Stuffed mini squash

Halloween may be a distant memory, but there are still some pumpkins and squashes around to brighten up the dark days. With different shades of orange, green and cream, they are among the most attractive of vegetables - a bowl of small ones is just as good as an ornament for the kitchen table as it is on the plate.

These miniature orange ones turned out to have a lovely, sweet flavour - much better than the larger ones sold for carving at Halloween. To make the most of their cute appearance, I decided to stuff them and serve them whole.

Cheap-as-chips chilli

People have been making meals for very little money for probably as long as money has existed. But it seems to be only recently that the idea of frugal food has made it into television programmes and cookbooks and newspaper columns.

This chilli is something I've been making on and off for years, in slightly different incarnations. As always, it depends on where you buy your ingredients from, but I costed this at about 40p a portion.

A spicy, sweet and smoky pie

Everyone loves a pie - the contrast of crisp pastry and soft filling, the comfort factor, the memories of childhood... My own childhood pie memories are mainly of the Fray Bentos variety, but I've noticed that commercial pies have been getting steadily posher. While the petrol station forecourt steak pie is alive and well, you can also go into a supermarket (or some pubs) and find venison and rabbit pie, or perhaps steak with chorizo and olives, or four cheese.

Sadly, pastry is not exactly a health food, but the good news is that filo pastry is considerably lighter in fat and calories. It might not be what you want in a traditional steak and kidney pie, but in a vegetarian pie like this it works really well.