20.05.08: Black bnz and salad greenz

Lovely legumes: She stirred up a batch of the newstyle black bnz and threw together a salad of faux-feta Apetina cheese, sundried tomatoes, and the new Peppery Mustard salad from Tesco.

SHE SAYS: Good balance of salty, herby, and hot-spiced, in creamy spoonfuls - it all = mmm. Quite impressed with the new salad leaves, it's not just the same old stuff repackaged, as I feared it might be; the mustard leaves (mixed with spinach and baby red oak) did have a distinctive bitter taste offset by a soft texture.

HE SAYS: Luv me some of dem beans. I do enjoy this way of doing the black beans over the old, much more subtly flavoursome, I had seconds naturally. The salad, with tonight's featured special guests was also dynamite!

08.05.08: Fridge raiding and frozen pizza

Working late unexpectedly led to a fend-for-yourself scenario. She considered stopping in at M&S, but realised there was plenty enough in the fridge to make such a £6-£8 detour unnecessary. A toasty white bagel spread with baby avo and leftover sundried tomatoes on one side, plus marge, Marmite, and one perfectly soft-boiled egg on the other fit the bill.

Later, He popped into Waitrose on 'is way home and picked up a salami, ricotta, and olive pizza for this unusually diversified dinner. (No, She wasn't jealous. Really.)

HE SAYS: Well, this was my first convenience food experience of the year and it was, yes, disappointing. The double zero flour boasted in the ingredients didn't help elevate the crust's brewer's droop, flaccid and lifeless; no amount of extra minutes added to the recommended cooking time helped. The salami was nice and the olives added a little something but I was left with a feeling of ennui after the last mouthful. Apparently this pizza won an award in some chilled pizza contest, the cheek of it.

SHE SAYS: Much more satisfying than the packaged sandwich and salad scenario I was contemplating on the bus. Something about a boiled egg on Marmitey toast after a thoroughly disgusting day is just naturally, deeply soothing. The avo-spread half was just as tasty in its own way, with the salty tang of the sundried tomatoes adding just enough flavour. Then too, the satisfaction of a good improv added its own seasoning, if you know what I mean.

07.05.08: Salmon cakes, fancy veg, and salad

Not your averge Wednesday nite: She tackled Nigel's salmon and dill fishcakes, stirred up the yoghurt-mustard-dill sauce just like he said, sauteed the fancy veg (plus guest star baby corn) in some wok oil, and sliced garlic-stuffed olives, sundried tomatoes and physalis for the salad.

SHE SAYS: I just had a feeling this weekend that Nige would show us the way out of rice-n-pulses repetition, which is why his firmly in-season inspirations are so prevalent lately. Even so, I figured I was taking a risk attempting something as traditionally fiddly as fishcakes midweek. But nooooooo! Not only did they bind properly, they browned perfectly and had an incredibly dilly-of-a-pickle zing to them. I have never, ever had such success with seafood cakes of any kind! (My modifications: 5 Tbsp dill, double the flour.) I kept inhaling the scent of the second one on my plate, b/c it was so fresh and toasty good! The good veg were made remarkable with the unusually sweet baby corn, and the salad reinforced all the savoury goodness of the plate.

HE SAYS: Fishcakes done right. No potatoe-y stodge here, thank you, these specimens were the business. I would of paid top dollah for these babies, yes. Light, crispy on the outside and deliciously moist inside, I luv them long time. The special yogurt sauce that acompanied them was very moreish with heaps of dill keeping it nice and fresh. A perfect mayonnaise replacement for you to cherish. I will have to spread some leftovers on some bread before it's too late. Salad tried its best to impress and with the sweet, tart and tasty physalis, it succeeded, sorry I doubted you, really I am.

28.04.08: Red prawn and mango curry

We don't care if you're tired of it - tuck in your napkin for a spot of Nigella's red prawn and mango curry, or go hungry. If you're very, very good, you can have some of the crispy-leaf salad with sundried tomatoes and Apetina cheese.

HE SAYS: Maybe we are being unimaginative but this dish has yet to become boring. We have been eatin' our fair share of Thai and Indian curries recently and I ain't complaining. This week's version was again top-notch, the consistency was not too soupy and the mango added a perfect note of sweetness. The sundried tomatoes and cheese made the salad nice and tangy, its sharp tastes infused with olive oil goodness.

SHE SAYS: Mmm - easy, yummy, sweet and savoury, with a coconutty rice mix - brown basmatii, wild, and red carmargue - to boot. (Top tip: I always use half the can of coconut milk as cooking liquid for the rice.) The sharp, tangy tomatoes and mild but intensely salty cheese catapulted the salad into the major flavour leagues.

06.05.08: Tomatoey white bnz

A hearty veg improv: Canellini beans made creamy with sauteed onion and crushed garlic, veggie broth, rosemary, rocket and freshly whizzed sun-dried tomato paste, served over corn pasta. Avo, beetroot and mixed salad leaves do their bit in the background.

SHE SAYS: Easy, quick, hearty and tasty. What more do you want?

HE SAYS: Thought the rosemary made this dish distinctive, and set off the other flavours well. A+!