The Original Apple Baker and Advent Day 2.

 Hello friends!

 It's day two of the Advent calendar, and today's door is painted with bracken and Bramble berries. Upon opening it reveals a lovely hare, which is one of my favourite animals. I've never seen a hare in the wild but would dearly love to.  Don't you think the detail on the painting is quite remarkable for something so small?

I do like pudding after my lunch, it rounds off the meal nicely. I usually have a piece of fruit but it's so cold now I think it calls for something hot.  The temptation would be a rice pudding, or something with custard, but I'm trying to be as healthy as I can while doing what I can to keep warm and eating pleasant filling food.  When I lived in America I bought these Original Apple Baker dishes from LL Bean company, and the other day I found them again, so I've brought them out and washed them off and now I'm using them to bake an apple for my warm pudding. Very simple, just wash and core your apple, place over the spike in the dish, I put a little drizzle of honey over the core, sprinkled some dried cranberries around the edges, poured in a small amount, maybe a tablespoon or two, of apple juice and I put it in the oven while the rest of my lunch is cooking so about 30 minutes gas mark 6. When I remove my meal, I turn the oven off and leave the apple in there to continue keeping warm before serving it with yoghurt. Of course, you could add any dried fruit you like or no dried fruits at all; cinnamon and nutmeg can be added too.  I think these little dishes are going to be well used this winter as they use less fuel as the spike helps them cook from the inside out.  And only one dish to wash up too!

 

Until next time

Stay safe stay well

Debbie xo