Vegan Peach Crisp

As we say goodbye (unofficially) to yet another beautiful summer, I’m squeezing in every drop of fresh, juicy summer fruit I can find. Like peaches. The apple harvest has already begun, but I’m just not ready to accept that fall is so very close. So, what better transition than Peach Crisp?

A traditionally fall dish made with a summer fruit. Perfection.

While I’m not wild about the title, the book Skinny Bitch by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin was very influential in my decision to go vegan. If you can get past the occasional language, you’ll find a ton of really great (and somewhat shocking and sometimes funny) information. Some interesting excerpts from the book:

“When aspartame is paired with carbs, it causes your brain to slow down its production of serotonin. A healthy level of serotonin is needed to be happy and well-balanced. So drinking soda can make you fat, sick, and unhappy.”  That was enough to make me give up Diet Coke.

“Every time you consume factory-farmed chicken, beef, veal, pork, eggs or dairy, you are eating antibiotics, pesticides, steroids, and hormones.” Um, no thanks.

“Cow’s milk, by design, grows a 90-pound calf into a 2,000-pound cow over the course of two years. It allows calves to double their birth weight in forty-seven days and leaves their four stomachs feeling full. Sounds even more fattening than human milk, right? It is. It should be. Cows are bigger than humans. And the inner workings of their bodies are completely different than ours, which they should be. They are cows. We are humans. Duh.”

“We are the only species on the planet that drinks milk as adults. We are also the only species on the planet that drinks milk of another species.” I didn’t know this!

So what does all that have to do with Peach Crisp? One of the authors of Skinny Bitch, Kim Barnouin, also wrote a cookbook called Skinny Bitch: Ultimate Everyday Cookbook. The Peach Crisp recipe I tested is from that cookbook.

The verdict? Amazeballs. It’s freaking delicious. Hubs gives it five stars, too. While Barnouin and Freedman argue that calories and fat grams don’t matter (only ingredients matter), I can’t bring myself to stop looking at calories and fat grams altogether. And it’s no wonder this dessert is so delicious – a single serving contains 360 calories and 15 grams of fat. But hey, the ingredients are natural ;)

Serves 6

***

Ingredients:

• 6 fresh peaches, peeled, cored and sliced*
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1 cup granola, homemade or store-bought*
• ½ tsp. salt
• Zest of one lemon
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• ½ tsp. ground nutmeg
• ½ cup brown rice syrup
• ⅓ cup coconut oil
• 3 Tbsp. water

Notes

Click here for a great peach peeling trick.
For the granola, I used Nature’s Path Pumpkin Flax Granola.

Instructions

STEP 1
Preheat oven to 350°. Spread the peaches in a 9 x 9-inch baking dish (original recipe says 9 x 13, but I think that’s too big; you could also use 8 x 8).

STEP 2
In a large mixing bowl, combine the oats, granola, salt, lemon zest, cinnamon and nutmeg. Mix until well combined.

STEP 3
In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the brown rice syrup, coconut oil and water.

STEP 4
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix well.

STEP 5
Spoon the mixture evenly over the peaches. Bake for 30 minutes, or until the top of the granola mixture is golden.

Let it cool for a bit before digging in. And it’s quite filling, so a small portion goes a long way. It was just begging for a scoop of vegan vanilla ice cream on top. Now that would be perfection.

Hope you are enjoying the nice long Labor Day Weekend. Farewell, summer. Until next year…

xoxo