To Do with Apples
10:24 AM Posted In APPLES Edit This 0 Comments »
Roast a Juicy Chicken
If your roasted chicken tends to emerge from the oven as dry as a gumboot on a summer’s day, don’t fret. The next time you roast a chicken, stuff an apple inside the bird before placing it in the roasting dish. When it’s finished cooking, toss the used fruit in the garbage and get ready to sit down to a delicious—and juicy—main course.
Keep Cakes Fresh
Want a simple and effective way to extend the shelf life of your homemade or shop-bought cakes? Store them with a half an apple. It helps the cake maintain its moisture considerably longer than merely popping it in the fridge.
Ripen Green Tomatoes
If someone in your family just ‘helped’ by harvesting a few green tomatoes off the vine for you, don’t sweat. You can quickly ripen them up by placing them—along with an already ripe apple—in a paper bag for a couple of days. For the best results, maintain a ratio of about five or six tomatoes per apple.
Fluff Up Hardened Brown Sugar
Brown sugar has the irritating habit of hardening up when exposed to humidity. Fortunately, it doesn’t take much to make this a temporary condition. Simply place an apple wedge in a resealable plastic bag with the chunk of hardened brown sugar. Tightly seal the bag and put it in a dry place for a day or two. Your sugar will once again be soft enough to use.
Absorb Salt in Soups and Casseroles
Salting to taste is one thing, but it is possible to overdo it. When you find yourself getting heavy-handed with the salt, simply drop a few apple wedges into the pot. After cooking for another 10 minutes or so, remove the wedges—along with the excess salt.
If your roasted chicken tends to emerge from the oven as dry as a gumboot on a summer’s day, don’t fret. The next time you roast a chicken, stuff an apple inside the bird before placing it in the roasting dish. When it’s finished cooking, toss the used fruit in the garbage and get ready to sit down to a delicious—and juicy—main course.
Keep Cakes Fresh
Want a simple and effective way to extend the shelf life of your homemade or shop-bought cakes? Store them with a half an apple. It helps the cake maintain its moisture considerably longer than merely popping it in the fridge.
Ripen Green Tomatoes
If someone in your family just ‘helped’ by harvesting a few green tomatoes off the vine for you, don’t sweat. You can quickly ripen them up by placing them—along with an already ripe apple—in a paper bag for a couple of days. For the best results, maintain a ratio of about five or six tomatoes per apple.
Fluff Up Hardened Brown Sugar
Brown sugar has the irritating habit of hardening up when exposed to humidity. Fortunately, it doesn’t take much to make this a temporary condition. Simply place an apple wedge in a resealable plastic bag with the chunk of hardened brown sugar. Tightly seal the bag and put it in a dry place for a day or two. Your sugar will once again be soft enough to use.
Absorb Salt in Soups and Casseroles
Salting to taste is one thing, but it is possible to overdo it. When you find yourself getting heavy-handed with the salt, simply drop a few apple wedges into the pot. After cooking for another 10 minutes or so, remove the wedges—along with the excess salt.
~~~CRAFTS~~~
APPLE PRINTS
Find a nicely-shaped apple and slice it in half. Pour some paint into a paper plate. Press the sliced edge into the paint, then use the apple as a stamp to make apple prints. For even coatings, press the apple back into the paint after every print. If the paint is thick, try blotting the apple on a paper towel or bag before stamping it.
You can make apple prints on single sheets of paper, then frame and hang them when they are dry. Stamped sporadically on large rolls of brown paper, they make lovely autumn gift wrapping. Stamp apple prints along the wall for a great border, or use to embellish kitchen containers or planters.
Find a nicely-shaped apple and slice it in half. Pour some paint into a paper plate. Press the sliced edge into the paint, then use the apple as a stamp to make apple prints. For even coatings, press the apple back into the paint after every print. If the paint is thick, try blotting the apple on a paper towel or bag before stamping it.
You can make apple prints on single sheets of paper, then frame and hang them when they are dry. Stamped sporadically on large rolls of brown paper, they make lovely autumn gift wrapping. Stamp apple prints along the wall for a great border, or use to embellish kitchen containers or planters.
APPLE ANIMALS
Use these little creatures to decorate your holiday dining tables. Children particularly love to make these. Take a piece of card board or poster board paper and draw the head, feet (paws), arms (wings), and tail of your favorite animal. Cut each piece out, leaving a ½" tab at the edge of each piece. Color the body parts on both sides.
Take an apple and decide where the body parts would go if the apple were the body of the animal. Make small slits in the skin with a knife in those areas. Insert the tabs for the body part into the slits. These apples will only last a few hours, but they make a cute table embellishment. Try making Halloween apple bats and cats, Thanksgiving apple turkeys, and Easter apple bunnies.
DRIED APPLE WREATH
Dried apples look beautiful, last for years, and are easy to make. Take an apple and slice it into pieces that are approximately 1/8 inch thick. Lay the pieces on a baking pan and put them into an oven at a low temperature (approximately 150 degrees). Let them bake for several hours until dry, occasionally flipping them with a spatula. If the edges begin to harden and crisp before the centers are done, leave the oven door ajar as the heating process finishes.
Once dry, you can leave the dried apple slices as they are, or spray them with an acrylic sealing spray for a shiny, fresh look. Using a hot glue gun, adhere the apples to a grapevine wreath as embellishments between leaves or flowers. String them in garland for decorating trees. Hot glue them to the front of plain vases or flowerpots as an embellishment. Hot glue a slice to a magnet to display on the fridge. Poke a hole in a slice and hang it from a hook, then decorate the holiday tree with it.
APPLE CANDLE HOLDERS
Take some perfect-looking, Red Delicious apples and a soft, cotton cloth. Polish them up to a perfect shine. Core the apple and set it on a heat-proof plate. Place either taper candles or votive candles into the center hole. Decorate your dinner table with these candle holders.
If you like, you can add some fresh lemon leaves or herbs in the hole; just make sure they are hanging over the edge of the apple and out of the direct flame. Do not use dried herbs, as they will catch on fire easily.
APPLE POMANDERS
Take an apple and a jar of cloves. Stud the apple with cloves by pushing the stems into the apple skin. You can simply cover the entire fruit with cloves spaced closely together, or you can make stripes, spirals, or any other type of design that your imagination can dream up.
Take a bowl and put about a quarter cup of your favorite smelling dried, ground spices into it. Cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, orris root, ginger and rosemary make nice choices. Place the apple in the bowl and roll it around in the spices. Leave it in a warm, dry, dark place for two to three weeks– an oven, when not in use, makes a great storehouse, but make sure to remove the apple before cooking and not put it back until it has cooled. Two or three times per day, roll the apple around in the spices and turn it so that it dries and shrivels evenly, without warping or flattening on one side.
When the apple is completely dry, tie a ribbon around it and suspend it in a room or closet to create a wonderful scent.
0 comments:
Post a Comment