Soupy water

A colleague recently came into the office with a huge container full of carrots. Apparently she had a big bagful at home and felt obliged to munch them before they went off!

I immediately suggested she made carrot and coriander soup: it was my first thought. Other people later suggested carrot cake or batons to dip in hoummus, but I stuck to soup. I'm a very soupy person.

And then I realised I go around saying I'm 'soupy' but haven't made my own soup for ages and have a fairly limited repertoire of recipes.

So ... answers on a postcard, please. Let me know your favourite soup recipe by adding a comment here. And I'll make some, and tell you how I got on!

Cottage with an orange roof

I've just discovered cottage pie with sweet potato mash on top. Yes, I know I'm well behind the times!

Folk say it's better for you, but I'm not sure exactly why. In my book it just makes a nice change and tastes more interesting.

Cottage pie is surely one of the easiest and most satisfying things to cook. Just bung lean mince, chopped onions, carrots, beef stock and a bit of red wine in a frying pan and fry it until the mince is cooked. At the same time peel a couple of sweet potatoes, chop them into small cubes and boil them until soft and squishy. Mash the potato (on its own - no need for butter or any of that malarkey). Then you layer it all in an ovenproof dish with the potato on top and shove it into an oven for 20 minutes.

It makes great lunch leftovers too, and I've got a cunning tip for transporting it effectively. Set aside a small portion of each (mince mixture and potato) before it all reaches the oven. Place them side by side in a tupperware container to make sure it doesn't all go mixed-up and soggy. The next day, microwave the whole thing for a few minutes and layer it onto a plate, like a little orange-roofed cottage!

Moussaka for cattle farmers

Traditional Greek readers may wish to look away now.

A few weeks ago I had a sudden fancy for a moussaka. I didn't really know what one was and had never even it before, but saw a delicious-looking picture in Gordon Ramsay's World Kitchen.

Much to my disappointment I discovered it contains lamb mince, not a favourite in our house. But once I had the idea in my head I wasn't to be stopped and decided to try making one with beef instead.

The first stage is very similar to making a lasagne. I fried steak mince with chopped red onions, tomato puree, a dash of red wine, roughly chopped fresh tomatoes and loads of black pepper. At the same time I fried some thin slices of aubergine on the griddle pan, with very little oil.

At this stage I should explain how to make a delicious white sauce, but life really is too short. I bought a carton of fresh cheese sauce instead.

Then comes the fun bit: layer the aubergine, mince mixture then cheese sauce in a large ovenproof dish, finishing with the cheese sauce on top. I followed Gordy's suggestion of grating some cheddar on top too before putting it in the oven for about half an hour.

The result is probably woefully unfaithful to Greek cuisine, but delicious and warming. I served it with some focaccia and green salad, and lashings of red wine. It goes down perfectly on a rainy evening with plenty of quiz shows on TV.

Grazing obsession

The Graze box craze is no longer a craze! It has gone on long enough to become a way of life. In fact I can't imagine how I coped before!

Rather than the initial excitement and novelty, I now think of it as a hassle-free way of getting my requisite snacks for the week. Plus there's getting over the boredom factor by having someone else choose random treats for you.

Two very enthusiastic thumbs up.

Just brie!

It works just as well without the bacon, too. Just brie and the cranberry sauce. I'm just quality-checking it as I type!

I can't remember anything by The Cranberries

I can't be alone in my cranberry sadness. Every time I open the kitchen cupboard in January (sometimes even February and March) I look glumly at a languishing half-full jar of cranberry sauce, collecting dust.

I can't not buy it for Christmas dinner - roast turkey just wouldn't be the same with one trimming missing - but what does one do with it afterwards?

Well, never fear: I've discovered the delights of a brie, bacon and cranberry panini. Slice up some brie, add small pieces of cooked smoked bacon and smear on a dollop of cranberry sauce. Toast the whole thing in a sandwich or panini toaster and chomp it up! If you don't have a sandwich toaster, you could have the same filling in a baked ciabatta or just a sandwich.

And if you haven't got any leftover cranberry sauce? Make your own - it's incredibly simple. Put two handfuls of fresh or frozen cranberries into a saucepan with the juice of half an orange and one dessert spoonful of caster sugar. Heat it until the cranberries burst and it starts to look 'saucy'. Let it cool down a bit, then have a taste and add as many squirts of honey you need to make it sweet enough.

In fact this whole blog post has been a sham: I made my own cranberry sauce last Christmas and I don't even have an abandoned jar in the cupboard. But I can still sympathise with my former, cranberry-sad self.

Graze skies

Thanks to the delivery of the latest delicious magazine (I received the subscription as a Christmas present - hurrah!) I found out about Graze.

It's based on a simple premise: we know we should snack on small portions of delicious, nutritious nibbles throughout the day but we're too busy, lazy or unimaginative to provide ourselves with sufficiently tempting snacks. This is particularly pertinent for office workers, although I find I'm just as bad when I'm at home, personally.

Graze sends you a box of goodies, divided into 'just right' portions. They're certainly delicious and nutritious, aiming to provide at least one serving of fruit alongside something a bit more decadent. There's a huge range of snacks on offer, and you rate what you've received online; the bit where you browse the website and mark which food you love, like or want to try is almost as good as the eating bit! I spent a whole lunch hour rating snacks last week. It's worthwhile when your box arrives at the office containing the likes of wasabi coated peanuts and fresh pineapple slices.

The good news is that they're currently offering a free trial box, followed by one at half price. You do have to sign up, but it's easy to cancel or suspend deliveries at any time. Visit the Graze site and enter the code GB6C7QT to take advantage of the offer. The even better news is that for every 'friend' I recruit using this code, Graze will donate £1 to the Rainforest Alliance on our behalf.

Start grazing - it's the future.