Monday, January 26, 2009

Getting sauced

I have two small confessions to make here in blogland. One, I have an extraordinarily hard time staying put for long periods of time. Two, and not to make my other kitchen appliances jealous, I LOVE my crockpot. I'm actually aiming to be the first woman to need a replacement crockpot as a result of overuse in the first several years of marriage.
When you combine both of the above you're left with a house that always smells fantastic. As a food nerd, I'm always cooking something. I prefer to be doing so in the crockpot, so that I may do several other things at once.

Last week I hit the mothership of all food blogs, at least for myself. A Year of Crockpotting. I won't fill you in too much, but it's a lady who loves her crockpot and uses it everyday. I could tout her virtues, or the treasure trove of recipes on the site (some for us food-intolerant folk), but instead, I will give you this. This, reprinted with her permission, is the world's greatest crockpot applesauce recipe. I love applesauce, and I love my crockpot (have I mentioned that?). This will make your house smell as if you're baking a dozen apple pies....and it's incredibly tasty as well! And healthy! Thank you, crockpot lady!

This makes enough for 4 people. If you would like to freeze or can, use more apples.
--4 large apples, skinned ,cored, and cut in quarters
--juice from 1 lemon
--1/2 tsp cinnamon
--1 tsp vanilla
--1 T brown sugar
--1/4 cup H20
Skin, core, and cut your apples into quarters. Plop the pieces into your crockpot. Add the juice from the lemon, and the water. Pour in the vanilla (I used imitation--we were out of the good stuff), and add the cinnamon and brown sugar. Cover and cook on low for 4-6 hours. When the apples are super tender, mash with a potato masher or large fork. My apples were very tender after 6 hours, and I used a fork.
Now, she made hers in a 4-quart crockpot, while I used my 6-quart and it was finished a little quicker (about 4 hours). I added raisins and extra cinnamon to the finished product, but it was FANTASTIC on it's own. I cannot stop eating this!
Here's to allergy-free HEALTHY recipes!
Your allergic, crockpot-lovin' diner

No comments: