Can you eat treats on a healthy diet?
One myth about eating whole, real foods is that it’s bland and boring. Healthy food simply isn’t as yummy as junk food, right? I would like to bust this myth right now. Food should be a joyful, delicious experience. If your healthy food is not appealing, you won’t stick with it very long and you’ll be back to the TV dinners and drive-throughs. Healthy and delectable are not mutually exclusive!
Another myth is that eating healthy means no more treats. If that were true, it would be sad indeed. However, there are ways to indulge one’s sweet tooth without breaking the nutritional bank. Nature provides so many sweet options that we can incorporate into our diet. And, once we ditch the refined sugars, artificial flavors and sweeteners, our taste buds will adjust and natural sweetness will be satisfying enough. One of my favorite desserts is a simple bowl of berries with coconut cream on the top! Sometimes I might add some honey or coconut palm sugar, but most of the time I will not. If you can tolerate dairy, pure whipped cream would be another great option. The berries lend excellent sweetness and the cream is a healthy fat that balances out the natural sugars.
Apple crisp with gluten-free oatmeal topping recipe
Another of my favorite desserts is my apple crisp with oatmeal topping. This is a little more involved than doing berries and cream, but it is fruit based and made only with natural sweeteners. It does contain grains (certified gluten-free oats and a GF flour blend), so if you are grain-free you will have to find an alternative. (Doing a crumble with cassava or tigernut flour with ground nuts might work.) A few weeks ago we had our friends next door over for Palm Sunday dinner. I made this apple crisp and it was a huge hit! Everyone went back for seconds and some even for thirds. So they were secretly my taste testers and after that I determined that this recipe was ready for the blog!
Organic apples are always the best option, along with certified gluten-free oats if you are gluten or wheat sensitive. The natural sweeteners of maple syrup and coconut palm sugar, while still sugar, have more nutrient content than refined sugar. The first couple times I made this, I didn’t include the gluten-free flour or coconut flakes in the topping mixture. I think those ingredients along with the oats is vital to creating a topping with substance. I also tried different-sized pans. The 9 x 13″ pan is definitely the way to go, as the apples will bake faster and there is more room for the topping to spread out and get crispy.
Even for your non-real-food friends and family, I bet this will be a hit! Try it out for your next potluck, mom’s group, or Sunday dinner.
Apple Bake with Gluten-Free Oatmeal Topping
Ingredients
- 4 organic apples
- 3 TBSP canned coconut milk
- 2 TBSP orange juice
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 2 tsp arrowroot starch/flour
- 1 TBSP maple syrup
- 1 1/2 cups certified gluten-free oats
- 3/4 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
- 3/4 cup gluten-free flour mixture
- 3/4 cup coconut palm sugar
- 1 tsp ginger
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- Pinch of salt
- 100 g softened butter, plus extra
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Slice the apples into thin slices. Mix the apples, a splash of coconut milk and orange juice, 1 tsp. of cinnamon, and arrowroot starch in a 9 x 13" glass casserole dish. Set aside while making the oatmeal topping.
- For the oatmeal topping, combine the maple syrup, arrowroot starch, oats, coconut flakes, coconut sugar, 1 tsp. cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg in a large bowl. Then cut in the softened butter until you get a crumbly topping. Sprinkle the topping over the apple slices, and then lay slices of the extra butter on top of the topping.
- Cover with tin foil and bake in the oven for 15 minutes. Then take the tin foil off and bake for another 10 minutes, or until the apples are soft and the topping is crisp and brown. It can be served warm or cooled. It tastes delicious with or without ice cream!
Learn how to incorporate great food like this into your life!
If you can’t tell, I think healthy food is amazing. I have a passion not only for healthy eating in my own life, but helping others do the same. Eating the right foods can be a game-changer for your life! That is why I created my Group Health Coaching program. It’s completely online, so anyone in the world (who speaks English) can take this course. Both men and women can take it, though as a woman I will come at things from a female perspective. (For example, in one module we talk about using safer skincare and makeup because what we put ON our bodies affects our health too!)
Pre-enrollment is now open – basically the waiting list. The first session will begin in early July, and enrollment is first-come, first-serve. So if this is possibly something you want access to, get on the email list! This list will be the first to be notified when enrollment is open. Just click on the image below and it’ll take you to the form!
If you have any questions at all, please email me at help@warriorlifewellness.com 🙂
Brands I recommend for this recipe (affiliate links):
Thrive Market Organic Regular Coconut Milk
Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 Baking Flour, Gluten-Free Rolled Oats, and Arrowroot Starch (for military: can oftentimes find these at the commissary)
Madhava Organic Blonde Coconut Sugar (for military: can oftentimes be found at the commissary)
Kerrygold Butter (can be found at many grocery stores, including the military commissary)
Want to give a shoutout to Kaboompics for the beautiful apple photo!
Mama says
What is 50 g of butter in cup measurement?
Malori says
50 g = between 3-4 tablespoons. However, I updated the recipe to actually include 100 g of butter for a more wet topping that will turn crispier! So that would be a little less than half a cup.