A friend of mine volunteers every week at the "Senior Brown Bag" Program our local Food Bank holds at her church. They sort, pack, and hand out around 200 bags of food to low-income seniors. Most times there are leftovers - usually things people didn't want - and since the food bank won't accept the return of any perishables (their fridge space is very small), any leftover fruits and vegetables are split between the volunteers. Since I'm dirty poor and trying to feed 2 kids and myself on an extremely limited budget, my friend has been giving me her bag of "extras".

In the bag this week was 18 green Granny Smith apples. yes, EIGHTEEN! Oy....

I'm trying to find a way to use these up that do not require special ingredients (aka - any strange flours or sugars that you have to go to Whole Foods to get). I just don't have the money to spend on such luxuries this winter.

Of course, gluten-free is a requirement - my daughter and I are gluten intolerant - but I'll willing to try anything once!

Any suggestions out there?

Thanks in advance!!!!

Anne

PS - Mods - please move if I stuck this in the wrong forum!

Some ideas off the top of my head:

-chop up apples and put in salad...delicious!
-sliced apples with nut butter for a snack...also with cheese (if you do dairy)
-if you need to cook them, I suggest making apple butter! Peel and slice apples, put them in a big roasting pot with a bit of water (so they don't burn, but rather stew) and some spices...cinammona and nutmeg are good. Stir. Put in your oven on LOW HEAT (like, 200F) and prepare to cook it all day! Stir once in awhile...as it gets incredibly thick you'll know it's done. If you have a slow cooker you can do it in there too!

Hope that helps! Enjoy the apples.

I got this one from the Paleo recipe thread:



Haven't tried it yet, though.

You could make apple fruit rollups
Peel and chop the apples (you could add cinnamon, juice of a lemon or a bit of sweetener but its not really necessary)
puree and spread thinly on a baking sheet lined with either
saran wrap or parchment paper (sprayed with pam)
then place in a 140 degree oven or on your oven's dehydrate setting till it is no longer tacky or leaves no indent when you touch it with your fingernail
This usually takes 6-8 hrs
Then you just peel them off the saran wrap and put on wax paper and cut into strips or if you dried them on parchment you can just cut them into strips and roll up
Store in a bag or container
These are so good
I have used berries too!

Here is the link I used to make mine
Hope this helps

http://www.ourbestbites.com/2011/09...fruit-roll-ups/

I was just talking to my sister about this today, she was also gifted with an abundance of granny smiths. My favorite thing to do is dehydrate them and use them later for snacks, add to trail mix, muffins, etc. I just peel, thinly slice, dunk in lemon juice water and put in the dehydrator til dry. If you don't have a dehydrator, you can use the oven, just search the net for times and temp.

Then again, 18 apples, three people, we'd each eat one a day, they're only going to last for a week anyway. We just eat them plain or with pb. They also make a great apple crisp!