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Slow Cooker Baked Apples

November 13, 2018 By Diane Boyd

Slow Cooker Baked Apples are a healthy and delicious holiday dessert prepped in only 10 minutes; your slow cooker does the rest! Let your guest customize the warm fruit dessert with a myriad of topping options such as ice cream, maple syrup, honey, walnut oil, whipped cream, or cheddar cheese.
I’m a traditionalist, and holidays are filled with time honored classics. But each year I tweek my menu trying to create a healthier holiday. What is a ‘healthier holiday’? For me, it’s one with less sugar, more vegetables, more whole grains, and less saturated fat. It’s a meal that reflects the way I eat everyday day of the year. This year I’m stoked about my apple pie makeover for Thanksgiving dessert: a slow cooker baked apple with an assortment of toppings for my guests to customize to their liking : walnut oil, maple syrup, ice cream, honey, cheddar cheese, whipped cream. Even befor the toppings, it’s satisfying for those with a sweet tooth and appropriate for a myriad of deit restrictions/choices/palates including gluten free and vegan .

Make it in the slow cooker, so it doesn’t compete for oven time on your busy cooking day. I suggest assembling a toppings bar to allow your guests to have fun finishing off their own custom baked apples. Note: Just to be sure you have some leftovers, you might want to add a few more apples to the slow cooker; they are a great accompaniment to oatmeal and pancakes.

Slow Cooker Baked Apples

Warm apples with cinnamon and ginger are easy to make in the slow cooker, and allow your guest to customize the toppings according to their preferences and dietary restrictions/goals.

Author: Diane Boyd
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 3 hours
Total Time: 3 hours 10 minutes
Yield: 8 1x
Category: dessert
Method: slow cooker
Cuisine: American

Ingredients

Scale

8 honey crisp apples
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
6 tablespoons dry old fashioned oats (gluten free varitey for gluten free diets)
4 tablespoons chopped walnuts
4 tablespoons golden raisins
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup water

Instructions

Core apples .
Mix cinnamon, ginger, oats, nuts, raisins and salt in a small prep bowl.
Fill the apples with spice/nut mix and place in a the bottom of 3 quart slow cooker.
Add water to the bottom of slow cooker. Cover and cook on high for 3 hours. Serve immediately or keep on warm setting until ready to serve. Refrigerate any leftovers.

Nutrition

Serving Size: 1 apple
Calories: 130
Sugar: 19 grams
Sodium: 75 mg
Fat: 3 grams
Saturated Fat: 0
Unsaturated Fat: 1.0
Trans Fat: 0
Carbohydrates: 28 grams
Fiber: 5 grams
Protein: 2 grams
Cholesterol: 0

CheeseCake Bites with Berry Coulis

June 21, 2017 By Diane Boyd

A healthy lifestyle doesn’t mean shunning desserts, it means satisfying a sweet tooth with small portions of dessert like these cheesecake bites with berry coulis.
Consumers are interested in nutrition. But more often than not, our attention is focused on what to eat, rather than on how much. Make no mistake: size does matter, and changes to portion sizes can make a BIG difference. Today we’re celebrating the Recipe Redux‘s 6th birthday and the emphasis is on portion size! Here’s our challenge:

Small Bite Desserts: In honor of our 6th birthday, we’re celebrating with cake or another small bite dessert than suits your fancy. Show us your small bite dessert creation.

When I eat dessert, the first bite is the most satisfying, and I experience diminishing returns for each bite thereafter. I’ve learned that what I really want is a small bite or taste, not a ginormous plate piled high with sweets. Small bites are not only figure friendly, but satisfying.

This past weekend I conceived some new ways to use what’s growing in my garden: cinnamon basil. Here are the results: this delicious sauce made with a medley of berries (blueberries, strawberries, blackberries and red raspberries), served over mini cheesecake bites and garnished with cinnamon basil. CheeseCake Bites with Berry Coulis are easy to make and fit into a healthy lifestyle. My small bite creation requires only 6 ingredients (besides the coulis). Why do I think this is healthy? There are primarily two reasons. 1. I shrunk the size of the cheese cake keeping calories, sugar and fat in check. 2. Berries are good for you! Be sure to visit the links below for more small bite dessert recipes to satisfy your desire for dessert within the framework of healthy lifestyle.

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Cheesecake bites are easy to make and fit into a healthy lifestyle.

CheeseCake Bites with Berry Coulis makes 2 dozen

by Diane Boyd

Ingredients (serves 24)

8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 egg
24 mini vanilla wafers
cinnamon basil for garnish

for the berry coulis

16 oz. frozen or fresh fruit medley
1 tablespoon cinnamon basil, chopped
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup berry jam

Instructions

1. Place a mini cupcake liner in each cup of a muffin pan.

2.Beat cream cheese with a handheld electric mixer, until fluffy.

