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As mentioned in Day 2 of The Challenge A friend got me 1 kg of Fenugreek seeds recently. The seeds have a beautiful, sweet, tangy smell to them. A little midnight research during a recent night shift suggested that used as they are they have a bitter flavour, but if toasted they become richer and sweeter. Apparently they have been used medicinally for centuries as an anti-inflammatory and pro-lactation ingredient. I'd never used it and was curious, so I made a couple of curries with it recently, but with so many different flavours, it is hard to identify a single note in order to figure out what it-s like and how it interacts with other flavours. This was therefore an experimental dish with fewer flavours to try and tease out the fenugreek's properties and taste. I opted for porridge as it is good base coat that I hoped would welcome and show up any variations of the fenugreek. Based on the description I thought it might match well with something citrusy and with other "sweet" spices - orange peel, cinnamon and cloves, matched with yellow raisins. Ingredients: 1 cup oats 2 cup milk 2 tsp fenugreek seeds 1 tsp ground cinnamon 1/2 tsp ground cloves 2 tsp of orange peel, dried a handful of yellow raisins 1) Put oats, milk and raisins in a saucepan and heat slowly, stirring occasionally. As porridge thickens, add cloves and cinnamon. 2) Put fenugreek seeds and orange peel in a dry pan and toast gently. 3) Add fenugreek seeds and orange peel to the porridge, and serve into two bowls. For an experiment, this came out well but it does need some tweaking. It was still a bit bitter and needed a bit of sweetness to bring out the flavours. We added a shake of a cocoa spice blend my sister brought me back from Hawaii (cocoa, cardamom, cane sugar etc.). It helped but wasn't enough. Next time I would try it with some dates, honey, or a tsp of brown sugar per bowl. I might also toast the seeds a bit further. The porridge wasn't as creamy as I would have liked either as I ran out of milk and used some water instead. The flavours did come together very nicely aside from the bitterness. the orange, raisins and spices payed off each other beautifully. I usually have my morning porridge a lot simpler, but I would definitely try this again, and I feel that the experiment to feel out the properties of fenugreek was a definite success. Other ideas are forming and bubbling up to test this new spice further... Watch this space for the next, and do chip in if you have ideas. EDIT: We tried this again, but with a couple of changes and this time, I think it is a keeper! Instead of dry roasting the spices, I fried the fenugreek seeds and orange peel in about 2tsp of butter for a few minutes, then added the cinnamon and cloves and about 8 dates, quartered. I let those all cook together for a further 5-7 minutes and then added them to the porridge and it was delectable. My husband added fresh figs to his too. I did not find that it needed further sweetening but if you did, then I think honey would be your best bet. creamy and sweet with warm spices, this was a tasty cold morning treat, and only took a little more effort than my regular porridge.

The bacon could be left out for any vegetarians joining in this deliciousness, too.

Day 37 of The Challenge (I lied. We cooked tonight rather than eating leftovers before leaving on our trip). We roasted the last of our Georgia candy roaster pumpkin this evening, and had 250g of chanterelles left. It was either pumpkin pasta with a mushroom sauce or risotto. We opted for the risotto, and the pumpkin pasta will have to wait (although not to long. I do so love it and it had been a little while since I pulled out my pasta maker). This was creamy and filling (and orange) and very tasty. Ingredients: 250 g of Arborio rice 1 1/2 c roasted pumpkin in chunks 3 onions, chopped 1/2 head of garlic, peeled and chopped 250 g of chanterelles 3 tbsp olive oil 1 c of milk 1 1/2 - 2 c of water, broth or reserved mushroom water (like from prepping a chanterelle tart) 1 1/2 tsp sumac 1 tbsp lime juice 2 tsp thyme 1 tsp sage 1 tsp urfa biber (Turkish black chilli pepper) salt and pepper to taste Parmesan for sprinkling 1) Heat 1 tbsp of olive oil in a frying pan and sauté onions. When they go translucent and then begin to char a little on the bottom, add in the garlic and then keep them moving. 2) Heat the rest of the olive oil in a saucepan and add the rice. Stir until translucent then add the water/mushroom water/broth. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the liquid is absorbed. Add milk and stir. 3) Once garlic is soft, add the chanterelles, the thyme and the sage and lower the heat. Cook gently, allowing the mushrooms to give off their liquid. 4) As the rice cooks and absorbs the liquid, add the pumpkin and stir. Add sumac, and once the milk is absorbed, add lime juice and urfa biber. 5) When the rice has thickened and cooked, add the mushrooms and onions to the rice and mix. Salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle desired parmesan over the top. Super tasty. I love making risotto and find them relatively quick and easy once you figure them out. They are endlessly adaptable too. The flavours played off each other beautifully in this tonight. It would have worked with bacon, but I wouldn't go so far as to say that it lost out by not having any.

