fruit crisp

Sometimes you just need to have a good dessert after dinner.  Last night was one of those nights.  The peaches and apricots that were past their prime were calling to be eaten, so fruit crisp it was!  I like my fruit crisp with a lot of fruit and a little topping, so that's how this one turned out.  You could make more topping if that's how you like it. 

Fruit:

4 peaches, sliced (I didn't peel mine)

2 apricots, sliced (or just use another peach or other fruit)

1/4 c. chopped dried plums, or other dried fruit

juice from 1/2 a lemon - about 2 T

2 T honey

1 T agave nectar

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp ginger

Combine all ingredients and put in an 8x8 pan or other small baking dish. 

Topping: 

1 c. oats

1/3 c. walnuts, chopped

2 T whole wheat flour

2 T chia seeds (optional)

2 T brown sugar

2 T chilled butter

1 T canola oil

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt

Combine all ingredients except for butter and oil.  Cut chilled butter into small pieces and cut into dry ingredients with a fork, pastry mixer, or your fingers (the best way :) ) until mixture is crumbly.  Add oil and stir until combined.  Add more oil if mixture is still too dry.

Spread topping over fruit and bake at 375 for 20-30 minutes or until bubbly and top is golden brown.  Serve with ice-cream and coconut (if you like it.. I didn't take time to toast mine, but that would be good).  Serves 6-8 people.

side note:  The version I made wasn't any extra sweet, so if you like it really sweet, add more honey or agave nectar (or sugar).

sweet treat

I found these little nuggets of deliciousness on a fantastic new food blog I just discovered, www.loveandlemons.com.  The cookies were modified from this recipe.  I accidently wrote down the recipe wrong and forgot about the coconut oil, which would have been a good addition, as well as a little coconut... I was also too lazy to shred the carrots, so I left those out. :)  However, the good news is that these cookies have no butter or oil, and they're still very tasty (chocolate chips make all cookies good in my opinion :)).

oatmeal chocolate chip cookies

Recipe:

1/2 c. almond flour *

1/2 c. oat flour *

1 c. rolled oats

2 T ground flax seed

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 c. bittersweet chocolate chips

1/3 c. walnuts

1/2 c. dried plums, chopped (or any other dried fruit)

1/2 c. unsweetened applesauce

1/4 c. maple syrup

1 egg

3 T plain or vanilla yogurt

1 tsp vanilla

Combine all ingredients.  Bake on greased cookie sheet for 9-12 minutes, or until golden brown.

* I used almond meal instead of almond flour, which is much cheaper and works fine - I found mine at Trader Joe's.  For oat flour, I ground up instant oats in my coffee grinder.

nutella frozen yogurt

Yogurt.  I know it's good for me and I do like it, but for some reason it's hard for me to just eat a container of it, especially if it's the kind that's really good for me... greek yogurt with less sugar than some kinds.  I have to mix it with Lots of fruit and granola so I can hardly taste the yogurt. 

My favorite way to eat yogurt:  in the frozen dessert form.  :)  

I have an ice-cream machine that I'm always thinking I need to use more.  We had one of Chad's friends over for dinner the other night and I finally made some homemade frozen yogurt!  I loved it and I think the guys enjoyed it?  (Beckham really likes it at least!)

I made some more today, slightly different ingredients, but still delicious.  And that's the thing I love about making it - you can use any kind of fruit, yogurt, or flavors you want... the options are endless.  I think I'm going to try peanut butter next.  

banana nutella frozen yogurt

Ingredients:

1/2 banana *

1/2 - 3/4 c. applesauce (I used homemade unsweetened)

1 container peach greek yogurt

1/2 c. plain greek yogurt

generous spoonful of nutella (probably about a 1/4 cup)

2 T cocoa powder

1 tsp vanilla

Instructions:

Blend all the ingredients in a blender or food processor until smooth.  Pour into ice-cream machine and let it do its magic!  This recipe made about 2 cups frozen yogurt.  

Note: it's best right after it's made.  It does get really hard after stored in the freezer, so you just have to take it out to thaw a little before you want to eat it!

As usual, the above amounts are estimates, so adjust as you like it!  I also tried to use ingredients that are already a little sweet so I didn't have to add extra sugar.  I like mine not overly sweet, so if you like it sweeter you might need to add something else to sweeten it up (honey or agave nectar would work well).

* the banana flavor was pretty prominent, so if you don't like banana definitely leave it out.  I made it the first time without banana and like both ways... maybe without banana a little better.

who doesn't love chocolate?

dark chocolate souffle cake

I made this cake for a valentine's dinner our church hosted this year.  There was a contest for who could make the best chocolate dessert.  No I didn't win, but I did have several people tell me they really enjoyed this cake!  It's the kind that has that wonderful dark, bitter chocolate taste.  It's not too sweet and since it's a souffle cake, the texture is very unique - light and almost crumbly.

I followed the recipe to a tee... it was for other guests afterall, and I was hoping to win. :)  I did use the all-purpose flour substitute for cake flour, which worked fine.  Not sure if it affected the texture?  

I love my desserts cold, so I throughly enjoyed the leftover cake after it had a nice stay in the fridge. :)

... side note:  ignore the crevices in the cake.  I started to cut it, and it wasn't going so well so I stopped.  so much for presentation!