add olive oil or metled butter to the dough
6. Knead the dought for as long as 15 minutes.
7. Place the dough in the bowl that was previously slightly oiled with olive oil.
8. Let it rest for approximately 10 – 15 minutes and then work the dough again to evenly spread the carbon dioxide produced by yeast.
9. Let it rest for 10 minutes again.
10. Knead the dough again and let it rest for 10 minutes more.
11. Knead the dough and form two baguettes.
12. Place them on the baking paper on a baking tray
13. Let it rest for 20 minutes more.
14. Before placing them in the oven smear some water on their surface.
15. Bake at 180°C for approximately 30 minutes.

E like Excellent :-)

2008-04-09T13:58:00.000-07:00

I was equally surprised and honoured when Chriesi from Almond Corner rated my very own blog with capital letter “E” which stands for Excellent. It’s nice to know that someone somewhere likes my blog and keeps visiting. I must admit that I have never expected any award of this kind especially since my blog is quite new J But it appears that great things come when you least expect them. Chriesi, thanks you very much once again.

Now it’s my turn to rate some of my favourites. Similarly to Chriesi I will choose only 10 blogs that I visit regularly although I feel like choosing 100. I will not say a word about those, check them out by yourselves.

Please forgive me, but I simply have to include well known and acclaimed David Lebovitz here. His blog is my very favourite. Nothing else matters if I can read his posts regularly

So Above of all

And 9 others:

Bakerella

???? - The answer

2008-03-15T08:22:00.000-07:00

What might it be...? What can you do with that...? Any ideas...?
I want you to be as creative and as inventive as you can :-) Have fun
I'll provide solution next Saturday...!

As I promised one week ago it's the highest time to reveal what is the object on the photo used for. I received few interesting answers but nobody guessed. But Katy, Linda and Rachel were somewhat close.

Originally it is mould for shaping rice for nigiri sushi. But I use it as a mould do shape up things. If you look for example for my indulgent mashed potaoes you can quickly notice that I used this mould to prepare it :-)

Thanks for all the fun with guessing.

Celebrating Women's Day with yellow chicken

2008-03-09T01:41:00.000-08:00

International Women’s day is a great opportunity to organize another fantastic blogging event. Zorra have thought about that and thanks to her today I present something yellow. This is delicious oriental chicken that is on the menu those days. Although I’m not a big fan of meat this one I eat with pleasure. Similarly to most of recipes presented on this blog you don’t have to care so much about given quantities of ingredients. I advise you to migle with different amounts and you’ll see how the taste is altered by adding more or less e.g. lemon or ginger. Me and my realtives are preparing this chicken quite often. Believe it or not but the taste is always slightly different despite using the same recipe.

Ingredients (2 servings)
0.5 pepper
1/4 small zucchini
1/4 eggplant
1 blaade of lemon grass
2 chicken breasts
100 g fresh ginger
3 cloves of garlic
1 tsp turmeric
200 ml coconut milk
1 tbsp rice vinegar
1 lemon
salt
pepper
optionally pinch of sugar
1 tbsp olive oil

1. Peel ginger and grate or chop finely
2. Chop garlic
3. Cut chicken breast into small cubes so that it will fry faster
4. Marinate chicken breasts in rice vinegar mixed with ginger and garlic for 10 minutes or more
5. Finely chop lemon grass
6. Cube pepper, zucchini and eggplant
7. Warm up olive oil on the pan
8. Fry chicken while mixing constantly
9. When chicken is done add pepper, zucchini, eggplant, lemon grass, salt, pepper and optionally a pinch of sugar up to taste
10. Add coconut milk and lemon juice and continua boiling for a couple more minutes until the sauce thickens
11. Serve with basmati or jasmine rice

Eat (Lemon parfait) to the beat

2008-03-01T08:35:00.000-08:00

Eat to the beat is really a fantastic blogging event created by Elly from Elly says Opa!. When I saw it on the net I knew for sure I will participate. And actually I didn’t had any problem with finding the right song and the right food. “Lemon tree” by Fool’s Garden is one of myvery favourites. Whenever I hear this song I always see a huge (titanic !!) tree with loads of bright and yellow lemons. And from that picture I go directly to the most lemony dessert I could think of. I do not know any other dessert that would have such a gorgeously fresh taste and would be so simple to make.

I you consider it as a regular dessert without thinking about the meme for the blogging event I can assure you that this lemon parfait is very good for any parties. You can prepare it long before the party gets started and store in the fridge until the right moment.

Ingredients (2 servings)
100 g mascarpone cheese
40 g caster sugar
100ml heavy cream 30-36%
50 ml lemon juice
rind from 2 lemons
lemon rind for decoration

1.Mix sugar and caster sugar until sugar is slightly dissolved
2. Add mascarpone cheese and lemon rind
3. Whip cream
4. Add whipped cream o mascarpone and mix carefully
5. Refrigearte for at least 6 hours or overnight
6. Before serving garnish with lemon rind.

