Two Favorite Snacks: Apple Slices with Honey & Cinnamon and Ooey Gooey Banana & Peanut Butter

I love snacking. I typically eat a little bit every 2 to 3 hours during the day, so many of the times I'm eating I would consider what I'm eating to be a "snack" rather than a meal. My lunches are more meal-like, but they tend to be small, and during the week at work you can often find me having a snack about two hours after I've eaten lunch.... And then I also often have a snack when I get home from work...and in the mid-morning I have a snack. So, you see, I snack a lot. ;)

For fun, I thought I'd share with you a couple of my current, favorite snacks. I sometimes go in cycles; I have a particular snack that's my favorite for a few months, and then eventually I change it up and have another favorite go-to snack for a while. Well, currently my two favorites are apple slices with honey and cinnamon and a warmed, mashed banana mixed with peanut butter. Let me explain!

Perhaps some of you enjoy apples like this too. For my sliced apple snack, I simply cut up an apple, drizzle it with a bit of honey and then sprinkle a little cinnamon on top. Delish!! I also love apples plain, but every now and then I'm in a mood to eat them differently, so that's when this apple, honey, and cinnamon snack comes into play. Such a great combo.

And for the past few weeks, at least two or three times a week, I've been having an ooey gooey banana and peanut butter snack. If you love the flavor combo of banana and peanut butter (and let's be serious - who doesn't?!), you'll love this. Generally, I cut up either half a banana or a whole one, depending on how hungry I am, and I put the banana slices in a mug. You could also do this in a bowl but it's more fun in a mug for some reason. Then I add about two teaspoons or so of peanut butter to the mug and pop it in the microwave. The first amount of time I "nuke" it for is usually 30 seconds and depending on the ripeness of the banana, sometimes it needs another nuking of about 15 more seconds or so. Usually after a total of 45 seconds, the banana and peanut butter are plenty warm, and the banana has become mushy and soft. I stir everything together and eat it by the spoonful! Soooo good. I personally think this snack is better with bananas that are on the riper side (i.e., have some brown spots on them). One time last week when I needed a more substantial snack to last me a few hours until I would be eating dinner, I enjoyed the warmed, mashed peanut butter and banana on a toasted 100-calorie whole wheat sandwich thin. Also delicious!! This weekend I had a whole banana with some peanut butter (warmed up and mashed together, of course!) before I went to the gym to take a Turbo Kick class. It was the perfect fuel to get me through a tough workout!

It doesn't look all that appetizing, but trust me, it's delicious. And it's so fun to eat out of a mug!

This was when I spread the deliciousness on a toasted whole wheat sandwich thin.

What are some of your favorite snacks that are on the healthy side and don't take much time to prepare? I'd love to hear them. Perhaps you have an idea that will become my next go-to snack once these two are out of the rotation! :)

Baked Stuffed Apples

I had never made baked stuffed apples before this recipe even though I have often thought about making them... I'm glad I finally did since they were super yummy! 

This great recipe came from an awesome blog, Eat, Live, Run. Check it out! And her pictures are waaay better than mine so this recipe looks a lot more appetizing on her site. :)

Ingredients:

-4 large apples (the original recipe recommends Granny Smith; I actually used some Golden Delicious and Macintosh because that's what I had)

-1 and 1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice (or a mixture of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, etc. - whatever you have!)

-1/2 cup apple juice (I used apple cider)

-1/4 cup pure maple syrup

-1 Tbsp. butter, melted

-1/3 cup dried cherries (I used craisins)

-1/3 cup roughly chopped walnuts (I used slivered almonds)

-1/4 cup cinnamon baking chips (this was my own addition - not in the original recipe)

-1/3 cup brown sugar, lightly packed (I think I used closer to 1/4 cup)

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine the pumpkin pie spice, dried cherries, walnuts, and brown sugar (and cinnamon chips if you decide to use them) in a bowl and set aside. 

Carefully core the apples, making sure not to cut through the bottom. Fully fill the cavity of each apple with the brown sugar mixture and place apples in a glass baking dish with the apple juice poured in the bottom. 

Mix together the maple syrup and melted butter and drizzle over top the apples. Cover with tin foil and bake for 40 minutes. Remove foil and bake for another 20 minutes or until the apples are tender.

Love this mixture of ingredients!!

Please forgive me not-so-great pictures. It's so hard to take good pictures when it's nighttime and no natural light to help out!

