An Apple a Day... Twist on Tradition

Happy Thursday food lovers!

I'm sorry for the delay in my blog! I hope you all have been enjoying the breezy weather and are starting to get accustomed to any new schedules you acquire as summer ends. 

Now that Fall is approaching us, (officially on September 23rd), I wanted to bring something new to the blog!

One of my favorite things about September living in New England is apple picking!

It is a popular-loved activity by many people who are fortunate enough to live near an area that allows them to spend a day with friends or family and pick fresh apples for the season.

As a food lover, I wanted a way to pick out a recipe that would really reflect apples and give my readers something to do with any extra Macs laying around. 

So that's why I created...

An Apple a Day

For the next few blog posts I am going to be posting unique and fun recipes for you all to try with any of your leftover apples, or to bake simply for the enjoyment of Apple Season!

An Apple a Day #1: Twist on Tradition

Mini Apple Pies

Everyone probably has their great grandmother's cousin's sister twice removed secret Apple Pie recipe tucked away in their kitchen. I wanted to create something that was a twist on tradition, staying away from whole pies, or crisps, because most people usually have their own recipe for that. 

So here is my recipe for Mini Apple Pies!

Let's Get Cookin'

Ingredients: This will make 1 cupcake tray worth of mini pies (12)

- 1 Box of Pillsbury ready-made Pie Crust dough, (comes with 2), or any other brand you like

option: You can also create and use your own dough for this recipe

- 4 inch and 3 inch circle dough cutters (I used caps from Mason Jars)

- 3 Cups worth of diced apples (this is about 3 medium apples)

- 2 Tablespoons of Lemon Juice

- 1/4 Cup of sugar

- 2 Tablespoons of packed Brown Sugar

- 1 Tablespoon of Cinnamon

- Pinch of Salt

- 1 Egg whisked with 1 Tablespoon of water or milk (Egg Wash)

(Used for top crust)

Step 1

Keep your dough cold in the refrigerator while you create your pie filling.

Dice your apples and place them in a bowl.

Next add your lemon juice, sugar, brown sugar, salt, and cinnamon to the bowl.

Apples Diced

Apples with all the filling ingredients

 

Step 2

Take out your dough and place it on the counter.

This is the brand of crust I used! To make it easy.

Rolled out and ready to go!

Step 3

Take your cupcake tray and use a cooking or pastry brush to rub a small amount of olive oil in each tin and around the top of the tray.

After your tray is prepped, preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. 

Then by using your 4 inch circle cutters, start making the bottoms of your crust.

4 inch circles for the bottoms

Step 4

Once you have some made, start placing them in each tin. 

Pinch along the sides so they reach the top.

Any extra dough scraps can be combined and rolled out for more.

Continue until each tin is done!

Ready for the filling!

Step 5

Place your filling in each pie.

Step 6

Cut out 3 inch circles with your dough to create the top crust.

Once those are done, place the top crust on each tin, and fork the edges.

Each pie has a top crust

Step 7

Create your egg wash by place an egg in a bowl and whisking it with a Tablespoon of water or milk. Brush this mixture on your top crust.

Put 4 little slits on your crust and add any extra cinnamon or sugar on top before placing it in the oven. 

Bake for about 20 minutes, making sure the crust becomes golden brown.

Fresh out of the oven

Step 8

Let them sit briefly and then pop them out!

Note: This can be a little difficult, use a knife and be patient otherwise they might fall apart...but they are still delicious :) 

Ta da!!!! All finished! 

Everything came out delicious! These are amazing warm, especially with a small scoop of vanilla ice cream :)


What are some of your favorite recipes in the fall?
Let me know if any of you make this and how it comes out :)

Thank you for stopping by, enjoy your upcoming weekend! xo

Welcoming September

Happy Friday all :)

In just a few short days the world will be welcoming September. It could be the start of a new school year, the start of a new season, working more often as businesses get busy. Sports change, trees change, foods change, (pumpkin spice everything). It's a beautiful time for change!

Lately I have been realizing that people are becoming busier this week. Students are moving into school and for a lot of working adults it can be hard managing work responsibilities and finding time to make effective food choices. By "effective" I mean cost effective and being healthy. 

Food Essentials on a Budget

I have come up with some healthy ways to budget food essentials to get the most out of what you buy!
Here they are:

Snacks

Chips, Popcorn, Crackers, etc.

This is for all the crunch n' munch snacks. How many of us buy a bag of chips or crackers and eat directly from the bag? 

The biggest problem with snacks like these is that they don't last very long. If you end up buying a large bag of chips that will cost you about $3.00 a bag. If that one bag only lasts you about two days, but you want chips to last you the whole week, that is about $9.00 a week on chips alone. $36.00 a month on chips. 

