It seems like our modern culture has a tendency to overcomplicate things, and maybe that's our competitive nature. We don't want other people to think that they can do what we can do just as easily right? Because, if they can do what we can do, they won't admire us anymore... We all need admiration, and that's OK, but maybe we shouldn't be so greedy for it. After all, we should always be willing to help each other. My livelyhood doesn't depend on anyone buying the food I prepare so I don't mind sharing my experience.
I have been reading an old home economics book written at the end of the 1930's for young womens' schools. It says the most nutrition is obtained from raw fruit as apposed to dried or cooked fruit. However, if you are unable to eat an abundance of fruit before it overrippens, it is best to cook it, to preserve it in some way so as not to waste the food.
This was a revelation to me; not that I didn't already know cooking fruit was an alternative to throwing it away, but I realized I could be more concious and more intentional with the fresh food I buy. I should be watchful of my fresh produce, check on it everyday if I'm not eating it, and do something with it if it's not gonna make it much longer. But then do I have to look up a recipe and measure out ingredients, which takes time and for thought? The answer is, not necessarily. Sometimes all it takes is some imagination. How about poaching halved pears in butter, brown sugar and a bit of water and serving them with cinnamon spiced whipped cream on top. Cutting up some pineapple and orange sections and dusting them with powdered sugar and lots of coconut makes a delicious new spin on ambrosia salad! If I buy too many apples because they are on sale and I love apples, I can make applesauce after they've reached there and freeze it in pint jars for later. (Which my toddler loves to eat regularly by the way.) Applesauce is one of those things we have been lead to believe is complicated or requires some special skills or equipment to make. -None of which is true.
Today I'm sharing a recipe for the applesauce I threw together off the top of my head to use up some soft and meally apples.
Fresh Applesauce
6 Apples
1/2 cup Water
A pinch Salt
2 Tbsp Raw Clover Honey
Core, peel and chop apples into large chunks. (You don't have to peel the apples, but we prefer to have a smooth applesauce as apposed to sauce with sharp flecks of peel in it. I use a potato peeler for ease and convenience to peel the apples before cutting them up.) Place apples and water into a medium baking dish.
Bake 400 degrees for 30 minutes.
Puree with an immersion blender, and stir in salt and honey once it's cooled.
Makes about one quart.
Store in fridge or freezer.
If you prefer, you could cook them on the stove top instead. The key is not to over complicate things. If you like cinnamon or another spice in applesauce, then add it! If you want to use sugar or dates to sweeten it instead of honey, by all means, do it. This is what it means to be the family cook, add a little this and taste it, add a little more of that and taste it until you feel it tastes the way you want. Just don't add too much all at once. 😉
Bon appetit!
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