Let’s talk apples because there are as many types of apples as there are recipes for them! Sweet, savory, snacks or just for the health of it.
Why We Love Apples
Apples are such a versatile fruit. Sure, most other fruits can be prepared in sweet or savory recipes. But apples have substance. They don’t dissolve into a puddle of juice like so many other fruits.
We live such busy lives and often find it difficult to eat healthy food on the go. Tuck an apple in your purse or backpack and that beauty is still firm and ready when you are. Try doing that with grapes or a pit fruit, like peaches!
Why Do We Talk About The Apple A Day?
Eating for health or convenience can often be a choice of one or the other. Luckily with apples, they fit into both categories.
Apples are loaded with immune support properties and fiber, something many of us don’t get enough of in our diets.
Calories are not an issue with apples. While juicy and sweet they are still low in calories and help to maintain sugar levels in those of us that experience a quick drop in our balance of blood sugar.
Cooking With Apples
If you’re looking for an easy snack or dessert for raw apples, look no further than whipping up some homemade Salt Caramel. It’s perfect for dipping apple slices in, or making Popcorn Balls out of.
While we know how delicious apples are raw, let’s chat about some fabulous recipes that showcase cooked apples.
- Apple Baklava – an American twist on a traditional Mediterranean dessert
- Apples Wellington – a whimsical way of stuffing a whole apple with spices and nuts, then wrapping a pastry around it to look just like an apple, baked to perfection
- Applesauce Pie – an easy healthy pie crust with a pureed applesauce custard
- Apple Oat & Almond Muffins – healthy enough to be breakfast, naturally sweet enough to be dessert, found in my cookbook of 52 muffins
- Apple Salad In A Cabbage Bowl – a traditional savory apple salad, served in a seasonal Savoy cabbage
- Barbecue Sauce – while tomatoes are often the fruit used to make a barbecue sauce, apples make an even richer flavor and texture
Apple Picking Family Outing
It’s funny how at the first sight of Spring, we go hunting for strawberry patches to pick those beautiful red berries.
Then when Autumn arrives, we go on the hunt for apple orchards to pick, yet again, more luscious red (usually), fruit!
Finding family fun has become increasingly more difficult, now that we are all stuck to a screen.
I promise you though (having raised 4 of my own), a family outing, time together, time with nature, will cultivate the best memories.
Return home with a bag full of delicious fruit and you can continue to linger together as a family, in the kitchen.
Make something delicious, that your family helped to gather, perhaps make and the dish will have more meaning. Perhaps it will even become a tradition they continue when grown.
I believe the table... that place that draws people to gather, is the most powerful symbol of togetherness. All that happens before the table is set, the planning, the gathering, the preparing, are all an intricate part of the dance that create the mood of celebration to share with friends and loved ones.
