Caramelized Apples Recipe

Great Ideas for Produce Going Bad!

Have you ever looked around your kitchen, only to realize that most of your produce started to go bad without you knowing? Yesterday, as I was cutting open one of my apples, I saw that it started browning and softening throughout. It was the perfect opportunity to make some caramelized apples: the best autumn treat!

Recipe: (YIELD: 2-3 servings, dependent on apple size)

• 2 apples
• 1/4 cup brown sugar (add more if you want it sweeter, but I think this is perfect)
• 1 1/2 tbsp of butter (vegan alternatives could be margarine or coconut oil)
• Nutmeg
• Cinnamon

1. Cut the apples into similar sized chunks (don't worry about peeling them)
2. Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat
3. Add apples & sauté until apples start to soften
4. Add brown sugar
5. Mix throughout & continue sautéing until apples soften & brown
6. Sprinkle in as much nutmeg & cinnamon as you'd like (I didn't measure this, as I think the more spice the better! Add to your liking)
7. Enjoy over some overnight oats, morning oatmeal, or on top of some vanilla or caramel ice cream!

More Ideas for Reducing the Waste of Expiring Produce:

• Overripe Bananas: Cut them in half & freeze them (perfect for smoothies); OR you can make some banana bread, muffins, or pancakes
• Blueberries Getting Soft: Freeze them (again, for smoothies); OR sprinkle them into your pancakes
• Spinach Wilting: Throw out the wilted spinach, then use what you can salvage & cook it down for a breakfast scramble, omelet, or hot pasta dish (basically any hot dish)
• In our house we actually don't eat our spinach quick enough & so much of it goes bad, so we switched to buying frozen spinach, which is great because it comes with a LOT of spinach (But I might just have to start freezing my own spinach to reduce packaging & ensure freshness. If you'll be keeping your spinach frozen for longer than 6 months, you have to blanch it before freezing)
• Softening Celery: Use them to make a soup! Or revive your celery by cutting off the ends & standing them up in a bowl of cold water
• Lemons Going Bad: Use them to clean! There are so many cleaning recipes that use lemon/other citrus in them
• Oranges Going Bad: Use the peels to make infused vinegars (also used for cleaning) OR you can dry the oranges in slices to make Christmas garlands (post on that process coming soon)