When Life Gives You Apples...

Heather and I were wandering through the woods in one of our area parks, a bit lost, to tell the truth. We came upon a pair of beautiful apple trees. Now, these were not those crappy wild apple trees you sometimes find in the woods that wouldn't be fit to feed a horse. These apples, while smaller than typical apples, were plenty sweet and flavorful. Well, never one to pass up a free meal, I loaded up what had to be about 20 pounds of apples into the stroller and headed for home. I hadn't given much thought of what to do with the apples, but both of our girls like apple sauce and apple pie a lot and since I didn't have the patience to make a pie, apple sauce it is!

I had the luxury of an onion corer borrowed from the store to core my apples and that worked just great. Then I peeled them and cut them all into eighths and threw them into a pot. I added a small amount of water, a fair amount of cinnamon and a bit of salt an simmered the whole mess for about an hour. We like our applesauce a bit chunky, so I'd recommend a longer cook time if you prefer it smooth.

The simple home made applesauce was quite a hit with all and it was great to be able to make it for free.