When we don't have spare time but we are hungry, I recommend salads. They are universal. You may prepare a salad with meat, a vegetarian salad, a salad only with vegetables or fruit, add groats, noodles or cheese. There's something good for everyone.

Today I would like to share with you the recipe for a salad with fruit, pearl barley, chili pepper and feta cheese. Such a salad is equally satisfying and light, and we like it even on a busy day.

Ingredients (for 2 people)
100g of pearl barley
100g of feta cheese
a fistful of raspberries, a fistful of blueberries, a fistful of blackberries, a fistful of wild strawberries
2 tablespoons of lemon juice
chili pepper
2 tablespoons of maple syrup
3 tablespoons of olive oil
1 small clove of garlic

I don't know whether labneh is really cheese or rather natural Greek yoghurt drained from whey, but that isn't important. What's important is that it is yummy and smooth, and every time you make it, you can use any ingredients you like to make a different version of the meal. Absolutely everybody can make labneh. You don't need any culinary abilities. You only have to drain some whey and wait for two days. Then you only need fresh bread and you can enjoy a yummy breakfast.

This time I prepared labneh with dried tomatoes and wild garlic. You can add the ingredients you like or ... add nothing and after two days make an excellent cheesecake with your labneh. It is so delectably smooth and creamy. Cheesecake with labneh is wonderful.
I made the 200g labneh with 400g of Greek yoghurt.

Ingredients:
400g of Greek yoghurt
half a teaspoon of salt
4-5 dried tomatoes
1 tablespoon of wild garlic

I think the winter is coming. Today I prepared chocolate cake, which I usually make when it is drab outside. My children like it. Sometimes I think that I could make chocolate cake or chocolate muffins every week and they would never get fed up. I guess I won't be trying this. I don't want to starve myself of apple pie or cake with plums. After all, I don't only prepare desserts for my children.

Ingredients (20 cm cake tin)
100g of chocolate
100g of butter
2 tablespoons of cocoa
50ml of water
125g of sugar
130g of flour
3 tablespoons of ground almonds
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1 banana
2 tablespoons of natural yoghurt
chocolate icing
almond flakes

I like to watch Jamie Oliver's programme. His yummy dishes make me want to cook them in my kitchen. Oliver uses basic ingredients and he cooks in such a way that everything seems to be easy. I found the idea for preparing this dish in Oliver's "5 ingredients" programme. I used the idea and basic ingredients. I added my own spices.

I used Bursztyn cheese to spice up the dish with smoked salmon and asparagus spears. This cheese is our latest culinary discovery. Ripened for 6 months, it has a delicate flavour, quite intense fragrance and is excellent for pasta sauces.

Ingredients (for 2 people)
150g of tagliatelle
150g of smoked salmon
1 bunch of green asparagus spears
2 cloves of garlic
a piece of chili pepper
4 tablespoons of grated Bursztyn cheese
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 tablespoon of lemon peel
2-3 tablespoons of lemon juice
salt, lemon pepper

In the traditional Polish home we usually have broth for Sunday dinner. The housewife also traditionally makes tomato soup with the leftover broth on Monday. My home is sometimes more, sometimes less traditional. I make broth very often because I like it very much, and tomato soup is my children's favourite. Today I decided to break with tradition and instead of tomato soup I prepared mushroom soup. I served it with meatballs with the meat cooked in the broth. Did I mention that I like broth? You get soup and a main dish at one and the same time  The mushroom soup was creamy and slightly similar to meatballs. I added barley groats instead of breadcrumbs. This meal was really excellent. I recommend it!

Ingredients:
soup
1.5l of broth
500g of mushroom
1 onion
1 tablespoon of butter
1 clove of garlic
1 tin of coconut milk
salt and pepper
meatballs
300g of meat boiled in the broth
1 carrot
100g of barley groats
3 tablespoons of semolina
1 small onion
1 tablespoon of butter