VETERANS AND EPILEPSY

Today is Veteran's Day and I am so appreciative of all the men and women who have served our country.  It always makes me smile (and get a little teary eyed) when I see the troops returning home from active duty to their family and friends. My hope is that all our troops come home devoid of physical and emotional wounds from their service, but that's not reality. Many of our US troops are coming home with the "signature wound" of current conflicts, a traumatic brain injury (TBI). When the brain is exposed to sudden force such as blasts from explosives, it can get physically damaged and cause a TBI. These injuries can be mild to severe. The risk of developing seizures and epilepsy goes up significantly with the severity of a TBI. And it may take years after an injury for seizures to develop. This is just one more reason why it's so important for us to raise awareness about epilepsy today and fund more epilepsy research. 

I wanted to make something "as American as apple pie" today for Veteran's Day, but I was too tired to make a homemade pie crust after being in the car all day (and I needed a purple ingredient).  However, I think this apple blueberry crisp is an adequate purple alternative to pie and still is patriotic. Hope you like it.

Apple Blueberry Crisp

Serves 6 

4 apples, peeled and large diced

1 pint blueberries (~1 1/4 cup)

2 Tb orange juice

1/4 cup flour

1/4 cup sugar

TOPPING:

3/4 cup flour

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup oatmeal

1/4 cup chopped pecans

1 tsp cinnamon

1 pinch kosher salt

1 stick +1 Tb salted butter 

Combine apples, blueberries, flour and sugar in a bowl and transfer to baking dish. In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients for the topping. Cut stick of butter into small cubes and add to bowl. Using your hands, squish the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture is well combined and crumbles into small peas sized pieces. Cover top of fruit with topping at bake at 375 for 45-60 minutes until top is brown and fruit is soft and bubbling. If top browns too fast and fruit is not done, lightly cover with aluminum foil and bake for another 15 mins. Yum!