I enjoy cooking in as much as I love eating and I love the satisfaction of serving up a home cooked meal to my family. I’m no cordon bleu chef though, and the only times I’ve tried anything remotely fancy or even vaguely unrecognisable, my hours of slaving over a stove have been rewarded with a ‘I’m not eating that’ from the kids - not the reaction I’d hoped for.

So rather than take the path of least resistance and offer them plain pasta and tuna or an omelette (they both like different things just to make things even more complicated, but these are what my girls would eat everyday if I let them), I thought I’d share with you some winners - the recipes that are quick, tasty and crowd pleasers!

Firstly, its Jamie Oliver’s easy sausage carbonara from his 5 Ingredients book. I use this book all the time, but this recipe is a favourite with the girls. It's a great camping recipe too.

Another quick and tasty winner is Deliciously Ella’s black and kidney bean chilli. So easy because there’s very little chopping to do, and its full of store cupboard ingredients. It's vegan too, which is great, if like us, you’re trying to cut down on meat. But it's so hearty the kids don’t even comment. I don’t add the jalapeños as my youngest doesn’t like it spicy, but you can spice it up as much or as little as you like.

Another fail safe is Fay Ripley’s one pot lemon chicken with rice from her book Fay’s Family Food, which I’ve used so much its pages are literally stuck together. There are some brilliant recipes in here and this one pot chicken dish is great as you just throw everything in and pop it in the over for 50 minutes. Fay uses broad beans but you can use any veg, and frozen is fine, and I tend to use peas or spinach.

Make life easier with this set of 5 enamel dishes. These can be used on the hob, in the oven and straight to the table for serving. When you’re finished just pop them in the dishwasher or freeze any leftovers in the dish. Just don’t put them in the microwave.