Never underestimate the health giving powers of old fashioned recipes such as steak and kidney pudding Such dishes provide the much needed warmth and nourishment our bodies crave during the cold dark winter months.

I'm not talking about a pudding that comes in a tin or a frozen package, but a pudding that begins life in your kitchen as a slab of meat, suet, flour and a pile of winter vegetables. Only by making such dishes yourself can you monitor what goes into them.

Besides cooking is a creative way of getting rid of the winter blues in what is usually the warmest room in the house.

* Exposure to cold temperatures for a substantial period of time is thought to increase caloric needs and stimulate the appetite - home cooked steamed puddings helps satisfy these needs.

* Warming foods create warmth from within the body.

* By adding fresh vegetables such as carrots, celery, onions, tomatoes and mushrooms to a steak pudding (or pie) you are automatically adding vitamin C to your diet.

* The combination of suet pastry (which can be made from vegetable suet for a lighter finish), meat and vegetables offers the balance of nutrients requires to keep fit. Meat alone is not sufficient - carbohydrates are required too.

* By buying local beef and vegetables for this dish from a farm shop or farmers market you can trace the source of the products and help the local economy at the same time.

* The very act of moving away from the television and into the kitchen must have positive health giving benefits too.

* For workable and imaginative steak and kidney pudding recipes look up Oxfordshire chef Antony Worral Thompson or Gary Rhodes on the net.