No-bake Lemon Curd Chocolate Cheesecake

   This recipe was born out of my longing for cheesecake and remembering one of my favorite chocolates ever: lemon pepper dark chocolate. I remember how 2 years ago while planning my wedding cake I really wanted to go for cheesecake. The thing is I tried so many cheesecakes around town in the search of that perfect one that I became sick of it and I had to switch the cake. Apparently there is such a thing as getting tired of something that is very delicious if you have a lot of it :) 

   But it's been a looooong time since I had cheesecake and today I made my own version! I love chocolate, I love lemon chocolate, so why not lemon chocolate cheesecake? :) I found a recipe (https://goo.gl/u19yVX) for inspiration and I switched the white chocolate with dark chocolate. I also added coconut flakes in the base cos Alexandra, my friend, taught me this little trick and I loved it ever since :D

   Proud moment: I made my first ever lemon curd today! Woo-hooo! I'll definitely try it out again! Another achievement unlocked! :)

   Enough talk, let's get to business. I love this recipe because it's easy, it requires few ingredients and it's done in a giffy. Ok, maybe a bit more :D 

Ingredients:

The base:

- 250g digestive biscuits

- 100g butter, melted

- a handful of coconut flakes

The cheesecake filling:

- 300ml heavy cream

- 560g cream cheese

- 1 tsp vanilla extract

- 50g caster sugar

- 200g dark chocolate, melted

The lemon curd glaze:

- 4 unwaxed lemons, rind and juice

- 200g caster sugar

- 100g butter

- 3 medium eggs and 1 egg yolk

Steps: 

*Check the original recipe if you want to see photos of the steps: https://goo.gl/u19yVX

1. Blitz the digestive biscuits to a fine crumb in the food processor.

2. Add the melted butter and blitz again briefly until combined. Then add the coconut flakes and mix well.

3. Tip the crumb into a greased 23cm cake tin. Press down firmly to create an even base, then place in the fridge to chill.

4. In a bowl, mix the cream cheese, cream and vanilla until thick using a mixer. Add the sugar and whisk again.

5. Melt the chocolate in Bain Marie/double boiler and let it cool down. Then add it on top of the cream cheese mixture and beat briefly to combine.

6. Tip the filling into the cake tin. Level off with a spatula and return the tin to the fridge.

7. Place the lemon juice, lemon rind, butter and sugar into a bowl and heat gently over a pan of simmering water until the butter has melted.

8. Mix the eggs like you would for scrambled eggs and then very slowly add the hot lemon syrup on top of the eggs (not all at once, otherwise the eggs will cook) and keep whisking until fully combined.

9. Return the whole composition on the double boiler, stirring occasionally until it has thickened enough to leave a trail if you run your finger over the back of the spoon. Sift the lemon curd when it's ready. You want it to be velvety :)

10. Leave it to cool completely, then pour it into the cake tin. Swirl the tin gently to level off and return to the fridge to firm up for a couple of hours or, ideally, overnight.

11. Garnish on top and enjoy with friends and family! :)

Garlic Cheese Bread

   Life is better when there's melty cheese involved, right? I found this recipe on Teo's Kitchen - https://goo.gl/n9Zax9 and I played around with my own ingredients. Oliver and I baked our own buns yesterday using a new type of whole wheat flour from Lidl and they turned out soooo tasty that I really wanted to use them in a delicious recipe. So here's what I used:

Ingredients:
Home made buns (4):
- 300g Belbake Farmhouse bread mix from LIDL (of course :D) or any type of whole wheat flour
- 1 tsp fresh or dried yeast
- 1 tsp salt
- a pinch of sugar
- warm water

Filling for each bun:
- 3-4 cloves of garlic
- 1 tsp olive oil or sunflower oil
- a pinch of salt and pepper
- Kamis specialty spices: sundried tomatoes, garlic and basil
- 75g of Valley Spire Cheddar from LIDL or any type of good cheddar

Steps:

1. Make the buns: put the flour in a bowl, make a well in the centre and put the yeast, a bit of flour, around a Tbsp of warm water and the pinch of sugar. Mix everything well and let it rise for about 10 min near a source of heat. 

