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As mentioned in Day 2 of The Challenge I grew up with cornbread. It is a comfort food, a good staple. Usually it was a breakfast food, served in bread or muffin form with eggs and jams. Sometimes my father baked in pieces of bacon. For years though, that was all it was, until I started cooking for myself. Then gradually other things made it in, like cheese or jalapeños. I started baking it over chilli and experimenting with it in different ways. This loaf is one of those ways. It is endlessly versatile. This time I put in brocoli and spinach because I had them on hand, other times it is other vegetables. I find that feta works well as the cheese, but so do others. The red curry paste was because I had some in the fridge and it felt like the right palette. Quick, easy, adjustable to whatever tastes, cravings or stores you have, and super tasty. Ingredients: 1 cup flour 1 cup cornmeal 1/4 cup sugar 2 tsp baking powder 1/4 cup vegetable oil 1 cup milk 1 egg 2 tsp red curry paste 2 tbsp jalapeños 1 onion, diced 6 sundried tomato halves, sliced 1/2 suçuk or other spiced sausage, in chunks 1 red chilli, sliced 1 handful of spinach, wilted 1/4 head of broccoli 1 disk of feta, cubed/crumbled 1) Preheat oven to 220°C. Combine dry ingredients, then add wet, stirring just enough to mix. 2) Add all other ingredients, reserving half the feta. 3) Prepare a loaf pan, and pour in the batter. Sprinkle the reserved feta over the top. 4) Bake for 45 minutes or until golden brown on top and a knife comes out clean. Serve as is, as a main or a side, with or without sauces or spreads. On Day 2 we had it as a main with different sauces. My husband liked it best with BBQ sauce, I preferred it with whole grain mustard. Butter, mayo and hot sauces worked too. Take your pick and enjoy!

As mentioned in Day 2 of The Challenge A friend got me 1 kg of Fenugreek seeds recently. The seeds have a beautiful, sweet, tangy smell to them. A little midnight research during a recent night shift suggested that used as they are they have a bitter flavour, but if toasted they become richer and sweeter. Apparently they have been used medicinally for centuries as an anti-inflammatory and pro-lactation ingredient. I'd never used it and was curious, so I made a couple of curries with it recently, but with so many different flavours, it is hard to identify a single note in order to figure out what it-s like and how it interacts with other flavours. This was therefore an experimental dish with fewer flavours to try and tease out the fenugreek's properties and taste. I opted for porridge as it is good base coat that I hoped would welcome and show up any variations of the fenugreek. Based on the description I thought it might match well with something citrusy and with other "sweet" spices - orange peel, cinnamon and cloves, matched with yellow raisins. Ingredients: 1 cup oats 2 cup milk 2 tsp fenugreek seeds 1 tsp ground cinnamon 1/2 tsp ground cloves 2 tsp of orange peel, dried a handful of yellow raisins 1) Put oats, milk and raisins in a saucepan and heat slowly, stirring occasionally. As porridge thickens, add cloves and cinnamon. 2) Put fenugreek seeds and orange peel in a dry pan and toast gently. 3) Add fenugreek seeds and orange peel to the porridge, and serve into two bowls. For an experiment, this came out well but it does need some tweaking. It was still a bit bitter and needed a bit of sweetness to bring out the flavours. We added a shake of a cocoa spice blend my sister brought me back from Hawaii (cocoa, cardamom, cane sugar etc.). It helped but wasn't enough. Next time I would try it with some dates, honey, or a tsp of brown sugar per bowl. I might also toast the seeds a bit further. The porridge wasn't as creamy as I would have liked either as I ran out of milk and used some water instead. The flavours did come together very nicely aside from the bitterness. the orange, raisins and spices payed off each other beautifully. I usually have my morning porridge a lot simpler, but I would definitely try this again, and I feel that the experiment to feel out the properties of fenugreek was a definite success. Other ideas are forming and bubbling up to test this new spice further... Watch this space for the next, and do chip in if you have ideas. EDIT: We tried this again, but with a couple of changes and this time, I think it is a keeper! Instead of dry roasting the spices, I fried the fenugreek seeds and orange peel in about 2tsp of butter for a few minutes, then added the cinnamon and cloves and about 8 dates, quartered. I let those all cook together for a further 5-7 minutes and then added them to the porridge and it was delectable. My husband added fresh figs to his too. I did not find that it needed further sweetening but if you did, then I think honey would be your best bet. creamy and sweet with warm spices, this was a tasty cold morning treat, and only took a little more effort than my regular porridge.

