This is a great warm winter soup. It takes only 30 minutes to cook, but it vanishes even faster than it took you to cook
it.
Cooking time 30 minutes.
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Serves 4 people.
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Top 3 Fall Soups
These three soups are the best comfort meal for the lunch in fall: it enegrizes, keeps you warm and boosts your taste buds. You can add lots of flavors to these soups by experimenting with herbs: basil, dill, parsley and others.
Vegetarian Pea Soup
Vegetarian pea soup is good those days when you want a rich-creamy soup without any meat component in it. It’s a comfort food perfect right for the days when it’s chilly and drizzly outside. This recipe has simple ingredients and doesn’t require to be a skillful chef to prepare it.
All in all perfect autumn soup for the family. Read more
Pumpkin crème-soup with shrimp, cream cheese and basil.
It’s autumn and it means that it’s time for a great pumpkin soup with shrimp that I just LOVE cooking.
It doesn’t require a lot of effort but it comes out perfectly smooth, bringing in the autumn flavors and colors into your kitchen.
I tasted this soup long time ago in Europe, brought it into my kitchen and my family just loves it. Hope, you will too. Read more
This is a very simple crème soup. It takes 40 minutes to cook and your family will enjoy this meal. It’s a great summer or fall soup for your to enjoy! Simple and flavorful! It takes little effort to cook and it’s a really light dish. It gives you energy and makes you feel good. Read more
Vegetarian Pea Soup
Vegetarian pea soup is good those days when you want a rich-creamy soup without any meat component in it. It’s a comfort food perfect right for the days when it’s chilly and drizzly outside. This recipe has simple ingredients and doesn’t require to be a skillful chef to prepare it.
All in all perfect autumn soup for the family.
Cooking time: 1 h
Preparation time: 15 min
Inactive time: 30 min
1 cup of peas
3-4 qt. of water
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of black fresh ground pepper
3 tablespoons of sour cream
1 tablespoon of cooking oil (vegetable better)
1 medium white onion
1 carrot
3 medium potatoes
1 red bell pepper
2 bay leaves (or 1 teaspoon of crushed bay leaves)
Pre-soak 1 cup of peas for 30 minutes. (Use hot water and twice bigger bowl, in order for you to keep the beans in the bowl not outside of it:-).
Peel and wash the veggies: onion, carrot, potatoes and pepper. Shred the carrot and finely chop the onion and pepper. Cut potato in medium sized pieces. Put the half of the chopped onion aside.
Set a 3 quart saucepan with water and add the veggies plus couple of bay leaves, add salt and black pepper.
Simmer for 10 minutes and then add the peas. Boil the soup for 30-40 minutes at the low heat.
Set a frying pan and add 1 tablespoon of cooking oil and the chopped onion. Fry on medium heat, until golden brown and then add 3 tablespoons of sour cream or cooking cream. Braise for 5 minutes and then pour the sauce into the soup and stir very well.
Simmer the soup for another 20 minutes or until the peas dissolve in the soup, truning it into the rich creme-soup.
Serve this soup warm, you may add some sour cream in each plate separately.
I fry the fine italian bread cut in medium squares with salt and pepperand add it to the soup when eating.
You can choose to do the same if you’d like.
Button Mushrooms stuffed with minced meat with lemon basil and grapes.
This recipe is really amazing and fast to cook, considering the fact that button mushrooms contain 17 different vitamins, the benefits from this dish increase dramatically.
This dish has a long history in my house, it was cooked without cheese and grapes, but I decided to add the sweet twist to it. THe bitterness of cheese and buttin mushrooms combined with sweetness ofgrapes and lemon basil make the combination very rich and the taste pallette wider.
Recipe serves: 2 
Cooking time:20 minutes
Preparation time :10 minutes
For the recipe you will need:
8 big button mushrooms
1/2 lbs of minced pork meat
1/4 of white onion peeled and finely chopped
1 pinch of salt
1 pinch of black pepper
8 leaves of lemon basil
grapes
2 pieces of provolone sliced cheese.
Step 1: Take the button mushrooms stalks away. Clean the mushroom from the inside peel the skin (optional), wash carefully.
Step 2: Chop the onion, mix with minced pork and seson very well.
Step 3: Take the washedbutton mushroom caps, put them near you, form the meatball out of the meat, put the meatball inside the button mushtoom cap.
Step4: Repeat with all 8 mushroom caps, set on a baking dish and set to bake at 350F for 17 minutes.
****Helen’s cooking tip*** Don’t forget to add water into the baking dish (1/2 cup)***
Step 5: While the mushrooms are baking take the cheese slices cut them in quarters and set aside. Take the seedless grapes, cut it in slices and set aside. Wash the lemon basil leaves.
