Ingredients (serves 2):

• 2 medium to large potatoes
• 200g of cheddar cheese – grated
• 2 spring onions – sliced
• Small pot of sour cream
• 1 red pepper – chopped
• Mixed herbs
• Salt and pepper to taste

Heat the oven up to 200 degrees.  Pierce the potatoes with a fork and place them onto an oven tray and then into the oven for 40 minutes to an hour.  Take them out when you can poke a knife into them without any resistance.

Remove the potatoes from the oven.  Slice them in half lengthways and scoop out the middle into a pan. Add the grated cheese and pepper and mix together well.  Add in the mixed herbs (whatever you have in the cupboard) and salt and pepper to taste.

Divide the mixture between the potato skins and return them to the oven until the cheese is bubbling and slightly browned off on top.  Whilst the potato skins are in the oven you should mix together the sour cream and spring onion along with a little salt and pepper.  You can also add coriander or other fresh herbs into the cream to enhance it’s flavour.

Remove the potato skins from the oven, allow to cool for a minute and then top with the herbed sour cream.  Enjoy straight away!

Ingredients (makes an 8″ cake):

• 175g of unsalted butter
• 175g of caster sugar
• 3 large eggs – beaten
• 150g of self raising flour
• 25g of cocoa powder
• 1 tablespoons of warm water (optional)

Buttercream

• 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder
• 100g of softened butter
• 100g of icing sugar

Extras

• Giant milk buttons to decorate

Turn on the oven to 180 degrees C while you prepare the cake mix.

Beat the butter and sugar with an electric mixer until it is light in colour then mix in the eggs a little at a time – putting too much in will make the mixture curdle.  If this happens add a tablespoon of the weighed out flour and keep mixing until it blends to a smooth consistency.

Sift the flour and cocoa powder into the bowl with the butter and sugar and fold it in.  If the mixture is slightly heavy add the water.  I mostly add the water but this time the eggs might have been a little larger so I didn’t add it.

Now divide the mixture between two 8-inch sandwich tins.  Level with a knife and put both tins in the middle of the oven for about 20 minutes.  In my gas oven I leave them for just over 25 minutes.  All cookers cook differently so you need to check.  I know when they are ready because when I gently push the top with my finger the sponge bounces back.  Another sign is the sponge is slightly coming away from the sides of the tin.

Cool on a wire rack – don’t put the sponge top side down as it with appear with criss cross marks.

To make the buttercream soften the butter and then add the sifted icing sugar and cocoa and beat until smooth.  If you find the buttercream heavy add a tablespoon of milk and beat this in.

Sandwich together the two halves and either sift icing sugar over the top or split the buttercream adding half in between the sponges and half on top, if you want to go further you could then add chocolate buttons.

Ingredients (serves 3-4):

• 200g of plain flour
• 1 tablespoon of baking powder
• 1 tablespoon of caster sugar
• 1 egg
• 275ml milk
• 4 apples – cored, peeled and chopped into chunks
• Knob of butter
• 1 tablespoon of sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Start by placing the apple, butter, sugar and cinnamon into a pan over a medium heat.  Keep an eye on the apples, stirring occasionally.  You want to gently simmer the apples until they’re soft.

To make the batter, mix together the flour, baking powder and sugar along with the egg and milk until you have a smooth and slightly thick batter.

Heat up a pan and drop in a small knob of butter.  Drop a spoonful or two of the batter into the pan.  Allow the batter to cook until bubbles start to appear on the top; this means time to turn it over!  Try to avoid moving the pan as you want to try and keep the batter still so that you get nice thick hot cakes.  Cook on both sides until golden brown and place in some tin foil to keep warm whilst you repeat the process until the mixture is all used up.

Serve up the pancakes with the apple mix and some ice-cream or cream.

