Ever wanted to make your very own crisps? (That's chips to you Americans. ;) ) Well, now you can. And the best part? It only consists of three ingredients!

Ingredients

• Several medium sized potatoes
• Vegetable oil
• Salt

Slice your potatoes as thin as you possibly can. (Usually, you'll find the perfect tool to use on the sides of a basic kitchen cheese grater to slice them thin enough: [Example] )

Once these have been sliced, simply soak then in cold water to remove the starch and rinse well. Drain them and place the slices onto a piece of kitchen towel, or on a tea towel to remove the water. Now they are ready to fry!

In a pan heat your oil. This has to be quite hot for them to be deep fried. Place the crisps in the hot oil and fry until hard. If they brown quickly, reduce the heat.

Alternatively, you can bake them too! Simply place on a baking tray and drizzle oil (Or spritz, if you are lucky enough to have spray on oil!) over the top and bake until golden.

Then add whatever flavour you want to them! You can even adapt the recipe and make sweet potato crisps instead.

NOTE: This recipe contains Egg, milk, bread and dairy products. Allergy sufferers beware!

Ingredients

• 4 eggs
• 1 teaspoon sugar (Optional. I prefer it without, personally.)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup milk (It's not needed, it just makes the mix go further if you have a lot of people to make for.)
• 4 slices white bread

Preparation:
Break eggs into a wide, shallow bowl or pie plate; beat lightly with a fork. Stir in sugar, salt, and milk.

Over medium-low heat, heat griddle or skillet coated with a thin layer of butter or margarine.

Place the bread slices, one at a time, into the bowl or plate, letting slices soak up egg mixture for a few seconds, then carefully turn to coat the other side. Soak/coat only as many slices as you will be cooking at one time.

Transfer bread slices to griddle or skillet, heating slowly until bottom is golden brown. Turn and brown the other side. Serve the Eggy Bread hot.

NOTE: This recipe serves 1, but can be adapted to serve more. Just add more bread, eggs and milk. (If needed)

Stuffed squid is a beautiful dish and contrary to popular belief it is NOT rubbery. If cooked correctly, the squid is soft with a little give on the teeth making for a wonderful meal. Kalamarakia Gemista is a Greek dish that combines squid with rice. It is usually stuffed with rice, spring onions and spices and bathed in a wonderful tomato sauce. This, however, is a variation that I develeloped to be enjoyed by all and is easier to make than the standard.

NOTE: Contains alcohol!

Ingredients

• 1 large, whole squid (The length of your arm if you can afford it!)
• 1 to 2 small cups of risotto rice
• 1 small sample bottle of white wine (Pino Grigio works the best.)
• 1 garlic bulb
• 1 tablespoon of dark soy sauce
• 2 pints of chicken or beef stock (Beef gives more flavour, but chicken works with the white wine.)
• 1 packet of oyster mushrooms
• 2 tablespoons of fresh of dried basil

Directions

Let's start off by preparing the squid. If you have never done this before, it may be an interesting experience... Prepare yourself for gooey feelings.

First things forst, reach up past the eyes and under the lip of the tube. Grip onto the main body firmly and pull out from inside. All the innards will (Hopefully) come out in one. If there are still extras, reach in and tug. You may also find an odd looking part that looks like clear plastic. This is the 'quill' and is pretty awesome looking. It is, however, not edible, so discard it with the innards. Cop off your tentacles making sure to cut at the base of the body just below the eyes. Be aware not to cut too close, as you will discover the beak if you do and it's not edible. You will notice your squid has the two wings on the body and the skin is probably covered in both a pinky purple coloured speckle and ink. Run this under water and pull down on one of the wings. This should pull away and start to tear off the membrane as well. Pull the other wing off and the membrane should just slip off with ease. If you are not sure, rub with salt to remove the rest.

One finished, you should be left with tentacles and a nice, big, white tube that looks like a wizard hat. Wash the inside of the tube very well and make sure no innards are left inside and chop your tentacles into small pieces. Trim off the end of the tube and ta-daa.

Congrats! You just prepped a squid!

Chop up your garlic and slice your mushrooms into strips. (The smaller, thumb-sized 'shrooms can be left as is.)

