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CRANBERRY-APPLE CAKE The worst thing about my cranberry-apple cake is the way it looks. It didn't look impressive, but it was so yummy it disappeared from the baking pan before it had completely cooled down. My children said that it was a colourful apple pie, and it really was something like that. Apples with cinnamon are the basis of apple pie – one of my favourite cakes. However, the sour cranberries make it more fresh and interesting. The crumble topping was, for my son, the most important part of the cake. I had to drive him away, because otherwise the cake would have been deprived of its crunchy top. Ingredients (18×26cm cake tin ):dough 200g of flour 150g of butter 3 eggs 1 packet of powdered vanilla blancmange 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence 200g of sugar 1 teaspoon of baking powder pinch of saltfruit 250g of fresh cranberries 1 apple 3 tablespoons of brown sugar 1 teaspoon of cinnamoncrumble topping 5 tablespoons of brown sugar 100g of butter 150g of flour First make the crumble topping. Put the cool butter, flour and sugar in a bowl. Knead them until you have small lumps. Leave it in the fridge. Heat the oven up to 180C. Cover a cake tin with some baking paper. Mix the flour with the baking powder and salt. Cream the butter with the sugar. Add egg after egg to the butter, stirring constantly. Add the flour, vanilla essence and powdered vanilla blancmange. Mix it together until you have a smooth dough. Put the dough into the cake tin. Wash the apple, remove the apple core and cube it. Mix the cranberries, apple, sugar and cinnamon in a bowl. Put the fruit on top of the dough. Cover the fruit with the crumble topping. Bake for 50 minutes. Enjoy your meal!

BICOLOUR DESERT WITH SEMOLINA Today when we think about breakfast with milk we can choose different kinds of flakes, granolas, muesli and milk which has sometimes never been anywhere near a cow. When I was a child, only semolina rolled oats and rice were on the menu. Semolina with milk – our hated everyday breakfast – means that I don't fancy using it in my kitchen. But, as they say, time is a great healer and semolina was on our table last weekend for dessert. The dessert had two colours: the first layer was vanilla, and the second was with cocoa. On the top I put some mousse with blueberries. The dessert was very grand and really very tasty. Ingredients (for 4 people)vanilla layer 50g of semolina 400ml of milk 3 tablespoons of brown sugar 1 teaspoon of vanilla essencecocoa layer 50g of semolina 400ml of milk 3 tablespoons of brown sugar 2 tablespoons of cocoafruit mousse 200g of blueberries 1 tablespoon of brown sugar pinch of cinnamon 1 tablespoon of lemon juice First prepare the vanilla layer of the dessert. Boil the milk with sugar and vanilla essence. When the milk has boiled, slowly add the semolina, stirring constantly so as not to make lumps. Keep boiling and stirring until the mixture is stiff. Put some small glasses into some small bowls and arrange them in such a way that they are resting at an angle. Put the mixture into the glasses and leave to congeal. Now make the cocoa layer. Boil the milk with sugar. Mix the semolina with the cocoa. When the milk has boiled, slowly add the semolina with cocoa, stirring constantly so as not to make lumps. Keep boiling and stirring until the mixture is stiff. Place the glasses upright and put the cocoa mixture into them. Leave to congeal. Wash the blueberries and blend them with the sugar, cinnamon and lemon juice. Put the fruit mousse on top of the dessert. Enjoy your meal!

INSTEAD OF COFFEE? - MORNING GREEN COCKTAIL After waking up, most of us head towards the kitchen for the most welcome morning drink. Coffee opens our eyes, gets us up and motivates us to act. Today I would like to offer you a healthy alternative to daily morning coffee. I don't want to turn you off coffee completely. After all, it has an excellent aroma and fantastic flavor. There isn't anything more relaxing during a busy day than a coffee break with friends. In spite of the weather outside, change your kitchen for a while and try something new. My green cocktail is also an excellent way to wake up and restore energy. Add to it a pinch of curcuma powder, which brings comfort and acts as a buffer against autumn depression. Ingredients (for 2 people): 200ml of green tea 4 new kale leaves 1 green cucumber half an avocado 1 pear 1 banana pinch of salt pinch of curcuma Peel the avocado, pear and banana. Remove the core from the pear. Blend every ingredient very thoroughly. If the drink is too thick, add some green tea. Drink at once. Enjoy your drink!

