As soon as June sets in, I am thinking of strawberries! And getting them fresh from the local farms! Although picking had started a couple weeks ago, I have been so busy with my nutritional coaching and my speaking engagements that I had not been able to go to the farms yet. Until today that is. Today was a gorgeous, gorgeous day and I am really glad that I am writing this post so I can document this beautiful day. Because seriously, the weather was just fabulous and my husband and I decided to go hiking to a nature preserve very close to our home. This place is just so serene and beautiful that words cannot describe the beauty there! So I am sharing pictures so you can see it for yourself! This preserve is located in our town of Glastonbury, CT. 
It is perfect for nature lovers like me who love nature but cannot do heavy duty trekking – its not too rough and with a little bit of help from my husband in some places, I managed just fine! It has a couple waterfalls and the sound of that is so calming and has an almost meditative effect.
Anyways, so on our way back from the park, we stopped in at the farm and picked up some fresh strawberries. They also had fresh rhubarb and I picked those up too! I had invited my next door neighbor over for dinner and so making some dessert with strawberries and rhubarb only seemed natural! I wanted to make something that was quick and easy and not too complicated. Plus I thought of making it grain free so we all could have the same dessert instead of making two different versions as I usually do. 
I immediately thought of a crisp since I had seen a couple ‘paleo crisp’ recipes lately posted by my fellow paleo bloggers. One that looked super gorgeous was from Michelle of Unbound Wellness whose blog is filled with all kinds of healthy and delicious recipes. And then there was another one that caught my eye which was from ‘Texanerin’ .
They both looked delicious. In the end, because of what I had in hand (I don’t use tiger nut flour much since I think it makes me gassy) and because I really like the flavor of coconut flour in my crust, I made a modified version of ‘Texanerin’‘s crust recipe varying up the quantities of the crust ingredients. I also did not want my crumble/crisp texture to be too dense so I used less cassava flour than her recipe.
Well, the crisp came out perfect and it was a breeze to make too since you just dump all the filling ingredients into the pie dish and there is no need to precook it.! I used my 9 inch round glass pie dish but I think you could easily use an 8 inch pie dish also for this recipe since my 9 inch dish still had room in it. The crisp was super yum as it is and no one wanted ice cream on top! Now that’s dessert done ‘right’, right? … and what a perfectly delicious end to a gorgeous day 🙂
- 4 cups Strawberries,sliced
- 2 cups, Rhubarb cut into ½ inches
- 2 tbsp arrowroot flour(starch)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract (use alcohol free for AIP)
- 1 tbsp maple syrup (I always use less sweetener, you can use more if you like)
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- ¼ tsp sea salt
- ¼ cup plus 2 tbsp cassava flour
- ¼ cup plus 2 tbsp coconut flour
- 2 tbsp arrowroot flour
- ½ cup shredded coconut
- ½ cup coconut oil (melted)
- 2 tbsp maple syrup
- ¼ tsp sea salt
- 1 tsp vanilla extract (use alcohol free for AIP)
- Pre heat oven to 350 F.
- Take a 8 inch or 9 inch dia round pie dish. Add all the filling ingredients to a mixing bowl and mix lightly using a spoon to make sure the arrow starch is uniformly distributed. Dump all the filling into the pie dish.
- Take another dry mixing bowl and add all the crumble topping ingredients. Stir using a fork to mix. The mixture should be wet but crumbly. If its too wet add a bit more shredded coconut. Now using your hands, crumble the topping onto the pie dish over the filling in order to cover the entire filling.
- Place dish in the oven and bake for about 20-22 mins or until the crust turns golden brown and crisp.
- Serve crisp warm!
