I love soups and when the autumn is coming I like them more and more. I confess that broth is my favourite soup, but I value also cream soups for their simplicity and endless options when choosing ingredients.

Today I would like to share with you the recipe for an easy and light mushroom soup. If you don't like creamy soup, don't blend it. Add some boiled groats and some cream and you have a quite new approach to mushroom soup.

Ingredients:
500g of mushrooms
2 medium size potatoes
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic
200ml of coconut milk
1l of vegetable stock
2 twigs of thyme
1 tablespoon of butter
2-3 tablespoons of chopped dill
salt and pepper

Caprese salad is one of the most popular dishes in the south of Europe. In Italy, where it comes from, it consists of slices of tomato interleaved with slices of mozzarella cheese, basil leaves, sprinkled olive oil and black pepper. The dish is supposed to resemble the Italian flag. Depending on the country, you can also find olives, red pepper or cucumber in it. Today I would like to share with you the recipe for a dinner version of caprese salad. It looks beautiful and tastes excellent. It is a suggestion for dinner on a hot day.

Ingredients (for 2 people)
100g of wholemeal macaroni
150g of mozzarella mini
2 handfuls of cherry tomatoes (red and yellow)
a handful of black olives
a handful of pistachios
leaves of basil
4 tablespoons of olive oil
salt and pepper

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

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