Posted at: 10/24/2011 11:31 AM
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Email to a FriendInvite Apples to your Halloween Celebration!
Hy-Vee Registered Dietitian, Jen Haugen, will give new and simple ideas for a healthy Halloween.
5 Reasons to Include Apples:
- Your health – perfect, portable snack, take it on the way for trick-or-treating
- Your smile – crunchy apples are like nature’s toothbrush
- Your gut – fiber keeping you fuller longer
- Your lungs – breathe easier with apples, may provide improved lung function
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Fun and Family-Friendly Ways with Apples!
Try these simple ideas:
o Mini Apple Pies
o Apple Stars
o Apple Harvest Salad
o Mini Caramel Apples
o Honey Crisp Apples are one of the best baking apples! Along with Jazz, Piñata, Pink Lady, and Ambrosia.
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All you need:
1-1/3 cups cored and diced apples
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons apricot preserves
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
All you do:
1. Mix all ingredients; chill. Serve with cinnamon pita chips.
Serves 4
Nutrition Facts per Serving: 330 calories, 13 g fat, 5 g saturated fat, 0 g trans fat, 330 mg cholesterol, 840 mg sodium, 33 g total carbohydrate, 9 g fiber, 21 g protein.
Mini Apple Pies – Use a package of pre-baked mini phyllo shells for these cutie pies! Sauté 1 cup diced apples, ¼ cup walnuts; ¼ cup brown sugar and 2 tablespoons butter over low heat until apples are tender, stirring frequently. Remove from heat and stir in ¼ teaspoon cinnamon. Cool slightly and spoon 1 tablespoon of apple mixture into each mini phyllo shell. Garnish with whipped topping. Serve immediately.
Apple Stars – Cut the apple horizontally into thin slices so that you are able to see a star in the center of each slice (remove seeds as necessary). Spread with a thin layer of peanut butter and top with granola that includes dried fruit. Delicious!
Apple Harvest Salad – Slices of apples on a bed of spinach, tossed with candied pecans, dried cranberries, shredded Havarti cheese and light poppy seed dressing.
Mini Caramel Apples – Use caramel wraps! Was the apples and remove the stems. Use a melon baller to remove 8-10 balls out of the apple. Cut caramel wraps to appropriate sizes and wrap over apples. Heat the apples to set the caramel according to package directions. Insert a sharpened and clean green twig into the core to add a touch of rustic style. Let caramel apple set on a cleaned tree leaf. If desired, you can decorate each apple with an assortment of Halloween candy toppings. Just melt chocolate chips in the microwave on HIGH at 15 second intervals and dip each apple halfway into the chocolate. Roll the apple into a mixture of toppings (walnuts, pecans, crushed Heath bars, marshmallows – be creative!).
Apple Harvest Salad – Slices of apples on a bed of spinach, tossed with candied pecans, dried cranberries, shredded Havarti cheese and light poppy seed dressing.
Mini Caramel Apples – Use caramel wraps! Was the apples and remove the stems. Use a melon baller to remove 8-10 balls out of the apple. Cut caramel wraps to appropriate sizes and wrap over apples. Heat the apples to set the caramel according to package directions. Insert a sharpened and clean green twig into the core to add a touch of rustic style. Let caramel apple set on a cleaned tree leaf. If desired, you can decorate each apple with an assortment of Halloween candy toppings. Just melt chocolate chips in the microwave on HIGH at 15 second intervals and dip each apple halfway into the chocolate. Roll the apple into a mixture of toppings (walnuts, pecans, crushed Heath bars, marshmallows – be creative!).
Jen Haugen represents Hy-Vee as a nutrition expert promoting healthy eating throughout the community. Jen is a member of the American Dietetic Association.
