Homemade Apple Cobbler

 

A few weeks ago we visited Sky Top Orchard in Flat Rock, NC. A place we’ve biked by in the past but have never visited in our 8 years living in Greenville, SC. 

While the process of collecting a variety of apples from the tree was satisfying, I felt sad seeing all the wasted apples on the ground. Although some were rotten, there were many that were perfectly imperfect. I made the effort to hunt on the ground, filling over half our bag with hidden gems found under the trees. Nature isn’t perfect and neither is produce. I'm happy to report that we were successful in eating, baking and cooking almost all of our apples from the orchard. We only have five left from this big bowl. 

I'm thankful that Joey created the perfect apple cobbler recipe for our newsletter to inspire us to bake with our apples. I hope you enjoy this delicious recipe. Thanks Joey! 

Apple Cobbler By Joey Mock, RD, LD, CLT

Apple picking season is nearing an end in the Carolinas but there is still a little time left to make a trip to an orchard to grab some fresh apples. One of my favorite traditions during apple season is making homemade apple cobbler (and my favorite apples to use in this recipe are Mutsu as they are great for baking and flavor packed). This recipe is easy, delicious, and requires just a few simple ingredients.

Ingredients

• 4 to 5 medium sized apples (such as Mutsu, Honey Crisp, Fuji, Golden Delicious, Cameo, Pink Lady), cored, peeled, and chopped into equal sized chunks
• ½ lemon, juiced
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup self-rising flour
• 1 egg
• ⅓ cup butter, melted

Preparation

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Toss the apples with the lemon juice in an 8 x 8 baking dish.
• Combine the sugar, flour, and egg in a bowl and mix well (mixture will be crumbly). Spread the mixture over top of the apples.
• Drizzle the top of the sugar mixture with melted butter.
• Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 35-40 minutes. If necessary and desired, broil for about a minute to brown top of cobbler.
• Remove from oven and cool dish on wire cooling rack.
• Enjoy!

Brussels sprouts, apple and pomegranate salad

Picture from Smitten Kitchen

I was in charge of providing the "vegetable" dish at our Thanksgiving day meal. I recently came across a beautiful picture on a friend's social media page with the recipe titled "Brussels sprouts, apple and pomegranate salad." I quickly bookmarked the recipe as I knew it would be a nutritious and flavorful dish, providing a pop of color to the Thanksgiving day table.

While the dish was well-received, I failed in snapping a picture of my final dish. So that is why I have the picture from the actual recipe featured above. Well, I did capture this picture of Campy at the head of the table where you can also see my dish.

I hope you enjoy my modification to the dish (for the actual recipe, click on this Smitten Kitchen link.). To help save time, I recommend to purchase your Brussels Sprouts already chopped and to buy a container of pomegrante seeds. This dish took me a while to make but it was worth it. But next time around, I'd consider going with a few short-cuts. :-)

Ingredients

• 1/2 large red onion, diced small
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 2 teaspoons lemon zest 
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 cups brussels sprouts (shredded)
• 1 cup fresh pomegranate seeds (a large one)
• 1 large Honeycrisp apple (chopped)
• Juice of a lemon
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1/2 cup olive oil

Instructions

1. Make the pickled onions: Combine red onion, wine vinegar, lemon zest and salt in a small bowl and set aside for 15 minutes. 
2. Combine brussels sprouts, pomegranta seeds and apple together in a large bowl. Toss with the pickling liquid. 
3. Combin lemon, honey and olive oil in a small bowl (or mason jar), give a shake and pour on salad (to your liking) when ready to eat/serve. 
4. Enjoy!

Apple Chia pancakes

We had 4 amazing, strong ladies in town this weekend (from Jax) so there was a lot of riding this weekend....but I will save that for another post because pancakes are on my mind right now (and in my tummy). 

To summarize our weekend: 9000+ feet of climbing, 8+ hours of riding and 135+ miles of riding in just two days! Wow, thank you body!!

