DENVER — The Fourth of July is right around the corner and one thing I find to totally represent all things American is apple pie.
Apples are great for your health. They are good for your brain, your digestion, they clear up your skin and improve your circulation.
Apples are also good sources of plant nutrients like rutin, quercetin, and flavonoids that keep you healthy and strong.
Although apple pie is delicious, it’s not usually nutritious. Two other desserts you could enjoy with apples are apple crisp and baked apples.
One thing I don’t miss from apple pie is all the carbs from the crust (which is usually white flour based).
The crisp has heart-healthy oatmeal, pumpkin and sesame seeds for added crunch and nutrients (you can omit them if you don’t like them), and currents for a little extra sweetness. I used less sweetener than the recipe called for and it was still sweet enough.
Apple Crisp recipe
Ingredients:
- 4-5 medium apples, peeled, cored, and sliced
- 3/4 cup rolled oats
- 1/3 cup flour or rice flour (if making gluten-free)
- 1/4 cup coconut palm sugar + 1 packet stevia
- juice of 1 lemon
- 3-4 Tbsp butter or plant-based alternative, diced
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp ginger
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- a dash of ground cloves
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Grease baking dish.
3. Arrange sliced apples in baking dish in an even layer.
4. In a medium bowl, combine rolled oats, flour, sugar and stevia, lemon, and spices. Cut pieces of butter into the dry ingredients. I use my hands to work all the butter into the dry mixture and make sure everything combines evenly.
5. Spread topping evenly over the apples and dot with a few pieces of butter.
6. Bake at 350 degrees F for 45 minutes or until apples are soft and crumble is a nice golden color.
We tend to eat way more sugar than we actually need. Baked apples have the same topping, but a lot less of it and, they are already naturally portion-controlled.
Just as the old adage goes, enjoy an apple a day to keep the doctor away.
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