As mentioned in Day 1 of The Challenge I love oats. I start 90% of my days with porridge and have oats at other times too. When I haven't had it for a few days I actively miss it and I have no qualms about having it multiple time a day. I get told regularly about how porridge sticks to your ribs, but honestly, having it so often for the last decade, it feels no heavier to me than most breakfasts and lighter than most other meals, while still having substance. I stay full longer after porridge than after a bowl or cereal for example without feeling any more full after the one than the other. After a day of driving and a week-end of being feasted on excellent food, what better go-to than porridge for a quick, easy, and healthy yet flavorful and satisfying dinner? With minimal ingredients in the house, this is also versatile, allowing me to match ingredients to the dish more easily than some things. A couple of tweaks and it was perfect baby food too. Ingredients: 1 cup oats 1 cup milk 1 cup water 1/2 head of garlic, peeled and grated 1 knob of ginger, peeled and grated 1 shallot, sliced 1 leek, chopped 4 cabbage leaves, shredded 1 tbsp olive oil 2 tsp soy sauce 2 tsp pomegranate molasses 1 tsp Cape Malay "Mother-in-law" spice 2 tsp of the cumin, salt and other spices mix from an Indian friend. No idea what else is in it so unfortunately this is where reproducibility falls down, but sniff around your spice rack and see what you feel might work. 2 eggs 1) Put oats, water and milk in a saucepan and heat gently, stirring occasionally. 2) Put oil in a frying pan and heat. Add shallot, ginger and garlic. Cook until the vegetables start to turn slightly tan and add the cabbage and leek (we cooked the leek separately as a certain Someone doesn't have leek on his food list yet). I decided to char the cabbage and leeks a bit, you can pull them off sooner if you'd rather. 3)Add spices and soy sauce to oatmeal and stir. Taste test and adjust as necessary. 4) Bring water to a boil in a saucepan. Add the eggs and boil for 4-5 minutes. 5) Dish the oatmeal into bowls and add the vegetables. Peel the eggs and put them n the side, then drizzle the pomegranate molasses over everything and enjoy. This came out beautifully and there is nothing I would have changed. The balance of tanginess, and heat an saltiness, then soft porridge with the egg and crispy vegetables. It was perfect. The only issue was that there were a few more dishes than we wanted, but it didn't take long for the clean up either, all told. I apologise for the inability to give an accurate spice ingredient. I am afraid this might be a regular occurrence though, so get used to it. To make this baby friendly, we needed to cut out the salt, and leeks. I took out a baby portion when the oats were cooked, and in a small saucepan I added a cube of a carrot ginger purée that I made and keep in the freezer. It is quite gingery, so I wasn't sure how he would accept the ginger and garlic (ours was a big knob of ginger) on top of the gingery carrot purée already added, but it went over a treat. I should just have cut the cabbage shreds a bit shorter as Someone found them a bit difficult with only 5 teeth.

Challenge update: For day 2 of the challenge, we started off the day with an experimental fenugreek porridge, which was very tasty but needs some tweaking, and ended it with a hot cornbread loaf. The porridge recipe is available here, and the cornbread loaf recipe is here. And I must say, it feels appropriate for the first two challenge recipes to be porridge. It is one of my favorite foods. The porridge was a bit more involved than my morning oatmeal generally is, but nevertheless quick and easy, as was dinner which took almost no time to assemble, and than all I had to do was ... well anything else that needed doing like dinner, bath and bed for Tiny Human, while the cornbread baked. Delicious on its own or with sauces or spreads, it was immensely satisfying.

The Challenge begins: Having set myself this challenge on Thursday, I then went away to France for the week-end, and was wined and dined and feasted by a friend and her family. As a result, the challenge only started this evening on our return. After all the rich food this week-end we were looking for something that wasn't too rich in calories but rich in flavour, and quick after a long drive with a baby. This was experimental. We've done a few savory porridges recently, but not this flavour combo before. I riffed off what we had in the fridge and what we felt like, and it worked beautifully, even for Little Bit with just one substitution so he could have some too. Recipe and picture available here!

