Apple Sandwiches (Gluten Free)

I love this idea of using the apples instead of the bread for a fun change. You can get creative as you can add fun toppings to them. I think they are a great snack. I also think they would be perfect for a fun thing to make for Valentines.

Ingredients

apples washed
peanut butter or any kind of nut butter
chia
raisins or  dark chocolate chips or ?

Directions

1. Slice thin slices off the apple on the sides until you get to the core. Then slice the other side of the apple.
2. Spread 1 T of peanut butter on an apple slice, sprinkle on 1/2 tsp chia then top with raisins or chocolate chips. Put a slice of apple on top and tada you have a fun apple sandwich.

Apple Cherry Salad

 I love when I can enjoy a salad with very little dressing and then I can just enjoy the natural sweetness of the vegetables and fruit. This is one of those salads. I just had it for lunch today. It tasted so good. It left me with a very satisfied feeling after I ate it. Yum! If you have a food chopper it will help to make the fruit and vegetable very uniform looking.

Ingredients

2  apples chopped
4 celery stalks chopped
1/4 C dried cherries or cranberries
juice from 2 oranges
1 T chia
2 T honey for vegan use another sweetner.
garnish with additional cherries

Directions serves 4

1. Put apples, celery, and cherries in a bowl.
2. Pour the juice evenly over the fruit. Stir to mix.
3. Sprinkle the chia on top. Drizzle the honey on top. Toss until all mixed.
4. Garnish with more dried fruit if desired.

Baked Apples with Cinnamon and Pecans

This recipe is a wonderful way to turn your house into a Fall wonderland. It makes it smell so good. They also taste great too. They are so easy to make. They could be served for breakfast, a snack or a yummy dessert. You can choose when you want to have them. It is a fun way to enjoy the Fall. It has the flavors and smells of apple crisp without all of the work,


Ingredients

4 baking apples cored and sliced in half
4 T chopped pecans or other nut
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cardamom *optional
4 tsp honey (add 1/2 tsp per apple if you want it sweeter)
water to cover the bottom of the pan
serve with almond milk if desired

Directions  heat oven to 350

1. Place apples in an 8 x 8 square pan. If you want to you can slice a thin piece off the bottom for them to sit flat on the pan.
2. In a small bowl combine nut, cinnamon, cardamom and nutmeg. Stir together until they are all combined.
3. Spoon nut mixture on each apple until the mixture is all gone.
4. Drizzle a tsp of honey on each apple. Trying to keep it on top of the apple.
5. Pour a small amount of water on the bottom of the pan. About 1/4" of the bottom of the pan. If the water evaporates while cooking add more water.
6. Place pan in oven and cook about 40-50 min. or until the apples are soft.
7. Serve warm with milk drizzled over the top if desired. you can also drizzle the juices from the bottom of the pan on to the apples.

Caramel Apple Quinoa (Clean Eating)

This is a fun idea for a fun healthy Fall Breakfast. It tastes wonderful. You can make the caramel while the quinoa is cooking. You could do this with oatmeal too. This tastes so good you could even have it for dessert. 


Caramel
1 C canned coconut milk (full fat)
5 T honey
2 T coconut oil
1 tsp vanilla

Directions

1. In a small sauce pan on medium heat. Pour in milk, honey, and oil.
2. I turned up my setting on my stove up to 6. I stayed stirring it the whole time. Not wanting it to burn. Keep stirring. It took mine about 15 min to thicken.3. Take off the heat and stir in the vanilla. It will thicken as it cools. 

Quinoa

1 C washed quinoa
2 T coconut oil
1 C almond milk
1 C water
2 chopped up apples

Directions  Serves 4

1. Pour washed quinoa and oil into a sauce pan. Turn on to medium heat and stir and toast the quinoa until a light golden. 
2. Pour in the milk, water and honey and cinnamon. Stir until all combined. Bring mixture to a low boil. Turn down the heat and cook on low about 20-30 min. The mixture will be thick and the quinoa will be cooked. 
3. Take off the heat and serve. Top with some caramel and apples on each bowl. Add some additional almond milk on top if desired. 

