Fruit Crisp for Two

What a weekend! It was equal parts active and hibernating with a double scoop of food lovin’. This big baby in my belly, who we’re calling Bug, went with me to yoga. Of course you have to follow up exercise with a huge brunch – hey, I don’t make the rules. I ate my entire plate of biscuits and gravy, plus half of Jay’s stack of pancakes.

Later that night I pulled out my copy of the Art of Simple Cooking from the shelf and had Alice Waters tell me how to make beef stew. I mostly listened to her, but cut some corners to make it in an hour instead of 3+. I again stuffed myself with a huge bowl and some fantastic crust bread.

There was a big break through for me this weekend: I can make a fruit crisp dessert for just two people? Whoa momma, get ready – here’s my basic recipe:

• In a small bowl, mix together 3 T. oatmeal, 3 T. brown sugar, 2 T. flour
• Add spices to your taste. For apple, I mixed about 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, 1/4 tsp. clove and a heavy dash of nutmeg. For pear, I use 1/2 tsp. ginger, 1/2 tsp. cinnamon and about 1/4 tsp cardamom.
• Using your fingers, mixed in about 1 T. butter
• Cut up 1-2 large pieces of fruit into a small baking dish, or layer fresh berries about 3/4 of the way up the baking dish. For a two person serving, I use my little 7″ x 5″ Le Creuset baking dish.
• Sprinkle on crumble mixture and top with 2 T. chopped nuts
• Bake at 350 degrees for about 25-30 minutes, less if you’re cooking berries. You want the top to be brown and the fruit to be cut through.
• Throw a big scoop of vanilla ice cream on your dish with half the crisp. Inhale and lick the plate.

I don’t have a picture of the finished product because, hey, I’m pregnant. You think a pregnant lady can wait to eat her crisp? Not this one anyway. The first night we used two big baking apples and the next two hard, but ripe, fall pears. I think this may add five more pounds to my ever growing belly, but Bug can thank me later.