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I had never had vegetable noodles until a couple of years ago and was a little suspicious of them. Then I had the chance to try some spiralizing when staying with a friend, and things snowballed from there. I now have my own spiralizer (thanks to my mother-in-law!) and use it for all sorts of things. I am not vegetarian, gluten-free or vegan (a glance at my other recipes should confirm that for anyone), but I do like playing around with things, and tweaking traditional takes to find my own. I love veg and try to insert it into meals left, right and centre, and do find some traditional meals a little heavy. Replacing pasta with veg - carrots, beets, zucchini, squash - suits me to a T and opens up so many possibilities. This one is dead simple ( we pulled it together in 10 minutes) but fresh and tasty, hitting all the right notes and all five tastes. I did use some sausage in this but it can easily be skipped to make the recipe vegetarian or vegan. Ingredients: , 1 giant zucchini or two smaller ones - spiralized on the medium setting (Zoodles!) 3 tbsp oil - we used peanut this time, but olive oil works too 1 tbsp honey juice of two lemons 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar 2 tsp nigella seeds 1 tsp dried orange peel strips Optional: 2 small merguez sausages, sliced salt and pepper to taste 1) Gently heat oil, balsamic, honey and juice in a deep frying pan or a saucepan. Add orange peel, nigella seeds and sausage slices. Cook gently for about 5 minutes until these have melded to form a smooth dressing. Taste test. 2) Add zoodles to the pan and toss to coat. Cook for a further 3-4 minutes in the sauce and serve. I cooked them until they were just done but still crunchy, but do cook to your own desired taste. Served up with crusty bread, this needed nothing else to complete our lunch. Absolutely beauteous.

As mentioned in Day 47 of The Challenge Our basil plant was starting to suffer from the cooler weather, and our tomatoes were ripening, so the stars aligned as it were for a tomato tart. Or agriculture on my balcony did in any case. I had been wanting to have a tomato tart for a while and so seized the opportunity and am delighted that I did! Ingredients: Crust: (you can use a store bought crust if you want, but this is also very quick and easy, I promise! It is better if you have a half hour to let it chill before rolling it out, but it still works if you don't) 3/4 c flour 1/2 c cold butter, cut into pieces pinch of salt 1/4 (approximate) water 6 large tomatoes, sliced a handful of fresh basil leaves 1 ball of mozzarella, sliced 1 tbsp olive oil 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar Salt and pepper to taste 1) To make crust, mix flour and salt. Cut in pieces of butter and mix together with fingertips until it forms a crumb like texture. Add water and mix with a fork, then knead into a soft dough. 2) Wrap in cling film and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes. 3) Roll out the pastry and line a pie dish with it. Layer sliced tomatoes in the pie dish (Careful not to drizzle in the juice at the same time or your pie will be soggy!) and then place mozzarella slices over the top and drizzle over olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Tuck in basil leaves, and season. 4) Bake at 180°C for 30-35 minutes until the mozzarella browns slightly. Tasty and fresh yet warm for a cool, sunny autumn day. Absolutely loved this, and it went down well with Hubby and Little One too!

As mentioned in Day 56 of The Challenge We had other plans for dinner, but then feeling a little under the weather we wanted something simple and easy but also packed with flavour, vitamins and energy. I've done this in various forms before, sometimes vegetarian, sometimes with sausages or other meat, sometimes with baked eggs tucked in among the veg. Sometimes the pancakes are under the veg, sometimes separate. I have yet to try the pancakes baked down over the veg, and this was the first time that I changed the pancake batter to make it more savoury. It was baked separately and came out beautifully! Ingredients: For the veg: 3 carrots, chopped 3 onions, chopped 1 head of garlic, chopped 1 red pepper, 1 yellow pepper, chopped 1 zucchini, chopped 1 1/2 - 2 c of chopped pumpkin 1 c raisins 2-3 tbsp olive oil 1-2 tbsp balsamic vinegar 2 tsp whole grain mustard 2 tsp nigella seeds 3 tsp zathar salt and pepper to taste For the pancakes: 1 1/2 c flour 3 tbsp semolina 1 c milk 2 eggs 1/3 c tomato passata 3-4 tbsp melted butter 2 1/2 tsp baking powder 2 thyme sprigs 4 sundried tomatoes 2 tsp garam masala 2 tsp thyme salt and pepper to taste 1) Place all the veg and raisins in an oven proof dish. Drizzle over the oil, balsamic and mustard, then sprinkle on the zathar and nigella seeds. Mix well and bake for approximately 45 min at 180°C. 2) Meanwhile, mix the dry ingredients for the pancakes. Add the wet ingredients and mix well. Coat a skillet in melted butter and pour in the pancake batter. Place the thyme and sundried tomatoes on top and then put in the oven for about 30-35 minutes at 180°C with the veg. 3) Serve together hot with condiments. This turned out really well! I had to use a little more liquid than the pancake batter usually calls for, but it came out well in terms of the taste and texture. It could have used a little extra baking powder, or an extra egg instead of some of the milk to make it puff a little more than it did. Having said that, the batter did rise to about twice its original size and was very light. We tried a number of different condiments with this, both sweet and savoury. Surprisingly, our favourite condiments were the Green Tomato Chutney and maple syrup (I mean pancakes and maple syrup are classic!) I highly recommend trying this!