2. After 10 min or when you can tell it rose, start mixing the rest of the flour in the bowl with the yeast in the middle, adding the salt and some more warm water. Keep mixing and playing with it until you obtain a ball of dough that doesn't stick to your fingers. 

3. Divide that ball into 4 buns and put them in a tray covered with parchment paper near a source of heat. Let them rise until you can tell they became bigger (Time varies. It can be 10-15-20 min).

4. Brush some oil on the buns and add some sesame seeds on top (Optional). Bake the buns for about 14 min at 200ºC.

5. Let the buns cool down completely (preferably overnight) and then start preparing the filling. Grate the garlic cloves, then add the oil, salt, pepper and the Mediteranean spices altogether. Mix well.

6. Carefully cut the top of the bun, then scoop out the inside leaving around 1cm of bread around the edges. 

7. Brush the garlic mixture everywhere inside the bun then bake it for 8-10min at  200ºC.

8. Grate the cheddar, then when the time is up, take the bun out of the oven, stuff it with the grated cheddar and put it in the oven again for 8-10 min.

9. Enjoy the melty garlic bread hot! Dip the top of the bun in the cheese or simply cut the bun like a pizza and enjoy each mini slice :) Bon appetit! 

Yahoo Chickpeas Salad

   If you want a different option of protein in your dish, I recommend this chickpeas salad  we found in the Looneyspoons book I've been telling you about (it's called Red, White and Yahoo!). It's very delicious and filling. We usually pair it with grilled chicken for dinner, but it can be eaten as such as well.

Ingredients for 3 servings:

- 1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

- 1 cup grape tomatoes

- 1 cup fresh mozarella balls, halved

- 1/3 cup minced red onion

- 1/3 cup chopped fresh basil leaves or dry basil

- 1 Tbsp olive oil

- 1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

- 1 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

- 1/2 tsp salt

- 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Steps:

1. Place all ingredients in a bowl and mix well. That's all! :) Bon appetit!

Chicken Wrap

   I don't know about you, but I really like home made wraps! I can put whatever I want in them and they're so easy to make they help me cover a dinner when I have no idea what to cook, not to mention there's a lot of healthy stuff going in a wrap: plenty of veg and some nice grilled chicken, pork or beef. Today we played with the wraps with chicken :)

Ingredients for about 5-6 wraps:

- a pack of tortilla wraps (they usually have 6 wraps)

- 1 chicken breast

- cajun seasoning or your preferred chicken seasoning

- a red bell pepper

- a small red onion

- a medium carrot

- 1/4 small cabbage

- optional: hot pepper

Dressing:

- 1/2 cup mayo

- 2 Tbsp white sugar

- 1 1/2 Tbsp lemon juice

- 1/2 tsp black pepper

- 1/4 tsp salt

- optional: 3 cloves of garlic (if you want some extra garlic flavour)

Steps:

1. Cut the chicken into small stripes and then season it with cajun seasoning or your preffered chicken seasoning. 

2. Slice the pepper, onion and cabbage and grate the carrot to make the slaw. 

3. Make the dressing.

4. Grill the chicken.

5. Warm up your wrap and set it up: wrap, dressing, slaw and chicken. 

Bon appetit!

Baked Salmon and Vegetables

   Salmon is one of my favorite proteins! And since I want to eat healthy, I keep trying out new veggie pairings. Here's what I cooked today:

Ingredients for 3 servings:
- around 250g of fresh salmon fillet
- cooking cream
- Fish seasoning (we buy it in a pack that's labelled as such)
- around 250g of cauliflower or broccoli
- 3 medium potatoes
- a handful of frozen peas
- salt and pepper to taste
- optional: pesto

Steps:

1. Today I wanted to save space and I decided to boil all my veggies in one pot. If you want to be completely safe and avoid getting mushy potatoes (like mine ... oops!) boil all the veg separately OR chop your potatoes into big pieces so they don't get squeezed in the pot by the rest of the veg. If you choose my method put the chopped potatoes into salted boiling water until they're soft.