Anyone who has ever lived with me for any period of time knows that my morning go-to is oatmeal. I love it. It is quick and simple, it keeps me satisfied for the morning, even when on my feet on a busy ward (or nursing a baby every 2 hours) and I love the creamy texture. Not to mention that oats are very healthy for you. 95% of the time I have my porridge the same way (made with milk and raisins, and just a sprinkling of cinnamon over the top). Once in a while though, I like to shake things up a bit and play with other flavourings for my morning go-to, and even sometimes to sweeten the pot a little, as it were. I've posted a few oaty recipes before (Persimmon Porridge, Fenugreek Porridge, Sweet Potato Porridge, Baked Oats) but thought it was maybe time for some more. Recipes: Cook time: 15 mminutes -- Portions: 2 -- Difficulty: Easy Roast Chestnut Oats: Ingredients: 1 c oats 2 c milk 1 c roast chestnuts, crumbled or chopped A handful of raisins 1 tbsp maple or light brown sugar 1 tsp mix spice (Optional: a splash of cream) 1) In a small saucepan, place the oats, milk, most of the chestnuts and raisins and cook over medium heat, stirring regularly to prevent burning. 2) When it has thickened to the desired consistency, stir in the sugar and spice, pour out into two bowls, and top with the remaining chestnuts. Pour over the cream now, if using. Enjoy hot with a good cup of tea (or coffee if that is your thing.) Hot chocolate works too. Candied Orange Oats: Ingredients: 1 c whey 1 c milk 1 c oats 2 tbsp candied orange peel A handful of raisins 1 tsp cinnamon 1 tbsp cacao nibs 1) Place the whey, milk, oats, most of the candied orange peel and the raisins in a saucepan and soak overnight. 2) In the morning, bring the saucepan up to a simmer over medium heat. Stir regularly to prevent sticking and cook until you have achieved the desired consistency. 3) Spoon out into two bowls and top with the remaining orange peel, the cacao nibs and the cinnamon. Both of these work beautifully for a bit of a switch-up of your morning porridge. Either or neither can be soaked overnight, depending on your tastes and what is more convenient. I tend to soak whey porridge overnight as it cuts the acidity a little and comes out sweeter than it would if made fresh in the morning. I like it both ways (pun unintended), but Hubby finds making it fresh in the morning too acidic, so I have bent to his taste here. Conversely, although I do soak milk porridge overnight, I find it quite sweet in the morning, so I often make that in the morning instead. There are no hard and fast rules though! Swaps and substitutions: Both of these recipes would work with other forms of hot cereal. For example, for cream of what, substitute out the cup of oats for 6 tbsp of cream of wheat. For a vegan or dairy-free experience, swap out the whey or the milk for your favourite nut milk. Personally, I would go for almond milk in this instance, but the choice is yours! Instead of the mix spice in the first recipe, swap in pumpkin spice, or some cinnamon and cloves, or skip the spice altogether. Rather than the raisins, replace them with some diced prunes or dates, but be aware that these are almost a little sweeter. They do work beautifully though. Instead of the cocoa nibs, you could be truly decadent and use chocolate chips. For my part, I would go for dark ones, but it is your breakfast! (As a side note, I have been loving cocoa nibs recently and have enjoyed putting them in all sorts of things that would normally have chocolate chips. If given the chance to soak even a little, they soften up wonderfully, while still remaining toothsome, and they have that much less sugar.) Instead of the maple sugar in the first recipe, use light brown sugar. Be aware that although dark brown sugar would work too, this will deepen the flavour notes considerably. Cinnamon sugar or plain white would work too. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

This recipe was great vegetarian but would also work very well with little bits of bacon or sausage stirred

As mentioned in Day 17 of The Challenge This is one of our own creation. Born of leftover Mulligatawny soup and a love (read obsession) for soufflés which developed during our time in South Africa, this is a big favourite in our house and not done nearly as often as I would like! Light and fluffy, the mulligatawny flavours are attenuated but present. We tend to serve it on a bed of spiralised and sautéed veg, usually carrots and courgettes. This lends the meal a freshness, while also bulking it out (soufflés are basically very tasty air...). Ingredients: For the soufflé: 3/4 c mulligatawny soup (see recipe here) 2 tsp butter for the roux, 1 tbsp for the dish 2 tsp flour 3 egg yolks 8 egg whites 2 tsp cumin seeds 1 tsp garam masala 1 tsp cinnamon 1 tsp fenugreek seeds fried in 1 tsp butter Parmesan, grated, for the top - approx. 1/4 c. For the veggie beds: 3 courgettes, spiralised 2 carrots, spiralised 2 onions, spiralised 1 tbsp peanut oil 1 tsp white sesame seeds 1 tsp black sesame seeds 2 tbsp soy sauce 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar 1 tsp cooking sake 1/2 tbsp pomegranate molasses 1) Make a roux by melting the butter in a saucepan and mixing in the flour. Add the mulligatawny soup, then beat in the egg yolks. 2) Beat the egg white to form stiff peaks. Mix one third of these into the mulligatawny roux, then carefully fold in the rest of the whites. 3) Butter a soufflé dish thoroughly, then mix together the spices. Coat the inside of the buttered dish with the spices. 4) Pour the soufflé batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle parmesan over the top. 5) Place this in an oven-proof dish filled with hot water (about half as high as the soufflé dish), and place the whole thing in the oven at 200°C for 35-40 minutes (if using a big dish. With individual dishes, 8-10 minutes only!) 6) Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large pan over medium high heat. sauté the onion for a minute then add the carrot, sauté a couple more minutes then add the courgette. 7) Add sesame seeds, soy sauce, vinegar and sake to the pan and toss. Don't add too much as you don't want these to be soupy. Also, don't over cook them. A little bite is good. 8) Dish, and drizzle a little pomegranate molasses over the top. Remove the soufflé from the oven and spoon immediately over the veggie beds before it collapses. I personally love this. I wasn't sure how it would go when I first went off script with soufflés, and then when I went even further off by using soup for a base instead of a batter, but things turned out rather well. I encourage anyone to try their hand at soufflés! Be creative with them! Let me know if you have any suggestions, anything you want me to try, and then share the results from, or anything you tried and want to share.

