Last week we discussed visiting apple orchards and cider mills. I love a crisp, fresh apple. If you like to pick your own or buy from apple orchards, you probably know what I mean. My apple wish would be my apples always taste like that, but we all have eaten older, softer apples. They’re good but not great. I love the way a bowl of apples on the table looks, but do not love the apples after a couple of days. Kept at room temperature, whole apples will only stay fresh for about a week. Apples ripen six to ten times faster at room temperature than if they were refrigerated. How do the grocery stores sell fresh apples year round? Science.
Read MoreTag: fresh apples

Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal for Cool Mornings
Now that the summer is coming to an end, we are reaching that weird transitional period of the year where we are unsure whether to break out the shorts or our favorite fluffy sweater. Living in Florida, I of course wear shorts. I know many of my northern friends already see signs of leaves changing, and cooler mornings will follow soon. Late August through September is the ideal time for us to start thinking of some healthy and bulky breakfasts. Growing up in Tennessee, I read children’s stories about breakfast porridge, but no one I knew made it. Of course, I had lots of oatmeal, cream of wheat, and grits in my home. Then I learned that a bowl of oatmeal is porridge. Really by definition, porridge is a hot breakfast cereal made by boiling ground, crushed or chopped starchy plants—typically grain—in water or milk. Read More