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Looking into fenugreek a while back, I came across a description of it comparing fenugreek's taste to that of maple and the fact that fenugreek is sometimes used as a maple substitute. That gave me an idea. What about if I used fenugreek in something that often has maple syrup added to it, like pancakes. The idea niggled for a while until I finally tried it. The pancakes worked really well. They were missing a little richness to the maple flavour, but with butter or yogurt they were really tasty! Less sweet obviously, than adding maple syrup to a dish, and the flavour was more delicate, but very tasty. Ingredients: 1 1/2 c flour 2 1/2 tsp baking powder 1 tsp fenugreek powder 3 tbsp sugar 3 tbsp melted butter 2 eggs 3/4c milk 1) Combine dry ingredients, then gradually add wet ingredients. Add an additional splash of milk if necessary for the batter to be just thin enough to pour. 2) Melt butter in a skillet then cook the pancakes in two-tablespoon-dollops (or bigger if you want) over medium heat until bubbles appear and pop on the surface and it goes from shiny to matte, then flip. Serve hot with butter, jam, syrup or fruits. Or anything else you fancy. I really enjoyed these. They had a definite maple flavour but without added sugar. I enjoyed mine plain with butter, which gave them an extra richness that brought out the maple flavour. These are definitely coming back out! The only aspect I wasn't delighted with was the texture. They were a little heavier than usual, and I don't know if fenugreek requires a little additional liquid or rising agent, or if there was a mix-up somewhere. To be tried again I guess, and I will see. If you try them, let me know what you think!

It was good, but still missing something.

I received Salt Fat Acid Heat for Christmas and read through the food science part.

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.

After a big shop for fresh veg (and not quite enough fridge space for everything), craving something quick and easy, but healthy and tasty, I pulled this together and it made a great dinner! And the Wonderbag, as so often happens, helped a huge amount (use a crock pot or slow cooker). Ingredients: 1 tbsp olive oil 2 onions, chopped 1/2 head of garlic, chopped 2 carrots, chopped 2 zucchini, chopped 1 sweet potato, chopped 2 c roasted pumpkin (I pulled mine out of the freezer from the stash I set aside during pumpkin season) 2 tsp zathar 2 tsp sumac salt and pepper to taste 400 g chickpeas 1 c bulgur wheat 1) Heat oil in a heavy bottomed pot and sauté the onions and garlic until fragrant. Add the other vegetables except the pumpkin, and the spices and stir. Allow some of the veg to char a little. 2) Add the pumpkin, the chickpeas, bulgur and enough water to cover everything to about 1 cm above the level of the veg. 3) Bring to a simmer and then place in a Wonderbag or crockpot, or keep over medium heat until the water has largely been absorbed and the veg is tender, about 45 minutes. Serve. So it took slightly longer for the veg to cook than I thought, but this was so tasty, with surprisingly complex flavours given the very little seasoning that went into the dish. It worked both fresh and as a leftover and was very satisfying. I hope you enjoy it too!

As mentioned in Day 20 of The Challenge There are a number of different ways of doing this recipe, but many of those ways seem heavy on stodge and light on veg, so we tweaked a bit. It was filling but not too heavy, perfect for an early autumn supper! Ingredients: 6 big cabbage leaves 6 medium potatoes, boiled and mashed 1 c of peas 1/4 head of broccoli 2 c of spinach, blanched, or 2 cubes of defrosted frozen spinach 1/4 summer squash, chopped 3 eggs 1/2 c cheese of your choice (we used a local soft cheese) 2 TBSP of butter 2 TBSP of chutney of your choice ( we used our freshly made plum chutney) 2 tsp fresh thyme 2 tsp fresh oregano 1 tsp mustard Salt and Pepper 1) Steam the cabbage leaves for 5 minutes. Roast the squash for 10 minutes at 180°C in 1 tbsp of butter in the oven proof dish you will be using for the pie. 2) Mix mashed potatoes, peas, spinach, broccoli, cheese and eggs together in a bowl. Add the thyme, oregano, mustard, salt and pepper and mix well. 3) Add the squash to the potato mixture and make sure that the butter spreads around the whole dish. Line the pie dish with the cabbage leaves, leaving one for the top. 4) Fill the pie, spread chutney over the top and close the cabbage leaves over the pie filling. Dot the top with butter, and bake for a half hour until the top is golden brown. Serve with chutney, mustard or on its own. This was very tasty, I had meant to add carrots, but being the entertainment part of the Dinner and a Show for my baby got to me and I forgot the carrots. It also could have used a touch more salt, but other than that, this one was definitely a keeper. As with most things, I will play around with veg, add bacon occasionally, and maybe alter the seasoning, and I recommend that you do the same. Make it yours!

