Apple butter offers a lot of the comforts of real butter but without all the fat and calories.

With apples in season, it’s the perfect time to take advantage with the abundance in this no-sugar-added apple butter recipe, made in the slow cooker. Ensuring a deep, sensual taste and consistency that can only be achieved when cooked long and on a low heat setting, slow cooking is the way to go with this recipe.

This homemade apple butter recipe requires about 12 hours of forethought, but couldn’t be any easier to put together. Once you toss all the ingredients into the slow cooker, you can forget about the apple butter concoction until it’s ready. I like to make this a few hours before going to bed at night – around 8 pm – or in the morning before work – so that it is ready either in the morning when I wake up or in the evening, after I get home. However you time it, delight yourself in the most deliciously comforting autumn aromas reaching every morsel of your home.

There is no added sugar in this apple butter recipe, which makes it healthier than many store-bought and homemade versions. The key to standing in for the added sweetness offered by refined sugar is to choose apples are naturally on the sweeter side. I opt for a combination of Gala and Red Delicious apples, but any sweet apple will do.

Apple Butter Recipe

Makes 3-4 cups

Ingredients

• 5 pounds of sweet apples
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
• ¼ teaspoon allspice
• ¼ cup water

Directions

Core and chop the apples. Transfer them to the slow cooked. Add the spices and water. Stir.

Cover the slow cooker and cook the apples and spices on low for ten hours. After its cooked, use an immersion blender to puree the apples. You could also transfer the mixture to a blender or food processer to puree them and then pour the blended apple butter back into the slow cooker.

Set the slow cooker to high and cook for another one to two hours. Stir the mixture every half hour to make sure that it does not stick to the bottom of the slow cooker.

Once finished, transfer the apple butter to a bowl to cool. Store the apple butter in glass jars and keep them in the refrigerator.

Enjoy the apple butter spread on your toast or dolloped on your morning oats. I personally like to eat it by the spoonful for a quick sweet snack.

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The post Sugar-Free Slow Cooker Spiced Apple Butter Recipe (Vegan) appeared first on EcoSalon.

Despite its fruity content, apple pie packs a lot of unhealthy ingredients. That doesn’t mean you have to bamish it from your holiday menu, however. Just use our scrumptious vegan apple pie recipe instead!

One piece of a traditional 9-inch apple pie carries 81 milligrams of potassium and a good dose of vitamins A, C, and B6 as well as calcium. However, these benefits are overtaken by the average apple pie recipe’s darker side. That same serving also holds approximately 300 calories, 14 grams of fat, 4.7 grams of saturated fat (23% of the RDA), 333 milligrams of sodium, 42 grams of carbohydrates, and only 2 grams of dietary fiber. 

Being the legend that it is, there’s no need to completely change the face of apple pie, when cutting a few simple corners does the trick. This apple pie recipe is vegan and uses higher quality ingredients. The pastry of this apple pie recipe has a whole-wheat base and is free from eggs and dairy. Instead it is fattened up with coconut oil, which carries a few impressive health benefits all on its own. The filling avoids refined sugar and sticks to the brown-sugar-akin, minimally-processed turbinado sugar. Enjoy!

Vegan Apple Pie Recipe

Makes 1 pie serving 8-10 people

Ingredients:

For the Pastry Crust

• 2 ½ – 3 cups + 1-2 tablespoons whole-wheat pastry flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ cup coconut oil
• 1 cup nut milk (Make it yourself!)
• Coconut oil cooking spray (or any oil cooking spray)

For the Apple Filling

• 10 Granny Smith apples, peeled and thinly sliced
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon turbinado sugar
• 3 tablespoons whole-wheat pastry flour

Directions:

Put a layer of paper towels over a large baking sheet. Spread the apple slices evenly across the paper towels and set aside while you prepare the pastry. This helps to remove some moisture from the apples.

