Last year during the summer I very often served cold soups: traditional cold soup with beautiful colours, cucumber-peppermint cold soup and my favourite cold soup with radishes and a hint of thyme. This year we gambled on tomatoes and pepper, i.e. gazpacho. This refreshing soup comes from Andalucia. It should be prepared with the ripest tomatoes, red pepper, fresh cucumber, garlic and white bread. Depending on the province of Spain, this soup is served with diced eggs, ham, olives or nuts. In eastern Andalucia it is served also ajo blanco – gazpacho with almonds, garlic, olive oil and bread but without tomatoes and pepper. I have eaten gazpacho sprinkled with olive oil and with croutons. It was great, but I prefer olive oil and bread mixed in the soup. Prepare gazpacho the way you like it.

Ingredients (for 2 people)
3 big tomatoes
1 big pepper + half a pepper for decoration
2 fresh cucumber + one cucumber for decoration
half a chili pepper
half a small onion
1 clove of garlic
half a roll
1 tablespoon of cider vinegar
1 teaspoon of sugar
100ml of olive oil
salt and pepper
nigella and basil

When I think about fast dinner, pork chops and spaghetti always spring to mind. Though some people might disagree, it is difficult to eat this dish for every meal. Sometimes I need to serve something else. Incessantly, I look for swift and yummy dishes. One such meal is chicken with a hint of rosemary and colourful pearl barley. Serve it with your favourite salad or cooked vegetables. You can be sure that your family will be glad, and you can use your free time how you want.

Ingredients (for 4 people)
chicken
8 chicken thighs
8 slices of smoked bacon
4 cloves of garlic (2 unpeeled, 2 peeled and sliced)
3 big and 8 small sprigs of rosemary
1 teaspoon of paprika
2 tablespoons of olive oil
2 tablespoons of butter
salt and pepper
colourful pearl barley
100g of pearl barley
a bunch of chard
4-5 dried tomatoes
half a red pepper
1 tablespoon of butter

Did you like playing with play-doh as a child? Today while preparing small balls with chickpeas I remembered this pastime. I liked to make small animals and stick figures the most. Then when I bought some modelling clay, I hardened them in the oven and gave them to anybody who was interested in them. I think that my grandma had the biggest collection.

Today I played like a child with a very nice and smooth chickpea mixture. The small balls are not too sweet, slightly chocolatey and healthy, so everybody can eat them. I like healthy sweets which I can eat without any remorse.

The recipe comes from the book „Jeść zdrowiej" (Eat more healthy).

Ingredients:
200g of tinned chickpeas
2 tablespoons of cocoa
5-6 tablespoons of maple syrup
60g of coconut oil
for decoration: cocoa, finely chopped nuts

When I put this extremely simply dessert on the table, my children said that it looks and tastes like the Easter cake which my sister makes. There is something in this because there is tahini in both of them. My dessert has traces of sesame, is not too sweet and looks beautiful. It doesn't need a lot of preparation, so it is excellent for Sunday afternoon. Lunch with dessert doesn't have to mean that a housewife works all day in the kitchen and after that she is so tired that she can't pick up a cup of coffee. If you serve the cake hot, add your favourite ice cream just after baking. Everybody will be delighted.

Ingredients
1 pack of chilled French pastry
50g of tahini
50g of white chocolate
3 sponge biscuits
seasonal fruit
2 tablespoons of milk
caster sugar

Salvia has many uses both in the pharmacy industry and in the kitchen. Salvia takes care of the skin, mitigates symptoms of the menopause, cures indigestion and fights infection. In the kitchen it is used as a seasoning for meat and for tomato and potato dishes. We like potato dumplings with salvia butter and Parmesan. Today I used salvia for the stuffing in dumplings.

Many people like traditional dumplings with meat, cottage cheese or fruit. Recently however, traditional stuffing has given way to some new and original combinations. You can use anything you like to stuff your dumplings. Today I took a chance and prepared some dumplings with a different stuffing. I used bulgur, courgette and salvia. I spiced up the delicate ingredients with chili pepper and salty goat cheese. The effect was surprising. The dumplings were excellent. They were great just after cooking, but they were even better fried the next day.

Ingredients
dough
500g of flour
4 tablespoons of oil
250-300 ml of boiling water
a pinch of salt
stuffing
1 courgette
100g of bulgur