Then what you need to do is start on your filling. Start your stock boiling in a large pan. When this begins to boil, add a large knob of butter to a pan (I find a wok is perfect for this) and fry your garlic taking care not to burn it. Burnt garlic tastes foul and ruins the dish! In a seperate pan, fry your tentacles in a little oil and salt and set aside. Once the garlic is near to perfect, add your mushrooms in, the basil, squid tentacles and ladle a small amount of stock in. The stick will make sure that the garlic doesn't burn and keeps the mushrooms nice and soft when cooking. Add another knob of butter and melt it into the mix. Then add your bottle of wine and simmer for a short period to bring the temperature back up. Once it's back up, add in your risotto rice. Keep the heat high on your stock and ladle in a bit at a time and add your soy sayce when all your stock has gone. Cook until all the liquid is gone and the rice is perfectly soft and squidgy.

Next you need to stuff your squid. Open up your tube and spoon in the mix, making sure to not fill it completely. (When squid is cooked, the tissue reacts and tenses up, so if you over stuff it, the filling will pour out. I'd say to leave an inch at the end.) Once you have stuffed it, get some cooks string (This is easy to find in most stores) and sew the open end up. Place in a hot oven at about 150 to 200 degrees fir around 15 minutes and turn every so often to ensure it cooks evenly.

When it is done, you will notice that the outer layer will have a slight golden tinge.

Slice and serve with fried potato, potato rosti, or deep fried potato chunks.

Ingredients

• 100 g unsalted butter
• 300 ml milk
• 350 g caster sugar
• 1 tsp bubblegum flavouring

Directions

For this you are going to need a nice, large cake tin of around... 18cm roughly, I'd say. Just as long as the mixture fits nicely, it doesn't matter. Grease it well and start on your mixture.

Pour the milk in a saucepan and begin to heat slowly, adding the sugar and butter and stirring all the time until it's all melted. Then you want to bring it to the boil and boil for 15-20 minutes. You'll need to keep stirring, or you'll end up with nasty, burned mush at the bottom and it'll be ruined. When the mixture reaches the stage that it will form solid balls in cold water (115°C - Also know as the soft ball stage.), remove it completely from the heat and stir in the bubblegum flavouring.

Leave this for 5 minutes to gradually cool and then begin to beat the mixture with a spoon for a little while until it starts to thicken and the gloss vanishes. Pretty much, until it looks like wallpaper paste. Once this has been achieved, pour it all tin and leave to set. Whatever you do though, don't put it in the fridge. This will ruin it.

Once set, you can turn it out, cut it up and eat it. To store, it's best to keep it in airtight containers. Don't leave out in the open as fudge can go dry from sugar crystallization.

[NOTE: Any flavour can be added instead of bubblegum. Why not try adding mint, or orange oil? Even rose? One that is quite tasty is chilli chocolate fudge, all you need to do it add cocoa powder and chilli powder. A sweet treat with a nice kick!]

Ingredients

• 2 cucumbers, peeled, seeded and diced
• 1 cup of greek yogurt, strained
• 1 cup of sour cream
• 3 tbsp of olive oil
• 1 tbsp of vinegar
• 2 cloves of garlic (Chopped finely, or mashed)
• 1/2 tsp of salt
• 1/4 tsp of white pepper
• 1 tsp of dill

Directions

Mix the olive oil, garlic, salt, vinegar and pepper in a bowl. Then mix the yogurt with the sour cream and add the olive oil mixture to the yogurt mixture and stir well. Then add the cucumber and dill. Chill for at least two hours before serving.

Cheese bread is a very tasty and versatile bread that can be enjoyed with virtually anything. My particular favorite would be with tomato soup, or as a sandwich with pastrami and english mustard.

Ingredients

• 1 pack of active dry yeast. (Roughly 1 tbsp)
• 1-3/4 cups warm water
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 3-1/2 to 4-1/2 cups white flour
• 1 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
• Sesame Seeds/Poppy Seeds/Cornmeal (For the French loaf)

First, you'll need to dissolve the yeast. To do this, put the yeast in a large bowl and pour 1/2 cup of warm water over it. It should take around a minute to dissolve properly, but just stir it lightly to make sure.

