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I had never had vegetable noodles until a couple of years ago and was a little suspicious of them. Ingredients: , 1 giant zucchini or two smaller ones - spiralized on the medium setting (Zoodles!) Taste test. 2) Add zoodles to the pan and toss to coat.

As mentioned in Day 23 of The Challenge We tend to have a light meal for lunch, like soup or salad, and we live around the corner from a farm stall. This happened because of their phenomenal fresh carrots and kale. It took all of 15 minutes to get on the table, as well as prepping for the cauliflower carbonara for dinner, it was packed full of flavours, textures, and colours while being light and easy. I highly recommend this! Just skip the eggs to make this salad vegan. Ingredients: 2 onions, spiralised 2 normal carrots (or one huge one), spiralised on the ribbon setting Kale 2 tbsp olive oil 3 tsp honey 1 tsp nigella seeds a handful of walnuts a handful of sage leaves 2 eggs 1 red pepper 2 stalks of celery 4 sundried tomatoes 1 tsp balsamic vinegar Salt and pepper to taste 1) Cut kale into thirds and steam for a few minutes, until the leaves just start to change colour - not too long as you want to retain some crunch. Place on plates. 2) thinly slice the red pepper and plate with the kale. 3) Heat half of the olive oil into a pan. When it is shimmering, add the onions and sauté until tender and starting to brown. Add nigela seeds and cook for a few more minutes before adding to the kale. 4) Meanwhile heat the rest of the oil in a second pan and sauté the carrots. Add the balsamic and the honey and the sage leaves. Cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, and plate up. 5) Poach the eggs for 4 minutes, then carefully extract them and place them on top of the salad. Add walnuts, celery sticks and sun-dried tomatoes, salt and pepper to taste and serve. We had this with grapes and tasty bread and local cheese, as well as a home-made mayonnaise. My husband declares to be one of his favourite things I've made.

Due to Covid quarantining we could not be with all the family for Christmas, so I am waiting on the last 3 days of Christmas cookies until we are all together. And in the mean time, something a little different... It sounds a little strange I know, but give it a chance. The arrival at this dish was a little peripatetic. We had peeled a pomelo for breakfast, excited for Little Bit to try another new food, especially a citrus, and we are both very fond of pomelos. We discovered with disappointment though that it was not very juicy, and was too dry with a bitter aftertaste. Fine then. I'll make it into a smoothie. SO I peeled it and prepped it, then spotted a beet in the fridge and decided that the acidity, mild bitterness and sweetness of the pomelo would play nicely with the earthy sweetness of the beetroot. I therefore peeled the latter and chucked it into the blender with the pomelo. I added some orange peel and some spices for good measure, then had to go do something else and left it there on the counter. The plan for dinner at this stage was spiralised sweet potato in a creamy mushroom sauce. When I came to make dinner though, having spiralised the sweet potato I spotted the almost purple smoothie sitting on the counter, and decided that tonight was a test night. Let's see what happens if we use the almost smoothie as a sauce for the sweet potato spirals, with the mushrooms chucked in. So that is what we did, and with a little tweaking it worked. The bitterness from the unjuicy pomelo still came through, but less so when sopped up with bread, so we decided to have the leftover sauce with cheesy gnocchi a couple of days later and it sang. Ingredients: 1 pomelo 1 beetroot 1 - 1 1/2 tsp dried orange peel 2 tbsp lemon juice 1/4 tsp cloves 1 tsp cinnamon 2 tbsp honey 2 tsp Aloha Spiced Cacao Salt and pepper to taste 1) Blitz the ingredients together ( if you prefer a mellower flavour for your beetroot, steam or roast it first. I used raw beet and it worked well though.) 2) Heat slowly in a saucepan, stirring gradually, 3) Add to spirals of veg or to cheesy gnocchi or pasta. The first night the bitterness from the pomelo was a bit much. The dish had promise but needed some tweaking. We found that the starch helped counter the bitterness though and so cooking it with gnocchi, heavier in starch than the sweet potatoes with a less delicate flavour of their own, With a pomelo that was perfectly ripe though, instead of one we needed to use in something rather than just eating, I don't know if we would have encountered the same problem. This is definitely going to stick around though, it was so tasty! EDIT: After making mozzarella of my own for the first time, I used the sauce in puff pastry pockets with the mozzarella and dates. They were beautiful (and tasty!) The sauce also works well as a pink base for pizza.

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.

As mentioned in Day 41 of The Challenge Vegetables stewed with prunes and warm (rather than hot) spices diced 3 carrots, chopped Half a head of garlic, sliced 6 celery sticks, chopped 400g chickpeas 400ml vegetable Add spices and stock, replace in the oven and allow to cook 1 - 1 1/4 hours until vegetables are almost

Vegetable stock though is always different as it depends entirely on what vegetable off cuts I have on flavour notes of the fresh stock on the stove have prompted a few meals recently, as when Hubby tasted a vegetable For vegetable stock: Save the off cuts of vegetables in a container in the fridge (not too long or they

Add the other vegetables except the pumpkin, and the spices and stir.

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.

It did reheat very nicely though, with fresh noodles or a little extra stock. 1 tbsp ras-el-hanout 2 tsp Mix spice 2 c roast pumpkin purée 1 small squash, chopped 1/3c soy sauce Noodles Cook 5 minutes, then add other ingredients except for mangetouts, noodles and sesame for seeds. 2) Bring simmer and cook until squash and broccoli have reached just shy of their desired consistency, then add noodles Taste test. 3) Remove from heat and serve as soon as noodles are cooked.

chopped 200g mushrooms 1 - 2 head bok choi shredded 1 bunch coriander, chopped 1/2 c cashews, toasted Noodles cook through. 4) When the carrots are about 1-2 minutes shy of being done, add the bok choi and the noodles Use gluten-free noodles and soy sauce and it is gluten-free.