2. Chop the cauliflower into bite sized pieces and add it in the same pot with the potatoes (when the potatoes are almost ready) for about 5 minutes. Add the peas at the same time.

3. After your veg is ready coat it in some pesto (believe me, it's totally worth it!).

4. Sprinkle some salt and pepper on the salmon and put it in the oven for about 10-15 min at 200ºC. Check to make sure it's cooked through (it has to be light pink inside). 

5. Make the sauce: add cooking cream and the fish seasoning and bring it to a quick boil while you keep whisking. Add on top of the salmon when you serve the dish. (Alternatively you can use a hollandaise sauce that you buy or make at home). 

Bon appetit!

Grilled Chicken and Viva Las Veggies!

   Today I want to present to you... a match made in heaven! You REALLY have to try this recipe! It's SO good you will love it as much as I do! I promise!

   "Viva las veggies" is a roasted veggie recipe from "Looneyspoons" book by Janet and Greta Podleski. If you're from/in Canada or have any connections with this country, you should definitely buy this book! It's full of healthy recipes that are written in such a funny way (hence the name of the recipe). Here's the cover of the book:

   So we tried this recipe before but we never paired it with a grilled chicken and Sawmill sauce (another sauce from Canada). I just died, went to heaven and came back on Earth. I LOVED this pairing so I really want to share it with you:

Ingredients for 3 servings:
Grilled chicken:
- a chicken breast, butterflied
- salt and pepper
- Sawmill sauce or any cooking cream based sauce you like on chicken

Roasted veggies:
- 2 medium tomatoes, cut into chunks
- 1 medium zucchini, chopped
- a large mushroom, chopped
- a medium red onion, chopped
- 1/2 tsp minced garlic
- 1/2 Tbsp each olive oil and balsamic vinegar
- chopped mixed fresh or dry herbs (rosemary, basil, oregano or thyme - we used basil and oregano)
- 1/4 tsp salt and pepper
- 1/2 cup fresh whole-grain bread crumbs (blend 2 slices of bread)
- 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Steps:

1. Start with the veggies. They take a while. Put a bit of oil in a baking dish. Add tomatoes, zucchini, the mushroom, onion and garlic. Mix well. Add olive oil, balsamic vinegar, fresh/dry herbs, salt and pepper. Mix again to coat vegerables with dressing.

2. Roast, uncovered at 220ºC for 25 minutes. While vegetables are roasting, prepare topping. Combine bread crumbs and Parm cheese in a small bowl and mix well.

3. When the veggies have around 5 more minutes to go in the oven, start grilling the chicken on both sides until it's brown (aprox. 7-8 minutes). Check to make sure it's cooked through. Cover the grilling pan with a big bowl or a wok to keep the heat inside and help it cook evenly. 

4. After the 25 minutes, remove the vegetables from oven. Sprinkle crumb mixture evenly over the vegetables and then return to oven for 5 minutes, until cheese and crumbs turn a light golden brown. 

5. Pour the sauce generously on top of the grilled chicken and enjoy the decadence! Bon appetit!

Smoked Salmon Avocado Toast

   This recipe is for avocado and smoked salmon lovers! You can use it for breakfast (like us), as an appetizer (when you have guests over) or as a snack during the day. It's very filling and truly delicious!

Ingredients for 4 toasts:

- 4 toasted slices of your favorite bread (we used multi grain)

- 1 ripe avocado

- around 200g sour cream 

- 100g smoked salmon

- a small red onion

Steps:

1. Toast the bread.

2. Peel the avocado and cut it into slices.

3. Dice the onion finely.

4. Set your toast: bread, avocado slices, sour cream, red onion and smoked salmon (in the picture we put the onion on top for presentation).

