Promising a end to garlicky fingers, this marks and spencers garlic slicer is a great handy gadget for the kitchen.

By holding the garlic cloves securely in a plastic carriage, which you then move across its stainless steel blades. It slices and shreds without mess or waste.

Put your gadget to great use by trying out my recipe for Tropical Noodles. This is one of those dishes which we have developed over the years to teach my son to cook for himself while studying.

For my Tropical Noodles you are going to need: (This makes enough for 2 servings) 25g cashew nuts chopped, 200g pineapple chucks in natural juice, 100g chinese egg noodles, 1 tblsp vegetable oil, 1 garlic clove sliced, 1 bunch of spring onions sliced thickly on the diagonal, 1 large firm mango cubed, 1 large red pepper, deseeded and diced, 2 tblsp sweet chilli sauce and 1 tblsp soy sauce.

Place the cashew nuts in a non-stick pan and stir over a medium heat for 3 to 5 minutes until golden brown. Remove from heat and set aside. Drain the pineapple chunks and reserve the juice. Cook your noodles according to the instructions. Heat the oil in the wok, add the garlic, spring onions, mango and red pepper and stir fry over a high heat for 5 minutes. Then stir in the sweet chilli sauce, soy sauce, pineapple chunks and 1 tblsp of the reserved juice. Stir fry for a further 2 minutes before draining the noodles and arrange on 2 serving plates then spoon over the tropical stir fry and finish by sprinkling over the top the cashew nuts.

If you like chinese dishes try out my recipes in my previous blog bring back time to eat together as a family and chinese new year - year of the ox along with many more recipes in my blogs to tantalise your tastebuds!

Fruit and Cheese together can make a fantastic mix, one favourite that sort of came together with my love of feta cheese and my man’s love for pears, (I bet I hear you say!)

Well, this warm salad is quick, simply and delicious and once made you will be making this over and over again as I do! Ideal for a light lunch, supper or even a starter for your dinner party.

I use small, sweet and versatile Rocha pears which have a russeted skin, and you can enjoy this variety when firm and crunchy, or soft and juicy, either way they are delicious.

For my ‘warm Feta Cheese and Pear salad’, you are going to need: 6 slices of pancetta, 2 tblsp honey, 4 tblsp olive oil, 2 tblsp white wine vinegar, 1 tsp chilli flakes, 4 pears ( I like rocha), 850g watercress, 120g greek feta.

Preheat a frying pan and dry fry the slices of pancetta until crispy and golden. Transfer onto kitchen paper and allow to cool. Once cool slightly crumble into pieces and set aside. To make your dressing, mix together the honey, olive oil, vinegar and chilli flakes in a bowl. Core your pears & cut into wedges, add these to the dressing bowl and toss in the dressing. Reserving the dressing, transfer the pears to a hot griddle pan and cook for around 5 minutes, turning them occassionally until they are golden. In a salad bowl, toss the pears together with the watercress and crumbled pancetta, scatter with cubed feta and drizzle the remaining dressing before serving immediately with warm homemade crusty bread.

Tip - You can use cheese of your choice this is nice with a herb cheese or shilton even, try to your own taste as that is what true cooking is all about. I have added garlic croutons to this recipe and on other occassions I have added herbs and nuts such as walnuts too, which were all delicious as well.  So you can vary this recipe, so have a play and let me know what you come up with?

Check out my blog easy recipe for a Italian supper in minutes for a great frying pan and my previous blog regarding griddles too. Find some quick picnic recipes in my previous blog royal ascot food frollicks and lots more ideas within my blogs too.

Looking for something simple but delicious whether its something with a glass of wine or a glass of larger with friends or just a yummy supper this is just up your street.

I love hot griddled lamb so try my Hot griddled Lamb pittas with salsa and humous. Your going to need: 4 pitta breads, 4 lambs steaks from your butcher, homemade houmous or a pot of houmous, 200g greek yogurt, 50g wild rocket, and to make your salsa - 2 tomatoes (greenhouse fresh ar the best), 1 red onion, 1/2 cucumber and 1 red chilli.

Preheat a griddle until its really hot. In the meantime chop all the ingredients for the salsa (deseed the chilli if you don’t like things too hot), and mix together. Split your pittas (you can use 8 baby size pittas if you prefer and there are also different varieties of pittas available too now). Toast your pittas on both sides on your griddle and put on one side. Season your lamb steaks and cook them on your griddle for 3 to 4 minutes each side, depending on their thickness. Slice the lamb steaks and add some lamb to each pitta follows by some salsa, houmous, greek yogurt and rocket. Serve any remaining salsa and  houmous on the side with bread sticks, batons of celery, cucumber and carrot. These Pittas are best eatten straight the way. Your family, friends and guests will love them.

Tip- To get the criss cross griddling pattern on your meat, when griddling just remember to tuen your meat around 180 degress on the same side before turning over which will give you this pattern. Griddling depends on your cooker, some cookers have griddle plates others don’t so in that case you may wish to buy a griddle. Griddles come in a variety of shapes and sizes so make sure you choose the one which suits your cooking needs best for example how many chicken breasts can it cook at once there is no point buying one which cooks only 2 when you have 4 people in the family. George foreman has a excellent range too, see my previous blog lean, mean and oh so good.

When the men need a quick snack like this check out my previous blog man size burger to satisfy plus many more for ideas. What do you serve in a hurry?