BAKED PANCAKES WITH MILLET GROATS AND CAULIFLOWER We like pancakes. My son likes them with sugar regardless of what kind of pancakes I prepare. Today I decided to encourage him to eat some pancakes with something else. I prepared spicy vegetable pancakes. Unfortunately, I underestimated my son. For him, sugar goes with every kind of pancake. The rest of our family ate them with natural Greek yoghurt. I think that they would be excellent with stew, cucumber salsa or fresh salad. One of the ingredients of these pancakes is nigella, which is increasingly in our kitchen. As well as the taste properties, nigella can be used as an alternative to pepper. Reportedly, it also has healing properties. It has a soothing effect on gastric mucosa, protects the liver and the kidneys and helps alleviate allergies and skin problems. Additionally, cauliflower acts as a decoration in pancakes with millet groats. The recipe comes from www.naszakasza.pl Ingredients (15 pancakes) 100g of millet groats 200g of cauliflower 4 tablespoons of wholemeal flour half an onion a clove of garlic 3 teaspoons of nigella 2 eggs salt and pepper Heat the oven up to 180C. Cover a baking sheet with some baking paper. Boil the millet groats in salty water. Dice the cauliflower and onion. Crush a clove of garlic. Mix together the groats, eggs, cauliflower, flour, onion, garlic and nigella. Spice it up with salt and pepper. Form small pancakes and put them on the baking paper. Bake for 20 minutes.

ORANGE CREME BRULEE WITH MILLET GROATS One of our friends said recently that he doesn't cook for himself. He eats what his wife prepares: sometimes it is something healthy and other times something yummy. It was a joke, of course, because his wife cooks really well, but this sentence is now in our friendly canon of jokes. Inspired by our talk about groats, flakes and healthy food, I prepared a dessert which combines excellent taste and healthy ingredients. The original recipe comes from the Lidl cookery book. I would like to share with you my version of this dish. I recommend Crème brûlée with millet groats to everybody who counts calories. It is mild, not too sweet, wonderfully creamy inside and with an incredible crunchy crust on top. That's why we love crème brûlée, don't we? I prepared a cranberry-orange preserve to offset the sweetness of the dessert. The whole dessert looked beautiful and tasted perfect. Ingredients (for 4 people)crème brûlée 100g of dry millet groats 350ml of almond milk 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence 2-3 tablespoons of brown sugar (3 additional tablespoons for the sugar crust) juice and skin from one orange confiture: 150g of fresh cranberries juice and peel from one orange 4 tablespoons of brown sugar Put the millet groats in a sifter, clean them with cold water and then douse them with hot water. Put the groats, almond milk, sugar and vanilla essence into a saucepan with a heavy bottom. Boil it with the lid on without stirring for 15-18 minutes until the liquid has evaporated. Leave to cool down. Add the orange juice and peel, mix it in and blend until the mixture is perfectly smooth. Put the dessert into small bowls and leave in the fridge for one hour. Wash the cranberries. Add the orange juice and peel and the sugar and boil for 10-15 minutes. Try it and add some sugar if you think the dessert is too sour. Take out the bowls from the fridge. Sprinkle them with the sugar and burn it with a small kitchen burner to make a crunchy caramel crust. Decorate the dessert with a small teaspoon of the cranberry preserve. Serve the rest of the preserve separately in small dishes.

A SANDWICH TO GO Today I would like to share with you the recipe for a snack which you can grab and eat "on the go". I know that it is unhealthy. We should celebrate eating and eat calmly and with deliberation. However, sometimes the day is too short for everything on our schedule and we still have to eat. Admittedly, we can sin and go for some fast food, but it is healthier and tastier to prepare something quickly in our own kitchen. Today, Camembert cheese and cranberries in a fresh, crunchy roll take the lead role. It sounds easy and yummy, doesn't it? Try it and get on with your day . Today I used a homemade cranberry preserve which was left over from dessert, but if you like you can buy your own. Ingredients: 2 fresh rolls (your favourite ones) 150g of camembert cheese 1 handful of lettuce 2 teaspoons of butter 2 teaspoons of pine nuts or sunflower seedspreserve 100g of fresh cranberries 3 tablespoons of brown sugar 100ml of apple juice Wash the cranberries. Put the cranberries, sugar and apple juice into a pan with a heavy bottom and boil with the lid on for 10-12 minutes, stirring from time to time. Try it and if necessary add some sugar. Leave to cool down. Cut the rolls in half and spread with the butter. Put some lettuce on one half of the roll. Slice the camembert cheese and arrange it on the lettuce. Put a fair portion of the cranberry preserve on top of the cheese. Sprinkle with the roast pine nuts or sunflower seeds and cover with the second half of the roll. Enjoy your meal!

