The spring and summer is coming for sure. It is time to leave heavy meals in favour of light salads, fruit and vegetables and get back into physical activity. Otherwise, we again will have to say that our clothes shrank when we washed them .

Today I would like to share with you a light green salad. Maybe it will help you to feel in the mood for spring and will inspire you to be active. The combination of feta cheese and eggs might seem a bit extravagant, but it is surprisingly tasty. The balls of melon are refreshing, soft and look beautiful. If you don't like the sweet, fruity taste of melon you may replace it with fragrant, fresh, green cucumber.

Ingredients (for two people):
4 fistfuls of mixed lettuce
2 fistfuls of rocket
a half of a melon
3 eggs
150g of feta cheese
a fistful of minced chives

Everybody has their favourite cakes which they can't resist. My son is a lover of donuts with icing and orange peel. My daughter goes for caramel-chocolate flavours, so I buy butterscotch cupcakes for her at the bakery.

Today's dinner was topped off with a simple and beautiful dessert: mini cupcakes with light whipped cream and decorated with juicy bits of fruit. They are so easy that everyone can manage them, and the effect ... try for yourself. Our mini cupcakes disappeared before the tea was finished. I think our table will host them again soon. The good thing about them is that they can look different every time you make them. You just have to change the fruity decoration.

Ingredients for 12 cupcakes:
Dough:
200g of butter
300g of flour
100g of sugar
1 tablespoon of cream
1 egg

Sometimes I'm hungry and it is the kind of hunger that I can't cheat even with a very tasty salad. I need something solid. Today I would like to share with you a recipe for a less healthy dish. Tart with smoked bacon, leeks and Parmesan isn't light, but it is extremely yummy. You can make it with shortcrust pastry, but in my opinion it will be better with French pastry.

This dish has only one fault. You think that you can eat another small piece, and another one, and another, and then – just a little bit more. I know from experience that it isn't a good idea. So I advise making do with one helping and leaving a bit more for the rest of the family.

Ingredients:
1 pack of chilled French pastry
300g of smoked bacon
1 big leek (only the white part)
150ml of 30% sweet cream
3 eggs
100g of grated Parmesan
3 tablespoons of oil
1 tablespoon of butter
a bunch of dill
pepper

Encouraged by an excellent steak tartare with smoked salmon, I decided to prepare a similar dish with herrings. I found the recipe in Lidl's "fishy" cookery book. This dish is rather a little snack or starter before the main course and is extra dry despite the added honey. It is piquant, a bit sour and salty – in a word: expressive. In my opinion this dish is perfect for a party in the company of men, and it is good with heavily chilled vodka. But our ancestors already knew that the fish likes to swim, didn't they? In the original recipes steak tartare was served with thick cream. I didn't like it, but you should try it and decide for yourselves.

Ingredients (for 4 people):
500g of herring pieces
juice and lime peel
1 spring onion
3 dill pickles
1 chili pepper
1 bunch of dill
3 tablespoons of French mustard
1 tablespoon of honey
20ml of olive oil
salt and pepper
4 tablespoons of cream

When before Easter I planned what to cook, I realised that the holidays should last at least a week. I couldn't do everything and we would not be able to eat it all. I don't even like to think about wasting food. Therefore, some of my ideas would have to wait their turn.

One such idea was light lemon cookies with a hint of coconut for the spring. I found the recipe on www.candycompany.pl. The cookies are bright, crispy on top and fluffy inside. Apparently, you can store them in a hermetically sealed box, but we didn't have time to check this, because the cookies disappeared too fast.

Ingredients:
130g of flour
1 teaspoon of baking powder
90g of butter
a pinch of salt
100g of sugar
lemon peel grated from one lemon
1 egg
1 teaspoon of lemon essence
1 teaspoon of lemon juice