Normal service has been resumed!

And so, the vegetable challenge has been completed. Not a morsel of meat or fish passed our lips for a full calendar month, as long as you discount chicken stock, which I insisted on using for risottos for flavour reasons. As a non-strict vegetarian, I'm sure the occasional shortcut to better-tasting food was allowed, right?

I thought I'd be relieved, overjoyed even, to be able to cook and eat whatever I wish once again. Not so. Returning to carnivore ways has been a bit underwhelming. That burger that marked our return to the meat-eating ranks resulted in an excessively full belly, the bunny bits in a much-awaited rabbit dish turned out disappointingly overcooked; only fish, by far the most craved-for non-veggie item during the month of the challenge, has turned out to be just as delicious as I remembered. This could have something to do with the unbelievably delicious - if I may say so myself - final Sunday meal I whipped up during the challenge. A combination of two recipes from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's priceless Veg Everyday book, the mixture of roasted aubergines with yogurt dressing and garam masala- and ginger-flavoured potato and spinach was such a richly flavoured, beautifully textured - yet still light - treat no slab of meat could possibly hope to compete. Apart from maybe duck legs with plum sauce.

The main reason for a slightly disappointing return to carnivorous ways, however, must be the loss of a challenge. During the veggie weeks, I had to constantly push myself to think of new ways to stretch what was a limited array of ingredients. As a result, I never repeated myself in the kitchen and, freed from the worry of poisoning someone with badly cooked once-living matter, finally whipped up the courage to experiment at the cooker. Now that I can draw from a range of trusty favourites, it all seems a bit boring: I know exactly what everything is going to taste like before I even start the preparation.

It's obvious: I need a challenge to make this cooking lark interesting. As such, I have a favour to ask. Please send me any interesting recipes you might have lurking in the kitchen drawers. They don't have to be complete how-to guides for making a dish: if anything, I'm more interested in hearing about interesting flavour combinations and unusual ways to introduce seemingly conflicting ingredients on the same plate. Red meat is pretty much permanently barred from our residence (roast pork in the winter and duck anytime notwithstanding), I have a lingering fear of mushrooms, and my better half can't eat more than miniscule amounts of tomatoes. Apart from that, I'd love to hear your ideas to help kick-start another bout of kitchen experimentation.