Apple Slices with PBfit

Sliced apples with peanut butter is one of my very favorite healthy snacks. But when you start to think about all those calories in peanut butter, I tend to shy away from the peanut butter part of it and just eat the sliced apples part. When I discovered PBfit, that all changed. Per serving, there are over 100 calories less in PBfit that there are in regular peanut butter. Feel free to read all about PBfit over on this blog post.

PBfit is a great way to get your apples and peanut butter fix without all the calories, but what about the apples? What’s the easiest way to slice them? How do you keep them from going brown, especially if you plan on packing them in your kids’ lunch?

Easy Slicing

The best way I’ve found to slice apples is with an apple slicer/corer. This apple slicer is a quick and safe way to easily core and slice an apple. Place the apple on the countertop, stem side down. Simply push the slicing blades down over the apple, flip the protective cover underneath and pop the apple slices the rest of the way through the blades. I love this slicer. I’ve had one for years and I use it all the time. Believe me, it’s well worth the investment.

How to Stop Browning

Okay, but now what about the browning? After a cut apple sits out for a while it starts to brown. To stop your apple slices from browning, fill a bowl with cold water. It doesn’t really matter how large your bowl is. Just make sure it’s big enough to hold all your apple slices and some water. To the cold water, you will add 1/2 teaspoon of citric acid per cup of water. Don’t worry about being too exact, but do try to keep it close to this ratio. Too much citric acid will cause your apples to taste a little lemony.

Put your apple slices into the citric acid water and let them sit for about a minute. Pull them out onto a paper towel and let them dry a bit. Now you have apple slices that will stay bright all day. You can put them in your kids’ school lunch or keep them in the fridge for a healthy after school snack.