Caramel Apple Cake (Whole Grain)

I really love these delicious whole grain cakes. This is a great season to make it with the apples that are in season. It is low in sugar and whole grain. It is healthy enough to eat for breakfast. This would also be wonderful for a Fall gathering with friends or family. YUM!

Ingredients
2 C whole grain flour (I used spelt flour)
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 C coconut oil
1/2 C honey
2 eggs
3/4 C rice milk or milk of your choosing. 
1 apple, grated

Carmel topping
1 C coconut milk full fat
5 T honey
2 T coconut oil

Directions (serves 9) 
1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium sized bowl pour in flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cinnamon, and salt. Stir with a wire whisk until all combined.
2. In a separate bowl pour oil, honey,eggs, and milk. Blend with a wire whisk for a couple of minutes.  
3. Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour in the liquid mixture. Stir until just combined.
4. Fold in the grated apples until all combined.
5. Pour into greased squared pan. Place in heated oven. 
6. While the cake is baking make caramel sauce.
7. Pour milk, honey and oil into a small sauce pan on medium heat. Let it come to a boil while stirring. Turn down the heat to medium low and continue to thicken until reaches about 180 degrees. It should be a light tan color. It should be thick but still runny. Take off the heat.
8. Bake about 35 min. Depending when toothpick comes out clean and the cake pops back up when slightly touched with one finger. Cool on wire rack. 
9. Cut up cake and serve on plates pour sauce on to each piece of cake. Serve warm. 

*You could also pour the carmel on to the cake before cutting it up. 

Chocolate Apple Cupcakes filled with Almond Butter for Valentines

We hit the jackpot with this recipe! These cupcakes are healthy and delicious at the same time. They are healthy enough to have for breakfast but can also be served as a dessert. We loved them when we bit into them. They tasted sooo good! These would be great for Valentines Day to keep it healthy or for any day of the year. You can fill the almond butter as deep as you want.

If you don't want to go to the effort to make them so cute, just frost the whole top with the almond butter icing, place a paper template of a heart on the cupcake, dust with powdered sugar on the remaining cupcake, and then remove the paper. I think they could be just as cute!

They can be made gluten free, if you prefer, or using whole grains. They use no butter, no white sugar (except for the dusting of powdered sugar), are egg free, and yet are incredibly moist! You will love them!

Ingredients
2 C gluten free flour or 1 3/4 C spelt, kamut or wheat and 1/4 C quinoa flour
1/4 cocoa powder
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 C grape seed oil
1/2 C honey
2 T plain Greek yogurt
3/4 C almond milk
1/4 C water
1 apple, grated

Filling
1 C almond butter
2 T honey
1 tsp vanilla

cupcake liners (found these cute ones at Walmart)
powdered sugar to sift on top
heart cut out of paper

Directions (makes 12)
1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium sized bowl pour in flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Stir with a wire whisk until all combined.
2. In a separate bowl pour oil, honey, yogurt, milk and water. Blend with a wire whisk for a couple of minutes. 
3. Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour in the liquid mixture. Stir until just combined.
4. Fold in the grated apples until all combined.
5. Place cupcake liners in the muffin pan. Pour evenly among the cups.
6. Bake about 18 minutes or until cooked all the way through. Cool on a wire rack.

Don't the cupcake liners look so cute?!

7. In a small bowl combine almond butter, honey and vanilla until all combined and nice and smooth.
8. Sift powdered sugar on the cupcakes.
9. Place small paper heart on top of each cupcake and cut around it into the cupcake as deep as you want the filling. We did about 1 inch down.

cutting out the shape using the paper heart as a template

10. Scoop filling into a plastic sandwich bag. Seal shut, releasing the air first. Cut a small piece off of one corner of the bag.

squeezing in the icing from the plastic bag

See the cute little heart?

11. Squeeze the filling into the heart. You can get a butter knife and smooth over the top. I dipped my finger in a little water to make it all smooth. Enjoy! You will want to serve these soon after making them, because otherwise the powdered sugar will be absorbed into the cupcake because it is so moist.

