And That's That

My last apple along with some The Walking Dead marathon.


You look hungry, zombie, but it's mine. All mine!

Not a bad way to finish off the Challenge and the year.

We're all gonna die

The bacon challenge may have been healthier for us.

http://www.ecokaren.com/2010/02/7-foods-even-food-safety-experts-won-t-eat/

From the people that brought you the Honeycrisp...

We welcome the SweeTango: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/11/21/111121fa_fact_seabrook

I have not tried them yet because they were $3.29/lb at my co-op, making the Honeycrisp seem like a bargain but my next trip I am definitely picking up one or two!

make your tastebuds dance

At work today, I meandered down to the TriBeCa Greenmarket during lunch. I needed to pick up some more apples, and the Red Apple Orchard tent had tons of different varieties. The SweeTangos caught my eye with their fun name and relatively smaller size compared to the Hulk-sized Galas. I'd never heard of SweeTangos before. When I got back to the office I Googled the new apple. Turns out they're a brand spanking new variety. And they've got their own web site... and blog... and tagline!

http://sweetango.com/

Also, I just ate one and it's now my new favorite apple.

A Label That Cleans

Just when I thought sticker technology would never catch up to the rest of the world, Scott Amron via Amron Experimental, Inc. comes up with this fun/smart/practical produce label invention: http://inhabitat.com/fruitwash-produce-labels-that-turn-into-soap-to-wash-your-fruits-and-veggies/

Finally my apples will be labeled and clean!

will you be in NYC next week?

If so, you should check out Cider Week -- http://appleproject.glynwood.org/ciderweek

Apples over bacon? NO, bacon over apples

Apples are way more healthy than bacon but, man, bacon takes a damn good photograph.

Liquid Apples

This weekend, along with trying to get myself back on pace by eating some apples, I also learned about apples and how they get made into cider.

At Clear Creek State Park in Sigel, PA, where I happened to be for the weekend, they had a little program on making cider (http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/calendar/view_event.asp?CalendarID=22264) that I checked out.

Here's the spread for those who liked to see the lowdown before getting started:

 

The ingredients? No flavorings, colorings, sugar, filtering, pasteurization, concentrate or otherwise. Just apples. These were picked right in the park:

Here's the press that does the solids to liquid conversion with the help of a small motor and some good ol' fashioned human elbow grease. The apples go into a small grinder (the box on the upper right) to break them into smaller pieces. The crunched up apples fall into the bucket lined with a mesh bag below. Then the bucket gets slid to the left side under the press and the handle (sticking above the frame, top left) is screwed down to supply the downward pressure needed to get the apples reduced to liquid:

Enough pressing on the apples and those sweet apple juices will start flowing out of their bucket, across the wood tray and into the final bucket:

And finally what I've been waiting for ... some to sample:

Verdict: delicious.

Another Apple Option

Thanks to the University of Minnesota there is a new-ish apple breed, the SweeTango, that sounds like it might be worth keeping an eye out for. Canadian article here: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/food-and-wine/trends/trends-features/this-falls-juiciest-apple-bite-into-a-sweetango/article2172968/

I don't think I've seen any yet here in Ohio but they sound pretty tasty. 

Apple Recipes Galore!

I have a favorite show on NPR called the Splendid Table. It talks all things food and recipes...if you have never listened you must check it out.

Anyway, my weekly newsletter features a new cookbook that is all things apples!

I am taking this directly from the newsletter but the cookbook sounds amazing and a recipe is included below!

GOOD READS

Amy Traverso, senior food and home editor of Yankeemagazine, is the author of The Apple Lover's Cookbook hot off the press. Besides its collection of interesting recipes, it's also a guide to all things apples. We especially like the apple varieties "cheat sheet." Wondering what apple to buy for a rich baked dessert, or which ones are best for a salad or sauce? The cheat sheet tells all.
This spin on a cinnamon bun is one you'll turn to again and again. It tastes like a specialty from a neighborhood bake shop, but it couldn't be easier to make at home.

