It's not every day you drive off to work with your neighbour's cat in the car. So, as I drove down Dunscombe Road giving a cursory glance in my rearview mirror, I was a little surprised to see Lucky staring back at me. Presuming this was baby-related sleep deprivation kicking in, I did a double take.

But needless to say, there was indeed an extra passenger on board, peeping out over the back seat. Cheeky thing must have jumped in as I loaded up the bags.

As Lucky was evidently enjoying the ride, I then had some comedy moments by the side of the road trying to get him out of the car. The more I tried to lift him out, the deeper he sank his claws into the back seat.

Chloe of course thought all this was hilarious and as I was a) laughing so hard I could barely stand and b) worried about hurting the cat, we gave her a good few minutes of entertainment.

Eventually Lucky went on his way and everyone was happy – except Jasper the dog, who can obviously smell that a cat has been in 'his' boot and has been ignoring me ever since.

However, the cat-in-the-car incident seemed to set the tone for the rest of my day, as a variety of unexpected incidents threw me off course.

The most annoying was taking my car in for a puncture repair, only to be told I needed two tyres replacing. Expensive!

The most trifling was getting home to find that I'd defrosted turkey mince instead of beef for dinner. This meant that having promised the lovely husband 'proper chili' for dinner, I then had to give him the healthy alternative.

Fortunately, after waging war against the red meat intake in our household, this is something he's used to.

And besides, the recipe below is great, so it rarely raises a complaint! The advantage to using turkey mince instead of beef is that you cut the saturated fat content quite significantly – better for both your waistline and your heart.

Also, by making your own tomato sauce, rather than using a jar, you cut out the sugar and the additives.

Finally, if you serve this with wholewheat pasta or brown rice, you squeeze a serving of wholegrains in there too, so get stuck in!

Turkey chili!

(serves 4)

Ingredients:

½ tbsp olive oil

1 medium sized onion, finely chopped

1 clove garlic, crushed

1 pack 99 percent fat-free turkey mince

1 tin organic kidney beans, well rinsed

1 tin chopped tomatoes (find a sugar free brand)

2 tbsps tomato puree

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1 handful chopped fresh basil, or 1 tsp dried

Method:

* Heat the olive oil gently in a large, non stick pan with two tsps water. The water prevents the oil getting so hot that it burns.

* Add the onion and garlic, stir and bring down the heat. Cover and allow to simmer for five minutes or until the onions are clear and soft.

* Add the turkey mince, turn up the heat to medium-hot and stir until the mince is lightly browned.

* Add the rest of the ingredients, bring to the boil briefly and then simmer for 40 minutes.

* Season to taste and serve piping hot with brown rice or wholewheat pasta, and salad.

The advice given in this article is not intended to replace medical advice, but to complement it. Always consult your GP if you have any health concerns. Catherine Burns is a fully qualified Nutritional Therapist. She can be contacted at clinicalnutrition@gmail.com