To ease us all back into regular updates I have recipes today for two very simple side dishes. Some of you may already know how to make these, but then there could be those who would never think of cooking them at all.

First up is oven chips. These are very simple to make and delicious with pretty much everything, but especially things like steak and roast chicken. They're crispy on the outside and light and fluffy in the middle.

The other dish is a very simple mushroom side, again this is delicious with steak and other beef dishes.

Here are both of them served with a t-bone steak. That was a good dinner!

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Take the potatoes; peel them and chop them up into bite sized pieces.

Place the potato pieces into an oven-proof dish and pour over the 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Season with salt, pepper and herbs (optional).

Using your hands, spread the oil and seasoning as evenly as you can across the potatoes. Then pop them in the oven for 20 minutes.

After the 20 minutes, pull out the dish and flip the potatoes over with a spatula, moving them around in the dish as well. Then put them back in the oven for another 20 minutes.

After the second set of 20 mins the potatoes should be done and turned a nice golden brown colour. If they haven't pop them back in the oven for another 5 - 10 minutes. Enjoy!

Next up is the mushrooms!

For this recipe the mushrooms need to be cut as finely as you can make them. A really sharp knife is a great help in this.

Put the mushrooms into a saucepan and leave to one side. Next crush the garlic and add to the pot with the mushrooms.

Now add in the butter to the saucepan and turn on to a low heat. Stir the mixture until the butter has melted and the liquid has started to be released from the mushrooms. Turn up the heat so that the liquid starts to boil.

When all the liquid has boiled off the mushrooms and they have started to brown, the mushrooms are ready to serve.