Even though I would like to change the situation, the winter is coming. Sooner or later there will be sharp winds, frost and unpleasant moisture. I don't know how you like to warm up at home, but on the first cold day I dust off my home recipe for hot and yummy winter teas. You can use my recipe or come up with your own proposals for fiery mixtures. Only one thing should be the same: your favourite tea must be strong and hot. Ingredients (for 2 teas)Raspberry-orange 8 cloves a piece of cinnamon 2 grains of cardamom 4 slices of orange 2 teaspoons of honey your favourite tea 50ml of raspberry juice or 30ml of raspberry juice and 30ml of raspberry liqueur Add 4 of the cloves, cinnamon and cardamom to some water and boil for a while to release their flavour and aroma. Remove the seasoning and brew the tea with this water. Crush two slices of orange with honey. Add the raspberry juice or a mixture of juice and liqueur to the tea. Next add the honey with orange. Mix it in. Decorate the tea with the rest of the cloves and orange. Lemon-ginger 8 cloves 3 slices of fresh ginger 2 grains of cardamom 50ml of ginger syrup or 30ml of ginger syrup and 30ml of ginger-lemon liqueur 4 slices of lemon 2 teaspoons of honey Add 4 of the cloves, ginger and cardamom to some water and boil for a while to release their flavour and aroma. Remove the seasoning and brew the tea with this water. Crush two slices of lemon with honey. Add the ginger syrup or mixture of syrup and liqueur to the tea. Next add honey with lemon. Mix it in. Decorate the tea with the rest of the cloves and lemon. Enjoy your drink!

Pumpkin pancakes with fig preserve, Once, when I planned pancakes for dinner, I always used to think about potato pancakes. I prepared them with onion and pepper and served them with sugar or cream. A few years ago, when I was carving a Jack O' Lantern, I made pumpkin pancakes for the first time. I prepared them like potato pancakes, but they were milder, and we liked them so much that we forgot about potato ones for a long time. Today I prepared these yummy and very simple pancakes. I used butternut squash, which is my new favourite food. You can prepare the fig preserve from fresh fruit. We brought some excellent fig preserve back from our summer holiday. It went very well with these summer pumpkin pancakes. For anyone who doesn't like fruit in their pancakes, I recommend maple syrup or natural yoghurt. Ingredients (for 20 pancakes) 600g of peeled pumpkin half an onion 5 tablespoons of flour 2 eggs salt and pepper oil for frying Peel the fresh pumpkin and grate it. Add salt and leave it in a bowl for an hour. Dice the onion. Drain the pumpkin, then mix in the eggs, flour and onion, and then spice it up with salt and pepper. Fry the pancakes on a low heat until golden. Serve with your favourite condiments.

Herrings in cream Herrings with potatoes is a very painful memory of the school canteen for many of us. Though we like herrings with onion, I rarely serve it for dinner. Today I decided to break this rule and prepared herrings for dinner. I served herrings and potatoes once again, but in a completely different way. I served baked jacket potatoes. The herrings were excellent with cream sauce and onion, apple and dill pickles. See for yourself if you like this way of preparing herrings. Ingredients (for 2 people) 6 potatoes 2 tablespoons of olive oil 200g of herrings in oil 200g of 18% cream 1 tablespoon of mayonnaise 1 tablespoon of mustard half an onion 1 apple 3 dill pickles 2 tablespoons of minced dill Heat the oven up to 180C. Boil the unpeeled potatoes in salty water until they are soft. Cut the potatoes into quarters, put them in a casserole dish, sprinkle them with olive oil and bake until they are golden. Dice the onion, apple, and dill pickles. Cut the herrings into smaller pieces. Arrange the baked potatoes with cream sauce on a plate along with the pieces of herrings. Decorate with sprigs of dill.

