You have no idea how valuable 15 minutes is until you waste it trying to evict next-door's cat from your house. You may remember Lucky first rose to fame when he snuck into the car and came to work with us. Since then, he's been hanging around suspiciously during our early-morning flurry of activity, planning his next escapade.

Today being D-day, Lucky slipped inside during the 30-second baby and bag-loading window of opportunity. Fortunately I noticed his little black tail disappearing up the stairs as I went to lock up and whilst I was sorely tempted to leave him there, I unpacked Chloe and we embarked on the cat eviction.

It took us a good ten minutes to find Lucky and with every minute passing meaning an extra five in traffic, I have to confess I was starting to lose my cool. It's a good job that babies find it hard to pronounce 'f' and great that everyone presumes she's now saying "duck".

Finding Lucky was not the end of our problems however, as I then couldn't get him out from underneath the bed. I even tried to employ the help of Jasper the dog, but he chose this one moment to finally obey the instruction of not going upstairs. In the end, Lucky was evicted using a window-shutter prop… Lucky indeed as my next option was the garden hose.

Driving to work, flustered and covered in cat hair, I had time to ponder on the value of fifteen minutes. As I meandered at one mile an hour along Harbour Road, I realised that 15 minutes usually takes me an awfully long way in the morning!

On a more positive note however, whilst evicting the cat meant an extra half hour in traffic, I have also recently discovered this 15-minute wonder for dinner. As the lovely husband and I both enjoy cooking, most meals are made from scratch in our house. But there are days when we would much rather collapse on the sofa than spend an hour in the kitchen. Fortunately then, we have a few recipes that really do just take 15 minutes – which to be fair, is even quicker than leaving the house for take-out.

This Jamaican chicken is fast and incredibly tasty. Even better, if you have the chance to make the salsa a day in advance, you'll save yourself a few more minutes and allow the flavours to become more intense as they marinade. Then all you have to do is cook the chicken, pop it onto of a bed of spinach leaves and dress with the salsa. The mango salsa does provide some carbohydrate and may be all you need. If you do want to bulk it up a bit especially for growing kids, then try roasted spaghetti squash or butternut squash as a side dish.

Jamaican chicken with fruity salsa! Serves four.

Ingredients:

• ½ tsp Jamaican jerk seasoning (such as Spice Islands)

l ½ tsp lite-salt, divided

• 4 small skinless, boneless chicken breasts

l ½ tbsp light olive oil

l ¼ cup fresh coriander (cilantro), finely chopped

l ¼ cup red onion, finely chopped

l 1 tbsp fresh mint, chopped

l 1 tsp brown sugar, honey or 2 tsps agave syrup

l 2 tsps fresh lime juice

l ¼ tsp black pepper

l ¼ tsp cayenne pepper

l 2 very ripe mangos, cut into cubes

Method:

l If you can, make the salsa the night before and allow to marinade in the fridge. Otherwise, make it while the chicken cooks. To make the salsa, simply combine the mango, coriander, onion, mint, sugar, ¼ tsp salt and lime juice, and toss.

Then:

l Sprinkle cayenne pepper, black pepper and ¼ tsp lite-salt evenly over chicken breasts

l Brush the olive oil evenly over a large non-stick pan and heat to medium

l Add chicken to the pan and cook six minutes on each side or until well cooked through.

l Serve chicken over a bed of spinach leaves, topped with the salsa. If you would like extra carbs, choose a naturally low carb option such as spaghetti squash or butternut squash as the mango also provides carbs.

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