A warm winter salad of eggplant and kumara sounds just the ticket... flavour accents from lemon, ginger, garlic and lime, some wilted greens added right at the end. This one is easy to prep - a bit of work at the start, into the oven for 20 minutes, a bit of work at the end. Nice. Vegan, DF and GF

This one uses sticks of cauliflower instead of pasta, with a delicious mushroom and kidney bean mix over the top. It has the kind of flavour additions you'd expect from a traditional pasta sauce - garlic, tomato paste, a splash of either wine or white wine vinegar, parmesan optional (avoid for DF). Bean and Mushrooms with cauliflower pasta - Vegan, df and GF if you omit the parmesan.

Leek and potato soup is always a winner on a cold day. This version adds in Fennel, and popped capers for a crispy flavour hit on top. So leek, potato and fennel soup - Vegan, DF and GF

Chana Masala is a chickpea curry with loads of flavour, not too much heat. Again, warming additions of fresh ginger, garlic, spices - turmeric, cumin, coriander, paprika - and crushed tomato to carry all those flavours and meld them together. Could be even better the next day, if any of it makes it that far. Vegan, DF and GF

The other day I found salmon mince for sale and I spent quite a bit of time thinking about what I could do with that... decided I'd make a light zingy soup but when I went back there was no salmon mince so I bought a small chunk of salmon and cut it up into very small pieces instead... Is very economical on the salmon and you still get full flavour and general yum. It has coconut milk, ginger, garlic, lime zest and juice, a splash of fish sauce. Light Salmon Soup - DF and GF

The Masala roasted chicken and pumpkin requires a few hours marinading, but then when you get to the business end it only takes about half a hour to cook so... give it half an hour to 3 hours in the marinade - the longer the veg and chicken sit in those flavours the better they will be! This one has yams and pumpkin, chicken thighs, and delicious warm spices - cumin, black mustard seeds and garam masala. Is a very good time. DF and GF