Sunday, October 10, 2010

Making baby food: Applesauce

This is the first year that our apple tree has produced much of anything...in fact, it is loaded with apples! Alot of them were ready to pick and I knew that if we didn't get to them soon they would go to waste.

I wanted to make some applesauce for Travis(and the rest of us), so we all went out to pick some apples from our own back yard!
I love having an apple tree:)

I had to distract the boy with an apple all his own.
I think he liked it;) I took a few bites and then let him go to town while the rest of us picked apples.


Brooklyn loved picking the apples and posing with them.


 Here is my handsome husband up in the tree picking all the apples that I couldn't reach. Thanks Babe!


After you pick (or buy) your apples you need to:
1. Wash them
2. Peel them
3. Core them
4. Slice them
5. Place them in a slow cooker
(Preferably while watching McDreamy and McWarVet on Hulu)


Take apple peels and cores out to your chickens or compost pile.


Set the slow cooker on low heat for 6-8 hours.

Add 1/2 cup water to start and add more later if it needs it.
Some people season later, but I like the seasonings to cook into my apples, so I add about a 1/4 cup of sugar(brown or granulated) and a heavy sprinkling of cinnamon.

After so many hours in the slow cooker I didn't even have to mash my apples! I stirred them and they fell to mush. Yummy mush.

I filled up ice cube trays with the applesauce, covered with foil and froze overnight to make baby food cubes to feed to Travis.


Here they are all ready to be put in a labeled freezer bag to be thawed out and fed to the baby.

The rest was eaten up so fast that I am now on my 3rd batch!
What have I started???

Do you have any apple recipes that freeze or can well?
I still have a ton of apples and want to use them all up!


I am linking up to some of these parties:)

8 comments:

Terrell said...

Ohhh your efforts will so pay off! This is such a fabulous idea! Way to go, girly!!! I'm so excited to be your newest follower of your delightful blog and I'd love to have you as a friend at Frou Frou Decor! Be sure to link up your sweet creations at my weekly link party, every Friday! Hope to see you there!
Hugs,
~Terrell @ Frou Frou Decor~

katskraps4kids said...

I have many apples right now too- but now I have found so many wonderful recipes and not enough of my too many apples now! =P

Gorgeous child!!! Just beautiful- like mommy!

Be blessed!

Envymycooking said...

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Gwen @ Gwenny Penny said...

Look at you making your own baby food, with your own apples nonetheless! Bravo! I'm in complete awe...

Noush said...

Looks yummy!!! I'm looking on your blog when eden is old enough to eat...you have the best ideas!!!

Stephanie Lynn @Under the Table and Dreaming said...

Amy - What a fantastic idea! I have never heard of crockpot applesauce - but it looks delicious! I love the ice cube idea too. Thanks so much for linking to The Sunday Showcase. I'll be featuring this today. Stop by and grab a featured button if you like. Hope you have a wonderful week. ~ Stephanie Lynn

Barbara said...

I've been making about 4 to 5 pints of cinnamon applesauce a week, so I bought a nifty little device that peels, slices and cores an apple in about 3 seconds flat. Since you have an apple tree, I highly recommend it! Mine is a clamp on version of this one:

http://www.amazon.com/Back-Basics-Apple-Potato-Peeler/dp/B0000DE2SS

I have a slow cooker, but it only takes aobut 10 minutes on top of the stove and a few seconds with a potato masher to make wonderful chunky applesauce for us grownups.

me said...

If you don't mind sweet in salads, I would sometimes put apple peels in my salad, because the peel is highly nutritious! So if you can find a way to use the peels by all means use em!

A study published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry showed that most of the healthful phytochemicals found in apples are concentrated in the apple peel rather than the body of the apple. These include the flavonoids and other chemicals responsible for apple's anti-cancer benefits. Apples have been shown in some studies to lower the risk of both breast and lung cancer. They also appear to improve lung function and reduce the incidence of asthma. In addition, they reduce the risk of heart disease, obesity and type 2 diabetes. When you peel an apple, some of these benefits may be lost.

Read more: How to Understand Whether It's Healthier to Peel an Apple | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how_5210193_understand-its-healthier-peel-apple.html#ixzz1Ic4qBZqe

The most important thing she’d learned over the years was that there was no way to be a perfect mother and a million ways to be a good one."
~Jill Churchill