So pretty! Dig in! They taste as good as they look!

Healthy Homemade Cooked Apples (low sugar)

Delicious Apples

Amazing Chopper

Ultra Gel

This year we had a bumper crop of apples on our apple tree. So I needed to find a yummy way to use them. I am not a big fan of big chunks of cooked apples. So I came up with a way to chop up the apples in uniform small pieces. With this amazing chopper I love it. It makes chopping a breeze and everything looks cut so uniform. Then when I cooked them I just cooked them enough to soften them but, still be firm. I kept the honey low so it is only a little over a teaspoon per cup. So they still have the fresh taste of apples. Then I put them in the freezer. You could also can them if you wanted. I will enjoy eating them just the way they are or in or on waffles, pancakes, muffins, cookies, and on top of gingerbread, pumpkin cake etc... the list goes on and on. I am so excited to find a way to use the apples that I really like. Ultra gel really helped as a nice thickener. You can add to thicken things when they are hot or cold. It is a great produce. If you don't have it, then you could just use cornstarch.  

Ingredients
12 C chopped apples (I left the peels on)
1 C water
1 C honey
1 T apple spice
4-5 T ultra gel or you could use cornstarch
1 T lemon juice

Directions
1. Put pot on stove turn to medium heat. Pour apples into pot stir in the water, honey, and spices. Heat for a about 5 min. stirring often.
2. Stir in ultra gel into the apples. Cook apples to the desired the desired texture you want the apples. (I liked keeping them slightly Firm.) Let the mixture thicken up.
3. Take off the heat stir in the lemon juice. Let the apples cool.
4. Pour into zip lock bags and seal or freezer containers and put in the freezer. Delish!


  

Spelt Berry Oatmeal Apple Hot Cereal

I had fun making another spelt berry hot cereal. Here and here are 2 other ones I made a couple years ago that were really good too. It is fun to have different textures in your hot cereal. It also adds some added nutrition combining the grains. The grated apples added a nice natural sweetness too. It is a nice complete breakfast with the apple added.  This would be easy to make the night before and have ready for the next morning. You can store leftovers in an airtight container and eat cold or hot for a breakfast or snack.

Ingredients:
1/2 C spelt berries
3 1/2 C water
1 T coconut oil
1 1/2 C old fashioned oatmeal
3/4 C almond milk
2 big apples grated (I used pink lady)
1/4 tsp almond extract (You could also use vanilla)
1 tsp cinnamon (I used a zester and grated a cinnamon stick)
1/2 tsp fresh nutmeg (or powder if you don't have the fresh ) 
sweetener added to taste (I added a small amount of honey)
* 2 T ground flax could be added when you add the oatmeal* optional
* You could also top it off with fresh fruit or chopped nuts.
 
Directions: Serves 5- 6
1. Pour spelt and water in medium saucepan and let it boil on med high a couple minutes. Turn down the heat and let it simmer about 15 min. The spelt will be tender but still have some firmness to it.
2. Stir in the oatmeal on medium low heat. Gradually add the almond milk. Let it all cook together about 7 min.
3. Pour in the grated apple, extract, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Let cook on low 2 min.
4. Pour into bowls. You can add a little almond milk on top too. Store leftovers in air tight container. 

Quinoa Fruit salad

I hope you had a great weekend. They always go by way too fast. I think this salad is a wonderful way to brighten up your table in the winter. This is a great fruit salad  for the fall or winter. I know pomegranates are still at our grocery stores.  I love the color the pomegranate gives to the salad. Have a wonderful day. :) 

Ingredients: serves 4-6
2 apples chopped in pieces
2 oranges chopped up bite size
1 C grapes

1/2 C quinoa cooked
1 tsp lemon juice
1/2 C pomegranate
*You could stir in some plain yogurt

Directions:
1. Put all the fruit in a bowl except for pomegranate. 
2. Then toss in the quinoa and lemon juice.
3. Toss in the in pomegranate last. Serve as soon as possible. 