APPLE-STUFFED BISCUIT BUNS

From The Apple Lover's Cookbook by Amy Traverso (W.W. Norton & Company, 2011). Copyright © 2011 by Amy Traverso. Used with permission of the publisher.
Makes 9 servings
I love a good cinnamon bun — even more with some diced apples wrapped up in the swirls — but I'm rarely organized enough to prep a yeast dough hours in advance of baking. These buns, inspired by the ones I once tasted at the River Run Café in Plainfield, Vermont, are made with a quick biscuit dough. Problem solved!
Apple Notes: This is, indeed, a rich dish. And normally, I like a more acidic apple when cooking with a fair amount of butter. However, these buns just needed something sweet, but still firm. Some favorites for this dish include Jazz, Pink Lady, and Piñata, for their bright, vibrant flavors.
Equipment: 8- by 8-inch baking pan; parchment paper
For the Filling

• 1-1/4 cups (290 g) firmly packed light brown sugar
• 5 tablespoons (70 g) salted butter, cut into chunks, plus more for greasing pan
• 1-1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 large firm-sweet apple (about 8 ounces), peeled, cored, and cut into 1/4-inch cubes

For the Buns

• 1/2 cup (120 ml) buttermilk
• 1 large egg
• 3 cups (435 g) all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• 2-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1-1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 12 tablespoons (1-1/2 sticks, 170 g) cold salted butter, cut into small cubes

1. Grease the baking pan with a little bit of butter; set aside. Make the filling: In a medium bowl, combine the brown sugar, the 5 tablespoons butter, and the cinnamon. Using a pastry cutter (or fork), cut the butter into the sugar, working it in until the mixture looks like wet sand. Put in the refrigerator to chill while you prepare the dough.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the buttermilk and egg; set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. Sprinkle the butter over the flour mixture and use your fingers to work it in (rub your thumb against your fingertips, smearing the butter as you do). Stop when mixture looks like sand studded with little chunks. Add the egg mixture and stir with a fork just until the dough begins to hold together. It will look quite ragged and not fully blended, but stop there. You want to prevent the butter from melting into the dough — those little chunks will create a flakier texture once baked.
3. Preheat the oven to 350°F and set a rack to the middle position. Dump the dough out onto a piece of parchment paper and knead just enough to bring it all together into a ball. Using a rolling pin and bench scraper (or spatula), roll the dough (still on parchment) into a 9- by 15-inch rectangle with straight sides.
4. Sprinkle the dough all over with the brown sugar mixture, leaving a 1-inch border across one of the longer edges. Top with the apples and gently press down. Working from the long edge opposite the border, roll the dough up tightly, jelly-roll-style, using the parchment as an aid. When you reach the border, give the roll a squeeze and turn seam side down.
5. Cut the roll crosswise into 9 equal buns and arrange in the prepared pan. Bake until golden brown and bubbling, 30 to 35 minutes. Serve warm, right from the pan.
Copyright © 2011, Lynne Rossetto Kasper.
All Rights Reserved

this guy should join the challenge

Growing For Ronald

I'm not sure how kids feel about McDonald's adding apples to their Happy Meals, but apple growers sure aren't complaining:

New York Apple Industry Bullish On New Happy Meal Policy

new apples news!

Finally something apple-y to report. McDonalds loves apples.

Another Point of View

A bit of a counterpoint to the prior post about apples and their pesticide presence:

  Apples Are Not To Be Feared 

 

Apples, apples, everywhere ...

Being published in the Wenatchee World, a newspaper from the Wenatchee, Washington (the "Apple Capital of the World") it's probably not quite impartial. Even the paper's logo has an apple in place of the "O" in "World".  But I suppose biased opinion is what editorial pages are all about and it makes some solid points, so take that, EWG study! 

Also, in my internet travels, I just learned that Wenatchee has a collegiate summer baseball team called the AppleSox.  Awesome.

Top Of The List

Apples generally get honored with all sorts of health benefits but the Environmental Working Group is putting apples on a list with a more dubious honor -- pesticide contamination:

Apples Top List For Pesticide Contamination

I guess we're going to get poisoned from something anyway so I can't say I'm going to lose a ton of sleep over this but perhaps this list stresses the worth in putting some effort forth to buy local/organic.

"C" Is For CookieApple

While not really apple through and through, I thought I would post this photo from a friend and fellow Marist alum's cookie making venture, Jackandy Cookies

Lick the screen. You can taste the Nutley, NJ love.

