4 Fool Proof Ways to Incorporate Apples into Your Lunch

I don’t know if I’m in the minority here or not, but I can eat the same thing for breakfast and lunch almost every day with no complaints. However, for people like my husband, the idea of eating the same oatmeal with a spoonful of almond butter, a smidge of unsweetened almond milk and sliced apples every morning for breakfast during our work week makes him feel a little repulsed.

With that in mind, I am always on the hunt to find recipes that not only keep us from straying too far into the dark side of refined and processed carbohydrates and unsaturated fat, but also provide our taste buds with some entertainment that I don’t feel guilty about putting into my body (yes, recipes like that are possible to find!).

In light of that, I have rounded up 4 ways to incorporate apples into your everyday lunch and each method is different. Apples, as we all know, do wonders for the body; from being fat, sodium and cholesterol free to helping protect your bones, they are just amazing pieces of food.

1. Spinach Salad with Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Apples – this is such a GOOD salad. It has it everything you need nutritionally, all while providing some entertainment for those taste buds. The best way to pack this salad for lunch is to chop and roast the sweet potatoes beforehand and store in a separate container. Plus, you can save time by making the dressing beforehand as well and store in a tightly sealed jar to ensure maximum freshness. In the mornings, load a Pyrex food storage container up with a bed of spinach greens, top with a few sweet potatoes (1/4 cup or so), toasted pecans, and blue cheese crumbles. If you have time, slice the apples at work for maximum freshness – however, if you don’t, chop the apples in the morning and sprinkle with a little lemon juice before adding them in with the salad and voila! Perfect lunch salad!
2. Apple Ginger Glow Juice – Juice for the win! This Apple Ginger Glow Juice is a great way to wash down your lunch and it tastes delicious! Make it before you head to work and store in a stainless steel thermos or a glass water bottle for maximum freshness. The combination of apple and ginger is amazing and both come with such great health benefits. Ginger does great for gut health and it has shown to contain anti-inflammatory properties.
3. Roasted Apple & Parsnip Soup – Another great lunch staple that we rely on at home is soup. On a Sunday when I have the time, I like to prep for the week, which includes prepping meals. Soup is always one of my fall backs because it can feed us both of us throughout the week. This Roasted Apple & Parsnip Soup is a hearty, filling dish. The garlicky kale compliments the savory foundation of the soup leaving my tummy and my taste buds happy.
4. Sliced Apples with Yogurt-Peanut Butter Dip – You can NEVER go wrong with sliced apples during lunch time. Pair it with a dip, like this amazing Yogurt Peanut Butter Dip for a complimentary side. Plus, we have this nifty way to cut an apple if you don’t have a corer at home: Cut apples in a tic-tac-toe pattern to easily remove the core, and retain the most fruit! If you are putting cut fruit in a lunchbox, you can spritz the cut fruit with lemon juice, return the core, and snap a rubber band around it to have a ready snack.

How do you incorporate apples into your lunch? Tell us in the comments!