Monday's Menu {APPLE CRISP-with Dairy Free Option}

Have I told you like a million times that my hubby is allergic to dairy? Well between that and my youngens being CRAZY PICKY I totally lost my drive for cooking. It kinda stinks to spend your time cooking a fabulous dinner and then sit down to 2 kids bawlin about whatever little thing they find totally disgusting about what I just made and a "Sorry babe" because apparently an ingredient I used has dairy. I eat alone. Thinking I would have been just fine with my time back and a bowl of Cheerios!

Now that Ryan has FOR SURE sworn off dairy I have decided to see it as a challenge that I want to find a way around. I mean, this can't be pleasant for my poor hubby. I mean, I can't tell you how many times we have been somewhere and there is not one single thing he can eat because everything has butter or milk in it. Poor guy! Well, I have decided I am going to rise to the occasion and figure out a way to bring a bit of joy...in the form of food, back into his life! As for the kids....meh, they will just have to figure it out. I mean, it's not like I am offering them liver and canned spinach for the love of pete! I'm sure they will grow out of it.....RIGHT?!

This last week I made Honey Oat muffins totally dairy free and then surprised my hubby with TAPIOCA PUDDING! This is one of his favorite things in the world. He has had to say goodbye...until now! Puddings need dairy to set up....well, dairy or COCONUT MILK! And we can TOTALLY do coconut milk. Well, the twinkle in his eye as he enjoyed his long lost fave inspired me to bring back around another one of his favorite things in this world.......APPLE CRISP! Totally dairy free! Even the whip cream! Oh you should have seen his glazed over eyes as he devoured this! It is such a delicious recipe! I just had to share it with you. And since not everyone is tortured by the dairy limitations, I will give you the with dairy version with the dairy free exchanges. ENJOY!

APPLE CRISP

First I enlisted the help of one of the best little helpers EVER! Who knew the girl loved to cook so much?! She spent the next couple of days thinking up things we should bake. I love that almost every recipe title was proceeded with "Dairy Free"! :) "Dairy Free Brownies", "Dairy Free Apple Pie", Dairy Free Bed Cake with an Ice Cream Filling"...you should have heard the explanation for THAT recipe! :) She would even ask stuff like, "Are we going to bake this?" If I said yes, she would then add "And add Baking Soda, Baking Powder & Salt" to each of the recipes. I guess she was paying attention while we were cooking this! :)

We pulled out my Pampered Chef Apple Corer, slicer, thingy. Mal LOVED it!

I loved that it cut the prep time down a TON!

I sliced each stack of rings in half and placed them in a bowl. You will need 8 cups of apples. Mixing types is good. Look for the tart and juicy types. These apples are sliced super thin. If you want yours a little thicker, have at it. Ryan's least favorite part in Apple Crisp is the apples....WEIRD! Slicing them this thin made it PERFECT! He even ate all the apples! Apparently this is the trick!

In a large bowl combine:

8 cups sliced apples

1/3 c. Sugar 

1 tsp cinnamon

Spread evenly in a 9x13 pan.

In a separate bowl combine:

2 c. flour

2 c. Oatmeal

2 c. Brown Sugar

1/2 tsp Baking Soda

1/2 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Salt

Cut in 1 3/4 c. Butter with a fork.

(Wait....did I mention this recipe is LOADED with butter and sugar. Oh yeah, it is. It isn't an every night sort of dessert)

{DAIRY FREE OPTION: I used "Best Life Buttery Baking Sticks" they are dairy free and pretty decent, as far as dairy free butters go. We used to use Nucoa, then I realized that it is HORRIBLE! Best Life is the best option I have found so far}

Once your butter is cut in, it should look sort of like this.

Then you spread it evenly over the top of the apples so it looks like this:

Bake at 350 for 45 min.

Top with ice cream or whipped cream and a drizzle of caramel.

{DAIRY FREE OPTION: Open a can of coconut milk. Spoon the solids off of the top out of the can and into a bowl. Mix with beaters on high until it is the right consistency. You are going to want to add a little vanilla & sugar to taste. I also added just a sprinkle of cinnamon and nutmeg. Nutmeg in anything creamy makes your heart sing! So yum!}