For the pastry, sift together 2 ½ cups of flour and salt in a bowl. In a larger bowl, combine the oil and milk. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients. Mix until it clumps together. If too sticky, add another ½ cup of flour. Use clean hands to shape the dough into 2 equal-sized flat balls. Cover each in plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator to chill for about 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.

Remove the dough from the refrigerator. Lay one dough portion on a lightly floured surface. Sprinkle its top with flour. Use a rolling pin to roll the dough out to the size of a pie dish plus a few inches – you want the dough to overlap the dish’s edges. Repeat with the other dough portion. Spray the pie dish with cooking spray and place one of the sheets of pastry into the bottom of the dish, making sure it sticks to the corners and sides.

Back to the apples — pat the apple slices dry with the paper towel — and place in a large bowl. Pour the lemon juice over the apples and toss with you hands. Mix the cinnamon, salt, sugar and whole-wheat pastry flour in a separate bowl before sprinkling over the apples. Use your hands to toss the apples with the cinnamon mixture. You want the apples to be evenly coated. Pour as many of the apples as possible into the pie dish, atop the pastry. Top the apples with the other pastry sheet. Use your fingers to pinch together the edges of the both pastry sheets, sealing the pie filling shut. Trim any excess edges with a knife.

Use the knife to slice a few decorative lines across the top pastry layer several times. This will allow steam to escape while baking and prevent bubbles. Sprinkle turbinado sugar atop the crust and line the edges of the pie with aluminum foil to prevent burning.

Bake for 35-40 minutes, keeping an eye on the pastry. You want a crusted, browned top, but want to avoid burning the pastry.

Related on EcoSalon:

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Photo Credit: benimoto

The post Nutritional Breakdown: Apple Pie Recipe (+A Vegan Twist!) appeared first on EcoSalon.

Need a little inspiration as the seasons change? How about 21 delicious apple recipes to celebrate the season?

Depending on where you live, you may be able to pick apples as early as mid-July. But most of apple season kicks off in true spirit in September, and brings us into late fall, which means it’s time to get excited about apple picking and cooking up those versatile apple recipes. From cider to pies to salads, the apple can come in many forms, and if you’re in the kitchen, you’re only limited by your own creativity.

As our minds shift from summer to the chillier days of fall, what better way to celebrate the season with 21 different apple recipes?

1. A simple apple galette with a cornmeal crust

2. Put a farmers market bounty to good use and make your own apple chips.

3. Try this rendition on the classic apple pie: vegan apple and oat tartlets.

4. Cabbage, apple and walnut salad.

5. Pair with kale in a creamy soup.

6. Baked apples are one of the easiest desserts you can concoct. Or serve with a little goat cheese as an appetizer.

7. On a colder day, try a warm caramelized apple tart.

8. Combine with quinoa and ginger for a hearty salad.

9. Reap the benefits of apple cider vinegar by make your own from Granny Smith apples.

10. The ultimate snack indulgence? Apple sandwiches with date caramel and almond butter.

11. A vegan, gluten free apple crisp is sure to please any crowd.

12. Paired with smoked mozzarella and farro, here’s a salad that’s hard to beat.

13. Want a really creative way to serve apples? Pair with jalapeno in a fresh apple salsa.

14. If you have dates and walnuts on hand, you can easily make a no-baked crust for this apple tart.

15. With the promise of darker mornings, you need a good A.M. boost; try a ginger apple smoothie with parsley for an extra kick.

16. Perfect with an afternoon cup of tea are these banana apple buckwheat muffins.

17. Apple and fig chutney pairs well with meats or added to sandwiches.

18. Infuse your own batch of apple vanilla bourbon.

19. If you can’t kick your summer BBQ habit, try a grilled rosemary-apple pie.

20. Try a spin on traditional apple sauce, and combine apples with pears.

21. Make a big batch of apple butter and store some for the coming months. Perfect on morning toast or weekend scones.

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Image: Pål Alvsaker, Benny Mazur, Alessio Maffeis

The post 21 Apple Recipes To Celebrate Late Summer and Early Fall appeared first on EcoSalon.

