Vegan Apple Pie Crescent Rolls

Sometimes, you just need a super quick, yet delicious dessert to serve to unexpected company, or to satisfy a sudden craving. These Vegan Apple Pie Crescent Rolls are the perfect thing to bake in a hurry but still are delicious!

Harvest Time Stove Top Apple Butter

    Thanksgiving has come and gone. I hope you all had a wonderful day! Some people might go from Thanksgiving straight to Christmas, but my mind is still on 'Fall' mode, so that means more fall recipes! Apples are just one of the many wonderful foods that are popular during the fall months, and I love to use them as often as I can!

     I have always loved apple butter! Its delicious, full of warm flavors and also really easy to make! A lot of recipes are made for the crockpot, but not everyone has a crock pot, so I wanted to make a recipe that everyone could use! With just a few simple ingredients, you can turn delicious apples into terrific apple butter!

     We ordered 2 bushels of apples a few weeks ago, and we've been eating a lot of them, but we can possibly eat both bushels before they go bad, so I had to do something with them! I made apple butter with a few and I hope to make apple sauce and apple-pie filling soon!

Ingredients:

7-8 Large Apples, peeled and chopped into small pieces

1 cup Apple Cider

3/4 cup Sugar of Choice
 
2 tsp Cinnamon

2 tsp Allspice

Pinch of Salt

1/2 tsp Vanilla

2 TBS Lemon Juice


Once you have peeled and chopped your apples, add them to a pot on the stove along with the apple cider. Turn it on to medium/high.

Bring it to a boil and then reduce to a simmer for 20 minutes. Make sure to stir every few minutes to keep it from sticking and burning.

Once the 20 minutes are up, add in the sugar, spices, salt, vanilla and lemon juice.

Bring the mixture back up to a boil and then reduce the heat back to a simmer. Cook at a simmer for 30 minutes, making sure to stir often.

Turn the heat off and taste the mixture to make sure the flavors are to your liking. You might want to add more cinnamon, vanilla or allspice! Transfer to a blender or use an emulsion blender to puree the mixture to your desired texture.

 

 Once you have it blender, add it back into the pot at medium/low heat.

Cook for around 10 minutes, stirring almost constantly to keep from sticking. Then, turn the heat off and allow the mixture to cool. Transfer to an air-tight container or Ziploc back or eat it right away! You can keep it in the fridge for a week or two, or in the freezer for several months!

 

     As I was making this batch of apple butter, I was also making homemade bread! You can imagine how good our kitchen smelled! There is nothing better than homemade apple butter on fresh homemade bread!

 

 

    This apple butter is delicious on homemade bread, biscuits, muffins, oatmeal, pancakes, waffles, French toast and so much more! It can be enjoyed warm or cold and is terrific by the spoonful!

     I really hope you try this recipe out and that you like it as much as I do! Apple butter has always been a favorite of mine and I am so excited to have made some for myself and with my own recipe! If you love it too, please share this recipe with your friends and family so everyone can make homemade apple butter!

 

Please share my blog with your friends and family to spread the love of a healthy lifestyle and help others become the healthiest version of themselves!

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I post every Friday!

Stay Healthy, Happy and Laughing!

Happy Holidays!

Hannah

Amazing Apple Chips

    Apples are great for so many fall inspired recipes, crafts, and snacks! We ordered two boxes of apples a few weeks ago, and ever since I've been eating apples everyday! We've made apple crisp, cobblers, pancake toppings, and baked apples and they've all been delicious! But, most of those things aren't super healthy, so I wanted to try out a healthy recipe and use some of our apples!

    We have made apple chips in a dehydrator before, but not everyone has a dehydrator, and I wanted to make this recipe easy for everyone! These are super easy, super delicious, and such a perfect snack for just about anytime! We ate them all in about a day and a half, they were that good! 

     What I love about this recipe is how healthy and delicious it is! The chips are still so sweet and apple-y even though you don't add any sugar! Also, this recipe is vegetarian, vegan, and oil free,  so what is not to love about them?

