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! :)