While the deliciousness of real apples seems to be deteriorating as summer progresses, those apple cookies look pretty great no matter what the season.

Jackandy makes cookies for all occasions, apples or otherwise. Take a gander of some of the creations along with pricing and contact info here: http://jackandycookies.blogspot.com or hook up on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jackandy-Cookies/121428731225259

slackers, big time

All I am saying is that a lot of the apple consumption, and blogging, has been suffering. Numbers are stagnant, topics tepid.

I did some random Googling about apple related topics: worst apple to eat - the brand kept appearing, but nothing much about gross tasting apples. Most expensive apple to eat actually yielded a lot, some blog with a few good tips on eating on a budget, a post about Adam & Eve (the cost being our souls I guess). Nothing too exciting in the world of apples per Google and let's face it, who looks past the top links.

Short story even shorter, I've got nothing apple related other than I am traveling to the Big Apple tomorrow for a fun filled weekend stalking the band Beirut (tickets for me, anyone?!?), biking around, eating and drinking. <---see you soon, CL!

Suck on it, diabetes!

http://www.menshealth.com/spotlight/diabetes/12-powerfoods.php

1. Apples
In a Finnish study, men who ate the most apples and other foods high in quercetin had 20 percent less diabetes and heart disease deaths. Other good sources of quercetin are onions, tomatoes, leafy green vegetables, and berries.

Tops

Some Apple production trivia for you on this Friday afternoon:

Can you name the Top 20 Apple Producers by country? http://www.sporcle.com/games/Francisco/apple_production

Can you name the US Apple Production by state? http://www.sporcle.com/games/tomahaha/us_apple_production

Apples As Catchy Pop

I stumbled upon this international apple venture yesterday -- a video by South Korea's T-ara:




I was initially worried that I was missing out on important details of this song with my Korean language skills lacking, but having found the lyrics translated, I have come to realize that even knowing the lyrics I am still fairly lost. I may have been better off without them.

****Translation***

Hey, Apple is A+.

Baby. l love you.

Bring Bring Bring

T A R A Apple

T A R A Apple

You’re so sweet sweet

You’re so thrilling thrilling

You’re so shiny shiny

Can’t you hear my beating heart?

Why do you keep me waiting

Your face is so handsome handsome

Your words are so kind kind

I think I fell in love too deep at first sight

[[Chorus]]

Your lips, your skin

Your smile, your body

Your charms keep me from waking up

You’re so sweet sweet

You’re so thrilling thrilling

You’re so shiny shiny

Can’t you hear my beating heart?

Why do you keep me waiting

Lalalalala Lalalalala

You’re the guy I’ve been waiting for

I fell into your heart

I think I love you

For you, I’m A+
I groom myself confidently A+
Whenever I see you, you’re A+
I fell in love with you A+
Whenever I see you, you’re A+
Your eyes are always A+

When you stare at me like that
My shy heart keeps on beating
I fell into love too deep at first sight

[[Chorus]]

Your lips, your skin
Your smile, your body
Your charms keep me from waking up
You’re so sweet sweet
You’re so thrilling thrilling
You’re so shiny shiny
Can’t you hear my beating heart?
Why do you keep me waiting

Lalalalala Lalalalala

You’re the guy I’ve been waiting for
I fell into your heart
I think I love you
You’re so lovely
You’re so sweet
The prince in my dreams
I realize now that it’s you
Now I’m going to find you

A P P L E <>

oh oh my heart beats beats
My heart is sweet sweet
A A A Apple is A+
You are my boy, boy

Waxy

WEWS-TV 5, the ABC affiliate here in Cleveland has been doing an apple experiment to test freshness preservation.  Done at their studio, I don't know that scientists would approve of all the variables involved, but it's still interesting comparing natural, washed and production line waxed apples to see how they deteriorate in different settings.  The details along with photos/video can be found here:  http://www.newsnet5.com/dpp/money/consumer/consumer_specialist/does-a-wax-coating-preserve-an-apple-longer-apple-cam-experiment-explained

5 On Your Side ... saving us from mushy apples!

apples on a train

I saw this commercial on TV today.



