Looking for some healthy yet elegant ways to enjoy seasonal fruit?  Apples and pears are high in fiber and readily available this season.  Check out the two recipes below.

Baked Apples

Ingredients
5 apples (Gala, Granny Smith, Fuji or Honeycrisp)
5 tsp. honey
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 cup raisins
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

Directions
1.  Preheat the oven to 375 F.
2.  Place the raisins in a small bowl and pour about 1/2 cup of boiling water over them.  As an alternative, juice, rum or cognac can be used to soak the raisins for added flavor.
3.  In another small bowl, combine the raisins, walnuts, honey and cinnamon and set aside.
4.  Wash and dry apples.  Using a paring knife or apple corer, remove the stem and seeds and hollow out the middle section of each apple.  Make sure to preserve the bottom 1/2 inch of the apple so that the filling does not fall out.
5.  Place the apples on a parchment paper lined baking sheet and stuff them with the raisin-walnut mixture.
6.  Bake for 45-50 minutes until apples are tender but not mushy.
7.  Serve as is or with a little cream or vanilla ice cream.

Poached Pears

Ingredients

4 cups fresh squeezed orange juice
4 cups water
2 inches fresh ginger root, peeled
6 whole cloves
1 cinnamon stick
Zest from one orange
6-8 ripe pears

Directions

1.  Place all ingredients except pears in a large saucepan over low heat.
2.  Wash, peel and core the pears.  Use a small melon baller to scoop out the core from the bottom of the pear.
3.  Place all the pears in the saucepan, making sure that all the pears are fully covered with liquid.
4.  Bring the pot to a simmer for 30 minutes.  When the pears are soft but not mushy, remove from liquid and serve.