Have you seen Nigella's Express book? There's a gorgeous sounding recipe for noodles in there. If you were gonna buy sesame oil and soy sauce for the previous recipe you need it for that one too.

I haven't, because I hated that series on telly so much. I have several of her other books, and loved them, but I really really disliked the Express series quite intensely, to be honest.

WOW I thought it was great. Although I always forgot it was on and had to watch it on CatchUp on cable. I was just keen on great food that doesn't require much time and effort. Lazy cow eh???

It's not lazy at all - everyone cooks differently, don't they?

I was just really disappointed with it. What I liked about her previous series was her enjoyement of food and the actual cooking process - the impression I got in Express was that she was in too much of a hurry to do much for herself, it was all ready chopped and ready made this that and the other, and it just didn't appeal to me at all. Not to mention that her coy looks had got parody-like, in my opinion.

I love her earlier series though, and I use the Domestic Goddess book frequently.

I agree with you on using the ready chopped things and the noodle recipe I was walking about earlier uses ready prepared noodles. Things like that I would avoid, but if once all the prep is done the cooking bit is quick and easy then count me in. Plus chopping up stuff isn't exactly hard work is it????

I was gobsmacked that she was using things like pomegranate seeds "in a little tub from the supermarket" - when they not only cost about five times the price of an actual pomegranate, but also removes the fun of getting all the seeds out, AND uses extra packaging.

A friend of mine always blethering about the things he's able to make for meals. But he buys those prepacked veggies that are all chopped up. I like chopping up my veggies as it's part of the fun of cooking.

Worst thing that makes me mad - prepacked grated cheese Just how lazy can you get????

I used to buy all that sort of stuff to be honest. But since I've been eating healthily, I've become a born again 'proper food' nut, I'm afraid! I can't believe that people do things like paying double for potatoes and carrots that have been washed, for example!

Plus for me it all comes down to me knowing what's gone into my meals - I very rarely use salt as it's hidden in loads of other ingredients i.e. stock cubes, soy sauce

I'm not great at chopping - like the chefs on telly - but I like to persevere so that I can get better.

What inspired me to cook is another friend of mine who is an amazing cook. She's been cooking for years so she can do really complicated things really easily now. Her scran tastes beautiful. Tho I don't get the chance to eat at hers often. I like to take her out for tea as she spends enough time cooking for her family.

my nieghbour who is constantly whinging about how broke she is, buys pre-diced onions

Oh I agree - I've become really bothered about knowing what I'm eating.

I really enjoy cooking now, and love to spend a couple of hours chopping and stirring (and tasting) etc. I find it really relaxing now, and I find myself lying in bed thinking about what I can cook tomorrow.

OH. My. Actual. God.

I was really busy at work most of last year so my time spent in the kitchen went right down. I was often too tired to do much more than shove something in the oven - nice things tho.

So my NY resolution is to get back in the kitchen. When I get paid I can go to town and stock up my cupboards and fridge freezer. I used to spend my Sundays making big pots of food that can be either frozen or will keep chilled through the week.

I've seen prechopped onions in Iceland. You get a big bag of them for £1 I think. Still very poor tho

I can totally see why people do prefer the prechopped things.

Personally, what I enjoy about cooking though is the time spent in the process, even after a long day, so having pre chopped stuff takes half my fun away.

ANyway, I have quinoa with feta, tomato and spring onion for tomorrow's lunch.

Sounds yum Elanor. I have quinoa in the cupboard after hearing Gillian McKeith bang on about it. Have no idea how to cook it tho

I've really taken to quinoa. It's a bit of starch, without having to resort to bread, and it's much lighter than rice. You basically just boil it til all the water's absorbed. I sometimes add a stock cube (an organic, low salt one) or some stock if I've been cooking chicken, to give it some flavour, and then once it's cold I add salady things. I do have it hot sometimes, but I prefer it cold.

I'll have a bash at it for tomorrow's tea (dinner, whatever) and see how I get on.

I'm a huge fan of cous cous as well as it's SO easy to cook.

The quinoa by itself doesn't taste of much - it needs things added to it to make it work. I really like the texture though.

I'll use a recipe I have for cous cous to give it some flavour. Oh dear it's just too late at night to start feeling hungry

Here's tomorrow's lunch:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ginger_elanor/2193652280/
(I figure that's at least three portions of fruit and veg.)

I did the butternut squash for dinner the other night - just chopped it up, skin and all (it's fibre, innit?) and roasted it in a tiny bit of olive oil with lots of parsley and black pepper. It was lovely hot then, and I had some cold yesterday with lunch, and am having some more tomorrow. There's no salt, hardly any fat, so it must be good.

Wow it all looks scrummy (sorry I'm slavering!) I love butternut squash to that's defo on the shopping list at pay day. Not keen on watermelon as the ones I've had in the past were pretty tasteless.

Can't wait to get one of those lunchboxes tho. Will probably buy a spare set of boxes to go inside it as well.

I find with watermelon that the flavour gets stronger after a few days in the fridge. I tend to chop up a whole one and stick it in a big tupperware box in the fridge, and it lasts for nearly a week. With the added bonus that just now when I got some out, loads of liquid had come out of the chunks in there, which I just drained off into a glass and drank. It was yummy.

Well enjoy your lunch tomorrow Elanor - looks fab. Had a wee nosey at your pics on your link and I think your onion pie looked great too.

Gotta go to my bed now tho. No doubt I'll be online tomorrow night swapping foodie stories.

Nite x

Night!

I was going to buy one of those laptop lunch boxes but I found a smaller version of the same thing in Waitrose last week. It's basically a tupperware box with three compartments and a good lock/seal lid. I've been using this for the past week to take salads, cottage cheese etc. It's been great and I've saved lots of money and haven't missed sandwiches at all.