As mentioned in Day 2 of The Challenge I grew up with cornbread. It is a comfort food, a good staple. Usually it was a breakfast food, served in bread or muffin form with eggs and jams. Sometimes my father baked in pieces of bacon. For years though, that was all it was, until I started cooking for myself. Then gradually other things made it in, like cheese or jalapeños. I started baking it over chilli and experimenting with it in different ways. This loaf is one of those ways. It is endlessly versatile. This time I put in brocoli and spinach because I had them on hand, other times it is other vegetables. I find that feta works well as the cheese, but so do others. The red curry paste was because I had some in the fridge and it felt like the right palette. Quick, easy, adjustable to whatever tastes, cravings or stores you have, and super tasty. Ingredients: 1 cup flour 1 cup cornmeal 1/4 cup sugar 2 tsp baking powder 1/4 cup vegetable oil 1 cup milk 1 egg 2 tsp red curry paste 2 tbsp jalapeños 1 onion, diced 6 sundried tomato halves, sliced 1/2 suçuk or other spiced sausage, in chunks 1 red chilli, sliced 1 handful of spinach, wilted 1/4 head of broccoli 1 disk of feta, cubed/crumbled 1) Preheat oven to 220°C. Combine dry ingredients, then add wet, stirring just enough to mix. 2) Add all other ingredients, reserving half the feta. 3) Prepare a loaf pan, and pour in the batter. Sprinkle the reserved feta over the top. 4) Bake for 45 minutes or until golden brown on top and a knife comes out clean. Serve as is, as a main or a side, with or without sauces or spreads. On Day 2 we had it as a main with different sauces. My husband liked it best with BBQ sauce, I preferred it with whole grain mustard. Butter, mayo and hot sauces worked too. Take your pick and enjoy!

I suggest calling this a Coupe Raisa, because we have been watching more Star Trek, and that is the ultimate vacation spot in the Federation, it seems, and this is the ultimate unctuous, creamy, fresh dessert with just a hint of acidity. (And thus marking me out as a nerd henceforth). This is a bit of a twist on normal berries and cream. Around here that tends to involve Double Crème from Gruyèree which is so thick it stands up on the spoon. There was some on sale last week, so I picked some up. As it is the middle of winter, berries are only available for substantial amounts of ready money (or credit, but lots of it either way). What we had on hand happened to be blood oranges though, so that is what I did. The White Balsamic Syrup is one I got as a Christmas gift. I hadn't opened it yet, but when I assembled the Coupe Raisa bowls, they looked like they needed it, so I brought it out and it was a hit. So here goes. Ingredients (per person): A generous dollop of Double crème de Gruyère ( in a pinch, mascarpone might do instead) One blood orange Optional: half a banana, sliced 3 dates, pitted and quartered (prunes work, but they are not as good) A handful of roughly crushed pistachios 1/2 tsp cacao nibs A drizzle of white balsamic syrup 1) Layer ingredients in a bowl, starting at the top of the list and working your way down. Serve with a small spoon. Mix up as desired. This was super tasty and I cannot recommend it enough. I loved the bite from the balsamic syrup paired with the cream and the fruit. The cacao nibs and the pistachios added some welcome textural contrast, too. A meringue crumble dup in there could work, but the extra sugar would be simply unnecessary.

