Super-tasty Spinach Salad

Lots of fresh spinach leaves
2 tomatoes
15 green pitted olives
2 hard boiled eggs
Olive oil
Oregano
Parsley
Black pepper
Salt


Cut spinach to thin strips, tomatoes to thin pieces also, and olives to 'o' slices. Mix everything apart from eggs and put it in a dish, top it with sliced eggs.

Super-simple Curry

You'd better believe me when I say I invented/discovered the easiest dish in the world! I'll just get on with it then.


You'll need:
Frozen vegetables
Curry powder
Cream
Salt

Do I need to walk you through this? Just boil the vegetebles in a pot until they're aaalmost ready (I chose broccoli, cauliflower, baby carrots, green peas and spinach (you want to cut those to small pieces after they're boiled)), you drain them and toss them into a frypan to cook in olive oil covered, you add lots of curry, mix everything and 20 minutes before it's ready you add  cream! And that's that!
Oh, for a full meal boil some rice (brown short grain is super-good with that!).

And there you have it! Pretty straightforward for a tasty meal like this, huh? :)

Miso Pasta

If you happen to like traditional Japanese soup called Miso, you will find no problem finding all the ingredients in your cupboards. If not, try it out - it’s amazing and so easy to cook. I’ve combined some of the ingredients into a mild-tasting pasta meal.

YOU'LL NEED:

Spaghetti (or any other pasta) for 2 persons

Salt

Butter, 1 tablespoon

Instant Dashi (Bonito stock) 1 pack

Miso Shiro (White Miso paste) 1 tablespoon

Dried parsley (or Nori flakes)

Ground cinnamon

Boil pasta in lightly salted water, drain. While the pasta is cooking, dissolve Miso in 50ml of boiling water. Set the heat on absolute minimum. Add butter and mix well. Sprinkle the Bonito over the spaghetti and mix again (you could probably dissolve it with the Miso for more intense flavor – I did not think about at the time) Splash the pasta with dissolved Miso, sprinkle liberally with parsley and with just a little bit of cinnamon to add warmth, then mix for the last time. It’s ready and it looks great :)

Itadakimasu!

Teriyaki salmon with Mediterranean style vegetables.

Here's a piece of advice: In a good meal, as much as in a person, appearance is very important. Garnish your meal to look appetizing and don't smear the plate with food before it's even served.

There's a very tasty recipe I've found for cooking delicious salmon East Asian style. The fanciest ingredients you will need are Teriyaki sauce (a.k.a. marinade) and Sweet Chilli Sauce. I happened to readily have both :) There is no need to copy-paste the recipe, so please follow this link.

Instead of the recommended stir-fry vegatables, though, I stir-fried some Mediterranean style vegetables I bought frozen mix and just added soy sauce, but in case you can't get your hands on one, there are plenty of recipes for how to cook it from fresh vegetables, for example this link or that link :)

I happened to have been made some delicious mashed potatoes to have with the meal, but the whole idea is to serve the salmon with vegetables only.

It's also healthier not to mix carbohydrates with protein That's because your stomach produces only one type of acid at a time, and that type of acid can either break down carbohydrates or protein foods at that time. One of them has then to wait until the other one is finished with. And that's why you feel full for longer. It basically rots in there. Sorry for the unappetizing ending, but you have to know.

Found some Concentrato di Pomodoro in the fridge.

Ei, vienintele followere, išradau naują receptą! Tiesą pasakius du. Tik prisimink, kad didžioji dalis idėjų pasaulyje yra building up on previous ideas.

•Pasta

Pasta (spaghetti) for 3

Salt

Butter

Olive oil (Napolina, lemon and dill flavoured)

Tomatoes 2

Dried basil

Garlic cloves 3

Lemon juice

Concentrato di pomodoro (tomato pasta?) 50g

Salt

Boil pasta in salted water until it's still a bit hard on the inside; if you're not planning on serving it right away, bear in mind that even if drained, pasta will continue to soften and it's not as good overcooked.