My overall appraisal of this recipe? Awesome! It was super easy and on the healthy side as far as desserts go. The tender, baked apples were incredibly flavorful and the filling inside was delicious! As I mentioned above, I substituted a few ingredients (craisins for dried cherries, almonds for walnuts, apple cider for apple juice), and I added one of my own (cinnamon chips). The flexibility of this recipe also makes it awesome. There's a lot of room to be creative here! Now, if you were looking to make this a little less healthy and a little more indulgent, I'd say that a nice scoop of vanilla ice cream would pair very well with the baked apples, wouldn't you? :)

Crock Pot Apple Cider Beef Stew

Last weekend I went wedding dress shopping all day on Saturday with my mom, sister, and future mother-in-law. What a wonderful day! And yes, I found a dress. ;) Why am I telling you this? Well, since I knew we were going to be gone all day, I thought it would be the perfect day to have dinner slowly cooking in the crock pot all day so that we could have a yummy meal waiting for us when we got home (and so that the house would smell delicious too!). I figured we'd be much too tired from dress shopping to cook. And I was right; wedding dress shopping is exhausting! But it's also super fun. :-D

I found this recipe for Apple Cider Beef Stew in one of my cookbooks specifically dedicated to slow cooker recipes. Now that the weather is getting colder, I've been thinking about using my crock pot much more often but just hadn't gotten around to it yet. I'm glad I finally did use it with this recipe! It was a great recipe to start off crock pot "season."

Ingredients:

-2 lbs. stew beef

-8 large carrots

-6 medium potatoes (I used red potatoes)

-2 apples (you can use whatever kind you have on hand! I think I used Macintosh)

-1 small onion (I used a yellow onion)

-salt, pepper

-thyme and other herbs you like (I also added herbs de provence)

-2 cups apple cider

Instructions:

Cut the beef into 1/2-inch cubes. Peel and slice the carrots and potatoes (I cut mine into about 1/2-inch pieces - and I actually did not peel my red potatoes). Also cut the apples into 1/2-inch pieces. I left the skins on the apples but you could peel them if you wanted. Finely chop the onion.

Place the carrots, potatoes, and apples in the crock pot. Add the beef, and sprinkle with salt, pepper, thyme, and onions. Pour the cider over top. Cover and cook on low setting for 10 - 12 hours. Makes approximately 8 - 10 servings.

Serve hot and enjoy!

I didn't list an amount for the spices/herbs because I think you can just eyeball how much you add. My guess is that I added about 3 teaspoons total of the various dried herbs and maybe about 1/4 tsp. salt and 1/2 tsp. pepper? Sorry - I didn't measure!

Along with our yummy stew, I served some deeelicious bread from When Pigs Fly, one of my favorite bread bakeries. This particular bread was their baby spinach, onion, and garlic ciabatta. Sooo flavorful! I am lovin' that there's a When Pigs Fly in the town where I live, but my wallet and waistline aren't as happy about it. ;)

Back to the stew... This was a very tasty, hearty, comforting dish - just what you want when it comes to beef stew! The apple cider was detectable and added a unique flavor. And the apples added a bit more nutrition too! All in all, this dish was a winner.

Yay for crock pot cooking!

Apple Cider Bread

Alright alright, I'll stop with the pumpkin recipes for a little bit (but not for long!) and give you another tasty fall treat. Apple cider bread!

For the past few weeks, I've made a point to always have some apple cider in my fridge. It's such a nice treat to have every now and then... I heat a mug full, add some cinnamon, and sit down to relax. There is something very calming about warm apple cider, wouldn't you agree? :)

Well, there is also something calming about this apple cider bread. I found this bread to be incredibly moist and full of flavor. I brought in a mini loaf for one of my coworkers, and after she tried some, she sent me an email saying "I just died and went to heaven." That's quite the compliment to this recipe, I'd say!

I got the recipe from Recipe Girl. She has some amazing recipes! Check out her site.

Isn't this a super cute pan? I used it for the first time with this recipe and made a few fall-shaped "loaves." So fun!

Ingredients:

-2 cups all-purpose flour (I used 1 cup AP, 1 cup white whole wheat flour)

-1 tsp. baking powder

-1 tsp. salt

-1 tsp. baking soda

-1 tsp. ground cinnamon

-1/2 tsp. ground cloves

-1/4 cup butter, at room temp

-2/3 cup granulated sugar

-1/3 cup light brown sugar, packed 

-2 large eggs

-1/2 cup apple cider

-2 and 1/4 cups apples, peeled and chopped
-1 Tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice

 

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour an 8 x 5 loaf pan. Sift dry ingredients in a medium bowl (flour through cloves). In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to combine the butter and sugars. Beat in eggs. Add in the flour mixture, alternating with the cider, and mix until just combined. In a small bowl, toss the apples with lemon juice. Stir the apples into the batter. Put batter into prepared pan and bake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in pan for at least 20 minutes before removing and letting cool completely on rack. Enjoy at room temp or warm (yum!).

