Egg Sandwich Spread

My mom gave me after Eastern /almost/ homemade eggs from our neighbours and they look and taste amazing. Normally, I don't buy everything bio, but with eggs I was always careful to buy bio eggs knowing that those chicken have somewhere probably and hopefully better life and wanted to support that. But still, the bio eggs from a shop were never that yellow and tasty like the eggs from our neighbours. Judge yourself, look at the egg spread that I prepared: 

Lentil Soup

I swear that this is the best soup you are ever going to eat! :) But little bit of history first. When we were moving my friend Jakub prepared the soup for us since we were not able to cook anything in the kitchen. It was so nice to have a hot bowl of soup with fresh bread and beer :) So I had to learn the recipe and now I want to share it also with you guys!!! After you try it out, your life will be suddenly defined as "before the lentil soup" and "after the lentil soup" :)) 

Ingredients

• 250g green lentils
• 3 carrots
• 6 middle sized potatoes
• 4 cloves of garlis
• 1 can of peeled tomatoes
• 1 big onion
• salt, pepper
• marjoram
• sweet paprika
• chilli
• butter + oil

Directions

Chop the onion and fry it in a big pan on hot oil and butter. Make sure that onion is getting almost brownish, then add the tomatoes. Cook for a while and add around 2 litres of water (depending how big is your pan). Put the lentils in and cook till the lentils are soft (I had green lentils and it took around 40min and I did not put them before in the water). Then add the carrots cut into small circles, let it cook for 10 minutes and add the potatoes and garlic. Flavour with salt and pepper, majoran and sweet paprika. I added also little bit of chilli cayenne (as we say at home: for little bit of kick :)) ). Wait couple of minutes, check if the potatoes and carrots are soft and you can serve your soup. Fits perfectly with beer!!! 

Strawberry jam

Finally, I managed to cook my own jam! Last summer I bought some beautiful jars but never found time. Until the last weekend. Our local grocery shop was offering big packages of strawberries and I bought two of them. One part I used for the strawberry sponge cake (recipe here) and the second part ended up in this wonderful, chemistry-free jam! Another plus is - its really not rocket science :) After tasting this jam, you will never ever buy it in a shop!! :) I guarantee that :) 

Strawberry sponge cake

There were first good-looking and -smelling strawberries in the shop so I though it might be the right time for the traditional sponge cake of my mum. I swear that there is not simpler cake to bake than this one! And there are no limits in terms of fruit, choose another type or mix everything possible together. 

Ingredients

• 2.5 cups of flour 
• 1.25 cup of milk
• 1 cup of sugar
• 0.5 cup of oil
• 1 package of baking powder 
• 1 package of vanilla sugar 
• 300 - 500g strawberries (or other fruit)

Directions

Mix all the ingredients together (flour, sugar, milk, oil, baking powder and vanilla sugar) and keep mixing till everything is well combined. Pour the mixture into a round baking pan (can be also squared) and throw on the top the fruits cut into small pieces (try to push them also inside). Bake at 180°C for around 45-60 min, doublecheck with a toothpick whether the cake is dry.

Carrot Cake

Its been long time since my last recipe, hope you didnt miss me too much :) Here I am again, with the most delicious, healthy and not-too-dry carrot cake recipe. If you try this one, you will never want to eat anything else in your life :) 

Ingredients

• 6 middle-size carrots
• 1,5 cups of spelt flour (you can use normal flour as well)
• 0.5 cup of brown sugar
• 2 handfuls of chopped hazelnuts and pistachios
• 4 eggs
• 1 bag of baking powder
• 3 teasppoons of cinnamon
• 0.5 cup of almond milk (can be normal milk)

• 200g of creamcheese/curd cheese/mascarpone (something solid)
• 1 bag of vanilla sugar
• 2 spoons of brown sugar

Directions

Mix in a bowl the eggs with sugar. Add the dry ingredients - flour, baking powder, cinnamon and mix well. Add the carrots and nut, and in the end also milk. Mix well. Preheat your oven at 180°C, and put your mixture into the cake round form. Bake for at least 1 hour, check the cake with a tooth-pick, if its dry enough. Wait until it cools down. Prepare the white cream in the meantime by mixing the creamcheese with sugar and vanilla sugar. Cut the cake horizontally into two halves and spread the white cream in lower part, cover it with the other half and spread the cream on the top as well. Keep it in the fridge for a while. 

White Raddish Salad

We used to eat lot of white raddishes when we were kids, especially with bread and butter and it really reminds of my childhood. I rediscovered this vegetable and since I didnt have much time yesterday evening for cooking, it had to be quick salad. This one would be perfect as a side dish to a steak or any kind of meat. Very fresh and tasty!