It would also work as a vegetarian meal without the bacon, or even a vegan one without the cheese, although

Currently vegetarian, it could quite happily accommodate some meat if you wanted.

Littler Bit has arrived, spelling the end of a rather tough pregnancy. My body and energy levels are bouncing back, but not so my sleep schedule. I now have a toddler and a newborn to contend with, so we'll see what effect this has on my cooking going forward. My sister, she of the Variations on a Theme recipes, is staying with us to help for a while. Shortly after arriving she mentioned having seen an idea somewhere for a rainbow lasagna, but without actually looking at what it entailed. We have since spent the last few days bouncing ideas around and decided to try our own version tonight. Well received by all (except Little Bit, who as a toddler, objects to various elements of his food touching each other, a necessity in lasagna), so here it is. It is maybe an intimidating ingredient list, but assembly is very quick! Caution: the quantities below resulted in about two complete lasagna pans-worth -- about double what we had intended. This worked out well, as we now have ready-made leftovers. Reduce all ingredients except cheese and red pepper for a single dish. Ingredients: 2 beets, peeled and sliced 1 1/2c ricotta 2 c spinach (or 2 large cubes of frozen spinach) 3/4 c tinned tomato 1 c black beans - cooked or tinned 1 large eggplant, thinly sliced 2 zucchinis, thinly sliced 2 c butternut squash purée* (from roasted squash scooped out of its skin) 1 tbsp butter, melted 2 red bell peppers, quartered lengthwise 2c grated cheese (we used gruyère- and raclette-type cheese leftover in the fridge) 1/3 c mascarpone 1/4 c whey, milk, or stock (we used whey) ~6 lasagna sheets 1 tsp sumac 2 tsp cinnamon 1 tsp urfa biber 1/2 tsp allspice 2 tsp sage 1 tsp thyme 1/2 tsp tarragon Handful of pomegranate seeds Salt and Pepper to taste * Could be replaced with pumpkin purée, either homemade or tinned (if you have the good fortune to live in a place where that is available to you). 1) Steam beets until al dente. Blitz with just enough whey, milk or stock to allow the blender to run smoothly. Add spinach, sage, thyme, tarragon and 1c ricotta. Set aside. 2) In a bowl, mix squash purée with 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon, allspice and sumac. Add mascarpone and remaining ricotta. Set aside. 3) In another bowl, roughly mash up black beans with tomatoes, and add the urfa biber and remaining half teaspoon of cinnamon. 4) Brush a baking dish with melted butter. Line the bottom of the dish with lasagna sheets and brush with butter again. Spread beans and tomato mixture in a thin layer over the lasagna sheets and cover with eggplant slices. Spread a layer of the beet mixture and arrange a layer of zucchini sliced over the top. Sprinkle on a layer of grated cheese and then spread the squash mix, followed by the red pepper and another layer of cheese. Sprinkle pomegranate seeds over the top and grind a generous amount of black pepper. 5) Bake at 180° C/350°F for 45-60 minutes. Seve hot (with a nice glass of red if so inclined). We were very pleased with how this came out! Once his portion was deconstructed, even the toddler consented to have some. The consistency was a little goopy, resulting in a tendency to flow, rather than come out in nice squares. For structural integrity purposes, we should have used thinner layers of the puree, but we thought this would have been to the detriment of flavour -- after all, this is a meal, not an engineering project! The squash layer, taste-tested prior to assembly, would be great to experiment with as the filling for a pie! It was sweet and dessert-y, with warm flavour notes and a rich, creamy texture. We had intended to add orange zest to either the squash layer or the final layer, but forgot. In terms of eating the rainbow, this tasted great, but the green and blue sort of got lost. To truly eat the rainbow, we would need to devise a green/blue layer that held its own a little better without overshadowing the others. For example, a layer of beet greens over the zucchini. As a side note, the ricotta in this was homemade last week, as I had wanted to try freezing the ricotta. We defrosted it for this dish and found that it held its flavour well, although its texture was slightly grainier. This is a good solution for keeping ricotta on hand, as long as you don't need a smooth, whipped texture. This could easily be made gluten-free, by simply omitting the pasta layer, which we included primarily for structural-integrity purposes.

It could easily be made vegetarian or vegan by skipping the ham (tasty but non-essential) and swapping