Cute lil' acorn, pumpkin, and leaf loaves :)

I made about four regular mini loaves as well.

This bread just bursts with great fall flavors. It's a keeper of a recipe, for sure.

Blogging Speed Bump & Fall Treats!

I've hit a blogging speed bump, friends. No, it's not that I have a lack of recipes to share with you. It's that I don't have a home laptop at the moment with which to share my recipes! I have been without the laptop since last Thursday, and as a result, I haven't been able to blog about the delicious fall recipes I've been making. Sadness! :(  I suppose I could put all my food pics on my work computer and blog here, but I'm going to hold off on that (I am blogging right now at work though - whoops! I'm done work for the day though ;-)).

So I thought I'd just briefly tell you about a few things I did recently make...

1) Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Squares

A delicious recipe from Martha Stewart! They are SUPER moist and yummy.

2) Apple Crumb Muffcakes

I am calling them muffcakes because I have eaten one both for breakfast and for dessert. So, they're really a combination of a muffin and a cupcake. ;-)

I don't have a picture for you, but let's say they look something like but this in muffcake form:

(photo source)

3) Butternut Squash Apple Soup!

I took this pic with my phone the other night. It's not great, but it's something! I loosely followed (from memory) the recipe for this soup that I posted on the blog last year.

How awesome is the plate I used for my toasted slice of When Pigs Fly bread? I got the Six Grain & Pumpkin Seed kind. Aaaamazing.

Oh, and today I found this recipe for apple pie pop-tarts with cinnamon glaze. Helloooo! These look so delicious and fun! I really want to make these...

(photo from The Baker Chick)

I hope to return to you next week with the real recipes I've been making! There's a good chance I won't post a Friday Favorites this week either. Sorry. :(

Hope everyone's having a fabulous October so far!

Baked Apricot Maple Chicken with Sauteed Apples and Roasted Butternut Squash

Is it just me or does the name of this recipe scream fall? Yay for autumn! It's officially just two days away. Come Friday, we'll be into my favorite season... Woohoo!

I made this dish last night to bring to a small dinner party with six people. It was the perfect amount for everyone! A few people had second helpings, and by the end, the entire dish was gone.... So, I guess it was yummy?! :)

I receive several cooking magazines and I love reading them. However, I will admit that I'm guilty of not making recipes from my magazines very often. :( I am making an effort to use recipes from my magazines more often, and this dish is an example of that effort! Of course, though, I did change the recipe... It's actually originally a recipe for pork, but I chose to use chicken instead because it was on sale at the grocery store! Pork was not on sale this week. I like to save money whenever I can; what can I say?

The dish is from the September 2011 issue of Cooking Light, and in there it's the recipe for "roasted pork tenderloin and maple-glazed apples" (for any of you Cooking Light subscribers!). I'll share the recipe as I made it though. Most of the measurements are approximate...I didn't really measure. Sorry! This is so not how I bake. I'm much more precise in that area. ;-) Oh, and I chose to just add the squash as a little extra since it went so well with all the other flavors.

Ingredients:

For chicken:

-approximately 2.5 - 3 lbs. chicken breasts

-approx. 2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

-approx. 1 - 2 Tbsp. white wine vinegar

-approx. 3 Tbsp. pure maple syrup

-approx. 3 Tbsp. apricot jam (or another jam of your choice!)

-salt and pepper

-fresh rosemary, thyme, and/or other herbs

For apples:
-3 or 4 medium apples (I used macintosh)

-1 small yellow onion

-1 Tbsp. butter or margarine

-3 Tbsp. pure maple syrup

-1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice

-salt and pepper

-cinnamon

For squash:

-1 lb. butternut or winter squash (I used a combination of these two types), peeled and chopped into 1/2 - 1" cubes

-extra virgin olive oil

-salt and pepper

-fresh rosemary

Instructions:

Prepare your chicken and squash first so they can be roasting while you're cooking the apples on the stovetop. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. For the chicken, I cut the breasts into 1/3 - 1/2 lb. pieces and put them in a 13 x 9 glass baking dish (I had sprayed it with cooking spray first). In a small dish, combine the olive oil, vinegar, maple syrup, jam, salt, and pepper (use your judgment with how much). Once the liquid mixture is combined thoroughly, spread it evenly with a spoon over top the chicken breasts. Sprinkle fresh rosemary and thyme (or other herbs!) on top of that. I probably used a couple teaspoons of each of those two herbs. Bake the chicken for about 20 - 25 minutes or until cooked thoroughly and not pink in the middle. Cooking time will vary depending on the size of the breasts you prepare. Just be careful not to overcook so the chicken doesn't become dry! 

