Recipes for Writing

If you're a writer and a working mother like me, you'll find it difficult to juggle everything you need to get done. While you're knee deep in plot and character development, it can be hard to tear yourself away for some of the necessary challenges daily life throws at you, like cooking family meals.

I'm a big fan of quick and easy recipes, so I'm going to share a couple with you which have become my favourites over the years.

I love dessert, but I'm not a person who likes to spend time in the kitchen. Many nights, dessert is an afterthought, especially when dinner has been a quick throw-together, leaving everyone with a hankering for just a little bit more.

Below are two different versions of an apple crumble. The first is for when you already have the oven on, and just want to throw something together for 'after'. The second is a microwave recipe, which takes next to no time to prepare and cook. Your family will love them both. While I haven't specified it in either of these, you can use gluten free flour in the mix for both - which I do as my diet is wheat free - and it turns out equally as nice. In the oven baked version, just use gluten free cornflakes as your option, which I think most are these days anyway.

Oven Cooked Apple Crumble:

1 425g tin pie apples (or stewed fruit)
1 cup plain flour
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup dessicated coconut
2 cups crushed Cornflakes or Wheatbix
75g melted butter

Put the apples in the bottom of a casserole dish, mix the dry ingredients together in a separate bowl and pour over the melted butter. Spread crumble mixture over the apples and bake in a 180 degree (Celcius) oven for twenty minutes. Without opening the oven, turn off and leave to cook in warm oven for another twenty minutes. Serve with cream or ice-cream, or if you're like me, both!

Microwave Apple Crumble:

1 425g tin pie apples (or stewed fruit)
1 cup rolled oats
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup dessicated coconut
1/2 cup plain flour
1 tsp cinnamon
100g melted butter

Prepare as for the oven baked crumble and microwave on high power for 5 to 8 minutes. Leave to sit for a further 3 minutes, then serve, with yoghurt, cream, ice-cream, etc.

While they're both quite sweet, they both contain some pretty healthy ingredients so it's also a good way of getting your kids to eat cornflakes, oats, and fruit. You can even serve this up on a cold morning for breakfast with yoghurt...yum!

Happy cooking and happy writing...

If you try these recipes, I'd love to know what you think...