Apple Crisp with a Twist

Apple crisp has always been one of my favourite desserts. Maybe it was because my mom considered it a healthy enough dessert to let us eat it for breakfast the next day, or maybe it was because it was my mom's go to dessert for having company over. I remember the exact smell that used to waft through the house as it baked in the oven, and then the torture of politely waiting for dinner to be done (and with company it was always longer!) so that I could dig into the delicious fruity goodness!

After getting my mom's recipe a few years ago, I have done some switching here and there, adding some different fruits depending on the season, and trying to strip away as much of the refined sugar as possible. Because it is a fruit based dessert, it really doesn't need much sugar since its pretty sweet already. I've stripped away as much of the "bad stuff" as I can from this recipe, although there were a few things that needed to stay. The first is the butter in the topping. Its only 1/4 c for the WHOLE crumble, and it really is necessary. I've tried subbing it for fruit purees, avocado and yogurt, but they mostly just burnt or made the topping soggy. So they butter stays. The other is a bit of sugar in the topping. I use about 1-2 tbsp of brown sugar depending on how sweet I want things. I found that by adding the vanilla I could cut the sugar almost in half without noticing a taste difference. If you use lots of sweet summer fruits (like peaches, pears and sweet apples) you can easily get away with minimal sugar, however some of the fall fruits (Granny Smith apples, cranberries and pumpkin) really do need a hint of sugar in the topping to make the flavours perfect. You'll also notice and odd ingredient for dessert on my ingredient list; cayenne pepper. I like a little bit of a kick in some desserts, and this crisp is no exception. If you like spice and are up for a bit of an adventure, add a dash or two of cayenne into the spice mix! I find that it complements the sweetness of the pumpkin so well.

My favourite apples to use are Granny Smith. They seem to hold up best for baking (the don't disintegrate and get soggy very easily), and add a nice tartness to the dish. I also love the tartness that cranberries add, so I usually put those in as well. Blueberries and raspberries are also excellent, but strawberries seem to get too soggy for me. A great fall combo is apple, rhubarb & pumpkin, with a few cranberries thrown in for colour! Below is the recipe I used tonight, but don't be afraid to mix and match! If you use pairs, the cooking time might be a bit reduced and I would also suggest upping the ginger, lowering the cinnamon and adding some clove!


Apple Crisp with a Twist

Fruit Mix
4 apples
1/2 c cranberries (fresh or frozen)
1/2 c blueberries (fresh or frozen)
1/2 - 3/4 c pumpkin puree (NOT pumpkin pie filling)


1. Preheat oven to 375
2. Wash, core & cut the apples into bite-sized pieces. I usually cut each apple into 12 slices, and cut those into smaller chunks.
3. In a large baking dish, mix the apples, cranberries & blueberries around.
4. Add pumpkin puree by the spoonful and mix around the fruit with your hands. You can add as much or as little as you want, depending on your tastes. I recommend at least a half a cut or so, enough to coat the fruit lightly.


Crumble Topping
1 c steel cut oats
1/3 c oat bran
1/3 c multigrain or whole wheat flour
1/4 c butter/margarine/coconut oil (softened)
1 tsp vanilla extract
2-3 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp powdered ginger
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)
1-2 tsbp brown sugar

1. In a small bowl, mix together the cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cayenne & sugar. Mix well (especially if you are using cayenne).
2. In a large bowl mix the butter, oats, oat bran, flour & vanilla thoroughly. The best way to do this is with your hands. Once mixed, add the spice mixture & mix again.
3. Spread the mixture evenly over the fruit mixture in the baking pan.
4. Bake at 375 for 50-60 mins, until the crust has browned and the fruit is starting to bubble.

Pumpkin Spice Latte

Fall drink season at Starbucks is one of the most amazing things that happens each September (other than my birthday of course). However, after checking out the Starbucks Nutritional Information page, I learned that if I actually had as many Starbucks drinks as I wanted, I'd need to run about 50 miles a day to keep my calorie count under control!

I however came upon and modified a recipe online which is healthy & delicious! This recipe uses actual pumpkin puree (you can buy it in a can, or roast your own) as opposed to a high sugar pumpkin flavoured syrup, fresh ginger, and skim milk or plain soy milk. Its absolutely delicious and you don't even miss the sugary syrup. Actually my one beef about so many Starbucks drinks is that they are too sweet. I wish I could get more flavour and a little less sweetness.

My recipe isn't perfect measures, since I use a giant mug at home, and didn't really measure much...but here is a pretty good estimate of what I made!


