Autumn Recipes
Crock-Pot Baked Apples
All the flavors of apple pie without the crust!
Ingredients:
- 1/4 cup brown sugar, or 2 tablespoons Stevia
- 1/4 cup walnuts, chopped
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 6 Gala or Macintosh apples, cored
- 1/4 cup water or 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- In a large bowl, mix brown sugar or stevia, walnuts, butter, and cinnamon. If you don’t want to use walnuts, you could use pecans or go nut-free by substituting with 1/4 cup chopped raisins, prunes, or granola. Another great substitution is 1/4 cup of rolled quick oats moistened with a tablespoon of water before stuffing the apples.
- Use a grapefruit spoon that has the sharp edges (or a small pairing knife) and core most of the way through. Leave about 1/2 inch apple left at the bottom. You could remove the skin but it helps to hold the apple together as it bakes – it also adds extra fiber which is always a plus.
- Fill the apples with the filling and place them in the crock-pot. Pour the water or cider into the crock-pot around the apples.
- Set the crock-pot on high heat and cook 2-1/2 to 3 hours until the apples are soft and begin to collapse. If you don’t have a crock-pot or slow cooker, you can use a 7 x 11 casserole dish or stock pot. Preheat the oven to 350F and cover the pan with aluminum foil. They’ll take about 45 minutes to one hour, adding additional water (about 2 tablespoons) half way through baking. A glass baking dish is also an option, just be sure to lower the heat slightly 5-10 degrees since glass can cause food to burn.
- Serve with a scoop of frozen vanilla yogurt or ice cream. You can refrigerate these for up to 3 days, but store them in an air-tight container so they don’t pick up odors from the fridge.
Banana Ghosts
Your little ghosts will love these pops!
Ingredients:
- 2 bananas, peeled
- 4 popsicle sticks or straws
- 1 cup Greek yogurt
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup or honey
- 1 pinch of ground vanilla, cinnamon, cardamom or nutmeg
- 8 chocolate drops or raisins
- Topping: almond butter or melted chocolate
- Cut the bananas in half.
- Insert the popsicle sticks or straws in the bananas, and place them on a baking sheet or a plate (it should fit in your freezer). Freeze the bananas for 30 minutes.
- In a bowl, mix Greek yogurt with maple syrup or honey and vanilla. Dip the frozen bananas in the yogurt, put them back on the baking sheet and freeze for another 30 minutes.
- Add the eyes with the chocolate drops and the mouth with the almond butter or melted chocolate.
- Freeze for 2 hours.
- Tip: you can also use coconut or other ingredients to decorate.
Witch's Broomsticks
These are an easy Halloween treat that both kids and adults are sure to gobble up!
Ingredients:
- 8 string cheese sticks
- 24 pretzel sticks
- Fresh chives
- Cut each string cheese stick into thirds (about 1-1/2" each).
- Make lengthwise cuts around the cheese stick to about half way up.
- In the uncut end of the cheese, insert a pretzel stick.
- Bind with a piece of chive. Cut off excess chive.
Green Apple Monsters
These adorable apple monster faces are super simple to make and perfect for the whole family – especially if you like peanut butter and apples!
Ingredients:
- 3 green apples
- 3 tablespoons creamy peanut butter
- 2 ounces of sliced cheese
- 2 tablespoons of pumpkin or sunflower seeds
- A package of candy eyes
- Quarter the green apples and slice off the core and seeds. Carefully cut out a v-shape into the center of the apple quarter to create the mouth of the monster.
- Spread a thin layer of peanut butter in the mouths.
- Press several pumpkin or sunflower seeds onto the top of the mouth along the edge to form teeth.
- Place a triangular slice of cheese into the mouth.
- Spread a small amount of peanut butter onto the back of the candy eyes and place them on top of the apple slices.
Spider Crackers
A fun and easy Halloween or everyday snack!
Ingredients:
- Round crackers such as Ritz
- Pretzel sticks
- Cream cheese, unsalted peanut butter, or any spreadable nut butter
- Small dried fruit such as raisins, blueberries, cranberries or even mini chocolate chips
- Spread the cream cheese or nut butter on two crackers thick enough to hold the pretzels. Make sure it is not runny otherwise it will not hold.
- Break 4 pretzel sticks in half.
- Place the broken pretzel sticks around one cracker to look like spider legs.
- Take the second cracker and sandwich the pretzel sticks in between the two crackers, without them moving.
- Dip two raisins in cream cheese or nut butter and stick to the top of one of the crackers for eyes.
Snack-o'-Lantern Fruit Cups
A healthy fun snack for Halloween!
Ingredients:
- Oranges
- Other fruit options of your choice
- Slice the top off the orange. Run a knife around its interior to hollow it out.
- Scoop out the orange segments and reserve for filling. Carve pumpkin face on one side of the orange.
- Use a paper towel to gently soak up any remaining juice inside the orange.
- Dice up desired fruit, including the reserved orange segments and fill each cup.
- Set the lid back on top and serve.