I had some opened packages of cheese in my fridge and I wanted to use them in a quiche. As I had also some brocoli, I quickly invented a brocoli quiche.
For this tart you do not need salt if the bacon is salty. If it is not, just add some at your taste. Let's see it.

The addition of buckwheat flour in the bread dough changes everything. The texture, the taste, the color, the way is raising.Usually when I make a buckwheat bread it does not raise too much. For this recipe I added only a small quantity and the effect was immediately seen.

How much I have missed my muffins recipes! And my daughter as well. She was so excited to see them again.
The idea came to me when I noticed this recipe in a free book that I have downloaded initially for curiosity. Well, it was not at all a disappointment but rather an impressive success. Although the author calls this recipe healthy banana - yogurt muffins, I wanted to improve even more the first word and reduce the quantity of sugar. After doing the recipe I realized I could have reduced it even more as the the recipe contains bananas and raisins that are naturally sweet. However, I have replaced the quality of sugar and use brown instead of white sugar. This also contributed to reduce the sweetness of the overall batter.

Finally I like these muffins and my daughter even more.

This bread is mainly a white one with some addition of poppy and sun flower seeds. The difference is that it is baked on glass pans and tends to be a kind of sandwich bread.

At the request of my guests I had to bake in the last month almost bread with soft crust. To obtain this, I baked the loaves in glass pans. Although I have reached to nice and tasty breads, I am still a fan of rustic breads, baked directly on the stone, with a pronounced crust. It was then clear that my next bread to be one like this. Instead of shaping it in 3 as I normally do to obtain oblong loaves, I chose to bake only one big round loaf in a Dutch oven pan. It simply filled my heart with joy ...

I simply cannot stop loving herb breads. This time it is basil, a basic herb in Mediterranean cuisine. The aroma that it gives to the bread is outstanding. For this recipe, I used both fresh and dried basil but of course it works as well if you have only one type.

A delicious cake full of colors, full of aromas and not at last, full of healthy ingredients: no sugar, no diary product and no flour. And more, no baking is needed.

It can be done any time of the year out of frozen ingredients. Just defrost them first and use them for this cake. Or you can just use the fresh fruits.
This cake however is for me more a summer cake. Because of the colors more than ingredients.

This type of cake is nourishing and a small slice is fulfilling your sweet desire. Just try it ...

Since I've made my first aromatic herb bread I simply become in love with these kind of breads. I could not resist to try another one, this time a more specific one with rosemary.
When baking, I have succeeded to burn it a little on top but not seriously to destroy its amazing taste. This bread is also enhanced with chia seeds so it gives more nutritive value.

What about trying something different? What about using some lentils, ground them and use its flour in a bread?

I was looking for a white bread, but not necessary the sandwich type. Adding rice flour made my bread less soft than a a normal white flour based bread. In my opinion the rice flour did not changed the taste of the bread at all. But the texture and the color were affected. It gave a stronger texture and a whiter color.

Nevertheless, although different, the bread was eaten almost instantly.

This is a very simple bread with sourdough that can be done by anyone without any bread baking skills or any dedicated utensils like a baking stone or bannetons. A simple cake pan is enough. I wanted to make a different bread than I do most of the time, with a soft texture and a white, milky crumb. And here it is. If you cannot eat the crunchy crust of a country bread type, you might want to turn to this kind of bread. The crust is also soft and it barely distinguish in texture from the crumb. Although it is not my favorite type of bread, it was well appreciated by others who were more used with soft breads.

I am just back from a short trip to this lovely place from France, called Provence. Endless violet lavender fields, red poppy fields, large sunflower fields and lots of aromatic herbs that grow almost wild. These are precious memories that lasts forever in my mind. The smell of fresh rosemary bushes is still so intense ... I just need to close my eyes and I travel there instantly.
Now, coming back with my feet on the ground, of course, I couldn't resist to extend a bit these great memories from Provence by making a sourdough bread. What else it could have been than a bread with Provence herbs? Just smelling this bread makes my mind go on holidays ...

Combining different flours with some seeds in a bread makes the taste of it more brought from the country side. This is what happened with this recipe. An uniform aerated crumb structure, with an almost equal medium sized boules inside made it a bread to remember.

How much I love cherries during the summer ! I couldn't resist to through them in an icecream too. Here it is... quick, simple and delicious.