As mentioned in Day 53 of The Challenge This is the first recipe I learned to make myself, and I was very proud as a young teen to have been the one to introduce it to the family rotation. I originally got it from a cookbook, but it has evolved quite significantly since then, and it has truly become mine over the years. It is a very simple, very easy dish with a surprising amount of flavour for the effort that goes into it. It can be served with any number of different things, including bread, rice, polenta or pasta. This time we served it with steamed greens and polenta. There are a number or ways of making polenta. For this, as the chicken dish is rich and acidic, I went with a creamy polenta, cooking it in milk rather than broth, water or wine. Ingredients: 2 chickens, dismembered 2 heads of garlic 6-8 potatoes, smashed 5-6 tomatoes 2-3 lemons, sliced the juice of 1 lemon 1 c white wine 3-4 tbsp olive oil 2-3 sprigs of thyme salt and pepper to taste For the polenta: 1 tbsp butter 1 1/2 c coarse corn meal 3-4 c milk salt and pepper to taste 1) Place the dismembered chickens parts in a large oven proof dish. Scatter the garlic cloves still in their paper around the chicken. Tuck the smashed potatoes under the chicken pieces. (Smashing them allows the chicken juices to penetrate better to the centre of the potato, cooking it from the inside as well as the outside). Tuck the tomatoes in on top, and place then the lemon slices over everything. 2) Drizzle the lemon juice, olive oil and white wine evenly over the top, then salt and pepper to taste. Place the thyme sprigs on top. 3) Bake at 180°C for 35-45 minutes, until the skin is a crispy golden brown and the chicken juices run clear. 4) Meanwhile, melt the butter in a saucepan. Add the corn meal and stir. Once the corn meal is all coated and the colour has deepened, add the milk. Stir (almost) constantly as the polenta thickens. Salt and pepper to taste, and serve with the chicken. Simple satisfying and balanced, this is one of my favourite meals! I hope you enjoy it too!

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!

Challenge Update: The last 10 days have been busy with a wedding, and friends we haven't seen in a while, a move up to the mountains and back down. Some days have involved leftover dinner with a more interesting dessert, like Spiced Rice Pudding (I was in the mood for creamy stodgy goodness!), others had more interesting lunches, with Carrot and Sage Soup or Tomato Tart, while for others dinner was the star, with Miso Fried Rice, Shrimp and Veggie Stir Fry, Lemon and Garlic Chicken over Polenta, or a Catherine Wheel toad-in-the-hole with stuffed squash, and Roasted Veg with Baked Savoury Pancakes. A couple nights we ate out or were cooked for by others. I also made Green Tomato Chutney to save the last of our home grown tomatoes from the first frost.

As mentioned in Day 54 of The Challenge I planted a bunch of tomatoes this year by putting sliced tomato under a thin layer of earth. I ended up with 19 tomato plants on my little balcony. Because of how late they sprouted, we only had a few ripe tomatoes from them. The rest were growing nicely but didn't get the chance to ripen. With the first frost predicted, we harvested them and my dad's remaining green tomatoes and turned them into chutney to avoid having them go to waste. I had never tried this before but was quite pleased with how it came out! Ingredients: 2.5 - 3 kg of unripe tomatoes 3 cooking apples, cored and chopped 3 onions, chopped 1 1/2 c raisins 1 c red wine vinegar 1 1/2 c white cooking wine 1 1/2 - 2 c brown sugar 2 tsp ground ginger 2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg 2 tsp ground cinnamon 1 tbsp chilli flakes ( I used pul biber, Turkish red chilies) 1) Stew the tomatoes, apples and onions in a little water until they disintegrate. Add raisins, sugar and vinegar, then the spices and cook over a low heat. Place a saucer in the freezer. 2) Stir occasionally to prevent the chutney from sticking. As it thickens you'll need to stir more consistently. Taste test to check for sugar and spicing, and feel free to tweak to your taste! 3) 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). 4) 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.) This chutney was a little on the sweet side, which I hadn't expected. There was a slight bitterness to the after taste when it was hot that I tried to compensate for. It is not overly sweet and still has the sour, spiced chutney notes, no more bitterness. It is very tasty, especially with the baked pancakes! I highly recommend this if you have green tomatoes you don't want to spoil!