My Irish Coffee Today the children will have to forgive me, but adults also sometimes want a little pleasure. This is a recipe for people who don't have to drive a car or work, i.e. for lucky people or those who can rest at the weekend. Irish coffee is a drink made with strong coffee, Irish Whiskey, whipped cream and brown sugar. It is excellent on cold days. I recommend it after an autumn walk or when the lack of sun really gets you down. Basically, you can spike the coffee with any whiskey, but in my opinion Jameson Irish Whiskey is the best for this drink. If you don't like whiskey, instead you can prepare another kind of spiked coffee: French coffee with brandy, Spanish coffee with sherry, or Jamaican coffee with dark rum. Ingredients (for 2 drinks) 300ml of strong, hot coffee 40ml of Jameson Irish Whiskey 150ml of 30% sweet cream 4 teaspoons of coarse brown sugar 1 teaspoon of caster sugar 4 drops of vanilla essence Put two teaspoons of brown sugar into the bottom of two glasses. Brew some strong black coffee and pour it into the glasses. Warm the whiskey and add it to the coffee. Whisk the sweet cream with the caster sugar and vanilla essence. Put it gently on top so that it doesn't mix with the coffee. Enjoy your drink!

Pumpkin muffins with chocolate Today I would like to share with you the recipe for a dessert which was made with internet inspiration and the combination of two other recipes: carrot cake and pumpkin muffins with fruit stew. These muffins were an immediate hit at my Halloween party last year. I had to use baked and blended pumpkin for them. This time I used raw, grated pumpkin. I prepare carrot cake in exactly the same way. One of the ingredients in both desserts is cinnamon. It gives baked goods a slight taste of gingerbread. Thanks to the juicy vegetables, the muffins are moist and yummy even the next day. Ingredients (for 24 muffins) 210g of grated pumpkin 2 eggs 200g of flour 180ml of oil 180ml of milk 130g of brown sugar 1 teaspoon of baking powder 1 teaspoon of cinnamon 100g of chopped dark chocolate 150g of white chocolate Heat the oven up to 180C. Put some paper muffin moulds into the "dimples" of a baking pan for muffins. Mix together the dry ingredients of the muffins: flour, sugar, baking powder and cinnamon. Mix together the grated pumpkin, oil, milk and egg in a separate bowl. Add the egg mixture to the dry ingredients and mix them in. Put the dough into some paper muffin moulds. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Melt the white chocolate in a bain-marie. Decorate the muffins with the chocolate.

Today I would like to share with you the recipe for swift autumn cookies with French pastry and a sweet ginger-cinnamon-pear stuffing. Served with afternoon coffee they warm us up brilliantly and dispel the foul autumn weather. Ingredients (8 cookies) 1 pack of chilled French pastry 1 big pear 1 flat teaspoon of cinnamon 1 teaspoon of fresh grated ginger 2 tablespoons of brown sugar 1 teaspoon of vanilla sugar 2 tablespoons of milk Heat the oven up to 190C. Cover a baking sheet with some baking paper. Wash the pear, peel and cube it. Add the grated ginger, cinnamon, vanilla sugar and one tablespoon of the brown sugar. Mix them in. Cut 8 circles out of the French pastry. Cut half of every circle into parallel strips. Put the pear stuffing onto the other half of each circle. Roll up the cookies starting from the edges with the stuffing. Put them onto the baking paper and make them into cones. Smooth the top of the pastry with the milk and sprinkle with brown sugar. bake for 20-22 minutes. Enjoy your meal!

Note: this cake is somewhat on the sweet side, this is part of what makes a honey cake in my mind, but you may cut down on some of the plain sugar in the recipe. If your sour cream is higher in fat than specified, replace some butter with milk. 145 g flour 1/2 teaspoon baking powder (5 g) 3/8 teaspoon baking soda 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon 1/4 teaspoon dry ground ginger 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves (3-4 sticks) 1/8 teaspoon ground all spice (3-4 grains) 1/4 teaspoon salt It is best to use freshly ground spices. 200 g sour cream 15% fat 3/4 teaspoon instant coffee 1 large egg 110 g Honey 35 g dark brown sugar 80 g white sugar 40 g oil 20 g melted butter 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract Optional: a handful of raisins, soaked in water Optional: 15-17 g almonds sliced (not chopped) For syrup: 2 teaspoons honey 25 g warm water (5 teaspoons) preparation Preheat oven to 170 degrees C. Grease one english cake pan. In a bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, dry spices and salt. In a large separate bowl, put about a tablespoon of sour cream. Heat the cream in the bowl a little, put in the coffee and mix until it melts. Add the remaining cream and the egg. Add the honey and the two types of sugar, oil and vanilla extract. Add raisins if desired. Mix well. Sift the flour mixture into the bowl with the liquids. Using a spatula, mix lightly and fold the mixture at until you get a smooth, fairly liquid batter. Make sure to collect the flour from the bottom of the bowl. Pour the mixture into a pan. Sprinkle the almonds uniformly. Put in the oven and bake for 37-40 minutes, until the cake is high, dark brown, and an inserted toothpick existing crumbless. (the cake should Crack while raisin) Mix the hot water and the honey to form a syrup. Using a teaspoon, evenly and slowly pour the syrup over the cake while it is warm. Allow to cool completely and store in a tightly sealed container or wrapped in plastic wrap. Serve with tea

