Gotta Have Food: The Juicy Woman's Fruit Crumble Recipe and More...

I love food. Don’t you? When I first began learning how to listen to my body, I wanted all the things that I had denied myself on a diet. Those were the junk foods, the chips, burgers, fries, candy and all the manufactured goods that I would never let myself have on hand during the week. I only kept them around during a binge and then disposed of them by mouth really quickly. Today I rarely eat convenience foods anymore.

Since I’ve gotten all those mediocre tasting foods out of my system, by stripping the pent up emotion from them using my Mindful and Gentle Eating Technique, I’ve learned to acquire a very discriminating palate. Now those wrapped confections and mass produced ‘goodies’ are either too salty, too sweet, too fatty, too big, too small, too, too, too. You get the idea. I just don’t like them anymore and I’ve gone back to my roots of cooking and baking most of my meals. I like it the way I like it and that’s all there is to it. My family is also pretty happy with the change.

Since I love food so much, and assume that you do too, I’ll be adding a food segment to my newsletter and blog. Today you’ll get a bit of sweetness with my recipe for fruit crumble, next time I’ll share my version of one of my favorite soups, my mother in law, Luz’ Spanish chicken soup. I just made it for the first time on Tuesday and boy is it good!

The following recipe is a variation of what is called an Impossibly Easy French Apple Pie from Betty Crocker’s Bisquick Cookbook. I’ve been working on getting it just right to suit my taste for my Fruit Crumble recipe. In my opinion, it beats the heck out of the Hostess Fruit pies that I used to scarf down. Try it for yourself.

Andrea’s Quick ‘N Easy Fruit Crumble

Make streusel topping (see recipe for streusel topping below ingredients)

Ingredients:

• 1 can of Comstock All fruit pie filling or 1 bag of fresh frozen fruit
• ½ cup Bisquick
• butter, margarine or cooking spray

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees or for high Altitude (3500 to 6500 feet): Heat oven to 375 degrees.
   
2. Grease with cooking spray and butter a glass baking dish measuring 8x8
3. Spread fruit of choice in baking dish.
4. In separate bowl, make streusel topping. (see below for recipe)
5. Combine above ingredients and mix until crumbly, mashing them either with a fork or a  pastry  blender. Work until dough resembles consistency of green peas. You may need to add more butter or margarine to get the desired effect.
6. Sprinkle crumb like mixture over top of fruit in baking dish, covering entire surface of dish.
7. Bake 40-45 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 5-20 minutes depending upon preference.

Streusel Topping

Ingredients:

½ cup Original Bisquick
¼ cup chopped nuts
¼ cup packed dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons firm margarine or butter

Mix bisquick, nuts and brown sugar. Cut in margarine, using fork or pastry blender, until mixture is crumbly.

Notes from Andrea: I prefer using 2 tablespoons of sugar as opposed to the ¼ cup directed. I also adjust the nut according to the fruit. I have tried Comstock cherry filling with pecans and apple filling with walnuts. I prefer the apple or a package of fresh frozen peaches with pecans. I’ve also used frozen blueberries, strawberries, and canned pears with both walnuts or pecans. I have also used a frozen pie crust and lined the bottom with it, cutting it to fit the exact bottom surface or including the sides. That way you get a bottom crust and the streusel topping. Best of both worlds or overkill. You decide!

I enjoy eating a bit of the crumble heated to 350 degrees n the oven for 10 minutes with a scoop of Edy’s Grand French Vanilla ice cream. Yum! Enjoy!