Chicken Soup

Best of all! Why? Explanation in 2 words - 'Mum's kitchen' ;) It is even said that this is the first and sometimes the only soup that children like ;) It is very easy to prepare, very tasty and healthy (it helps to cure for instance cold and flu ;) )!

Chicken soup became our traditional meal :) We eat it every Sunday :) I do recommend!

P.S. It is not a spider on the spoon, it is a lamp on the ceiling ;)

Ingredients:

• 2kg fresh chicken
• 1 package of filini pasta 

vegs:

• 3 big carrots
• 1-2 parsley(s) (without leaves)
• 1/3-1/2 celery
• 1 leek

spices:

• some lovage leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon of vegeta (or more if preferred)
• 1/2 tablespoon of sea salt
• 2-3 allspice grains
• 2-3 pepper grains
• 1-2 bay leaves

Optionally:

• Chicken soup cube (like Knorr's)
• Maggi

Preparation:

1. Wash the chicken, cut out all the fat, tripe, etc. and throw it away. 
2. Using a big knife, cut the chicken into 2 pieces (or smaller if preferred, it will shorten the time of preparation).
3. Take a big pot, put chicken inside and fill completely with water. 
4. Add pinch of salt and start boiling (the entire boiling will take around 1,5 hour).*
5. During that time, prepare all the vegs - wash, peel and chop them if necessary.
6. At some point a ,,weird" foam will start appearing on the top of the water. Using a spoon, take it out and throw away.
7. When the foam stops appearing, add spices.
8. After at least 45 minutes of boiling, add vegetables and continue boiling. 
9. In the meantime prepare the pasta, as the instruction on the packaging says. When done, put in a colander and pour cold water on it (it will prevent the pasta from being too sticky).
10. It is good to check if the chicken is ready - take it out from the soup, put on a big place and cut into smaller pieces, checking if it isn't raw inside (put it back in the soup).
11. When done, serve with pasta, carrot pieces and parsley leaves.
12. Bon Appetit! :)

* Here - optionally and especially if the chicken isn't wonderfully fresh - you can put the chicken in a pot with water, add salt (1/2-1 teaspoon) and leave it for around an hour. After that time, change the water completely, add some salt again and continue preparing the soup as the following steps say.

Sunflower cake

Ohh delicious! Remains in a constant battle with Gourmet Sensation ;) I have no idea which one is better! Easy to make, will smitten all your guests ;) 

P.S. here is a small secret: as this cake contains sunflower seeds, it is claimed that it is very beneficial for men (prostate).

This particular recipe is my cousin's own :) 

Greetings for you my Dear and thank you for sharing the recipe :)

Ingredients:

Sponge cake:

• 7 egg whites
• 7 egg yolks
• 1 glass of sugar
• 2/3 glass of baking cocoa
• 2/3 glass of flour

Sunflower frosting, part 1:

• 200g sunflower seeds (or 100g sunflower seeds + 100g walnuts)
• 100g of butter
• 8 tablespoons of sugar
• 4 tablespoons of milk

Sunflower frosting, part 2:

• 300g of butter
• 1 tin of fudge

Optional ingredients:

• 1/3-1/2 glass of vodka

Preparation:
Sponge cake:

1. Take a rectangular baking pan, put baking paper all over it. Put aside.
2. Take a bowl, sieve flour and cocoa to that bowl, twice.
3. Put egg yolks in another bowl and stir/beat, so that they link. Put aside.
4. Start preheating the oven to 170C.
5. Take a mixer and its bowl, put egg whites inside and beat on a low rotation for around 2-3 minutes, till the foam appears. At this moment start adding sugar, spoon after spoon. The mixer can work faster right now. Now beat the eggs for additional 8 minutes.
6. After those 10 minutes or so, while still mixing, keep adding egg yolks, one spoon after another, making sure that the egg yolks linked precisely with egg whites before adding another spoon. 
7. Turn off the mixer and using a spatula, slowly, gently, in 3 parts, add flour+cocoa to the mixer's bowl.
8. Pour the dough into previously prepared baking pan and bake for 25-30 minutes, checking, with a toothpick, if it is ready as it may take a little bit more or less time.*
9. Take the cake out from the oven and throw on a kitchen's surface.
10. Cool down.

* and, as always - if you see that your toothpick is absolutely clean and the cake seems ready - don't hesitate to take it out from the oven. Also, if you know that your oven tends to burn the top of the cake and you can see that your top starts to burn, put foil all over that top, it will prevent it from burning, and keep baking. On the other hand - if your oven tends to burn the bottom - put a baking tray under your baking pan with a cake.

Sunflower frosting, part 1:

1. Take a pot, put butter, sunflower seeds and milk inside, boil.
2. Take a baking paper, put the mixture on it and bake in the oven for 20 minutes in 180C.
3. After that time, take the sunflower seeds out from the oven, let it cool down and crush into small pieces. 

