Air fryer, slushie maker, food processor, two blenders … is my Ninja kitchen appliance habit out of control?

Almost unknown a decade ago, Ninja sold nearly $3bn worth of products last year – and a good chunk of them were to me. Are we getting value for money?I have a problem. It has spanned many years, cost me hundreds of pounds and earned the derision – and concern – of friends and family. Don’t worry: it isn’t anything sordid but it does give me an absurd number of ways to cook chicken or use up a bag of potatoes.My poison is Ninja appliances

One-pot wonders: the secret to campsite cooking | Kitchen aide

I am limited to one pan and a burner when I camp. What would chefs recommend making?Maxwell, by email Happy campers need supplies, and Ryan Cole, executive chef and co-owner of Salsify at The Roundhouse in Camps Bay, South Africa, doesn’t mess about. “We have three square boxes: one dedicated to dry goods, one to oil, salt, pepper and utensils, and the third to camping toiletries; we also have a dual compartment fridge-freezer.”Whatever your set-up, a considered mobile store-cupboard of spices, stock cubes, good oil, grains, pasta, tins of coconut milk and the like will really come into its own. Got tinned tomatoes? Make shakshuka for a campside breakfast

Picnic-perfect: Georgina Hayden’s greek salad tart

Everything about this tart screams summer, from the cheery lines of sliced tomato to the ribbons of lemony cucumber. Eat a slice, shut your eyes and you will instantly be transported to the Aegean. Bake the tart ahead of time, because it’s perfect served at room temperature. If I am taking it on a picnic, I like to tub up the cucumber ribbons separately, then squeeze over the lemon and crumble in the feta just before serving.Prep 10 min Cook 50 min Serves 6-8If you have any plant-based eaters in the mix, use a non-dairy puff pastry and omit the feta

Rukmini Iyer’s quick and easy recipe for halloumi, courgette and chickpea fritters | Quick and easy

Fritters are perfect for a crowd, because you can make them ahead and warm them through just before serving as a bite-sized snack. If the words “halloumi fritters” have your friends and family zooming towards a tray as quickly as mine, you might even want to double up on the quantities below. Unsurprisingly, these are also my children’s preferred way to eat courgettes.Prep 20 min Cook 20 min Makes 25+200g courgettes, trimmed and coarsely gratedSalt 200g halloumi, coarsely grated200g drained chickpeas (jarred, ideally), mashed with a fork40g plain flour 1 egg 4-5 tbsp olive oil 50g mayonnaise 50g greek yoghurt Juice of ½ lemon 10g chopped dillPut the grated courgette in a sieve with a pinch of salt, mix, then leave to sit for 10 minutes while you prep the other ingredients. Tip the courgette into a tea towel or kitchen roll, then squeeze it out to expel all the excess water

The one change that worked: I was a serious coffee addict. Now, on one cup a day, I feel so much better

I kicked my habit on a retreat. Now I savour my daily coffee dose, which clears my thoughts and gives me a sense of wellbeing‘A little bit of what you fancy” is a call for moderation that has never worked for me. Not for my coffee habit, at least, which slides from the steely resolve to drink just two cups a day, to a wobbly-willed four, five mugs, or more. I’m better at giving it up altogether. Total detox brings the high of self-control and the illusion that I have overcome the caffeine addiction, at least until I fall off the wagon again

Black chicken and green rice: Cynthia Shanmugalingam’s recipes for a Sri Lankan summer barbecue

In the 1990s, my cousin Sri Anna was a senior Sri Lankan policeman. Surprisingly for us, visiting from England, that meant he got a driver, a gun, a nice pad to live in and a team of sensational cooks to dish up various delicacies from wherever he was stationed. In the south, his favourite was black pork curry, and at my restaurant Rambutan we now make a marinade from similar spices for pineapple, beef and, my preference, chicken, before we grill it over coals. To lift it a little, the bird is finished with a quick fragrant oil of tempered spices and parsley (similar to the peppery island herb we call vallarai). You can eat it with or without the cool, green coconut rice and tomato sambol, which is my attempt to recreate a very tasty lunch I had at one of my favourite Colombo spots, Taste of Asia