Ingredients:
4 Large Apples
Lemon Juice
Cinnamon ( or any other seasonings you like!)

Preheat you oven to 200 F. Wash and dry your apples.

Using a sharp knife, mandolin slicer, or food processor, slice you apples as thinly as  you can. Be careful if using a knife or mandolin, you don't want to lose any fingers! :)

Then use a small knife, or little cookie cutter to cut out the center part with the seeds. I used some cute fall themed cookie cutters, and I love how they turned out!

 

Aren't they just adorable? I love the different shapes from the cookie cutters!

 

 

    Next, add your apple slices to a bowl and splash on them lemon juice. Make sure to coat each slice. This keeps them fresh-tasting and helps them not turn brown. Then lay the slices on a baking sheets lined with parchment paper or tin-foil. Make sure none of the slices are touching, because they will stick together after baking.  Sprinkle with cinnamon to desired flavor!

     I honestly would be happy eating just this, but lets continue and make these apple slices into apple chips! Place the pans in the oven for 1 hour. Then carefully flip each slice over and bake for another hour. Depending on how thin your slices were, you might need some extra time. I baked mine for a total of 2 hours and 35 minutes, and some of my slices were fairly thick.

   The house smelled so good while these were baking! Let them cool a bit. They will crisp up a bit as they cool too! Place them in an air tight container, if you don't eat them all first! :)

     These are so good! I will be making these again very soon, and I want to experiment with the seasonings a little bit! I am thinking nutmeg, ginger, or even go savory with curry powder or paprika!

     Fall is such a great time to make recipes using apples, and I really hope you try this one out! Apples are such a beautiful fall fruit, and I want to use them as much as possible right now! These apple chips are a perfect healthy snack for on the go, or whenever you want to reach for those oily potato chips!

     I really hope you give this recipe a try, and share it with your friends and family! Please share my blog with your friends and family to spread the love of a healthy lifestyle!

Stay up-to-date on the blog by following via email, Google, Twitter @SpinachisGood, Tumblr @ justrunningforfood, and on Pinterest @ Hannah Plunkett.

New post every Friday!

Keep Healthy and Safe!
H. Banana

21 Day Cleanse

Three weeks ago my sister and I decided to go on a 21 day cleanse. I had been wanting to do one for a while, and I was glad my sister wanted to join me! At first I thought 21 days was a long time, but as we got going with the cleanse, time flew by!

The Plan
So, how did we chose, out of tons of programs, which cleanse we were going to go on? I decided to combine a few of the programs I found, into one suited to our needs. The most inspiration came from the book Clean by Dr. Junger. I had done a shorter version of this cleanse before, so I was familiar with the program.
To sum it up, we cut out all processed foods, refined sugars, wheat, dairy products, soy products, corn products(all but a little fresh corn), deli meats, condiments, and stuck to a very fruit and vegetable based diet. We had at least two liquid meals a day, drank a lot of water, and practiced portion control.

Week 1
We started the cleanse on a Monday and by that next Thursday I was already seeing and feeling the effects! One of the first things I noticed was I wasn't bloated at all! I never realized how bloated I had been until then. My skin also started to clear and I was sleeping better at night.
There were, of course, struggles too. I couldn't have cream, so if I wanted coffee I had to drink it black. This has since become my preferred way to drink coffee. I also had to watch my family eat things I couldn't eat(but wanted to!). I was glad to have my sister there so we could keep each other on track!

Week 2
By week two I was feeling great and surprised at how fast the time had flown by! By this time we had had a birthday in the family as well as it being Easter Sunday, so we had 'cheated' a few times because of that. But, for the most part, we had stayed on track. I had already lost some weight and was feeling 'cleaner' (if that makes sense!)
Over Easter I made a few healthy things to keep my sister and I on track. First I made some healthy Carrot Cupcakes when my family had regular Carrot Cupcakes, and second I made my Honey Roasted Carrots which were amazing! I have to say, it wasn't as hard as I thought with healthy options  to chose over the 'unhealthy' ones!

