Apple Picking: Meal and Snack Ideas to Use Up Apples

Tim and I have gone apple picking every single year that we’ve been together. We went during year one, and over the years it has become one of our favorite fall traditions.

We’ll switch up what orchard we go to, but I’d say we primarily stick with Smolak Farms in Andover, Honey Pot Hill Orchards in Stow, and Shelburne Farm in Stow. This year we actually split our apple picking excursion between both Honey Pot Hill and Shelburne, since they are 5 minutes away from each other. We did all our picking at Honey Pot first. After we finished picking apples, we wanted a little snack, but the line was SO long for apple cider donuts that we decided to drive down the street to Shelburne instead. Shelburne Farm has my favorite little farm stand store and food options anyways, so it worked out perfectly!

For the record, that’s pumpkin ice cream you see me eating there. So delicious! We left the farm with cheese, apple cider, some pumpkins for the house, and some pumpkin fudge to have as a treat during the week.

Like most people do when they go apple picking, we had a ton of apples to use up over the next few weeks. We tried to get creative with meals and snacks so our apples wouldn’t go to waste, and I thought it would make for a fun blog post.

I’m all for having an apple as a snack or cutting one up and eating it with some nut butter spread on top, but here are some meal and snack ideas to keep things interesting:

Roasted pork with caramelized apples

Ground turkey stuffed apples

Apple and quinoa stuffed acorn squash

Apple and almond quinoa salad

Kale and apple salads. The picture below shows pears, which we also picked during our apple picking day! We’ve also been getting both apples and pears in our CSA too, and a go to salad format for us is greens (kale, lettuce, etc.) + grain (quinoa, barley, farro) + fruit (chopped apples or pears) + nuts (slivered almonds, walnuts, pecans) + cheese (feta, goat, etc.). I just didn’t have a picture to share of my apple version.

Grain free apple cinnamon chia muffins

Lightened up apple crisp

Crock pot apple cinnamon oatmeal. My favorite mix-ins are either dried cranberries or raisins and walnuts!

Apple cinnamon protein pancakes

Apple pie smoothies. To make these, I threw 1 cup unsweetened almond milk, 1 apple (peeled, cored, and sliced), 1 tbsp almond butter, 1 frozen banana, 1 tbsp cinnamon, 1 tsp vanilla extract, 1 tsp nutmeg, 1 cup kale, and a handful of ice in the blender. If you make this, you might have to add water as needed to mix it all up. It looks disgusting, but I promise it doesn’t taste like it looks! Good post workout snack.

–Let’s chat–
Did you go apple picking this year? What did you make with the apples you picked? Local readers, what is your go to apple orchard?

Here are some more apple recipe ideas from the past, even though we didn’t make these with this year’s apple batch!

• Shrimp lettuce wraps with apple slaw
• Apple salmon burgers
• Fall harvest pizza
• Pumpkin spice and apple stew
• Cinnamon apple brie

Almond Flour Berry Muffins

Good morning! My friend Cate recently requested that I share this recipe on the blog, so today I’m sending these almond flour berry muffins your way. I got this recipe at my friend Dawn’s healthy eating party and recipe swap at the beginning of the year, and they quickly became a fun baking favorite!

Almond Flour Berry Muffins

Ingredients

• 2 cups blueberries
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 1/2 cups almond meal
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup honey
• 3 eggs
• Splash of chia seeds and dark chocolate chips

Directions

1. Heat oven to 325°F.
2. Combine the dry ingredients.
3. Combine the wet ingredients (berries too) in a separate bowl.
4. Add dry ingredients to wet and mix well.
5. Evenly fill each baking cup with the batter.
6. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center of muffin comes out clean.

I like these muffins for the blueberry and chocolate flavor combo. Also, the chia seeds add that extra nutritional punch for the perfect grab and go snack, breakfast, or pre-workout fuel. An added bonus is that they are gluten free! For anyone who came to Slesh’s bachelorette party, these are the same muffins I made for our limo ride to Long Island in the morning.

Let me know if you try these. Enjoy!

–Let’s chat–
Do you have any go to baking recipes? What are your favorite flavor combinations?

Typically I am a sucker for anything that has peanut butter and chocolate together!

Sweet Potato, Farro, and Veggie Casserole

This one was a hit on Instagram, so I figured you guys might want it on the blog!

Sweet Potato, Farro, and Veggie Casserole

Recipe adapted from Town and Country Markets

Ingredients

• 1 cup farro
• 2 cups diced sweet potatoes or yams
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 cup diced sweet onion
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 ten ounce bag of frozen spinach, thawed and drained
• 2 cups of milk (I used unsweetened almond milk)
• 6 eggs, whisked with 1 tbsp of water
• 1 tsp red chili flakes
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Cook farro per package directions, set aside to cool.
3. Heat oil in skillet over medium heat, then add the potatoes and the onions. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 8-10 minutes or until tender. Add the garlic and cook for 2 more minutes.
4. Remove from heat and stir in half of the grated Parmesan, set aside to cool.
5. Spray a 9×13 baking dish with non-stick cooking spray, then spread farro in a layer on the bottom of the dish. Then layer the spinach, followed by the potato mixture.
6. In a separate bowl, whisk together the milk, eggs, and seasonings. Pour over the potatoes, stir to mix the eggs in, and top with remaining cheese.
7. Bake for 20-30 minutes, then place in broiler for 3-4 minutes to get a golden brown crust.
8. Enjoy!

The beauty of this dish is that it’s very versatile. It certainly made for a good dinner to have on hand for the week we made it, but it would also be a great addition to a brunch! I think you could substitute in your grain of choice instead of farro and use whatever veggies you have lying around. For the meat lovers, Tim says he recommends adding in some sausage. You could also decrease the amount of cheese if you think it’s too much… but sometimes a girl just wants to have a lot of cheese!

Let me know if you try it!

–Let’s chat–
What’s your favorite casserole?

For some other F&F casserole recipes, check out:

• Baked oatmeal casserole
• Banana pecan coconut oatmeal casserole
• Mushroom spinach baked egg casserole
• Eggplant parm casserole
• Spaghetti squash and ricotta casserole