A frittata is easy to whip up in a few minutes using food you have in the fridge or pantry.

This is a rough-but-homely, everything-into-the-pot dish that will have everyone asking for more.

Don't confine prunes to the breakfast bowl. This fruit is a great team player in many recipes and a popular ingredient in North African and Middle-Eastern cuisines.

Enjoy all the flavour but save time and money with this simplified version of Julia Child's classic, make-ahead meal for wintry weather.

Chicken and leek pies are very popular, but leeks can be pricy even when
in season. We saved by using onion instead along with wonderfully
aromatic dried thyme leaves (Herbies brand for us).

Diane made these with the children to celebrate Chinese New Year using veggies from the school's Kitchen Garden.

Everybody loves 'melts', especially when the weather is cold! This one from Kate Hemphill (www.lovetocook.co.uk) is basically a de-constructed French onion soup.

An eggplant tart may sound improbable but this one is delicious and the children in the 'kitchen garden' cooking class came back for seconds and the Mums all wanted the recipe! It's a great way to make the most of eggplants when they are at their best.

This slice is an adaptation of a zucchini slice made with silver beet, leeks and herbs. It looks very pretty if halved cherry tomatoes are placed on the slice before cooking.

Kate Hemphill's pilaf (www.lovetocook.co.uk) is a lovely and easy 'holiday fare' dish to make summer or winter. It can easily be doubled if serving a large group, or halved for dinner for two.

Everyone loves a pie. These ones are full of flavour and amazingly economical - well under $2 a serving!

This is an easy chicken casserole for a cold evening, but it is light enough to enjoy on warmer days served with noodles or rice.

Who doesn't love a crumble? This ever-so-easy and economical and amazing tasting dessert is from Kate McGhie...

This is a crunchy and inexpensive alternative to parmesan for topping
gratins and bakes. Chef Mark Jensen uses it on his 'Zucchini, tomato,
olive and feta gratin' (which is delicious). But it's great on a simple
potato or sweet potato bake too!

This recipe makes 4 meaty pot pies plus 4 extra serves of stew that you can freeze for another meal.

Made with ever-so-cheap chuck steak, this curry only takes 20 minutes to prepare, then you leave it to slowly simmer away while the meat becomes succulent and juicy.

A tastier and healthier version of ever-popular, picnic-hamper Scotch eggs made here with beef mince, not sausage meat and baked not fried.

This recipe uses delicious fresh fish. It is a complete meal that's on the table in well under an hour.

This pasta sauce is so deliciously tangy you don't need to pay any extra for flavoured sausages, plain, lean thin beef sausages are fine.