Sweet beginning of the autumn – pumpkin tart There are some products which are housewives' allies. In my opinion, courgette, French pastry, beetroots and cheese belong to this group. I always have them in my fridge, because they allow me to prepare any dish in a crisis situation. Today they were joined by the pumpkin. Usually, I use pumpkin to make crumpets, salads or soups. Today I would like to share with you the recipe for a sweet version of a dish with pumpkin. I made it by following Jamie Oliver's recipe. So, I invite you to a good, because it is sweet, beginning of the autumn, with the pumpkin – the queen of the autumn vegetables – in the lead role. This shortbread tart with a creamy pumpkin stuffing has a beautiful autumnal colour and a slight taste of caramel. It should really be a decoration for the Sunday table and is an interesting proposal for a Halloween party. Ingredients (25cm cake tin)dough 200g of flour 35g of caster sugar 100g of butter 1 egg 1 tablespoon of milkpumpkin stuffing 400g of peeled pumpkin 400ml of milk 150g of brown sugar 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence 2 eggs Mix together the flour and sugar. Cut up the butter add it to the mixture and mash it with a fork until you have the consistency of wet sand. Add the egg and milk and quickly knead into a smooth dough. Cover with a plastic wrap and leave in the fridge for half an hour. Smooth the cake tin with butter and sprinkle with breadcrumbs. Cover a cake tin with the dough, and leave in the fridge for half an hour. Cut up the pumpkin. Put the milk, sugar, vanilla essence and pumpkin into a pan. Boil until the pumpkin is soft. Blend it and leave to cool down. Heat the oven up to 180C. Cover the dough with some baking paper, weigh it down with ceramic balls and bake for 12 minutes. Remove the paper and balls and bake for another 12-15 minutes. Take out the cake from the oven. Turn down the heat to 160C. Add the eggs to the pumpkin and stir. Put the stuffing onto the cake. Bake for 40-45 minutes. Enjoy your meal!

Autumn penne with pumpkin Well, it's autumn. But for the fact that after the autumn comes winter, which I don't like, it could be quite pleasant. Chestnuts, acorns, colourful crackling leaves underfoot and fresh vegetables – that's what I like about autumn. No other season is as rich and colourful. Today I would like to share with you the recipe for a dish which suits the autumn atmosphere perfectly. It is colourful like an autumn landscape and one of the ingredients is the most autumnal vegetable - i.e. pumpkin. Ingredients (for 4 people) 250g of wholemeal penne 500g of pumpkin 200g of cherry tomatoes 200g of courgette 1 onion 3 cloves of garlic 4 sprigs of thyme 3 sprigs of rosemary 100ml of olive oil 4 tablespoons of Parmesan salt and pepper Heat the oven up to 180C. Peel the pumpkin and cube it. Slice the onion, garlic and courgette. Put all the vegetables with the thyme and rosemary into a casserole dish. Spice it up with pepper, sprinkle with olive oil and stir. Bake for 20 minutes until the pumpkin is soft. Spice it up with salt. Boil the pasta so it is al dente. Arrange the penne and vegetables on a plate. Sprinkle the dish with the Parmesan before serving. Enjoy your meal!

