Crumbling with love!

Ah this ridiculous cold has made me want to BAKE BAKE BAKE-

So I went with Kelly Rudnicki's vegan staple of French Puff Muffins. When presented at Fakesgiving 2009 it was met with lots of love! Check out her book Vegan Baking Classics!

Kelly has really whipped some Chicagoland advocacy butt! Check out her posts on her blog about the recent policies (or lack thereof) in Gurnee and surrounding areas: http://www.foodallergymama.com/

This time around, turbinado sugar from Trader Joe's made for a delicious crusty topping...

gluten free (with apple peel and walnuts):
with brown sugar, spelt, and oatmeal:

I also decided to use Sophie Dahl's Voluptuous Cooking for her blackberry apple crumble! (pics above) I AM OBSESSED with this woman's work! I first heard about her in this article from Food and Wine. She makes you want to start saying that you "fancy" your man, and that strawberries are "bloody delicious!"

I had a delicious crumble in individual containers at the Spring St. Natural Restaurant in Soho, so I thought I would adapt Ms. Dahl's recipe to make it myself!

The recipe is originally for a pie dish, but I love ramekins so much that I went to Crate and Barrel and bought their tall ramekins (10 oz). So I used about 5-7 oz of my mixed fruit in each cup, but the baking at 400 degrees for 30 minutes still made it come out perfectly!

Some alternatives:

using margarine instead of butter for the topping makes it vegan

I sliced apple peel and mixed it with walnuts, so my wonderful gluten-free roommate could try the dish without worry for the spelt or oatmeal!

I used brown sugar, but to make it low-glycemic, I would use some blue agave to keep it's delicious warmth.

Try your own mix of fruits for this!

I think for Valentine's Day I might try it with fresh strawberries! ;)

I had the fortunate opportunity to meet Kris Carr at the Barnes and Noble on 82/Broadway, the beautiful and Crazy Sexy Diet author who talks about green juice and loving yourself!

I have been making juice with cucumber, apple, and lemon. DELICIOUS! Truly goes to show that natural foods make you feel wonderful!

Speaking of wonderful: A shoutout to my sister! :) Allison, I love you so much and I AM SO PROUD OF YOU! This genius is doing the creative writing program at Northwestern, and is really kicking up her brunch skills. Maybe I can get this awesome chica to guest blog!

Ok yuppies! Start baking!