This recipe comes from “Twój Styl”

Tagged

2008-03-01T07:48:00.000-08:00

It seems I’m sorta lucky ;-) since I’ve been tagged twice by Coco from Ambrosia and by Chriesi from Almond Corner. I’m not a big fan of such events but I decided to go for it but only on my own terms. In other words, those who tagged me are lucky because I agreed to be tagged and those who I will tag are even more lucky, because my plan is not to tag anyone;-)

So here we go:

1. I am the master of procrastination. Although I think I could still learn a few things from David Lebovitz.
2. I never know which of my hands is the right one and which one is the left one. I always have a problem with that espcially when I am given instructions while driving the car.
3. I adore cinnamon. I haven’t decided yet if if I love it because it tastes great or because I always assossiate it with magical “Cinnamon shops” written by Brunon Schultz.
4. I love Garfield, the cat. It is the only cat I could own.

5. I do not have a TV. That’s why I have much more time for indulgment

The rules for the meme:
1. Link to your tagger and post these rules.
2. Share 5 facts about yourself.
3. Tag 5 people at the end of your post, and list their names to link to them.
4. Let them know they've been tagged by leaving a comment at their blogs.

My rules do not cover points 3 and 4 of general rules. Sorry guys.

Indulgent mashed potatoes

2008-02-27T03:51:00.000-08:00

I have discovered this side dish by chance. I was clearing up the fridge before holidays and what I had left in the fridge were a couple of potatoes and a small piece of parmesan cheese. So I decided to mash the potatoes and add grated cheese. It resulted in unbelievably cheesy, smooth and aromatic mashed potatoes ever. From that day on I prepare potatoes in this way quite often although in general I’m not a big fan of this starchy vegetable.

If you feel that you need more or less parmesan cheese, feel free to play with the ingredients amount.

Ingredients (2 servings):
0,5 kg potatoes
20 – 50 g parmesan cheese
thyme fresh or dried

1. Peel potatoes cut them in squares and cook for 10-20minutes.
2. Strain
3. Mash potatoes
4. Add grated parmesan cheese and thyme and continue to mash until everything is well incorporated
5. Serve as a side dish.

Chocolate and orange cheesecake

2008-02-23T07:12:00.001-08:00

Although it’s one of the simplest cheesecakes recipes ever i have been hesitating to prepare it for 2 long years (!?!?). Unbelievable but true. Combination of bittersweet chocolate and orange is fantastic. It has unforgetable taste and aroma. You have to try it on your own and I’m sure you gonna love it even if you’re not a big fan of bittersweet chocolate.

Ingredients:
175 g all purpose flour
125 butter or margarine
50 g sugar
400 g mascarpone cheese
100 g sifted caster cygar
juice from 0,5 orange
finely chopped r grated rind from 1 orange
100 g finely chopped dark or bittersweet chocolate
3 tbsp Cointreau
orange rind for decoration

1. Grease the removable-bottom baking tin or pie tin
2. Sift flour into large bowl and mix well with butter
3. Add sugar and knead until shortcrust is formed
4. Place the shortcrust over the base of your baking tin and make tiny holes by means of fork
5. Bake in the oven until golden brown at 190ºC for abort 20-25 minuntes
6. Cool down the shortcrust but do not remove it from the baking tin
7. In a bowl mix well mascarpone, sifted caster cygar, orange juice, orange rind and Cointreau.
8. Melt the chocolate in a microwave oven or in an electric fondue
9. Cool down the chocolate, but don’t let it solidify again.
10. Combine the mascarpone mixture with melted chocolate.
11. Spread the mascarpone and chocolate mixture over the shortcrust
12. Cover with kitchen foil and refrigerate for a couple of hours.
13. Remove the cheesecake from the muld if necessary
14. Decorate with orange rind

Sauerkraut reincarnation

2008-02-18T15:31:00.001-08:00

This time something for vegetarians.

Although I am polish girl I was never a big fan of “bigos”, the traditioanal polish dish prepared from sauerkraut. That’ s why one day I decided to make up my own version of bigos that I would like a lot. And so did I. It was one of my first experiments in the kitchen. Pretty successful, I must admit. Sauerkraut in this recipe replaces zuchini and eggplant in a traditional french ratatouille. This consierably changes the taste. This dish is easy, light, delicious and healthy. Perfect for lunch or for light dinner if served with a piece of fresh and crispy baguette.

Preparations are easy but time consuming so I strongly advise you to prepare a really huge batch. It can be stored in a fridge for a couple of days or it can be frozen. I assure you that you can mingle different amounts of basic ingredients up to your taste.

