Apple and Pear Crisp

"I had thought joy to be rather synonymous with happiness, but it seems now to be far less vulnerable than happiness.  Joy seems to be a part of an unconditional wish to live, not holding back because life may not meet our preferences and expectations.  Joy seems to be a function of the willingness to accept the whole, and to show up to meet with whatever is there.  It has a kind of invincibility that attachment to any particular outcome would deny us.  Rather than the warrior who fights toward a specific outcome and therefore is haunted but the specter of failure and disappointment, it is the lover drunk with opportunity to love despite the possibility of loss, the player for whom playing has become more important than winning or losing."

     --Rachel Naomi Remen, Kitchen Table Wisdom

Apple and Pear Crisp
serves 6-8

Filling:

2 medium apples (I used Jonagold and Gala)
2 medium pears
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp arrowroot powder
2 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 TBS raw honey or maple syrup

Crisp:

1 3/4 C rolled oats
3/4 C hazelnuts, roughly chopped
1/4 tsp sea salt
2 TBS almond meal/flour
2 TBS brown rice flour
1/4 C raw honey or maple syrup
5 TBS organic butter (grass fed, if possible)

Preheat oven to 350'.  For filling, combine all ingredients in a medium bowl.  Taste a nibble of apple.  If you used tart apples, you may need to add another tablespoon of honey/maple syrup.  Transfer to a 8 x 8 baking dish.  For crisp, combine oats, hazelnuts, salt, almond flour and brown rice flour in a medium bowl.  Drizzle in honey and add butter.  Mix together with your fingers to form clumps.  Top the fruit with the crisp.  Bake for 35-40 minutes until golden brown and fruit juices are bubbling.