Breakfasts - Love... to cooking !

Spinach Pancakes for lunch !

Her heart did whisper that he had done it for her.
Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice

Pancakes batter ingredients (7-8 pancakes):
– 115g fresh spinach
– 2 eggs
– 300ml milk
– 200g all purpose flour
– 2 tsp sugar
– 1/4 tsp salt
– 1/3 tbsp sunflower oil for frying

Serving ingredients:
– 150g smoked salmon
– 100g cream cheese
– fresh dill

Method:
1 Wash and dry spinach leaves
2 Put in blender all pancakes batter ingredients: mash until smooth
3 Preheat a skillet, add 1/3 tbsp sunflower oil (needed only in the beginning)
4 For each pancake pour 1 ladle of batter on the skillet – fry at medium heat until bubbling, turn the pancake over and cook until golden
5 Serve pancakes with soft cheese, smoked salmon and fresh dill ! Enjoy !

Syrnyky for the perfect breakfast !

Time is a created thing. To say ‘I don’t have time,’ is like saying, ‘I don’t want to.
Lao Tzu

Batter ingredients (10-12 Syrniki):
– 500g cottage cheese
– 2 tbsp sugar
– 2 tsp Vanilla sugar
– 1 egg
– 4 tbsp flour

Additional ingredients:
– 3-4 tbsp flour for dipping Syrniki
– sunflower oil for frying
– honey for serving

Method:
1 Mix batter ingredients until smooth
2 For each Syrnik, dip 1 tbsp batter in flour, form a round with fingers and put it on the wooden board
3 Pre-heat sunflower oil in the skillet: fry Syrniki 2-4 min each side until golden: transfer them on paper towels to absorb extra oil
4 Serve warm with honey ! Have a nice day !

Healthy Banana-Oatmeal Pancakes: quick and delicious breakfast !

Do you wish me a good morning, or mean that it is a good morning whether I want it or not; or that you feel good this morning; or that it is a morning to be good on?
J.R.R. Tolkien

Ingredients:
– 180ml Kefir
– 1 large ripe banana
– 1 cup (200ml) oatmeal
– 1 egg
– dash of salt
– 1/3 tsp cinnamon
– sunflower oil for frying

Method:
1 Preheat a skillet, add some sunflower oil
2 Combine grated banana with Kefir, oatmeal, an egg, salt and cinnamon: mix well until smooth
3 Pour 1 tbsp of batter for 1 pancake, fry until golden both sides, medium heat
4 Serve with fresh fruits and enjoy !

Sweet Omelette with Wholegrain Bread: quick and delicious breakfast !

If it rubs off, it means I’m in love.
Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451

Ingredients (2 servings):
– 2 eggs
– 4 wholegrain bread slices
– 2 tbsp milk
– 2 tbsp cane sugar
– 1 tbsp butter

Method:
1 Whisk eggs with milk and sugar
2 Melt butter on the frying pan and toast bread slices on one side
3 Turn bread slices and pour in eggs mixture, continuously tossing until ready (1-2 minutes)
4 Serve with fresh berries!

Simple and Healthy Oatmeal-Banana Cookies !

The greatest thing in the world is to know how to belong to oneself.
Michel de Montaigne, The Complete Essays

Ingredients:
– 150g ripe banana
– 100g oat flakes
– 50g all-purpose flour
– 30g butter
– [optional] 1 tbsp sugar
– [optional] 30g almond flour – almond adds a special flavour to the cookies!

Method:
1 Preheat the oven to 180C
2 Grate butter and bananas (it’s easy to grate butter when roll it in flour)
3 Combine oat flakes, flour, sugar, almond flour with grated butter and bananas: mix all until smooth
4 Form rounds from dough (1 cookie from 1 tbsp dough) and out them on the baking paper
5 Bake the cookies at 180C for 16 minutes and serve with black tea with milk 🙂

Homemade Flatbread with Potato, Feta and Dried Tomatoes !