Pumpkin Spice Latte
1/2 to 3/4 cup very strong coffee
1/2 cup steamed skim milk (I have a fabulous steamer by Bodum that I use in the microwave as a cheat). If you can't steam the milk, just microwave (for about a minute) or cook it in a pot until it is almost boiling. You can use any milk you want really, I also use vanilla or plain soy milk and its delicious!!
2 tbsp pumpkin puree (if you buy it in a can, make sure its just pumpkin puree, not pumpkin pie mix, as that is flavoured and sugared and likely won't taste quite as nice). If you want to make your own puree, bake the pumpkin in the oven and puree in a food processor until it is smooth (both are equally delicious, and I have substituted some squashes before as well).
1/2 tsp cinnamon + some to sprinkle on top
1/4 tsp ginger (you can use fresh or powdered)
1/8 to 1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp clove (or slightly less)
1 tsp honey/agave nectar (or stevia) you can use more or less to your liking, I usually use less

1) Mix the spices, honey & pumpkin together in the bottom of a mug (I use a fork)
2) Add coffee (make sure it is really hot) and stir with a fork until the pumpkin mixture is dissolved.
3) Add milk (except for foam) and stir just enough to mix.
4) Spoon milk foam on top & sprinkle with cinnamon.

Fad Diets & the Illusion of Health

While searching the internet today for some healthy cookie recipes I inadvertently came across a blog about a guy on a weight loss journey using something called the "Cookie Diet". Now, this sounds like a perfect plan for anyone struggling to lose weight right? Eat cookies, get thin; how perfect. The more I read about this diet, the more I was intrigued about other fad diets that exist in the world, and how on earth people choose to follow them. I understand that compared to the average person I have a fairly rich background in terms of nutrition and health education, but I would assume that it would just seems counter intuitive (to anyone?? everyone??) that eating only cookies (and a vitamin supplement) could ever be a good idea. The basic principle behind this diet is to limit calories. That however is the biggest problem, it is a diet. Being healthy is not about dieting per day, but about inciting a lifestyle change.

Everyone knows how the internet goes, one thing leads to another, and the next thing you know you are drawn into reading about several different "success stories" about various fad diets. I even found a blog a guy is writing about his Cereal Diet (basically all he eats is cereal, a multivitamin & some whey protein powder). He figures that this is the easiest way to calculate calories, and the "Natural Source Multivitamin" should give him all the nutrients his body needs to survive. So far he has lost 5 pounds, and says he feels great (however he has only been on this diet for a week or so, so we will see how things go I suppose). Several people commented on his diet, asking him why he was doing it, offering advice on how to eat better and still lose weight, and his replies were all about simplicity and how since he lost weight he he must know what he was doing. Eating cereal is just easier (to calculate calories, to keep track of, to stick to this diet etc). I guess this diet is not unlike many of the Slim Fast and shake meal replacement diets that were hot in the later 90's, so maybe this guy really isn't that crazy...

I spent some time talking to my physiotherapist this week about health in our society in general. As I heal from surgery I highly value her opinion, and we began talking about how everyone is an expert on their own health. I'd like to extrapolate this into the realm of food. The first part of this, is that everyone believes they are an expert when it comes to their own health. We have specialists that we bring our cars, computers, clothes, pets etc to when they need to be repaired or fixed, and yet people seem to think that they know best when it comes to their own health. People ignore their doctor's advice, and would rather follow the advice that is given to them on an internet message board (since its often what they want to hear). I'm not saying that the internet isn't a valuable research tool, but that people must do just that; research. Whether its about surgery, pregnancy, weight loss or general health, there are a million resources available, but the important part is to look into multiple angles, and not believe only what you want to see (imagine being able to just eat cookies ALL day! What a great diet right?)/

Now here comes MY advice, some of which comes from formal education, and most of which comes from a less formal, but in depth understanding of food and the human body.

1) In terms of health, your diet should be varied and "balanced" to use the old term from food pyramids. Balanced sadly doesn't mean a cheese burger in each hand, but foods from all of the food groups, and the fresher the better.

2) My mother in law's latest mantra comes from Michael Pollan's book "Omnivore's Dilemma" which is "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants"; although she has been saying some version of this from her own experience for year. I completely agree. Often the problem with people's diets isn't that its all bad or unhealthy food, but that we simply eat too much.

3) Watch what you eat, but don't be obsessive. Obsessing can make you more stressed, and actually make it harder to lose weight or be healthy. Be aware of what you eat, especially if you're trying to lose weight, but don't beat yourself up if you occasionally slip up.

4) Eat natural as much as possible. The fresher the food, the better it is! Think about every step of processing as removing nutrients and health value. The more natural the food, the easier it will also be on your wallet! Next time you go to the store, look at the price of fresh corn (as natural as it can get) vs frozen corn (mild processing, but no additives) vs canned corn (moderately processed, with additives like salt and preserving agents). You can even take it a step further and look at bagged pop corn (yet another step in processing, and additives).

5) Cook at home. This way you can control exactly what goes into your food. You can save a lot of added fat by cooking with leaner meats, and by adding lots of spices, you don't have to use as much oil to get delicious taste!

6) Practice portion control. Put your salad or veggies on your plate first. This prevents you from loading up on the less healthy parts of some meals (pretty hard to put 4 slices of pizza on a plate if there is salad there first!)

7) Watch the condiments. Think you're being healthy by having that salad for lunch instead of a burger? Did you get extra cheese, Cesar dressing...croutons? Turns out in terms of fat and calories, you may have been better off with the burger. A healthy baked potato can quickly turn into a not so healthy vessel to hold sour cream, bacon bits, cheese & extra butter. Pay attention not only to the food on your plate, but the dressings that you add to your food!