Tiramisu inspired birthday cake

 

This month I'm celebrating not only a birthday of my special someone, but also the first anniversary of Lemon & Strawberries! The time is passing so fast, that it only occurred to me when I realized I'm posting a birthday cake recipe and remembered that I started this blog with one too!
Throughout this year I've learned a lot about blogging, taking food pictures and got tons and tons new ideas! I found many interesting recipes to try out, but I also found great communities of bloggers like me, who are a great support when I'm second-guessing myself. So to celebrate all of this, and many more milestones I've reached last year, I'm sharing with you an amazing recipe for a tiramisu inspired birthday cake - soft, fluffy and delicious!

Greek meatballs & kritharaki (orzo) in tomato sauce

Past two weeks were extremely busy for me and I didn't even have time to eat properly! What a shame! Today I'm making it up and decided to cook these delicious meatballs, served with kritharaki pasta & tomato sauce. This dish is one of the best comfort food you can think of! I mean, who doesn't like the classic combination of meatballs and pasta, right? I used kritharaki (orzo), but you can serve these amazing meatballs with any other type of pasta you like. 

Classic polish tomato soup

This tomato soup is one of my favorites. Why? Because it's very simple to make, delicious and perfect for colder days. It can be made with an addition of rice or noodles and I prefer the latter. The main taste comes from either fresh tomatoes or tomato paste - I like both versions, but the one with tomato paste usually gets thicker and I think it makes a better comfort food in the Winter.
In my recipe I've used kritharaki pasta (also called "orzo"), but any type of pasta will be good!
Tomato soup is pretty fast to cook so I make it often when I don't have much time. If you're looking for an idea for easy, delicious and comforting dinner, then you should try my tomato soup!

It's Fat Thursday! You need to have them: polish pączki with marmalade.

Happy Fat Thursday everyone! It's one of my favorite polish holidays! It belongs to the tradition of celebrating Carnival and marks a beginning of the last week of that period. During that day we're eating huge amounts of sweets - because when the Lent starts, we shouldn't do it anymore - it's a time of fasting in Catholic Christian religion. Traditionally on Fat Thursday people are eating "faworki" ("angel wings") and other delicious sweets, but the hero of a day are "pączki". Pączki are polish type of donuts with rose marmalade filling, but recently other variations appear like for example pączki with chocolate or vanilla and even eggnog cream.

My favorite are the ones with rose marmalade and since I couldn't get it in Greece, I've decided to mix hard strawberry marmalade with some rose water - it came out delicious!

They say you've got to eat at least one pączek on Fat Thursday to have a good luck for the rest of a year, so forget the calories and grab one!

Polish apple pie from my mom's cookbook - classic "szarlotka"

 

I love apples! Well, who doesn't? This recipe for a delicious apple pie comes from a family cookbook my mom wrote and gave me when I moved to Greece - I mentioned it on another occasion - when I was making a brownie.
Apple pie (szarlotka) is a perfect dessert no matter what time of a year it is. In the Summer it tastes amazing with some ice cream on top, in the Winter it's perfect with a cup of tea or hot chocolate. It smells delicious - apples and cinnamon is a mouth-watering combination for me! Plus this apple pie comes with a light foam and sweet crumble on top - what else could I possibly need?

Greek bean soup (Fasolada)

 

Lately it's pretty cold, even in Greece. Days like these I really enjoy food that warms you up! This bean soup (fasolada) is one of such dishes - hearty, spicy and perfect in the Winter. It's also pretty simple, just few ingredients, it doesn't need much attention and the only thing that takes time is soaking & cooking beans (unless you're using canned ones). Fasolada is one of my favourite Greek dishes - the taste is amazing, it's one of those comfort foods that we all need sometimes, especially in the cold, gloomy days!