I thought it was a pretty great ad. I also wondered two things. Did they really wasted that many apples? Turns out no, it was CGI. Thank goodness because that would have been a total waste. My second thought was, what stop are they at? That subway station was relatively clean and I've never seen one so empty of people.

Keep Your Bites Small

I don't know if this is really a necessary post, but at least it's something new.  And, of course it mentions apples.  Sure it's in a rather odd and unpleasant way, but freedom of the press and all that ...

I'm not familiar with author James Nesbo (I don't know if anybody is -- I can barely find any mention of him online), but in this article discussing his new book he mentions how apples influenced part of the story:

The torture device, known as Leopold's Apple, is a figment of Nesbo’s imagination ... also based on a childhood summer holiday he and his brother spent at their grandmother’s.

He says: “She had a big garden with apple trees and we were not allowed to pick the apples, but she didn’t say anything about eating them.

"So we would climb the trees and eat the apples without picking them. One day my brother challenged me on who could take the widest bite out of the biggest apple. I put a big apple into my mouth without picking it and then I couldn’t get the apple out again.

“I started thinking, the apple is still growing. What would happen if I stayed here for three weeks? Would my head eventually explode?”

Luckily, we can pick apples without trouble from grandma or better yet just buy them in the store.  Although clearly we are all paying the price of not having the apple experiences to make us authors. Anyway, to be on the safe side, please be careful with your bites.

Lunchtime Tuna

I don't know if you really need a step-by-step instructions to make this, but it's here and I stumbled upon it, so why not share the wealth?

Apple Tuna Melts

And I centered that.  It gives it a bit more pizzazz, no?

and it don't snow in Minneapolis...

I've pretty much been eating all Granny Smiths this whole time. I like them. They're both sweet and tart. They're firm enough to make good sauce and pie. I'm coming to the conclusion that they really are the best apple. So I found myself in the store the other day (don't all my stories involve me being in the store) picking out more apples while humming this song. And so I thought I should share.



I forgot I knew this song. I also forgot how great it was. Enjoy.

Apple Saucy

I need to play catch up, so I made apple sauce and ate it all in one sitting. Took the first recipe I found on google...not bad.

Apple Sauce Recipe

Before cooking:

After cooking and mashing. I think I could have mashed a little more:

I've been getting my apples from Nature's Bin lately, thanks to the recommendation from Kate. I like that store a lot. It's like a poor man's Trader Joe's. The apples are cheap and plentiful.

The one thing I don't like is that they put an extra sticker on each apple. It's like a price tag sticker that you'd find on canned soup or something. So there's the usual sticker, plus this other sticker. And it's usually very sticky and harder to take off. But it's okay. Small price to pay.

It does, however, remind me of It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia, and the episode where Charlie eats a pear for the first time. Every time I eat an apple, I think, I eat stickers all the time, dude!

And it makes me laugh. So, I guess it's okay.

That's all. You can (should) view that clip here.

I've got some apples

More Apples In Sausage

While I don't want to turn this into a sausage challenge, I took some of the leftover sausage from my stuffed apples I made on Wednesday and reworked an apple/sausage pairing into breakfast today:

Half a Granny Smith per patty

No post-cooking photos because I was hungry, but when combined with pancakes and a poached egg, it was quite delicious.

300

300 days to go. Seems like the perfect time for a movie. A remake of 300 seems fitting. An apple-y remake of 300* seems even more fitting:



*better than the original I think

Sausage That Apple

I took a day off from work today. Afterall, I deserve it.

It was fairly unproductive. But unproductive equals relaxing so that's good. One semi-motivated thing I did was try out an apple recipe from the good ol' Joy of Cooking. "Baked Apples Filled With Sausage Meat" was the entry. Joy of Cooking isn't big on witty names I guess. Just call it what it is.

The whole coring/hollowing out of the apples was a hassle, however each apple was easier than the one before it. After that it was all easy. And pretty tasty. Certainly nice to mix it up from just eating apples cold and plain.

Here's the routine:

Get yourself some apples (large unless you want to make yourself crazy). Cut off the top and then cut out the core.  Get rid of that. Then hollow it out a bit (the recipe says to leave the shell 3/4 of an inch thick but I went a bit thinner). Save those apple pieces you hacked out.