Sunflower frosting, part 2:

1. Take a mixer and its bowl, beat the butter (around 8 minutes). Add fudge, mix again till it links.
2. Add some sunflower seeds-mixture (part 1), leaving some part of it to sprinkle the top, and mix again.
3. Here is a moment to add alcohol, if desired. Preferably - add one tablespoon of vodka, taste if it is strong enough for you - if yes, the frosting is ready, if not - keep adding till you feel it is enough.

Finishing:

1. Distribute the frosting all over the cake, sprinkle with remaining sunflower seeds mixture from part 1.
2. Store in the fridge, covered.
3. Bon Appetit! ;)

Meatballs with rice

Might be considered as a dietary meal. Healthy, tasty, without oil. Of course it is possible to fry those meatballs instead of boiling. I do recommend!

Ingredients:

• 500g of turkey/pork mince
• 1-2 handfuls of chopped parsley or dill
• 1 chopped onion
• 1 bigger grated carrot
• 1 small chopped leek
• 1 egg
• 1/3-1/2 glass of breadcrumbs
• spices: basil, oregano, black pepper, salt, cayenne pepper, poultry/pork spice mix
• oil

Optional ingredients:

• rice
• potatoes
• vegs - broccoli, carrot, parsley, beans, sweetcorn
• light/dark meat sauce

Preparation:

1. Take a big bowl, put all the ingredients inside, mix.
2. Sprinkle with  all the spices, mix.
3. Take 2 pots, put some water on them, boil till it reaches 100C
4. Put the rice to the first pot with boiling water. Sprinkle it with salt.
5. Form small balls out of meat, put inside the second pot with boiling water and boil for around 15 minutes* on a middle heat.
6. Bon Appetit!

* It might take a little bit more or less time, depending on meat, stove, etc. Check if the meat is ready just by cutting it into 2 halves.

Courgette pancake

That's an easy, healthy and delicious meal. Good idea for dinner, lunch or supper. Tzatziki matches it very much. Recipe taken from my uncle, greetings and thanks for him!

Ingredients (for around 15 pancakes):

• 1 courgette
• 1/2 of marrow
• spices: salt, pepper, chilli, cayenne pepper
• 1 egg
• 1-1,5 glasses of milk
• 2-2,5 glasses of flour

Optional ingredients:

• onion

Preparation:

1. Wash the courgette and the marrow. 
2. Peel (optional).
3. Grate both vegs on a grater, put in a big bowl. 
4. Sprinkle with salt. Leave for a few minutes so that water comes out.
5. Pour the water away by squeezing vegs or using a sieve. It has to be done precisely.
6. Sprinkle the vegs with spices.
7. Add chopped onion (optional)
8. Add milk, stir. Add flour - one glass after another, stiring all the time. The consistency of the dough needs to be very thick.
9. Take a frying pan* grease it, start preheating. Put 1-3 tablespoons of the dough on the frying pan and distribute on the entire surface, so that the pancake is thin.
10. Fry for 2-3 minutes on a low heat (each side).
11. Other vegs, Tzatziki, etc. matches that pancakes, so feel free to take your favourite ones.
12. Bon Appetit! :)

* I've got a frying pan that doesn't require any greasing before frying. It does have its price, but believe me, it is a real miracle. Nothing burns, your meal will be fried in a colour you let it be, not burnt brown. I do recommend it. If you are willing to buy it - one, middle size, will be enough and you'll probably stop using the rest of your frying pans :).

Pineapple smoothie

Refreshing, healthy supper (or its part ;) ). Recipe is my own idea.

Ingredients(for 4 latte glasses):

• 1/2 pineapple, peeled, chopped
• 3-5 handfuls of cherries

Optional ingredients:

• 1/3-1/2 glass of milk/natural yoghurt
• sugar
• ice cubes

Preparation:

1. Put the pineapple in a bowl, blend till smooth. 
2. Take cherries - if frozen - defrost in a pot by heating them. 
3. Mash the cherries, to get cherry mousse with no skins (make sure there are no kernels).
4. Add cherries to blended pineapple. Blend till smooth.
5. Add sugar, milk and ice cubes. (step by step, tasting, to make it suitable for you)
6. Bon Appetit! :)

Curry Cod

Well... if it comes to fish, my favourite one is.. chicken. Yes, that's a joke and yes, I am not really a fish-fan. But, this way of preparing cod is beyond gorgeous (both if it comes to the time of the preparation and the taste).

Try it :)

Part of the recipe comes from this website.