All four variants were good though.

As mentioned on Day 56 of The Challenge This is a classic comfort food. In any case, I always find it very satisfying and comforting.

Have I ever mentioned how much I like chestnuts? Ever? Maybe once or twice, with the Chestnut Cookies, Caramel Chestnut Risotto, or Chestnut Puddings... They are a seasonal must for me around Christmas, and I absolutely love them. The smell of them roasting conjures up images of Christmas markets, hot chestnuts in paper bags, burnt fingers and the delicious sweet earthy flesh warming you from the inside... For Christmas, we usually have pumpkin pie and mincemeat pie, but this year we decided to add in a new one, Chestnut Pie. Somehow, bouncing around ideas about something else entirely, and the idea of trying a chestnut pie came up. Other ideas are still pending testing, but the one we decided to make a reality is along the same lines as a pecan pie. However, those involved in the discussion agreed that pecan pie is generally too sweet, so we reduced the amount of sugar. I also don't like corn syrup, so instead, we used honey and citrus syrup left over from making Candied Peel. We also figured that the citrus would balance out the earthy flavour of the chestnuts. To address the sweetness, we also made a thin pie in a large dish rather than a deep one. For the first try, we used frozen chestnuts (defrosted, of course), but raw. I had thought that 40 minutes in the oven would be enough to cook them, but it wasn't. In the second try, therefore, I used cooked chestnuts, boiling some first (saving the chestnut water, we'll see what it will come in handy for. Oatmeal maybe?), some I roasted. For the pie crust, I used vinegar syrup from making pickled plums this summer. The added flavour was interesting, but a regular pie crust would work fine. Ingredients: Pie crust: 1 1/2 c flour 1/3 c butter, cold and cubed 1/3c milk/whey/plum vinegar syrup Filling 1 kg chestnuts 3 tbsp butter 1/2 c light brown sugar 1/2 c honey 1/2 c citrus syrup (use molasses or maple syrup if need be. Or more honey) 3 eggs 1) In a large bowl, rub the butter and flour together until you achieve a wet sandy texture. Stir in the liquid, gathering into a dough, manipulating as little as possible. Chill. 2) In a separate bowl, cream butter and sugar. Stir in honey and syrup, then beat in eggs. 3) If using raw chestnuts, boil for about 10 minutes until tender. Then roast about half at 190°C for 15 minutes (alternatively, I did it in the air fryer). 4) Roll out pie crust, and line a pie plate with it. Pour in the chestnuts, and then the batter. Bake at 180°C for 40min. Allow to cool and set, then serve at room temperature. I really liked this pie! And even the pecan pie doubters (*cough* Hubby) enjoyed it. I liked it better the first time around, but the chestnuts were better cooked the second time around. I would merely use pre-cooked chestnuts or boil them next time, and skip the roasting. I would also deliberately use light brown sugar. The second time I used dark brown sugar, and I think that worked less well, although that opinion was not unanimous. The pie crust worked, but a regular one would have worked equally well. The citrus syrup definitely worked, and I may even add orange zest or candied orange peel to this pie next time. We also used double the amount of chestnuts the second time around, making it super chestnutty. I would maybe split the difference in future and use 750g. The first time we had it with whipped cream, and the second time with mascarpone. Both work, but I think I preferred it with whipped cream.

Mushrooms and celery are also good, although not included in this particular one. , like many others, never comes out the same way twice, and I feel that this batch was particularly good As with other favourite dishes, it's a good fridge clearer dish, where almost any veg in the fridge can