Knife choice was difficult for me. I got a spoon involved too.

Get yourself some sausage. The recipe said to go with well-seasoned sausage but I went with some "country sausage" because that's what I saw first at the store. I sort of assumed that all sausage came from the country as I don't run across a lot of pig farms in urban environments but perhaps I'm wrong. Anyway, the country sausage wasn't really what I would call "well-seasoned" but I guess tasting like the the country was seasoned enough for my liking.

Country sausage

Take your sausage and mix it with the apple pieces you have from the hollowing out process. Then sprinkle the inside of the apples with some brown sugar and put the sausage/apple mixture into the apples. Apples into a baking dish and baking dish into a 375 degree oven for somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 minutes.

Ready for the oven

Done and done. Joy of Cooking said to serve with rice or noodles so I did just that. 

Stand by, stomach here comes delicious.

Applerific! Or perhaps more accurately Applesausagerific!

apples are everywhere!

Surprisingly enough I have not yet had apples incorporate themselves into my dreams...I am a vivid dreamer so perhaps typing this out will make it come true. Anyway, since starting this challenge, apples have literally become a part of my life; like flossing, I think about them all the time, I will go out of my way to purchase more when I suddenly run out and feel guilty when I miss a day, but generally am very happy they have an established place within my routine.

Today waiting for my Honda shop to finish my shockingly expensive brake repair I decided to delve further into apples and have discovered the following:
1. I need an apple core. I used one last night and today. At first I thought it was just an extravagance, but it makes my apple consumption easier. Quick press and you have a lovely sliced apple...be warned, push straight down or the core will slice sideways...whoops.
2. If you google the word apples, there are 38,400,000 results in 0.18 seconds. That is a lot of references to apples. That crazy company, you know the one with all those gadgets, appears a lot but there is truly a lot of crap out there regarding this fruit! However, this listing seems promising as a general guide to apple varieties.
3. People think I am insane. We all knew this before, but challenges really make people see how dedicated one can be to an odd topic. Not as many people are ready to embrace apples at every meal as I thought perhaps they would be, hmmm.
4. Does anyone remember my friend Trevor who came with me to roller derby once (at the Soccerplex) and put apples in his bell bottom overall pockets? When I think of this challenge I think of Trevor and his penchant for apples long before this challenge began.

I dunno, that's all I have today. Apples are controlling my life but all things considered it is a pretty good obsession.

Lastly, dinner! Grilled cheese on whole wheat bread from Christopher's (Westside Market), sharp NY cheddar, lavender goat chevre (from some CA creamery, SO good), and sauteed spinach...of course with a side of apple!

Apples: Weight Loss, Award Gain

You too can lose two-and-a-half stone and win an Oscar*! It's as simple as eating apples*:
Christian Bale Ate Just Apples For 'The Fighter' Role









*not a guarantee

Fun apple song

Atmosphere - Apple

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MT-07C7Hi2s

Mike's post made me think of this song.

Video is just the album cover.

Apples In The Tub

In the "amazing facts" that mental_floss magazine, tweets, they've got an apple-related post on this fine day:

Writer's block be gone!

I had to do some food shopping tonight for tomorrow's big Chili Cook Off at work (my chili does not contain apples), and as I was walking in, there were two fellas outside talking. If they were in a movie, they'd be credited as Gangsta #1 and Gangsta #2. As I walked by, Gangsta #1 said, "Apples, motherfucker, apples."

I wanted to stop and see what the context was, but of course I didn't. I thought, Hey, maybe he recognizes me as that guy who once posted on this apple blog! But I doubt that was it.

Anyway, later I was walking down an aisle, and here came Gangstas 1 & 2. This time, the part of the conversation I heard was, "You know it was her fucking feet."

I wish I was hanging out with these guys. The only thing I could figure is that Gangsta #1 was actually an undercover CIA agent or something, and he thought that maybe I was one also who came to save him. "Apples, motherfucker, apples" was probably code for "My cover's been blown. Call the chief!" Does the CIA have a chief? I dunno.

That's all. I've been eating a lot of apples lately. Five in the last two days. I will not give up, unlike some Apple Challengers I know.

A witch!

