Super Easy Applesauce!

Last year picking apples!

This time last year I was picking apples at the Green Mountain Orchard in Putney, Vermont with my handsome husband. We picked so many apples I felt like they were growing out my ears! I was looking up every recipe ever made that contained apples in them. I baked apple crisp, apple muffins, caramel apples, etc. Then I came up with a brilliant idea of making applesauce and it was absolutely delicious! The nice thing about applesauce is it is the perfect healthy snack, you can use it as a substitute in many baking recipes, and you can warm it up and put it on ice cream. Get the picture? Applesauce is just amazing! As I was reminiscing about that applesauce I made I thought...why don't I make applesauce this year? Yes, we may not be able to go to an orchard this year but I can still pick out some apples at the market. Lately I have been trying to figure out some healthy snacks to have in our house. With making your own applesauce you don't have to add any sugar, apples are sweet enough on their own! Homemade applesauce is the way to go compared to the store bought high fructose corn syrup kind. So here it is...my super easy, super delicious, and super healthy applesauce recipe! As a friend of mine would always say, "it's good and good for you!"

Ingredients: 

• 6 apples, peeled and chopped (your choice of apple, but the sweeter ones are better)
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon (or more if you really like cinnamon, I also added some clove to mine)
• About 1/2 cup of water to cover the bottom of pot

Directions:

1. Place all ingredients in a pot on the stove top and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer and cover with lid. 

2. Simmer apples for about 20 minutes or until soft. The smaller the pieces of chopped apple the faster cook time.  

3. Remove from heat and mash with a potato masher for chunkier applesauce, or put in the food processor or blender for smoother texture. 

4. Enjoy!

Side notes: you can add any other fruit you would like to create a different twist on your applesauce, such as: strawberries, peaches, mangos, etc. Also, I added clove to mine along with cinnamon and it gave it a great flavor! Go ahead and experiment with it!