How to get the most out of snacks:

The first thing that needs to be done while you are shopping is to check serving sizes. 

In my recipe, Let's Taco 'Bout Shrimp & Salads, I compared regular Tostitos Chips vs. RW Garcia tortilla chips. (Both can be found at Market Basket in the chip aisle).  

Tostitos: 1 Serving = 7 Chips

140 calories, 7g of fat, and 115mg of sodium

RW Garcia: 1 Serving = 15 Chips

140 calories, 6g of fat, 50mg of sodium

(The key is to find chips, popcorn, etc. that gives you a good initial serving size. You want to make healthier choices, but you don't want to deprive yourself). 

Once you do that, bring your bag home and separate your servings into individual snack bags. 

For the RW chips I will count out 1 serving, (15 full chips), and place them into a snack bag. If a chip is broken or halved I will add pieces together to estimate a full chip being added to my plastic bag. I repeat this until all my chips have been divided into snack bags. 

My chips ready for the week!

Doing this has provided me with NINE snack bags, ready to-go. 

This preparation saves me time. If I eat 1 snack bag a day this will last me the whole week and I'll have two extra bags leftover.
(For packing snacks for families or multiple people, this is still a great way to distribute the snacks and get the most out of what you buy a week).  

Favorite Snacks:

Boom Chicka Pop $3.00
1 Large Bag = 4 snack bags containing 2 Cups each
and 1 snack bag containing 1 Cup
2 Cups snack bag:
74 Calories
2.5g Fat
67mg Sodium

Snapea Crisps $1.50
1 Bag = 3 snack bags each with 1 serving
1 Serving = 22 Pieces:120 Calories
6g Fat
85mg Sodium
Good Fiber & Potassium

Pita Bread

Pita bread is GREAT. 

Joseph's is one of my favorite brands. Not only does he offer traditional white pita bread, but also a variety of healthier versions such as the Flax, Oat Bran, & Whole Wheat pitas. 
This brand has gluten free options too and also small individual sandwich-size pitas. 

1/2 of a White Pita:
90 Calories
1g Fat
150 mg Sodium
2g Fiber

How to get the most out of Pita Bread

You can create all different kinds of sandwiches and wraps with the pita!

Personal favorite combos:
- Hummus and Taboule
- Peanut butter & banana wrap (Also try almond butter or sun butter)
- Hummus, Tuna, & mashed Avocado w/black pepper
- Chopped Lettuce, diced Tomato, diced Cucumber, & Chickpeas w/balsamic vinegar 
- Leftover Veggies mixed with Black Beans & Hummus (Veggie Wrap)

Get creative!

You can also use Joseph's Pitas to make individual pizzas! 
Preheat oven to 450 and then bake for 12 minutes, very quick and easy.

1 White Pita from Joseph's
Pizza Sauce, Sprinkled Olive Oil, Daiya cheese
Tomatoes, Black Pepper, Basil

I make mine a few different ways:

- Bread, sprinkle some Olive Oil, add sauce, choice of cheese, (or cheese alternative), and add any healthy toppings! Mine usually include diced tomatoes, broccoli, peppers, eggplant, mushrooms, garlic, or onions.

- Bread, sprinkle some Olive Oil, add smashed avocado, choice of cheese, (or cheese alternative), and add any healthy toppings! The avocado tastes amazing especially when the cheese melts on top. Sometimes I will add a little sauce and then smashed avocado for extra flavors.

- The third option is to add the sauce, avocado, and toppings but not any cheese. Crazy right? But if you are trying to lose or manage weight, the cheese can add a lot of extra fat to your pizza. Go crazy with toppings and you won't even miss the cheese!

Other Tips

- Kale is usually $1.60 for a bunch. This can be used during the week with salads, sandwiches, and also Kale Chips!

- Lettuce in a bag is typically cost effective! The brand Foxy sells bags of Romaine Hearts for about $2.50 in the produce section. You can use Romaine for the essentials and also use it for lettuce wraps to replace bread! 

- Avocados can be used for many things! Typically I use 1 avocado and find ways to use it throughout a few days once ripe. I add it to wraps, salads, or smash them on toast!

(Other ideas: Avocado mashed potatoes, avocado w/rice, guacamole, etc.) 

- Stay away from Easy Macs, Cup of Noodles, or any other quick meals like those without reading the labels first. 

Cup of Noodles contains 810mg Sodium for HALF the cup. That means if you eat the whole cup in one sitting that has 1,620mg of Sodium!

Notice how 1 Serving Size is only half the cup.
This makes the numbers seem smaller, but double them
and that will equal the whole cup!

Well that is everything for this week!

What snacks or easy meals do you enjoy eating? Leave a comment or suggestion!

Good luck to anyone starting school, enjoy your weekend, and thank you for stopping by! xo :)