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Challenge Update: This last week was quite busy (when do I not say that) but we still had some fun cooking adventures, as well as a bunch of leftover nights. Some I've done before a number of times like the Rotkohl, Tom Kha Gai, which is my take on a Thai chicken soup, or the Zoodles in lemon sauce, some were new like Spring Rolls and White Chilli, and some were variations on a theme like these super tasty Orange Date Cookies, and my Rosehip Coulis. We also had a couple of other soups including a Pumpkin Soup (not the traditional one) and a Corn Chowder.

As mentioned in Day 47 of The Challenge I love stir fires! They are simple, adaptable to whatever is in the fridge, tasty, with endless different flavours to jazz them up. I like the range of colours and textures, the ability to make it vegetarian or meaty, or in this case shrimpy. (It was time to introduce shellfish to Mini Me, so it was shrimp week. Although initially suspicious of them he loves shrimp now!) Ingredients: 2 onions, chopped 1 head of garlic chopped 1 red and 1 yellow pepper, chopped Half a head of broccoli, cut into florets (floretted?) 10 shrimp 1 tbsp peanut oil 1 tbsp soy sauce 1/2 tbsp rice wine vinegar 2 tsp sesame oil 1 tbsp black sesame seeds 2 tbsp chili flakes (or pul biber*, as my chili of choice often is) 1) Heat oil in a wok. Add the onions and garlic and stir for a couple of minutes. Add the rest of the veg and stir fry at high heat for about 5 minutes. 2) Add the chili flakes, soy sauce and rice wine vinegar and tuck the shrimp in with the veg and cook for about 4-5 more minutes until the shrimp is just cooked. 3) Sprinkle sesame seeds over the top just before the shrimp are done cooking. Serve hot over rice. A touch of sweet and sour or sweet chili sauce is not necessary but does not go amiss... I hope you enjoy this as much as we did! Mini Me even decided he preferred the leftovers for breakfast instead of porridge (better than porridge?!) * This is an affiliate link to help you find what you need to make the recipe. You will not be charged any more by using this link but you will be helping support more delicious recipes!

As mentioned in Day 48 of The Challenge This was a bit of an experiment. We only discovered recently that we can get miso paste here, so suddenly my husband has decided to try using it in everything. The most recent victim (a very willing, tasty one I might add) was fried rice. We also decided that this was the week to introduce shellfish to Little Bit, so shrimp went in to. Feel free to skip the shrimp, or substitute for something else, but it was a worthy addition. Ingredients: 2 c rice (either day old for the best fried rice, or freshly cooked according to packet instructions if you are like me and failed to plan ahead) 2 carrots chopped half a head of broccoli, cut into florets 1 c peas 1 knob of ginger, grated Half a head of garlic, minced 3 eggs 10 shrimps 2 tbsp miso paste 1 tbsp oil 1 1/2 tbsp rice wine vinegar 1) Heat oil in a wok and scramble eggs in it. Set aside. 2) Sauté carrots, broccoli, ginger and peas for 5 minutes. Add rice and stir. 3) Mix miso paste with 1 c water and add to the veg and rice. Cook for a couple of minutes, stirring. 4) Add rice wine vinegar and stir, then tuck shrimp into the rice, add eggs. Cook for a further 4-5 minutes, until shrimp are just cooked, then serve. It came out very tasty, and was greatly enjoyed by all involved (although Little Bit was a tad confused by shrimp to begin with).