Easy snack – courgette in pancake batter Though you can buy courgettes all year round, dishes with them in are associated with autumn. Stuffed courgette with meat or vegetables, crumpets and tarts are on the table mainly in October. Today I would like to share with you a recipe for an extremely simple and quick snack. Courgette in pancake batter is excellent as a side dish or a light supper. I prepared a yoghurt garlic-dill sauce for it. I think it will also be great with spicy tomato salsa or simply with horseradish. Ingredients 500g of courgette 170ml of milk 50ml of oil 6 tablespoons of wholemeal flour 1 egg 3 tablespoons of Parmesan 1 tablespoon of minced thyme salt and peppersauce: 200g of natural yoghurt 2 tablespoons of minced dill 1 clove of garlic salt and pepper clarified butter Crush a clove of garlic. Mix the yoghurt with the garlic and dill and spice it up with salt and pepper. Leave it to one side. Pour the milk and oil onto a flat dish, add the egg and mix them together. Add the flour, thyme and Parmesan, spice it up with salt and pepper and stir. Leave the dough for 15 minutes. Slice the courgette into 1-cm slices. Dip the slices of courgette in the dough and fry in butter until they are golden. Take them out of the pan and drain on a kitchen towel. Enjoy your meal!

Chocolate cake with plums The first cake I ever dared to bake by myself was a chocolate cake. I have since baked it many times, always using the same recipe, and many times I have spoiled it at the beginning of preparation. It is necessary to cool down the chocolate mixture before adding the rest of the ingredients. On a hot summer day this process is very long, so I accelerated it by putting the pot with the mixture into some cold water in the kitchen sink. Many times, by mistake, I turned on the tap and poured water onto the cooling mixture. In hindsight these situations were amusing, but at the time it wasn't funny. This chocolate cake is excellent without any additives. You can enrich it with your favourite nuts or butter icing. Today I added some plums to the top of the cake. It was great and its sweet chocolate-plum aroma lingered long in my home. Ingredients (25cm cake tin): 200g of flour 150g of butter 3 tablespoons of cocoa 120g of brown sugar 15ml of almond milk 100g of dark chocolate 1 egg 1 teaspoon of baking powder plums Heat the oven up to 180C. Smooth the cake tin with the butter and sprinkle with dark cocoa. Put the butter, milk, sugar, cocoa and chocolate into the pan. Heat it until the chocolate is melted and all the ingredients have blended together well. Leave the mixture to cool down. Add the egg, flour and baking soda and mix them in. Put the dough into the cake tin. Wash the plums, cut them in half and remove the stones. Arrange the plum halves skin side down on top of the cake. Bake for 50 minutes. Sprinkle with caster sugar before serving. Enjoy your meal!

My yummy breakfast - reward for morning wake-up call I hate getting up in the morning. Every day, the morning alarm at 6 o'clock is difficult for me. My first thought after awakening every day is the same: "I'll go to bed earlier this evening". Usually, everything finishes with these wishes, because "early" in the evening doesn't exist. When I don't have to get up early, I wake up at 8 o'clock. Then, regardless of the weather outside, my day looks different. Today I decided to prepare a reward for myself. For these awful mornings. I prepared a breakfast which was so yummy only common sense stopped me from eating a second helping. Buckwheat flakes with almond milk, fruit and some drops of maple syrup. Ok, there were more than several drops of maple syrup, but it was a reward, wasn't it? Ingredients: 250ml of almond milk 5 tablespoons of buckwheat flakes a pinch of salt fruit (figs, grapes, banana, blueberries) nuts (cashews, almonds) 3 tablespoons of maple syrup Boil the milk. Add the buckwheat flakes, add a pinch of salt, mix it in and boil for 3-4 minutes, stirring from time to time. Put the boiled buckwheat flakes onto a plate. Decorate with fruit, nuts and sprinkle with maple syrup. Serve at once. Enjoy your meal!

Salad with figs and white beans. Today I would like to share with you my proposal for an unusual combination: salad with figs and white beans in a spicy parsley sauce. I recommend adding colourful cherry tomatoes to balance the floury taste of the beans and the gently sweet taste of the figs. They will be equally beautiful as a decoration on the dish. Ingredients (for 2 people): 200g of white beans 2 fresh figs 12 cherry tomatoes a fistful of blueberries dip: 3 tablespoons of olive oil 1 tablespoon of water half a chili pepper 2 tablespoons of minced parsley 1 clove of garlic salt and pepper Dice the onion and chili pepper. Add the olive oil, water, chili pepper, parsley and garlic and stir. Spice it up with salt and pepper and leave for a while. Soak the beans and leave them for a night. Boil until they are soft. Cut the cherry tomatoes in half and the figs into quarters. Mix the beans with half of the dip and leave for half an hour. Arrange the beans, tomatoes, blueberries and figs on a plate. Sprinkle with the rest of the dip. Enjoy your meal!

