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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.

Späztle is another traditional Swiss and German food that I grew up with. In this case though, I cooked them in another traditional dish, Käsespätzle, where they are mixed with I also added a couple of simple twists to the recipe.

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.

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

Since first trying to candy and then chocolate cover orange peels last spring, I have branched out to ginger and other citrus fruit peels. Ingredients: Citrus peel or ginger strips - generally about 1 c worth 1/2 c sugar plus extra for candying 100 g Chocolate Optional: Cinnamon, cloves spices etc. 1) Place the (clean) orange peel in a saucepan with enough water to cover it and add sugar. Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer for about half an hour to an hour until the orange peel is tender but still retains its integrity and a little bite. 2) Remove and drain, spreading out on a drying rack to dry overnight. 3) Place the ones you want to candy in a jar with the sugar, seal and shake, coating them evenly. 4) For the chocolate coated peels, place chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water to create a Bain Marie. Stir regularly as the chocolate begins to melt. Dip strips of orange peel into the chocolate and lay on a cooling rack. (TIP: I find chopsticks very helpful in the dipping process!) The principles hold generally to the orange peels I did last year, but I thought I would share my thoughts and experiences. I have generally omitted the extra sugar shaken over the candied peels at the end, finding it unnecessary. I find that lime peel and lime slices work very well and have an excellent balance of sweetness and tartness to them when candied. I have also tried coating them in white chocolate, which worked excellently. Ginger, of course, works wonderfully. As with the others, I have not added extra sugar on top, but I have coated in dark chocolate, which is very tasty. Dark chocolate with a little orange oil added to it is especially delectable. On one occasion, I simmered ginger, orange and lime together. It worked nicely, but the citrus peel was done before the ginger, which had to go back in the pan for another go. Also, they shared flavours a little, the ginger imparting a little bite to the lime and orange peels. Not a bad experience by any means, but one to be aware of, depending on your intentions for the candy. Grapefruit peel was tremendously bitter. I tried adding a pinch of salt to the simmering syrup as salt counteracts bitterness a lot of the time, but it made for a weird bitter salty candied peel rather than anything else. I set it aside, therefore, and covered it in dark chocolate at a later date, some with a sprinkling of cloves over the top too, and the grapefruit peel was transformed! I highly recommend this form of candy! Orange peel with a little cinnamon over the chocolate works too. Candied lemon works very nicely coated in white chocolate with a little black pepper. It seems a little counterintuitive perhaps, but that is a combo I discovered when playing around with my chocolate tempering and flavouring. The black pepper's sharpness is mitigated by the lemon and the lemon's bitterness is evened out by the black pepper. I faffed about a little with tempering the chocolate properly before coating my orange and grapefruit peels, but I am not convinced of the necessity of this, and so have not included it in the description above. A caveat to bear in mind is that these keep extremely well in an airtight jar IF, and only if, you dry them long enough. If after the candying process there is any moisture left on the peels, it will go mouldy, which would be a shame... When they do keep, I am discovering that having candied peels around for use as ingredients in other things can be very handy, like in my updated Ginger Snaps. I really enjoyed making these (and eating them too) and prepped a whole bunch last week as Christmas presents for my parents. I didn't faff about with tempering all of the chocolate, and I have to say it is an incredibly sticky medium to work with, but it was certainly fun to play around with the different flavours and try different things out.

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!

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!

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!

This was Hubby's birthday cake. It is an altered and adjusted version of the dark chocolate cake I grew up with, and it came out wonderfully. I was experimenting with making candied orange peel, so the peels themselves and the syrup from making them were used. Two additional oranges were slaughtered in the making of this cake, both semi-blood oranges. This is also one of the most elaborate cake decorations I've tried, and I was quite pleased with it. Ingredients: For the cake: 1/2 c butter 1/2 + 2 tbsp sunflower seed oil 6 tbsp cacao powder 1 1/4- 1 1/2 c orange juice 2 c flour 1 tsp baking soda 2 c sugar 1 tsp cinnamon 1/2 c sour milk (milk + 1 tsp vinegar) 2 eggs 2 tsp dried orange peel For the frosting: 1/3 c soft butter 1/3 c cream cheese 1/4 c powdered sugar 1/2 c (or more) cacao powder 1 tsp cinnamon 1/4 tsp cloves 1/2 tsp Aloha Chilli Spiced Cacao 1/2 c orange syrup (or orange juice and increase the amount of powdered sugar to taste) 1/4 c milk 1 Tbsp orange zest Slices of candied orange peel (optional) 1) Melt butter in a small saucepan with oil, cacao and orange juice. 2) Mix dry ingredients, then gradually add milk, vanilla and eggs. Stir in the chocolate mix. 3) Prepare two cake pans and pour the batter into them. Bake 25-30 minutes at 165°C. 4) Cream together the butter and cream cheese until smooth. Gradually beat in the other ingredients, taste testing regularly and adjusting accordingly. If necessary, add a little more orange juice, or some milk for creaminess. Adjust spicing to taste too! 5) Allow both halves of the cake to cool thoroughly before frosting. Sprinkle with orange zest and candied orange slices. Optionally, boil a few orange slices in a syrup until the water cooks off and they begin to caramelise, and arrange on top or the cake. Rich and sweet, both the chocolate and orange came through. This cake was very tasty, and I am glad I already had started on the candied orange peel as the syrup really added to the frosting, and the candied pieces themselves really added to the cake. It was Little Bit's first time trying chocolate cake, and he was a bit disappointed originally that I was offering him this instead of a rice cake (the only other cake he's ever had). He was quickly converted though! Happy Birthday Hubby!

