Friday, August 20, 2010

Kid-Friendly Applesauce

Although it's not officially fall yet, my apple trees are already dropping more fruit than I can find uses for. I made an apple pie, crock-pot apple butter and after I borrowed a friends dehydrator (she had used it to make me some dried apple chunks) made my own fruit leather.

It was during these many experiments with all things apple that I came up with a recipe for applesauce that my kids love.

Cherry Applesauce

Four cups peeled sliced apples
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1 package of Cherry Kool-Aid (or flavor of choice)

Place peeled and sliced apples and water in a large saucepan over medium heat. Cover and cook until apples are soft, about 15 minutes. Remove apples from heat and pour into a blender or food processor. Add sugar and 1 tsp of Cherry Kool-Aid powder. Puree mixture until smooth and refrigerate.

I like to pour mine into small, single-serving tupperware cups before I refrigerate them so that my kids can just take out a cup to eat, but anything you can put in the fridge would work. Also, because I don't like to waste anything (and it's too hot to stand over a stove), I've made large batches of this in the crock pot and then canned it. If you have the space, it could easily be frozen- Ball makes a good freezer container that mimics the size of a jar and stacks for better storage.

So, let's hear it for no more buying applesauce in containers that may or may not be recycleable/reusable! Let's hear it for using up what nature has so freely provided! Let's hear it for Kool-Aid!

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some more apples to peel...

No comments: