Oaty cherry biscuits

I was going to take a photo of these, but you and your Dad ate them so fast that there were none left. I think they've joined his list of favourite biscuits (although Anzac biscuits may still be top of the heap).

You'll need:

125g butter
25g caster sugar
50g light muscovado sugar
75g self-raising flour
112g porridge oats
100g glace cherries, chopped
25g raisins

Stick the oven on at about 180 degrees C. You'll need a baking tray, and a silicon sheet or some greaseproof paper - these will stick horribly otherwise.

Beat the butter and sugar (both kinds) together until they look fluffy. Stir in the flour and oats, and mix everything really well. Don't worry about the fact there's no liquid - it all comes together remarkably well (it's probably the appalling amount of butter involved).

Tip in the cherries and raisins, and stir until they're evenly spread throughout the mixture.

Divide the mix into lots of little balls (about as big as a ping-pong ball). Sling them on a tray (reasonably well spread out, as the mix does spread a little), and then flatten each ball with your fingers.

Bake for 15-20 minutes, until the biscuits have turned golden brown round the edges - you still want them a little squidgy in the centre.

Cool on the baking sheets for a few minutes, and then sling them on a wire rack to cool down properly. They go beautifully with a nice cup of coffee at about 10.30am.

Spinach and feta muffins

I adapted a Hugh Fearnley-Whernley recipe for these - and it turned out a treat.

Makes 12 enormous muffins, or lots and lots of fairy-cake sized ones. You'll need:

1 small onion, finely chopped
whatever spinach you have lurking at the bottom of the fridge, chopped
a little olive oil
half a pack or so of feta, cubed
250g self-raising flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon bicarb of soda
a little salt (not a lot, as the feta's pretty salty)
2 eggs
80g butter, melted and cooled down a bit
200ml buttermilk (either use milk with a squeeze of lemon juice, or add 75g yoghurt to 125ml milk...)

Stick your oven on at about 200 degrees C, and line your muffin tin/cupcake tin with paper/silicon cases of your choice.

Fry the onion in a little olive oil, until it turns translucent. Add the chopped spinach, and stir for a couple of minutes until it's wilted. Take off the heat, and leave to cool.

Sling the flour, bicarb, baking powder and salt into a large mixing bowl. Whisk the eggs/buttermilk/melted butter together in a jug - and then pour them into the flour mixture. Mix everything gently together. Carefully fold in the onion/spinach mixture, and then the feta cheese.

Spoon the muffin mixture into your cases, and then bake in the oven for about 10-12 minutes (small fairy-cake size), or a 15-20 minutes (large muffin size) until golden.

Eat lots while hot. They'll keep for a while, but are loveliest warm.

Creamy chicken, thyme and leek

This goes really well with some plain rice, and maybe some steamed greens/broccoli.

You'll need:

3-4 chicken thighs, deboned and chopped into large chunks (it's also good with leftover cooked chicken)
1/2 small carton of cream (or whatever you've got left in the fridge)
a couple of large leeks
a clove of garlic, or a bulb of wet garlic, finely chopped
a few sprigs of fresh thyme (or a sprinkle of the dried stuff)
lots of black pepper

Chuck the chicken into a frying pan, together with a slosh of olive oil, and brown the meat. Tip in the leeks and garlic, and fry until they have softened too.

Add the cream and a little water, sprinkle over the herbs, and leave to simmer for 10-15 minutes until the chicken is cooked through (you may have to add a little more water to stop it sticking).

Feta and courgette frittata

Another one in the "ooh, look what I found in the fridge" series.

You'll need:

4-5 eggs, depending on how large they are
a little milk
a handful of sliced cooked potatoes
an onion, finely sliced
a couple of courgettes, chunkily sliced
half a packet of feta cheese, cut into chunks
some dried thyme
lots of black pepper
olive oil

You'll need a reasonably large, heavy-bottomed frying pan (it helps if you've got one without a plastic handle, so it can go under the grill at the end). Start off by frying the onion in a little olive oil until it's translucent. You'll then need to add a really good slurp of olive oil (probably a couple of tablespoons), and layer up the courgette/potato slices. Leave this to cook for 5 minutes or so.

Dot the pan with the chunks of feta cheese. Scatter some dried thyme over the top of everything, and give it a good dose of black pepper. Mix together the eggs with a little milk, and pour into your frying pan.

Turn the heat down low, and leave for 15-20 minutes, until most of the egg has set (I think I left mine for about half an hour - good if you like crispy potatoes on the bottom of the frittata). Turn on the grill, and sling the pan under it for another 5-10 minutes, until the top of your frittata is browned.

We ate this with just a green salad - it was surprisingly filling!

Norwegian pretzels

As you might have guessed, we made these for Eurovision, which was beamed live via satellite from Oslo. Sadly, Morten Harket didn't make an appearance and the UK was marooned at the bottom of the table. But the pretzels were good. Hurrah!

You'll need:

1 envelope of dried yeast
1/2 cup warm water
1 teaspoon black treacle
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups bread flour
1 egg, beaten (or a little milk)
extra salt flakes

Stick your oven on at about 220 degrees C. Dissolve the yeast in the warm water, and add the black treacle and salt. Stir to create an unholy mess.

Tip in the flour, and mix to a dough. We had to add a little extra water, to get everything to stick together. Knead the dough really well, until it becomes elastic, then divide up into small pieces. Roll each of these out into thin snakes, and then twist into shapes (this was the bit you loved - you were surprisingly brilliant at making hearts).

Place on a baking sheet, and brush with the egg (or milk). Scatter some flakes of sea salt over the top of each.

Bake in the oven for 10 minutes if you like them chewy - a little bit longer (maybe switch off the oven and leave them inside as it cools down?) if you want them crispy.