What I'm Reading And Eating: Bowl + Spoon

Sometimes a hearty bowl of delicious, seasonal flavors is exactly what I crave.  A trip to the farmer's market always lends the perfect ingredients.  Ripe tomatoes, basil, and fresh mozzarella in the summer; savory butternut squash, kale, and smoked sausage in the fall.  The thing I love about bowls is that no recipe is needed.  A little of this, a little of that...the more colors and flavors, the better!  Bowls are the perfect way to make a "pantry clean out" meal feel indulgent.

It's no secret that bowls are a favorite in our house.  This power bowl was a staple for us all fall and Shakeology/Acai bowls (similar to this books's tropical smoothie bowl!) are a summer morning favorite.  When I saw The Sprouted Kitchen's new cookbook, Bowl + Spoon, I knew that I had to check it out.  First of all, the cookbook is gorgeous.  I am a sucker for beautiful food photography and this book does not disappoint.  While some of the recipes were a little different than our tastes, I loved the emphasis on using excellent ingredients to make uncomplicated, delicious food.  There are so many recipes that I cannot wait to adjust and cater to our tastes.

The book is broken up into sections : morning bowls, side bowls, sweet bowls and the recipe I am going to share can probably fit into both the morning and sweet bowl category (although it is listed as a morning recipe!)

Flourless Stone Fruit Breakfast Crumble
Serves 6

I’m tucking this into the breakfast chapter because it’s a pretty virtuous crumble that could also pass as dessert with the right crowd. It’s loads of lightly maple-sweetened fresh fruit and the crumble is gluten- and dairy-free, keeping your whole bowl tasting rather light. As dessert, I top it with coconut sorbet; but for a morning bowl, a hearty dollop of goat’s milk yogurt is a repeat favorite. You can find quinoa flakes online or at health food stores near the oats or whole grains. They are a great wheat-free, high-protein product that can be cooked into a breakfast cereal or adapted into some baked good recipes. If you cannot find them, give quick rolled oats a blitz in the food processor to get a very coarse-ground oat flour that works here as well. I spice this with vanilla, but if you are partial to cardamom, I really like a pinch of that in with the filling as well.

Ingredients
2½ pounds assorted stone fruit
(nectarines, peaches, plums, cherries)
2 tablespoons orange juice
3 tablespoons coconut sugar or natural cane sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 vanilla bean, or ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon sea salt

Crumble
1 cup quinoa flakes or coarse oat flour
1 cup almond meal
½ cup slivered almonds
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon sea salt
⅓ cup maple syrup
⅓ cup coconut oil, just warmed to a liquid
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions
Preheat the oven to 375ºF.

Wash, pit, and slice the stone fruit  into 1-inch wedges. Put them in a large mixing bowl, add the orange juice, coconut sugar, cornstarch, vanilla bean seeds, and salt and toss everything to mix.

For the crumble, in a large bowl, combine the quinoa, almond meal, almonds, cinnamon, and salt. Add the maple syrup, coconut oil, and vanilla and mix again.

Pour the fruit mixture into a 2½ quart baking dish or an 8-inch square pan and spread the crumble evenly on top, tucking some into the pockets. Shake the pan a little just to help everything settle. Bake on the middle rack for 30 minutes until the top is crisp and browned. Set aside to cool for at least 15 minutes and enjoy with yogurt or ice cream, as you wish.

I received this book from the Blogging for Books program in exchange for this review but all opinions are my own!