SINCE winning the sixth series of the Great British Bake Off, Nadiya Hussain has seen her career spiral.

The baking queen has her name to four books and two children's books, and manages to work a jam-packed diary, visiting some of the nation's most favourite food festivals, around spending time with her family.

This weekend saw her return to Bolton's Food and Drink Festival, after first making an appearance at the event in 2016.

Nadiya says her cooking inspiration comes from her family, who need to be fed. She has three children, Musa, Dawud and Maryam, and has just celebrated 13 years of marriage with her husband Abdal.

"My inspiration comes from my family. They need feeding.

"Give my husband chilli and a cake and he is a happy man. He runs seven miles every day so he can eat cake. And the days I'm not baking cake, he doesn't run.

"His record is two nine-inch cakes in one day, topped off with profiteroles."

Nadiya says her family always try to stick to a weekly budget. She also advised people never to underestimate the importance of having, and using, a freezer.

She said: "I like to stay within my means. I have always done that. We cook with whatever we have at home.

"Sunday afternoons are the day that I cook — and always in big batches.

"Your freezer is your friend. People do not use them enough. I fill ours with meals. I cook once and we just eat the same meal all week.

"We freeze things like seafood crumble and curries. Always double them up and stick them in the freezer."

Nadiya's seafood crumble is a twist on the traditional fish pie, featuring a savoury crumble topping.

She said her favourite meal of all time was curry but she also divulged that she has a secret love of pot noodles.

"I grew up on curry. It is always going to be curry. And beef curry particularly, which bizarrely tastes even better when it has been frozen. And fried chapatis.

"But I also love a pot noodle."

Nadiya showcased three recipes at this year's Food Festival — a Spanish omelette with vegetable crisps in place of potatoes, a cod and cucumber broth, and a no-bake mango and mint cheesecake.

All of the recipes feature in her latest recipe book, Nadiya's Family Favourites.

She said: "It is really difficult to choose what to showcase. I have chosen three — they are all things my kids love cooking.

"I'm demonstrating Spanish omelettes, using crisps because we ran out of potatoes in the house.

"That is how I cook — I make something out of nothing. It doesn't always work out though.

"Just because someone says Weetabix is a breakfast cereal it doesn't mean it has to be used as one. I like to find new purposes for foods."

Hundreds of people watched on as the expert baker showcased her dishes in the main festival marquee.

Other headliners at this year's festival included James Martin, Michael Caines and Ainsley Harriott.

More than 200,000 people are expected to attend the festival across the weekend and guest Nadiya said was impressed with this year's offering.

Nadiya said: "When I come to these food festivals I don't get to see much of the actual festival itself. But as I arrived in Bolton on Saturday morning I could see that it has grown so much since two years ago when I was last here.

"People come because they love food and they love the feel of the festival.

"You come to a place like Bolton and think it is just going to rain. But these streets will be buzzing this weekend. It is about soaking in the atmosphere and enjoying it."