I know that children treat many dishes differently. My friend's children love stew mostly for the sauce. When they eat this dish they want more and more sauce. So their meal looks like a rich soup rather than a main course. My children don't like any sauce. If I serve stew or meat balls, they have as much sauce as necessary and not a drop more.

Fortunately, the dish which I prepared today was eaten without fuss, and my son couldn't believe that there wasn't any meat. In fact, the rich and fragrant stew with oyster mushrooms looks like a pork stew. You can eat it as a stand-alone dish or with groats or pasta. It is always excellent.

Ingredients:
500g of oyster mushrooms
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic
chili pepper
yellow pepper
red pepper
a few big capers
0.5l of vegetable bouillon
2 tablespoons of tomato concentrate
100g of sweet corn
100g of red beans
1 tablespoon of butter
1 teaspoon of sweet smoked paprika
half a teaspoon of cumin
chopped chives
salt and pepper

I love strawberries. It is definitely my favourite fruit. Making use of these last days of the strawberry season, I prepared some chocolate pancakes. I am waiting for the second half of August when on the market stalls we will see small, but very sweet, very ripe Senga and Florence strawberries. And later we will again have to wait for June, so we can buy and eat, and buy and eat and it will never be enough 

Ingredients:
350ml of natural yoghurt
6 tablespoons of flour
2 tablespoons of potato flour
1 teaspoon of vanilla essence
2 teaspoons of cocoa
half a teaspoon of baking powder
3 teaspoons of caster sugar
a couple of strawberries
a couple of pieces of white chocolate
oil for frying

For some years during the summer season I have had a herbarium on my balcony. I am eagerly waiting for 15th of May when the cold will be gone and I can buy some small herb saplings. A few weeks later I will have pretty big bushes of my favourite herbs in the planter. Every year I buy a few types of basil, thyme, mint, rosemary and parsley. Every year I add something new to this set, such as oregano, bay leaves or red sorrel. Thanks to that I will have fresh, fragrant, propinquitous herbs till autumn.

Today I decided to make use of this treasure and prepared a herb salad with fruit and feta cheese. Believe me, there is nothing better on a hot summer day than having a refreshing, colourful salad. Delicious!

Ingredients:
a few lettuce leaves
many herbs (peppermint, basil, parsley, melissa, red dock)
1 mango
a couple of strawberries
150g of feta cheese
almond flakes
sauce
1 tablespoon of lemon juice
1 teaspoon of mustard
1 tablespoon of maple syrup
2 tablespoons of olive oil

Pęchotto and cashotto (dishes like risotto but you need groats instead of rice) and risotto are my favourite dishes. In my kitchen, pasta with various added ingredients still holds the field, but dishes with kasha are a really serious opponent. Luckily, I don't have to convince anybody in my family to eat it. Even my children eat kasha willingly, but if I ask what kind of kasha I should choose, they usually pick bulgur.

Today I prepared a one-course lunch, thick, full-bodied with a lot of colourful additions. Mexican pęchotto with minced meat is as tasty as it is easy to make. You have to try it.

Ingredients:
100g of pearl barley
500g of minced meat
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic
2 tablespoons of butter
500ml of bouillon
half a glass of dry white wine
100g of sweetcorn
100g of red beans
1 sweet pepper
1 chili pepper
200ml of tomato passata
3 tablespoons of chopped chives
1 teaspoon of oregano
1 teaspoon of sweet paprika
salt and pepper