I am going to give you a hint: when you want to make a simple bread but with a rich flavor/taste, then take some wheat flour, make a dough respecting the hydration proportions (for 1000g of flour add 700g water), add sourdough(~200g) or yeast (~20g), add salt (20g) and add that little something that will make your bread outstanding. That little something can be seeds, dried fruits, vegetables or, why not, herbs. Herbs can be used in bread dough both in fresh or dried. When using fresh, of course you need to increase 3 or 4 times the quantity.
For this bread I used dried parsley, but nothing prevents you to use fresh. You can use any type of aromatic herbs. This bread for me is one of the first with herbs but I have in mind to try some other aromas as well. Let's see how they will turn out ...

I've probably got an obsession lately, and this is to make a pink bread. I have tried first with wine. Even if that bread was a failure, the crumb was a dark brown. Then I have tried with beet. I was so excited to get a lovely pink dough ... even my daughter wanted to play with. But surprise, after baking the bread, including the crumb turned into a dark yellow color. So, no pink bread ...

I've been inspired to make this bread from a blog I've read once. Unfortunately I've lost the original link so I tried a combination of my own. If the color was not pink, the taste had something from the sweetness and flavor of the beet. As texture, I have found it to be more soft then usual, both inside and outside.
An interesting trial and a good bread. Perfect to be served in the morning with a cup of tea.

A bread to share with friends at on a lovely summer day. Try it when was not yet cooled or cut it the next day and you will still love it.

From the crumbs of my failed bread I made 2 breads: first it was my Resurrected bread and then this one. It was not a big difference between them but the taste was distinct.

For the baking of this bread I have tried another schedule. Usually I bake my breads 15 minutes at 275º/260º C and then I reduce to 220º/230ºC and continue the baking for another 30 minutes. What I changed this time, was to bake for 30 minutes at maximum temperature (275ºC) and then stop the oven and let the breads inside to continue to cook, without opening the oven door, for another 20 minutes. The result is that you'll obtain a darker bread crust. You might also save a bit of energy as the bread will cook for the last 20 minutes with the heat captured inside the oven and maintained by the stone. At the end of the last 20 minutes, the temperature had fallen to 210ºC. This was high enough to continue the baking and to get a cooked crumb.

I failed my bread. Yes, you've read well, I've failed my bread. I was so excited to try a fancy bread with wine and it didn't raise almost at all in 8 hours. I was at least hoping that when put in the oven it would raise a bit. No chance ... it didn't and I ended up with an uneatable bread. I was aware that wine would not make big bubbles to my bread but anyway, I was not expecting such a big failure.
Nevertheless, as you probably know me, I do not like to through away good flour ... not even from from a failed bread. So, what did I do? I've cut the bread in small pieces with a knife and with a mixer with  blade I have transformed it in small crumbs. Then, I have used this (at least a part of it) as an ingredient for the bread you see in this post.
Now, if you want to make this recipe, of course you do not have to fail your first bread and then make this one. But if it happens to you to have some old dried bread or to fail your bread by mistake, then keep this recipe as a rescue and do not throw your old one away. Let's see how I've done it ...

A different bread made in fact following the same principle as the Hemp sourdough bread. You replace hemp with poppy seeds. The quantities are just a bit different. The taste is instead totally different. If the hemp bread has a oily - nutty taste, the poppy seeds one has its specific taste. The latter has also raised more and its flavour is bringing my mind thinking to a cake. For the second fermentation, I chose to refrigerate it for some hours as during the day I was busy with other things.
I personally love this one.

This is not a real bread. It looks like one but in fact is a side dish, a vegetable bread.

Has a composition of a quiche or savoury tart, but because it is baked without a crust and in a bread form, it looks like a bread. Interesting and tasty in the same time ;)

An interesting bread. I didn't expect that hemp seeds can change the taste of the bread in such a way. It brings a soft and oily texture and in the same time offers a nutty flavour.

A bread that disappeared from my table almost instantly. This happened not because somebody has stolen the loaves but because they were eaten fast.
The day I have done this recipe I was caught by other daily house jobs and I have almost forgotten to shape the loaves. Luckily, it was not too late and I had to reduce the 2nd fermentation time to avoid over proofing.