To wisely live your life, you don’t need to know much
Just remember two main rules for the beginning:
You better starve, than eat whatever
And better be alone, than with whoever.
Omar Khayyám, Rubaiyat

Dough ingredients:
– 300g all-purpose flour
– 1 tbsp sugar
– 20g fresh yeast
– 150ml warm water
– 1 tsp salt

Filling ingredients:
– 250g potatoes (weighed boiled)
– 150g Feta cheese
– 4-8 dried tomatoes
– 1/2 tsp black pepper
– 1 tbsp olive oil for brushing the flatbreads before baking
– sesame seeds

Method:
1 Dough
1.1 Crush yeast into ~35C water, add 1 tbsp sugar: mix well and leave the mixture for 15 min
1.2 Add flour and salt: knead the dough and leave it under cloth for 30 min
2 Filling
2.1 Peel potatoes and boil until ready: drain extra water
2.2 Combine potatoes, feta, chopped dried tomatoes and black pepper: mash until smooth
3 Flatbread
3.1 Preheat the oven to 200C
3.2 Separate the dough into 4 equal parts: roll out each part into 16-20cm round
3.3 Put 2tbsp filling in the middle of each round
3.4 Lift up ends of each round to the centre and seal them tight with the fingers. Then accurately flatten into 15cm round.
3.5 Brush each flatbread both sides with olive oil and put on the baking paper
3.6 Sprinkle each flatbread with sesame seeds
3.7 Bake for 15-20 minutes at 200C until golden and serve warm!
4 Enjoy with a cup of black tea 🙂

Simple and Cosy Morning Muffins with Cocoa !

“. . . gentleness is stronger than severity, water is stronger than rock, love is stronger than force.”
Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha

Ingredients (for 6 muffins):
– 1 egg
– 42g sugar
– 8g Vanilla sugar
– 60g milk
– 50g sunflower oil
– 100g all purpose flour
– 2 tbsp cocoa powder
– 1/2 tsp baking soda + 1/2 tsp vinegar

Method:
1 Preheat the oven to 190C
2 Butter muffin form cups
3 Combine an egg with sugar and vanilla sugar: whisk for 3-4 minutes
4 Add milk, oil, flour: mix well until smooth
5 Add baking soda and vinegar in the same teaspoon: mix well
6 Put 2 tbsp batter in a separate cup and add there 2 tbsp coca powder and 1 tsp milk
7 Pour the main part of batter in 6 muffin forms, decorate tops with cocoa batter
8 Bake for 20 minutes at 190C and serve with a cup of cocoa! Great morning is awaiting you 😉

Cottage Cheese and Cocoa Cake !

“When you wake up in the morning, Pooh,” said Piglet at last, “what’s the first thing you say to yourself?”
“What’s for breakfast?” said Pooh. “What do you say, Piglet?”
“I say, I wonder what’s going to happen exciting today?” said Piglet. Pooh nodded thoughtfully. “It’s the same thing,” he said.”
A.A. Milne

Notes: this a very gentle morning cake, not too sweet and perfect for cosy breakfast with a cup cocoa and in a nice company – you will enjoy it! 😉

Dough ingredients:
– 80g butter
– 160g flour
– 1 egg
– 1tbsp cane sugar
– 1/2 tsp soda + 1/2 tsp vinegar

Filling ingredients:
– 400g cottage cheese
– 70g 33% cream
– 4tbsp cane sugar
– 2 eggs
– 1tbsp cornstarch

Serving ingredients:
– some blueberries
– fresh mint leaves
– 1/2 tsp powdered sugar

Method:
1 Dough
1.1 Whisk egg with sugar
1.2 Grate butter, mix with flour and add to the egg and sugar
1.3 Add soda and vinegar in the same teaspoon: mix well
2 Filling
2.1 Whisk eggs with sugar
2.2 Add cottage cheese, cream and cornstarch: mix well until smooth
3 Cake
3.1 Preheat the oven to 180C
3.2 Transfer the dough to the buttered baling form (I used 30cm diameter resulting in a thin layer of filling)
3.3 Bake for 30-40 minutes at 180C
3.4 Leave the cake in the oven for 1 hour after switching off the heat – do not open the oven door!
3.5 Put the cake in the fridge overnight – it will become very gentle in the morning!)
3.6 Serve cold with a cup of cocoa and enjoy ! 🙂

Healthy Breakfast – Cottage Cheese Zapekanka with Homemade Cherry Compote !

