We Brits eat around 11.5 billion sandwiches each year. And to celebrate the launch of British Sandwich Week on 12th May, we've combined some of the best British produce with the nation's favourite snack. Next time you're stuck for lunch, try one of these…

[Related feature: The 10 best hamburgers recipe]

Stilton, bacon, tomato and avocado club sandwich

This sandwich combines the freshness of tomato and avocado with the salty tang of British smoked bacon and Stilton cheese.

Ingredients:
•    3 slices wholemeal, seeded bread
•    ½ teaspoon mayonnaise
•    Half an avocado, sliced
•    2 slices smoked back bacon, grilled until crisp
•    1-2 tablespoons Stilton cheese
•    One small tomato
•    Cocktail sticks, to serve

Lightly toast three slices of wholemeal seeded bread, until crisp. Spread a little mayonnaise on the first slice and arrange the avocado slices on top. Next, add the grilled bacon rashers. Press the second slice of toast down on top, and crumble over the Stilton cheese —

Burgers don't have to be boring! Here are 10 interesting and tasty burger recipes that you can easily make at home.

Thai-flavoured tofu burgers

For this spicy vegetarian burger, drain a 280g pack of tofu and crumble into a bowl. Add an egg, 2-3 teaspoons of red or green Thai curry paste, 1 tablespoon cornflour and 1-2 tablespoons chopped fresh coriander. Form into small patties, dust with flour and fry in a little oil, for 3-4 minutes on each side. Spread chilli jam or dipping sauce over one half of a small bread roll and scatter with coriander leaves. Serve with lime wedges for squeezing over.

                                        [Related feature: How to cook the perfect hamburger]

Mushroom and Stilton burger

Mushrooms have an almost meaty texture when lightly cooked. Remove the stalk from a large, flat mushroom and scatter one chopped garlic clove, a little salt and a drizzle of olive oil on the dark underside. Top with some crumbled Stilton cheese and place under a grill for

April 26th marks National Pretzel Day. To celebrate, follow our step by step guide and make delicious hot pretzels at home. It's easier than it looks!

No one really knows the true origins of the pretzel. It's seen as a traditional German food and it's thought that early Christians baked them for Lent; their twisted shape is meant to depict arms in prayer. And one 12th century French manuscript shows a pretzel-shaped bread being served at a royal feast. Nowadays, pretzels are eaten slathered with mustard, eaten warm with a cold beer or even dipped in chocolate. Here's how you can make them yourself.

[Related feature: The foods you shouldn't keep in your fridge]

Ingredients:

1 x 7g sachet fast action dried yeast
1 tbsp sea salt flakes, plus extra for sprinkling
50g light brown sugar
500g strong white bread flour
225ml warm water
4 tbsp bicarbonate of soda
1 egg

Method:

1.    Mix the yeast, the tablespoon of sea salt flakes and the brown sugar in a large bowl. Pour on the warm water and

You go shopping, stuff all the 'fresh' foods in the fridge and relax. But some fresh foods will actually spoil and deteriorate faster if they're refrigerated. And others that are usually kept in the cupboard will benefit from chilly spell in the fridge. Check these out.

[Related feature: 5 foods you should never freeze]

TomatoesTempting as it is to slide a pack of tomatoes into the fridge’s salad drawer, chilling them actually causes a lot of damage, breaking down their cell structure and giving them a grainy texture. Another thing you’ll miss with chilled tomatoes is their flavour. Take a bite of a refrigerated tomato and another of a tomato at room temperature and you’ll notice a huge difference in taste. For best results, leave tomatoes out of the fridge and keep them away from sources of moisture and heat, such as the kettle, microwave or oven.

Onions

You’d normally stash onions in a cupboard – but there’s a huge benefit of keeping them in the fridge: the crying. Onions contain

With spring finally here, why not whip up some simple and tasty treats with these Easter-inspired recipes.

Easter chocolate meringues

Kids (and grown ups) won't be able to resist these cute meringue nests topped with chocolate and mini eggs. Makes about 8.

Ingredients
3 egg whites
170g caster sugar
35g cocoa powder
3 Cadbury's Flakes
Mini eggs

Method
1.    Preheat the oven to 140°C.
2.    Whisk the egg whites in a clean bowl until they start to become fluffy and hold their shape. Continue whisking, adding the caster sugar and cocoa powder a spoonful at a time. When the mixture forms stiff peaks and is no longer grainy to the touch, it's ready to cook.
3.    Scrape the chocolate meringue mixture into a piping bag with a large star-shaped nozzle attached. Line a baking tray with baking parchment and pipe small circular nests, starting at the centre and piping outwards in a spiral. Pipe over the top of the nest 2-3 times, to form

These marbled eggs might look impressive, but they're really easy to make. Here's how to do it…

This simple technique gives raw eggs a marbled effect using onion skins, which have been used as a dye for centuries. During cooking, the natural pigment in the onion skins stain the porous egg shell, producing an effect that looks a lot like marble. Underneath, they are ordinary hard-boiled eggs. Serve them up as a treat this Easter — for a snack, at a picnic or for a kids' party.

[Related feature: The 2012 Easter egg taste test]

You will need:

Raw eggs (if you use paler shells you'll end up with more contrast)
Onion skins, red or brown — brown works better if you're dyeing the eggs
Elastic bands
Food colouring

How it's done

Place the onion skins in a bowl and pour over boiling water from a kettle. Leave for about 30 seconds. This will make the onion skins more flexible and easier for the next step…

Drain the water from the bowl and wrap each egg in the slightly cooled, soaked onion skins.

We've all heard of boiling, scrambling and poaching — but have you ever roasted an egg? From coddling to scrambling it inside its shell, we try out some of the less common ways of cooking an egg.

Scrambling inside its shell

Scrambling an egg still in its shell is thought to have originated in Japan. And, according to an article on the Instructables website, you'll need a pair of tights to make one. Push a raw egg down one of the 'legs' of a pair of fairly thick tights, holding the foot end firmly. Twist both ends so the egg can't escape and then spin the egg by twirling it in front of you in a circular motion. Be careful not to hit the egg with anything as you spin it, and continue spinning in both directions for about 2 minutes. The egg will sound gloopy. Carefully remove the egg from the tights and boil for 8-10 minutes. For some reason these eggs are more likely to crack on boiling and so they often don't come out as perfectly formed as a boiled egg. But we think they're kind of

Food that never goes off, artificial meat grown in a lab and food pills: could this be the future of food?

Everlasting food

Last year, scientists at the University of Minnesota discovered that the additive bisin could actually stop the deterioration process in fish, meat, dairy and eggs. Researchers say it would greatly reduce food waste and cut infection rates of bacteria such as E. Coli and Listeria. In addition to bisin, we also have the '2-week old sandwich' developed by Booker, and microbial and modified atmosphere packaging can protect our food and keep it fresh. Expect technology to get smarter in finding ways to keep our food 'fresh' for longer.

Vegetables grown without soil

At first, this might seem a strange concept, but it's been going on for years. It's called hydroponics and is the method of growing plants without soil. Plants are rooted in a gravel tray or carousel and fed with a water solution containing all the nutrients needed to grow and produce our fruit and