As mentioned on Day 56 of The Challenge This is a classic comfort food. It is milky and creamy and lovely. It is never the same twice because I don't follow a recipe and there are occasional tweaks to it. It works as a vegetarian soup but also with bacon bits. It can be cheesy, or you can add celery for extra crunch. In any case, I always find it very satisfying and comforting. Ingredients: 1.5 l milk (I use whole fat, but feel free to use skimmed or semi-skimmed if necessary, it's your sad sad life) 2-3 tbsp butter Approx 800 g of corn 2 potatoes, chopped 1 onion, chopped 1 sprig of fresh thyme Salt and pepper to taste 1) Melt butter in the bottom of a soup pot and sauté onions until translucent. Add potatoes and cook for a few minutes. 2) Add other ingredients and simmer for 20-30 minutes. 3) Enjoy! Tweak this to your tastes and enjoy. Not hard to make, and so satisfying.

I absolutely love baked eggs! We've been making them for a few years now after first stumbling on the idea in Michel Roux's cookbook Eggs (awesome cookbook by the way. I hesitated over getting it initially because I figured "how interesting can a cookbook about eggs be?" Answer: really.) Since that initial revelation, we've played around with different configurations, different layers, different pairings. We've done sweet and savoury, some with veggie bases, others with some meat, or others again with both. Some are layered, some are dropped into a mixture, like curry. They are the perfect dish for using up micro amounts of leftovers. The only trick is to play flavours and textures off of each other successfully. We use vegetables (left over or raw), meat, cheese, cream, fruits, bread, spreads, chocolate, nuts... And the list goes on. Almost anything works. We've also cooked the eggs, instead of in ramequins, in a baking tray with corn bread batter or pancake batter as a base, nested in roast veggies before. It is endlessly adaptable. Omit meat and it's veggie. Use keto friendly veg and it's keto. Skip the toast and it's gluten free. Play around with it! This one came out beautifully. I used the last of my home made whey ricotta, some leftover (slightly spiced) stir fried veggies, the last of a pack of bacon and some fresh thyme, served with day old bread toasted up to perfection. The trick is to bake them until the yolk is still runny but the white is set, so keep your eyes on it. I usually place the eggs in a bain-marie in the oven, but not always. It allows them to come out moister, but depending on what you've used and what you're planning, you don't have to. Ingredients: 6 tbsp left over veggies 6-9 tbsp ricotta 3 eggs 6 rashers of bacon 3 thyme sprigs salt and pepper 1 tbsp butter Toast to serve 1) Butter 3 ramequins thoroughly. Spoon 2 tbsp of veggies into the bottom of each ramequin. Next, spoon in the ricotta around the edges of the dishes, leaving a well in the centre. Place a ring of bacon around the tops of the ramequins using 2 rashers each then crack an egg into the well created in each dish. 2) Place the ramequins in a baking dish and pour boiling water into the baking dish deep enough to come mid way up the sides of the ramequin. 3) Place in the oven at 180°C. Bake for about 10 minutes, or until the eggs are set to your liking. Serve with toast. These were rich and decadent. The slightly spiced veg played well off the creamy whey ricotta, and egg and bacon is of course a classic combo. The crunchy veggies and the toast added a textural contrast. It was beautiful and creamy and tasty. This is a must try!

before New Year, but for Science, it was necessary to make a control batch of these using the more traditional

As mentioned in Day 39 of The Challenge We haven't had this one in a while, but the local farmer we frequent had beets again so with autumn cool coming on, this was the perfect choice. Ingredients: 4 large beets, chopped 3 carrots, chopped 2 onions, chopped 3 potatoes, chopped 1 tbsp olive oil 1 litre of beef stock 1 c apple cider vinegar 2 tsp thyme salt and pepper to taste 1-2 tsp sour cream per serving 1) Heat oil in a large soup pot and sauté onions until translucent. Add carrots, potatoes and beets. Stir allowing them to sauté for about 5 minutes. 2) Pour in broth and cider, just to a little over the level of the vegetables and add seasoning. 3) Simmer until the root vegetables are tender, then blend to desired smoothness. i like it almost fully blended, but it is also good chunky. 4) Taste test and adjust vinegar or seasoning. Serve hot with a dollop of sour cream. Not too heavy, but warming and autumnal, with a rich colour and rich flavour highlighted by a vinegary tang, I love borscht.

