Cran-Apple Sauce

What do you do with a bunch of apples which are badly bruised but may still have some nutritional value? A quick an easy way to use up apples is to make apple sauce. Here is a recipe using apples and adding cranberries to give the sauce a tart flavor.  Fruit sauces can be eaten with granola, as jam, or just plain for a snack, breakfast or desert.

Ingredients

• 12-15 apples (different sizes and different varieties can be used)
• 4 cups cranberries (add more if you prefer a more tarter flavor)
• water

Supplies

• 1 large pot
• 1 big spoon for mixing

Directions

• Wash apples the best you can. You’ll be peeling them so you don’t need to spend cleaning them.
• Rinse cranberries and remove any bad cranberries that you may find. I use frozen cranberries as I usually stock up during the winter months when they are available.
• If you own a peeler, this is most likely the fastest way to peel your apples. For this time, I used a knife and removed any really mushy bruised brown pieces and peeled the rest of the skin using a knife.
• Once the apples are peeled, you can then cut and core the apples into ¼ inch to ½ inch pieces. The smaller the pieces, the quicker the apples will cook.

• Since the cranberries take longer to cook, start cooking the cranberries. Add about 1-2 inches of water in your pot and then add the cranberries. Bring water to boil and then lower the heat to medium. Cook the cranberries for about 5-10 minutes. During this time, you will hear the berries pop as the skin opens up.

• Once the berries are somewhat soft and have started popping, add the apple pieces. Mix everything together continuously for about another 10 to 15 minutes or until the apples have become soft. You may need to add some more water if you see some stickiness at the bottom of the pot.  I chose to use the potato masher to mash down the apples once the sauce was cooked.  You can also opt to use a blender if you prefer a less chunky consistency.

We don’t feel the need to add more sweetener since we feel there is enough sweetness from the apples.

If you have apples or other fruit which you feel may not be good enough to eat, try to find ways to use them instead of throwing them out. Get your children involved in making the applesauce. Children love all kinds of fruit sauces!

As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons.
I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste.
Song of Solomon 2:3

Blessings! ~ Carmen

This recipe was shared at A Moderate Life's Hearth & Soul

Orange Pumpkin Loaf with Dates

Are you in the mood for a change instead of making muffins?  Our children love eating muffins.  Depending what is in season, we can be making the same kind of muffin for a long time.  No, we don't get tired of eating zucchini muffins.

We currently have pumpkin purée in our freezer and my first thought was to make muffins.  This past fall we were able to purée pumpkin.  It always feels good to be able to store food for future use.  We needed a change this past week, and so I opted to bake some loaves instead.  I really don't think there is much difference in taste between muffins and loaves, maybe just the shape, maybe one is sweeter than the other.  In the past we've often taken a banana muffin recipe and baked it as a snack cake.  Obviously the baking time may increase if baking a loaf.  I've had this Pumpkin Orange recipe for a while.  I'm sorry I did not write down where it came from.  I have also adapted this recipe to ensure I was incorporating healthier food choices. Including both the pumpkin and the oranges definitely makes this loaf very moist.  I cut down on the sweetener knowing I was going to add the chopped dates.  This can be eaten plain or with a little butter.  The recipe is as follows: