Fruit Crisp

This year our family has an abundance of frozen apples, rhubarb, strawberries, blueberries and mixed fruit. I thought one of the best and easiest ways for our family to consume all this frozen fruit was to make desserts. I don't have a lot of time, so was looking for fast and easy recipes.  I have a Lazy Day Cobbler recipe (which will hopefully make it onto this site eventually). The other fruit dessert I thought would be easy are crisps, but I couldn't find a good "crisp" topping. I have been experimenting and think I have finally come up with something we all enjoy, so I am putting it here for the next time.

Enough fruit to cover the bottom of a 9" x 12" baking pan (can use frozen fruit, but do not use canned fruit)
corn starch (optional)
Topping
1 cup (cold) margarine
1 cup brown sugar
3 cups quick oats
approx. 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon*
*I added ground cloves when I used strawberries and blueberries. You could also use ground allspice or nutmeg, if you like.  Add as much or as little as you like.

Preheat oven to 350°.  Place fruit on bottom of pan.* If using frozen fruit, sprinkle corn starch over the fruit if you do not want a runny crisp.

In separate bowl cut together margarine, brown sugar, oats and cinnamon until it looks crumbly. Evenly spread topping over fruit. Bake approximately 40 minutes or until done.

*If you want a sweeter dessert, you could sprinkle sugar over the fruit. You could also sprinkle cinnamon on the apples.

This crisp was approximately ¾ strawberry/blueberry and ¼ apple. Our kids both asked for 3 helpings after they already ate their supper. I didn't think it was too unhealthy, so I let them. 

Soft Tacos

Our family enjoys eating these as we can each make a custom taco by filling our shell with what we like best. I don't remember when I first thought of doing these. I don't think I ever saw it in a recipe book. I probably got the idea after eating at Taco Time.

Quick Tip: Grate cheese in advance and store in Ziplock bags. To keep from sticking, add corn starch or flour
Quick Tip 2: You can cut your lettuce so that it is shredded and keep it in a Ziplock bag for ease of use. Mine will keep for about a week in the fridge. I find our family will eat more lettuce if it is pre-cut.



1 pound Ground beef
½ Onion (chopped)
2 tablespoons Mexican Spice
*Note: the above amounts are only approximate. You will need to adjust amounts to your taste.

Tomato (chopped)
Green Pepper (sliced or chopped)
Lettuce (shredded)
Cheese (grated)
Salsa
Sour Cream
Tortilla shells

Brown ground beef with chopped onion and Mexican Spice. Place cooked ground beef with remaining ingredients on counter or table. Place tortilla shell on plate. Fill in layers across the widest part of the shell with desired ingredients. (Example: ground beef, cheese, lettuce, tomato, green pepper, salsa, sour cream) Fold in both sides then roll.

You can adjust the fillings to whatever you would like. We often use other coloured peppers than just green. My kids don't put much veggies in their tacos, but I put a lot. You can also make these ahead without lettuce or sour cream and then re-heat in the microwave.

Mexican Spice

Our family enjoys Mexican foods like Soft Tacos and Nachos. I used to buy the packages of spice mix from the store, but one day I thought it would probably be better if I made my own mix so that there wasn't so much sodium as three of us in our family have PKD (polycystic kidney disease). So now I have this recipe which tells me which spices to mix. Since we use it a lot, I buy the spice refill bags. Each spice is one bag (or jar, if it doesn't come in a refill bag). The amounts are what the container from the store says. I guess you could adjust it to your family's taste.

100 g Onion Powder/Salt
100 g Garlic Powder/Salt
85 g Chili Powder
80 g Paprika
50 g Cumin
20 g Oregano Leaves (can use ground oregano)
32 g Red Chili Peppers
approx 1-2 tablespoon(s) Salt (if using onion/garlic powders. Omit if using onion/garlic salt)

Mix all spices well in bowl. Store in airtight container.

These are the packages I used the last time I made this batch of spice. And the bowl I mixed them in.

I store my spice in a Tupperware Modular Mate. It is a long oval 1, which is the perfect size.