#TrainWithGrains DOUBLE DIGEST! No Sweat Apple Crisp & Savoury Oatmeal
This year we’re teaming up with the Canada Running Series to bring you the best pre- and post-run recipes to fuel your marathon training! Each week we’ll feature a new and unique recipe from one of our CRS Community Leader Ambassadors. This week features TWO RECIPES, one from Andrew Chak and another from Karen Kwan. Do you have a recipe you’d like to share? Share a photo on Twitter or Instagram using the hashtag #TrainWithGrains for your chance to win a “Good in Every Grain” Prize Pack valued at $50!
Andrew Chak: No Sweat Apple Crisp
As runners, we often work up enough sweat on our own so it’s great to find solutions that make the other parts of our lives just a little bit easier. When it comes to a nutritious snack, I’m thankful for what my wife can whip up to feed a hungry marathoner and three growing boys.
Over the years, she has made us a dish of “no sweat apple crisp” that has the taste of apple pie with much less effort. Feel free to adjust the sugar content to your liking. Enjoy!
Ingredients
- 5 cups of apples – washed, peeled and sliced
- 2 tbsp. brown sugar to coat the apples
- 1/2 cup brown sugar for the crisp
- 1/2 cup rolled oats
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
- 1 tbsp. of crunchy flax cereal for some extra oomph in the crisp
- 1/3 cup butter – softened
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Place the sliced apples into a baking dish. Add 2 tbsp. brown sugar and mix with the apples to coat them.
- Pour the brown sugar, rolled oats, all-purpose flour, cinnamon, and crunch flax cereal into a mixing bowl. Grab a fork and imagine yourself doing track repeats in the bowl as you mix the ingredients together.
- Mix in the softened butter until it is nice and crumbly.
- Sprinkle the crumbly mix over the apples.
- Bake uncovered for 30 minutes or until the fruit is tender.
- Fight every urge to start munching down the crumble until it at least cools down a bit.
Karen Kwan: Savoury Oatmeal
I’m in training for a marathon about 45 weeks out of the year for the past five years. And I’ve been called a machine by many people. I actually use this idea of being a machine to help me during a run; I try to really think of myself as a machine, one that can keep on keepin’ on without feeling any of the agony and pain marathon training can entail. I’ll likely be thinking of this next weekend when I’m running the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon as I work towards my summer of sweat #keepsweating goal.
To keep this machine performing well for training and racing, grains are key part of my diet. Healthy whole grains help the body to recover from a tough workout and they help provide the energy our muscles need to get through the training (whether it’s speed work on a track or an easy recovery run) or the 42.2 kilometres of the big race day.
Another great aspect of whole grains? They will have you feeling full so I’m a fan of having a bowl of steel-cut oats for breakfasts, and especially so before a morning run. And while I’ve been eating it simply (usually with just a touch of honey and a small handful of nuts), I’ve started trying it as a savoury dish.
With a splash of soy sauce and chopped scallions, it reminds me a lot of congee (that soupy rice that’s a comfort food I grew up with). Thanks Mark Bittman for the idea. Post-run, I have more time to cook so one of my new favourite savoury ways to eat my steel-cut oats is topped with some crumbled bacon, avocado and a fried or poached egg (I finally tried poaching eggs using a mesh strainer and, yay, success!) and some chopped chives and sriracha. I think it’d also be delicious with some caramelized onions and a soft-boiled egg, and maybe even some blue cheese, hello, stinky but yummy breakfast bowl!
Whether you’re just kickstarting a new workout routine or are a fitness buff, #trainwithgrains and you’ll have the fuel and improved recovery your body needs to perform at its best. Want to add this to your diet! Well…I can help you with that!