I'm a big fan of Monty Python. (Don't worry. I'm going to circle this back around to being relevant.) I've seen Monty Python and the Holy Grail many times. So many in fact, that whenever I think of apples, I think of the witch scene from the Holy Grail. Here it is in case you've never seen it. (And I hope that's not the case for anyone. And if it is, you should remedy that situation ASAP.)




It's a bit long, but funny. The important part is the section regarding what else floats in water. Apples!

So I was in the West Side Market (not the one in Cleveland, the one at Broadway and 110th) picking out some more Granny Smiths when I said "Apples!" because that's the only way I can say that word. I said it out loud. It's okay, New York is full of crazies. I didn't think it would cause sideways looks. However I didn't expect that a person on the other side of the fruit bin would respond, "very small rocks!"

Totally made my day. Best moment in NYC so far.

Limit Yourself

Painting by yamiyoujitsu

Any of you who are pregnant shouldn't be eating 5 apples a day:

Fruit Juice, Apples Linked To Fetus Harm

Alright, so the article is really about overall fructose intake, not just apples, but does anybody really have to be told to avoid that many apples in one day?  Who would do that?

Concentrate On Concentrate

I don't think this technically applies directly to any of us as we're not Vermonters (right?) but this commentary by Sarwar Kashmeri is an interesting take on local economies, the general mindset of food processing/consumption and of course involves apples or I wouldn't be mentioning it: Kashmeri: Concentrate On Apples

Right up your local alley, k.ry. And for the record, despite my occasional fascination with the Grāpple® and other such novelties I like to go local when I can also.

Hey Fellas ...

For those of you who don't work with me, I like to keep boxes of cereal at work. I have a bowl and a spoon there and bring some milk in a Thermos® and have my most important meal of the day right at my desk. I guess eating breakfast at home would be more relaxing and perhaps more "normal" but that would mean getting up earlier and I think we can all agree that the idea of that routine is less than ideal.

Anyway, one of my current breakfast cereal options is Kellogg's® Apple Jacks®. Healthy and mature, I know! Before you get all riled up, despite containing dried apples and apple juice concentrate I am not counting Apple Jacks towards my Apple Challenge consumption count.

I really don't know what any of this rambling has to do with anything really, but I liked this frame off the Apple™ and CinnaMon™ comic on the back of the box.  Just a little confidence building shout from Apple™ to his non-personificationized apple friends (and football -- part of the "What's Wrong With This Picture?" game on the box):

Looking good indeed.

Apple Hunger Test

Not much apple blogging as of late, but not to worry, we're still here.

I ran across an article from the Yuma Sun that has some apple health facts and a little trick for figuring out whether you are actually hungry or not (in case you are trying to avoid eating crap): Guaranteed 'Apple a Day' Diet

Pricing Out Apples

The apple challenge has certainly made me more conscious about the price and availability of apples. I am a localvore, that is I really try to ONLY eat food that is grown or produced locally and none of that processed stuff that fills the grocery store shelves (ahem, artificial grape flavor added to apples, WJR). Anyway, it can prove to be challenging, especially when trying to find a great deal for delicious apples.

Fret not, Clevelanders, for I have the answer; Nature's Bin offers locally grown Ohio apples for $0.79 a lb! That is certainly the cheapest I have seen it and it is consistently at this price.

Eat on, fellow applers.

Economy Boost

I know we're pretty early in the year, and some of these stats were on the rise before 2011 even hit, but I'd still like to think we're contributing: Strong Sales For Washington Apples

You're welcome, Washington.

BAT - Bacon, Apple, Tomato

Last week I was discussing Apple Challenge with some co-workers and Bill's TAB/BAT sandwich. We were debating which acronym was better. Someone proposed a different kind of sandwich that can also be called a BAT - bacon, apple, and tomato! At first I thought this would be awful, but curiosity got the best of me, so I had to try it.

I used half of a stem tomato, half a jonagold apple, and 2 slices of bacon.

Verdict -- win! It was a little messy with the thick tomato and apple slices, making it difficult to keep everything together.

Still, it was a good combination of juicy, sweet, and a little bit of salty. I'll definitely try this again.

