This was one of my Christmas day contributions, an old fashioned English Trifle. Always a hit, there are endless variations to a trifle, basically it’s just layers of yumminess.

I nearly did morrello cherries and kirsch, but stuck with the traditional after all.

Make this one day ahead to allow for the liquid to be absorbed by the cake.

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A drizzle of good sauce can turn an ordinary meal into something special, without being expensive or difficult. The photo shows the aioli over tuna rissoles, giving them a touch of class.

For aioli, you can make your own mayonnaise from scratch or for a speedy alternative, use bottled mayonnaise. If you use bottled, use the best quality, whole egg mayonnaise that you can find and avoid the imitation stuff, the difference in taste is huge. Making mayonnaise is not difficult, but I usually just use bottled whole egg mayonnaise. Fresh chilli is best, dried chilli flakes will do if fresh isn’t available.

Makes about 1/2 cup

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I’ve been watching too much telly. I had a craving for one of those chicken sauces in a jar. It tempted me in the supermarket as I walked past it’s shelf.

I didn’t buy it, I decided to make my own version which was pretty easy and doesn’t include any extras like preservatives or artificial flavours.

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This scrummy cake is a little different to the usual butter cake with icing. Use fresh peaches if they are available, or tinned. If you’re using tinned, keep the syrup to add to the cake.

I created this cake by taking a basic vanilla cake recipe, making some adjustments, and incorporating some ideas from a few other recipes.

I’ve always read that you have to be absolutely precise when baking, but I haven’t found this to be the case yet. If the mix doesn’t seem right, I add a little extra moisture or a little extra flour.

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This is a quick omelette that is very tasty. DH insists that it must be served with grilled Turkish bread, but a well dressed salad adds some greens to the plate, the vinegar cutting through the fattiness of the chorizo. Chorizo isn’t exactly a diet sausage, but it is oh so good. Serves 2

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Love to indulge in chocolate? Yep, me too! And what better desert for Valentine’s Day than a rich and creamy mousse. Sorry about the lack of photo, I was going to make this again for Valentine’s Day, but forgot I’m not supposed to eat uncooked egg at the moment.

To get the best flavoured mousse, splurge on the best quality chocolate you can find. Valrhona is a popular brand when it comes to making these things, but I’ve never seen it anywhere (I don’t think it’s a supermarket staple) so I use Lindt when I want good chocolate. And don’t spoil it by using any non-fat light cream stuff! Use the real deal.

Vary this mouse with the type of liqueur you add (or leave it out altogether (DH is not a rum fan). Cointreau or it’s alternative will give a nice Jaffa flavour, whiskey actually makes a nice accompaniment to chocolate, Tia Maria or Kahlua will give a mocha flavour, or Frangelico for a hazelnut flavour. Alternatively, you could use white chocolate instead of dark (I’d probably ditch the added sugar though).

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This is a quick and easy loaf recipe that has a whole heap of flavour from the malt in the Weetbix. Vita Brits don’t have the added malt, so won’t give as good a flavour. I like to serve this with a scraping of butter, but it tastes just as good plain.

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I had a few leftovers from Christmas, some salad leaves that needed eating, a bit of topside in the fridge and leftover dressing, so I made this seared beef salad for lunch in order to use up what was left in the fridge and avoid the waste.

I’ve given the ingredients that we used below, but as the whole point was to use up leftovers, the idea is to build the salad on whatever you have rolling around your crisper.

I don’t really like salad, I usually choose steamed veg over salad any day, so I tend to take my salad making pretty seriously in order to gain maximum enjoyment.

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I’m not a salad fan, so when I’m asked to bring a salad to a function, I try to make it as tasty for me as possible. Eating a bunch of greens just doesn’t do it for me.

This is the salad that I came up with for Christmas day with my favourite ingredients, feta and pumpkin. I love the salty-sweet combo. We actually didn’t use pine nuts in the end as they were way too expensive and we were coming close to blowing our budget, so I substituted toasted slivered almonds instead. I think pine nuts would have been better. Also, the only rocket I could find was pre-packaged rubbish, so I skipped that too, but the peppery taste of the rocket would be a nice balance to the sweetness of the pumpkin and dressing.

The salad dressing was a honey balsamic dressing.

I made this the day before, so the pumpkin was cold. I just put everything in separate containers and built the salad just before serving, in order to keep the flavours separate. Don’t dress the salad until the last minute as it will make the salad soggy.

The only downside: putting the oven on to make a salad. The pumpkin roasted: we roasted.

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I took a roast pumpkin and feta salad dressed with a honey balsamic dressing to our family Christmas lunch. The dressing is probably one of the best that I’ve made (even if I do say so myself), and it got a lot of compliments.

As I’m not a fan of salads, so I take my salad making pretty seriously as I want to ensure that I actually enjoy it. A good dressing is vital to making a good salad.

I’ve tried to give quantities here, but making a salad dressing isn’t an exact science, so taste it and adjust it to how you like it. Years ago someone gave me the secret to making a great salad dressing: it takes a rich man to add the oil, a miser to add the vinegar, a wise man to season it, and a mad man to shake it. That’s the way to make a dressing – no need to measure: more oil, less vinegar or acid, season to taste and mix well!

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