Over the last few weeks, I have been cooking a lot of soups and stews which have proved to be ideal comfort food when it is cold and raining outside. And surprisingly, they have also been relatively cheap and easy to prepare. One of the dishes I cooked for some friends was a rabbit, tomato and basil stew, cooked slowly with some white wine and stock. I prepared the meal the night before which allowed the flavours to infuse and apart from checking on it every so often, I just left it to cook. Another dish I have been cooking – and which will appeal to vegetarians – is a spicy lentil soup with root vegetables. Again, the meal is very cheap and I made a large quantity to store in batches in the fridge or freezer – for those days when I don’t have time to cook!

As a self-confessed foodie, there are few things I enjoy talking about more so each week I will be bringing you a host of food-related ideas including healthy eating and credit-crunch busting recipes, as well what I have been enjoying over the week.

I also welcome any feedback and ideas from readers, including your favourite recipe ideas or places to eat so drop me a line at catherine.allen@chad.co.uk.

But in the meantime – bon appetit!