I love this soup! We originally came across a recipe in Gordon's Great Escape - Southeast Asia, but it has since made it into our regular rotation and become our own. It is dead simple to assemble, tasty and warming with a hint of heat. It is a satisfying chicken soup with a twist. A lot of recipes recommend straining the broth once you have simmered it, but we like it with the bits and so never strain it. Feel free to do so though if you'd rather. Ingredients: 1 litres of chicken stock - the richer the better, and even better with bits in 0.5 - 1 litre of coconut milk ( or you can do half coconut milk and half coconut cream if you want it richer. If the stock is weak, I do recommend this, but it also depends on the chicken to coconut balance you want. I like it just fine with simply coconut milk. A big chunk of ginger, peeled and julienned 1 head of garlic, minced 6 chilis chopped 6 kafir lime leaves, crumbled 2 lemon grass stalks, chopped (these can be woody if left in. Like I said, I do anyway - I enjoy the crunch - but remove them if that's not your thing) 3/4 c shitake or oyster mushrooms (rehydrate these in advance if using dried ones) - chopped 2 shallots, chopped 1 tbsp soy sauce 2 tsp rice wine vinegar 1 tbsp lime juice salt to taste 1) Bring chicken stock and coconut milk to a simmer. Add all ingredients up to shallots and cook 30-45 minutes, allowing flavour to develop. 2) Add soy sauce, rice wine vinegar and lime juice. Serve. We had this alongside our (first attempt at) Spring Rolls. The two paired wonderfully together, complementing flavours and rounding out the soup into a meal. Very tasty even with nothing to pair with it though. Simple, light but nutritious, I do love this soup (even if I am not quite sure to what extent it still resembles anything Thai).

I've avoided making spring rolls for years, assuming them to be difficult. I don't know why I decided that these were too daunting as I quite happily make other similar things like dumplings and ravioli... Then a few weeks ago, I bought rice paper on a whim, thinking it was about time I tried to make these. This was my first attempt, and though not perfect, they came out very tasty and I was very happy with them. The main thing that needs work is our frying technique, as the rice paper seemed to almost melt away in some places. If anyone has tips on that, please do share! Ingredients: 15-20 sheets of rice paper (depending on how full you stuff them) 1 carrot julienned 2 spring onions sliced 1/2 head of garlic, crushed a knob of ginger, peeled and grated 1/3 c of shitake mushrooms, rehydrated and sliced 1 c beansprouts 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar 1 tbsp soy sauce 3/4 - 1 c peanut oil for frying For the sauce: 3 tbsp soy sauce 1 tbsp honey 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar 2 tsp chili flakes 1) Sauté carrot and spring onion in oil for 1 minute. add mushrooms, bean sprouts and garlic, and cook for a further 4-5 minutes. 2) Remove from the heat and add ginger, soy sauce and rice wine vinegar, mix and leave to cool. 3) Soak each sheet of rice paper in warm water for about a minute (make sure it is properly submerged or only one side will get wet and it will roll up!) Place a sheet on a piece of damp paper towel or a dish cloth. 4) Place 1 tbsp of filling in the centre about 2 cm from the bottom edge. Fold up the bottom edge and then fold in each side and roll up to the top. Place each spring roll on a plate with a damp paper towel and cover with another damp cloth. Do not let them touch or they will stick. 5) Heat oil (about 1 cm deep for shallow frying) in a deep frying pan over medium heat. Gently place each spring roll in the oil and using two forks, cook them evenly , turning them in the oil after about two minutes. When they are crisp and golden, take them out and drain them on dry paper towels. Don't let the spring rolls touch in the oil, or they stick together! 6) For the sauce, mix all ingredients together and let sit until the spring rolls are ready. Enjoy! They came out crispy with fresh tasting crunchy veg in the centre. They paired wonderfully with the sauce we mixed up and with the Tom Kha Gai soup. It made a light but very flavourful dinner.

