Apple Crisp with an Oatmeal Streusel topping!

To go along with my acorn squash, I made a pilaf of sorts to add some protein into the meal. A very brief description is added below... just so when I want to make this again, I know where to look :)

Quinoa and Lentil pilaf

*cooked the quinoa with 2 sticks of cinnamon in the cooking liquid.
*cooked red lentils
*raisins
*1/2 diced apple
*toasted chopped almonds
*coconut oil
*cinnamon
*Himalayan Salt
*drizzle of pure maple syrup!

I wish I had a photo of this but we ate it too quickly. Oh well, next time!

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But my next venture was my Apple Crisp. I had a bunch of apples in the fridge and really wanted a nice homemade desert to end the evening.

The best apple crisp that I ever had the honor of eating was my mom's best friend Susan's (she was an amazing cook)  After doing some research, I think that she was not making what we think of as an official apple crisp because she always added oatmeal to her topping. I think its more of an Oatmeal Streusel topping over the apples.

So, in an attempt to replicate her apple crisp (without using sugar) I attempted this, and I think it worked well. Its not... HERS, but I think its close enough to scratch the itch!

Apple Preparation:

1) soak dates in some hot water and break them down into a paste. (remove pits!)
2) cut apples
3) toss the date paste with the cut apples.
4) add a tiny bit of almond extract and vanilla extract.
5) add some chopped almonds (my new spin!)
6) pinch of Himalayan Salt

Oatmeal topping:

Mix the following:

oats (I used old fashioned)
cinnamon
coconut sugar (a tiny bit)
melted butter
pinch of Himalayan salt

Spread over a baking dish that has the apples lining the bottom and cook til it's all bubbling!

Next time... I might try:

*adding some sort of flour into the topping along with the oatmeal
*working the butter with my hands into the topping,
*cooking longer (almost an hour)
*tripling the recipe... this went way too quickly!

Again, these photos suck. They look like they were taken by candlelight too, but sadly, this was my overhead kitchen lighting and crappy phone camera :)