Mix the remaining water (1-1/4 cups ) with 2 teaspoons of salt and pour it over the yeast. Stir in the flour a cup at a time. When the dough becomes hard to stir, turn it out onto a floured work surface.

The dough will need tome to rest, so while you are waiting, clean out the bowl you were using, because you'll need it later.

After letting it settle for a little bit, scrape up the dough and knead it for around 10 minutes. You can add more white flour if you need to, just as long as the dough ends up smooth with a lot of elasticty.

Next, you'll want that bowl you cleaned. Grease it lightly with soft butter, marge or vegetable oil and put the dough in it. Turn it so that the fat/oil coats it lightly. Cover this with cling film and let it rise until almost tripled in size. This will take around 2 to 3 hours, so go make yourself a coffee, or something. (DON'T PUT IT IN THE FRIDGE! Put it in the airing cupboard, or another warm place.)

After the dough has finished rising, punch it down in the bowl and turn it out onto a floured surface. Spread it out and sprinkle the cheese all over. Roll the dough up and knead it so that the cheese is merged evenly with the dough.

Next, you'll want to grease your loaf pan. Take about two-thirds of the dough and form a loaf and place it in the greased pan. Roll the remaining dough into a 10 to 12 inch long loaf and place on a baking sheet. (You can sprinkle the sheet with sesame seeds, cornmeal, or poppy seeds if you want.) Cover each loaf with a kitchen towel and let it rise again until doubled in size. This will take another 45 minutes or so. (Yes, there's a lot of waiting involved. I know. ;) )

After around 30 minutes of waiting make sure to preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

After the full waiting period is over, place the two loaves in the oven. Remove the French loaf (The long one on the baking sheet) after 18 to 20 minutes. (Or when the top is golden brown.) Turn down the heat to 350 degrees and let the pan loaf bake for another 10 minutes.

After it has finished, leave to cool on a wire rack and use it however you like.

Here are some suggestions:

Sandwiches

Pastrami and mustard
Chicken salad with mayo
Beef and mustard
Beef and horseradish sauce
Cheese and onion
Tuna and sweetcorn
Egg-mayo
Mixed bean and salmon with chilli sauce

Dip into soup

French onion
Creamy tomato
Tomato, rice and sweetcorn
Minestrone
Potato and leek
Butternut Squash
Watercress

Toast/Toasted Sandwiches

Extra Cheesey toast (Chuck vintage cheddar on top and grill)
Cheese and baked bean toastie (Mature cheddar and a can of baked beans)
Ham and cheese toastie
Tuna and sweetcorn cheese melt (Cheese, tuna, sweetcorn and a touch of mayo grilled)

Dipping

Garlic sauce
Salsa
Mayo
Cheese sauce
Thousand island

In Salads

Toast it and cut into small chunks. Toss into a nice leafy salad. (Goes VERY well with chicken.)

Named after a family pet. (Budgie named Beanie.)

• 2 chicken breasts without skin and bones
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 1 onion chopped up
• 2 peeled and chopped garlic cloves
• 150g mushrooms
• 400g canned chopped tomatoes
• 900ml chicken stock
• 400g canned baked beans

Directions

Cut chicken into thin strips and heat the oil in a saucepan and saute the onion for a few minutes until they get soft. Add the chicken and fry it until its brown on all sides and stir in the garlic. Add the mushrooms, tomatoes and the stock and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer it for 15 minutes, then stir in the beans and simmer for 5 more minutes until its very hot then serve.

Serves 4

WARNING: Contains alcohol.

SERVES 1. (Just increase the ingredients for extra servings.)

Ingredients

• 1 large chicken breast
• Single cream
• Pre-soaked porcini Mushrooms (Keeping the water you've soaked them in.)
• 1 small bottle (187ml 'taster' bottles.) or 1 quarter of a fullsized bottle of white wine
• Cornflour
• Olive oil
• Fresh (Or dried) basil

Soak your mushrooms overnight in water and the water will turn brown. This stock is very useful and can be used in the sauce.