Bon Appetit! :)

Tuna Salad

   After having some heavy winter dinners we felt like switching things up so tonight we prepared this tuna salad that we love so much (my parents are raving about it even though they don't really try out new dishes a lot). It's so easy, fresh and healthy you will want to go for seconds! :)

Ingredients for 2-3 servings:
2 cans of tuna chunks (I'd recommend chunks instead of shredded tuna because you can get a better taste of the fish this way)
1 can of red beans
4-5 cherry tomatoes
2 cucumbers
1 medium red onion
2 green onions
some olives
a small can of corn
Optional: lettuce

Dressing:
4 Tbsp oil (from the tuna can)
3 garlic cloves
2 tsp grainy mustard
2 Tbsp water
A pinch of salt

Steps:
1. Dice the veggies.
2. Strain the tuna chunks but keep the oil from the can.
3. Make the dressing using oil from the tuna can.
4. Put the veggies, the tuna, the beans and the dressing in a bowl and mix well.
5. Enjoy your healthy dinner! :)

Chicken casserole

   Do you want to cook something new, healthy and easy to make? Try this delicious recipe! I haven't cooked it in years and it surprised me by how much I still love it even after all this time!

Ingredients (3 servings):
- a chicken breast or some boneless chicken thighs
- 2 big potatoes
- around 250g of broccoli
- a medium white onion
- your preffered seasoning for the chicken
- salt and pepper
- a cup of cooking cream
- around a cup of milk
- water to fill the tray

Steps:

1. Cut the chicken into bite size pieces and season it with your favorite chicken seasoning.

2. Roughly chop the broccoli, potatoes and onion.

3. Add all the ingredients in a pyrex dish, season with salt and pepper, then mix everything well.

4. Add cooking cream, milk and water over the veggies and chicken until you fill the tray/dish almost completely. Alternatively, you can use milk and sour cream. I used what I had at home.

5. Cook the dish for about 45 minutes at 180 degrees. Check to make sure everything is cooked properly.

6. Enjoy your healthy dinner! :) 

Shrimp Tacos with Avocado Salsa

   I don't know about you, but I just LOVE seafood! Every time I eat it I remember the amazing meals Oli and I had in Iceland where I had fresh seafood for the very first time:) Tonight we decided to go a bit more exotic and we used the hard shells we bought from Canada for some tacos, but I'd advise using soft tortillas instead. They're less crumbly :)

Ingredients:

Avocado salsa:

- 1 small onion

- 1/3 of a hot pepper

- 4 diced Roma tomatoes

- 1/2 avocado

- salt to taste

Shrimp:

- 20 shrimp

- 1 Tbsp sunflower or olive oil

- 1 Tbsp chipotle/chili powder

Steps:

1. Use a food processor for finely chopping all the ingredients for the avocado salsa or if you don't have one (like us), just chop everything into small pieces.

2. Peel and devein the shrimp, then marinate it in the oil and chili powder for about 30 min.

3. Grill the shrimp until translucent, about 1 1/2 to 2 minutes on each side.

4. Put the hard shells in the oven for the advised time or grill some tortillas.

5. Set the taco: add salsa, 2 or 3 shrimps and sprinkle fresh lime juice on top before serving.

Buen provecho! :D

Home made Spinach and Ricotta Ravioli with Butter Sage sauce

   Home made pasta... a cooking technique in a league of its own! 1000 times more difficult than buying a bag of pasta and boiling it. It takes a free day and a lot of patience. So if you find yourself on a cold winter day with nothing better to do and you feel playful, try this recipe and enjoy the amazing feeling of tasting fresh pasta made with your own two hands.

Ingredients for 2 servings:

Filling:

- 50g boiled or steamed spinach

- 1/2 cup ricotta

- 1 small onion

- 2 tbsp parm cheese (and some for grating at the end)

- salt and pepper

Dough (Jamie Oliver's recipe):

- 100g 000 flour (add extra for rolling out)

- 1 egg (+1 extra for egg wash)

Sauce:

- 4 tbsp butter

- 8 leaves of sage

- juice of half a lemon

Steps:

1. Preparing the filling

- Blend your boiled or steamed spinach until it's soft, then just mix all the ingredients together in a bowl until they form a smooth paste. Keep tasting to make sure it is seasoned properly.