The centuries will roll by, and schoolboys will yawn over the history of our upheavals; everything will pass, but my happiness, dear, my happiness will remain, in the moist reflection of a street lamp, in the cautious bend of stone steps that descend into the canal’s black waters, in the smiles of a dancing couple, in everything with which God so generously surrounds human loneliness.
Vladimir Nabokov, Selected Letters

Zapekanka ingredients (4 servings):
– 500g cottage cheese
– 2 eggs
– 2 tbsp flour
– 2 tbsp semolina
– 2 tbsp sugar
– 1/2 tsp baking soda + 1/2 tsp vinegar in the same teaspoon

Cherry compote ingredients (4 servings):
– 300g frozen cherries without stone
– 1 tbsp cornstarch
– 50-70ml water

Serving ingredients (4 servings):
– 200g sour cream
– fresh mint leaves

Method:
1 Zapekanka
1.1 Preheat the oven to 190C
1.2 Batter: combine cottage cheese, eggs, flour, semolina, sugar, baking soda and vinegar: mix well with a fork until smooth
1.3 Transfer batter to the buttered baking form and bake for 30-40 minutes until golden at 190C
2 Cherry compote
2.1 Transfer in the skillet washed cherries, water and cornstarch: mix well and cook for 5-7 minutes at medium heat
3 Serve Zapekanka with warm cherry compote and cold sour cream ! Enjoy ! 🙂

Cottage-cheese Pancakes (Syrniki) with chocolate filling – perfect breakfast !

The world is full of magic things patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.
W.B. Yeats

Syrniki ingredients (2 servings or 10 small pancakes):
– 500g cottage cheese
– 1 egg
– 4 tbsp flour for dough + 2 tbsp flour for forming
– 1 tbsp semolina (to make them more gentle!)
– 8g Vanilla sugar
– 1/2 tbsp cane sugar (put 1-2 tbsp sugar if you like it sweet)
– 30-40g dark chocolate
– 1tbsp sunflower oil for frying

Serving ingredients:
– 200g sour cream
– fresh mint leaves

Method:
1 Combine cottage cheese, egg, flour, semolina, Vanilla and cane sugar: mix until smooth and leave to rest for 10 minutes to let semolina increase in size
2 Prepare 2 tbsp flour on the plate: form in hands each pancake with 1 tbsp dough putting inside 1 piece of chocolate and rolling in the flour to form round shapes.
3 After all pancakes are formed, preheat a bit of sunflower oil in 2 skillets for 3-4 minutes
4 Fry pancakes 3-4 minutes each side at medium heat
5 Serve pancakes hot with sour cream, fresh mint leaves and a cup of black tea with a piece of lemon!

Notes: Syrniki are very popular in my hometown, I made them today with chocolate filling – it’s a delicious combination of gentle cottage-cheese taste with a bit of dark chocolate reminding me my childhood 🙂

Sunday Cinnamon Rolls !

