Skip to main content

Grappling with the"Grapple"


What is a grapple you ask? Well, I assure you, it isn’t anything I made up. As I was grocery shopping the other day, gathering my brightly colored produce,  (it always makes me happy to see a cartful of produce ranging in the greens, purples, oranges, reds and yellows) when low and behold I noticed in the apple aisle, a package with four “grapples.”  My curious nature got the best of me and I just had to know what the heck a grapple was. 

Sorry, if I’m a little nostalgic for the 5 minutes of my life that I can never get back to research the seemingly innocent and innovative grapple.  A grapple, for those who aren’t aware, is a grape infused apple.  Now, you could say, “hey, that’s innovative; two great tastes in one, like a Reeses peanut butter cup.”  I would rather eat the Reeses. I would tend to agree with you if the grape flavor wasn’t a corn syrupy, artificially flavored injectible.  Besides, who even wants a grape infused apple? What’s with the identity crisis? You eat either an apple, or a grape, or here’s a fresh approach, how about a fruit salad with those fruits and have a grapple salad?  What’s next? A blueberry infused banana? A  Bluenana or a Nanaberry?  What about a pineapple infused pomengranate?  A Pomapple? Ridiculous.  

Here’s my nutrition tip of the day…if a fruit has ingredients listed on it….don’t buy it!


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

This Ain't No Cake of Affliction

As promised here is the first of some of my most treasured allergy free recipes for Passover.  I hope you enjoy them and use them as part of your tradition for a happy and safe holiday. Chocolate Cake (adapted from Nava Atlas’s Chocolate Cake recipe) This cake is so good, it’s a shame I only make it on Passover. It’s very fudgy and rich, and trust me you can’t eat too much of it at once and yet, the whole thing disappears in minutes. Try it for yourself. It’s super easy and it's egg, nut, dairy and can be made gluten free with gluten free cake meal. This picture is two cakes stacked with raspberry jam in the middle and a ganache topping-it makes a great birthday cake if your birthday lands on Passover. Ingredients-for one cake 5/8 cup cake meal (1/2 cup + 1/8) ¼ cup+ 1 ½ tbsp. Potato starch 3 TBSP cocoa powder 1 tsp. baking soda 1 tsp. baking powder (you can use the Kosher for Passover one) ½ tsp. salt ¼ cup oil 1 TBSP apple cider vinegar 1 tsp. v

Cookies for Breakfast-(Gluten,egg,dairy and nut free)

As allergy moms, we have to learn how to re-feed our families from scratch.  Ten years ago, this was not a simple task as we did not have the explosive array of allergy free items we have today.  However, just because we have more extensive choices, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s healthy.  In fact, I have noticed that the preponderance of allergy items is snack food, cake mixes, cookies, etc… Moreover, I found it curious that many food allergy parents such as myself, were actually gaining weight, probably because we were always baking for our kiddos so they wouldn’t feel left out at school, family events, birthday parties and playdates.  While I felt good about being able to provide these tasty alternatives, my fitness and nutrition goals were less than stellar and in need of an overhaul. As a trainer and nutrition consultant with a lot of experience in limited diets, I am constantly trying to create healthy alternatives that won’t break the caloric bank, provide nutrition, and

Thanksgiving Recipe-"Cheesecake Cuties"

Thanksgiving is typically the portal to guilty holiday overeating, resulting in New Year's resolutions which are routinely broken by January 15th. Sound familiar? It's a vicious cycle. Moreover, for those of us with food allergies, these types of holidays are landmines. We are constantly surrounded by string beans almondine, pecan pie, walnut brownies, stuffing with egg, and the list goes on.  As a writer about nutrition, a recently appointed trainer at ThePerfectWorkout , and a mom with children suffering from multiple food allergies, I am trying to balance holiday consumption and safety-not always an easy thing to juggle especially when it comes to dessert. This Thanksgiving, try this recipe for "Cheesecake Cuties." They are nut, dairy, egg and gluten free. They are petite,creamy and incredibly easy to make. They won't break your calorie bank (unless you eat all 24) they are safe for those allergy challenged, and they really taste great. There is no reason