Apple Pear Crumble

Keeping with the fall season theme of my past few posts, I present to you the tastiest dessert chock-full of my favorite fall-time fruits: apples and pears!

For this oat and almond based crumble, I used organic Golden Delicious apples and organic Bartlett pears. Sooooo tasty! 

For the crust/base, I used a mixture of oats, oat flour, and almond meal. I'm sure you could substitute another kind of nut for the almonds, like pecan, hazelnut, etc. 


What you'll need:
adapted from Gluten Free Hope's Maple Peach Crumble

• 3 organic apples, sliced thinly
• 1-2 pears, peeled, sliced

• 1/2 cup almond meal (I just put 1/2 cup almonds in the food processor and pulsed until coarsely ground)
• 1/2 cup GF oats
• 1/2 cup GF oat flour
• 1/4 cup brown rice flour
• 1/4 cup tapioca starch/flour
• 1/2 cup sucanat
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. sea salt
• 1 tsp. cinnamon, plus extra for sprinklin'
• 1 Tbsp. flax meal
• 1/2 cup vegan butter, Earth Balance, melted
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 Tbsp. coconut oil (or more butter)
• Poured over top: 
• 1/4 cup apple juice
• 3 Tbsp. maple syrup

Oat and almond base.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 

1. Mix all dry ingredients together in large bowl. 
2. Melt vegan butter in microwave, then add 1 tsp. vanilla, stir.
3. Add the melted butter to the dry ingredients, along with the coconut oil. Press into bottom of a lined 9x9 inch pan. 
4. Take your sliced fruits and arrange them however you like on top of the base. 
5. Now, mix the apple juice and maple syrup together. Pour over the top of apples and pears. Sprinkle with more cinnamon!
6. Bake in preheated oven for 35-40 minutes. 

*** Serve with coconut ice cream, or eat as is! ***

Vegan Baked Beans

On those nights when I'm feeling too tired to cook a meal, we usually eat canned baked beans with some of those frozen waffle fries and steamed broccoli. Suuuuper healthy, I know (sarcasm)! So I thought I'd try making some of my own baked beans, here at home, with no can in sight (except for the tomato paste can, hehe). It is definitely a lengthy process, mainly if you're using dried beans, which I did. It is also wayyyy cheaper to go the dried bean route. However, you can use canned beans for this recipe as well (I haven't actually tried it out myself yet, though, so don't hold me to it)!

If using dried beans: 1.5 cups dried northern white  or navy beans

Not sure which bean is which? Check out this handy little bean guide.


The Night Before you plan to make the beans…

Rinse your dried beans under water just to make sure they’re extra clean. 

Now, place them in a large glass bowl and cover them with filtered water. Place in fridge overnight. The next day, rinse the beans and drain.

Now, bring a large pot of water to a boil along with the soaked beans. Once at a boil, cover, and reduce heat to med-low for about 45 minutes, stirring occasionally, until beans are mostly cooked. Drain, transfer to large baking dish.

If using canned beans:

       3 cans white northern beans or navy beans

       (each can has about 1.5 cups of beans I believe)

The rest of the ingredients:

1 large onion, chopped

¼ cup maple syrup

2 Tbsp. brown sugar

2 Tbsp. molasses

4 Tbsp. tomato paste, mixed with 3/4  cup water

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. dry mustard powder

½ tsp. cumin

1/4 tsp. black pepper

¼ tsp. nutmeg

¼ tsp. cinnamon

2 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar

2 cloves garlic, minced

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Stir the tomato paste mixture, maple syrup, brown sugar, molasses, salt, pepper, and other spices together in small bowl and set aside.

In large baking dish (where the beans should be right now!) add the sauce mix and the chopped onion. Mix until well-combined. Cover dish with tin foil and bake in preheated oven for 2-3 hours. Stirring occasionally. Remove cover and cook an additional 20 minutes. Add water if beans begin to look dry.