2. Making the dough (the most time consuming)

- Start by making sure you have plenty reserves of patience. Then place the flour on a board or in a bowl. Make a well in the centre and crack the egg into it. Beat the egg with a fork until smooth. Using the tips of your fingers, mix the egg with the flour, incorporating a little at a time, until everything is combined. Knead the pieces of dough together – with a bit of work and some love and attention they’ll all bind together to give you one big, smooth lump of dough! 

- Once you’ve made your dough you need to knead and work it with your hands to develop the gluten in the flour, otherwise your pasta will be flabby and soft when you cook it, instead of springy and al dente. 

- There’s no secret to kneading. You just have to bash the dough about a bit with your hands, squashing it into the table, reshaping it, pulling it, stretching it, squashing it again. It’s quite hard work, but don't give up! You’ll know when to stop – it’s when your pasta starts to feel smooth and silky instead of rough and floury. 

- Then all you need to do is wrap it in cling film and put it in the fridge to rest for at least half an hour before you use it. Make sure the cling film covers it well or it will dry out and go crusty round the edges (this will give you crusty lumps through your pasta when you roll it out, and nobody likes crusty lumps!). It's very important to let the dough rest. Do not skip this step.

3. Rolling the dough: 

- It's easier if you have a pasta machine, but don't despair if you don't. The main problem you'll have (if you're using your rolling pin and not a pasta machine) is getting the pasta thin enough to work with. It's quite difficult to get a big lump of dough rolled out in one piece, and you need a very long rolling pin to do the job properly. The way around this is to roll lots of small pieces of pasta rather than a few big ones. 

4. Adding the filling:

- Once you rolled the pasta in a thin layer (around 1-2 mm), you need to add a full teaspoon of filling at a time (leave around 2 cm on each side of the filling to be able to fold the dough), put egg wash all around the filling and fold the dough over the filling. Gently press the air out around the filling, then start cutting squares or circles between the fillings. To make the ravioli even prettier, put a very small glass on top of the filling (try to find one that is as big as the filling "ball"), then press with your fingers on the dough around the filling to release all the air left. You'll end up with perfectly shaped circular ravioli filling sitting in a square dough.

5. Making the sauce (right before boiling the ravioli):

- Add the butter, sage and lemon juice together in a pan at medium heat until the butter melts and the sage infuses its flavour into the butter.

6, Boiling the pasta and adding the sauce:

- Put a small pot of water to boil adding a bit of salt. When it starts boiling, add your ravioli for 1:30 min, then take them out and coat them in the butter sage sauce. Plate around 5 ravioli per serving, making sure you leave the sage leaves in the pan.

7. Enjoy!

- Add some grated parm cheese on top and let yourself be delighted by the delicious taste of the spinach ricotta filling and the silky pasta combined with the tingy lemon-sage sauce. Bon appetit!

Flourless Peanut Butter, Oat, and Banana Pancakes

   I saw this recipe on BuzzFeed and I just knew I had to try it! I love all the ingredients and I haven't used peanut butter a lot before so I played around in the kitchen while humming :) It was veeeery delicious and healthy! :)

Ingredients for 4-6 pancakes:
2 ripe bananas
3 eggs
2 tablespoons creamy peanut butter
¾ cup quick-cooking oats
¼ cup chocolate chips
Pinch of salt

Toppings I used:
Saskatoon syrup
Dried cranberries

*If you don't live in Canada you probably won't have Saskatoon syrup, so use maple syrup instead.