I had never had vegetable noodles until a couple of years ago and was a little suspicious of them. Then I had the chance to try some spiralizing when staying with a friend, and things snowballed from there. I now have my own spiralizer (thanks to my mother-in-law!) and use it for all sorts of things. I am not vegetarian, gluten-free or vegan (a glance at my other recipes should confirm that for anyone), but I do like playing around with things, and tweaking traditional takes to find my own. I love veg and try to insert it into meals left, right and centre, and do find some traditional meals a little heavy. Replacing pasta with veg - carrots, beets, zucchini, squash - suits me to a T and opens up so many possibilities. This one is dead simple ( we pulled it together in 10 minutes) but fresh and tasty, hitting all the right notes and all five tastes. I did use some sausage in this but it can easily be skipped to make the recipe vegetarian or vegan. Ingredients: , 1 giant zucchini or two smaller ones - spiralized on the medium setting (Zoodles!) 3 tbsp oil - we used peanut this time, but olive oil works too 1 tbsp honey juice of two lemons 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar 2 tsp nigella seeds 1 tsp dried orange peel strips Optional: 2 small merguez sausages, sliced salt and pepper to taste 1) Gently heat oil, balsamic, honey and juice in a deep frying pan or a saucepan. Add orange peel, nigella seeds and sausage slices. Cook gently for about 5 minutes until these have melded to form a smooth dressing. Taste test. 2) Add zoodles to the pan and toss to coat. Cook for a further 3-4 minutes in the sauce and serve. I cooked them until they were just done but still crunchy, but do cook to your own desired taste. Served up with crusty bread, this needed nothing else to complete our lunch. Absolutely beauteous.

As mentioned in Day 47 of The Challenge Our basil plant was starting to suffer from the cooler weather, and our tomatoes were ripening, so the stars aligned as it were for a tomato tart. Or agriculture on my balcony did in any case. I had been wanting to have a tomato tart for a while and so seized the opportunity and am delighted that I did! Ingredients: Crust: (you can use a store bought crust if you want, but this is also very quick and easy, I promise! It is better if you have a half hour to let it chill before rolling it out, but it still works if you don't) 3/4 c flour 1/2 c cold butter, cut into pieces pinch of salt 1/4 (approximate) water 6 large tomatoes, sliced a handful of fresh basil leaves 1 ball of mozzarella, sliced 1 tbsp olive oil 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar Salt and pepper to taste 1) To make crust, mix flour and salt. Cut in pieces of butter and mix together with fingertips until it forms a crumb like texture. Add water and mix with a fork, then knead into a soft dough. 2) Wrap in cling film and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes. 3) Roll out the pastry and line a pie dish with it. Layer sliced tomatoes in the pie dish (Careful not to drizzle in the juice at the same time or your pie will be soggy!) and then place mozzarella slices over the top and drizzle over olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Tuck in basil leaves, and season. 4) Bake at 180°C for 30-35 minutes until the mozzarella browns slightly. Tasty and fresh yet warm for a cool, sunny autumn day. Absolutely loved this, and it went down well with Hubby and Little One too!

As mentioned in Day 56 of The Challenge We had other plans for dinner, but then feeling a little under the weather we wanted something simple and easy but also packed with flavour, vitamins and energy. I've done this in various forms before, sometimes vegetarian, sometimes with sausages or other meat, sometimes with baked eggs tucked in among the veg. Sometimes the pancakes are under the veg, sometimes separate. I have yet to try the pancakes baked down over the veg, and this was the first time that I changed the pancake batter to make it more savoury. It was baked separately and came out beautifully! Ingredients: For the veg: 3 carrots, chopped 3 onions, chopped 1 head of garlic, chopped 1 red pepper, 1 yellow pepper, chopped 1 zucchini, chopped 1 1/2 - 2 c of chopped pumpkin 1 c raisins 2-3 tbsp olive oil 1-2 tbsp balsamic vinegar 2 tsp whole grain mustard 2 tsp nigella seeds 3 tsp zathar salt and pepper to taste For the pancakes: 1 1/2 c flour 3 tbsp semolina 1 c milk 2 eggs 1/3 c tomato passata 3-4 tbsp melted butter 2 1/2 tsp baking powder 2 thyme sprigs 4 sundried tomatoes 2 tsp garam masala 2 tsp thyme salt and pepper to taste 1) Place all the veg and raisins in an oven proof dish. Drizzle over the oil, balsamic and mustard, then sprinkle on the zathar and nigella seeds. Mix well and bake for approximately 45 min at 180°C. 2) Meanwhile, mix the dry ingredients for the pancakes. Add the wet ingredients and mix well. Coat a skillet in melted butter and pour in the pancake batter. Place the thyme and sundried tomatoes on top and then put in the oven for about 30-35 minutes at 180°C with the veg. 3) Serve together hot with condiments. This turned out really well! I had to use a little more liquid than the pancake batter usually calls for, but it came out well in terms of the taste and texture. It could have used a little extra baking powder, or an extra egg instead of some of the milk to make it puff a little more than it did. Having said that, the batter did rise to about twice its original size and was very light. We tried a number of different condiments with this, both sweet and savoury. Surprisingly, our favourite condiments were the Green Tomato Chutney and maple syrup (I mean pancakes and maple syrup are classic!) I highly recommend trying this!