It is not the first time I bake a salty tart / quiche with tuna. I've published some time ago a recipe of Tuna fish quiche. This one is another version of it, but different. My daughter is a very big fan of fish so there is no wonder that I am trying this kind of dish in many versions.
It is difficult to say which one was better so I let you to express your opinions after you try them both :)

The concentrated juice of wheatgrass is not probably the number one in my preferences in terms of taste. However, knowing its benefits brought to your body, I would not exclude it either. To avoid drinking it pure and experience a taste that I do not enjoy very much, I full my taste by putting it in various combinations with other fruits.
With my trials to extract the wheatgrass juice I have broken my juice extractor. As it is not one of those juices that I do every day, I do not feel like investing in a fancy and expensive specialized herbs juice extractor. Nevertheless, I have found a way to process the juice without damages and this is by using a blender. The wheatgrass has a very strong structure and using a normal juice extractor won't work as expected. Before blending it, you need to cut the wheatgrass with a kitchen knife 1cm long. This will help the blender knife to not get stuck. Then, and this is the dirty and ugly part, you need to filter out the juice from the remaining grass. I do this with a gauze in sieve and then squeeze well the solide part remained in the gauze. There will be green stains everywhere, on your hands, on your table, so be careful. But this is all and you have one of the healthiest juice on Earth.
When I harvest the wheat grass and make juice from it,  I usually store a part. I put it in ice cubes and freeze it for later usage in fresh smoothies or, like this time, I made popsicles.

I won't hide that after baking this bread I have enjoyed every single crumb of it. I simply don't know what was its secret comparing to other breads but it turned out to be amazing. I was eating it not only in addition to a soup but also as a snack. The pumpkin seeds (in big quantity in this bread) gave a nutty flavour to the bread.
This is for sure that kind of bread that worth to be made over and over again.

This is the second desert I made with rhubarb. the first one was the Rhubarb tart. If you ask me which one I prefer.... it is difficult to say. The tart is adding the shortcrust pastry flavour, while the clafoutis is softer and tastes like a creme caramel. In fact, it is not far from that. But I love them both ...

It is difficult sometimes to buy the exact quantity of fresh fruits that you are able to consume in the following days. This is how, sometimes I chose to freeze them in advance to avoid throwing them later.
It was the case for 2 packages of grated apples that were waiting for me in the freezer. I was lacking also time to follow a fancy recipe, so I made a very quick one.
The semolina helps in reducing the moisture of the apples. The raisins add more sweetness, while keeping the sugar very low. The rhum essence and cinnamon adds flavour.
With all these elements, you cannot miss a perfect dessert.

Following these principles, as I had plenty of strawberries that we were incapable to eat fresh, I had to conserve them somehow. The best was to do a smoothie, drink a part and freeze the rest. I went for the option of spicing it a bit with some ginger and I added the juice of one orange to give the blender a little start. To sweet it more, I have added a hand of raisins. If you do not want this, skip this step.Blend everything together and drink it... or make popsicles with.

From all the puréed soups, the tomato one is my favorite. Each time I try a different recipe and every time I can say that the last one is the best. Each time I want to make it more simple and more tasty. The addition of bell peppers add something special to the taste. It has some Mediterranean flavor in it. Here is the simplest one I've done so far...

This bread is not with millet flour as you would have expected, but with millet seeds. Soaked from one day to another, they become soft and they complement very well the bread taste.

I think I should not be ashamed to tell that, till this age, I have not tasted this plant called rhubarb. It was simply not very popular in my home country. I've seen it before in supermarkets or organic markets, I've looked at it in a weird way but I did not feel like buying it as I didn't know what to do with it. Later, I saw some recipes in different cook books and magazines, but I was still not that excited to try it. But this spring, I don't know why or how, I was simply in a search for trying something different from the usual staff. And I saw it in a Saturday market standing there... staring at me ... screaming in an appealing way... "take me"... "take me" .... and this is how, as I couldn't have resisted to this temptation, I ended up buying 3 bunches of rhubarb.
Of course, you are probably wondering.... and... how was it? I had no idea either how it was suppose to taste ... I was imagining a sweet taste with a heavy specific vegetable flavour. Well a total surprise... not sweet but sour, with no other additional flavour.
The surprise was even bigger when I have offered a slice to my daughter. First, as I was expecting, she ate the crust. Then, I was expecting to stop after that, but she didn't. She picked all rhubarb pieces from the slice and eat them one by one. Well, this was a really good surprise for me.
The next one to try my tart was my dear husband and his reaction was also surprising: "Mmmm, that's very interesting..." even though he is not a big fan of sweet dishes.
Do I have to make more presentation of it? ... I guess not... here it is the recipe.

I have put in this bread a type of flour that I have not used before. I have milled the quinoa myself with a coffee grinder and added it in the bread. Although the quantity was not that much, there was a clear increase in flavour and taste. The bonus of this bread was... lovely raised ears.

When you freeze your smoothies you may find some ice crystals in your ice cream. This is because there is not a lot of fat in the composition. However, this can be fixed by adding a diary product, especially yogurt.

