It's Apple Picking Time

When my kids were small we used to love to take them apple picking.  We always thought the apples tasted better because we hand selected them ourselves.  We are visiting my daughter soon and I thought I would bring her apples from the orchard nearby.  (Although I suppose if she's reading this, she won't be surprised anymore.)
One of my favorite things about going to the orchard is the smell of the apple pies baking and the scent of the cider with cinnamon.  I love apple crisp, but, peeling the apples loses the benefits of the fiber in the apple.  I usually add oats to my apple crisp, but recently found an easier way to make baked stuffed apples.


Use an apple corer to remove the core.  Heat one teaspoon of light butter and add the following:
1 Tbsp Oats
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp raisins
1 tsp chopped almonds
1/2 tsp cinnamon
After mixing the ingredients together, gently fill the middle of the apple with the mixture and bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes (bake longer if you prefer the apple to be a bit softer).


Apples, oats, raisins and nuts are rich in fiber and have the ability to make us feel full and help to "keep things moving."  Fiber helps protects our digestive tract from diverticulosis and colon cancer.  But these ingredients also have a lot of soluble fiber which helps to lower LDL or bad cholesterol.  So as the saying goes, "..an apple a day keeps the doctor away."