Step 6: In 17 minutes take your button mushrooms out of the oven, sover with cheese and set to bake for 3 more minutes.
Step 7: In 3 minutes, take the mushrooms out and decorate with sliced grapes and lemon basil.
Serve warm.
Enjoy!
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Apple, cinnamon and walnut rolls + cream cheese crispy rolls!
This is the simplest recipe of rolls in the world. The dough is very easy to cook and it’s very tender, almost melting in the mouth. This is also a very good dough for cookies.
For the dough:
1 stick of butter
1 cup of sugar
1.5 cups of flour (sifted, self-rising)
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1 egg
1 tablespoon of sour cream
2 tablespoons of water
For the filling:
3-4 apples
1 teaspoon cinnamon powder
1 tablespoon of sugar
½ cup of chopped walnuts
The dough:
Cut 1 stick of butter (or shred), mix it with 1 cup of sugar and mash the butter with a fork or knife until it will turn into butter crumbs.
Add 1.5 cup of flour, mix very well with butter and sugar.
In a cup mix: 1 egg, 2 tablespoons of water +1 tablespoon of sour cream. Pour into the butter-sugar-flour mixture and knead the dough. The dough will be very tender and fragile. Form out of the dough two balls and put the dough into the freezer for 10 minutes.
Filling:
Wash, peel and chop the apples into the midsized chunks, add sugar, cinnamon and walnuts.
Set aside.
Forming the rolls:
Take out the dough. Take one ball and gently (!) roll it out with the dough roller. Don’t press too hard this dough is fragile. Cut the dough layer into two halves. (This will be your two big rolls that you will cut into the small bite size rolls) on one half of the dough put the apple filling. Put not too much of the filling and put it in a row. Then roll the layer with filling in and cut into the small bite size rolls crosswise.
Put the small rolls roses on a baking dish 4-5 inches away from each other as they will become bigger while baking.
Repeat the same procedure with the second half of your rolled out dough and with the second ball of dough.
***Tip from Helen*** I used for the second dough ball cream cheese filling. The filling is very simple to make ¾ of a cream cheese pack and 2-3 tablespoons of sugar mixed. When you mux the cream cheese and sugar spread it on each dough layer and roll it in as I wrote before. The rest of the procedure is the same.***
Baking:
Bake at 350 F for 20 minutes or until golden brown.
Which version to choose?
I honestly can’t decide which rolls are more delicious: with apples and cinnamon and walnuts or with cream cheese. So bake the two versions usually.
It’s very delicious, simple and warm fall dessert.
Enjoy!
Top 3 Tortilla Recipes: 10 minute healthy recipes.
Tortilla is a unique ingredient: every dish you incorporate it in is simple, easy to cook , yet very delicious.
These 3 recipes are my favorites when I am on the run and the family needs to have a snack.
It’s good to take with you if you decide to go camping or travel by car at the long distances.
You can also cook this dish with fruit, berries, I sometimes use bacon and cheese, whatever you want.
For this dish you will need
Meat ( in my case beef) for 4 tortillas I used ½ pound
1 small onion
1 egg
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper Read full recipe
Apple hot pockets are a great fall breakfast for a weekday. with Tortillas you can cook them in minutes in the evening and reheat in the morning.
For the recipe you will need:
4 medium apples;
4 tortillas;
2 tablespoons of sugar;
2 tablespoons of vegetable oil Read more
Burrito with sausage, cheese, tomato and basil.
Burritos should be spicy and meaty, but as my family loves burritos and doesn’t loce them too spicy I decided to invent mine.
(Honetly there’s nothing to invent) Just throw in together the delicious vinnagraitte of saucage, tomato, cheese and onion with herbs. Read more
Healthy Fall Dessert: Baked apples with walnuts, honey and cinnamon.
This recipe is as easy as it can only get. I think the hardest part is to take the apples’ seeds out, so that the apples would be intact. 
I am cooking these apples since the time I remember myself cooking. My Daddy cooks these apples in red wine, but, let’s not get too crazy here. I’m on a quest for a healthy, kid-friendly dessert. 
You will need:
9 apples (you can take more, you can take less. 9 apples are good for 3 people)
1 cup of walnuts
1-2 teaspoons of cinnamon powder
2-3 tablespoons of honey (depends on how you like them: too sweet or not so sweet)
¼ stick of butter.
I don’t use sugar, caramel or anything unnatural in this dessert. It’s sweet, delicious healthy. Your family members will LOVE this desert because combination of the ingredients is amazingly delicious.
You will like this dessert, because it is healthy and doesn’t involve sugar.
Step 1: Wash and take the seeds out of the apple as shown in the picture.