As mentioned in Day 18 of The Challenge As it was plum season, we somehow managed to buy several kilos of plums in a very short time period. In addition to eating them plain, they made their way into a variety of dishes. The plum jam was one batch, then the next day, starting with plums, apples and ginger in one pot, I split the jam and the chutney into 2 separate batches after passing it through the food mill. Play around with the sugar and spicing. I like my jam more fruity and less sweet. The compromise there though is that then it may be a little runnier, but I'll take it. If you like your jam sweeter or more gelled, add more sugar. Boiling for longer will also firm up the jam a little. Just be careful you don't boil it too long! One batch of marmalade I made a few years ago ended up a bit caramelised as the door bell rang just before it was ready. Plum Jam Ingredients: 2 kg of plums, halved and pitted 750g sugar 2 tbsp dried orange peel 1 cinnamon stick 2 tsp ground cloves 2 c water 1) Place plums in a heavy bottomed pan. Add water and bring to a simmer. Stir in other ingredients. Put a saucer in the freezer. 2) Stir occasionally to prevent the jam from sticking. As it thickens you'll need to stir more consistently. 3) Taste test to check for sugar and spicing. I go light on sugar, you might want to use more. 4) Drop some of the hot jam on the saucer from the freezer. If after a minute if starts to solidify and the top wrinkles and pulls tight, it should gel nicely once cool. If not, then boil it a bit longer or add sugar (or both). 5) To sterilize jars: boil clean jars and their lids for at least 15 minutes. Fill them with the boiling jam immediately on removing them from the boiling water (canning tongs make this so much easier and makes it less likely that you'll burn yourself, but you can do it with a spoon or a spatula and a dish cloth). Fill to just below the rim, wipe the grooves clean and screw the lid on tight. As the jars and contents cool, the centre of the lid should be sucked down and the jars will be sealed properly. Place the jars upside down on a clean cloth. Label when cool. (The part about putting them upside down is from my German Oma, I don't know what's behind it but it works. ) Plum and Apple Jam: Ingredients: 1 kg of plums 3 apples 1 large knob of ginger, peeled and minced or cut into julienne strips 4 cloves (2 tsp of ground cinnamon or 1 cinnamon stick. I didn't as I wanted this jam sufficiently different from the plum jam I had made the day before, but it works both ways) 500 g brown sugar 1) Place plums and apples in a heavy bottomed pan. Add water and bring to a simmer. Put a saucer in the freezer. 2) Stir occasionally to prevent the jam from sticking. As it thickens you'll need to stir more consistently. 3) Once the apples are soft, strain the jam through a food mill or push through a strainer. You can then either keep the skins and the pulp, as I did, or toss it and have jelly instead. Personally, I like the bits. 4) Stir in other ingredients and simmer for 10 minutes. Taste test to check for sugar and spicing (I tend to go easy on the sugar, so you might want to use more.) 5) Drop some of the hot jam on the saucer from the freezer. If after a minute if starts to solidify and the top wrinkles and pulls tight, it should gel nicely once cool. If not, then boil it a bit longer or add sugar (or both). 6) To sterilize jars: boil clean jars and their lids for at least 15 minutes. Fill them with the boiling jam immediately on removing them from the boiling water (canning tongs make this so much easier and makes it less likely that you'll burn yourself, but you can do it with a spoon or a spatula and a dish cloth). Fill to just below the rim, wipe the grooves clean and screw the lid on tight. As the jars and contents cool, the centre of the lid should be sucked down and the jars will be sealed properly. Place the jars upside down on a clean cloth. Label when cool. (The part about putting them upside down is from my German Oma, I don't know what's behind it but it works.) Plum and Apple Chutney: Ingredients: 1 kg of plums 3 apples 1 large knob of ginger, peeled and minced or cut into julienne strips 2 red onions, minced 2 red chillies 1/2 c apple cider vinegar 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar 1 c brown sugar 1) Place plums and apples in a heavy bottomed pan. Add water and bring to a simmer. Put a saucer in the freezer. 2) Stir occasionally to prevent the jam from sticking. As it thickens you'll need to stir more consistently. 3) Once the apples are soft, strain the jam through a food mill or push through a strainer. Add the pulp and the peels to the strained fruit. 4) Stir in other ingredients and simmer for 10 minutes. Taste test to check for sugar and spicing. 5) Drop some of the hot chutney on the saucer from the freezer. If after a minute if starts to solidify and the top wrinkles and pulls tight, it should gel nicely once cool. If not, then boil it a bit longer or add sugar (or both). 6) To sterilize jars: boil clean jars and their lids for at least 15 minutes. Fill them with the boiling chutney immediately on removing them from the boiling water (canning tongs make this so much easier and makes it less likely that you'll burn yourself, but you can do it with a spoon or a spatula and a dish cloth). Fill to just below the rim, wipe the grooves clean and screw the lid on tight. As the jars and contents cool, the centre of the lid should be sucked down and the jars will be sealed properly. Place the jars upside down on a clean cloth. Label when cool. (The part about putting them upside down is from my German Oma, I don't know what's behind it but it works.) In my experience, these keep for several years if properly sealed. These batches all came out very well. My husband swore that each successive one was the best I'd ever made and then declared that he couldn't choose a winner. We always have far too much jam as I can't resist buying home-made jam at farmstalls, and I make some every year, but it is like money in the bank. With jam in the cupboard, breakfasts are safe for a while to come! Jam is so tasty stirred into porridge, spread on bread, waffles, pancakes or used in cooking... I'm also enjoying taking advantage of fruits in season as the appear.