Sometimes my children ask me for budino for afternoon tea. They like chocolate budino with chocolate glaze. I prefer vanilla with raspberry sauce. Today I also prepared budino, but this time it was a base for a layered dessert with fruit and nuts. That way the budino changed from a pre-school snack into quite a smart dessert. I mixed the sweet chocolate layer with light chia budino, pomegranate and salty, crunchy pistachios. A surprising combination? Maybe, but it was excellent.

Ingredients (for 4 people)
500ml of milk
2 tablespoons of sugar
1 teaspoon of butter
1.5 tablespoons of potato flour
1.5 tablespoons of wheat flour
1 teaspoon of vanilla essence
2 teaspoons of chia seeds
100g of dark chocolate
pomegranate
chopped pistachios (leave a few nice ones for decoration)

Quinoa is slightly sweet and nutty, so you may use it to prepare main courses and desserts. You may replace rice, groats, potatoes or pasta with it. It can be an excellent healthy ingredient of soups, stews or salads.

The spring is a great reason to change your eating habits, so I would like to share with you the recipe for a salad which you can have for lunch or a light dinner. If you serve it in bowls with avocado, it will look interesting. If you put it in a jar, you have lunch for work or a snack for a trip. I recommend it.

Ingredients:
100g of quinoa
2 avocados
red pepper
cucumber
a handful of chives
half a chili pepper
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 tablespoon of lemon juice
salt and pepper
almonds
2 eggs
parsley

This year during the winter holiday my son brought back a taste for Kaiserschmarrn. For me it is a simple, yummy omelette: sweet and fluffy with fruit and thick syrup. However, I read that it isn't an omelette but a traditional Austrian pancake cut into small pieces with a fork. The recipe comes from the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. According to the anecdote it was first prepared for the empress Elizabeth Bavarian and she didn't like this dish. It appealed to the emperor Francis Joseph, who ate not only his own dish but also his wife's portion.

Ingredients (for 2 people):
2 eggs
3 tablespoons of sugar
125ml of milk
100g of flour
2 tablespoons of butter
a pinch of salt
decoration:
2 tablespoons of dried cranberries
2 tablespoons of pomegranate pieces
4 tablespoons of sweet syrup (chocolate, honey or maple syrup)
nuts

Quinoa, aka Peruvian rice, is a rich source of balanced protein, healthy fatty acids and many vitamins and minerals. In South America it is called the "holy grain of Inca" or "golden seeds of Inca". Quinoa contains saponins, thanks to which it is anti-allergy, anti-inflammatory, antimycotic and antiviral. Quinoa protein contains all essential amino acids, which our body can't make and we have to get from food. Typical grains are a poor source of them. Additionally, the protein content is high. Therefore, quinoa is an alternative to animal proteins and should be in your diet if you are vegetarian. (source of information http://www.poradnikzdrowie.pl).

Today I would like to share with you the recipe for a healthy breakfast with quinoa. It is a swift dish, so you can make it even on a busy weekday morning. You only need to cook the quinoa the evening before.

Ingredients
100g of quinoa
1 banana
150ml of vegetarian milk
2 tablespoons of maple syrup
100g of blueberries
a handful of almond flakes

There are some kinds of soup which everybody knows. One of them is definitely tomato soup. Served as a cream soup or with noodles or rice, it is a traditional soup which parents order for their children in many corners of the world. In my home I usually serve it with rice or egg-batter noodles. I sometimes prepare cream tomato soup with feta cheese for myself.

The new Lidl cookery book inspired me to prepare a new tomato soup with chickpeas and pineapple. I got the idea from the book, but I prepared the soup in my own way. You may use the original recipe or mine. Choose your favourite.

Ingredients
1 tin of tomatoes
1 tin of chickpeas
half a pineapple
1 stick of celery
half an onion
2 cloves of garlic
half a chili pepper
500ml of vegetable stock
1 teaspoon of sweet paprika
1 tablespoon of butter
1 tablespoon of honey
2 tablespoons of lemon juice
salt and pepper
a fistful of cashew nuts