Paella is a recent addition to my repertoire. It has a reputation for being complicated, but I was recently shown an easy recipe by my sister. One of the beauties of it is its versatility (and the colours). It is not, as many think, a seafood dish with rice, but rather a rice dish, which can accommodate almost any taste or diet. This is quick and easy, but learning to make it also represented one of the things I cherish most about cooking, the sharing and exchange of ideas, knowledge and creativity, followed by a shared meal and lots of laughter. We used jasmine rice for this and it worked really well. Traditionally, one would use short grain Spanish rice, often marketed as paella rice. Don't use arborio rice though as we aren't looking for the glutinous texture of risotto but rather for the grains to stay separate. Ingredients: 2 tbsp olive oil 1 leek 1 onion 2 chorizo sausages 3 c of rice 4 1/2 c. chicken stock 2 1/2 tsp turmeric powder 10 strands of saffron, re-hydrated 1 c peas 400g shrimp Juice of one lemon 1) Heat the oil in a deep pan and add the onion and leek. Stir until they are translucent. Add the chorizo and allow it to render. 2) Pour rice in and coat it in the oils, stirring until it is translucent. Add spices, then stock. 3) Bring to a simmer. Stir occasionally, allowing the rice to absorb the liquid. Don't stir too much or too often though. As stated we don't want glutinous rice, and stirring will do that. Also, some crisping on the bottom is nice. :) 4) Add the peas, and then the shrimp. Allow to cook 5 more minutes, until shrimp are just opaque. Squirt with lemon juice, serve hot and enjoy! This paella pairs well with red wine too :) I really enjoyed cooking this and sharing it. The paella has a lovely deep flavour, a very well rounded profile. It is moist and yet has body. And bonus, it is quick, easy and has few dishes! It stands up well without seafood, with more seafood, with pork or chicken, or vegetarian. More vegetables like broccoli or spinach work well. It also reheats well if need be for packed lunches or simply enjoyed as left-overs.

When my husband and I first moved to South Africa, I struggled with the heat. I got there and felt sticky and full all the time, so the idea of eating food, let alone cooking it, was anything but appealing (don't worry, that changed, and some great recipes came out of our time there). Obviously sustenance was still required, so I looked up and started experimenting with various cold soups. Gazpacho is a classic, and living right in the middle of South Africa's food belt the watermelons were huge and beautiful and sweet and seemingly always available. What could be more natural than combining these two, producing watermelon gazpacho? Ingredients: 1/2 of a medium sized watermelon 1 medium onion 3 cloves of garlic (Beware: I am normally all for super-garlicking everything, but in this case it is overpowering. Start slow and add more if necessary,) 1 cucumber 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar A handful of basil leaves Salt and pepper 1 slice of bread (Optional) 1) Roughly chop all ingredients and blend - the consistency is up to you. Season to taste - you may need to add a little extra balsamic, depending on how sweet your watermelon is. 2) If your gazpacho appears too thin, blend in the slice of bread. 3) Chill and serve - good with croûtons. I find this soup to provide a refreshing and very light lunch, perfect for a hot day (we're in the middle of a heat wave now!) Since coming back from South Africa, watermelons are less plentiful, but whenever they are available this soup makes it back into rotation.

