Applesauce

Applesauce has many great qualities besides being high in fiber and vitamin C. It can be used as substitutes in baking and used as a low calorie sweetener in cooking seeing as apples are naturally sweet because of the fructose in them . For a more extensive explanation on these information tid-bits visit Livestrong and [the nest].

As stated on [the nest], the healthiest version of applesauce is homemade. The best part about homemade applesauce is that you don't even need a recipe (but keep in mind proportions). In my case, I have only made applesauce twice, one was a blueberry vanilla applesauce and the other was a cinnamon vanilla applesauce. I followed a recipe for the blueberry vanilla applesauce and winged it for the cinnamon vanilla applesauce.

Where can you find this recipe? HERE!

Along with the blueberry vanilla, there is also a Peach Ginger Almond, a Spiced, and a Cranberry Clove.

As far as going without a recipe, I took note of what I had added before. I used cinnamon and vanilla along with lemon juice, water, honey and apples (of course!). The main reason I decided to make applesauce was because I had about ten apples in my fridge that I was never going to eat otherwise. If this is the case, another option is to make apple chips, a recipe can be found here (I make mine without the sugar, just cinnamon). The process is simply dehydrating the apples, so if you don't want your electricity bill to take a hit, I recommend making applesauce.

Speaking of which, my scratch made applesauce started with ten apples, eight green and two red. I peeled the apples (I recommend NOT doing this, it takes away the nutrients in the skin of the apple, especially the fiber). I then rough chopped the apples and put them in a medium stove pot. Since the apples I used were mainly green, they did not go brown as quickly as the red delicious. This is not a problem if you for go peeling the apples.

Back to the recipe. I added about 1-2 teaspoons of lemon juice, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, 1/3 cup honey, and 2 teaspoons of vanilla to the pot as well. Once all of the ingredients are in the pot, set the pot over medium heat and stir every few minutes. I added about 1/4 cup of water to the pot as well, this helps to break down the apples.

After about an hour on the stove, the apples had turned soft and some had become, for lack of a better word, mush. Some still looked like apple chunks but that's perfectly okay!

Now, since I live in a dorm and have a limited supply of cooking equipment, I used my Nutri-bullet to blend the apple mixture into what resembled baby food. If you desire chunky applesauce, leave as is, it will still be delicious!

I let the applesauce come to room temperature then put it in the fridge overnight to cool, but it's great hot, warm or cold.

Here are some other great ways to use apples:
Spiced Apple Ring Pancakes
Apple Nachos
Apple Rose
Apple (Ice Cream) Cups
Apple Pops

This involves apples and I love cats and so I present:

 A Cat Trying to Fit Into the Apple Bowl