Ahhh! The farmer’s market! A place brimming with hope and vitality! I just love the idea of sustainable, organic, locally grown food. The sights and sounds of the market are a soothing balm for my overly crowded mind. A place full of possibility, interesting people and interesting food.

However, a farmer’s market can be an absolute nightmere for an autistic child, and his parents. Today was our third attempt in a year to take Matty and Simon to the Trout Lake Farmer’s Market. The last two attempts ended in screaming fits, tears and frustration for all. The only reason today was any different from the other attempts was that we did not take Matty into the market at all. Paul, my dutiful husband,  and the boys spent their time in the adjacent playground. After fetching a steaming organic latte for my hubby, I peacefully strolled thru the market soaking up the atmosphere and picked up some organic apples to make a gluten free apple crumble for dessert. All so blissfully domestic and old worldly.

So, what is it about a farmer’s market that is so scary? Well, the dogs for one. Matthew can barely pass a dog with out trying to climb up to the top of one’s body to sit on one’s head to get as far away from the dog as possible.

The unpredicabilty of people weaving from one stall to another, baby strollers breaking from the crowd unexpectedly, loud guitar music from the busker, and the busy energy of the place is all just too much for a child suffering from sensory disorders.

For typical families a morning at the farmer’s market is just par for the course. Nibbling on fresh baked organic cookies, and sipping organic lattes while picking up fresh produce for the evening meal while their sweet young babies snooze in their prams is an experience I have never been able to enjoy.

Any time we have tried to do anything remotely similar is usually ended abruptly by a temper tantrum so intense that people start looking at us wondering if they need to call Child Protective Services!  Ok, I am being overly dramatic again, but certainly our first market experience was much like this!

We have made huge progress though! We now know better then to take Matty into the market at all and we head straight for the play ground first. This way he doesn’t have to get overwhelmed. Last year Matthew was not able to visit an unfamiliar playground. He would get worried, cry and want to go home. Now he sees the swings and practically jumps the fence to get in there!

So there is hope that one day he will be able to enter the market and fully enjoy an  organic family outing! Can you imagine taking him to the PNE??

So I offer you here a recipe for gluten free apple crumble. This recipe is modified from my mother-inlaw’s version made with wheat flour. I have simply swapped the wheat flour for the gluten free pancake mix. This is NOT a dairy free recipe. To make it dairy free simply replace the butter with dairy free margerine, and use a dairy free gluten free flour mix.

Ruth’s Apple Crumble

Topping

6 tablespoons butter or margerine

6 tablespoons shredded coconut

6 tablespoons brown sugar

2/3 cup gluten free pancake mix (Pamela’s)

Place all above ingredients in a small mixing bowl and with clean hands rub the butter into the mix until it is evenly distributed and crumbly.

Stewed apples

Peel 5-6 med apples

½ cup water

Cook until soft in a small saucepan aprx. 5 to 10 min. Most of the water should be boiled off.

Tip: if using very tart apples add a tablespoon of sugar while cooking apples

Grease an 8X8 baking pan. Pour stewed apples into baking pan. Make sure they are evenly distributed.

Top the apples with the topping mixture making sure to completely cover apples evenly. Bake in the oven at 350 for 30-45 min, or until the topping is golden brown.

Serve warm with vanilla icecream, or dairy free frozen dessert.

Serves 6.

 What is in a name?

A little side bar to this post...I heard somewhere that giving food fun names makes eating that food more enticing for children. So, just to prove this point I placed slices of black bell peppers, that I had purchased at the market, on the boy's dinner plates and told them it was 'chocolate peppers'. Simon examined his and decided to feed them to me. Matthew gobbled his up like they were cookies!!

I have made this apple crumble for the boys many times only to have them eat the ice cream off the top and leave the dessert at the bottom of the dish, looking at it like it was a slimey blob of spinach or something. Last night I told them it was 'apple cookie crumble', and with out hesitation, they gobbled it up! The high light of my day!!