The asparagus season is remarkably short. You may buy the most beautiful and fresh asparagus at the turn of May and June, but the first ones have already appeared in markets towards the end of April. Asparaguses are healthy, low calorie and essentially very tasty. They are a rich source of vitamins B and K, ascorbic acid, mineral salts, iron, potassium, phosphorus, beta carotene and folic acid. They improve the concentration and memory, purify the body and have a positive effect on the liver and kidneys.

I like green asparagus best, but I know that white ones have their admirers. They are an excellent ingredient of salads and soups and you can eat young and thin asparagus raw. Today, I have a proposal for a combination of green asparagus with typically spring vegetables: cucumbers and radishes. This salad served with a light yoghurt dip could be a low-calorie supper or snack food on a summer day.

Ingredients (for two people):
2 fistfuls of lettuce
2 small cucumbers
4 radishes
10 green asparagus
3 eggs
a fistful of minced chives
1 teaspoon of sugar
1 teaspoon of salt

I like fish, kasha and vegetables prepared in different ways. The only meatless product which is not my cup of tea is tofu. But maybe one day an interesting dish will change my mind. I can't quite reject meat. Sometimes it "follows me around" and lures me. Today's stew with a load of vegetables captivates me with its aroma.

The recipe comes from the TV programme "Three ways to prepare Polish pork" by Karol Okrasa. In all the ingredients there is ajvar, which is a slightly seasoned vegetable paste from Serbia, made with pepper, aubergines, tomatoes, garlic, vinegar and flavouring. If you don't like it, you may add tinned tomatoes and peppers fried in butter and. It is equally tasty but slightly less peppery.

Ingredients:
600g of pork shoulder
100g of smoked bacon
red pepper
2 gherkins
1 onion
4 cloves of garlic
150g of ajvar

If one day I manage to prepare a new dish that isn't spaghetti, borscht with ravioli or crepes and it disappears from the plates in a nice atmosphere, I will engrave a gold plate and hang it in the kitchen. It will motivate me to cook more. The way my kids push food around the plate with sour faces exasperates me, because right now they don't like tomatoes, courgettes or cucumbers. My frustration reached its zenith when my son was given a homemade cookie. It emerged that he doesn't like ... chocolate mixture. Fortunately, it is just him.

Today I would like to share with you a recipe for homemade candy bars. If you follow this recipe, the bars are quite thick. If you would like them to be a bit slimmer, spread the chocolate mixture on two wafers.

The recipe comes from www.przepisy.pl.

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons of cocoa
200g of butter
100 ml of water
125g of white sugar
125g of brown sugar
400g of milk powder

When we have ingredients in the fridge that seemingly clash with each other, it is worth giving them a chance sometimes. Extraordinary combinations sometimes lead to surprising results. So it was this time. Until recently, beetroots and herring were for me products which did not belong together on one plate.

An excess of baked beetroots and inspiration from http://www.kobieta.pl/gotowanie produced a very tasty supper. Salad with beetroots, herring, red beans and gherkins can be combined at once, but it looks slicker served in layers in a glass.

Ingredients (for two people):
Red layer
3 beetroots
half of a tin of red beans
¼ of a red onion
a half of a big apple
salt and pepper

Strawberries are a sign of summer for me. Every year I await the sweet and excellent smelling fruit along with the holiday season. Indeed, fresh strawberries are irreplaceable, but this year temptation beat me and I bought some frozen fruits. I made an eye-catching but simple dessert from strawberries and natural yoghurt. Robust red strawberry mousse looks beautiful, but you may set this off with other fruits: kiwi or oranges, and in the summer any fresh fruit. For those of you who believe that desserts should always contain chocolate, I propose that you add this homemade chocolate decoration.
The recipe comes from Lidl cookery book.

Ingredients:
Yoghurt layer
200g of natural yoghurt
1 big teaspoon of gelatine
2 teaspoons of caster sugar
100ml of milk

Soak the gelatine in 50 ml of the milk and leave for a while. Heat the milk a bit in a microwave oven and mix until the gelatine is dissolved. Add the rest of the milk and mix it in. Mix the yoghurt with caster sugar, add the milk and mix again. Put the yoghurt layer into some cups and leave in the fridge for 2 hours.