Variety is the (Apple) Spice of Life

I'll admit it.  I'm really not at all an apple fan.  When I think, "Mmm, I'd really like to eat a piece of fruit right now," apples are usually my last resort (except for melons. Melons I won't touch).  I don't know where this apple prejudice comes from.  I really have no good reason not to like them.  Is it the taste, or the texture?  Do they remind me of that horrible night in college when I tried Apple Pucker for the first time?  I thought participating in the Apple Challenge 2011 would help me squelch my biases.  It was time to give the apple a fighting chance.

And, after eight days of eating them, I figured it out.

I prefer cooked apples over raw apples.  Cooking an apple just makes it so much more delicious than eating it right out of the fridge.  I think it has something to do with the juices being released.  And they become much more fragrant.

So great, I thought.  All I have to do is diversify my apple recipes over a year.  There are around 1,000,000 varieties of apples, so there has to be literally a ton things I can do with them in the kitchen, right?

Apparently, wrong.

Everyone on the Internet, and all of my cookbook authors, only want to put apples in desserts.  That's great, except for the times when you have to eat an apple a day for a whole year.  Sure, there are suggestions to pair apples with just about any type of pork; apples with cheddar cheese; apples in salad.  But where are the REAL savory recipes?  What delicious dinner dishes are there where I can incorporate apples?  Slim pickins, Internet, and I am disappointed in you.  So I've resorted to experimenting.

I like spicy things, so I thought I'd try apples with jalapenos.  On Tuesday night, I made Southwest-style chicken 'n' cheese with fajita-style apples, onions, and jalapenos on the side. Not bad.

The chicken IS under there, somewhere...

Tonight, I made another chicken dish: baked chicken with green beans, jalapenos, and apples, all smothered in a good country helping of hot jalapeno mustard from Grandpa's Cheese Barn.  Much better, if I do say so myself.

 What other exciting savory recipes for apples can you find, that don't call for pork or cheese?  (Although I must say I'm particularly excited about this one from KitchenDaily.com...which involves both cheese and a pork product...)

Let's get creative!  Only three hundred and forty-five days left to go!

You Got Your Grape In My Apple

It's tough to get anywhere in an apple challenge, and as I am completely out, I hit the store tonight to stock up on more apples and get myself caught up.

At the end of one of the apple sections I noticed a little 4-pack of apples that catches my eye.

To be honest, the "Free Soccer Ball" is what lured me in to begin with but then I wondered what was so special about these apples that they were in their own package rather than just hanging out with all of the other renegade apples. Why so fancy?

Upon closer inspection I found these apples were not your average apples. Apples for sure, yet different ... Grāpple! (pronounced "Grape-L" rather than "Gr-apple"). What on earth? Apples infused with natural and artificial grape flavor, that's what.

While intrigued, I got a little freaked out about grape infused apples so I didn't buy any of the Grapples and just stuck with the standard apple options. But now I've checked out the information on the Grapple web site and am slightly more open to the idea (that internet sure is persuasive), so in the name of experimentation and of Apple Challenge 2011 variety I think I will pick up a pack next time I'm at the store. Perhaps even two packs so I can get a Grapple soccer ball. "Allow 90 days from receipt of order" should get me a ball just in time for Spring soccer season. Yes!

I'll be sure to update if once I get on the Grapple bandwagon.

For those that shop at Pathmark or A&P...

...they salute you (with free apples this weekend):



If you already have the keychain swipe card for these respective grocery stores, you're halfway there. Just join their online coupon club to get the coupon, then you just spend at least $15 while shopping this weekend, and a free 3 pound bag of Empire apples are yours.

Why do apples always turn brown five minutes after the air hits them?

Taken from Steve's Consumption Details on 1/13/2011 12:48:33 PM. I always wondered that so I looked to the web and this is what I found:

Why Do Cut Apples Pears Bananas and Potatoes Turn Brown?

Why do apple slices turn brown after being cut?

Another Successful Sandwich

Made another tasty sandwich for lunch today. Tasty and apple infused.

The apple portion was half Jazz and half Granny Smith. The rest was turkey and brie. All on ciabatta with some honey mustard. I threw it under the broiler on the handy work toaster oven for a little toasting/melting action.

It looks a little bleached out in that photo, but believe me when I tell you that it was pretty excellent.