For the sauce use a frying pan. Throw diced tomatoes in plenty of preheated olive oil, sprinkle dried basil and chopped garlic on top, mix it, add a dash of lemon juice and the concentrated tomatoes :), mix it again, add some salt to your liking, mix it yet again (I know...) and let it rest off the hob for a bit.

Mix it well with pasta, and sprinkle with oregano and pepper for decoration. Oh, I kept on adding hot water to it because it was too concentrated and kept on drying further. You have to dilute the sauce to mix it evenly with pasta.

•Couscous 

For cooking couscous, use the same recipe I've reccomended previously, but add a bag of Chai tea and a bit of butter to the boiling water.

Olive oil (Napolina, lemon and dill flavoured)

Tomatoes 3

Dried basil

Concentrato di pomodoro 50g

Greek style salad cheese 100g

Eggs 2

Salt

Lemon

Thai sweet chilli sauce

Again, diced tomatoes went into a fry pan with the preheated oil, basil was sprinkled liberally, concentrate was added... I don't like this way of writing. OK, then sprinkle the crumbled cheese, throw in the two eggs, sprinkle some salt on them and, this important, don't mix it too much. Don't move anything until the eggs start turning white, then mix it a bit and leave it again. But make sure the sauce doesn't start burning and, also keep on adding hot water trough the course to dilute it. Let it rest off-hob.

Add it on top of the couscous, add some sweet chilli sauce, squeeze few drops of lemon on top and decorate it with a half a slice of lemon sticking out of the pool of the chilli sauce and swallow your tongues :)

Lithuanian Samogitian oven-baked potatoes.

My mother mother told me this recipe earlier this week when I was visiting her. It's an old 'Žemaitiškas' recipe. I don't know if it's any better than any other recipes, but the fact that it comes from that region and from those times really appeals to me.

Potatoes
Carrots (optional)
Oil
Cumin seed
Ground pepper
Salt


I quarter them then set them to boil. It's my personal preference but I also like to add some carrots. When the water starts boiling vigorously, I drain the potatoes, immediately sprinkle them with cumin seeds, ground black pepper, salt and splash it with olive oil (any oil is good, really). Don't overdo the dry stuff, better less than too much. Then I mix everything in the boiling pan and shuffle the spiced potatoes in a tray. I bake it until the ones on top start turning brown on the surface. Ta-dah! (An imitation of a fanfare, used typically to call attention to an impressive entrance or a dramatic announcement.) Oh wait, set the oven for around 200ºC.

Couscous Recipes

There are some things I like to eat with couscous. This is the recipe for easy-made couscous. If you're Mr. Fancy-pants, you can steam it, use Chai bags or stock to alter the flavour.

When cooking any of these, I usually have to add water during the process so that it would not start burning.

I'll start with the easiest one which makes a soft-tasting breakfast.

Olive oil

Tomatoes

Celery sticks

Paprika (optional)

Soy sauce (optional)

Dried parsley

Black pepper

Salt

Ground coriander

Eggs

Olive oil

Tomatoes

Mushrooms

Black pepper

Dried parsley

Eggs

Soy sauce

Salt

Cheddar cheese (extra mature, crumbled)

 I tried arranging these in order of  going to the pan, well, more or less. As for the amount, just work it out yourselves. Usually it's 2-3 tomatoes, 3-5 celery sticks and 2-3 eggs. When you put eggs in, mix everything and make sure the eggs are cooked. The vegetables should still retain some crunchiness. Just top a plate of couscous with that or mix it in a pan and enjoy a mild-tasting meal.

Meats that go well with couscous are chicken and fish. I have another recipe that's quite easy yet very tasty.

You'll need to shallow fry some Coriander Chicken, some couscous (link to recipe above) and some probably Mexican-tasting stew:

Olive oil

Tomatoes

Green paprika

Lime

Dried chilli

Salt

Fresh parsley leaves

It's super-simple - just cut it however you want it, squeeze a half of lime over it when it's cooked for a bit, leave the rind in the pan, make it chili with chilli, salt, cut parsley and 'tadah!' But make sure everything's cooked this time.