Hot and Cold Sweet Treats

This weekend, along with the Patty Melt's (this post), I also made a few other things.  The first being a Berry Crumble.  For this crumble, I used a combination of strawberries and rhubarb.  I got the strawberries yesterday from the Carp Farmer's Market, at the McGregor's stand.  I also got the rhubarb from there, but earlier this summer (so it has been hanging out in the freezer).

This crumble is a gluten free dessert.  Using brown rice flour and oatmeal in the topping.  Generally, a crumble has both white sugar to sweeten up the fruit (especially that tart rhubarb) and brown sugar to sweeten up the oatmeal and flour topping.  But for this lovely version, raw honey is used to both sweeten the fruit and the topping.  (Though some say it could have been sweeter.)  I think it was sweet enough and let the flavour of the fruit come through.  And is also good for breakfast...I kid you not....really it is just cereal and fruit with some honey and spices.  I bet some breakfast cereals aren't even near this healthy.  Coconut oil has been used rather than butter for the topping.  And this one contains all natural sugars in the form of fruit and raw honey.
Raw honey has been reported to be healthier for us.  Here's an interesting post about its benefits.

Super simple recipe to pull together.  Use your favourite fruits or whatever is in season or in your freezer.  I can't wait to try it with apples.

Topping gets crumbled over fruit filling.

A great dessert to make for Sunday dinner.  It can bake while you're eating dinner and will be cooled down by the time the table is cleared, the dishes are put in the dishwasher and the lights are turned off in the kitchen.  Then it is time to sit with a cup of tea and a dish of yum (otherwise known as a crumble).

The only naughty bit of the dessert, is the whipped cream (made with a few tablespoons of vanilla infused sugar....white sugar).  Oh the evils of sugar (says she who bakes with it...regularly).  Heehee
Sugar is the perfect segue for the next thing I made....or perhaps cream was the perfect segue?! 

Guiness Milk Chocolate Ice Cream by David Lebovitz.  Yeah....I made ice cream again.  Third time is the charm....no lucky charms just the luck of the Irish with a hit of Guiness Stout in this ice cream.  Hells ya!  This is my third batch of ice cream, not my third time trying this one, btw. 
Ice cream is seriously easy to make and I'm so glad I bought this book.  (Which does contain this ice cream recipe.) 

Make haste to the freezer my dear!

I am giggling to myself, making both a super healthy dessert and an ice cream.  But then again, I did also buy both of these books (see below) on the same day. (true story)  I like to believe that makes me complex....or is it conflicted?  Both books give me great pleasure, both in reading and in preparing the recipes inside said books.  I highly recommend both of them. 

Meghan Telpner's Undiet book is a great read. (As is her website.)  She shows us the good and bad of what we consume and how to get more 'real' with the foods we eat.  I love that it isn't a diet book, but rather lifestyle changes to better ourselves and our planet.  (To make us think before we eat.)  Common sense we sometimes forget for convenience sake.  Please note, I am also reading this book and it has really made me think about how and what we buy at the grocery store. 

David Lebovitz's Perfect Scoop book is essential (period).  Anyone interested in making some great ice cream at home really needs this book.  Of course, some of the recipes can be found on David Lebovitz's website, as well as many other interesting things.  I love reading his posts, especially the ones about his travel adventures and his adventures living in Paris. 


But now I must go....we have to exorcise some demons from our dear sweet Willow.