Four of the five food groups all in one easy to handle package. I should have thrown some veggies on there to go five for five but I feel like that might have thrown off the balance.  

It seems that while expanding my apple eating options I am also strengthening my opinion that cheese is great on pretty much everything and anything.  Apples are pretty versatile but cheese is the king of versatility.

One question though ... do I call it TAB for Turkey, Apple and Brie or call it TBA for Turkey, Brie and Apple or BAT for Brie, Apple and Turkey? Or perhaps skip the witty acronym and just call it what it is. 

Oh, the humanity!

day of a thousand apples... or three

So far I’ve been on track for the apple-a-day – 7 for 7. But, I’m worried I might pull a mile challenge and just end up taking a month-long break or two. That got me to thinking, if I got seriously behind in the apple challenge, would I be able to make it up? Would I be able to sit down and enjoy four apples in a day? Enjoy? I don’t know about that. But to have multiple apples in a day could end up being a real challenge. So I decided to challenge myself.

Today is my day of apples. Exhibit A: Breakfast.


Yep. That’s right. I own a gallon of maple syrup. I also made my own apple cinnamon oat meal from scratch and it was delicious.

Exhibit B: Lunch


I’ve seen a few people posting about their apple and cheddar sandwiches, so here’s mine -- Granny Smith apple, extra sharp cheddar, and ham! Perfect. (And I know it looks skimpy on the apple. I only used half of the apple, and ate the other half old school style.)

Exhibit C: Dinner


The classic combination of pork chops and apples. The recipe was from Martha Stewart and she wouldn't steer you wrong.

Three apples down, and I'm not sick of them yet. In fact, I'm ready for more. Maybe some apple crisp for dessert!

Apple Snob

My first job when I was 15 years old was working in the produce department of a large Cleveland supermarket. My first day on the job, this older guy Ken who apparently had 4 college degrees taught me an important lesson: when you work in produce, apples are free. In fact I later learned that pretty much anything was free. All you had to do if anyone asked was to say, "Oh this one had a bruise on it," and that thing was yours for the eating. I quickly moved on to other things, and most of my days on that job involved sampling apples while Ken made us fresh lemonade with "bruised" lemons and "damaged" boxes of sugar that he took right off the shelf. We were hardcore, man.

But I think my favorite part about eating all of that free produce was that I quickly became a self proclaimed Apple Snob. There are so many different kinds of apples and such a wide spectrum of tastes, and I got to try as many as we could get. For some reason, apples were often a topic of conversation at my school lunch table (because that's what all the cool kids talk about at an all boys college prep school), and it was nice being able to tell Eric that his taste in apples sucked after he had just made fun of me during Sex Ed class. Phrases like "a red delicious is like gross apple sauce stuffed inside an apple skin" had the whole lunch table admiring my superior knowledge.

What excites me most about doing this apple challenge is the fact that I once again get to dive into the world of apples. Growing up, I was a braeburn man. Working at that store turned me on to pink ladies, which I've almost exclusively eaten until now. It's time for a change, and I'm super excited about getting back into the apple scene.

So, what kinds of apples do you folks eat?

Cheese It Up

I strayed from the plain ol' apple routine already. Cheddar and apple sandwich for dinner:

Nothing fancy, but it certainly was tasty. I think next time I would probably go with a cheddar with a bit more sharpness and perhaps a Granny Smith (I used a Pink Lady). A little more bite would have been nice.

Hopefully I'll plan ahead a bit better for future endeavors but using what I had turned out A-OK.

I struggled to eat all those wedges, ugh...

One Granny Smith down. We don't need to eat the cores, right?

Art and Food

You don't really need to draw what you eat, but just in case you want to ...

Let's roll

All I'm saying is a Sharp Cheddar and Apple Grilled Cheese sandwich will definitely break up just pounding whole apples day in and day out. With all that cheese I will enjoy also working towards 365 miles in 365 days, i.e. the great challenge of 2010.

1 apple, 0 miles down. The health benefits of the apples and miles should play well with each other.

Arthur Brown - Spontaneous Apple Creation (1968)

Some theme music for the Apple Challenge. Especially appropriate for those who want to combine their apple intake with hallucinogen experiments.

It's Go Time

Welcome to 2011.

Challenge on! Begin your eating.