I don't know who came up with the idea that Fat Thursday should be celebrated on Thursday. If for example it were on Saturday, we could prepare something in the kitchen and share the sweet goodies with the family. Unfortunately, this year Fat Thursday will again be on Thursday .

Though I have my favourite cake shop, where every year I buy jam doughnuts with a huuuuuge amount of candied peel, this year I'm going to prepare some swift cheese doughnuts. They are best just after frying, crunchy outside and soft inside, quickly sprinkled with lemon icing or caster sugar. I recommend them not only on Fat Thursday. They are excellent for afternoon tea at the weekend.

Ingredients (15 mini doughnuts)
300g of flour
350g of minced cottage cheese
3 tablespoons of caster sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla essence
1 teaspoon of baking powder
a pinch of salt
oil for frying
caster sugar icing for decoration

Do you remember the cartoon "Pooh's Heffalump Movie"? I and my children (in this order) like it very much. To this day, when I'm having an off day, I turn this movie on to lift my mood.

Today, I and my daughter prepared some yummy, crunchy oat-caramel cookies with chocolate. They were excellent with a cup of hot milk, so we both thought that they should be called "Rumpledoodles", which was the name of the cookies which the Heffalump's mum gave her son. Make "Rumpledoodles" with a loved one in your home. A warm, sweet, family atmosphere is guaranteed.

The original recipe comes from www.brunetkawkuchni.com.

Ingredients (45 cookies):
175g of butter
220g of rolled oats
150g of brown sugar
75g of fudge
1 egg
110g of flour
1 teaspoon of baking powder
Half a teaspoon of vanilla essence
a pinch of salt
100g of dark chocolate

I like vegetarian dishes. When I cook for myself I often prepare dishes without any meat. I think that I could never completely give up meat dishes, because sometimes I want to eat something filling. So when I found a recipe for cutlets from red beans at www.wegeperia.pl I decided to make them. My daughter helped me to cook, mumbling that I had again dreamt up something strange for dinner.

Cutlets from red beans were so yummy that now they are on our menu. I served them with our favourite tomato-pepper salsa, which is a foil to this kind of dish.

Ingredients:
cutlets
2 tins of red beans
1 small red onion
5 tablespoons of rolled oats
2 tablespoons of ketchup
1 tablespoon of mustard
1 clove of garlic
4 tablespoons of minced parsley
half a teaspoon of sweet pepper powder
salt and pepper
4 fistfuls of corn flakes
3 tablespoons of sesame seeds

Since we became parents, all our holidays have been family oriented with plenty of attractions for the children. We left our daughter with her grandparents only once, and we played hooky. It was so special that despite it being a few years ago, we still remember our trip to Denmark.

One of the most enjoyable memories is of a short boat ride along the coast of Zeladia at the base of the Møns Klint white cliffs. They are an amazing and very picturesque attraction in the usually flat Denmark. The Møns Klintare cliffs are 130m above sea level and are the highest cliffs by the Baltic Sea. The whole area of around 7 km of cliffs was changed into a landscape park with paths, overlooks and stairs with 1000 steps which lead to the beach at the base of the white cretaceous rock.

We remember the trip to Møn Island for another reason. We found there a restaurant where every dish is prepared with herrings. Herrings with onion, tomatoes, in oil, pickled, fried, smoked, in salads – everything yummy and fragrant. We went away disappointed that we couldn't eat more, because we didn't try even half of the prepared dishes.

My daughter loves meals with herrings. Her favourite dish is traditional herrings with onion in oil. Today I prepared an early supper which was a combination of her wish and my need to experiment. Slightly seasoned herring sandwich with crunchy vegetables in a fresh roll will be a tasty treat for every fan of herrings.

Ingredients (for 2 people)
2 fresh ciabattas
200g of herring pieces
half a white onion
peel from half a lemon
half a chili pepper
2 tablespoons of minced parsley

Before Christmas I definitely maxed out on the amount of gingerbread cookies. They were excellent – both the colourful ones with chocolate and the fluffy ones with lemon icing. Unfortunately, their amount exceeded the capability even of my children. The fluffy gingerbread cookies were a bit stale and not so appetizing. It was a pity to throw them away and pointless to force ourselves to eat them.

A few days after Christmas I prepared a dessert with chia seeds and crushed gingerbread cookies. I put some small, juicy pieces of pomegranate on top of the fabulous dessert. It was yummy and colourful, and I didn't throw anything away.

Ingredients (for 4 people)
4 tablespoons of chia seeds
400ml of coconut milk
100ml of almond milk
3 tablespoons of light honey
half a teaspoon of vanilla essence
200g of gingerbread cookies with icing
1 pomegranate