Week 3
By this time we were counting the days to the end. When we could go back to a still healthy, but more normal diet! I have to say that by this last week by weight-loss stopped, but that's fairly normal for people who don't have a ton to lose anyway! My sister(who doesn't drink coffee black) was craving some coffee! We had another birthday in our family so we had to 'cheat' a little for that. Sadly the result of that was a stomach ache!
I was still feeling great and energized and 'clean' even if I didn't lose weight in the last week.

Results
The results of the cleanse were visual as well as nonvisual. I did lose weight, not a whole lot, but enough. In total I lost 5 pounds but, because of the strength training I added to my workout schedule ,I gained some muscle weight. Losing weight wasn't even half of it though! I felt so much better, my skin was clearer, I wasn't bloated, I slept better at night, and I had the satisfaction of knowing my body was healthier! Would I do it again? YES! I am already thinking of doing one later this summer, but let me enjoy my cheese, chocolate and biscuits first!

Main Diet
We had a few things that we ate a lot! Fruits and veggies had a place in every meal(which is something I will continue to do),  we made a lot of salads some with meat( normally grilled chicken) and some without and we got really creative with our smoothies. Thankfully we fixed a lot of 'cleanse approved' meals as a family.  A few things I learned to love were, black coffee, avocado( I put it in everything from smoothie to salad!), nuts(by themselves for a snack or in a smoothie.) and steamed broccoli!

I hope this post as given you a few ideas on what to expect, should you go on a cleanse yourself. This, of course, was my personally experience, and every one is different so your experience will more than likely be different that mine!
Please make sure that you are in a position health-wise to complete a cleanse, if you should chose to do a cleanse.

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Keep healthy and SAFE
H.Banana

Delicious Cinnamon Baked Apples

These baked apples are so good! I saw a picture of baked apples on Pinterest and I knew I had to try and make some! These are perfect to warm you up on a cold day and satisfy your sweet tooth with out having an unhealthy dessert! I wrote this recipe myself and I hope you like it!

Ingredients:
2 tsp. cinnamon
5 packets of Truvia
5 Apples
1 stick of Butter
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. Maple Flavoring
1 cup of oats.
Lemon Juice.

The first thing you want to do is to wash and dry your apples (Remove any stickers they might have on them) and core them. Coring apples is a lot easier with an apple corer, but I didn't have one so I just used a knife and cored them the best I could.

Once you have cored them, place them in a bowl and splash a little lemon juice on them, to keep them from going brown while we make the filling.

To make the filling, first melt your butter in a microwavable bowl. Once melted, add Truvia and Vanilla to the bowl and mix well.

Then, add maple flavoring and cinnamon. I suggest using a whisk to mix this together.

Now, just add your oats and mix it till combined and the oats are coated with the liquid.

 

Take a pan (I am using a 9x13 pan) and cover the bottom and sides with tin foil. Then place the apples in the pan, making sure there is plenty of space between them. Fill the middle of the apples with the filling. Try to get as much as you can in them because it will cook down. You can just sprinkle any leftovers in the bottom of the pan.

 

 

 

Set your oven to 350 F and bake for 25-30 minutes. Then add some tin foil of the top and bake for another 15 minutes.

 

They are done when you can push a fork through them easily. Take them out of the oven when they are done and let them cool a bit before serving them.

See all that lovely sauce in the bottom of the pan? Save that to drizzle over the top of the apples.

 

 

To serve, place an apple on a plate and spoon some of the sauce from the bottom of the pan over the top of the apple. We drizzled a little half-and-half over ours and my little sister added Whip Cream.

 

 

These are so good! I made them for a mid-day snack and everyone loved them! The fact that they are delicious and fairly healthy for you is awesome! Try these yummy treats and let me know what you think! I hope you all love them as much as we did!

 

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Keep Healthy and Safe!

H.Banana