Apple Pie Popcorn (healthy)

This is a way to enjoy apple pie without all of the calories.:) It was a fun snack and treat at the same time. I love all the spices that are in it, so that  makes it even better.

Ingredients: 
4 T coconut oil melted
1/4 tsp vanilla * optional
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp allspice
4 C popped corn (air popped)
1/4 tsp to 1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 to 3/4 C dried apples
*fresh nutmeg grated on top if desired


Directions:
1. Mix the oil, vanilla*, and spices together in a small bowl.

2. In a medium size bowl pour in popcorn. Toss the coco0nut  oil mixture into the popcorn.

3. Shake in the salt. Stir in the apples. Grate fresh nutmeg on top if desired.

(I didn't even miss the sugar!)  

Apple Oatmeal Whole Grain Pancakes

I was able to whip these up fast before my children left for school today. They are a nice hearty pancake that will fill you up for the morning. It is a great way to start your families day.

Ingredients: Servings 6

1 C old fashioned oatmeal
2 C Whole grain flour (I used combination wheat and spelt)
2 T baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg or pumpkin spice *optional
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 + 2 T milk
1 C water
1/4 C oil (I used grape seed oil)
1 T coconut oil *optional
2 eggs
1 t vanilla
4 T honey
1 C finely chopped apples (I put them in the blender)

Topping options:
cinnamon and sugar, jam, fresh fruit or syrup

serve with fresh fruit :)

Directions:

1. In a bowl mix all the dry ingredients with a wire whisk.

2. In another bowl beat milk, water, oil, eggs, vanilla, honey and apples.

3. Gently stir the wet ingredients into the dry until completely mixed.

4. Heat up skillet. Spray or pour on some oil. Scoop about 1/4 C and pour on to hot griddle.

5. Flip over when bubbles form.

6. Serve with your favorite topping.

Apple Chicken Chili

"It's Autumn time, It's Autumn time...." I always think of this song at this time of the year. This Chili is a great meal for an Autumn dinner. I have made chicken chili many times, but never with apples. It was a nice variation. It had a sweet and slightly spicy flavor. It is a wonderful way to use apples that are prevalent right now. It is also a great way to eat beans. :)

Ingredients:
1/4 C grape seed oil or olive oil
1 to 1 1/2 lb chicken tenders
1 T & 2 tsp chili powder
1 T cumin
1 tsp sea salt w/iodine
1/2 white pepper or 1/2 regular pepper
3 1/2 C water
3 T oil
2 C chopped apples (less is fine too)
1 onion chopped
1 can diced green chili's
2 15-oz cans white beans drained and rinsed
1 T honey * optional
cheese for garnish* optional
tortillas chips

Directions:

1. In a large pot heat up oil and lightly brown chicken. Then add spices, salt, pepper and water. Let cook 15 to 20 min. It will help have all the flavors combine.

2. In a separate skillet pour in 3 T oil heat the skillet and add the apples and onions. Fry till softened. Put on the lid and let it cook a for a few minutes.

3. Then take the chicken out of the pot and shred. ( I shred the chicken in my bosh mixer with my cookie paddles. ) Put the chicken back in the broth.

4. Add the cooked apples and onions, chili's, honey and beans Let cook for at least 30 min on low or when you are ready to eat. You could put it in a crock pot. I left it on low for a couple of hours. left

5. Serve in soup bowls with chips at the bottom and chili on top. You can garnish with cheese.

Moist Old Fashioned Oatmeal Bars for Breakast

I have fond memories of making oatmeal cake when I was younger. It was fun to make and tasted so good. So I saw this recipe and got excited. I changed it to make healthier a lot less sugar, and another healthier thing was leaving off the frosting. :) I didn't even miss it. Oatmeal is such a wonderful grain. I think It is my favorite, and it is so good for you. :)

I had the thought this is like a bowl of oatmeal, It has all the great things that a bowl of oatmeal has in it. Just add some fruit, and a drink of milk, or a handful of nuts, and you have a complete meal. I actually added apples to it, so you get some fruit inside as well. It would make a healthy snack, or be in place of dessert. You could make it the night before, and it would be all ready to go. My daughter and grandson came over, and loved it. It is fun to have taste testers. It is very moist.