Pear soup with ginger and chili pepper Everyone can see what the weather is like outside. I think the summer has forgotten that it should go on until 21st September. For two weeks - almost without pause - it has been raining and windy, and the temperature doesn't really enthuse. Maybe it should be this way to help pupils at the beginning of the school year. It is difficult to learn when it is sunny outside and the bike and ball are more appealing than books. Today I would like to propose an almost-autumn fiery soup with white vegetables and pears. The chili pepper and ginger give the soup an interesting flavour and warm us up on rainy afternoons. Ingredients (for 3 people) ¼ small celery root 10 cm piece of leek (white part) 2 parsley roots 2 cm piece of ginger 2 big pears 2 tablespoons of butter 1 onion 2 cloves of garlic vegetable stock salt and pepper half a chili pepper 1 tablespoon of nigella Dice the onion, Garlic and ginger and fry in the butter. Add the cubed celery, leek and parsley root and fry for a while. Don't brown the vegetables. Peel the pears and cube them. Add to the vegetables. Add the vegetable stock and boil until the vegetables are soft. Blend the soup. If necessary, add more vegetable stock to make the right consistency. Sprinkle with the nigella and finely chopped chili pepper. Enjoy your meal!

Wholemeal chocolate muffins with raspberries The first week of the school year is over. After two months in which the children did nothing, it was the most difficult time of the year. In a while, when the children get used to schoolwork, it should be easier. In order to sweeten this difficult time, today I prepared some very chocolaty wholemeal muffins. They were dark, with a thick, glossy frosting, and the juicy raspberries looked fabulous, smelled irresistible and tasted even better. They were the best fresh – still hot with melted chocolate inside. In any case, you should try them for yourselves. Ingredients (10 muffins)dough 150g of wholemeal flour 3 tablespoons of cocoa 3 tablespoons of oil 130g of brown sugar 140ml of milk 1 egg 1 teaspoon of baking powder 10 pieces of dark chocolatefrosting 50ml of milk 50g of butter 100g of dark chocolate raspberries Heat the oven up to 180C. Put some paper muffin moulds into the "dimples" of a baking pan for muffins. Mix together the dry ingredients of the muffins: flour, sugar, baking powder and cocoa. Mix together the milk, oil and egg in a separate bowl. Add the egg mixture to the dry ingredients and mix them in. Put the dough into some paper muffin moulds up to 1/2 of their height, and put one piece of dark chocolate onto each one. Add some dough on top. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Now for the chocolate frosting. Heat the milk and butter. Add the crushed dark chocolate. Stir until the chocolate is melted. Decorate the muffins with the frosting and the raspberries. Enjoy your meal!

Chanterelle soup with millet groats. In my family home mushroom soups were always served with noodles or potatoes. One day I forgot about proper shopping and experimentally I made mushroom soup with barley groats. My children looked at it slightly suspiciously, but the soup was surprisingly tasty. This time with premeditation I added millet groats to excellent seasonal chanterelle soup . If I have to choose which is better for me: with potatoes, noodles or groats I couldn't decide. They are all great. Ingredients (4 people): 500g of chanterelles 3 carrots 2 parsley roots ¼ of a small celery root 1 onion 2 cloves of garlic 2 tablespoons of butter 100g of millet groats 3 sprigs of thyme 2 bay leaves 1l vegetable stock 2 tablespoons of cream salt and pepper Boil the millet groats in salty water. Clean the chanterelles and cut the bigger ones in half. Dice the onion and garlic. Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a pan and fry the onion and garlic. Add the chanterelles and fry for a while, stirring from time to time. Peel the carrots and parsley roots and slice them. Peel the celery root and cube it. Put the vegetables into a saucepan, add the bay leaves, pour in the vegetable stock and boil for 15 minutes. Add the onion, garlic, chanterelles and thyme. Boil for 15 minutes. Add the boiled milled groats and spice it up with salt and pepper. Add cream to the soup before serving. Enjoy your meal!

