Schools are back and the season is changing. As we transition from a hot summer to darker autumn days  the need for comforting, warmer food starts to enter our thoughts. Seasonal eating could never be easier than in autumn as we see apples, pears and plums weighing down branches. Tatties, parsnips, and other roots waiting to be lifted and squashes and broccoli ready to colour our plates.  

But still the kids want cake!!

There are compromises… and the recent WCRF publication on family cooking (https://shop.wcrf-uk.org/products/family-flavours-cookbook) supplies a great recipe for a sugar free, butter free cake with a good portion of vegetables! Peach, pear, and parsnip upside down cake is tasty (mixed spice and vanilla flavours but not too sweet and delicious as a pudding with a scoop of low fat, natural yogurt. It’s not calorie free, infact 312 Cals per serving – but I’d say that was a very generous serving and as we know smaller portions make the feast last a lot longer.

This wee cookery book written by a Aliya Porter a mum of three, supplies lots of nice ideas to get the whole family involved in cooking – the days of mother isolation in the kitchen are diminishing!! I tried the pasta bake with my 8-year-old grandson – it took a while with grating and mixing but he was as proud as punch and needed no extra encouragement to eat. From burritos to Chinese stir fry it’s a nice mix of ideas for seasonal ingredients and fun ways for kids to help and one cake recipe is quite enough! The recipes take time to prepare but kitchen time can be fun time and if hunger hits first there are always all those windfall apples just around the corner.

Annie S. Anderson