Add some oil to a ban and fry your chicken breast for a few minutes each side. Then place the chicken in some kitchen foil, sprinkle with chopped garlic and a little oil and place in the oven for around 20 minutes. (Or until it is cooked.)

Heat your mushroom water (Stock) and leave to simmer. Then add a small knob of butter in a pan and fry your mushrooms until cooked and place in a blender. Add to this around half a tub of single cream, the wine and the stock. Blitz until smooth. Add cornflour to thicken in needed. Heat the sauce again in a pan if needed.

[NOTE: Serve with asparagus and green beans.]

Most of us love them, so these just had to be added. Best of all? They are easy to make!

Ingredients

• 16 oz(450g/1lb) Chicken breast fillets
• 1oz (30g) plain flour
• 3 to 4 handfuls of breadcrumbs
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 egg (For binding)
• Black Pepper
• Oil (Vegetable, or olive)

Cut the chicken into small pieces and place in a bowl. Next, in another bowl, sieve your flour and add the salt and pepper and, should you want to spice it up a bit, add in any spices you want. (Cajun is good!)

Next, beat the egg and add some oil to the mix and prepare a bowl of breadcrumbs ready to coat your nuggets.

Firstly, you need to dip your chicken nuggets into the flour to coat it lightly, then into the egg to add another layer and finally into the bread crumbs to finish it off. Once you've done all this, your nuggets are ready to cook!

Heat a few tablespoons of oil in a pan and add the nuggets to it. (Should they not all fot, don't panic! Do them a few at a time and keep the cooked ones in your oven on a low setting to keep them warm.) After they have finished, drain them of the oil and serve them.

[NOTE: These can be replaced with any meat you want, or even a vegetarian alternative if you prefer.]

This is a very hot dish, so be warned.

Ingredients

• 2 tsp cumin seeds, whole
• 1 tsp peppercorns, black
• 1 tsp cardamom seeds
• 1 cinnamon (3 in stick)
• 1 1/2 tsp black mustard seeds, whole
• 1 tsp fenugreek seeds, whole
• 5 tbsp white wine vinegar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp brown sugar, light
• 10 tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 large yellow onions, peeled and cut into, half-rings
• 6 tbsp water
• 1 ginger, fresh (1-inch cube), peeled, and coarsely chopp
• 10 garlic cloves, peeled and coarsely, chopped (or less)
• 1 tbsp coriander seeds, ground
• 1/2 tsp turmeric, ground
• 2 lb chicken breast (boneless), cut into, bite-sized pieces
• 8 oz tomato sauce
• 1/2 lb new potatoes, peeled and quartered

Grind the blackpepper, cardamom, cinnamon, cumin seeds, black
mustard seeds and fenugreek seeds together. In a separate small bowl you need to combine all of the ground spices with the vinegar, salt, cayenne pepper and brown sugar. After you have done this, set the bowl aside.

Then, heat up some oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Fry yourself some onions until they are cooked. (Golden brown) Remove all of the onions making sure to drain them of the oil and put them in a blender. Turn off the heat, but do
not discard the oil, as you'll need it later. Add about 3 teaspoons of water (or more if necessary) to the onions and blend it until you have a nice, smooth paste. Add the onion paste to the bowl of spices you set aside earlier. This mixture is actually the 'vindaloo paste' that will give you the flavour.

Next, put some ginger and garlic in a blender adding about 3 easpoons water and blend until you have yet another smooth paste.

Then, heat the remaining oil again in the saucepan over medium heat. When it's hot add the ginger and garlic paste. Stir it until the paste browns slightly. Then add coriander and turmeric and stir a few seconds. Add 2lb of chicken, a little at a time, and brown it lightly. Then add the vindaloo paste, some tomato sauce and quartered potatoes to the chicken in the saucepan. Stir it well and bring it to a slight boil. Cover the saucepan, reduce heat to low and simmer for about an hour. The best way of checking to see if it's done is to poke a knife into the potatoes. If they are soft, it's done. Serve this over some white rice.

[Note: Don't undercook the onions. They should be cooked until dark brown. If the onion paste turns out gray rather than brown, then the onions were not cooked enough.]