As mentioned in Day 53 of The Challenge This is the first recipe I learned to make myself, and I was very proud as a young teen to have been the one to introduce it to the family rotation. I originally got it from a cookbook, but it has evolved quite significantly since then, and it has truly become mine over the years. It is a very simple, very easy dish with a surprising amount of flavour for the effort that goes into it. It can be served with any number of different things, including bread, rice, polenta or pasta. This time we served it with steamed greens and polenta. There are a number or ways of making polenta. For this, as the chicken dish is rich and acidic, I went with a creamy polenta, cooking it in milk rather than broth, water or wine. Ingredients: 2 chickens, dismembered 2 heads of garlic 6-8 potatoes, smashed 5-6 tomatoes 2-3 lemons, sliced the juice of 1 lemon 1 c white wine 3-4 tbsp olive oil 2-3 sprigs of thyme salt and pepper to taste For the polenta: 1 tbsp butter 1 1/2 c coarse corn meal 3-4 c milk salt and pepper to taste 1) Place the dismembered chickens parts in a large oven proof dish. Scatter the garlic cloves still in their paper around the chicken. Tuck the smashed potatoes under the chicken pieces. (Smashing them allows the chicken juices to penetrate better to the centre of the potato, cooking it from the inside as well as the outside). Tuck the tomatoes in on top, and place then the lemon slices over everything. 2) Drizzle the lemon juice, olive oil and white wine evenly over the top, then salt and pepper to taste. Place the thyme sprigs on top. 3) Bake at 180°C for 35-45 minutes, until the skin is a crispy golden brown and the chicken juices run clear. 4) Meanwhile, melt the butter in a saucepan. Add the corn meal and stir. Once the corn meal is all coated and the colour has deepened, add the milk. Stir (almost) constantly as the polenta thickens. Salt and pepper to taste, and serve with the chicken. Simple satisfying and balanced, this is one of my favourite meals! I hope you enjoy it too!

As mentioned in Day 48 of The Challenge This is very definitely a comfort food. It is super simple but you just have to have the patience to stir for about 45 minutes. I like mine sweet, but not super sweet. Feel free to add more sugar though if you feel it needs it for you. It is also very easy to vary the flavouring depending on what you are in the mood for by changing what goes into the pudding. At its core, it is short grain rice, milk and a little sugar. I almost always add raisins too. Beyond that, you can add brown sugar, jam, spices or apple sauce. The possibilities are endless! Toppings like toasted slivered almonds add a contrasting texture. As with the flavours, toppings are up to you. Ingredients: 1 tbsp butter 1 c short grain rice 1/2 c raisin 4 - 4 1/2 c milk 1/2 - 1 c sugar 1/4 tsp cloves 1/4 tsp fresh nutmeg 1 - 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon 1) Melt the butter in a saucepan and add the rice. Stir briefly then allow the rice to go transparent in the butter. 2) Once the grains are transparent, add the other ingredients and stir. It will take about 45 minutes for the rice to absorb all the liquid and to thicken to a pudding. Serve it up and add any toppings you want! I grew up having this only after trips to see my German grandparents when we would pick up the special rice for Milchreis. It was and is a once in a blue moon dessert, but I love it!