Blueberry Crisp Yuletide Dessert!

The wonderful holiday season is upon us!! It's a joyous time to spend time with friends and loved ones, with much hosting done from home. Large, filling, high calorie meals are the norm during the holidays, and dessert can often double the total calorie intake of the meal. Here is a suggestion for a fabulous dessert that is not calorie free by any means, but is at least reasonable at 256 calories per serving. My suggestion is to scale down to a half portion for only 128 calories! Eating a half portion also scales down the carbohydrate count (attenntion, diabetics!) to a very reasonable 24 grams.

This recipe comes from my favorite Canadian chefs Janet and Greta Podleski, from their fabulous cookbook, Eat, Shrink, and Be Merry!

Blueberry Crisp (aka Rhapsody in Blueberry)

Filling:

• 6 cups blueberries (best if fresh)
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tbsp cornstarch
• 2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 2 tsp grated lemon zest

Topping:

• 1 cup quick-cooking rolled oats (not instant)
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1/3 cup lightly packed brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 cup margarine, melted
• 2 tbsp apple juice or orange juice
  

1 cup low fat vanilla yogurt

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 375F. Spray a 9 x 13 inch baking dish with cooking spray. Add blueberries. Sprinkle bueberries with granulated sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Mix well and set aside.

2. To make topping, combine oats, flour, brown sugar, and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Add melted margarine and juice. Using a fork, stir until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle crumb mixture evenly over coated blueberries.

3. Bake for 30 minutes, until blueberries are bubbling around edge of pan and crumb topping is golden brown. Cool for 10 minutes before serving.

4. Serve with a dollop of low fat vanilla yogurt, if desired.


Makes 8 servings. Per serving:

• 256 calories
• 6.9g fat
• 3g protein
• 48g carbohydrate

Divide the above numbers by 2 for half servings (recommended!).

To further cut calories, I'd be interested to see how this recipe turns out with Splenda as a substitute for granulated sugar, and/or Brown Sugar Splenda as a substitution for brown sugar. Try it out, and leave a comment to let our readers know how it turns out!

Happy Holidays!

Dr Sue Pedersen www.drsue.ca © 2010 drsuetalks@gmail.com

Follow me on Twitter for daily tips! @drsuepedersen

Follow me on Facebook: drsue.ca