52 New Foods: Week 10, Gluten-Free Fruit and Berry Crisp March 14 2012, 0 Comments

Can gluten-free be tasty? Oh yes! This delectable gluten-free fruit and berry crisp will have your kids licking the bowl and screaming for seconds!

The recent popularity of gluten-free recipes is hard to ignore. At every turn, I seem to find a new gluten-free product – gluten-free pastas, gluten-free pizza dough, gluten-free bakeries, even gluten-free options on our school lunch menu. But my first meeting with these gluten-free goodies was less than stellar. I certainly wasn’t going back for more! Without a driving dietary need to be gluten-free why would I make the switch?

Then I met Amy, The Family Chef. She’s taken on gluten-free with gusto and created a tasty lineup of simple to cook recipes that make it hard to tell the difference. I found my kids singing, “Beat’s me – is it really gluten-free?”

Feature Recipe: Gluten-Free Fruit and Berry Crisp from The Family Chef

Bubbling over with peaches and blueberries and topped with a deliciously crunchy cinnamon oat topping, it was hard to wait for dessert to try our recipe of the week: Gluten-Free Fruit and Berry Crisp from The Family Chef. It was delicious and nearly impossible to tell that it was gluten-free. Here’s how we made our version:

Topping:
1/2 cup gluten-free flour mix*
1/3 cup gluten-free oats*
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
6 Tbsp melted butter
*You can use regular oats and flour if you’re not making the gluten-free version.

Filling:
2 cups sliced peaches*
2 cups blueberries*
½ cup sugar
2 Tbsp cornstarch
*You can use whatever fruit you’ve got in your kitchen. We used frozen peaches and blueberries.

Directions:

1)   Preheat the oven to 375°.

2)   Lightly grease a deep pie dish.

3)   Make the topping and set aside.

4)   Mix the fruit, sugar and flour. Transfer to the pie dish and cover evenly with the topping.

5)   Bake about 25 minutes, or until the top is well browned and the fruit is bubbling.

6)   Serve with or without vanilla ice cream. Enjoy!
 
Crunch a Color Kids Vote: Can we make another?

What we liked: This recipe is beautifully flexible. You can make it gluten-free or not – either way it’s a colorful, tasty treat. You can use whatever fresh or frozen fruits you have in your fridge. You can dial up or down on the sugar and butter to suit your needs. The recipe is easy enough for your kids to make and it’s tasty enough for the whole family to enjoy. Bonus points all around!   

Do you have a favorite gluten-free recipe? Share ‘em!

Next up: Whole Wheat Pancakes

Who doesn’t love pancakes? The ultimate comfort food, pancakes are a regular on our weekend menu. Is there a healthier version of these hot cakes? Join us next week when we test-drive Jamie Oliver’s Whole Wheat Pancakes. Who’s coming to our house for breakfast?

Craving more new recipes to try? Catch up on last week’s recipe: Wild Salmon with Basil Aioli and Quinoa.

About the author: Jennifer Tyler Lee is a mom of two children and the creator of Crunch a Color™ -- the award-winning game that makes healthy eating fun. Like most parents, she struggled to get her kids to eat healthy, balanced meals, so she decided to make it into a healthy eating game and she’s giving back to support Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution, FoodCorps, and Alice Water’s Edible Schoolyard. Watch her picky eaters tell the story of how they turned into healthy eaters playing the game. Follow @crunchacolor on Facebook or Twitter to tune into Crunch a Color's healthy eating adventure and Jennifer’s tips and kid-friendly, easy recipes.