We’re approaching longest day territory here in the UK right now. The maximum hours of daylight in the year reaches 16 hours and 41 minutes in a matter of a few (long) days, meaning our evenings stretch gloriously out in front of us throughout the summer months (the depths of winter, where we barely get eight hours of light, is another matter)…

Autumn is well and truly here in the Northern Hemisphere - it’s dark by 4.30pm, work Christmas dinners are in the planning stages and the leaves are very much in the process of falling off the trees and making a crunchy carpet on the floor…

Here’s a quick and easy midweek-meal for you this week, a family favourite that doesn’t take too long to rustle up and can be used in all sorts of ways to change things up a bit. This is my smoky lentil and black bean chilli - it’s vegan friendly, a little bit spicy (but not too much) and full of the fresh and smoky flavours of summer.

Summer and soup does seem to be a bit of an oxymoron. Think of soup, and your mind conjures up images of steaming hot bowls, thick and rich with earthy warming flavours - not exactly what you crave when the temperature is rising. Here in the UK, however, a summer’s day can be just as cold and dreary as a mild day in winter…

Oven chips are a good first foray into “cooking from scratch” if you’re not super confident in the kitchen. There are very few ingredients required, no fancy equipment, and they take about 45 minutes from start to finish (depending on how quickly your oven heats up!)…

When I was at high school I was lucky enough to go on a school trip to Thailand as part of a school exchange programme. The competition was fierce, and to apply for a place involved writing essays and taking part in interviews to prove that you were a worthy “school ambassador”.

I’d like to think that nowadays I’m quite an adventurous eater; as long as there’s no meat in it (maybe no liquorice or coffee either) I’ll give it a try. As a child, however, I was very fussy. Eggs, cheese, tomatoes, even broccoli - seen as one of the more “child friendly” vegetables - I did not want to eat any of it.

My fiancé is a great lover of lemons. His mother reliably informs us that he only started speaking as a child to ask for “some lemon dosh” (dosh = squash), and even now he will happy munch on a leftover lemon slice when one is available to him. Me, I’m more ambivalent about lemons, particularly in their application in sweet recipes.