For the squash, place it in a baking dish and sprinkle with olive oil and your chosen spices. Bake for at least 30 minutes - maybe up to 45 minutes. The cooking time will vary here depending on the size of the squash pieces you cut. Check the squash's doneness by sticking a fork in it; if it goes through easily, it's done! Oh, and by the way, quick tip on peeling a squash such as this one pictured below... These things are so darn annoying and difficult to peel! It can be made easier if you microwave the squash first. Pierce it with a knife in a few places, and for a smaller squash like this one, just microwave it for 2 or 3 minutes, let it cool for a bit, and then use your knife to carefully cut off the outside peel. It will be soooo much easier if you microwave it than not. I promise!

While those two items are baking, prepare your apples. I kept the skins on my apples, but if you'd like, you can remove the skins. Cut each apple into 8 or 10 slices. Chop your onion into small pieces. In a large skillet over medium heat, melt the butter or margarine and saute the onion for 7 or 8 minutes until it starts to soften. Once the onion is getting lightly browned, add the apples to the pan. After a minute or so, drizzle the maple syrup over top, along with the lemon juice, salt, pepper, and cinnamon. Continue to cook the apples over low to medium heat for 6 - 8 more minutes, or until they're softened to your liking.

When everything has cooked, serve it however you'd like! I ended up combining the squash and apples into one dish when we actually sat down to eat. We enjoyed this meal with some When Pigs Fly harvest bread and a delicious side dish of quinoa, sweet potatoes, and dried cranberries made by the lovely Jenn. What a perfect fall meal!!

Apple Date Walnut Muffins and Mini Loaves

I love muffins. They definitely fall under the umbrella of "comfort food" for me. Eating a muffin baked to perfection is such an enjoyable experience. Pair it with a great cup of coffee and I'm even happier. :) One of my favorite quotes is "There's nothing bigger than the little things." Muffins are one of those "little things" in my book!

Okay, enough rambling from me. Onto the recipe! I semi-followed a recipe in this fun cupcake book that my mom gave me for Christmas. Thanks, Mom!

Yes, it is a cupcake book, but it has some muffin recipes in it too! The original recipe was for "fruity lunch box muffins" (they contained berries), but there was a variation on the page for "apple and golden raisin muffins" and that's what I semi-followed. I still changed the recipe slightly though because that's just what I do! 

Here are the ingredients and instructions I followed to make my apple date walnut muffins:

-3/4 cup all-purpose flour
-1/2 cup whole wheat flour
-2/3 cup regular oats
-2 tsp. baking powder
-1/3 cup sugar
-1 tsp. cinnamon
-2 eggs
-6 oz. yogurt (I used Yoplait apple pie flavor, perhaps it enhanced the apple flavor in the muffins ;-))
-3 Tbsp. vegetable oil
-3 Tbsp. melted butter
-1 Tbsp. maple syrup
-2 tsp. vanilla
-1 cup chopped apple (macintosh)
-2/3 cup chopped dates
-1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line muffin pan with liners or grease the pan. Mix the flour, oats, baking powder, sugar, and cinnamon with a whisk in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, mix together the eggs, yogurt, oil, melted butter, maple syrup, and vanilla with a spoon; once incorporated, add to the flour mixture and stir until thoroughly combined (but do not over mix). Mix in the chopped apple, dates, and walnuts.

Fill muffin cups 3/4 of the way full, and bake for approximately 15 minutes (oven times may vary, as always!). Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Quite a few additions that I made were not in the original recipe; those included the cinnamon, maple syrup, dates, and walnuts. I love changing recipes a little bit to make them my own. :)

This recipe made 12 muffins and 4 mini loaves for me.

See this cute little mini loaf pan below? I LOVE this pan! I used it for the first time with this recipe, and it was so great. The loaves baked really evenly and they were really easy to remove from the pan. Yay! I'd highly recommend it. I bought mine at Crate and Barrel. I've used it one other time since this recipe, and it worked great that time too.

Like my new towel with all the baking related words on it? So fun! It was another gift from my mom. :)

There's the goodness on the inside. :)

I liked that these muffins were light and airy, yet hearty too, thanks to the additions of apples, dates, oatmeal, and walnuts. Healthy healthy, friends! Love it.

Talk to you again soon!