Tidy Victory - our house cleaner paid us a visit (so this actually isn't my personal victory but more a household victory, however I was totally the one who found her!)
Check out this list!
<One> Citrus - Two oranges and one lemon, zested and juiced
<Two> Fruit - 6 lbs. of assorted apples
<Three> Sweet - 1/2 cup of light brown sugar, packed
<Four> Fat - 4 tablespoons of unsalted butter
<Five> Spicy - 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon and 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
This is the list of five things to make the most amazing, delicious, flavorful applesauce by Ina Garten. Every fall I take the boys apple picking in one of our several local orchards. Not only is it a fun activity for the whole family - i.e. picking and throwing apples, climbing into the apple crates - but it's healthy and SOOOOOOOO much cheaper than buying them already picked or at the store. I don't know about where you live, but here in the Southern Tier let me tell you it was about $20.00 for a bushel, and I find that quite impressive.
Anyways, I digress.......let's make some applesauce!
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Put the zest and juice of the two oranges and lemon into a bowl. Core, peel and slice the apples but be sure to reserve a few peels of some of your red apples.
Place the apples in the citrus juice and toss.
Next pour the apples, juice and reserved peels into a non-reactive Dutch oven (what is that?!?!?!) or an enameled iron pot.
Add the brown sugar, butter and spices to the pot with the apples. Give a nice toss and cover the pot.
Place the apples in the citrus juice and toss.
Next pour the apples, juice and reserved peels into a non-reactive Dutch oven (what is that?!?!?!) or an enameled iron pot.
Add the brown sugar, butter and spices to the pot with the apples. Give a nice toss and cover the pot.
Bake in the oven for about 1 1/2 hours or until the apples are quite soft.
Mix with a whisk until smooth or blend in a blender for a really smooth consistency.
Serve at whatever temperature you prefer.
To see the original recipe, click here.
Feel free to play around with the amount of the juice from the orange you add - it adds such a level of freshness to the applesauce.
The toddler loved helping me measure and dump in the spices, which also helped convince him to try it since he "made" it. He was also in charge of transferring sliced up apples into the bowl of citrus juices.
I literally just used whatever apples I had handy and it came out great. The baby certainly didn't complain, and even the toddler took a few bites!
Try it out and confirm how delish it is!
Katie
The toddler loved helping me measure and dump in the spices, which also helped convince him to try it since he "made" it. He was also in charge of transferring sliced up apples into the bowl of citrus juices.
I literally just used whatever apples I had handy and it came out great. The baby certainly didn't complain, and even the toddler took a few bites!
Try it out and confirm how delish it is!
