Breaking kitchen habits.................

This Sunday, I didn't rest!  When I worked full time away from the home I always found the weekend to be so busy keeping house. I probably vowed then that when I was retired I'd never be doing housework, running endless errands, and cooking from scratch on Sundays!

But cook I often do, especially on lovely cool Autumn or Winter mornings. Somehow just getting in the kitchen early on a Sunday, nothing else pressing at that particular time, the coffee freshly brewed, piping hot and wafting through the air, a bowl of fruit looking pretty but asking to be cooked..............a box of mushrooms wanting the wave of a wooden spoon and a quick, magical change into a hearty soup for Sunday supper.......little things such as that make me tie on an apron and happily cook away.

Sundays sometimes bring dessert. With DH off on a business trip Monday morning such as today, we like to enjoy a good meal Sunday evening. Gala apples and some plump and juicy blackberries were anxious to be cuddled up and baked together under a scrunchy, crunchy topping of oats, whole wheat flour, demerara sugar and butter.....an Autumn dessert for when the chill of evening arrives and one is not counting calories!

Like me, you probably have a few favorite dessert recipes, some going back eons. One of my favorite cookbooks is from a long established tiny London vegetarian restaurant at Covent Garden market called Food For Thought. I've eaten there several times when in London. It opened in the same spot in 1974, still serves the same great freshly prepared food, and when the cookbook was published in 1987 I grabbed it from a UK book shop and have used it ever since.  

Of course fruit crumbles have been a British tradition forever..............and like most Brits I love my fruits cooked.  Steamed sponge puddings softly encasing soft fruits and berries, tarts with lattice pastry blankets gently woven over tart-sweet Bramley cooking apples, are all part of British cookery, and using these lovely fruits in season is the way to go for quality, flavor and value.

My well-used cookbook has started to fall apart - it's a softcover and the pages are coming loose from the spine as the glue dries out. That's OK though, shows it's been on and off that kitchen bookshelf in constant motion for many years.....feeding family and friends, bringing fruits, vegetables and more to the table in healthy, delicious and beautiful recipes.

Warm Blackberry Apple Crumble with Greek Honey Yogurt - yummy!