Chef and TV host Prue Leith shares tasty and easy-to-make recipes in her new cookbook, Life's Too Short to Stuff A Mushroom — along with dozens of cooking hacks from her 65-year culinary career.

As you whizz it up, add milk and lots of cinnamon. "If you really want a treat, put a blob of vanilla ice cream." Prue Leith makes a smoothie using overripe bananas — skin and all.

1L/35fl oz shop-bought soft-scoop vanilla ice cream About 350g/12oz leftover Christmas cake, pudding or mince pies, roughly crumbled 3 tbsp brandy ...

If you can't find that, use this simple hack to soften ice cream: Run a knife under hot water, then use the knife to cut, both vertically and horizontally, into the ice cream to soften it up.