Fruit salad with salmon and mozzarella cheese I think that sometimes everybody is hungry but doesn't know what to eat. We open the fridge and although there is everything inside, we are not in the mood for anything in particular. Salads save the day. You only have to think for a while and with the main ingredients you can prepare a yummy dish. Add egg, beans, chickpeas, or any meat to the salad and you have a rich and equally light and beautiful dish. Sometimes a combination of ingredients which seemingly don't go together make a yummy and surprising effect. Today I would like to share with you the recipe for a salad with this kind of unusual combination: fruit, pepper, smoked salmon, mozzarella cheese and a spicy sweet-and-sour dip. In my opinion, it tastes heavenly, and you will have to admit it looks beautiful. Ingredients (for 2 people): salad: 1 yellow pepper 5 strawberries 2 peaches 200g of mozzarella cheese 200g of smoked salmon peppermint and basil leaves dip: 2 tablespoons of olive oil 1 teaspoon of honey 2 tablespoons of lemon juice chili pepper salt and pepper First make the dip. Dice the chili pepper, and mix in the olive oil, lemon juice and honey. Add the chili pepper and spice it up with the salt and pepper. Mix it in again and leave for a while. Cut all the ingredients of the salad into smaller pieces. Arrange them in a bowl, sprinkle with the dip and decorate with the peppermint and basil leaves. Enjoy your meal!

In search of the ideal breakfast – buckwheat pudding with almonds and banana As the Chinese proverb goes: "Eat breakfast alone, share lunch with your friends and give dinner to your enemy". There is something to it, because according to dietitians, it is the most important meal of the day, because it should supply you with energy after the night's rest. Apart from weekends and holidays we rarely have enough time to prepare and eat breakfast. I am searching for the kind of breakfast which will supply a lot of nutrients and let us start our day pleasantly. Today for the first time I used buckwheat groats for preparing breakfast. I know that not everyone likes them because of their heavy "smoky" taste and smell. For breakfast I recommend using unroasted buckwheat groats. They are light and in my opinion have a slightly nutty taste, and if we only scour and soak them, the groats don't lose their fibre and valuable vitamins. I found the recipe for this breakfast in the book "Zielone koktajle. 365 przepisów" ("Green cocktails. 365 recipes"). Ingredients: 60g of unroasted buckwheat groats 1 banana 3 dates 150ml of almond milk half a teaspoon of cinnamon fruit and almonds for decoration Scour the unroasted buckwheat groats and soak them the day before. Drain them and blend with the banana, dates and almond milk. Decorate with fruit and almonds before serving. Enjoy your meal!

Plum tart with almonds Starting from the first half of August, in the shops and on stands appear the first domestic plums. In September there are so many of them that I have a problem deciding which kind I should choose. Small and big, round and more ovate, violet, red and yellow. You can eat them fresh or make a lot of preserves (jams, plum stew, stewed fruits, pickles, liqueurs, plum brandy). Our favorite are big and round greengage plums, or slightly firm violet plums. Plums have a lot of valuable attributes. They regulate digestion and protect us from free radicals. Dried plums are more valuable regarding vitamin and fiber content, but they have five times more calories than fresh fruits. Plums have quite a lot B vitamins, so for a long time they have been well regarded for having a soothing effect on the nervous system and improving our frame of mind. That's why you simply have to make a plum cake. Either now or when the dreary autumn days arrive. Their benign impact on the nerves could be a good excuse for putting another piece of cake on your plate. I don't like complicated cookery. In this recipe you will find a lot of ingredients, but even so, preparing this delicious cake is very simple. Ingredients: Dough: 250g of flour half a teaspoon of baking powder 8g of vanilla sugar 3 tablespoons of sugar 150ml of 18% cream 150g of butter Filling: 600g of plums 1 egg white 3 tablespoons of minced almonds 2 tablespoons of brown sugar 200g of plum stew 1 teaspoon of cinnamon Crumble topping: 50g of butter 3-4 tablespoons of flour 3 tablespoons of brown sugar 8g of vanilla sugar 1 egg yolk Mix together the dry ingredients for the dough: flour, baking powder, sugar and vanilla sugar. Add cream. Mince the butter and add it to the dry ingredients. Quickly knead into smooth dough. Cover with plastic wrap and leave in the fridge for half an hour. Heat the oven up to 200C. Cover a baking pan (e.g. for a tart) with the dough, leaving the edges slightly raised around the sides. Whisk the egg white and cover the dough with it. Sprinkle with the almonds and brown sugar. Bake for 14 minutes. Take it out of the oven. Don't turn off the oven. Make the crumble topping when the dough is in the oven. Melt the butter, cool it a bit then add the flour, sugar, vanilla sugar and egg yolk. Mix it with a fork until you have lumps. Clean the plums, cut them into halves and remove the stones. Cover the baked base with plum stew, add the plums and sprinkle with cinnamon and the crumble topping. Bake for 20 minutes.