One of my best friends has had a baby so a few of us decided to take over some grub for an evening of catching up and cuddles with the little one.

I decided to cook us one of my fail-safe dishes which always seems to hit the spot – sweet potato, chorizo and butter bean stew.

This was actually introduced to me by a friend who is a brilliant cook and I’ve wanted to share it with other people ever since.

It’s really easy to make, you just bung it all in a big dish and stir.

First peel, chop and drizzle the sweet potatoes with olive oil and chilli flakes before roasting for 25 minutes.

While those cook, slice some onion and leeks and fry in a large pan with some garlic. Then add the chorizo and get it all a-sizzling. Then add a tin of chopped tomatoes and a slug of red wine.

Then add the butter beans and some seasoning.

When the sweet potato is cooked add it all to the dish and mix it all together and leave it to simmer for a while so everything mixes in.

Serve hot with crusty bread and salad.

Matt and I also baked some homemade bread and cooked moules mariniere this week too.

The mussels are so easy to do and so satisfying. Clean them and take off the beardy bits. Then  fry some shallots and onion with a slug of dry white wine and add some cream and parsley with the mussels to a big pot.

Simmer until all of the shells open. Don’t force open any of the unopened ones, just discard them.

Dipping the crusty wholemeal bread into the sauce is the best thing ever.

Moules mariniere would definitely be on my list of final meals if I had to choose!