Don't overlook the wrinklies

Not a plea to be nice to Grandma, but a call to arms for droopy carrots and withered apples.

Droopy carrot soup

Carrot soup

I used 6 medium carrots, 2 small onions, a generous knob of butter, a chicken stock cube and about 1 and a quarter pints of water. I cooked the onions in the butter on a medium heat until sweet and translucent, then added the carrots, stirred them round a bit and let them sweat over a low heat with the lid on for about 15 minutes. Then I poured in the water, added the stock cube and brought it to the boil, before putting the lid back on and simmering for a good half an hour and blending well.

Roasted apple wedges

The last 6 of my recent harvest have been sitting in a bowl, ignored, for about 2 weeks. They were a mixture of sizes and type, but I peeled, cored and cut them into wedges and put them in a roasting tin. I added 75g sugar, a teaspoon of cinnamon, a few grinds of nutmeg, a pinch of salt, a teaspoon of orange juice and a knob of butter and gave everything a good stir before putting it into a medium-hot oven (about 180/gas 6). My kitchen soon filled with the most amazing smell, which prompted me to open the oven and give everything another good stir. After about half an hour I had a mixture of slightly squishy and just-cooked wedges which taste like American apple pie. I am looking forward to eating them with some cold cream.

Looks like chips, tastes like toffee apple

Antidote to overpriced & underwhelming restaurant food

It's half term! Cooking has taken second place to entertaining the children, and we have been eating on the hoof: Rubbish food, mean portions, and dirty, shabby premises yesterday; clean with a great view today but a big slimy slab of institutional lasagne served with naked lettuce... It all leaves a bad taste in the mouth as well as a hole in the pocket.

By contrast, I made a generous (and distinctly lo-effort) dinner for all four of us tonight for £6.75 - meatballs and pasta - comprising 250g wholemeal spaghetti (50p) and 24 meatballs (£4.00) which I cooked and drained of fat before adding one jar of Dolmio sauce £1.75). I let them simmer for about an hour, before serving with 50g grated Grana Padano (50p). Best of all, when I went to the loo afterwards there was no alien urine on the seat!

You can make it a bit healthier by adding chopped fresh tomatoes and a clove or two of crushed garlic.

In a desperate bid to use up some more apples, I also made a

Toffee Apple Ginger Pudding

Ginger sponge on a toffee-apple base

Base layer:
4 apples, peeled and sliced
A small knob of butter
A teaspoon or 2 of lemon zest (completely optional)
5 tablespoons Carnation caramel/Dulce de Leche

Sponge topping:
100g margarine or butter
100g light brown sugar
2 eggs
100g self raising flour
1 heaped teaspoon ground ginger

Pre-heat the oven to 190/gas 5. Place the apples, butter and a couple of tablespoons of water in a bowl and microwave for 2-5 minutes to soften. Add the lemon zest and caramel to them and spread in the base of an ovenproof dish. Beat sugar and margarine/butter together until light and fluffy, add the eggs one at a time, and fold in the flour and ginger. Spread over the apples and bake for about 40 minutes until the sponge is golden and well risen.

I didn't measure my apples as I already had a vat of cooked ones, but just spread them out in a generous layer on the bottom of the dish and stirred in the caramel. I usually use butter (favouring it as a more natural product), but used Stork today for speed and lightness of sponge.