Oldfashioned Chunky Apple Sauce

Okay, so I have been a huge blog slacker these days... or months... And all of that will change soon, promise.

In the meantime, it's apple season in the Paulson home!

We've been making old fashioned chunky apple sauce. The house smells of cinnamon and apples - YUM!!!
Here's how...

Wash the apples...

Peel, core & slice, place in pot, add just enough apple cider to cover the bottom of pot plus some.
(the cider is a natural sweetener and reduces the amount of sugar needed - if any - and we use a fresh milled cider w/o any preservatives)

Sprinkle cinnamon (and for the very brave, a dash of allspice) over the top of apples...

Cook until really mushy, so much so that you mash most of them just by stirring. Use a potato masher to mash the rest & add brown sugar to taste.
(about 1/4 cup to a 5 quart pot... more if you have tart apples or like your apple sauce really sweet. I like to use dark brown sugar because you get more sweetness/taste with less sugar.)

Scoop into freezer jars and away you go!

A bushel of apples makes 16 32oz freezer jars, 1/2 bushel makes 8... and so on.
Bryce calculated that we will save $62 in apple sauce this year - and the whole venture only cost us $25! Plus we have already sunk the cost into the freezer jars, so next year we will save a tiny bit more!
The best part is that the kids got to pick the apples themselves!

(Our next adventure will be to freeze our own corn & pureeing veggies like squash, zucchini & cauliflower to freeze & use(hide) in meals such as meatloaf, lasagna, spaghetti and casseroles. we'll save ourselves close to $40 dollars in frozen corn and only have spent $13 for the year!)