Zucchini muffins

I was very lazy last weekend and didn't cook much. But, I still had couple of zucchinis in my fridge (from south of France, proper bio quality :) ) and I decided to try the salty muffin idea, but without any flour. Here is the result and I must say, what a great idea! And there are really  no limits here, you can replace the zucchinis with aubergine or pumpkin, use different spices, different cheese etc. 

Cauliflower soup with gorgonozola

Today, yet another soup for cold winter days! Again, it is pretty thick, but that's because we like it this way. You can control the thickness by adding more/less liquid. Very healthy, quick, simple and tasty! (as always :) )

Peach wine (aperitiv)

It's been long time I have not written any alcoholic recipe :) so it is high time to make the things right! And again - recipe from Provence. This is lovely alcoholic drink which is perfect for apero and very easy to drink, so be careful :)

Croquant aux amandes

I spent last weekend in France visiting my new family in law and we ate and drank a lot!! As always :) But, I did not forget about my blog and I have for you two new recipes, directly from sunny Provence! Today, I am going to show you how to prepare so called "Croquant aux amandes" (english vocabulary says it should be "crunchy with almonds". Very simple and an excellent extra touch to serve with coffee or tea. 

Pumpkin and coconut soup

I am a huge fan of pumpkins and I am really enjoying their season right now! :) I already showed you my favourite recipe for butternutsquash soup but that is not the only way. This recipe is full of flavours and the soup smells great! Actually, not only smells, also tastes! 

Salmon and vegetable soufflé

I guess everyone knows the typical ways how to prepare/cook a fish. But what about soufflé made of fish? I came across this great recipe (dont remember anymore where did I read it), and I thought, what a great idea! And it is not complicated, very refreshing and you can still move after having this for your lunch. 

Coconut Treat

OK, for this one, you need to love coconut, because there is almost nothing else :-) But on the other hand, there are many ways of serving, you can just keep it in your fridge and eat it, if you feel like having a sweet treat and the best part, there is no sugar, no butter, no flour, so kind of healthy :)

And here is our version for breakfast - with strawberry marmelade and kiwis!

Express Green Pea Soup

I promise you, this is going to be the fastest soup ever!!!! Probably it is not the most sophisticated recipe, but if you are craving for something warm AND tasty, and your fridge is empty, then this is the recipe for you (everyone has green peas in the freezer and pesto at home). 

Coconut Cupcakes

I went to my first baby shower on Saturday and for this occasion I prepared these cute coconut cupcakes. It is going to be a baby girl, so it had to be pinky! I used my pink polka dot baking cups and I found these cute pink feet which made of rice paper and they are edible! (only bit complicated to cut out) Cupcakes are delicious also because they have extra secret filling which makes them moist. 

Zopf (Vianočka)

This weekend was again quite successful in terms of baking and I tried to prepare the traditional "Zopf". Sorry for the German word, but I seriously have no idea, what would be the english word and since it is typical in German speaking countries, I decided to leave it this way. Here in Switzerland, it is typically salty but in Slovakia, is more in the sweet direction. Tastes great just with butter (and jam) and is typical breakfast food. 

Apple & Cinnamon Cheesecake

I really like seasonal cooking/baking and always try to buy fruits and vegetables which are typical for every season. Anyway, tomatoes that you buy in winter do not taste at all... And since this is the season of apples, I was looking for a nice cheesecake recipe. I found my inspiration on my favourite foodblog - dulce de leche and here is my version: 

Pikeperch (zander) with spinach cream

In my local supermarket they had beautiful and fresh pikeperch filets during the weekend (in German Zander) so the decision about our Sunday lunch was clear from the beginning. I believe that fish dont need many extras and I always prefer simple preparation which emphasises the taste of each ingredient. So here is my recipe for pikeperch and spinach cream. 

Healthy crêpes

The last weekend was full of new recipes and meals. As you probably noticed, the spelt flour is recently very 'in' and everyone says it's supposed to be healthier than normal flour. So I bought one 1kg and here is my version of healthy crêpes: 

St. Jacques Scallops and Avocado Salad

I personally prefer to eat seafood when I am on holidays somewhere near the beach. Since the closest beach to my home is around 600km away, I believe that the freshness of the products we can buy in our supermarkets is limited. That is the reason I almost never cook any seafood at home. (also to be honest I am not so good at it) But the last weekend was exceptional and I bought some fresh St. Jacques scallops and here is my creation.