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James and I have two apple trees in our backyard. Each fall, I watch with guilt as the majority of those tasty orbs of wonderfulness hit the ground; neglected, unused, and eventually ending up in the compost pile. Try as I may, it’s just way too many apples for me to manage. The big problem is that they come ripe all at once, and that just doesn’t work out well for me. In a perfect world, an apple tree would schedule out its ripe fruit throughout the year. Until that starts happening, this apple tree problem of mine isn’t going anywhere.

I guess there are good things that come out of those two productive apple trees back there. Take this recipe, for instance. If it weren’t for those darned apples everywhere in the yard, I’d never have felt pressured to come up with such a winner of an apple recipe.

 

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And secondly, I’ve unwittingly improved my throwing accuracy. Bend, pick up, and toss to the compost pile across the yard. I’ve got about a 90% accuracy rate these days. Take that, Jeters.

So, first off, here are a few disclosures before beginning:

  1. You can make these ahead before you leave on your roadtrip. Simply prepare the apples and stuff them, and then take with you in the RV freezer.
  2. Not only are these healthy, they are also a delicious comfort food; perfect for autumn dinners in the RV.
  3. You’ve got a few options to cook these: foil-wrapped in a campfire, on a grill, or simply baked in your oven all will work.

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The Recipe: Turkey Stuffed Apples

What I MOST love about these, is that they remind me of my late Grandma Ginny’s German strudels. I know, weird, considering her strudels are pastries filled with sauerkraut and meat, but trust me, they do. It’s the apple cider vinegar. It permeates the apple and mixes with the meat to give it just the right bite. It takes me back to her kitchen, me on a stool acting as assistant, flour everywhere, her fluttering about, and makes me smile.

Ingredients:

  • 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 pound ground turkey
  • 3/4 cup chopped onion  (about 1/2 an onion)
  • 1 tablespoon minced garlic
  • 2 1/2 cups chopped fresh spinach
  • ½ cup raisins
  • ½ cup sliced almonds
  • ¼ cup parmesan
  • 1 teaspoon sage (more if you like a pronounced sage taste)
  • Sea salt and pepper to taste
  • 4 apples (medium to large works perfectly)
  • ¼ c apple cider vinegar
  • 2 eggs

Start with the filling:

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1. Add oil to skillet and brown the turkey.

2. Add the onion and garlic. Cook for about 2 minutes until onion starts to soften.

3. Add the spinach, raisins, almonds, parmesan, salt and pepper. Stir.

4. Remove from heat.

 

While the filling cools, prepare the apples:

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1. Cut each apple in half stem to bottom.

2. Core and hollow out each apple carefully (a melon baller or heavy duty tablespoon work nicely).

3. Pour all of the apple cider vinegar into a hollowed out apple.

4. Slosh it around so that it covers the entire inside of the apple.

5. Dump the vinegar back into the measuring cup, and repeat the process for each apple shell (discard any remaining vinegar).

 

Finishing steps:

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1. In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs.

2. Add the filling and mix well.

3. Stuff the apple shells with filling.

4. Wrap in foil (if grilling or cooking in your campfire), or place in very lightly greased 9×13 baking dish (if baking in oven).

 

Cooking temps and time:

1. In oven, 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes.

2. On grill, medium heat for 20-25 minutes.

3. Directly in the coals of your campfire, 10-15 minutes.

Campfire Turkey Stuffed Apples Recipe