APPLE CRISP PALEO STYLE

Having a number of apples in the fridge and a friend coming for supper, prompted me to bake a dessert. It was a good excuse to try making apple crisp paleo style. I looked at several cookbooks I had and adapted this recipe from one I saw in Everyday Paleo for a berry crisp. Why I made this paleo style is because this household is watching its carbs and sugar intake. I like using almond meal or almond flour in cooking and baking. What I like about this recipe is that it dresses up baked apples.

Apples in the non-stick pan.

Almond meal, coconut flour and cinnamon combined.

The egg has been added and the topping is ready to spread over the apples.

Going into the oven.

INGREDIENTS:

6 apples, cored and chopped
1 1/2 cups almond meal
2 generous tbsp coconut oil (solid at room temperature)
1 tbsp cinnamon
drizzle of honey or maple syrup or Splenda (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Put the chopped apples into a non stick plan and spread evenly across the pan. I used a 8 X 11 inch rectangle plan. Drizzle the honey or maple syrup or sprinkle the Splenda over the apples.  

In a small bowl combine the almond meal and coconut oil. I used a small pastry blender to mix two together. Add the cinnamon. Combine using a fork or mixing spoon. Add the egg and mix thoroughly. The mixture will be crumbly and a bit doughy. 

Using your fingers or a fork, drop small pieces of batter on top of the apples so that they are evenly covered. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until the crust is golden and the apples look baked.  Serves 6. 

FRESH TOMATO SOUP

With lots of fresh tomatoes from the garden I decided to make tomato soup. The origins of the recipe came from a former neighbour of mine. She shared it with me many years ago. Of course I tweaked it and made a few changes. I add a bit more vegetables than she did, I sauté them and I use thyme instead of cloves. I don't always add onion to the vegetable mixture. It is a wonderful tasting soup and one that I don't tire of. In making this recipe, I used six tomatoes and four of them were the Italian variety which are less watery. I also added 2 1/2 cups of milk and bit more flour with the larger amount of tomatoes.  

INGREDIENTS:

1 tbsp oil, e.g. avocado or olive oil
2 slices onion, chopped
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
2 stalks of celery, chopped
1/2 coloured pepper, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
salt and pepper

4 medium size tomatoes, core removed and chopped

2 cups of milk or milk alternative, e.g. almond or soy
1 tbsp flour
dash of salt
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp sugar, maple syrup or agave

DIRECTIONS:

Add the milk, flour, salt, thyme and sugar to a blender. Blend for 30 seconds in order to mix the flour with the milk. Set aside.

In a medium size pot, heat the oil on the stove using a high temperature. Add the garlic and all of the vegetables, except the tomatoes. Reduce the heat to medium. Stir frequently so that the vegetables don't burn. Add salt and pepper. If the heat is too high, reduce to low and continue sautéing for five minutes. The vegetables need to be partially cooked and still have a bit of crunch. Turn the stove off and remove the pot from the stove. Empty the vegetables from the pot into a bowl. 

Pour the milk from the blender into the same pot that you used to sauté the vegetables. Add the vegetables into the blender with the chopped tomatoes. Puree for several minutes. I like the puree to have some tiny bits of vegetables and not have it totally smooth. Add the tomato mixture to the pot with the milk to create the soup.

Heat the pot with the soup on the stove to medium high. Stir with a mixing spoon and watch that the soup doesn't start to boil. You want to heat it up just to the boiling point. Once it is hot it is ready to be served. Serves 4 depending on bowl size. 

APPLE SCONES WITH OAT FLOUR

I recently bought a bag of oat flour and since it wasn't too hot outside, I was thinking about baking something that could be consumed either for breakfast or as a treat. I also had gone out for lunch with friends and knew that I was not interested in a full supper as I had a big bowl of pho chicken soup for lunch. 

After looking at some cookbooks and the internet, I decided to make scones. I like scones but not too overly sweet. I used an apple as the fruit in these scones but you could also use pear, banana or berries. The recipe calls for cane or coconut sugar but you can use regular sugar. I used cane sugar. The coconut oil was already soft in the large jar and I didn't need to cut it into the flour with a pastry cutter. I used a hard mixing spoon. Using soft coconut oil made the flour mixture less crumbly, too sticky and more of a blended mixture. I think because of this, I added a bit more oat flour to the dough when I was separating the dough into two halves and shaping it into two round circles. I left the two rounds of dough with each scored into six pieces. I didn't separate the pieces to bake. 

The scones turned out fine, a bit crumbly as I used gluten free certified oat flour and rolled oats which is not the same as baking with flour. They are light and not too sweet. I like the combination of apple and cardamon.

Before baking - two circles of dough scored into 6 pieces per round.

 

Ready for sampling!

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup oat flour

1 cup old-fashioned or quick-cooking oats

⅓ cup natural cane sugar or coconut sugar

2-1/4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp ground cardamom

¼ tsp fine sea salt

⅓ cup solid coconut oil, cut into chunks

1 large egg

2 tbsp milk (dairy or nondairy)

1-1/4 cups chopped apple, option to peel it

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together oat flour, oats, sugar, baking powder, cardamom and salt. Using a pastry blender or two knives, cut in coconut oil until crumbly.

3. In a small bowl, whisk the egg and milk. Add to the flour mixture and stir until just blended; fold in apples.

4. Turn dough out onto a surface lightly dusted with oat flour. Gently pat into two 6-inch circles, about ½ inch thick. Cut each circle into 6 wedges and place 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheet.

5. Bake in preheated oven for 17 to 22 minutes or until golden brown and firm to the touch. Transfer scones to a wire rack and let cool for 5 minutes. Serve warm or let cool completely.

Adapted from powerhungry.com