Optional toppings:
Chocolate chips
Sliced bananas


Steps:
1. In a medium bowl, mash bananas until puréed. Add eggs, peanut butter, oats, chocolate chips, and salt. Stir until the ingredients are fully mixed and batter is formed.
2. Heat a lightly oiled pan over medium-high heat. Pour ½ cup of batter into the pan and brown on both sides.
3. Add the toppings. Serve hot.

Here's the video:

Bon Appetit!

Berry banana milkshake

   If you like milkshakes, you'll love this one! So foamy and utterly delicious! :) And it only takes 3 ingredients and 2 minutes of blending! Easy peasy japanesey! :D

Ingredients for a big glass:

- a banana

- a small berry yogurt (forest berries or just plain raspberry)

- 150 ml milk

Blend everything together until it's smooth. C'est tout! Enjoy and have a lovely day! :)

Eggplant salad and meatballs - My mother's recipe

   Eggplant salad (or spread, if you look at the picture), along with cabbage rolls and "mici" (skinless sausages) is one of the most Romanian recipes I grew up with. My grandma used to make the most incredible and the most delicious eggplant salad I have EVER tasted! It was sooo white and it would just melt in your mouth. Unfortunately we never received the recipe for it no matter how much we asked my grandma. My parents and I kept guessing and we think the key ingredient was oil: lots of it (in the home made mayo). I know what you're thinking: "Oh my God, SO unhealthy!" But believe me when I say that this recipe is Really worth it! 

   Since I don't have my grandma's recipe I will give you my mother's (I know Romanians know how to make this spread, but every family has their own recipe):

Ingredients for 2 servings of eggplant salad/spread (you might have leftovers):

- 2 small eggplants or a big one

- a small to medium onion

- salt to taste

For the home made mayo:

- 1 egg yolk

- 1 tsp mustard

- sunflower oil*

*The quantity of oil in the mayo is linked to how much mayo you want to put in your spread. If you want to follow our recipe then you start with wisking the egg yolk and the mustard until it becomes solid. After that, slowly keep adding oil until you obtain around 2 cups of mayo. 

Steps:

1. Bake the eggplant(s) at high temperature until they are soft. Yes, BAKE them! Most Romanians grill them, but after 25 years of doing that ourselves we realized baking gives the salad/spread a better taste. And it doesn't create smoke in the kitchen! :) 

TIP: Puncture the eggplants with a fork here and there in order to let the steam get out of them otherwise they might explode and I don't think you want that :)

2. Take the eggplants out of the oven, peal them and let them cool and drain the liquid in them. 

3. When the eggplants are cold, put them on a wooden board and chop them thoroughly with a wooden knife that looks like this: 

   If you can't find one in the stores, use any wooden, plastic or ceramic knife. DO NOT use a metal knife! It will make the eggplant oxidate and thus turn black. 

4. After you finished chopping the eggplant, thoroughly dice the onion, add it over the eggplant, add the mayo and some salt and mix it all together. Et voila! Here's your Romanian eggplant salad/spread! :)

~~~

Now, in our family we tend to eat this spread with meatballs and some peppers on the side, but you don't have to eat it the same :) Just in case you're interested, here's how we make our meatballs that Oli loves so much:

Ingredients for Meatballs (lots of them):

- 500g of pork minced meat

- 3 cloves of garlic

- salt, pepper, paprika (to taste)

- some slices of bread softened in water, then squeeze the water out

- 2 eggs

- oil for frying the meatballs

Steps:

1. Mix all the ingredients above until you have a firm tasty paste (it shouldn't be runny - if it is, add more bread). Don't be afraid to keep adjusting the salt, pepper or paprika until it tastes just right. It might take a while, but in the end you'll get there :) I don't know about you, but I love it raw like that :)) 

2. Make small balls (big enough to roll in your palm).

3. Fry the balls in oil until they turn brown. Turn them on each side once or twice. Cover the pan with a lid.

4. Do some acrobatics trying to take them out one by one with a fork or wait until they are all done and scoop them out with a slotted or perforated spoon :) 

Enjoy the spread on fresh bread with meatballs and a side of green or red bell pepper :) 

Bon appetit!