Crockpot Pumpkin Chai Spice Applesauce

I love apple season. I adore going apple picking, I enjoy going to the grocery store and discovering new-to-me varieties (my favorite find this year is the Gingergold), I love eating plain apples out of hand, putting them in my daily oatmeal, baking with them, making apple chips in my dehydrator….my love for apples is pretty much all-inclusive. One of my favorite apple recipes from last year was this Pumpkin Applesauce from The Novice Chef. I decided to mix it up a little by increasing the pumpkin, adding some maple syrup and chai spices, and cooking it in my crockpot.


 

Crockpot Pumpkin Chai Spice Applesauce

Adapted from here
Makes about 9 1/2 cup servings

2 ½ lbs apples, cored and roughly chopped (I used a mix of Golden Delicious and Gala)
¾ cup water
1 tablespoon lemon juice
6 packets Truvia
1 tbsp Ideal Brown Sweetener
2 tablespoons cinnamon
1 cup pumpkin puree
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
Chai spice, to taste (recipe below)

Place the chopped apples in the crockpot. Add the water, lemon juice, Truvia, Ideal Brown Sweetener, and cinnamon. Turn the crockpot on low heat and let the apples cook for six hours, stirring occasionally. Add the pumpkin puree, maple syrup, and vanilla. If you prefer a chunky applesauce, stir the mixture with a spoon until combined. If you like a smoother sauce, use an immersion blender to mix the ingredients. After the applesauce has reached the consistency you desire, add the chai spices to taste. I used all of the spice blend in my applesauce, but I recommend waiting until the end of the cooking process and tasting as you add since the spices are definitely on the more potent end of the spectrum.
 

Chai Spice Blend

½ tsp ground cardamom
½ tsp ground ginger
¼ tsp ground cloves
¼ tsp ground nutmeg



For the minimal effort involved in preparing this applesauce, I was really happy with how it turned out. My apples were perfectly sweet to begin with, but I do have quite the sweet tooth, so I appreciated the extra sweetness from the Truvia, brown sugar, and maple syrup. The pumpkin and chai spices give the applesauce a decidedly warm flavor perfectly reminiscent of fall, and I especially enjoyed the addition of cardamom. This makes quite a bit of applesauce, so in addition to eating it by the bowlful, I have used it in Greek yogurt parfaits, overnight oats, and I think it will also find its way into some apple cinnamon protein muffins in the near future!

Double Cinnamon Baked Oatmeal

If you’ve ever been out to breakfast with me, this won’t come as a surprise, but I’m sort of in love with oatmeal. It’s such a simple food, and yet it is so delicious. While I could honestly eat plain oatmeal with a little Truvia and a lot of cinnamon every day and be perfectly content, I am always looking for new ways to enjoy this healthy breakfast staple. I went grocery shopping hungry after the gym yesterday (big mistake!), and these Hershey’s Cinnamon Chips magically jumped right off the shelf and into my cart. Once I got them home, I started wondering what to do with them since Cesar doesn’t like cinnamon (who in their right mind doesn’t like cinnamon??), and I certainly don’t need to eat an entire batch of cookies on my own. Then I remembered seeing a baked oatmeal recipe that included chocolate chips on Healthy Food For Living, and I realized that it would be easy to minimally modify it and have a yummy breakfast treat on hand for the next few days.

Double Cinnamon Baked Oatmeal

Recipe adapted from here
Makes 3 Servings

1 cup old fashioned oats
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp Ideal Brown Sweetener
Pinch of salt
1 tbsp cinnamon
6 packets Truvia
1 tbsp chia seeds
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp butter flavored extract
1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice + enough unsweetened vanilla almond milk to make 1 1/2 cups
3 tbsp egg whites
1 tbsp Hershey’s Cinnamon Baking Chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray three mini loaf pans with non-stick baking spray.

In a medium sized bowl, whisk together dry ingredients with the exception of the cinnamon chips.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and combine. Stir in the cinnamon chips.

Pour into the prepared loaf pans. Bake for 25 – 30 minutes or until the oatmeal appears set.



Nutrition Information per serving
Calories: 175
Fat: 4.7g
Carbohydrates: 22g
Protein: 6.8g
Calculated on Sparkrecipes.com

You can eat this warm or cold, topped with maple syrup or peanut butter, sprinkled with extra cinnamon chips…..the options are endless! My personal preference is to reheat it in the microwave, add some unsweetened almond milk, and sprinkle it with even more cinnamon.

If you need further proof of my love affair with oatmeal, check out my oatmeal board on Pinterest!

Carrot Cake Protein Muffins with Almond Flour & Wheat Bran

I’m always on the lookout for healthy, grab-and-go snacks. My alarm goes off by 5:30 AM 5 - 6 days a week, so saving even 5 or 10 minutes in the morning by having breakfast prepared is definitely a plus. I lean towards sweet over savory when it comes to pre-workout fuel, and Jamie Eason has quite a few easy and yummy protein bar recipes on Bodybuilding.com that I have enjoyed in the past. Her Carrot Cake Protein bars are some of my favorites, but since my kitchen is currently stocked with 14 different types of flour and I love to experiment, I decided to switch up the recipe a bit. My changes included swapping out some of the oat flour for almond flour & wheat bran, increasing the cinnamon, adding cardamom and vanilla extract, and replacing the water with a non-dairy buttermilk substitution.

Carrot Cake Protein Muffins with Almond Flour & Wheat Bran

Adapted from this recipe
Makes 12 muffins

1/2 cup oat flour
1/4 cup almond flour
1/4 cup wheat bran
2 scoops vanilla whey protein (I used Dymatize Iso 100)
1 tbsp cinnamon
3/4 tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp ground cardamom
1/3 cup Ideal Brown Sweetener
1 1/2 tsp Splenda Nectresse

3/4 cup liquid egg whites
2 4 oz. jars or packs of baby carrots
1 1/2 tsp lemon juice + enough unsweetened vanilla almond milk to make 1/2 cup
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare silicone muffin cups or use the foil muffin cups with the paper insert removed.
Whisk together all dry ingredients in a medium sized bowl. In a separate bowl, combine the wet ingredients. Add the wet ingredients to the bowl with the flour mixture. Stir only until all the flour has been incorporated; you don't want to overmix the batter or the muffins will be tough. The batter will be quite runny.
Spoon the batter into the 12 prepared muffin cups. Bake in the preheated oven for 13 – 16 (it took 16 minutes in my oven) minutes until a toothpick inserted in a muffin comes out mostly dry.  Let cool on wire racks. Once they are completely cool, they should be stored in the refrigerator.

Nutrition Information per muffin
Calories: 66
Fat: 1.6g
Carbohydrates: 5.9g
Protein: 7.1g
Calculated on Sparkrecipes.com



I was a big fan of how these turned out. The almond flour added some healthy fat and kept the muffins moist, and the bold spices were reminiscent of fall. I’ve especially enjoyed them paired with some Laughing Cow Cinnamon Cream Cheese Spread.

Speaking of fall, despite the fact that we are still experiencing temperatures well into the 80s here in Florida, I am very much in an autumn-like mood and decided dinner last night needed to be some form of comfort food. I made Pioneer Woman’s Perfect Pot Roast; it lived up to its name and actually was darn near perfect. My only change next time will be to add more veggies because those carrots and onions were absolutely delicious after cooking with the roast all afternoon!