Healthy Strawberry Crumble

If you've been around the old blogaroo for the last few months, you know that Ryan and I have taken on a clean eating journey, largely because I had reached the point where I had to do something about my weight, as much for the sake of my mental well-being as my physical state. We started our journey on November 30th...so just short of five months ago, and in that time, I've lost 23.8 pounds. It has taken a complete change in eating, an even more drastic change in exercise, and the unwavering support of my husband to achieve that accomplishment.

His support has been key, because as stubborn as I am - and that is VERY stubborn - there are times when I just cannot. I don't care, I want to quit, and the only thing that will make me feel better in that moment is a Blizzard. Or a Frosty. Or a Coke. {The list goes on.} Ryan has become quite adept at recognizing when I'm just weak and need to be grounded from dessert {that happened this week} and when the situation is really dire and he needs to get in the car and go GET the Blizzard. {That has only happened once, but he went on the double}.

He eats all the clean eating stuff with me, and while he does indulge in more treats than I do {because you can do that when you're naturally blessed with a six pack}, his support in the day-in-day-out food choices made all the difference for me.

But bless his heart, he deserves treats. And I like them, too. I know that if I deprive myself of dessert, I will quit this journey. So I've been working to find recipes that are truly tasty {not diet-y tasty} and yet are much better for you than the aforementioned Blizzard.

And I found today's recipe here. I've made a few adjustments to it to better suit our tastes, and Ryan adores this dish. I do too. {And so did the student shadowing Ryan who ate with us the first time I made this.}

Healthy Strawberry Crumble

* 1 cup oats
* 3/4 cup oat flour
* 1/3 cup brown sugar
* 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
* pinch of salt
* 6 Tablespoons melted coconut oil
* 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
* 1 Tablespoon baking Stevia {or similar sugar}
* 2 cups washed and diced strawberries

Optional Glaze:

* 1/2 cup powdered sugar
* 1 teaspoon vanilla
* 1 Tablespoon milk

In a bowl, combine oats, oat flour, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt. Add melted coconut oil and stir until crumbly. Press about 3/4 of the mixture into the bottom of an 8x8 pan lined with parchment paper {or sprayed well}. Place strawberries on top of crust mixture, pour lemon juice over them and sprinkle Steveia on top. Sprinkle the rest of the crumb mixture over the top and bake at 375 for 35 minutes. Allow the dish to cool and then whisk together the optional glaze and drizzle it over the top. Serve warm or room temperature!

A Few Tips:

* In the original recipe, she used regular flour instead of oat flour. In some dishes, substituting oat flour changes the consistency. I did not notice that happening in this one. {The first time I made it, I used regular flour, so I do have a frame of reference.} But you could easily swap in your regular flour for this if you prefer.

* If you are unfamiliar with oat flour, it's actually very inexpensive and easy to make at home! Just take regular oats and put them in a food processor or really good blender and run it until the oats become very fine, like flour.

* I use quick oats for everything. Her original recipe called for old fashioned oats, but I used quick and it worked just fine.

* The original recipe also called for nutmeg in place of cinnamon. I don't like nutmeg, so that's why I swapped them out. If you prefer nutmeg or want a bit of both, you can certainly do that!

* If you don't have coconut oil or don't like using it to cook, you can swap butter in for it in this recipe.

* The original recipe also called for granulated sugar in place of baking Stevia, so if you don't have Stevia, you can use regular sugar. I actually used a little less than a full Tablespoon, but if you are used to your strawberry dishes being very sweet, you'll want the whole amount.

* Parchment paper sometimes makes me crazy, and if you don't have any, this would work fine just baked in a pan. Parchment paper just helps the cutting and serving {and cleaning the pan!} go faster.

* If the dish is warm when you pour the glaze over it, it will sink down in and you'll never know it's there. If you wait until it cools, it shows up on top. If you don't want the extra sugar, you can eliminate that part entirely.

* We prefer eating this warm, and I know if we had any in the house, Ryan would prefer it with ice cream on top! :)

* I used to make cherry and apple crisps often, and this tastes very much like those. So it really is tasty, doesn't taste healthy/diet-y, and is a good dessert to have around!