‘There you are! It only needed a little more energy,’ said Karlson. ‘Now just put on the coffee, and set a nice little tray and get out a few little buns…’
Astrid Lindgren, Karlson flies again

Dough ingredients (for 8 cinnamon rolls):
– 190ml milk
– 430g (+ 10-20g for rolling) flour
– 60g butter
– 21g fresh yeast
– 40g brown sugar
– 2 egg whites and 1 egg yolk
– 1/2 tsp salt

Filling ingredients:
– 60g butter
– 60g brown sugar
– 1tbsp cinnamon

Beautifying ingredients:
– 10ml milk
– 1 egg yolk

Method:
1 Filling
1.1 mix sugar & cinnamon
1.2 grate butter and keep it in a bowl at room temperature while the dough is being prepared
2 Dough
2.1 Warm up milk to 35C and add crushed fresh yeast and 20g sugar: whisk until smooth and leave in a warm place for 15 min
2.2 Add grated butter, 2 egg whites, 1 egg yolk, remaining 20g sugar, salt: whisk well
2.3 Add flour constantly mixing: mix until smooth and leave in a warm place for 30 min
3 Cinnamon rolls
3.1 Preheat the oven to 180C
3.2 Knead dough with a stretch and fold technique for 4-5 min and roll it out to ~40×40 cm
3.3 Butter the dough with grated butter from the bowl
3.4 Distribute evenly sugar & cinnamon mixture
3.5 Roll the dough up and cut in 5cm width buns
3.6 Put the buns on the baking paper 3-4cm aside from each other
3.7 Brush the buns with milk-yolk mixture
3.8 Bake the buns for 25-30min at 180C until golden!
3.9 They are wonderful for breakfast 😉

Simple Morning Scones inspiring a wonderful day !

A big jug of coffee had just been set in the hearth, the seed-cakes were gone, and the dwarves were starting on a round of buttered scones, when there came a loud knock
J.R.R. Tolkien

Ingredients:
– 225g flour
– 50g butter
– 1 egg
– 100ml milk
– 8g Vanilla sugar
– 17g cane sugar
– 1 dash of salt
– 1/2tsp baking soda & 1/2 tsp vinegar

Method:
1 Preheat the oven to 220C
2 Bowl1: whisk well an egg with milk, sugar, Vanilla sugar: pour in a Bowl2 1tbsp of mixture for brushing the scones
3 Bowl3: grate butter into the flour, add salt
4 In Bowl1 join ingredients from Bowl1 & Bowl3, add baking soda and vinegar in the same teaspoon: mix everything well until smooth
5 Roll out the dough to 1cm height
6 Cut the scones-to-be with your favourite cookie cutter
7 Transfer the scones-to-be on the baking paper and brush with the mixture from Bowl2
8 Bake the scones for 15 minutes at 220C or until golden
9 Enjoy with a cup of black tea or coffee if you, like me, don’t trade your morning coffee for anything. Serve with blackcurrant jam! 🙂

Summer time – time for early breakfasts in the balcony: yoghurt, blueberries, toasted oats and almonds !

I think it is all a matter of love; the more you love a memory the stronger and stranger it becomes
V. Nabokov

Ingredients (for 2 persons):
– 400ml natural yoghurt
– 400g fresh blueberries
– 100g oats
– 40g chopped almonds

Directions:
1 Toast oats and chopped almonds ~2-4 minutes until golden at medium heat (no oil, no butter)
2 Sprinkle washed blueberries over the yoghurt
3 Sprinkle warm toasted oats and almonds over the yoghurt
4 Enjoy and have a great day !

Notes: it was 6 AM in the morning and the day seemed to be starting wonderfully

Strawberry Crumble Cake for a perfect day start !

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
William Shakespeare

Dough ingredients:
– 200g flour
– 125g butter
– 1tbsp sugar
– 1 packet (8g) Vanilla sugar
– 1 egg
– 1/2tsp baking soda + 1/2tsp vinegar