Ingredients:

• 4 cod fillets (fresh or frozen)
• salt, pepper
• 2 tablespoons of flour
• 2-3 teaspoons of curry (powder)
• oil

Preparation:

1. While using frozen fillets - totally defrost. Wash under running water, dry using paper towels.
2. Mix flour with curry on a big plate. 
3. Put one fillet on the plate, sprinkle it with the mix of flour and curry (both sides of the cod)
4. Heat the frying pan with some oil.*
5. Put the fillets (as many as your frying pan can take) and on a low heat - fry. When gold - turn around.
6. When ready - put on a paper towel (optional - to dry it from the oil, if you don't want to, don't do it)
7. Before putting next fillets on the frying pan, clean it using a paper towel and grease again.
8. Serve with potatoes, rice, salad, etc.
9. Bon Appetit!

*Don't use a lot of money. 1-2 tablespoons are enough, just grease the entire frying pan with it.

The old formula for a young cabbage

An old recipe, coming from my Grandmother, for a very delicius addition on your dinner plate. Worth trying :)

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cabbage
• 1 bunch of dill
• 1 smaller onion
• 2 litres of salted water
• pepper
• salt
• 2-3 teaspoons of vinegar
• 2 tablespoons of flour
• water

Preparation:

1. Chop lettuce, put in a big pot with salted water. Put it on the heat and start boiling. (It will take something around 30 minutes, till it gets soft. Do not overboil it.)
2. Chop the dill, into small parts (try to seperate stems and throw them away, so that you get only the soft part)
3. Chop the onion.
4. Put the onion on a plate/in a bowl, sprinkle it with pepper and salt and vinegar. Stir.
5. If it is the right time, drain the cabbage.
6. Add dill and onion from the plate to the cabbage. Stir. 
7. Take a glass with water, put the flour inside and stir till smooth (there can't be any lumps)
8. Put the cabbage-mix on the heat and add the glass with water-flour, stir all the time till it links and starts boiling. 
9. Boil for 3-5 minutes. 
10. Try it - if you wish - add more salt or pepper.
11. Bon Appetit!

A method for a night's hunger nightmare

There are days (especially during the summer) when you can eat absolutely nothing during the entire day, but when the evening starts you could devour a horse. And simultaneously you want to stay fit and not put on weight. How to combat that urgent need? 

Here is your answer...

this particular smoothie is my own idea

Ingredients:

• 1 apple
• 150-200g of strawberries
• 2 teaspoons of lemon juice

Optional ingredients:

• ice

Preparation:

1. Wash, peel and chop the apple. Put aside.
2. Wash the strawberries, throw away the green tops/hats.
3. Put the strawberries in a food processor. Blend till smooth. 
4. Now you can add 2-3 ice cubes if you want to. Blend till smooth.
5. Add a few pieces of chopped apple. Blend till smooth. Repeat the actions till all the chopped pieces of apples are blended.
6. Add lemon juice.
7. Bon appetit :)

This particular smoothie, if not blended for too long is really thick and what comes after that - very filling. You will probably need a spoon to eat it ;)

Pear breakfast with the scent of the cinammon

Well this is my own idea. I was fed up with the small amount of varieties I have when it comes to savour breakfast. So I upgraded my it :) I am also a big fan of cinnamon which explains its presence. But it does match here.

Ingredients:

• 150-250 ml of milk (measure your own amount - put as much as you always do while preparing cereals/cornflakes/etc)
• 1 pear (or 1 banana), washed, peeled and chopped
• from 1/2 to 2 teaspoons of cinnamon
• cornflakes (preferably), some honey-cereals will be fine too, muesli, granola, etc (I used basic fibre flakes)

Preparation:

1. Boil the milk on a low heat (as much as you like). 
2. Wash, peel and chop the pear, put it in a bowl.
3. Put the milk in (the hotter the milk the faster your cereals will change into pulp)
4. Add cereals/other and cinammon to the bowl.
5. Bon Appetit!

Smoothie

The easiest and the tastiest juice in this world that will cool you down during a hot day.

The idea for this smoothie comes from this website. But - again - I changed it a little bit :)

Ingredients: (for 2-3 cups)

• orange juice (from 1 orange)
• 1 peeled mango
• 1 banana
• cherries - fresh or frozen

Optional ingredients:

• 1/2 tumbler of milk
• sugar
• 1-2 tablespoons of greek yoghurt
• ice

Preparation:

1. Wash the banana and put it in the freezer.
2. Put orange juice and chopped mango to your blender/mixer/food processor. Mix till smooth.
3. Add banana. Mix till smooth.
4. Now it's time for optional ingredients (except for ice). Add carefully one element, mix, taste it, add another. Try it after every mixing so that you are sure that your smoothie suits your taste.
5. Add ice, mix till smooth.
6. Now you can make two - pour the smoothie in one cup so that you have a yellow smoothie.
7. Leave the rest in your food processor and now add cherries. Mix till smooth.
8. Bon appetit :)