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Today we made Apple Cranberry Crisp with vanilla ice cream(no we didn’t make the ice cream) for our New Year’s Day dessert.  It’s one of Matt’s top 3 favorite desserts.

For the first 6 months of this pregnancy I didn’t enjoy the taste of chocolate, which secretly delighted matt. Instead of constantly craving chocolate everything, for almost one half of a year, I discovered other flavors!

Even though the chocolate appreciation is kicking back into full gear, I still have quite the love for fruit crisp myself.

This is great leftover on oatmeal the next morning.  Thanks, Shannon, for a recipe that keeps on providing such joy for the family!

Fruit Crisp

• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup oats
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1/2 cup pecans, chopped
• 5 cups fresh or frozen fruit, sweetened to taste

Place fruit in greased 9x 13 pan.  Mix other ingredients together and sprinkle over fruit.  Bake at 400 for 40 minutes.

Aimee’s Notes: Whole wheat flour works fine in this recipe, tonight I used half whole wheat, half white.  I often make only a half recipe when it’s just our family on a weeknight.  Apples and cranberries are delicious but the possibilities are endless.  A bag of frozen mixed berries makes a great quick summer dessert.  You can put the fruit in while it’s still frozen.  Vary the nuts based on what you have available. I don’t sweeten the fruit, to me the topping and cooked fruit make it plenty sweet.

This recipe deserves a mouth-watering picture to tempt you into taking the time to make it, but we ate it too quickly to snap any photos!

It’s a little more involved then throwing everything into the crockpot, but in my opinion, it was much better than any stew I’ve made in the slow cooker. The meat just melted in my mouth, and I loved the roasted veggies as an extra layer of flavor. Make it for a saturday or sunday treat. Your husband(or your pregnant wife) will thank you for it.

Ingredients

• 3 tbs vegetable oil of cooking spray, as needed(I used olive oil)
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 4 to 5 pounds beef chuck, trimmed and cut into 1 1/2 inch cubes(I used less than 2 pounds)
• 2 medium yellow onions, cut into 1 inch dice(I used one)
• 4 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
• 1(6 oz) can tomato paste
• 2 tbs all-purpose flour
• 2 tbs soy sauce
• 1(16 oz) can low-sodium chicken broth
• 2 bay leaves
• 6 large red potatoes(I used to white)
• 3 to 4 large carrots
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1/2 tsp dried rosemary
• 1 cup frozen peas, thawed(I used frozen butter beans)

1. Adjust the over racks to fit a Dutch Oven or large covered pot.  Preheat oven to 250 degrees.
2. Heat the vegetable oil in large Dutch oven over medium heat.  Generously salt and pepper the beef.  Brown the meat, in stages, so as not to crowd the pan.
3. Remove browned beef to a plate and add onion to pot.  Cook for 5 min. or  until they start to brown.  Add garlic until fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes.  Add tomato paste, flour, and soy sauce and cook 1 to 2 min.  Add broth and scrape any browned meat bits off the bottom and side of pan.
4. Return beef to pot, add bay leaves, and bring to boil.  Cover pot and place in oven.  Set timer for 6 hours.
5. Chop potatoes and carrots into 1 1/2 inch cubes.  Pile the vegetables into baking dish.  Drizzle with olive oil and herbs, stir to coat.  Cover and place in oven.
6. After 6 hours, remove the meat and vegetables from the oven. Stir peas into stew.  Divide vegetables among bowls. Discard bay leaves and ladle the stew over the vegetables.

I always see recipes for Butternut Squash soup, usually pureed and usually with cream that doesn’t agree with my little boy’s stomach.  So when my friend Ruthie gave me this recipe it seemed like a refreshing change.  Though I confess when I started making it, I was a bit nervous about the outcome-for me or for the rest of the family!

Well, they each took a tentative bite, and then another, and then finished off their bowls, and then asked for seconds!  It’s delicious and it’s SO easy. This is our second time making it in two weeks. No roasting or pureeing and it all goes into the crockpot. Cutting up the squash is the longest step and you can always do that the night before.  Matt and the kids enjoyed it with a dollop of sour cream.

The Recipe

• 1 cup onion, chopped
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp cinammon
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 3 cups Butternut Squash, cubes
• 1 1/2 cups chicken broth
• 19 oz can cannellini beans, drained
• 14 oz can diced tomatoes
• 1 tbs chopped cilantro

Combine in slow cooker.  Cook on high for one hour, then low for 2-3 hours.

Aimee’s notes: I didn’t have onion on hand either time I made the recipe, it still turned out fine.  I used great northern beans instead of cannellini and dried cilantro instead of fresh-thought I’m sure fresh will be great when I have it growing in the yard next summer.