Ingredients:

1 C Oatmeal
1 1/2 C boiling water
1/3 C coconut oil
2/3 C honey
2 eggs
1 1/2 C whole grain flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 C shredded coconut
1 small apple grated

Directions: Serves 12 or more

1. In a sauce pan boil water. Take off the heat pour in the oatmeal and let it sit for 15 min.

2. Cream oil, honey, and egg. Then add the oatmeal,flour, soda, cinnamon, salt, coconut and apple. Don't over mix.

3. Pour into a greased 9x13 pan. Bake at 325 for 20 to 25 min., or till done.

(You could add nuts, or another kind of fruit in there too.) Enjoy today, it will never be here again. :)

* Try these yummy Chocolate Oatmeal Bars
*Try these yummy Chocolate Peanut Butter Oatmeal Refrigerator Cookies
*Try these Moist Oatmeal Fruit Bars
*Try these Chewy Almond Butter Quinoa Bars

Spiced Apple Berry Almond Crumble with Almond Cream

I loved this! It was heavenly. The almond cream added the perfect touch. I will be making it again soon. I don't get excited about apple crisp, but this was yummy. It had a hint of sweetness and the spices and almonds were fantastic in it.

Here it is ready to dig into. It makes my mouth water looking at it.

This is the fruit mixture with the added spices and sweetener.

This is what it looked like before it went in the oven.

This is after it cooked.

Ingredients:
3 granny smith apples (I used my apple peeler to slice them up)
1 C mixed berries (I used a mix with blackberries, blueberries and raspberries)
orange zest from one orange
juice from 2 oranges
1/8 C coconut sugar or sweetener of your choice (I may try honey next)
For topping:
1 1/2 C Mixed whole grains (spelt, oats kamut) Or your choice
1/4 C finely chopped almonds
3 T butter
1/8 C coconut sugar (or other sweetener)
1/2 tsp cardamom (I love this stuff)
1 tsp cinnamon

1 1/2 C whip cream
1 tsp almond extract
1 to 2 T powdered sugar
orange zest for garnish

1. Heat oven to 400. Grease square pan or 2 qt dish.

2. Prepare apples and put in bowl, with berries, zest, juice and sugar. Mix it all together. Pour into the pan.

3. In a separate bowl mix the flour, sugar, spices, almonds together cut in the butter till all crumbly. spread over the fruit. Make sure you go to the edge to seal the juices in.

4. Bake 25- 35 min. Until lightly golden. (The apples were soft but not over cooked) Whip cream in a bowl, add the almond extract, and sugar. Dish the crumble into dishes, and put on a dollop of cream. I sprinkled on a little orange zest for an extra touch.

Oatmeal Apple Muffins

I have been enjoying the holidays. I hope you have as well. It goes by fast. I love all the great family times together. =) I made these muffins last night they turned out so moist and yummy. I decided I had to pass them along. =) I love finding new yummy variations to muffins.

Ingredients: makes 24 small (I had a little extra for a mini loaf? or 12 regular muffins
1 1/2 your choice of flour I used oat flour and increased it 1/4 C *
3/4 C old fashioned oats
1/2 C honey
1 T baking powder
1 tsp salt
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1 C of unsweetened canned apples or your choice of fruit
2 eggs
1 C plain yogurt or I used kefir =)
2/3 C milk
1/3 C coconut oil

Directions: Bake 400 degrees

1. mix all the dry ingredients together in a bowl.

2. In a separate bowl mix honey, eggs, yogurt or kefir, milk and oil until blended.

3. Combine the 2 mixtures together until just blended. Gently fold in fruit.

4. Divide batter into cups. Bake for 25 to 30 min or until tops are golden brown. Enjoy!

* If you do it with oat flour you will make them gluten free.