Slather on the gravy…2012 style.

In the 8th edition of McCall’s Cooking School, which was published in 1981, an advertisement for Wyler’s Bouillon cubes presented a rice and gravy recipe. Despite its simplicity, the gravy calls for ingredients that put a dent in your diet and health. Here is a better, vegan alternative to gravy that keeps the creamy, buttery goodness without all the preservatives, simple starches, and hydrogenated fats.

Most bouillon cubes are high in sodium and contain monosodium glutamate (MSG). One cube has nearly 600 milligrams of sodium and MSG is a potentially dangerous additive that can cause an host of symptoms, such as heart palpitations, headaches, and numbness. There is often a large amount of preservatives in bouillon cubes as well.

And while margarine is a cheaper substitute for butter, it’s a fat you should steer clear of. During its production, vegetable oils are heated at levels that completely destroy antioxidants in the oils and virtually make them them cancerous. Then the margarine is hydrogenated, using hazardous chemicals that remain in finished product as well as create fat molecules that are unnatural and unknown by the human metabolism. White flour is also an empty substance in the human body and is hard for it to process.

We can do better. By keeping the ingredients real, we take one step, but by keeping them vegan, we go a mile. Here’s a vegan gravy recipe that’ll satisfy even the most skeptical of palettes.

Vegan Gravy

Ingredients:

• 1.5 cups crimini mushrooms, chopped
• 1/2 tablespoon vegan butter (Earth Balance)
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1.5 tablespoons vegan butter (Earth Balance)
• 1 tablespoon whole-wheat flour
• 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
• 1 cup almond milk (or any other vegan milk)
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons dried thyme
• Fresh thyme for garnish

Directions:

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt the 1/2 tablespoon of butter and add the crimini mushrooms, salt, and pepper. Stir and cook down until the volume has reduced and the liquid from the mushrooms is cooked off.

In a separate pot over medium heat, melt the 1.5 tablespoons of butter, add to it the flour and nutritional yeast, and stir until evenly combined. This will prevent clumping later. Next add the milk, wine, and soy sauce. Reduce the heat to medium-low and continuously stir until the mixture thickens.

When the mixture thickens to desired consistency – it should drip in clumps, not drizzle, from a spoon – add the cooked mushrooms and dried thyme. Stir over medium-low heat for 1-2 more minutes.

Garnish with fresh thyme and serve aside rice or whatever you’d like.

Bon Appetit!

Images: JB Curio, Aylin Erman

Aylin Erman currently resides in Istanbul and is creator of plant-based recipe website GlowKitchen.

The post Vintage Recipe Revamp: McCall Cookbook’s Gravy (2012 Style) appeared first on EcoSalon.

As summer slowly morphs into fall the scent of apples permeates the market stalls. So many varieties – from Pink Ladies, to McIntosh, to our beloved Gravensteins. Today I’m getting ready to make the season’s first apple pie (from the apples you see pictured above, in fact), but why stop there? Apples are versatile in desserts, salads, and as side dishes. And, if you have a windfall, don’t forget apple butter.

Here’s a sampling of great sounding apple recipes from around the web.

The Kitchn brings us this super decadent sounding Sticky Spiked Double Apple Cake with Brown Sugar Brandy Sauce. Originally from the book, In the Sweet Kitchen by Regan Daley, this looks like it should be regulated as a controlled substance.

From Epicurious we have a lovely fall salad with Escarole, Apples, Candied Walnuts, and Saint Andre Cheese.

And for the canners and preservers among us, Simply Recipes creations are always rock solid so this apple butter recipe would be my go-to version.

Image: Vanessa Barrington

The post Sweet, Savory, Spreadable: Fall’s First Fruit 3 Ways appeared first on EcoSalon.