Snow. Everything comes to a stand still. On Friday I couldn't even get my car out of my street - I live in town centre, but no gritting meant that it was sliding about all over the place. So in the end I left it on some double yellow lines before I hit something.

The other feature of snow is panic buying food as if the apocalypse is coming. Luckily I don't need a car to get to a supermarket, just a 10 minute trudge through the snow.

To be honest, we probably could survive for some time on what we have in the house. There are some things I like to have at all times 'just in case'. These include feta, pancetta, roasted red peppers, chorizo, eggs and sweetcorn.

The last two helped create a perfect brunch before we took the dog to the park to play in the snow. I like mine quite sweet, so I added the maple syrup but you could leave that off and top with a runny poached egg instead.

Ingredients:

50g self-raising flour
1 tsp nigella seeds
2 tsp dried thyme
2 pinches ground cinnamon
½ tsp salt
A few grind of black pepper
1 whole egg plus an extra egg white
1 tbsp milk (if needed)
340g tin of sweetcorn
6 rashers of bacon
Maple syrup

How to make it:

1. Put the bacon on to grill.

2. Put the flour, nigella, thyme, cinnamon, salt and pepper in a bowl.

3. Add the egg and egg white, then whisk. Check the texture, it should be loose and smooth - if it isn't, add the milk and whisk again.

4. Add the sweetcorn and mix so that all the corn is coated.

5. Heat a few generous slugs of oil in a frying pan.

6. When it's nice and hot, take a tablespoon of the fritter mix and add to the hot pan. You should be able to get four into a pan.

7. Don't be tempted to poke it, let it cook for a few minutes so the base seals. If you take the pan off the heat and shake vigorously, they should slide about - that's the time to flip them.

8. Cook until both slides are golden and slightly crisp.

9. Take the bacon out of the grill and blot with kitchen towel to get rid of excess fat.

10. Pile the fritters into a stack, top with the bacon and drizzle liberally with maple syrup.

Every Thursday I volunteer with Swindon Young Carers, helping at a group for 12-18 year olds, giving them a break from home. Usually that involves cooking, with some of them helping out.

The challenge is finding things to make that teenagers will eat, can provide enough for up to 30 people, is ready in just over an hour, and comes in at about an £8 budget. Oh and did I mention the main oven doesn't work so I have to cook in batches in the top oven?

These absolutely fitted the bill. The dough takes no time at all and you can put anything you like in the centre - with the Young Carers I used Rolos for a gooey caramel centre, though here I've used milk chocolate.

The biscuit has a real chocolate hit but isn't that sweet. The most important thing is to not over cook them, so that whatever you put in the middle stays melty and creates the 'ooze' of the title.

Ingredients:

60g of light muscavado sugar
100g of butter
1 tbsp of golden syrup
125g of self raising flour
25g cocoa
Pinch of baking powder
10 squares of Dairy Milk chocolate

How to make it:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180C/Gas 4.

2. Cream the sugar and butter together to make a smooth paste.

3. Add the golden syrup and stir.

4. Add the flour, cocoa and baking powder.

5. Mix to a dough either with a food processor or your hands, until it comes together.

6. Roll the dough into a sausage shape and divide into 10 pieces.

7. Take a piece of dough, flatten it with your thumbs, then mould into a ball around a square of chocolate. It's important that the dough doesn't have any gaps that the chocolate could leak out of.

8. Arrange the balls on a baking tray covered in greaseproof paper - don't flatten them.

9. Put them in the oven for 8 minutes. They won't look like they're cooked but if you leave them in a heart-beat too long they'll be hard.

10. Leave them on the baking tray for 10 mins once they're out of the oven, then move to a cooling rack (if you can wait that long).

I don't remember why I call this French Chicken. There doesn't seem much French about it - it might be because it reminds me a bit of Petit Pois a la Francais. Anyway, that's what I always think of it as, so that's what I'm calling it.

I never really cooked until I moved in with my husband. When we started living together we'd cook from scratch only occasionally, but over time we found that anything we bought pre-made didn't live up to making it ourselves, and now we divide the week's cooking between us. The downside is that we normally spend up to an hour and a half in the kitchen after a day at work. So it's great when a recipe is really quick to put together but still has bags of flavour.

Husband isn't currently eating lactose, so I have tried substituting the creme fraiche for lactose free cream, which tasted the same but did give a thinner sauce.

If you can, use pancetta lardons rather than bacon as they tend to make it a bit salty.

Ingredients:

100g pancetta lardons
400g sliced chicken breast
1 tsp garlic purée
4-5 shallots finely diced
200ml chicken stock
100ml white wine
2 tsp thyme
250g frozen peas
1 little gem lettuce shredded
4 dessert spoons half fat creme fraiche

How to make it:

1. Fry the pancetta until it starts to crisp, then add the shallot.

2. Turn the heat down and allow the shallot to soften but not brown.

3. Turn the heat back up, add the stock, wine, garlic and thyme and stir.

4. Allow to bubble for a few minutes, then turn the heat right down and add the chicken.

5. Cover and allow the chicken to gently poach in the liquor for about 5 mins.

6. Add the peas and lettuce and leave on the heat for another 5 mins.

7. Stir through the creme fraiche and check the taste - season only if needed.

8. Serve with crusty bread to soak up all the lovely juices.

We very rarely have dessert in our house, mainly because our lack of portion control means there's no room for it at the end of a meal.

But my mum gave me a jar of Aldi Grandessa Blackcurrant Conserve which was delicious, full of fruit and not too sweet. The question was, how to make best use of it? So I knocked up these little puds.

Really you could use anything in the bottom - different jams, some fruit, custard, anything you've got hanging about. The sponge is the work of minutes and you could sprinkle the top with different nuts, coconut etc.

So, a doddle to make and husband absolutely loved it - can't ask for more than that.

Ingredients:

6 dessert spoons of conserve
85g soft butter
85g soft light brown sugar
5 tbsp beaten egg
85g self-raising flour
½ tsp baking powder
2 tbsp chopped hazelnuts

How to make it:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180C/Gas 4.

2. Lightly grease 4 small ramekins and put 1½ dessert spoons of jam in the bottom of each.

3. Put the butter and sugar into a bowl and cream until smooth.

4. Add the egg, flour and baking powder and beat well.

5. Spoon the mixture carefully over the jam, smoothing out the top and scatter the nuts.

6. Bake for 20mins, then cover loosely with foil to stop the top burning and cook for a further 20mins.

7. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 10mins before eating as the jam will be molten.