More comfort food: Mira's sweet soup

I wanted to create a recipe for my friend Mira, who can't chew after suffering after an operation on her jaw. It has to be delicious and easy to make, because her cooking rarely extends beyond "pierce film lid and heat on full for 4 mins." Here goes…

This recipe has lots of sustenance and carbs, because Mira can't eat solids and she's skinny anyway, but it also features lots of goodness. Mira hates greens, but the spinach (a good source of iron) should reduce down enough to fall under the radar.

Sweet potato
Butternut squash
Garlic
Leek
Spinach
Ghee (Mira's mum is of Asian heritage, so she should have some of this, but I guess butter would also do)
Crème fraiche
Vegetable stock

1. Peel and chop the sweet potato and butternut squash (these can bought pre-cubed, if you're feeling lazy)
2. Boil these in the stock and leave to simmer for 10 mins, until they are soft.
3. Chop the garlic and leek and fry them in the ghee until they are soft and then add them to the stock.
4. Take the stock off the heat and add the spinach.
5. Leave to cool for a while before blending it all together in a food processor or blender.
6. Re-heat and stir in the crème fraiche to thicken up.
7. Season with whatever it needs - salt, pepper, paprika is a good one, so is mustard and tarragon.

Cook time: 30 mins

More comfort food: Potato and mushroom gratin

I do have other ingredients in my cupboard, than cream and mushrooms, I promise.

Finely sliced Potato
Sliced Mushrooms
Double cream
Milk
Chopped garlic

1. Fry the garlic in a pan and add the sliced mushrooms. Fry until just soft.
2. Arrange a layer of slice potatoes in an oven dish. The slices don't have to be super-thin, 1cm should do it. You don't have to peel them either, but when you're arranging them, it's best if they don't overlap too much
3. Add some of the fried mushrooms on top of the 1st layer of potatoes, then add another layer of potatoes, and so on until there are none left.
4. Mix the double cream and milk half and half with some more garlic and pour over the potatoes and mushrooms, so that it's just covered.
5. Move the oven dish around a bit so the cream penetrates each layer, rather than just sitting on top.
6. Bake in the oven at Gas Mark 7 for 45 mins. Try to avoid the temptation to keep opening the oven and peer in.

If you've got some cream and milk left over, then you can make a creamy sauce by heating it in the same pan you used for the mushrooms, then add some tarragon and whole grain mustard. Thin it down a little with milk, or white whine, or some three-day opened Veuve Clicquot which is what I found lurking in my fridge. It goes very well with chicken and fish.

Hmm, maybe this is actually why you'll never see me on a diet.

Cook time: 1 hour