As mentioned in Day 45 of The Challenge This is a recipe I haven't made in a long time, and it is always slightly different. It is a little involved, with multiple steps and three different parts that then need to be assembled, but it is tasty and warming. It is easily varied by putting different twists on the flavouring or tweaking the sauce or the filling. This time we did a tomato and lentil filling and a spinach cream sauce. I then sprinkled it with breadcrumbs and cheese before baking it. The flavourings were warm spices rather than herbs or sharp. It came out beautifully balanced and tasty - a big favourite especially with Little Bit. Ingredients: For the Crêpes: 1 c flour 2 eggs 1 - 1 1/4 c milk For the filling: 1 onion, chopped 1 tbsp olive oil 200g tin of tomatoes 1/2 c tomato passata 3/4 c green lentils 1 c celery, chopped 1 tsp cinnamon 1/4 tsp cloves 1/2 tsp allspice 1 tsp garam masala 3/4 c red cooking wine For the cream sauce: 2 tbsp butter 2tbsp flour 1 1/2 c milk 1/2 c spinach 1 tsp grated nutmeg 2 tbsp breadcrumbs 2 -3 tbsp grated parmesan salt and pepper to taste 1) Mix the ingredients for the crêpe batter. Add liquids to the flour slowly, beating thoroughly to avoid lumps. 2) Grease a crêpe pan, and pour 2 tbsp of batter into the pan. Tilt the pan to spread it and allow the first side to cook. When it lifts cleanly and easily, flip the crêpe. Cook for a further couple of minutes and then remove. Repeat until the batter is all cooked. Adjust the batter after the first one by adding a little milk if it seems to thick to spread out thinly. 3) Meanwhile, heat oil in a saucepan and sauté the onion until translucent. Add the other ingredients and simmer until lentils are tender. 4) In another sauce pan, melt butter. Stir in the flour and then gradually add milk, stirring to avoid lumping. Add in the spinach and nutmeg and cook until it is the right consistency. Again, add milk as needed if it is too thick. Salt and pepper to taste. 5) Grease an oven proof dish. Carefully place 2-3 tbsp of filling along the centre line of each crêpe then roll it up. Line up the crêpes in the oven proof dish until there is no more space. Add any extra filling at the feet of the crêpe rolls to fill the dish. 6) Spoon sauce over the crêpes and sprinkle breadcrumbs and cheese over the top. Grind pepper over the whole, and bake 25-30 minutes at 180°C. Serve hot. Hot filling and comfort foody while being healthy and not too heavy. Perfect for a rainy autumnal evening!

As Mentioned in Day 42 of The Challenge We made baking powder biscuits ( sort of non-sweet scones, very tasty if not strongly flavoured despite the unflattering name) for our Pork Shoulder Roast, and then decided to have the rest for dessert with a blueberry and port sauce and a chocolate sauce. It was very tasty, with the sauce melting the dollop of crème fraiche over the top, although possible not strictly speaking necessary after the pork roast. A beautiful way altogether of celebrating our last night of holiday before going back to work. Ingredients: For the biscuits: 2c flour 4 tbsp butter 2/3 c milk 2 tsp baking powder For the Blueberry Port Sauce: 2 c blueberries 2 tbsp sugar 1 tsp cinnamon 1/4 c ruby port 1) Mix the flour and baking powder together and then cut the butter into the flour in small pieces. Rub the butter into the flour with fingertips until it forms a crumby dough. 2) Add milk and mix it into a light, soft dough, then knead briefly until smooth. 3) Roll the dough out to 1-1.5 cm thick on a floured surface. Cut with a floured cutter or glass into rounds and place these on a greased baking sheet, leaving a little room for the biscuits to expand. Bake 12-15 minutes at 230°C, until golden brown on top and risen. 4) To make the blueberry and port sauce, place berries in a saucepan with 1/4 c water. bring to a simmer, and cook gently for 10 minutes or so. Add the sugar, cinnamon and port and stir, cooking until the desired consistency is reached. Taste test and adjust sugar or spicing. 6) Serve the biscuits hot with the sauce drizzled over and a dollop of crème fraiche. Decadent but quick and easy, this was beautiful for a lazy evening.

Challenge Update: Before leaving I had some pumpkin and some chanterelles to use up, so we had a Chanterelle and Pumpkin Risotto. We got back from holiday on day 38 with plenty of new ideas and inspiration. It was already chestnut season when we got there so I got the itch and had to make some Chestnut Soup when we got back. We had a couple of breakfast for dinner days (because we are so good at adulting), like Apple Cinnamon Pancakes and Savoury French Toast using our Nettle Pesto Bloomer loaf. With the weather definitely turning colder (there is fresh snow on the peaks around us) we opted for some warm flavoured, thicker soups for lunches, like Pea Soup and Borscht. Throughout the week we had some old favourites, like Lentil Filled Crêpes with a Spinach Sauce, and some experimental recipes, some quick easy meals, like the Vegetable Tagine, and some more involved ones like Pumpkin Pasta with Nettle Pesto, and a few left-over nights. There was one nice Pork Shoulder Roast with cider and apples, and a Pasta al Olio al Aglio with fresh Basil. The baking powder biscuits that we made to soak up pork juices turned into dessert with a Blueberry Port Sauce. Overall it was a well-balanced week, and delightful to get back to the kitchen after a week in restaurants with the accompanying menu fatigue.