These are gorgeous. I’m certain that one of these, warmed, is sufficient but I’m often found on my third with a big bowl of wholesome soup!

Heat the oven to 200C (fan). Put 8oz of self raising flour and half a teaspoon of salt into a bowl and then mix in 100g of  cubed or grated cheese….feta or cheddar are perfect for this. Add in some chopped olives if you are using Feta, around 1oz, or a small onion, finely chopped, if using Cheddar….stir it all together.

In a separate bowl, mix together 250ml of plain low fat yoghurt, 60ml of Olive or Rapeseed Oil, a large egg and, if you want to, add 2 teaspoons of pesto...

Mix both the dry mixture and the yoghurt mixture together. The key with Muffins is not to over stir the mixture so the flour should really just be moistened by the yoghurt mixture.

Spoon the mixture into 12 Muffin Cases that are already sat neatly in a Muffin Tin, or don’t use Muffin casesput in the the oven for qbout 12-15 minutes. The tops should be golden brown and the centres firm when pressed.

Leave to stand for a few minutes and then serve warm….yum yum!

It really doesn’t get any easier than this and there are ‘cheat’ opportunities if you’re short on time. I don’t eat red meat myself and my daughter isn’t keen, but my son loves this and eats a huge plateful with sheer delight! This is easy and inexpensive.

#Tip Always make more than you need as you can freeze a meal for the following week and it’s more time and cost effective than just cooking for one.

So empty a pack of beef mince into the frying pan to brown it off. Always do this with beef as it allows the meat to hold it’s flavour. When you’ve done that, using the back of a spoon to hold the meat in place, drain off any liquid into the sink. Depending on the fat/meat content, there will be varying amounts of liquid, just drain off as much as you can without the meat falling into the sink! Whoops!

Put the meat into the slow cooker and add a tin of tomatoes and a tin of kidney beans. Chopped carrots are a good substitute ( as I have used today) if you don’t have beans in the cupboard. You can add some softly fried onion if you wish as well. Add some salt and pepper, a red chilli finely cut up although I prefer to use about a teaspoon of Very Lazy Chilli’s.

#Tip Only use a teaspoon of Very lazy Chilli’s in the slow cooker as it loses some of it’s strength in the cooking process. A teaspoon of this when put in a dish cooked on the hob and your whole head will be on fire! It’s very strong!

I always crumble a Beef Oxo Cube into the mix too as it really strengthens the flavour. You can also add a splodge of red wine too if you happen to have an open bottle lying around….now stir it all up and watch the flavours infuse before your very eyes…

Put the slow cooker on High for 4 hours and relax, go out, drink coffee, attend a meeting….whatever you choose to do, this is busily cooking away without any further input from you – bliss!

All you have left to do now is put the rice on. Basmati rice takes about 10 minutes, wholegrain rice takes about 35 minutes or, if you’re really pushed for time, you can buy a Tilda ready cooked rice that takes just 2 minutes in the microwave.

Does it really get any easier? Serve with a chunk of bread and even a sprinkling of grated cheese if you like and enjoy your home cooked meal that took no time or effort at all….

Does it get more simple than scones, yet there’s nothing like them, warm and filled with Jam, butter, cream…mmmmm.

Preheat the oven to 220C (fan 200C or Gas Mark 7) and grease a medium baking sheet.

Sift 225g of self raising flour with a pinch of salt and a level tsp of baking powder into a bowl and either rub (by hand) into crumbs with cubes of 40g of butter, or place the flour mix and the butter into a mixer and let that do all the work!

Stir in (or using your mixer)  up to 1/4 of a pint of milk until you have formed a soft dough. Add the milk slowly until you have a dough you can work with and not a gooey mess!

Lightly flour a surface and then flatten the dough with your hands so it’s roughly about an inch thick.

Use a 6in cutter and you should be able to stamp out about 6 rounds. I can sometimes manage to make 8 if I use every last drop of dough!

Put the scone rounds on a greased baking sheet, brush each one with a little whisked egg and then bake for about 10 minutes.

Allow to cool, prise open and stuff with your favourite fillings….I like butter and jam….yum.

A hearty warning soup that feeds 6-8 so buy some Pour n Sauce bags and put in the freezer for another blustery day!

Saute 2-4 cloves of garlic and an onion in around 25g butter, in a large saucepan, cooking them on a gentle heat but don’t allow them to brown as this will discolour the soup.

Add some thyme leaves pulled from the sprig so you don’t have to remove (dried is fine if you don’t have fresh), 600g of potatoes and the florets of a whole cauliflour.

Pour in either 1 and a 1/4 pints of chicken stock (made from boiling your chicken bones, some seasoning, a carrot and an onion over a gentle heat for about an hour) or use a vegetable stock cube.

Bring to the boil, partially cover and then simmer for 30 minutes.

While that’s simmering away, gently saute an onion or two in a frying pan in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil for around 20 mins stirring occasionally and making sure that all of the onions get coated in oil. Don’t burn them as it completely alters the taste.

Now, using a hand blender, puree the cauliflour and potato mix. It’ll be very think so you need to start adding milk while you blend so as to get the right consistency. You can add up to 1 pint. I like mine quite thick so I probably add around 1/2 a pint. Now this is really a matter of taste. So you can either add some nutmeg, or I like to add a dollop of course grain mustard for a bit of zing. At this point add some salt and pepper and give it one last blast of the blender.

Finally, cheese. Stilton works perfectly with this, but some shavings of parmesan or some finely grated cheddar are equally as lovely.

Serve with your favourite chunk of bread coated in butter and feel the love!

Inspired by a recipe from Lotte Duncan….