What to cook this week

Baked, boiled, roasted or mashed, the latter two with not a lot of fat, potatoes are absolutely healthy, filling and can be conducive to weight loss.

How to mitigate Christmas overindulgence? Don't detox or go vegan. Instead of trying to switch to unattainable and dubious eating habits, just eat less.

Christmas dinner is special, but it’s the Boxing Day when you really appreciate what a difference brining the turkey makes and how gorgeous the spice rub is on the duck.

Whole brined turkey, stuffed rolled breast, roast duck, beef or cider braised gammon - whatever the roast, you must have gravy. And here’s my make ahead/finish on Chrimbo Day, finest gravy.

To-do lists make Christmas easier and less stressful. Spontaneity is all very well except when you're about to bake a yule log and realise you've run out of cocoa powder.

Can we start Christmas prepping yet? Absolutely - make-ahead stuffing for the freezer, Stollen to mature on the window sill and cranberry ketchup in a jar.

The best presents of all are ones you can eat. And the most cherished are the ones the giver made themselves. Plus, there are far more possibilities for making tasty gifts than you might think!

Oranges, satsumas, clementines and grapefruits are popping with colour and getting juicier. And the best things baked are orange flavoured.

Pulses are nutritional bombs of goodness and they don't need much to turn into brilliant dishes. Most come in tins, which makes for an easy-chickpeasy dinner or lunch.

Cabbage deserves more respect - it is such a good, healthy and versatile vegetable! Full of vitamin C and K, it aids weight loss and it can be utterly delicious.

Vrimp is Nestle’s new product made from peas and seaweed that is supposed to be vegan shrimp. Seriously? I’ll stick to real shrimp, making sure I buy sustainable.

Porcini, also known as ceps or penny buns, are undoubtedly the finest of wild funghi. Here's how to clean, prepare and cook this precious crop.

October cooking is about tomatoes and peppers. It’s a race to use as much seasonal produce as possible before it ends, and we are left with leeks and carrots.

What to eat if you want to reduce your meat consumption? The answer is very easy: don’t look for replacements but rather eat the vegetarian dishes that you like.

The secret's in the gut: feed your gut bacteria properly with varied, balanced mix of vegetables and fruit, fermented foods and healthy animal protein.

A new research study has found a correlation between high consumption of dairy fats and lower risk of cardiovascular disease. Say cheese!

Are you a snackoholic? If snack you must, nibble on something healthy and/or homemade. Anything you have made will be much better than shop bought stuff, trust me.

I've had a week long junk food binge - now I'll have to make up for that lapse by eating plants with healthy protein on the side. And I couldn't have picked a better season for that!

Making jam isn’t difficult and it is a lot of fun. I used to think it was only viable with truckloads of produce and enormous vats. But you can make a saucerful of jam from a punnet of fruit.

This is the best time of the year for the produce: you can feed yourself only the seasonal crops and still have incredible variety of fruit and veggies on your menu.

Can we come up with new ways for the old zucchini? My one plant has so far yielded probably about three kilo courgettes, and I pick them small! Firstly, the flowers are not to be thrown away.

This week some suggestions on how to keep to our five-a-day using fruit in dinner dishes. And I’m not going to cheat on technicality, presenting only tomatoes!

Scientists say we should eat 30 different plants a week, but we eat mostly plants already, apart from some crazy keto fanatics and babies. My lasagne has 5 different plants in the ingredients!

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.