Apple Cider in all it’s glory!

Just the word Apple Cider makes you feel all warm and cozy, especially this time of year. But apple cider doesn’t just mean a delicious drink that you sip on that is pipping hot, it also includes a nutritious wonderful vinegar that has more health benefits than I can keep track of! Both are pure extracts from organic apples that produce incredible products for our health, appetite and enjoyment!

Apple Cider Vinegar:

There are many varieties out there, so I am going to help the confusion and direct you to Filsingers which is a local Canadian brand.  They have the purest products I have ever tasted. Their vinegar is fresh, pure unpasteurized and unfiltered. Which means nothing has been done to it along the process. You are getting their own certified organic apples, which are pressed and aged without preservatives or additives. In case you didn’t know this Apple Cider Vinegar has been used for centuries to help with a variety of ailments because if it’s powerful cleansing qualities. Apple cider vinegar is a naturally occurring antibiotic and antiseptic.

Used in:

Home Body Remedies: for skin, wounds, burns, acne, sunburns, insect bites

Weight Loss and Metabolism: I don’t like to promote “weight loss”, but apple cider can speed up your metabolism, making your body more efficient at burning energy (place 1 tbsp in a glass of water and drink first thing in the morning or throughout the day)

Home Cleaning: this may be an expensive way to clean your house, but apple cider vinegar makes a great disinfectant, deodorizer and over all household cleaner

Food and Recipes: Apple cider vinegar is an amazing addition to salad dressings, stir fry’s, and can be used to add acid (or make buttermilk) in recipes such as cookies, pancakes and muffins

(If you are not local to Ontario, just be sure to look for products with similar standards – Bragg’s, Eden, Spectrum etc..)

Sweet Apple Cider:

Filsinger’s sweet apple cider is made the old fashioned way from whole apples. They blend several varieties of apples such as McIntosh, Cortland, Spy, Golden Delicious, Red Delicious, and Ida Red. Using a variety of apples according to them enhances the flavour. They also don’t use any preservatives or additives in the preparation of the final product.

“Since 1953 our soils and trees have been balanced with seaweed extracts, trace minerals and compost. Our apples are grown without the use of chemical herbicides and pesticides. We are certified organic by OCIA International.”

Sweet Apple Cider can be enjoyed:

Warmed up with a cinnamon stick any time of day! You can have apple cider cold as well, but it just isn’t the same. So if you can, warm it up in a pot, sprinkle with cinnamon, nutmeg and a large cinnamon stick. Get into your comfiest clothing and curl up on the couch in from of a fire!

Filsinger’s also makes amazing: Applesauce and  Apple Butter

Sweet Apple Cider Dressing

1/2 cup olive oil

1/4 cup Filsinger’s apple cider vinegar

2 tbsp  Filsinger’s sweet apple cider

1 tbsp local honey

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ginger powder

Place all the ingredients in a blender or small processor and blend until well combined and creamy. Tastes delicious on spinach or arugula with fresh sliced apples, walnuts and hemp seeds!

If you have never used or tried Apple Cider Vinegar, now is your chance!!

Tell me why, what and how  you would like to use it and you just may win your very own bottle of Filsinger’s Apple Cider Vinegar

(You must be able to pick it up in Toronto)

Here’s how to win!

Post A Comment Below

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At the end of the week I will do a lucky random draw – good luck Torontonians!

Fall of Apricots!

What better way to transition into the fall season than with some Apricot Amaranth Muffins? Everyone needs a new muffin recipe when the fall season comes around. The cool breeze, the changing leaves, it is such a wonderful time to get into some warming fall recipes. ( I know it still maybe a little early – but I am getting ready anyways!)

There is something about apricots and that fall that seem to go so well together.  A little note on apricots. Make sure you are buying dark Turkish apricots, meaning they should look fairly brown as opposed to bright orange. The orange ones that you typically find in most grocery and bulk food stores are that colour because of preservative called sulphur dioxide. These little guys can get into our system and cause a whole host of health issues from headaches to stomach cramps. So if you can avoid sulfites and this is very easy, especially if you just stick to a whole foods diet, as most sulfites are found in things that are packaged and processed!

Apricots can be a wonderful ingredient to add into a whole bunch of recipes (especially in the fall). Whether you are making muffins, granola, a cake or pie – just chop them up and throw them in. They will not only naturally sweeten you baked goody, but they also add a great chewy texture. Apricots are also great in trail mixes. So if you have never seen or purchase dark brown apricots…I encourage you to go out and find them and use them in this extremely simple and delicious gluten free recipe!!

Apricot Amaranth Muffins

1 cup brown rice flour

1/2 cup amaranth flour

1 teaspoon each baking soda/baking powder

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup puffed amaranth

1/4 cup coconut oil

1/4 cup maple syrup

1/4 cup rice milk

1-2 cups chopped apricots, soaked (I actually heated them up with some water and mixed them with some apple butter and lemon juice)

Procedure:

Mix all the dry ingredients in bowl.

Mix the wet ingredients in another bowl.

Mix the two together and stir in the chopped apricots.

Divide into 8 – 12 muffin cups and bake on 350F for 20 minutes.

Enjoy!