An Apple a Day

We all know apples are good for us, they are not only delicious, but also very versatile for cooking and baking. Apple Pie, Apple Crumble, Apple High Crumble Pie, Apple Strudel, Apple Streusel, Apple Cake, Stewed Apple, Apple Scrolls, just to name a few, and the list goes on. When it comes to baking with apples, my thought immediately goes to Granny Smith, the good old perfect apple for cooking. However, you can actually just about use any apples-- Pink Lady, Lady William, Sundowner, Golden Delicious, Royal Gala, Fuji, Hi Early, Jonathan.........., they all taste good cooked.It's wet wet wet out there today, I'm so glad the Interschool Cross Country Carnival has been cancelled, or I'd be out to support my daughters who've been selected to run. So instead I decided to stay home and do some baking with my apples in the fridge. I love having hot Apple Pie or Apple Crumble with whipped cream in winter, the two complement each other so well and the taste is divine. Many (including hubby) like to add ice-cream, but I think the sweetness of the ice-cream destroys the real taste of the dessert. Here's an Apple Crumble. I don't use "crunchies" like oats and muesli on top as my children don't like having to do jaw exercise with their sweet. I simply use butter rubbed into plain flour with cinammon and brown sugar added to it . I have friends who like glazed (crystalised) ginger, so I add that to the apples specially for them. Now I really like that too myself and I often do half of the apple crumble with chopped glazed ginger randomly tossed in and half without for hubby and children. And don't forget to make some kind of obscure mark so you can know which half is which after it's been baked too! (Unless of course if you bake them in seperate baking dishes)Apple Strudel is definitely one of my favourites when it comes to apple desserts. Here is a Homestyle Apple Strudel made with puff pastry(you can use filo pastry sheets too), diced cooked apples, whipped cream and custard sprinkled with icing sugar on top. It's light(lighter in taste than the one with raisin and cinnamon), it's not eaten hot, it's not even very sweet, but believe me, it really does satisfy the sweet tooth in you. As you can imagine, we'll be "appled" out today, and probably tomorrow, if there's any leftovers!I've just been to the market and I think we'll have Baked Filleted Fish with butter, small amount of diced bacon, grated cheese, salt and pepper, chopped spring onions, crushed garlic, some chopped tomatoes, and the best thing of all on baked fish--- roasted almond flakes/slivers! You can have anything you like as side dish with this. Salad, vegies, sourdough bread, rice, pasta salad, anything! Mmm! No photos yet, just use your imagination please......

One more thing, I was going to use strawberries to garnish the Apple Strudel, but managed to forget to get them at the store. Never mind. But did you know that apples are actually part of the Rose family, so there you go, dried roses instead of strawberries.