As mentioned in Day 38 of The Challenge This can be vegetarian, as this was, or with ham and bacon, but either way it's tasty and satisfying, while also being easy and quick to assemble. Ingredients: 2 c peas 1 tbsp olive oil 2 onions, chopped 4 potatoes, chopped 2 carrots chopped. 2 tbsp lemon Salt and pepper to taste 1) Sauté onions in oil in a saucepan. Add potatoes and carrots and sauté for a minute longer, then add the peas and enough water to cover the veg. 2) Bring to a simmer and cook until the potatoes and carrots are tender. Blitz to desired smoothness. 3) Serve into bowls and drizzle the lemon juice over the top and season as desired. Simple and satisfying especially served with crusty bread and some cheese.

This was a twist on a classic cheese tart, and the first time we had tried this variant before.

As mentioned in Day 35 of The Challenge This is a recipe which I very much enjoy, but full disclosure here, it isn't mine, it is my husband's. I had never had it before moving in with him, and he has developed and tweaked it and made it truly his own in the years since. I am always delighted when he decides to make it again, and it is too good not to share. As with almost everything I make (I seem to say this a lot), it is endlessly variable, with different vegetables being able to be included or substituted. Here's the one he made me this time, so moreish just before a night shift, I ended up not wanting my midnight lunch. Ingredients: 500g long grain rice (we used a wild rice mix) 500g kidney beans, cooked (or others of your choice. Traditionally it would be with black eyed peas, but those are hard to obtain here) 200g bacon cut into chunks 200 g cabbage chopped 2-3 chillies, sliced 3 onions, chopped 2 carrots, chopped 2 tsp chilli powder 1 tbsp olive oil Salt and pepper to taste 1) Fry onions in olive oil in a pan until translucent. Add bacon and stir. Once bacon starts to give off juices, add cabbage and carrot. Add any other herby notes here if you so desire. 2) Cook rice as per instructions. Reserve any cooking liquid from the beans and the rice. 3) Once the rice is cooked, add it to the bacon and veg mix with beans. Add any reserved liquid or about 1/2 c of water and stir. 4) Simmer and spice to taste. Serve hot. Very simple, minimal dishes but very versatile, tasty and filling.

so it was under-cheesed, but aside from that, the seasonal twist worked really well!

We've already had two (the Non-Traditional 6 Veg Rösti from way back, and the Courgette and Apple Rösti

Having roasted a turkey (a bit randomly) last week, we found ourselves with rather a lot of turkey carcass left to eat, and with only 2.5 of us working on it (I don't feel that Little Bit really pulled his weight), so aside from turkey sandwiches and soup, we needed to find other ways of eating it before it went off. This was one of them. Around Thanksgiving, my cousin had mentioned making his mom's Cuban stuffing, so I asked her for the recipe and made it with this turkey. It was delicious, with completely different flavour notes then the cornbread stuffing I usually do. It most notably has chestnuts, cumin, oregano and coriander in it. Using this left over stuffing as the lid for the pie also meant adapting the cream sauce a little. I made the pie crust a sage one as I find that sage goes really well with turkey. It worked very well! A little on the liquidy side, but as with the White Lasagne a couple of weeks ago, this didn't compromise the pie on the first evening at all, and meant that the leftovers heated up better. Ingredients: For the crust: 1 1/5 c flour 1/2 c butter, cold and diced 1 tsp sage 1/4 c milk For the filling: 1 tbsp butter 1 tbsp flour 2 - 3 c milk 1/2 c white cooking wine 2 tsp cumin 1 tsp coriander 1 1/2 c turkey, roasted and in small pieces 2 carrots, chopped 1 c peas Salt and pepper to taste 2 c left over Cuban Chestnut Stuffing 1) For the pie crust, place flour in a bowl and cut the butter into it. Using the tips of your fingers, work the butter into the dough. When it has reached the consistency of crumbs, add the sage and then the milk, mixing with a fork. Add the milk only a little at a time until you reach the right consistency. Working the dough as little as possible, bring it into a ball and chill for at least 30 minutes. 2) Make a roux. Melt the butter in a saucepan and stir in the flour, without letting it brown. Gradually add the milk, stirring constantly. You don't want the white sauce to be too thick, but it should not be runny either. 3) Add the spices and the wine. Add the carrots, peas and turkey. Cook slowly, stirring regularly, giving the carrots a chance to start cooking. Salt and pepper to taste. 4) Roll out the dough and line the bottom and sides of a casserole dish with it. Pour in the white sauce, veg and turkey. Spoon the left over stuffing over the top to form a lid, folding down and crimping any excess pastry around the edges. 5) Bake at 180°C for 30 minutes or so until the pastry is golden brown. Dish it up. This was immensely satisfying and rich, if a little on the heavy side. The flavours all complemented each other nicely. The spices in the stuffing played well with the other flavours and overall this was a success!