As you can imagine, there was a lot of attention on sport nutrition, hydration and eating over the past 72 hours in order for our bodies to tolerate (survive) and adapt to the weekend training load. 

After our workout on Saturday (73 mile bike for the group and for Karel, Jen Vogel and me, a 4 mile run), we all cleaned up, cooled off and started our refueling with recovery drinks. It's always fun to talk about training when it is over but the body deserves to refuel as soon as possible to ensure a healthy body for the next day of training. 

To ensure that my friends (and Karel and me) would be well fueled after our Sunday ride, I decided to make pancakes on Saturday (late) afternoon so that they would be ready for consumption when we were ready to eat post workout on Sunday. 

What a genius idea!! 

There's nothing better than having a home cooked meal ready for you but let me tell ya, it's even BETTER after a 5 hour workout! 

I hope you enjoy my delicious apple chia pancake recipe, made from scratch and prepared with Trimarni love.
(I also made plain pancakes, some basic ingredients but omit the apple and chia seeds)

Apple Chia pancakes

(makes 10-12 pancakes)

1 1/4 cup white whole wheat flour (you can use Gluten-free flour)
2 tbsp sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tbsp chia seeds
1 large egg
1 cup milk
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 tbsp butter (melt after measuring)
1 apple (washed and chopped)

1. In medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and chia seeds. 

2. In small bowl, whisk together egg, milk and vanilla. Preheat your skillet (I used two large skillets on separate burners to speed up the cooking process). 

3. Whisk the wet ingredients into the dry. Stir in butter (should be melted before adding). Add a little water if needed.
4. Stir in chopped apple. 

5. Spoon ~1/4 batter into skillet. Cook for 2-3 minutes and flip, cook 1-2 more minutes.

Topping ideas: 
Yogurt
Maple Syrup
Jam
Nut butter
Hazelnut spread
Coconut (shredded)
Granola
Dried Fruit

I am a firm believer that we should always eat with a purpose. For myself, I love eating for fuel and for health. But I always find pleasure in eating whether it's a salad or something a bit more indulging (and everything in between). 

Pancakes have a special place in my heart because my dad loved pancakes, straight from Aunt Jemima's box. 

My dad took this picture (above) of his pancakes a month after he was diagnosed with stage IV cancer which ended up taking his life 10 months later. He sent me the following text. 

Food, meal time and my kitchen are all positives in my life. 

I never find myself not smiling when it comes to the food that I choose to put into my body. 

Food makes me happy, it fuels my lifestyle and it keeps me well.
My dad always had such a great sense of humor in life and he was always so good at making me smile and laugh. 

I sure do love pancakes but now I have an even better reason to always smile when I eat them. 

Thanks Dad. 

Apple cinnamon, peanut butter granola - it's soooooo good!!!

I hope you enjoy my latest yummy Trimarni creation!!

Perfect on cottage cheese, topping yogurt, in milk or by the handful. 

Don't forget to yum!

Apple cinnamon, peanut butter granola

2 cups oats

1/4 cup honey

1 tbsp nut butter

2 tbsp unsweetened shredded coconut

1 tbsp chia sheeds

1/8 tsp salt

1/4 cup almonds (chopped)

1 large apple (chopped - Gala)

1 tbsp ground cinnamon

Olive oil

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

2. Rub a little olive oil on a large baking sheet to lightly cover the sheet until shiny

3. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. 

4. Mix with clean hands (this is the fun sticky part!)

5. Pour yummy contents on to baking sheet and spread all around dish.

6. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove sheet and toss granola. 

7. Bake for additional 10-15 minutes or until slightly golden brown. 

8. Keep refrigerated in air-tight container for up to 3 days (if it lasts that long). 

This will not be a super clumpy granola but it is absolutely delicious, especially after it sits in the refrigerator for at least an hour.
Feel free to use your creativity with additional ingredients or substitutions. 

Nutrition facts: 

Per 1/2 cup

Servings: 8 x 1/2 cup servings (or 4 cups total)

169 calories

5g fat

27g carbohydrates

11g sugar

4g fiber

4g protein

49g sodium