If you're ever serving meat-eaters who just don't think they like plant-based main dishes, or if you're ever just craving a "meaty" but meat-free dinner yourself, these easy-to-make baked chickpea and quinoa cutlets are just the thing. Solid, substantial, and with the same chewy texture as cooked meat, they're seasoned with garlic, chilies, lemon juice, paprika and dried herbs. They're sure to please vegans, vegetarians and meat-eaters alike, and they can be served up in so many ways — as a burger patty with toppings, cut up into pieces and served on salads or as "nuggets" for children, on the side with vegetable dishes, or as they are with your favorite tomato or mushroom sauce — I served them with my classic best-ever mushroom sauce for a filling and delicious meal.

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Now that winter has set in once more, it's time for baked dinners to hit the oven and table again. Many of us grew up with casseroles featuring regularly at supper times, and although our parents may have stuck to tried and tested but pretty ordinary casseroles — hamburger and tomato sauce, hamburger and noodles, tuna casseroles, to name a few — they strike a comforting chord in us. But now that we're grown up we can load up our casseroles with the top-quality ingredients and flavors that we really enjoy, and still create a comforting and simple meal.

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If you're looking for nothing more than calories to start the day, then boxed breakfast cereals have just what you want, but maybe not a whole lot more except for the vitamins with which they're often fortified — many of these boxed cereals could just as well be stocked in the candy section. But if you're looking for a good morning helping of protein, fiber and essential minerals — the kinds of food values that give you long-lasting energy and health — then homemade nut, fruit and seed treats like these protein bliss balls are just as easy to grab for breakfasts or snacks, and taste better and more wholesome besides. Best of all, these raw nut and raisin bliss balls don't need any cooking and can be whipped up in just 15 minutes to make enough to keep you going for as many or more days than a box of cereal.

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One of my go-to simple meals when I don't wish to spend much time thinking about what to make is chana masala, the classic Indian spiced chickpea and tomato curry that I've made and enjoyed probably hundreds of times over the years. This dish started out just with that idea, but after deciding to cook the curry with black chickpeas instead, I ended up creating something altogether different and wonderfully rich and robust after a little added thought.

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