Guilt-Free Apple Crisp

*sadly, not my photo. I found it on Allrecipes.com by googling "Apple Crisp". Mine totally looked this good though. I will prove it next time I make it! :)

About a month ago, I had a crazy hankering for apple pie. If you know me IRL, you'll know how bizarre and unlikely that is, given I don't actually like pie, especially apple. But anyway, there I was with no dessert in the house and a bunch of honeycrisp apples on the counter. No way was I attempting to make pie crust from scratch, so I googled until I found this Apple Crisp recipe from Chowhound. It ticked enough of the boxes that I decided to try it.

I have to say up front, however, that I did not actually follow Chowhound's recipe very closely, because it seemed to take what could be a relatively healthy dessert and make it into a relatively unhealthy one in a few steps. So, if you're looking for a LOT of sugar and butter with your apples, use the original. Mine's a little more spartan, but it turns out amazing every time and it's totally easy.

Also, the recipe below makes like 4-6 servings... if you want to make a smaller batch, just use fewer ingredients; you'll have to play around with it a bit to get the amounts right. Sorry, I know that's  not very helpful...

Start by pre-heating your oven to 350F.

What you need:

6 medium honeycrisp apples (I assume this would work with any apple, but I prefer the sweeter, crunchier varieties and honeycrisp is my absolute favorite)
pinch of salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/3 C brown sugar, lightly packed
1/2 C uncooked oats (I used old fashioned)
1-2 Tbsp butter, cold or room temp, plus a little more to grease your dish with

What you do:

Lightly grease an 8x8 glass dish with butter (canola oil or spray would work fine I'm sure).

Peel and cut your apples, either into 1/4" thick slices, or small cubes.

Add cinnamon and salt and toss lightly until apples are coated. Put apples into greased 8x8. Set aside.

In separate bowl, mix together butter, oats, and brown sugar. You may need to add a bit of extra butter; you want your mixture to be a bit like wet sand.

Once you have a consistency you like, spread mixture evenly over top of apples in 8x8 pan.

Bake for 30 minutes, or until the apples are soft and the topping is crunchy(ish).

Cool for a few minutes before serving. Apparently, it's great with whipped cream or ice cream, but I never get that far... I just eat it immediately the way it is.

My Made-Up Shrimp Stir-Fry

*Yes, that is my image, captured on my phone. Not sure the colors are terribly accurate, but it's the best I've got.

My Made-Up Shrimp Stir-Fry

Last night I was in a bit of a pickle. I had to be somewhere at 7 o’clock, I got home later than planned, and I didn’t know when the hubs was going to get home. Thankfully, I had a pound of frozen, deveined, easy-peel shrimp in my freezer. I set that to thaw as soon as I got in the door, and started looking for recipes. I had planned on shrimp for dinner but didn’t have much planned beyond that, and didn’t have time (or ingredients, in some cases) to make any of my more involved shrimp recipes.

So, I winged it, with great results (thank goodness)! I started out using this recipe from A Calculated Whisk, just to make sure I was on the right track. What followed was pure garlicky magic.

What you need:

1lbs raw shrimp, peeled, deveined, tail off, thawed if frozen
2 Tbsp olive oil
2+ tsp minced garlic (I didn't measure that carefully. It was about 2 tsp and it was nice and garlicky.)
Salt & pepper to taste
1/2 tsp smoked paprika or to taste
1 package frozen steamable veggies: I used cauliflower, broccoli, carrots
1/2 C water

What you do: 

• Heat oil in large skillet over medium low heat.
• Add garlic. Sautée until garlic is soft but don't brown, approx 2 minutes.
• Add shrimp, turning heat to medium. Stir to coat with oil and garlic.
• Sprinkle salt, pepper, and paprika evenly over the shrimp.
• Cover and cook for 4 minutes. Do not overcook!
• While cooking the shrimp, put your steamable veggies in the microwave on high.
• After 4 minutes, remove shrimp from skillet and set aside.
• Remove veggies from microwave and toss into skillet. Coat veggies with pan sauce.
• Add 1/2 C water to pan, stirring.
• Cook veggies in skillet, covered, for 2-3 minutes, or until tender.
• Toss shrimp back in, stir it all together while cooking for 1 more minute.

Serve hot. Sprinkle a tiny pinch of Parmesan cheese on each serving if desired.