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As mentioned in Day 65 of The Challenge This is my first original cookie recipe, all my own rather than just tweaking of an original. It started because we made tollhouse cookies with butterscotch. I find those too sweet, with too high a flavour note. I, therefore, decided to make my own cookies, changing the sugar types - reducing the granulated sugar, both white and brown, and using pomegranate molasses instead. Regular molasses would also have the effect of deepening the note, but pomegranate molasses has an added acidity to it. I then added dried orange peel, dates and ground almonds. These came out quite moist and light. If you want them a bit more substantial, and closer to the texture of tollhouse cookies, add an extra 1/4 c of flour. Recipe Cook time: 30 minutes -- Difficulty: Easy Ingredients: 1 c butter, softened 1/2 c white sugar 1/2 c dark brown sugar 1/2 c ground almonds 1/3 c pomegranate molasses 1/4 c dried orange peel 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract 2 eggs 1 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp cloves 2 c flour 3/4 c dates, chopped 1) Cream butter and sugar in a bowl. add almonds and pomegranate molasses and mix well. Soak orange peel in a cup of hot water. 2) Stir in wet ingredients, then gradually add dry ingredients. 3) Drain orange peel. Add date and orange peel. Drop onto greased cookie sheet by teaspoonfuls. 4) Bake at 180°C for 8-10 minutes until golden on top. Cool for a few minutes then enjoy warm! I love these and am so happy with them! I will continue to tweak and play with these a little, but these are a keeper. They are fragrant with a beautifully balanced, complex and yet delicate taste. They are moist and soft, and though sweet and overall very satisfying. The dough is less tasty to eat raw though. When baked in a slightly under-preheated oven, the bottoms caramelised a little, which quashed the orange flavour and brought out the dates. They were also tasty, but with a much less delicate and complex flavour. Swaps and substitutions: You could use fresh orange zest instead of the dried orange peel. I personally liked the chewy pieces of peel, but if you don't have any to hand, the zest will do. You could replace the pomegranate molasses with regular molasses. It will not have the same zing to it, but it would still be a balanced cookie. Try replacing the ground almond with other ground nuts to see the difference. Replace the dates with dried apricots or prunes. If you want to use prunes, alternatively, you could check out the Grapefruit and Prune Cookie recipe. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

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.

As mentioned in Day 64 of The Challenge I love rosehips and their season is upon us! (So many seasons, it's wonderful, I know!). They are one of those supposed super foods, especially high in vitamin c. They are the fruit of the rose, which grows if you don't deadhead and snip your roses. They also grow wild in hedgerows. I discovered them a couple of years ago and am gradually expanding what I do with rosehips. I picked these locally while on a walk this weekend which was quite exciting. Ingredients: 1/2 c rosehips Juice of 1 lemon 1 tbsp honey 1 tsp pomegranate molasses 1/4 tsp urfa biber (Turkish black chilli) 1 pinch of salt 1) Top and tail rosehips and boil them in about 1 to 1 1/2 c water with the lemon juice. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes or until the rosehips are softened. 2) Strain rosehip juice using a food mill or a strainer. 3) Add other ingredients to the juice and bring it back to a gentle simmer for 10 more minutes. Serve hot or cold to add some sour-sweet pep! This was a somewhat experimental recipe as I have made something similar-ish in the past but not quite the same. I initially made it for yesterday morning's French toast as a quick easy drizzle, but it has also since worked very nicely with roasted chestnuts.

As mentioned in Day 58 of The Challenge Did I mention that it's pumpkin season? We have bought a few (I won't say too many) again. I love pumpkin soup and we have it every year. This time though, instead of the traditional creamy spicy pumpkin soup, we went for chunky with a different range of flavours, still warming, but differently so. Ingredients: 1/2 pumpkin (or 2 small ones which is what I used), chopped 2 onions, chopped 1 head of garlic, chopped 1 red pepper, chopped 2 sprigs of fresh thyme 2 sprigs of fresh oregano 1 tsp garam masala 1/2 tsp Aloha Spiced Cacao 2 tsp zathar 2 tsp urfa biber (Turkish black chili) 3 c vegetable broth 1 tbsp olive oil Salt and pepper to taste 1) Heat oil in the bottom of a pot and sauté onions until translucent. Add garlic and peppers, and cook for a couple of minutes before adding pumpkin and broth. Throw in herbs and simmer for 20 minutes. 2) Add spices and simmer for a few more minutes, then taste test and check vegetables for tenderness. Dead simple, warming and tasty. Perfect after a walk in cool autumn weather!

As mentioned in Day 46 of The Challenge Soup season continues! (Does it ever really stop?) A friend recently gave us quite a large bag full of sage, so needs must... This was a first try at this soup, but it will be sticking around now. Very tasty, quick to pull together and a good twist on the various other carrot-based soups we make. Many thanks to my hubby for putting it together! Ingredients: 1 kg carrots, chopped 2 onions, chopped 4 potatoes, chopped 1 l of veggie stock 1/2 c dried sage 2 tsp honey 1/2 tbsp olive oil Salt and pepper to taste 1) Heat oil in a soup pot and sauté onions. Add carrots and potatoes and allow to char briefly on the bottom of the pan. 2) Add stock and sage and bring to a simmer. Add honey and cook for about a half hour. 3) Blitz til smooth, taste test and serve. This has got to be one of the simplest of soups, but it was warming and satisfying on a cold October lunch. We had it with crusty bread, local cheese and home made Green Tomato Chutney.