I've always loved chestnuts in any shape or form, especially roast chestnuts. They always speak to me of Christmas markets, friends and family, and the smell alone is enough to carry me back. Traditionally, these should be eaten out of a paper cone, fresh from a roasting pan outside in freezing night air, and the chestnuts so hot you burn your fingers peeling them. The other day I settled for home-roasted ones for Little Bit and me, though. He ate fewer than I had anticipated (always the case) and I made the mistake of leaving the rest in the cast iron pan on the stove while I finished tempering chocolate. As a result, they were rock hard but not burnt. I hate the idea of food waste, so instead of tossing them in the compost, I decided to try and salvage them by turning them into custards. I didn't have enough eggs for that, so instead turned them into little puddings. Ingredients: 1 1/2 - 2 c chestnuts, roasted 3 tbsp butter 1 1/2 - 2 c milk 1 egg 1 tsp cinnamon 2 tbsp flour 1/3 c sugar 2 tbsp dark chocolate, grated 1) Melt 1 1/2 tbsp butter in a saucepan. Briefly toss the chestnuts in the butter, then simmer in milk until liquid is reduced by about half and the chestnuts are tender. 2) Blitz the chestnuts in milk, adding a touch of extra milk or some water if it is too thick. 3) In another saucepan, mix sugar and flour over medium heat. Add the chestnut mix and a little extra milk, and cook slowly, stirring well. When well incorporated, remove from heat and beat in the egg, remaining butter, and cinnamon. The egg should be fully cooked by the residual heat of the pudding. 4) Dish into little individual ramequins and sprinkle chocolate over the top. Chill in the fridge for an hour or so, then enjoy! These were delightful. I wasn't able to blitz the chestnuts until smooth as Little Bit was already asleep and after about a minute of pulsing, he was starting to wake up. Instead, our puddings had chunks of roasted chestnut in them, which worked rather well. They would have been nice with a little whipped cream or mascarpone, but were also very tasty as is! Book Pairing: While making these, I was listening to the start of In the Heart of the Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick. It is a history of the real-life whaling ship Essex and its wreck which were the inspiration for Moby Dick. I decided that Brothers Karamazov by Dostoyevsky was too depressing and I wasn't in the mood, so instead switched to a book that opens with an account of cannibalism... Hmmm... It is well written, but listening to the unrelenting series of errors in judgement, leadership and navigation made by the captain and first mate and knowing where the whole thing is headed is a bit grim. It would be funny how badly things went if it weren't so tragic! At least, having decided that I wasn't up for anything depressing at the moment, this is a quicker read than Brothers K! Definitely worth a read if your mood can handle it though.

Sweet Potatoes are normally really expensive here, so when the price drops, I buy up loads of them. Usually, being a tuber, they last pretty well. This time though, that meant using up 4 kilos of sweet potatoes fast. After putting a couple in a few other dishes and still having a mountain of them to use, I chopped off the ugly bits and made soup. As often happens, I didn't have a very clear idea when I started of where I was heading with this soup, but I am really happy with where it ended up, so thought I'd share. I had thought maybe I would go a big veggie soup direction, or maybe cream of sweet potato soup, or something coconutty. The Fromage Blanc was the last from my most recent batch of homemade cheese, and the chives were the only ones that poked their heads through this year. The pot looked rather like a bald man's head with only a few green hairs sprinkled around. I used chicken stock as I had some from a recent chicken dish, but veggie stock would have worked well too. It all came together very nicely though! Ingredients: For the soup: 2 tbsp olive oil 3-4 onions, chopped 4 cm ginger, diced 2 - 2,5 kg sweet potatoes, chopped 4 c chicken stock 1 tsp Urfa Biber 1 tbsp nigella seeds 1 - 1 1/2 c corn Salt and pepper to taste for the red pepper paste: 1 red pepper 1 red chilli pepper 2 tbsp olive oil 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar 1 onion, chopped For the fromage blanc 3/4 c fromage blanc (or cream cheese) 2-3 tbsp fresh chives 1/2 tsp garlic powder salt 1) Place red pepper and chilli in the oven, whole at 200°C for 20-30 minutes, until the red pepper is soft and starting to char. 2) In a heavy-bottomed soup pot, heat olive oil over medium heat and sauté onion and ginger. 3) Add sweet potato and stock. Add water until the sweet potatoes are just covered and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 20 - 25 minutes until sweet potatoes are soft. 4) Using a hand blender, blitz soup until it is most of the way smooth. Add corn, Urfa and nigella seeds. 5) Meanwhile, remove peppers from the oven and blitz in a blender with the onion, olive oil and vinegar. (I used olive oil left over from preserving my Cabécou Goat's cheese). 6) In a bowl, mix the fresh cheese, chives, garlic powder and salt. 7) Serve the soup hot, with dolloping options of fresh cheese and red pepper paste. I am really happy with this soup. Having the fresh cheese and the red pepper paste on the side meant we were each able to spice it up or make it creamy according to our own tastes. This also continues the trend of keeping spicy things on the side so that Little Bit can eat the same meal as us. He wanted corn from the tin while I was cooking, so I ended up needing more corn than anticipated, but then he offered me 5 kernels for the soup. Individually of course. He was very proud of his contribution too! The fresh cheese was very tasty, and I enjoyed the creaminess as it melted into the soup, but the soul also works really well without it. The red pepper paste is tasty in its own right, and I am happy to have it around for other purposes too. I like happy accidents in cooking!