Mixed Grain Apple Date Muffins ( Low Gluten)

These were a fun way to use the apples, that are in season right now. I was really happy with the way they turned out. They are so moist! There was no sweetener used other than the dates and orange juice. The end result was fantastic. I used Teff which is a fun grain, loaded with lots of nutrition. The spices were so good too. :) They are loaded with lots of grains. Daughter # 2 tried them and said "They are good and really moist". If you want them sweeter, you could add a little sweetener. I was excited to not add sweetener this time. :)

2 C Spelt Mixture*
1/2 C 6 Grain Rolled Oats or Oatmeal
1/4 Teff *
2 T Ground Flax
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cardamom
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
12 Pitted Dates and 1/4 C Water
2/3 C Rice Milk Or Milk of your choice
1/4 C Fresh Orange Juice*
4 T Coconut Oil or Oil of your choice
1 tsp Vanilla extract
1 egg beaten
2 C Cooking Apples Finely Chopped (Sweeter variety)

1. I measured all the dry ingredients in a bowl. Then I sifted them to make sure all the spices were evenly distributed. Set aside.

2. Mix the dates in with 1/4 C of Water in the blender until all chopped into smooth mixture.

3. Mix the Date Mixture, Milk, Juice, Oil, Vanilla, and Eggs in a separate bowl.

4. Combine the two mixtures together. Don't over stir.

5. Pulsed the Apple cut up in pieces, in my blender. (With the peels on) Until they were small pieces.

6. Fold in the Apples into the mixture.

7. Scoop into muffin pans. I made mini muffins. It made 36.

8. Bake in preheated oven 350 for 10-12 min. Add time if you make bigger muffins.


* Spelt Mixture 5 C Spelt, 2 C Kamut 1 C Brown Rice 1 C Oat Groats. I ground up extra for other baking. :)
* I ground the Teff up in the Coffee Grinder.
*I squeezed it from a Sweet home grown orange. Thanks! Craig and Ellen

Happy Fall!

Healthy Apple Spice Dessert!

This picture makes my mouth water just looking at. It was so tasty. I loved all the spices and the vanilla Bean ice cream (Breyers can't be beat, and the purest ice cream out there) was perfect with it. It was a treat, I will make again. I usually don't like apple crisp that much, I don't like the big chunks of cooked apples. I decided to try something different, I shredded the apples instead of chopping them up in pieces. It was a wonderful way to have them.

3 1/2 C Grated Golden Ginger Apples (Golden Delicious would be great too)
2 T honey
1/4 C Pineapple juice*(I just drained it from some canned pineapple chunks)
1 tsp unsalted butter
1 tsp vanilla extract

Topping
1/4 C Spelt flour (or flour of your

Choice)
2/3 C Sucanat or Brown sugar
1/2 C Old fashioned oatmeal
1 tsp Cinnamon*
1/8 tsp Cardamom * optional adds a great flavor
1 1/2 T Unsalted butter

1. Turn oven to 375, Place apples. xagave, juice, butter, and vanilla in an 8" square pan or 8" pie plate. Stir everything together. Place in oven about 6-8 min till the apples are softened a little.

2. While the apples are in the oven, make the topping. In a bowl mix together, spelt, sugar, oats, and spices. Cut in butter. (I ended up putting this mixture in the blender and pulsed it. The butter blended right in. If you want the oatmeal to stay in flakes, just cut the butter in with a pastry blender.)

3. Then take the softened apples out of the oven. You then can pour the topping on top. I opted to mix the topping into the apple mixture.

4. Bake 30 min or until golden brown. I did stir it a couple times. You won't want to, if you want a crunchy topping on top. My finished dessert was a combo between pie filling and apple crisp. I loved it. I wish I could have some right now. :) It"s all gone!

*You could use apple juice instead. The pineapple adds a nice flavor.
*I added the cinnamon and then decided to add pumpkin spice. You can add both or just the pumpkin spice, which has cinnamon in it all ready. I just love having lots of spices in it. :)