Step 2: Crush the walnuts, add some honey, cinnamon, melted butter and honey. Mix very well.
Step 3: Preheat the oven at 350F. Put the stuffing (walnuts with honey, cinnamon and butter) inside the apples, place in a deep baking dish, add some water.
Step 4: Bake for 25-30 minutes and serve warm.
Enjoy!
***Tip from Helen*** I prefer mid-sized red apples for this dish, but green will also be fine. Just they shouldn’t be too firm. Yellow apples won’t taste as good, because they will be too sweet and soft ***
Homemade hot pockets with apples. (healthy breakfast in 10 minutes)
This is a great weekday breakfast. It’s very easy to cook, it’s healthy and very delicious autumn treat.
If you like the cinnamon, you can add it as well, walnuts will also taste amazing in this simple dish.
When I cook it , sometimes, they don’t “live” till morning family members hunt for them in the evening and at night.
(please note that the pockets in the picture are made of the homemade flour tortillas, so these are a little bit different looking)
For the recipe you will need:
4 medium apples;
4 tortillas;
2 tablespoons of sugar;
2 tablespoons of vegetable oil;
Wash the apples, peel them, then chop into mid sized chunks (take out the apple seeds ptip to chopping the apples). 
Mix the chopped apples with sugar( add walnuts, cinnamon at this stage if you want to).
Preheat your oven at 375 F.
Take the baking dish, grease it with 1 tablespoon of oil.
Take your tortilla, put the apple mix on one half of it, cover with the second half and press firmly (BUT DON’T SQUEEZE TOO HARD).
Put your hot pockets on a baking dish, brush tortillas with the vegetable oil (optional), and set to bake for 10 minutes.
Your dish is ready in 10 minutes. (the tortillas will be crispy and light golden).
Enjoy!
Burritos with sausage, cheese and tomato. (10 minute ready healthy dinner)
Burritos should be spicy and meaty, but as my family loves burritos and doesn’t loce them too spicy I decided to invent mine.
(Honetly there’s nothing to invent) Just throw in together the delicious vinnagraitte of saucage, tomato, cheese nd onion with herbs.
Yes, I know it’s not traditional burritos , but who told we should be traditional?
WE eat what we love and what is delicious and healthy.
So for my healthy Burritos you will need:
4 flour tortillas (homemade is even better!)
1 sausage
1 big tomato
1/2 lb. of cheese (shredded or shred yourself) 
1/4 onion
1/3 lemon basil chopped
1 pinch of salt
1 pinch of black pepper
1 pinch of red pepper
Wash and chop into mid-sized chnks the tomato. finely chop the onion, season and mix in a bowl. Slice the sausage. And now let’s gather the burrito:
Put the slices of sausage in the middle, add tomato and onion, put on top a lot of cheese and lemon basil.
Roll it in!
Press it all together. Repeat with the other 3 torillas and set to bake at 375F for 7-10 minutes.
Ready!
Enjoy your burritos:-)
Vegetarian pizza (with zucchini, mushrooms, red bell pepper,carrot, garlic and onion)
This pizza is a “sister” of my “delicious 30 minute pizza.” It’s cooked from scratch in 30-35 minutes and I just Love this combination of veggies. You can use your combination, but this one is good for me!
The dough is the same:
2.5 cups of sifted flour
1 cup of hot water
0.25 oz. dry yeast
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of sugar
Filling:
1 zucchini;
1/2 small can of mushrooms;
½ carrot (medium);
½ red bell pepper (medium);
¼ of onion (medium);
½ lb. cheese (shredded);
1 teaspoon of tomato sauce
1 teaspoon of mayo
Pinch of salt, pepper and oregano.
Sift the flour; add sugar, salt and yeast. Pour in hot water and olive oil, Mix well.
Put in the oven for 10-15 minutes (the oven shouldn’t be turned on)
Put on the shelf below the dough a bowl with hot water.
Chop the veggies: zucchini should be midsized, slice the mushrooms or use canned, finely chop the onion, red bell pepper and garlic. (Garlic should be very well chopped, almost in crumbs)
Take out your dough. Divide into two parts. From this amount of dough you can get 2 pizzas and 5-6 hot pockets with apples or anything you like. (Read about the hot pockets- in my next post!)
Roll out one part of the dough cut it to the size of your pizza form.
Put it in your pizza form and cover the dough with mayo and tomato sauce. Spread it evenly over the dough, season with salt, pepper and sprinkle oregano on top. Put the half of your shredded cheese on top of the tomato-mayo layer, and then add your veggies one by one.
Set to bake in a preheated oven for 15-20 minutes. (The oven should be preheated to 375F)
Before taking the pizza out cover the pie with another cheese layer.
Take out in 3-5 minutes.
Enjoy!
