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applesauce

Homemade Apple Sauce

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Crock Pot Apple Sauce

A blast from the past!

I’ve been blogging for over 5 years now!  I can’t believe it.  This is a very old post . . . my old camera, my hesitation to share my love of cooking, and being so clueless on how to have a blog that inspires!  Enjoy the walk down memory lane.  (and make some apple sauce–so insanely simple, so good for you and no sugar.)

[Tweet “I just learned how to make insanely simple, sugar free, super yummy apple sauce! “]

 

 

 
organic gala apples
One of my ideas for 1012 is to share one crock pot recipe a week.  I found a great deal on organic apples and thought that I would buy 15 pounds.  My first batch of applesauce is 5 lbs of apples cut into chunks with just enough water to cover the bottom of the crock pot.
 
 
 
 
 

All of those apples cooked down to this amount.  I added cinnamon once they were finished cooking.  During the cooking process I stirred the apples and they broke into chunky pieces and I sort of like that.  The kids love it.

I plan to freeze the rest of this recipe and the other 10 pounds of apples bound for sauce.

Thank you God for Aunt Clara Broda who made applesauce for me as a kid.  It amazes me how you intertwine people, ideas, and outcomes.

Today I’m linking up with Countdown 2012.

Top 10 After School Snacks (#4 is my favorite)

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When I have kids in “school” I pick them up and bring them home–no bus service–so I like to have snack on the table when they come home.  If it is a year that I am homeschooling than we usually end our day with a snack and tea or juice from our juicer!

These are my top ten after school snacks:

  1. Leftovers from their lunch box!
  2. Veggies and Dip
  3. Apples and yogurt or another dip they like
  4. Pretzels with either mustard or chocolate dipped
  5. Cheese and crackers–I use cookie cutters to make flowers with the cheese–too cute–sometimes I even put a raisin in the middle of the flower!
  6. Celery and cream cheese
  7. Build your own nachos
  8. Mini cheese tortillas
  9. Muffins (just out of the oven before I go and pick them up)
  10. Cookies and milk!

IMG_5435 watermarked

I find that the kids like to do a little “food network” and build their own things as much as when I have it ready, so I like to mix it up a little bit.

If I have a later dinner because of practice or other commitments I start the crock pot at 3 for dinners to be ready at 7. 

TIP:  I also set the table before I leave.  When I come home I just need to plop the crock pot on the table, and by the time everyone is finished washing their hands dinner is ready!

Pumpkins, Apples, Rasberries, Oh My!

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This summer was going to be my summer to finally start my “big garden”.  I’ve always planted lots of herbs and tomatoes but I wanted more veggies so that I could can my own spaghetti sauce, ketchup, and pickles.  This garden project turned into a little like the book “If you give a mouse a cookie”.  Just when I thought I had an idea on what I was going to do–the garden changed all of that.  Garden should be predictable–my garden acted like a 3 year old–it knew what it was supposed to grow in rows but chose not to.

Over the past year I have written several articles on saving money, the first, the second, the third, the fourth, and the fifth.  I’ve also put together some meal plans.  As I wrote these articles I was very mindful of what my family enjoyed eating vs. what was on sale.  I also kept in the back of my mind what could I plant and then can.   Could I really save money by canning my own food.

I decided that I could make my own salad dressings with oil and vinegar.  I planted some cucumbers for pickles, tomatoes for sauce, and some herbs that I could dry.

This is the humble beginning of my container garden.  Last summer we moved into this home in May so gardening was not a priority–yet I was able to put in the first 4×4 space.  But I watched how the sun fell around the yard and found this nice spot for my raised bed garden.  We play lots of soccer in our yard so the sides would protect the garden.

So this year I started my cukes, tomatoes, and herbs . . . but then something started to grow and grow and grow.

And now I have baby pumpkins!

I’m not sure how many baby pumpkins are living underneath this gigantic patch.  I’m not sure how much damage to the lawn.  We also have lots and lots of tomatoes.

We will harvest the pumpkins later next month.

A friend invited me to pick raspberries–so I made some jam.  On the way home there was a farmers stand with apples from the farm so I picked up a bushel.

Oh, I did buy some pickling cukes at the Farmer’s Market and made some bread and butter pickles.  I also made some apple sauce.  I cooked the apples in the crockpot!  It worked great.  Lots of raspberry jam and 5 quarts of tomato sauce (I picked the tomatoes from a local farm and supplemented from my garden).

I’m not sure that I would make tomato sauce again.  I would make pickles, jam and applesauce.  My plan for next year is to go to the U-Pick strawberry farm and make some strawberry sauce for homemade ice cream.  I have spent the last few weeks canning off and on and the process has challenging and fun.  I will once again be mindful of what we use and how we use it to better plan for next year.  I know that it is worth the effort.

Canning brought back some great memories of being a kid and working on the farm.  The best part of the entire experience was working with my kids in the kitchen.  The picking was pretty fun too!