3.Add sugar, vanilla, cinnamon beating well.

4.Add egg beating well after addition.

5. Lay a mini vanilla wafter, flat side down, in each muffin cup. Spoon cream cheese mixture over wafers.

6.Bake for 15 to 20 minutes. Allow to cool completely. Serve with berry coulis. Garnish with cinnamon basil.

for berry coulis

add ingredients for coulis in small saucepan and bring to a boil. Simmer for 30 minutes, or until sauce thickens. Serve warm or cool.

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Pumpkin Custard with Spiced Whipped Cream

November 13, 2015 By Diane Boyd

A holiday dessert that packs in fall flavors and 10 grams of protein per serving.Disclosure: I received free samples of siggi’s yogurt mentioned in this post. By posting this recipe I am entering a recipe contest sponsored by siggi’s yogurt and am eligible to win prizes associated with the contest. I was not compensated for my time.

How do you decide what to serve over the holidays? Are you a traditionalist? Or a trendsetter? I tend to favor time honored flavors, but I’m in favor of new twists on classics. A food won’t make the cut to be served on my holiday table, unless it’s delicious. But there’s also this, the health aspect, cause I care about what I feed my family, friends and myself.

So what about making delicious foods healthier? That’s what the Recipe Redux is all about. Come to find out, it’s the story of siggi’s Icelandic yogurt, aka Skyr. In 2004, Native Icelander Siggi Hilmarsson, was filling his own need for the wholesome yogurt native to his homeland (made with simple ingredients and without too much sugar) when he first recreated skyr in his own NYC kitchen. Today siggi’s is a nationwide brand, boasting a fact that makes me a HUGE fan: it has more protein than sugar! Each carton (5.3 oz.) provides 14 grams of protein. As someone who tries to maintain an optimal intake of protein daily, a key factor in helping to preserve lean muscle mass, discovering siggi’s yogurt is a dream come true!

Siggi’s makes meeting my protein requirements at breakfast easier and I like using it as an ingredient to boost the protein content of foods like smoothies, custards, dips and soup. Here’s my latest creation , Pumpkin Custard with Spiced Whipped Cream…

This custard brings the fall flavors of pumpkin, maple syrup, cinnamon and ginger together in one dessert. Try it with a molasses cookie, and it’s a combo you can’t beat. Although I can’t make the claim this dessert is low in sugar, I am proud to share these facts about the nutritional profile: each serving clocks in at 200 calories and provides 10 g protein, 6 grams fat, 0 grams trans fat, and 25 % of the Daily Value of Calcium. Keep the holidays healthy and stock up on siggi’s yogurt for meals, snacks and to use in this holiday recipe.

Pumpkin Custard with spiced whipped cream

Pumpkin Custard with Spiced Whipped Cream

serves 6

by Diane Boyd

Ingredients

for the Pumpkin Custard

1 large egg
1/ 2 cup sugar
2 level tablespoons cornstarch
1 12 oz can evaporated skim milk
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
2 containers (5.3 oz each) siggi’s Pumpkin & Spice Skyr
Garnish: 1/4 cup crushed pumpkin kernels (optional)

for the spiced whipped cream

3/4 cup whipped cream
2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, ground
1/4 teaspoon ginger, ground

Instructions

for the pumpkin custard

1. In a medium saucepan combine the egg, sugar and cornstarch. Beat with a wire whisk until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture is smooth (the mixture may appear dry at first, but will become liquid as you beat it).

2. Place the evaporated skim milk in a microwave safe measuring cup and heat 2 minutes on high until hot to the touch. (This step will reduce the cooking time.)

3. Whisk the milk into the egg mixture while the pan is set over low to medium heat.

4. Cook, whisking constantly, until the mixture looks curdled, keep beating with a whisk until the lumps are incorporated into the pudding. (About 20 minutes.)

5. Remove from heat and stir in butter and lemon zest. Allow to cool completely.

6. Add siggi’s Pumpkin & Spice skyr. Stir to combine. Can be made 3 days in advance and stored in the refrigerator.

Serve with 1 Tablespoon spiced whipped cream and garnish with crushed pumpkin kernels.

for the Spiced Whipped Cream

Beat whipped cream, maple syrup, cinnamon and ginger in a bowl until soft peaks form.

An InLinkz Link-up

Slow Cooker Baked Apples

Ingredients

Instructions

Nutrition

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