snack happy: raw apple crisp

Last week, I shared this recipe on raw granola.

It's the foundation for several recipes I'll share over the next couple of weeks. Recipes designed to help fight the temptation to reach for something sugary and to fill you up with whole food, God-given goodness.

First up: an apple crisp makeover.

As desserts go, traditional apple crisp is on the healthier end of the scale. After all, it's chock full of the fruit that claims to keep the doctor away. However, the topping, and sometimes the filling, contains a lot of sugar.

In this raw version, the raw granola mimics the flavors and sweetness of the crisp topping and the cinnamon and raisins in the filling add extra zing and sweetness. It's so good, I've started eating it at breakfast.As a snack, it's filling and sweet-tooth satisfying - crunching your way through all that apply goodness should convince your brain and belly that you've had plenty to eat. 

Hungry? Here's the recipe for a single serving but it's easily doubled, tripled, quadrupled...

Raw Apple Crisp
1 apple(your favorite variety)
1-2 heaping spoonfuls raw granola (recipe here)
cinnamon to taste
raisins (optional)

Roughly dice apple and sprinkle with cinnamon. Add raisins to taste and spoon on the raw granola.

3-ingredient raw granola with gluten-free option

I remember going grocery shopping with my Nan in my younger adult years. I reached for granola and she commented on the sugar content in said box of granola. My response?

"It doesn't matter."

Oh, the folly of youth! And how our elders must smile when we begin to preach their wisdom right back at 'em.

Because I'm learning how much sugar does indeed matter and how it adversely affects our bodies, I'm looking for tasty ways to cut it out of my diet as much as possible. Doing a sugar fast for at least one month is one sure way of breaking the sugar addiction, but at some point, sugar begins to creep back into a diet, especially during holidays, special occasions, when you are with other people...I've concluded that unless you are a hermit, interact exclusively with fellow sugar-shunners, or delivered of the sugar-temptation by God, the desire to eat something sweet will, at some point, present itself.
 
So how to resist the urge to incorporate sugar back into your daily diet? Find sweet alternatives (although if you really struggle with sugar addiction, asking God for help is the only sure-fire way to beat it).

I created the following recipe for raw granola as part of a snack experiment (snack recipes to follow next week). It's quick, easy and versatile and I've included some ideas for flavor alternatives which I've not tested yet, so you're on your own there.

Without further ado...

1-2-3 Raw Granola
1 c raw pecans
1/2 c. date paste
1 c. old fashioned oats, organic is best, gluten-free if needed

Yield: About 2 cups
 
1. Place pecans in a food processor and blend until the nuts stick together (it becomes pecan butter). This may take about 5 minutes.
2. Add date paste and process until combined.
3. Add oats and process until just combined. Store in an airtight jar in the fridge for up to one week.    

Taste options: While processing, add cinnamon or another favorite spice (start with 1/4 tsp and add more to taste) or try vanilla. After processing, stir in coconut, raisins, sunflower seeds, cranberries, raw pumpkin seeds or other dried fruit or nuts.