There’s something special about harvest season. Gardens are producing a bounty of fresh food, farmers’ markets are overflowing, and friends and neighbours are sharing the extras from their gardens and fruit trees. At this time of year, abundance is a wonderful problem to have!

Apples are one of my favourite fall ingredients. They keep well, travel well and can find their way into everything from lunches and salads to muffins and desserts. They’re nutritious too-apples provide fibre, and vitamin C.

Keep the peel on when you can; much of an apple’s fibre and many of its beneficial nutrients are found in or just under the skin. And when you have a few apples that are getting a little soft? Make apple crisp.

No perfect apples required! Harvest Apple Crisp with oat topping Filling · 5-6 apples, cored and sliced (about 6 cups of fruit) · 1 Tbsp lemon juice · 2 Tbsp brown sugar · 1 Tbsp flour · 1 tsp cinnamon Oat Topping · 1 cup rolled oats · ½ cup flour · ½ cup brown sugar · ⅓ cup butter or margarine, softened Place apples in a greased 8-inch baking dish.

Toss with filling ingredients. Combine topping ingredients, working in the butter until crumbly. Sprinkle over apples.

Bake at 375°F (190°C) for 35-40 minutes, until tender and golden. Enjoy warm-even better if you add a scoop of vanilla ice cream! Kathryn Howden, RD, is Executive Director of the Strathcona Food Bank.