Simple Apple Loaf

If you're anything like me, than variety and trying to encourage yor children to eat different things is important to you, especially when you have a toddler who is picky about what she eats. 

Anybody would think that we had a pet monkey at home with the amount of bananas that are eaten in our house at times. It is the only reliable food that my youngest will eat some days. While it's not the end of the world, and she is of course thriving and healthy, I can't help but feel a little worried and annoyed about a diet that consists of bananas, milk, ritz crackers (which must have nothing on top), tuna, scrambled eggs, sausages, rice and porridge. Oh yes and chocolate, she can bring herself to eat that.

So I am always attempting to smuggle in any other fruit, aside from banana, or vegetable into any dish I can, in the hope that it might actually be eaten.

This loaf passed Jessie's lick test and is also enjoyed by everybody else. It has become a bit of a go to, there's nothing in the cupboard recipe. We always have the ingredients in the kitchen and it's so delicious and simple. And never dry.

Apple Loaf

2 cups self-raising flour

2/3 cup brown sugar

1 1/2 tspn mixed spice

1/2 tspn cinnamon

pinch of salt

1/2 cup grapeseed oil

2 eggs

4 medium granny smith apples, grated with their skin still on (I've also used red apples, and it still tastes just as nice)

Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease and line a 14x20cm loaf tin.

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, spices and salt.

In another jug or bowl, whisk together the oil and eggs.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry, add in the apple and mix until just combined.

Pour mixture into the loaf tin, smooth the top, scatter over flaked almonds (optional) and bake for 50-55 minutes until a skewer comes out clean. (Cover with foil if getting too brown around 35 minutes).

This is a Veggie Smugglers recipe. I can't recommend Wendy's cookbooks highly enough if you're struggling with a picky toddler. I'd love to say that my girls devour their salads and vegetables, but they just don't, as much as I've tried. Her recipes are great at sneaking as many vegetables as you can into your children's diet. I know that some are anti this idea of sneaking fruit and vegetables into food. But I believe more in exposing children to different tastes and textures, and creating a love for that taste, which will hopefully lead to them being able to eat them in a less sneaky form in the future.

That's how I choose to look at it anyway!!

Enjoy x