Easiest cheesecake!

INGREDIENTS:
- If you want to make the crust:
1 pack of plain cookies (we use Marie)
200 gr melted butter
a bit of milk

- For the filling:
1 pack of cream cheese
1 can of condensed milk
2 eggs
A splash of lemon juice

To make the crust, crush the cookies and mix with the melted butter and some milk until it has a doughy consistency. Press on the pie pan either just on the bottom or the bottom and sides and bake in preheated oven (165 C) for about 10 minutes until the top is no longer shiny. Remove from oven.



While baking the crust put all the ingredients for the filling in the blender and mix well. Spray the edges before adding the cheese mixture so it doesn't stick. Top the baked crust with the mixture and put back in the oven for about 25 minutes or until the middle doesn't shake when wiggled. Remove from oven and let cool.

NOTE: You can add pretty much anything to your cheesecake from fruit to chocolate and nuts. We added Lindt balls to ours. Just spread the toppings you like over the crust and cover with the cheese mixture.

Also, cheesecakes taste best the day after they are made once they have set, so if you're planning to make it for an event, we suggest you make it the day before :)

Ghormeh Sabzi (herbs, beans and meat stew)

Every Persian cook has their own way of making ghormeh sabzi. We don't want you to think this is the traditional way to make it but we have seen Persians cook it and this is our version of this delicious stew. It full of greens and protein!

INGREDIENTS:
Oil

1/2 bunch of celery
2 bunches of parsley
A bit of dry mint and fenugreek*

1 medium onion diced
Meat on bone (we used 2 pieces of beef osso buco and diced it)
1-2 cans of red kidney beans
4 dried lemons* slightly broken for the flavours to come out (not too much because the seeds are really bitter)
The juice of 1-2 limes (depending on preference)
Salt and pepper to taste and any other spices you'd like to add (we use turmeric and ground cumin)
Water

1. Chop finely the celery and parsley and put in a frying pan with a bit of oil until it is soft. Remove from heat and save (you can fry it in batches days or even weeks in advance and store in the freezer in an airtight container or freezer bag).
2. Heat a large pot with some oil. Add the diced onion and slightly brown. Add the diced meat and the bone, and brown both sides.
3. Add the celery and parsley to the meat and stir in the mint and fenugreek**. Throw in the drained beans and stir.
4. Add the salt and pepper, the dried lemons and the lime juice. Add some water just to cover the stew. Once boiling, lower the heat, stir and simmer for about 2 hours, stirring every once in a while. Taste and adjust salt if required. Some people like to take the dried lemons out because they can be quite bitter (especially the seeds).

Serve with long grain white rice -we prefer basmati.

*You can find dry fenugreek, mint and dried lemons in middle-eastern stores.
** We added previously fried and frozen herbs without thawing so we reduced the amount of water added at the end. You can also add other herbs. We have added fresh chives when we had them.

Oatmeal (porridge) for breakfast

This is one thing Faizi and I make quite often for breakfast. It is easy, delicious and nutritious!

INGREDIENTS:
1.5 cups of milk or water
1/2 cup of oats (any kind will do)
Cinnamon (optional)
Honey, maple syrup or sugar to sweeten.
Fruits and nuts (optional)

Pour about 1.5 cups of milk or water in a saucepan and add 1/3 of the oats. The more oats you add, the thicker it will be but remember that while cooking it may look runny, as it cools down it starts becoming thicker. Bring to boil and add the remaining oats if you want; reduce heat to minimum. Simmer for a few minutes and remove from heat.
Serve and add whatever you want to it: cinnamon, sweeteners, fruits and nuts :)

We added sliced banana and maple syrup to ours!

Piña Colada ice cream

So here is a recipe my son and I made yesterday. Took us right back to the Caribbean :)

INGREDIENTS:

1 can sweetened condensed milk (you can use light if you prefer)

1 can coconut milk

1 can pineapple in juice

Some shredded coconut

A bit of milk

Add all the ingredients except the milk into a blender and mix for about 1-2 minutes until well combined. You can add the milk only if necessary.

Put the mixture in an airtight container for 2 hours before transferring to your ice cream maker (this speeds up the process).

Once in the ice cream maker, check periodically until it achieves the desired consistency (ours was still a bit soft so we put it in the freezer for a few hours). You can store any leftovers in an airtight container in the freezer.

NOTE: If you don't have an ice cream maker, just take the container with the mix out of the freezer every 2 hours and scrape the sides and give it a good mix until you reach the desired consistency.

Piña colada ice cream

Some friends and I spoke about how difficult it can be to come up with new recipes for your family so... my son and I decided to start up this blog to share recipes we cook for our family. Because one of us is a toddler, some of these will be very much targeted to that audience.

As you will notice, we do not spend hours in the kitchen so a lot of these recipes are quite easy and fast to make. We try to come up with our own recipes or versions of dishes and a lot of the time they are based on the items we have available to us at home.

Hablamos Español así que pondremos recetas en Español también.

If you have a recipe to share, please do!
Let the cooking begin :)