Ingredients (serves 4):

• 1 large aubergine – cut into 1 cm thick slices
• 1 large onion – finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves – chopped
• 350g pack Quorn Mince
• 2 tablespoons of tomato puree
• 1 can of chopped tomatoes
• 1 teaspoon of dried parsley
• 2 eggs – beaten
• 500g fat free natural yogurt
• Salt & ground black pepper
• Olive oil

Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees C.

Start by laying out the aubergine slices onto paper towels and sprinkling salt on them.  This will draw any excess moisture out of them.  While the aubergine is doing it’s thing you need to fry the onions, garlic and quorn mince in a little oil over a medium heat for a few minutes.  Then add the tomato puree, tinned tomatoes and parsley, bring to a gentle simmer and cook for 20-30 minutes.  Top up with a dash of water or red wine if the mixture looks a little dry.  Once cooked, pour the mixture into an oven dish.

Beat the eggs and yoghurt together until consistent and season with salt and pepper.

Remove any excess salt from the aubergine slices and fry them with a very small amount of oil until lightly browned on both sides.  Layer the aubergine on top of the quorn mix followed by the eggs and yoghurt.  Bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes until the top is nice and crispy.

Serve up straight away with salad or crusty bread.  Enjoy!

Ingredients (serves 3-4):

Burgers:

• 1 small onion – finely chopped
• 2 large garlic cloves – finely sliced
• 1 teaspoon of dried chilli flakes
• 400g of beef mince
• 1 teaspoon of ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon of garam masala
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1 egg

Herbed yoghurt:

• 200g of Greek-style yoghurt
• 30g of fresh coriander leaves – finely chopped
• 15g of fresh mint leaves – finely chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon of dried chilli flakes
• Salt and pepper to taste

Other stuff needed:

• 3-4 burger buns
• 1 onion – sliced into large rings
• Slices of cheese to top the burger
• Crunchy lettuce leaves (optional)
• 2 tablespoons of oil

Start off by combining all of the ingredients for the burgers in a large mixing bowl.  Use your hands to squash together the mixture until consistent.  Once mixed well together take handfuls of the mix and pat into burger shapes.  Make them as big or as small as you like.

Next, make up the herbed yoghurt by mixing together the yoghurt, coriander, mint and chilli flakes and season with a little salt and pepper.

Heat up some oil in a pan over a medium heat and place the burgers into the pan.  Cook for 3-5 minutes each side or until cooked right through (or to your preference).  If you’re having cheeseburgers place a couple of slices of cheese on each burger a few minutes before they’re finished cooking and cover with tin foil to help melt the cheese.

Serve up the burgers on the buns topped with the sliced onions and herbed yoghurt.  You can have them with fries etc.  These burgers would work really well on a BBQ, just make sure that the mixture isn’t too wet.  Enjoy!

Ingredients (serves 2):

• 2 beef steaks – sliced into strips
• 1/2 red pepper
• 1/2 green pepper
• 1/2 yellow pepper
• 3-4 spring onions – sliced
• 1 pack of egg noodles
• 2 tablespoons of soy sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon of ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon of chilli flakes

Mix together the soy sauce, ginger and chilli flakes and marinate the steak strips in it for up to 30 minutes.

When you’re ready to cook, heat up some ground nut/olive oil in a wok to a high heat and add in the beef.  Cook until browned off, stirring constantly.  Add in the peppers and stir for a further couple of minutes or until the peppers just start to lose their crunch.  Finally, add in the noodles and half of the spring onions and stir through the beef and pepper mix.  Continue to cook for a couple of minutes until the noodles and heated right the way through.  If you find the mixture getting a little dry simply add more soy sauce.

Serve up straight away and sprinkle the remaining spring onion over the top of each dish.  Enjoy!

Ingredients (serves 2-3):

• 50g butter , softened, plus extra for greasing
• 1 ripe banana – sliced
• 50g light muscovado sugar
• 50g self-raising flour
• 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon of milk

Melt the butter in a baking dish for 30 seconds until melted (the dish you’ll be cooking the pudding in).  Add 1/2 of the banana to the dish and mash into the butter.  Then add the egg, sugar, flour, cinnamon and milk.  Mix together thoroughly until you have an even consistency mixture.