Ingredients (8 servings)
1 kg of sauerkraut
3 onions
5 garlic cloves
2 cans of chopped tomatoes
1 small can of tomato puree
1 pepper
2 tbsp of olive
oregano
salt
pepper
2 tbsp of lemon juice
0,5 sp of sugar
1 sp of sweet pepper
pinch of chilli powder
fresh parsley for decoration
fresh and crispy baguette

1. Chop sauerkraut into smaller pieces. Otherwise it would resemble cabbage spaghetti and it would be difficult to eat.
2. Cook sauerkraut for 10-20 minutes so that it looses most of its pungent taste.
3. Strain sauerkraut and set it aside
4. Chop onions
5. Crash garlic cloves
6. Warm olive in the huge pot and fry onions together with garlic cloves.
7. Add red pepper and braise a bit
8. Add parboiled sauerkraut and tomatoes
9. Simmer on low heat for approximately 10 minutes
10. Add tomato puree and all spices and simmer until all aromas and tastes are well incorporated.
11. Season according to your taste
12. Decorate with fresh parsley and serve with crispy baguette

I heart...strawberry ice-cream

2008-02-13T14:46:00.000-08:00

May I offer you a strawberry heart...?

Especially for St. Valentine’s day something heart-shaped and made of my favourite fruits ie. strawberries. Although it’s winter time I still have some in the freezer for hard times and today I decided to use them in this recipe. I obtained very nice, smooth ice-cream. It’s very easy to prepare and you don’t need any sophisticated ice-cream maker which is a huge plus. Those ice-cream are delicious with lots of strawberry puree on top.

You do not have to use the same heart-shaped mould as I do. You can use different silicone or plastic moulds or you can simply the whole batch and simply scoop on the serving dish.

Ingredients for 2 servings
100 g mascarpone cheese
50g caster sugar
100ml double cream
app. 250g of strawberries fresh or frozen

1. Puree strawberries together with sugar
2. Mix app half of the strawberry puree with mascarpone cheese
3. Whip double cream until stiff
4. Gently incorporate whipped cream into strawberries and mascarpone
5. Transfer the mixture into the moulds (preferably plastic or silicone, not glass)
6. Freeze overnight.
7. App. 1 hour before serving transfer strawberry ice-cream from freezer to refrigerator
8. Decorate with the rest of strawberry puree and serve.

Inspiration: Mascarpone and lemon parfait, “Twój Styl”

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

I heart chocolate

2008-02-12T09:10:00.000-08:00

Time for St. Valentine’s day. Time for heart. Time for chocolate.

Very simple yet splendid recipe especially for St. Valentine’s day. I must admit that I have never done that before although I own this beautiful and very handy electric chocolate melting pot for a little while now . Since there is a huge heart-shape mould in the set I thought why not using it. You can modify the recipe if you like. Instead of suggested whipped cream you can fill the chocolate heart with ice-cream, fruits, mascarpone, whatever. It’s up to your imagination.

The only problem is that having one chocolate melting pot you have only one heart-shaped mould so you have to plan it well in advance if you need two hearts for St. Valentine’s day. Or actually you can share one heart and make it even more romantic this way.

Ingredients for two hearts:
300g chocolate (dark, milk, white or mixture)
150ml double cream
4tbsp caster sugar
raspberries or other fruits for decoration

1. Melt 150g of chocolate. You can do it in the electric chocolate melting pot
2. Pour melted chocolate into the dry mould that should be at room temperature.
3. The entire mould should be thickly coated with chocolate
4. Spread the chocolate around the mould by means of spatula or a pastry brush and smooth all the surface
5. Allow to cool in the refrigerator for several hours
6. Gently press the chocolate heart out of a mould and proceed with the second heart
7. Before serving whip cream with sugar
8. Fill chocolate hearts with whipped cream
9. Decorate with raspberries

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

Breast-shaped meringue kisses

2008-02-10T15:12:00.000-08:00

I love meringue kisses. Their taste in incredibly marvelous. Simply delicious. St. Valentine's Day is approaching so I suggest very erotic breast-shaped meringue kisses. Normally I’m too lazy for that and opt for spoon-shaped. And then I don’t have to convince everybody that they are in fact homemade, because they look like homemade.

Believe it or not, but these are one of the easiest cookies to make. You only have to remember about few important rules and everything gets very simple. I use caster sugar, because there’s no need to wait ages for the sugar crystals to break down. Using 4 – 5 egg whites is economically the best solution, because you will fill up three bakings sheets and use up the whole oven space.

One more important thing – Egg whites can be frozen!!! Really!!! I freeze them very often, because it’s very convenient for me. It works perfectly fine.