After a week spent in a delicious location like Sicily is difficult to come back and cook something that will beat the flavours of the previous holiday. There is however something that I haven't eat so much in this last escape of mine, and this was of course soup. I've done soups before of many colors but not white. And, as I had a big celery in my fridge the idea came straight forward.
I then put my hand on a very old book from 1985, full of traditional Romanian recipes. Of course I changed it a bit (like I always do) but the result was surprisingly tastier than the expected one. I was expecting a fade taste but it wasn't like that at all.

This is a bread with a new interesting combination of ingredients: organic whole wheat, durum and barley malt. This time I have used the liquid barley malt and not the powder one. The difference is in smell and taste. While the powder malt smells like coffee, the liquid one smells and taste like caramel. Imagine what this brings to your bread... a light sweet flavor and a dark color. As this bread contains a lot of whole wheat flour, I was not expecting that it would raise that much so I have added some gluten powder to give it a kick to make bubbles. It worked and in the end I have baked a nicely aerated bread that I am proud of.

Simple, quick, healthy, delicious.

A quick soup, full of vegetables with spicy accents. Healthy and full of vitamins. Take it with a slice or two of sourdough bread and with a secret ingredient ...

I have to be honest and recognise that when I was a child I simply hated any additional herbs in my food. With time, this has changed and more specifically when I arrived in Belgium where the supermarket food didn't have the same smell and taste as the one picked from my grandmother's garden. I turned then to herbs to increase the taste and flavor. Step by step, I learned to recognise all herbs and their translation in French. Although not a herb, I remember that in my process of learning the translations in French, the most funny was the celery (root). I was used with a celery full of dirt, no bigger than an apple and with a strong smell. I went several times to the supermarket and couldn't recognise it. I spotted a root vegetable, big as a cabbage, white and very clean and with almost no smell. To be sure, I made a photo and send it to my mother to confirm. I also checked the wiki as I thought maybe it was another specie. But no, it was the Belgian supermarket celery.
Coming back to my herbs identification, there was one that I didn't find it at all. I had its strong smell and taste in my mind but it was impossible to buy it here. One day, a friend brought me a small pot with some little plants. Immediately, I have recognised it and he confirmed that he had brought the seeds from Romania. It was lovage, and this was the herb that I was talking about. I took great care of it, I have planted in the greenhouse but unfortunately, when I have left in a 2 week holiday, the plant has died. Since then, I had in mind to bring this plant from Romania myself. My mother gave me some plants, root included and I have transported back to my house. I planted them in pots and let them in my greenhouse. Now, they are well raised and I had the great pleasure to use them for the first time with a soup. Here they are. Lovage. My secret ingredient for seasoning.

I made this cake in a hurry, but with a double special occasion, for my dear husband. Being a cake for a men, I stayed out of any pink layer and put more accent on green.

Here it is, my second raw vegan cake. It could not stop to impress me how easy and healthy these kind of cakes are.

I'm in the mood of a healthy and delicious soup. This has oriental influences and the addition of the coconut milk makes it fantastic.  I am simply in love with this easy and amazing recipe! It is so tasty... I simply cannot stop eating it ...

To increase the variation of fruity sorbets you can add a magic ingredient that will make your ice cream smoother and creamy. This ingredient is  coconut milk. Just try it and you'll see the difference!

A quick and delicious recipe for muffins with chocolate and berries.

Do you like the carrot juice? I simply love it, but what do you do with the pulp that  remains after the extraction of the juice? Please do not tell me that you are throwing it away! You may at least put it in the compost. Or, I have a better idea, use it in a cake. I made before a bread with the same carrot pupl, do you remember? Look at it here. But now it is not about a bread, is about a cake, again with no sugar. Carrots are sweet and to add more sweetness I have used 100ml of maple syrup. You can use also honey if you prefer.
This cake is perfect to have it with you as a snack during the day in the office. My daughter asked for a piece every day for her snack at kindergarten.

The soup that I made is a beet one, complemented with some other vegetables. I recognise that I took advantage of its colour to "sell" it to my daughter. And it worked, at least the first time.

During my last visit in Romania I have received 2 pots of quince jam. They were tasting exactly how I remembered this kind of jam from my childhood. But this jam is so sweet that it cannot be eaten as it is, so combined with some yogurt would make a perfect combination.

I made this bread as a trial (as most of all actually :) ) but I never thought that the end result will be so impressive. I ate this bread as a delicacy and I appreciated it like one of the most rich bread ever.
I made also a carrot soup and this bread with pumpkin seeds fitted the soup like two faces of the same coin.
Now when I write this post, the bread is almost over and I am already missing it. It definitely requires a second round of this bread.