{What's Cookin'?} Rustic Applesauce

So, while I never intended for this to be a food blog, that seems to be the place I'm in right now. We've been cooking up a lot of delicious things in the kitchen as of late, but don't forget to check out all the fun I've got cooking for the blog in the coming months (printables? giveaways? yes and yes!)

Today's recipe is a long time family favorite. One that smells and tastes like home to me. My mom made this delicious applesauce every year when we were kids and I've been excited to start this early fall tradition with my own family. The secret to this best ever applesauce is the apples. My mom always, always makes hers with Gravenstein apples. These beautiful red-green apples have a great balance of sweet and tart and really just make the applesauce something special. They are an early variety and just showed up at our farmers market two weeks ago. I've never seen them in the grocery store, so you might want to load up the family for a special apple hunt at your local farmer's market. If you can't find them you can substitute any tart apple variety, like Granny Smith.

Here's the low down on this delicious rustic apple sauce. Unlike my mom I don't have a food mill to process my cooked apples and separate the peels and seeds from all of the good stuff, so I have to do all of my peeling and coring up front. If you happen to have a food mill or know someone who does, you can skip the peeling and coring steps in the beginning. Also, since my sauce isn't processed through a food mill it has what I consider a rustic consistency. It is a bit chunkier with stray bits of peel, I actually really like it that way. Feels kinda like a sauce you'd find in a little house on the prairie or something.It's really so simple and so worth the peeling and coring.

Rustic Apple Sauce

- Peel, quarter and core enough apples to fill a large stock pot (or pot of your choice) and cover with water. Note: I'm not very meticulous with my peeling and coring. I just try to get most of the peels of and just the seeds and very hardest part of the core out. The rest of the core will soften when cooked.)
- Bring water to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until apples begin to fall apart. (watch the pot to be sure it doesn't boil over, it will make a huge sticky mess that is no fun to clean up...ask me how I know)
- You can leave the applesauce as is or mash with a potato masher to get out some of the lumps
- Eat hot or cold, add sweetener and cinnamon to taste

Because these apples have a short season I like to make a lot and freeze some to take out on special occasions like Thanksgiving and Christmas, or as a special treat just because.

Enjoy a sweet bowl of fall flavor friends!

In Him,
Kim