June favorites 🍴 ☕🍄 🌼 🍓 🍒🍸

 June in photos 

Courgette and mint soup served with homemade bread roll ...

Lunch sandwich doesn't have to be boring ......  
I fried some chestnut mushrooms with oil, salt and pepper. Crunchy radishes, creamy avocado and my favorite salad leaves + mushrooms = perfect lunch ....

Afternoon tea

My dear friend Gosia throw an afternoon tea for two of her lucky friends, one of them was ME !!!
The theme was Alice in Wonderland, nupkins, serving plates, tea cups, tea pot and even the tablecloth - everything was Alice in Wonderland.
To start with, we had tofu open lettuce wraps and red rice salad with a bit of a rose wine.
Lots of nibbles as well.....
We eat those gorgeous cakes followed by green tea served with some fresh mint ....

Lettuce wraps are made of fried tofu, spring onion, corn, tamari and piri-piri seasoning .

Salad made of wild and red rice, tomatoes, peppers, feta cheese, spring onions, radishes, rocket salad leaves and seeds.

Lavender in my garden 

My ultimate summer detox salad

This is very light and yet very fulfill salad that I have been eating this summer . The combination of raw cauliflower, herbs, protein-rich lentils, creamy avocado and some colourful salad tomatoes it's just divine. The honey and mustard dressing is the icing of the cake - seriously, this salad is absolute winner this summer ....  

Ingredients:

half head of cauliflower

150 gr brown lentils ( soaked overnight ) or 1 tin of lentils 

3 - 4 springs of onions , chopped

handful of tomatoes, halved 

1 avocado, chopped into chunks 

herbs such as parsley, mint and basil

for the dressing: 

2 Tbsp wholegrain mustard

1 Tbsp honey

3 Tbsp water

3 Tbsp olive oil

juice and zest of 1 lemon 

little salt ( the mustard is salty )

pepper

Cut the cauliflower into small florets and place it into a food processor.

Blitz until breadcrumbs look-like.

Cook the lentils for 20 - 30 minutes or until cooked.

Combine all ingredients into a large salad bowl and set aside.

For the dressing, put all ingredients into a clean jar, put the lid on and shake it.

Pour over the salad that you are going to eat. The rest of the salad / dressing can be stored in fridge for up to 3 days ...

Green ice tea with nectarines and mint

Summer is finally here and this is one of my favorite drink. It's refreshing and elegant as well as beautiful and healthy . Gave it a go this summer - you will love it too 💗💗🌞🌞

Ingredients:

4 green tea bags

1 fresh nectarine, pitted and sliced 

1 small bunch fresh mint

honey to taste ( optional )

sliced lime or lemon ( optional )

Bring water to a boil in a kettle, place the tea bags in a cap and add 1 cup of water. After 5 minutes remove and discard the tea bags and allow the tea to cool before you pour into a jag. Add 3 cups of cold water as well as the fruit and mint.

Sweeten with honey to taste if you wish.

 Add some ice cubes before serving.....

National Vegetarian Week 15th - 21st May

I am very excited to share this ideas of a truly nutritious plates of food. 

Roasted butternut squash with chili and garlic served with kale and seeds.....

Pizza made with organic unbleached flour, topped by pesto, cheese, veggies and rocket salad  I have been buying this flour for the past four years, making and baking pastries, pizzas, bread, cakes, cookies and much more .....

Hummus, quinoa, beetroot, carrot, celery, tomatoes, peppers, avocado and seeds

French toast sticks with maple syrup and fresh fruit .

 I used leftover loaf bread, thick cut into a sticks.

 Dip into eggs and shallow fry.

 Serve with maple syrup and fruit - this was a perfect brunch after a long walk with the kids!!

Three ways with leftover rice - eat your greens

Sunday is the day when I cook grains and pulses, roast seeds and nuts  for the next five days. My favorite grain is short brown rice, it's sticky, grainy and flavoursome, perfect for a quick and healthy lunch . Organic Suma short brown rice is my favorite, I simply soak 1 - 2 cups in cold water over night, the next day I rinse out the rice and cook it for 20 - 25 minutes on a very low temperature.... 

This one is the easiest dish ever, ideal for one of those days when I haven't been for a run or long walk: simply cut one broccoli head in half and cook / steam it . The rice is flavored by one Tbsp of tamari . 1/4 to 1/2 avocado is must have !

This fresh salad is very rich of nutritional food: chickpeas, chopped fresh tomatoes, spring onions, sunflower seeds, topped by some homemade hummus as well as red pepper and cucumber. 

Roast sweet potatoes, kale and cooked rice was already in the fridge, I just had to chop some avocado and red cabbage and season it with olive oil and lemon juice !



I am sharing this post as a contribution to  eat your greens the lovely blog called Allotment 2 Kitchen 

I am also contributing to Cook once eat twice , another blog that is dear to me, it's called Searching for spice

April favorites

I love these little beauties, I make them all the time and I always use different vegetables, sugar snap peas and spring onions are added to this batch. The recipe is from this blog - click here to find out more ...

Tried something new this week, meatless meatballs, really easy to make and they taste ok. Two out of three children eat their dinner without any comment, one child did not eat . The recipe is from the blog called Wholefully

This is my guilty pleasure - white bread !! It is not just any white bread, it's organic, slow-proved,  made and baked by me. For the recipe click here

Polperro, Cornwall, England

Polperro is a little hidden village on the west coast of England that I visited over the Easter break.....