Ashke's Apple Crisp
I love this recipe, and this time of year I make it a lot. It’s a seasonal dessert that can also be a sweet yummy breakfast, and I just can’t get enough of it in the fall and winter.
The original recipe is from an Ayurvedic recipe book I love - The Everyday Ayurveda Cookbook: A Seasonal Guide to Eating and Living Well. I took an Ayurvedic class in Spring of 2017 and purchased this book not too long after. What I love and resonate with the most about Ayurvedic eating is eating seasonally, with the weather, and with the harvest.
In the class I took, I learned that Ayurveda means science of life. The Ayurvedic way of eating is just one small portion of what the ancient practice of Ayurveda. It’s kind of a lot to get into right now, so if you’re interested, here are some links to some great intro information.
AYURVEDA: A BRIEF INTRODUCTION AND GUIDE
Introduction to Ayurveda: Embody Your Full Potential
I resonate with the practice so much because it is based on the elements of the earth - air, water, fire, earth, and space. It recognizes that all beings, all food, and activities, everything on this planet is made up of these elements - whether pure or in some combination.
There are three doshas within Ayurveda.
“Vata is the subtle energy associated with movement — composed of Space and Air. It governs breathing, blinking, muscle and tissue movement, pulsation of the heart, and all movements in the cytoplasm and cell membranes. In balance, vata promotes creativity and flexibility. Out of balance, vata produces fear and anxiety.
Pitta expresses as the body’s metabolic system — made up of Fire and Water. It governs digestion, absorption, assimilation, nutrition, metabolism and body temperature. In balance, pitta promotes understanding and intelligence. Out of balance, pitta arouses anger, hatred and jealousy.
Kapha is the energy that forms the body’s structure — bones, muscles, tendons — and provides the “glue” that holds the cells together, formed from Earth and Water. Kapha supplies the water for all bodily parts and systems. It lubricates joints, moisturizes the skin, and maintains immunity. In balance, kapha is expressed as love, calmness and forgiveness. Out of balance, it leads to attachment, greed and envy.” -The Ayurvedic Institute
Most people have qualities of primarily one of these doshas, and that is also the dosha that is most prone to becoming imbalanced. For example, if you are mostly pitta, then you may crave hot sauce and other spicy foods, indicating an imbalance in your pitta. I’m tridoshic, which is more rare. But I notice that my kapha becomes easily imbalances - I crave heavy foods like bread, and I get tired and lethargic.
~~~
Anyway.. I’ve kinda made this apple crisp recipe my own. I mostly do it intuitively now because I’ve made it so many times. It’s super simple & easy, and you can make it your own too with different variations on nuts, spices, and even adding different fruits like plums or pears.
What You’ll Need:
4 medium sized apples
8 tbs grass-fed ghee or butter (sub coconut oil for vegan)
Rolled oats
Maple Syrup
Pecans
Walnuts (optional)
Cinnamon
Ginger
Cardamom
Nutmeg (optional)
Instructions:
Heat oven to 375
Cut up your apples into small to medium sized pieces
Set the stove to low
Melt your butter or ghee in a 14” cast iron on the stove
While your butter is melting, put about 2 cups of oats into a mixing bowl
Crush up your pecans & walnuts to your liking, and add however much you’d like to your oat mix.
Add about 1 tbs cinnamon, and 1/2 tbs ginger, cardamom, and nutmeg.
Pour about half of your melted butter/ghee/coconut oil into the oat mix
Pour about 4 tbs of maple syrup into the mix
Mix it up well
Get another clean mixing bowl, and put your apples in it
Pour the rest of your oil over the apples
Sprinkle about 1/2-1 tbs of cinnamon over the apples and toss
Pour the apples into the cast iron
Spread the oat mix out over top of the apples evenly
Put in oven and let bake for about 20 minutes
BOOM! A delicious warm fall and winter treat with no added granulated sugar. You can add a scoop of coconut ice cream or nice cream to the top.
Nice Cream
Real quick I’ll throw in the recipe for a basic nice cream. When I discovered that you could freeze bananas and blend them up to make a decadent and creamy ice cream substitution, it was a game changer. I never expected frozen bananas to have such an amazing and satisfying texture and flavor.
Ingredients:
1-3 Frozen bananas, how much do you want to make?
1/2 cup coconut milk (from the can)
Additional flavor options
Strawberry Banana Vanilla
Frozen strawberries
Vanilla extract
Pumpkin Pie
1/2 cup frozen pumpkin mush (you can get pumpkin mush in a can)
Pumpkin pie spice (cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, clove)
A touch of maple syrup
Cacao Bliss
Cacao powder
Cacao nibs (optional)
Cinnamon
A touch of raw honey (or agave syrup)
Instructions:
Freeze your bananas and other fruits you want to add
Blend ingredients in a blender or food processor. We use our Vitamix.
VIOLA! You have a decadent treat that is great on its own or added onto desserts like apple crisp, pumpkin pie, or muffins. This can also be a refreshing breakfast or lunch treat in the summertime.
Treats don’t have to include a bunch of added processed sugar. Treats can satisfy that sweet tooth while also nourishing your body.
I always bake using maple syrup, and use honey in things that don’t need cooked. Baking honey isn’t advised because when raw honey is heated over 95 degrees, the enzymes, vitamins, and minerals are weakened or destroyed, negating most of the amazing health benefits raw high quality (local) honey provides.
A Note on Honey
If you don’t have a direct source for your honey, meaning if you aren’t getting it from a farmers market or an individual that you’ve personally met that has their own hive, I would not recommend using honey in your diet.
We get our honey from a lady down the street. It’s really important to know where your honey is coming from for a few reasons.
Honey production can be incredibly inhumane.
Much of the honey in the United States is actually FAKE. or processed to the point where it wouldn’t be considered honey on other country.
Pesticides - Bees are now also exposed to a myriad of pesticides that they then bring back to the hive. Every batch of pollen that a honeybee collects has a least 6 detectable pesticides in it (Penn State University research). Even if your honey is organic, the bees are most likely still feeding on flowers and crops that are being sprayed with pesticides, whether it’s from sprayed dandelions in suburban yards or nearby non-organic farms.
To read more about honey, bees, the colony collapse epidemic, and how we can help, click through here to this post.