Recipes

If there’s one thing I’ve genuinely learned since being on a bit of a health and fitness kick, it’s that protein-rich foods actually work – when they come from real food.

So I started properly looking into protein: what it actually is, why we need it, and whether this sudden obsession is justified – or just another wellness trend wrapped in expensive packaging.

What’s on the menu for Valentine’s night? For me, it’s always going to be something comforting. I’ve always loved a bit of stodge, and if we’re talking elevated stodge, then nothing quite hits the mark like the sort of shepherd’s pie you’d order in somewhere like The Ivy.

Despite the growing focus on gut health and wellbeing and the role fibre can play in it, only 4% of UK adults meet the recommended fibre intake

With winter already in full swing and cold mornings firmly part of daily life, January is the time many households focus on staying well and strong for the remaining colder months – starting with breakfast.

To celebrate this year’s National Pizza Day on 9th February, make Matthews Cotswold Flour’s Cotswold Pizza Flour (1.5kg, £2 from cotswoldflour.com and Waitrose) your go-to flour for perfect pizza dough.

If learning to cook is one of your goals for 2026, the best place to start is by perfecting the everyday basics.

When I was a kid, my mum was a pretty good cook. My brother and I were lucky — we had a stay-at-home mum who cooked proper evening meals for us every day. Like most children, we each had our favourites… and our least favourites.

With winter truly upon us we all want to hunker down in the warm and wait until the spring arrives with the sunshine.   But there is one good thing about this time of year – it’s also soup season!

I had to laugh this evening — I actually found myself asking ChatGPT whether eggnog and Snowballs are the same thing. For years I assumed that custard-yellow bottle with the red writing was eggnog… because it looks like eggnog, and it’s yellow, and everyone wheels it out at Christmas.