Filling ingredients:
– 500g very fresh strawberries
– 1.5tbsp sugar

Method:
1 Dough
1.1 Combine flour, sugar, vanilla sugar and add chopped butter: mix to crumbles
1.2 Add baking soda & vinegar in the same teaspoon tothe flour-sugar-butter mixture and mix
1.3 Add a small egg and knead the dough
2 Filling
2.1 Wash, dry with a towel and slightly chop strawberries
2.2 Add sugar to strawberries and mix
3 Cake
3.1 Preheat the oven to 190C
3.2 Separate the dough into 2 equal parts
3.3 Put the first part of the dough into 18cm diameter buttered baking form and flatten
3.4 Distribute the strawberry filling over the dough equally
3.5 Grate the remaining part of dough over the filling 🙂
3.6 Bake 30-35 minutes at 190C
3.7 Put the cake in the fridge overnight
3.8 Enjoy the cake in the morning with a cup of strong black coffee ! It would be a great start of a day, believe me 😉

Home-made Flatbread with Tomatoes, Zucchini, Rucola and Pine Nuts !

With life as short as a half taken breath, don’t plant anything but love.
Rumi

Dough ingredients:
– 300g all-purpose flour
– 1 tbsp sugar
– 20g fresh yeast
– 150ml warm water
– 1 tsp salt

Filling ingredients:
– 1 cup dried tomatoes
– 250g mozzarella
– 1/2 medium zucchini
– 50g rucola
– 50g pine nuts
– 50g grated Grana Padano
– 2 tbsps olive oil
– salt & pepper if dried tomatoes are unsalted

Serving/baking ingredients:
– 1 tbsp olive oil for brushing the flatbreads before baking
– fresh dill for serving

Method:
1 Dough
1.1 Crush yeast into warm (30-35C) water, add 1 tbsp sugar: mix well until sugar an yeast are dissolved and leave the mixture for 15 minutes
1.2 Add flour and salt: knead the dough and leave it under cloth for 30 minutes (make the filling meanwhile)
2 Filling
2.1 Make tomato pesto: mash in the blender dried tomatoes, pine nuts, olive oil, parmesan (add salt and pepper if dried tomatoes are not spiced)
2.2 Wash and slice 1/2 zucchini
2.3 Wash rucola and let it dry
2.4 Slice mozarella
3 Flatbread
3.1 Preheat the oven to 210C
3.2 Separate the dough into 4 equal parts: roll out each part into 16-20cm round
3.3 Put in the middle of each round: tomato pesto, zucchini, mozzarella, rucola
3.4 Lift up ends of each round to the centre and seal them tight with the fingers. Then gently flatten into 15cm round.
3.5 Brush each flatbread two sides with olive oil and put on the baking paper
3.6 Bake for 15-20 minutes at 200C until golden: let them cool down and serve with a fresh dill
4 Enjoy with a cup of coffee and a good company 😉

Pancakes with Apple Rings or Racuchy z jabłkami !

Spring was moving in the air above and in the earth below and around him, penetrating even his dark and lowly little house with its spirit of divine discontent and longing.
Kenneth Grahame

Ingredients (for 20 pancakes):
– 2 eggs
– 1 cup (200ml) milk
– 250g flour
– 1/2 tsp baking soda + 1/2 tsp vinegar
– 8g Vanilla sugar
– 1/2 tsp salt
– 4 apples
– sunflower oil for frying
– powdered sugar or jam or honey for serving

Directions:
1 Apples
1.1 Wash apples and remove the apples core carefully with a knife: first from the top, then from the bottom and then the remaining hard parts in the middle keeping the apple unbroken
1.2 Cut apples in 0.8-1cm width rings
2 Batter
2.1 Whisk eggs with milk, then add flour & sugar & salt: mix well until smooth
2.2 Add baking soda and vinegar in the same teaspoon to the batter and mix
3 Pancakes
3.1 Preheat two skillets with sunflower oil: it’s quicker to cook with 2 skillets!
3.2 For each pancake soak the apple ring well in a batter and put on the skillet: fry each side until golden for 2-3 minutes
3.3 Since there is little sugar in the pancakes, serve them with powdered sugar or honey or marmalade!
4 Enjoy!

Huevos Rancheros for Breakfast !

