What to cook this week

Stir fries are healthy and excellent for weight loss, if you go easy on fillers and cook your sauces from scratch. And in a true takeaway fashion you can replace the main ingredient with another.

Teaching kids to eat healthy is tougher than slapping a tax on stuff but far more effective. Getting them to cook what they like is a step in the right direction: homemade pizza with fresh ingredients.

Buy from your farm shops or straight from producers who have embarked on delivery or click-and-collect services in pandemic. The only import not only necessary but recommended is champagne!

How to cook sweetcorn? For years I’d microwaved corn cobs but now I swear by roasting it in the oven. You can boil it, and then there’s barbecuing. Also cook it deliciously off the cob.

Salad days! Even if the forecast is for 'unsettled’ it still means the afternoon might be fine and warm after a washout morning. So apart from barbecues and takeaways, we should be eating salads.

In the past self-catering meant occasionally preparing breakfast; not this summer. So, what to cook on hols? Skewer what you can and barbecue it, or make massive tray bakes.

Barbecues, making your own ice cream and blueberry season: benefits of holidays do not depend on the destination; staycation is also good for your wellbeing and de-stressing.

Is it time for summer food? Barbecues and ice cream? Everybody has been going out to eat in droves, but barbecue trumps restaurants when the weather is gorgeous.

The possibility of eating out makes everyday cooking seem tedious. Cook the easiest things possible, get takeaways a lot, cook only what you enjoy eating or cook what you don’t get in restaurants.

We chuck out perfectly good food while we can do much better than that. Miserable-looking lettuce can go into a stir fry: chicken chow mein doesn’t really need Napa cabbage to taste good.

Fish is the source of lean protein and omega 3 fatty acids, but it absorbs pollutants. Is farmed fish better than wild caught? And what about sustainability? It's complicated.

Asparagus with lunch and dinner every day and a bowl of luscious strawberries to snack on through the day is my idea of a good diet in May. Let’s hope the nasty frosts go away at last!

Food is mood, as studies show; what we eat affects how we feel and not only physically. We all now yearn to feel better mentally, so how about some feel-good food?

Which fruit and vegetables are the most recommended for the five-a-day mix? Leafy greens, berries and citrus, carrots and beetroot seem to lead the pack.

What to cook? The least possible. That’s a joke, but I’m going to skip all the fillers this week trying to lose the lockdown weight gain.

Barbecue ideas might come in handy as soon as the weather allows again. Also, the salad season is approaching: plenty to choose from in Cuisine Fiend's salad department.

Easter is coming and it’s a non-holiday again. I’m still going to do a fair bit of baking, even though this time I’ll do rounds and drop off cakes on family and friends’ doorsteps.

The first harbingers of spring have appeared on the market stalls too: Jersey Royals. Cook them simply to savour the taste and lightly crush them with a few chopped olives.

Spring is coming, the way out of lockdown is almost visible so it’s time to shape up a bit: let’s try skinny foods and smaller dishes this week. I’ll start with smoked fish salad bowl tonight.

Comfort food actually has the capacity to make us feel better. It may be a nostalgic effect of a favourite dish of our childhood, but there are foods that act in a warming, soothing or anti-inflammatory way.

Italian chefs are up in arms against the ‘falsification’ of traditional Italian cooking. So let's see some of my unorthodox-but-tasty Italian suggestions!

When I'm cooking a meal, I have no time for brooding and glooming especially if I’m focusing on constructing a lamb and spinach filo pie or a veggie version: spanakopita.

I’m going to continue hot chocolate and biscuit evenings, while wrapped in a blanket and watching Netflix. But what biscuits go best with winter and hot chocolate?

Cold weather is the perfect excuse to cook hearty, rich and warming dishes. Soups, casseroles and baked pasta dishes – let’s have them now before spring nudges us towards salads.