Easy Crock Pot Applesauce

I woke up this morning to the most wonderful sight: RAIN! Oh, how I have missed the rain. I know, I know. Everyone else is delighted with summer. And I can take a little summer. But when it’s been as hot (and sometimes humid) as we’ve had lately, then I start longing for good old Pacific Northwest rain. And today it came.

All that fresh, rain-scrubbed air gave me a cooking- and cleaning-boost. By mid-afternoon, I’d made a crock pot full of applesauce, made a bundt pan and a loaf pan of zucchini bread, shredded eight more batches-worth of zucchini, cleaned our bedroom, vacuumed, swept the kitchen, scrubbed two sinks, filled another Good Will bag (that always feels good), got all the laundry washed and put away, moved some books upstairs to the bookshelves, and finally put the suitcase away after my trip to Alaska … cough, cough … eleven days ago. I’ll be getting that suitcase back down when I head to California next month, but at least it gets a weeks off.

Here’s the applesauce recipe, just in case you have an idle crock pot and a bumper crop of apples (or a generous friend with apple-connections).

Easy Crock Pot Applesauce

• enough peeled, cored, sliced apples to fill your crock pot all the way to the rim
• 1/2 – 1 cup water (1/2 for a small crock pot; 1 for a large)
• 1 – 2 TBSP lemon juice (1 for a small crock pot; 2 for a large)
• 1/4-1/2 cup sugar (I used sucanat), depending on the tartness of your apples
• 1/2 – 1 tsp cinnamon (1/2 for a small crock pot; 1 for a large)
• optional: sprinkling of nutmeg

Peel, core and slice apples into thin pieces. Fill crock pot with apples, sprinkle with lemon juice, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg (if using). Pour water over all.

Cook on high for 3-4 hours, or low for 6-8 hours. Stir midway through. During last hour, mash with potato masher and taste for sweetness. If needed, add another 1/4 cup sugar or to taste.

Doesn’t your kitchen smell like fall now?

I woke up this morning to the most wonderful sight: RAIN! Oh, how I have missed the rain. I know, I know. Everyone else is delighted with summer. And I can take a little summer. But when it’s been as hot (and sometimes humid) as we’ve had lately, then I start longing for good old Pacific Northwest rain. And today it came.

All that fresh, rain-scrubbed air gave me a cooking- and cleaning-boost. By mid-afternoon, I’d made a crock pot full of applesauce, made a bundt pan and a loaf pan of zucchini bread, shredded eight more batches-worth of zucchini, cleaned our bedroom, vacuumed, swept the kitchen, scrubbed two sinks, filled another Good Will bag (that always feels good), got all the laundry washed and put away, moved some books upstairs to the bookshelves, and finally put the suitcase away after my trip to Alaska … cough, cough … eleven days ago. I’ll be getting that suitcase back down when I head to California next month, but at least it gets a weeks off.

Here’s the applesauce recipe, just in case you have an idle crock pot and a bumper crop of apples (or a generous friend with apple-connections).

Easy Crock Pot Applesauce

• enough peeled, cored, sliced apples to fill your crock pot all the way to the rim
• 1/2 – 1 cup water (1/2 for a small crock pot; 1 for a large)
• 1 – 2 TBSP lemon juice (1 for a small crock pot; 2 for a large)
• 1/4-1/2 cup sugar (I used sucanat), depending on the tartness of your apples
• 1/2 – 1 tsp cinnamon (1/2 for a small crock pot; 1 for a large)
• optional: sprinkling of nutmeg

Peel, core and slice apples into thin pieces. Fill crock pot with apples, sprinkle with lemon juice, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg (if using). Pour water over all.

Cook on high for 3-4 hours, or low for 6-8 hours. Stir midway through. During last hour, mash with potato masher and taste for sweetness. If needed, add another 1/4 cup sugar or to taste.

Doesn’t your kitchen smell like fall now?