What the Fork to Make

Instead of focusing on other people, this time I am focusing on myself and what I'm eating. I decided to look through the book and found a section called "Recipe Rehab," which states exactly what I need to have to make healthier foods. I went straight to the dessert area of these recipes, and found "Salty Caramel Apples." Obviously you would think it was going to be healthy because of the apples, but then again there's salt and caramel? Stefanie Sacks stated herself that "anyway you slice it, caramel is not health supportive. But its darn delicious"(Sacks 301). I had to look into this to see how she made this dessert into something healthy.

INGREDIENTS:

1 stick of unsalted butter

1 cup of dark brown sugar

1/4 cup brown rice syrup

1/2 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons rock sea salt

4 large apples, sliced

When I saw the ingredients I was confused. Wasn't half of this stuff bad for you? But then I realized these were all the better alternatives of that food. For examples, there's unsalted butter instead of salted, there's brown sugar instead of cane sugar, and there's brown rice syrup instead of maple syrup (Sacks 334-5). Another thing I realized is that you can spend a whole day in Safeway and you won't come out with brown rice syrup. It's just not there. Healthy food shopping is not as easy as finding fattening foods. I settled with maple syrup (I checked the nutrition facts and it was the healthiest one I could find), and went with it.

METHOD:

1. In a small pot, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the brown sugar and brown rice syrup  maple syrup and whisk. Bring to a slow boil over medium-high heat, then reduce to a simmer.

 2. Add the vanilla extract and baking soda and whisk until mixed well, at which point the caramel will bubble. Remove from heat immediately to let caramel settle (2 mins.). Stir in salt.

Then it says to serve warm or refrigerate, so I did both. I'll have some for later and some for my dad, now. It turned out pretty good, didn't taste like is was supposed to be healthy, but we still ate it. I think next time I try to make something healthy I'll go to Trader Joe's or a store like it so I find exactly what I need. 

Do you have any healthy alternative recipes that you use in your home? What makes it healthier than the original? 

Sacks, Stefanie. What the Fork Are You Eating?: An Action Plan for Your Pantry and Plate. New York: Penguin Group, 2014. Print.