applesauce

GUYS I just made applesauce from scratch and it is totally awesome and delicious.

I used this recipe from Simply Recipes.

• 3 to 4 lbs of peeled, cored, and quartered apples. (Make sure you use a good cooking apple like Golden Delicious, Granny Smith, Fuji, Jonathan, Mcintosh, or Gravenstein.)
• 4 strips of lemon peel - use a vegetable peeler to strip 4 lengths
• Juice of one lemon, about 3-4 Tbsp
• 3 inches of cinnamon stick
• 1/4 cup of dark brown sugar
• up to 1/4 cup of white sugar
• 1 cup of water
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt

I used a 3-pound bag of Paula Red apples, which I had never heard of before, but which were on sale. Also on the bag it said "perfect for making applesauce" and guess what, they were. Also I didn't peel them because my grandparents used to say that all the best nutrients are in the apple skin and they used to make applesauce with the skin. Also peeling 3 pounds of apples sounded like a lot of work. Whatev.

Also I used lemon juice from a bottle. And a couple good shakes of cinnamon instead of a stick. And no lemon zest. I used the full half-cup of sugar but I think I would recommend less. As is it's not quite too sweet, but pretty sweet.

Anyway, all you do is put everything in a pot together and bring it to a boil. Then take down the heat & simmer it for 20-30 minutes and stir it once in awhile.

Simply Recipes says you can freeze it for up to a year!