I want
To do with you what spring does with the cherry trees.
Pablo Neruda, Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair

Ingredients (for 2 servings):
– 2 Cubanelle peppers
– 80g ham
– 80g grated Cheddar
– 2 eggs
– 1/2 tsp black pepper
– 1 tbsp olive oil

Method:
1 Wash the beautiful Cubanelle peppers and accurately cut out the upper part to form the boats 🙂
2 Carefully de-seed the peppers
3 Boil in the water the peppers for 5 minutes under a lid at medium heat
4 Drain water
5 Pre-heat the pan with some olive oil for frying the peppers
6 Put the peppers in the pan
7 Put grated Cheddar and chopped ham inside the pepper boats
8 Carefully pour 1 egg in each pepper over the chopped ham and grated cheddar
9 Cover the pan with a lid and cook for 10 minutes at medium heat
10 Serve and enjoy delicious breakfast !

Notes: many thanks to Jacques Pépin for the inspiration and for making my Saturday better !

Spinach Pancakes: perfect for Sunday breakfast !

The best portion of a good man’s life: his little, nameless unremembered acts of kindness and love
William Wordsworth

Pancakes ingredients (8-10 pancakes):
– 200g fresh spinach
– 300ml Kefir
– 2 eggs
– 7 tbsp wheat flour
– 3-4 tbsp olive oil
– 2 tsp sugar
– 1/2 tsp salt

Serving ingredients:
– 30ml acacia honey
– 20g Feta cheese
– a few raspberries

Method:
1 Wash spinach and squeeze it in a colander to get rid of extra water
2 Mash spinach in a puree with an immersive blender or in a food processor
3 Combine spinach puree, flour, Kefir, eggs, olive oil, sugar & salt: mix well until smooth
4 Pre-heat a non-sticking skillet with a small amount of olive oil (we need extra oil only for the first pancake!)
5 Fry pancakes until golden at medium heat 1-2 minutes each side
6 Serve the pancakes with Feta cheese, acacia honey and raspberries
7 Enjoy and have a great sunny Sunday !

Side note: These beautiful guys might be capricious as many beautiful creates are… That is why it is important to choose the right heat level when cooking them, but after a couple of failures you will be on the right road to their hearts 🙂

Lazy Khachapuri for a quick yet delicious breakfast or lunch !

We had our breakfasts – whatever happens in a house, robbery or murder, it doesn’t matter, you must have your breakfast.
Wilkie Collins, The Moonstone.

Khachapuri batter ingredients (2 servings):
– 2 eggs
– 100g grated Ciacotta (or Suluguni or butter cheese)
– 100ml Kefir
– 100g wheat flour
– 1 teaspoon salt
– 1 bunch of chopped parsley

Cooking and serving ingredients:
– 20g butter for frying
– 20g miners lettuce

Directions:
1 Combine all Khachapuri batter ingredients in a bowl and mix well!
2 Preheat a non-sticking skillet at the medium heat: melt 20g butter
3 Pour the batter uniformly on the skillet, cook for around 4 minutes one side until golden, then flip (I flipped it with two spatulas), cook for another 2 minutes
4 Serve Khachapuri with fresh greens or tomatoes (miners lettuce on the photo) !

Perfect Saturday Breakfast: Yoghurt, Raspberries with Toasted Oats and Nuts !

He found himself wondering at times, especially in the autumn, about the wild lands, and strange visions of mountains that he had never seen came into his dreams.
J.R.R. Tolkien

Ingredients (2 servings):
– 300ml natural 3.8% yoghurt
– 250g fresh mashed raspberries
– 60g oats
– 30g chopped cashew nuts

Method:
1 Wash and mash fresh raspberries until smooth
2 Toast (dry fry, no oil) oats and chopped cashew nuts until golden for ~2-4 minutes
3 Arrange in glasses the following levels: natural yoghurt, mashed raspberries, warm toasted oats and nuts. Repeat the levels 🙂
4 Serve and enjoy !

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