I only discovered rose-hips two years ago, My brother-in-law mentioned them as one of our rose bushes wasn't being pruned. My grandmother and I started harvesting them and turned it into a whole enterprise, cleaning them and prepping them. Rose-hips are the fruit of the rose which grows from the base of the bud after the flower becomes overblown - if it is not pruned. They grow wild as well as on domestic rose bushes and can be a treat along a walking trail. They are bright red when ripe and vary in size and shape, some being squat spheres, others being more ovaloid. Prepping them involves removing the seeds and small hairs attached to the seeds as these used to be used as itching powder - less than pleasant if left in food. Removing the seeds and hairs involves either turning the rose-hips into purée by soaking in boiling water then passing through a food mill or a sieve, or deseeding and drying. Both are a bit of work, the latter more so, but worth the effort I find. On their own, rose-hips are quite tart, and are very high in vitamin C. I like the idea of using a food that we had harvested from our garden. More local and organic would be hard to find. It was also a fun time spent together, just the two of us harvesting and processing buckets of rose-hips. Some of these we made jam with and some we deseeded and dried (excellent in porridge with apple juice and cinnamon). Only last year did I start expanding what I used them in, both sweet and savoury, This was an experimental soup, no recipe, just taste test and tweak as needed. Ingredients: 600ml Rose-hip purée 600ml water 3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped 1 onion, roughly diced 1 knob of ginger, minced 3 carrots, roughly chopped 2 small-medium potatoes A handful of spinach or Swiss chard or some such 1 tsp honey 2tsp olive oil 2 tsp chilli flakes - I used Turkish Urfa biber -Smoked chilli flakes. A handful of fresh basil Salt and pepper to taste 1) Heat oil in a small saucepan. When it starts to shimmer add onion, garlic and ginger. Stir them and cook until they start to crisp. The browned garlic, onion and ginger add a nice-counter balance to the tartness of the rose-hips. 2) Add the potato and carrot and stir for a minute before adding the rose-hip purée and water, then the rest of the ingredients. Be sure and taste test as perfect tart-sweet-heat balance for me may not be right for you. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve with crusty bread and enjoy! As an experiment this worked rather well. It was refreshing but flavourful, especially on a hot day, with mild heat and a well rounded flavour, hitting heat, tart and sweet notes.. We have soup most days for lunch and this provided a tasty variation to most soup bases. I hope you enjoy!

Rösti is a traditional Swiss-German food, so traditional in fact that the border between the French and German speaking cantons in Switzerland is referred to as the Rösti border. It is a dish of potatoes, parboiled then fried or baked, with cheese and sometimes onion. It is often served with ham and a fried egg on top, referred to the skier's plate, and comes with a pickle or two and maybe a slice of tomato. I have grown up with rösti. It is filling, warming on a ski-day, tasty, fulfilling... Or almost. It always leaves me not quite satisfied. The stodge of pure carbs and fat leaves me looking for the veg and feeling heavy, and it often is very greasy. This dissatisfaction led me to tinker a bit with tradition, and this, or variants of this, is the result. It is never quite the same twice as it depends what I have on hand (in this case fresh beetroots from a local farmer, some of the tastiest and most flavourful I've ever had). Traditional with a twist. Ingredients: 2 large potatoes 1 large beetroot 2 courgettes (or zucchini depending on where you're from) 3 medium carrots 1 large(ish) onion 2 handfuls of spinach 2 tomatoes 100g mature cheese (given where I live this tends to be L'Etivaz or Gruyère) Bacon 1 egg per person Thyme 1) Parboil your potatoes and beetroot. You want them to be almost cooked through, but not so soft that they turn to mush in the oven. Preheat oven to 210°C. 2) Grate your potatoes, beetroot, carrots, courgettes, and cheese. Cube your bacon and slice your onion into rings. Cube one tomato, slice the other one into rings. 3) Grease an oven-proof dish with butter of lard - your choice. If you really must, then use olive oil, but don't eliminate the fat entirely, it is necessary to some extent. 4) Mix together all of the ingredients except the sliced tomato and a few slices of onion, and a handful of cheese. Place mix in the dish, and fluff is with a spoon. Sprinkle the extra cheese over the top and place the tomato and onion rings on the surface. If your grated mixture was a little dry, dot the top with a small amount of butter. 5) Bake uncovered for about 40-45 minutes until the cheese is melted and there is some crisping around the edges. Fry an egg, leaving the egg yolk runny and place one on top of each portion (season your fried egg however you wish. Red pepper flakes, salt, pepper, thyme, It is up to you). Serve hot with a salad. Results? I find this take on the traditional dish infinitely more satisfying. Minimal grease, and reduced carbs. There is veg in every bite and while retaining its traditional essence, it is lighter and more satisfying while still being filling and hitting the rösti spot. It remains a dish for a cool day, but being lighter and more veg leaning rather than stodgy, you can get away with it in the summer. I have started this blog off with this recipe at the request of a friend (Swisscleo.wixsite.com) :)