EDIT: I have now worked out a recipe where these taste more like roast chestnuts. Check it out here!

This year, I accidentally planted lemon mint on my balcony instead of a variety I might be more familiar with and like more, like, say, peppermint or spearmint. Ironically, the lemon mint is one of the few of my plants to have flourished this year. I planted more things too early, then we had late snow and frost which wiped a lot of my plants out. I replanted and hoped for the best. Then the spring was very rainy and drowned a number of them. Then we had hail. Twice. A lot of plants were flattened. In and amongst weather catastrophes, was Little Bit, who delights in tearing up my plants by the roots, or picking the leaves off of them to make mud soup in his paddling pool. Through all this, the mint survived. I was delighted until I made tea with it and discovered that the flavour was not quite what I was expecting. I wondered if there had been black tea left in the bottom of the pot? No. I tried again. It still tasted odd: at once muddier than regular mint and more acidic, but without mint's typical freshness. I left the plant alone for a bit and wondered what to do with it. And then I hit on the idea of a pesto. It took a little tweaking, but it worked out well in the end. I had to add a little water to get the blender to work properly, and then it was too wet as well as needing a grounding note, so I added some stale bread to the blender. If your consistency is ok without it though, skip the bread. I also gradually increased the amount of garlic. As the pesto is raw, I was worried that too much garlic would be overpowering, but the pesto really did need it. Here it is. Ingredients: 3-4 c fresh lemon mint leaves 3-4 tbsp olive oil 1/4 c pine nuts 1/2 head garlic 1/4 c water 1/4 c bread crumbs Juice of 1/2 lemon 1/2 c grated parmesan Salt and pepper to taste 1) Blend all ingredients until smooth. Taste test. I am happy with how this came out. It doesn't taste overpoweringly minty (but then, neither does the parent plant) but has a nice balance to it. We had this first with sandwiches. The minty pesto worked very well on wholegrain seedy bread with cheese and sausage for lunch. We have also tried it with spinach and ricotta tortellini, and it was delicious. Little Bit refused to try it, but then he doesn't like any sauce on his tortellini.

Recipe Cook time: approx. 1 hour -- Portions: about 30 cookies -- Difficulty: Easy Almond and Chocolate nicely indeed, although, as stated above, I would stick with boiling and mashing the turnip for both recipes Swaps and substitutions: In both recipes, the different proportions of white to brown sugar can be played As with the sugars, the proportion of honey to molasses can be played around with in the second recipe Try adding some almond extract - only 1/2 tsp or so to the first recipe, as I had intended (and plan

These were arguably better than the original pasta the sauce was used for.

Here is the recipe I came up with.

As mentioned in Day 39 of The Challenge Pancakes are an easy classic. For whatever reason we decided to have pancakes and bacon for dinner, but to give it a veneer of respectability we made the apple cinnamon pancakes. Ingredients: 1 1/2 c flour 2 1/2 tsp baking powder 3 tbsp sugar 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon 3 tbsp melted butter 2 eggs 3/4 - 1 c milk 1 apple, grated 1) Mix dry ingredients together in a bowl, then add wet ingredients one by one, mixing after each addition. 2) Melt butter in a heavy bottomed skillet, and drop a large spoonful of batter into the skillet. Wait until the bubbles have come to the top of each pancake and popped, then flip them. When the second side is golden brown, serve up. We had ours with bacon and maple syrup, quark and cinnamon sugar, and a fresh cheese on the side. I've never tried this before, and was happy with how they turned out. I highly recommend trying these, both with the apple and with the cheese, but step up the amount of apple. It was more prominent in the batter than in the cooked pancakes. It made a tasty, very adult dinner.