Before you start beating egg whites please make sure that:
- egg whites are at room temperature
- mixing bowl as well as beater are perfectly clean. Even the smallest fat residue can make it difficult to beat egg whites properly.

Ingredients:

4 egg whites (preferably pasteurised)
250 g caster sugar (62,5 g sugar per one egg white)
pinch of salt
optional – few drops of lemon juice

1. Line three baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. In a clean mixing bowl beat egg whites together with a pinch of salt (and optionally with lemon juice) until they form stiff peaks. If you turn your mixing bowl upside down the whites should not move and inch.
3. Slowly add caster sugar, spoon after spoon, while constantly beating egg whites. Meringue at that stage should get stiff, thick and shiny.
4. Transfer the meringue into a pastry bag with an appropriate nozzle. Form small breast-shaped meringue kisses on the parchment paper. If you do not have a pastry bag or you are not very skillful, you can use a spoon to shape your meringue kisses . This results in rustic homemade looking meringue kisses. But believe me, the taste gonna be the same.
5. Bake or in fact dry them in the oven at 120ºC for:
- 1 h if you want your meringue kisses to be a bit gooey in the middle
- 1,5 h if you want them to be ideally dry as they should be
- 2h if you hope for a bit bitter, caramel flavour and darker colour
6. Please bear in mind that every oven is in fact different and I advise you to check your meringue kisses every half and hour.
7. Turn the oven off but leave your meringue kisses inside overnight. In the morning you will enjoy the most delicious homemade meringue kisses. From that day on no other meringue kisses will be as good as yours.

Comforting and delicious Yogi Tea

2008-02-06T13:29:00.000-08:00

Chai that is also called yogi tea or ayurvedic tea is one of my last culinary discoveries. I can tell you it works very well but I’m not sure if it’s force of suggestion or the real power of all ingredients. I love brewing this chai, because the wonderful oriental aroma of all spices from the tea is everwhere around my apartment.

Chai is composed of few basic ingredients but as soon as you feel bored with basics feel free to experiment with additional spices and herbs. It works very well with good quality cocoa powder and a pinch of chilli. Believe me.

Yogi tea has influences on your entire body:
Pepercorn – purifies blood
Cardamon – maintains colon in good condition
Pepercorn and cardamon – support brain cells
Cloves – restore nervous system
Cinnamon – is for bones
Ginger – restores nervous system. Works very well when you’re having flu, cold, nausea or physical weakness.
Milk – helps in assimilation of all spices and avoids colon irritation.

Those who haven’t tried yogi tea before are advised to prepare only 1 cup to check. Those of you who have found chai delicious in taste can prepare more to have it in stock for up to a week. You save time and lots of energy this way, and infusion gets only better and better from day to day.

I strongly advise you to use mortar to crush all spices. Thanks to this your infusion will be much more flavourfull.

Ingredients for 1 cup :

250ml water
3 cloves
4 cardamon pods
4 peppercorns
1,5 cinnamon stick
1 slice of fresh ginger - you don’t have to peel it, because you strain it anyway
50ml dairy or soy milk
Optional - honey, maple syrup or sugar for a sweet tooth
Optional - ¼ tbsp black or green leaf tea - I don’t add it to my chai but feel free to experiment

Roughly crush all spices in a mortar. Boil all ingredients in water and then simmer on low heat for app. 15 minutes. Then strain, sweeten and add milk. Now you can enjoy the oriental taste and aroma.

Ingredients for 2-2,5 litres of yogi tea:

2,6 L water
25 cloves
25 cardamon pods
25 peppercorns
4-8 cinnamon sticks
2,5 – 5 cm thinnely sliced ginger – you don’t have to peel it, because you strain it anyway
Optional - honey, maple syrup or sugar for a sweet tooth

Roughly crush all spices in a mortar. Boil all ingredients in water and then simmer on low heat for app. 30 minutes. At that stage don’t strain the brew. Cool down and refrigerate for up to one week. When you want to have a cup of tea, strain ¾ cup of the infusion and warm it in the microwave oven for 2-2,5 minutes. Then sweeten, add milk and enjoy the oriental taste and aroma.

Welcome to my Kitchen, my Kingdom

2008-02-05T09:35:00.000-08:00

I hope that this blog beside some nice recipes will mirror my passion and give you a better understanding of the whole idea of cooking. I hope this will be a great inspiration for you, giving you the courage to start experimenting and enjoying cooking the same way I enjoy it and I experiment.

This blog is created for all food lovers that want to share their passion for food. Except ordinary recipes you can get to know some tips and tricks that will make your kitchen work a whole lot easier than it was before.

I hope that this blog will entertain you and inspire you to expand your horizons so that you will be creating delicious and mouth watering art on your own plate in your own kitchen.