Culinary Corner with Rosie: Gluten Free, Dairy Free Apple Crisp

Mostly covered crisp

On doctor's advice, I've been eating gluten and dairy free (plus leaving out some other random things I may be sensitive to) to help with thyroid and digestive issues. So I've been testing out (and inventing) some new recipes in the past six months. I've also been reading and pinning a lot of recipes on pinterest. I'd read this recipe (http://empoweringmommy.com/2013/08/paleo-apple-crisp-recipe.html), and had it in the back of my mind when I threw some ingredients in our food bin to head up to Maine last weekend. In Maine, I threw some of those things I'd packed in a baking dish. It was amazing!

I made the crisp again (this time using coconut oil instead of olive oil!) to bring to Thanksgiving and paid somewhat better to the quantity of ingredients I threw together.

Here is the recipe.

Filling:

Measure 3 Tb. coconut oil, then microwave to liquefy. Can use any flavorless oil, butter (if not eating dairy free), or butter substitute.

Mix in:

• 4.5 - 5 apples, cubed, with peel still on (I used Cortland) 
• Handful of raisins 
• 1/4 cup or so of sliced raw almonds 
• A few shakes of cinnamon, less of nutmeg and cloves 

Place in a greased (or coconut oiled) pie plate.

Topping:

Melt 3/8-1/2 cup of Earth Balance Soy Free Buttery Spread. Can also use a different Earth Balance Buttery Spread, coconut oil, any flavorless oil, butter (if not eating dairy free), or butter substitute. I wanted some buttery flavor so I chose Earth Balance.

Mix in:

• 1 1/3 cups gluten free slow cook (traditional) oats 
• 1 1/3 cups cashew meal (I used Trader Joe's Just Cashew Meal.) Could experiment with almond meal/flour, too 
• 1/3 c. maple syrup 
• 1/2 Tb. cinnamon 

You want the topping to hit a nice medium of sticking together, but not too dry or wet. Add more oats/cashew meal if necessary, or more melted butter substitute.

Spread topping evenly over apple mixture, trying to completely seal in the apples.

Bake at 375 degrees for about 15 minutes or until a knife goes easily through topping and apples. Keep on middle rack and broil for 1-2 minutes to brown crust if desired.

Honeymoon in Peru! Installment 6: Machu Picchu III

After roaming the grounds for a while, it came time to hike up Cerro Machu Picchu. Cerro MP is the fairly tall mountain (9170 ft, about 2000 vert above MP) at the south end of the MP complex. Access to all of Machu Picchu is highly regulated, including the hiking routes to this and another mountain in the nearby area--we had to pay extra when buying our tickets to do this hike, and we had to be on the route before 11, and off before 3. Regulators obviously know that this place attracts a lot of people who have never hiked a mountain before and they really don't want to stay late carrying someone off. So we were obediently at the entry gate to the Cerro MP trail just before 11.

Here is the view downstream of the Urubamba. A hydro-power station is down there. According to our map, a 3-4 km conduit was drilled through the mountain range to take advantage of a hairpin bend in the river (with MP at the apex of the hairpin).

 MP is really in cloud-jungle, compared to Ollantaytambo, as you can see by the vegetation.

 Rugged mountains.

 After a couple hours, topping out.

 Aerial view of MP.

Honeymoon in Peru! Installment 5: Machu Picchu II

We warmed up with the rising sun and started walking around Machu Picchu, basically wandering randomly while holding map and cameras.

 One of the only trees within the complex.