Apples everywhere...

Apples rule! We have so many apples that they will soon fill the kitchen up to the ceiling. And...apple pies, apple pancakes, jams, dry apples - it's not the whole list of things you can make of them!

Here is a very easy recepie of  russian apple jam "5 minutes". In this kind of jam all nutrients and vitamins are preserved very well, so it's a healthy and quite low-sugar dessert.

You need:
apples - peeled and destoned - 1 kilo
white sugar - 200g

Dice apples, place in an enamel bowl (sausepan) and cover them with sugar. Leave for an hour (until juice appears), stirring occasionally. When the mixture is juicy enough, place the bowl on a cooker and slowly reduce to boiling - it will take about 5 min. Don't forget to stir the mixture vigorously all the time. Jam is ready! Fill some jars with it and keep in a cool place.
This jam doesn't have long shelf life, though it even needn't it - because it too tasty!))

Summer flowers

There are some flowers that are especially gorgeous there this summer.

Lilac

Garden violets

...some more of them

 

Jasmine

Though tulips have already gone, I can't but place the picture of them.

First crocus and blossoming willow

Yes, first flowrs are only appearing now - happily smiling under the really warm sun.

WILLOW

CROCUS

Spring willow

Spring is coming so slowly here in the North. But the sun is fabulous and trees and birds are waking up.

Blossoming willow

Church bell

Happy sparrow

Semolina and lemon cake

This is a veganised variant of a popular Russian recepie. I love lemon cakes, so I add lemon, but instead /or you can add raisins or some other dry or fresh fruit.

For a middle-sized cake I took:

semolina - 250g
soy flour - 2 tbs
sugar - 3 full tbs
a half of lemon
baking soda - 1 1/2 tea sp
baking powder - 1/2 tea sp
apple vinegar - a splash
vanilla sugar with natural vanilla extract - 2 tea sp
vegan margarin - 2 tbs
see salt - a pinch, to taste

Preheat an oven to 200 degrees C. Mix well semolina with margarin in a bowl. Grind lemon (rind, flesh and juice - all goes), add it to the bowl. Add sugar, vanilla sugar, salt, soy flour and baking powder and mix well. Extinguish soda with vinegar, add to the bowl. Add some water to make a thick batter, mix very well again.
Grease a middle-sized baking form, put your batter into it and level a bit. Put into the oven, bake for about 40 min.
You'll get something like this, very fragrant and tasty:

Semolina cake

 

The first signs

The daylight is becoming more and more prolonged. Birds are becoming loud and active. It's not the spring itself yet, but the first signs of it. Wish it's getting warmer soon.

Sparrow

Russian pancakes

Russian Pancake week is a week before Lent, seven weeks before Easter. The tradition of cooking pancakes which symbolise the sun is derived from the sun worship of the ancient times. Now pancakes are the symbol of passing winter and coming spring. Each hostess has her own recepie of pancakes, there are no right and wrong recepies - the main rule is your personal preferences.
Here is the simplest recepie of vegan pancakes, of so called "thin" pancakes (for "thick" you need some yeast).
Ingredients:
1-2 cups of white flour
2 tbs of soy flour
1/2 cup of sunflower oil
 water
sugar, salt to taste

1. Start with adding water to white flour little by little, to make nice batter, without flakes. The batter should be liquid but not too much - a consistence something like that of treacle. It's not easy to find this appropriate consistence, so add some flour or water in the process of cooking, looking at what is turning out..
2. Mix soy flour with water and add to the batter. Add salt and sugar.
3. Heat a frying pan with at least 3 tea spoons of oil till the oil is boiling.
4. Spoon up a good ladle of the batter and pour out onto the pan. Swing the pan from right to left to let the batter spread in a thin layer at the whole surface. Fry for about 30 seconds, then turn uside down with the help of a broad knife. Lay the ready pancake on a plate, grease the pan again and pour out a new portion of batter. And so it goes.

The first pancake may be not as nice as you'd like it to be, but the next ones will get out better and better. You can make some filling (tofu, cooked vegetables, raisins - whatever you like) and roll it up in pancakes. Or just deep them in jam and eat. )))