Sweet Potato Cottage Pie Recipe

This dish is a fantastic combination of tastes – sweet and savoury – and textures – grainy and creamy smooth. The idea for it popped into my head out of the blue one day and I’ve never looked back. I’m afraid ordinary cottage pie just doesn’t measure up any more! Plus this version is more paleo, if you’re that way inclined.

If you use a full quantity of bolognaise sauce and make the whole recipe, it will easily serve at least 4 people. It’s a great stand-by for a 1- or 2-person meal though when you have some bolognaise sauce left over in the fridge/freezer and a sweet potato or two hanging around, especially as the prep time is then very minimal.

Homemade Burgers Recipe

Burgers are one of the most popular types of take-away foods in the world and yet they are so simple and healthy to make at home, with the added bonus that you then know exactly what’s going into them – something which can be a bit suspect when you buy from certain fast food joints.

This is a simple and subtly-flavoured burger recipe which you can spice up as you please by adding more of any flavouring – coriander, herbs, tomato, Worcester sauce or even some strongly-flavoured pesto or chilli if you like. The burgers can be served in the traditional buns or as a paleo meal, with whatever toppings and/or side veggies take your fancy.

Hearty Lamb Stew Recipe

Warming stews are often just what we need in mid-winter to keep our strength up, and this one is particularly delicious and quite simple. It works well with stewing lamb, but you could use beef instead if you prefer.

Bear in mind that the secret of a good stew is a lengthy cooking time, so choose a day when you know you’ll be at home for a while and can keep an eye on it. The yummy aroma as it cooks will keep you salivating until it’s ready!

Tip: Using Left-overs

Herb salad with left-over spinach, beetroot and cranberry White Rock

I get weirdly excited when I can use up a bunch of left-overs or small quantities of fresh food that were just a little more than I needed for the original dish. In fact, I often buy/cook more than I need so I can actually create left-overs and then use them in something else.

Examples of left-overs could be meat or chicken from a roast, rice, grilled veggies like sweet peppers, onions or aubergines, the dregs of a can of sweetcorn, the last bits of cheese, the end of a packet of mushrooms or baby spinach, or the last spoon of cream cheese. Obviously the key with many of these ingredients is not to leave them too long before you use them, and definitely sniff them beforehand!

My BLT (Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato Sandwich)

I’m generally not much of a fan of bread unless it’s really good quality – ciabatta, sourdour or seedy health bread, preferably made with organic wholewheat flour, like Eureka – but every now and then I just fancy a sandwich. This is my version of the classic BLT.

Bolognaise Sauce

This is one of the most comforting sauces of all time, it’s not too expensive and you can use it in so many ways! I sometimes make a big batch and use it for different things, storing the various dishes in the freezer until I need them.