Make sure the mixture is spread evenly in the dish and top with the other half of the banana slices.  Cook on high in the microwave for 8 minutes or until the pudding is nicely risen and golden coloured on top.

Allow to rest for around a minute before serving up and tucking in.  You can serve it with ice-cream, cream or custard.  A really quick and easy pud!  Enjoy!

Ingredients (serves 3-4):

• 1 large or 2 small courgettes – sliced
• 1 red pepper – sliced
• 1-2 onions – sliced
• 6-8 mushrooms – roughly chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic – finely sliced
• 1 teaspoon of chilli flakes
• 1 tin of chopped tomatoes
• 1 vegetable stock cube
• 1 teaspoon of dried basil
• 1 teaspoon of dried parsley
• Some grated cheese to top
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Enough pasta to feed how many people you’re cooking for

Pre-heat the oven to around 180 degrees C.  Bring a pan of water to the boil and start cooking the pasta.

Heat some oil in a pan and fry off the onion and garlic for a couple of minutes.  Next, add the courgette and pepper and stir for a further minute or so.  Add the tinned tomatoes, mushrooms, stock cube, basil and parsley.  Bring to a gentle simmer and leave for 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Season to taste and then pour in the cooked and drained pasta and mix together.  Transfer the mixture to an oven dish, cover with grated cheese and cook in the oven for 20-30 minutes or until the top is just browned off, but not burnt.

Serve up straight away with some garlic bread and/or salad.  Enjoy!

Ingredients (serves 1):

• 1 tablespoon of soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce
• 3 cloves of garlic – squashed and finely sliced
• 1 decent sized sirloin, rump or ribeye steak
• Olive oil
• 1 knob of butter
• 6 mushrooms – sliced
• 1/2 onion – sliced
• Dash of red wine

Start by taking a bowl and mixing together the soy sauce, worcester sauce and garlic.  Place the steak into the bowl making sure that you cover it with the marinade, cover with cling film and leave for 30 minutes.  Heat some olive oil to a high heat in a pan/skillet and cook the steak to your liking.  It’s nicer to char the steak if possible for this recipe.  Once cooked, remove the steak from the pan and loosely wrap in tin foil to rest.

While the steak is resting put the knob of butter in the pan along with the mushroom and onion.  Cook for a few minutes until the mushroom and onion are soft.  Add the red wine and stir around the pan, picking up any scraps from the bottom of the pan.  Simmer for a minute or so until it’s reduced to a nice jus.

Serve the steak(s) up with the sauce spooned over the top.  I had mine with some wedges and oven roasted tomatoes, yum!

Ingredients (serves 3-4):

• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 4 baking potatoes – cubed
• 1 tablespoon cumin seeds
• 1 garlic clove – finely sliced
• 1 red onion – finely chopped
• 3 celery sticks – finely chopped
• 1 red pepper – deseeded and finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon of chilli flakes
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1 tablespoon tomato purée
• 1 x 400g cans chickpeas – rinsed and drained
• 200ml tub half-fat crème fraîche
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme

Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees C.  Put a glug of oil onto an oven tray and place it into the oven for around 5 minutes until smoking hot.  Remove the tray and carefully pour the potatoes onto it.  Shake around to coat in oil and season well.  Place the tray into the oven for 15-20 minutes before adding the cumin seeds and garlic to the pan, shaking again and cooking for a further 15 minutes or until golden and crispy.

While the potatoes are cooking you can do the chickpeas.  Fry off the onion, celery, pepper and chilli in a pan with a little oil in over a medium heat for around 10 minutes.  Add the paprika and tomato puree and stir for a few minutes before adding the chickpeas and creme fraiche.  Stir it all together well and cook for a further 5 minutes before seasoning with salt, pepper and thyme.

Serve up the chickpeas and cumin potatoes straight away and enjoy this lovely meal!