My father in law has a great farm in Kentucky, complete with two hilarious dogs, and a barn with a pottery room! (side note: the pottery room makes me wish Kentucky was a whole lot closer...) Recently, when he came to visit, there was an abundance of produce in tow.
My kitchen table was covered in such a variety of produce and it sent my creative juices in a tizzy! You'll see a lovely bowl in the picture that was handmade and now belongs to us! We're going to start off the series with the two dozen apples and dozen pears you see above. There was no way to eat them fast enough, so I ran through all of my options in my head. A lovely idea popped up and I ran with it.
Applesauce. I'd never tried it before, and I had this funny idea. I'm not crazy about really sweet applesauce, or adding lots of sugar into many things. After tasting a pear (and briefly going to heaven) I had the clever idea of using pears in my applesauce as a sweetener. So, let's great straight to work.
You Will Need:
*18-20 peeled, cored, and sliced apples
*4-5 pears
*1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
*1/2 teaspoon ginger
*1/2 cup water
(As an additional note, if I'd had Pumpkin Spices, I absolutely would have used those!!! However, for some reason it's difficult to find a shelf that HAS pumpkin spices in September...)
Begin by getting your apples ready. I would highly suggest you invest in one of these phenomenal gadgets. Or, invest in a friend who happens to have one as well....thanks Sarah!
It's the quickest, easiest way to get your apples ready. It's super exciting to use, (Perhaps you're reading into this and realizing I'm easily amused...) and the apples come out looking like silly curls!
Back to the recipe...Once you have gotten all of the apples ready, dump them in the crock pot. Yup. That's right. My crock pot is at it again. Seriously, it rarely gets put away!
You'll see that I cut my pears up into the crock pot as well. From here it's a few simple steps and you're done. Add in your 1/2 cup of water and spices.
Now, turn your crock pot on high and walk away from it for about 3-4 hours. When you come back the apples will be SO SOFT. All it took was a few minutes with a potato masher. I happened to want my apple sauce a little smoother, so I whisked it a bit as well.
From here, all you have to do is put it in jars. Do it quickly- because if you don't, it will get eaten up before you can even put it away. Also, if you weren't sure, you can freeze some of your applesauce as well. That way you have the exciting choice of eating more after you think it's all gone! Seriously, I must have eaten a whole cup of it warm, it was so delicious!!
I think from here on out, I will only be eating home made applesauce. It was the best applesauce I've EVER tasted. In all seriousness though, if I'd known it was this easy to make applesauce in a crock pot I'd have been making it all the time.
AND, if for some reason you have an apple or two left over....try this! Take those same spirally apples, stick 'em in a pan, sprinkle some cinnamon on, and bake for about 20 minutes at 350. De-lish
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| Momma insisted you see this view as well. So there are her fingers! |
Well folks, this is the end of Part 1 of "From the Farm." You can look forward to: Hungarian Frying Peppers, Jalapeños, and Beets! Stay happy and enjoy the fall, friends!
<3
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