Challenge Update: This last week was quite busy (when do I not say that) but we still had some fun cooking adventures, as well as a bunch of leftover nights. Some I've done before a number of times like the Rotkohl, Tom Kha Gai, which is my take on a Thai chicken soup, or the Zoodles in lemon sauce, some were new like Spring Rolls and White Chilli, and some were variations on a theme like these super tasty Orange Date Cookies, and my Rosehip Coulis. We also had a couple of other soups including a Pumpkin Soup (not the traditional one) and a Corn Chowder.

As mentioned in Day 47 of The Challenge I love stir fires! They are simple, adaptable to whatever is in the fridge, tasty, with endless different flavours to jazz them up. I like the range of colours and textures, the ability to make it vegetarian or meaty, or in this case shrimpy. (It was time to introduce shellfish to Mini Me, so it was shrimp week. Although initially suspicious of them he loves shrimp now!) Ingredients: 2 onions, chopped 1 head of garlic chopped 1 red and 1 yellow pepper, chopped Half a head of broccoli, cut into florets (floretted?) 10 shrimp 1 tbsp peanut oil 1 tbsp soy sauce 1/2 tbsp rice wine vinegar 2 tsp sesame oil 1 tbsp black sesame seeds 2 tbsp chili flakes (or pul biber*, as my chili of choice often is) 1) Heat oil in a wok. Add the onions and garlic and stir for a couple of minutes. Add the rest of the veg and stir fry at high heat for about 5 minutes. 2) Add the chili flakes, soy sauce and rice wine vinegar and tuck the shrimp in with the veg and cook for about 4-5 more minutes until the shrimp is just cooked. 3) Sprinkle sesame seeds over the top just before the shrimp are done cooking. Serve hot over rice. A touch of sweet and sour or sweet chili sauce is not necessary but does not go amiss... I hope you enjoy this as much as we did! Mini Me even decided he preferred the leftovers for breakfast instead of porridge (better than porridge?!) * This is an affiliate link to help you find what you need to make the recipe. You will not be charged any more by using this link but you will be helping support more delicious recipes!

As mentioned in Day 48 of The Challenge This was a bit of an experiment. We only discovered recently that we can get miso paste here, so suddenly my husband has decided to try using it in everything. The most recent victim (a very willing, tasty one I might add) was fried rice. We also decided that this was the week to introduce shellfish to Little Bit, so shrimp went in to. Feel free to skip the shrimp, or substitute for something else, but it was a worthy addition. Ingredients: 2 c rice (either day old for the best fried rice, or freshly cooked according to packet instructions if you are like me and failed to plan ahead) 2 carrots chopped half a head of broccoli, cut into florets 1 c peas 1 knob of ginger, grated Half a head of garlic, minced 3 eggs 10 shrimps 2 tbsp miso paste 1 tbsp oil 1 1/2 tbsp rice wine vinegar 1) Heat oil in a wok and scramble eggs in it. Set aside. 2) Sauté carrots, broccoli, ginger and peas for 5 minutes. Add rice and stir. 3) Mix miso paste with 1 c water and add to the veg and rice. Cook for a couple of minutes, stirring. 4) Add rice wine vinegar and stir, then tuck shrimp into the rice, add eggs. Cook for a further 4-5 minutes, until shrimp are just cooked, then serve. It came out very tasty, and was greatly enjoyed by all involved (although Little Bit was a tad confused by shrimp to begin with).

I love this soup! We originally came across a recipe in Gordon's Great Escape - Southeast Asia, but it has since made it into our regular rotation and become our own. It is dead simple to assemble, tasty and warming with a hint of heat. It is a satisfying chicken soup with a twist. A lot of recipes recommend straining the broth once you have simmered it, but we like it with the bits and so never strain it. Feel free to do so though if you'd rather. Ingredients: 1 litres of chicken stock - the richer the better, and even better with bits in 0.5 - 1 litre of coconut milk ( or you can do half coconut milk and half coconut cream if you want it richer. If the stock is weak, I do recommend this, but it also depends on the chicken to coconut balance you want. I like it just fine with simply coconut milk. A big chunk of ginger, peeled and julienned 1 head of garlic, minced 6 chilis chopped 6 kafir lime leaves, crumbled 2 lemon grass stalks, chopped (these can be woody if left in. Like I said, I do anyway - I enjoy the crunch - but remove them if that's not your thing) 3/4 c shitake or oyster mushrooms (rehydrate these in advance if using dried ones) - chopped 2 shallots, chopped 1 tbsp soy sauce 2 tsp rice wine vinegar 1 tbsp lime juice salt to taste 1) Bring chicken stock and coconut milk to a simmer. Add all ingredients up to shallots and cook 30-45 minutes, allowing flavour to develop. 2) Add soy sauce, rice wine vinegar and lime juice. Serve. We had this alongside our (first attempt at) Spring Rolls. The two paired wonderfully together, complementing flavours and rounding out the soup into a meal. Very tasty even with nothing to pair with it though. Simple, light but nutritious, I do love this soup (even if I am not quite sure to what extent it still resembles anything Thai).

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.