Once you have made your own applesauce, you will not be able to stomach the stuff you find in the grocery store.  This recipe is super simple and super quick with a minimum ingredients.  When you make it, sit back and enjoy the wonderful aroma of cooking apples.

Ingredients:
3 pounds (Granny Smith, MacIntosh, or your favorite apple), peeled, cored and coarsely chopped
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup orange juice
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 tablespoon butter

Preparation:
Combine all ingredients in a large saucepan (3 qt to 4 qt).  Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low/medium low, and simmer 45 to 55 minutes until apples are well cooked and mushy...stirring as needed.  Serve hot or cold.

​Makes 4 to 6 servings.

Recently while going through my collection of cookbooks, I came across a 1970 Betty Crocker Cookbook.  As I idly wandered through its pages I realized that the recipes therein were good sound recipes.  Some of the old tried and true recipes are the best.  So I've decided that I will periodically try out a recipe and then post it here on my blog.  This one is for applesauce.

5 - 6 medium cooking apples (MacIntosh, Honey Crisp, etc), peeled, cored and coarsely chopped.
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Combine all ingredients in medium saucepan.  Heat to boiling over medium heat stirring as needed.  Reduce heat to low/simmer.  Continue to cook covered for about 20 minutes to 1/2 hour.  Remove cover, and cook another 15 minutes.

Makes about 4 cups.

​(This recipe has been modified slightly from the original)

This recipe came from my mother.  I do not know where she ever found it although I suspect it was on the back of a bag of Ocean Spray Cranberries.  It was part of our Thanksgiving and Christmas feast from the 1950 thru the 1989...when she died.  Here is that recipe.  Three minor things to note when making this:  1)  It is good to let it set/marinate for a good 24 hours before serving. 2)  A slight change/addition might be a MacIntosh apple, cored and peeled and chopped.  3)  Mom used a food mill/grinder (food processors were not around) and that provides the best consistency.  I use a food processor when making it because I do not have a food mill/grinder.

Ingredients

2 cups cranberries (fresh or frozen) (1 12-oz bag is enough)
1 medium navel orange, quartered, ends removed
3/4 to 1 cup sugar

Directions

1.  Slice unpeeled orange into eighths.  Place the cranberries, orange and sugar in food processor.  Pulse until evenly chopped.
2.  Store in refrigerator or freezer.

My home is located on the coast of the Northern Pacific Ocean.  Therefore in the summer when the rest of the country is sweltering in heat and humidity, we might have our windows shut with a fire burning in the fireplace.  This is one of those late summer days but instead of having a fire in the fireplace, I've been cooking.  The heat from the stove is perfect for dispelling the chill of a wind driven fog.

In the cupboard...or on the counter...I had some fruit that was getting really ripe and I was not sure when I could use it.  So this afternoon I put together this delicious concoction by using these fruits as well as raiding the cupboard and the freezer.  Although delicious just by itself, methinks this would go well with breaded pork chops, a pork roast, a roasted chicken...or maybe  even at Thanksgiving with the turkey.  Here is what I did:

Ingredients:
1 12-oz package of cranberries (frozen or fresh)
1 Navel orange, peeled, separated into sections
1 ripe peach, not peeled, chopped into bite size pieces
1 ripe pear (Bosc), peeled and chopped into pieces
1/3 cup golden cranberries
1 cup orange juice (I toyed around with the idea of 1 cup brandy which I think would work beautifully_
1 cup sugar PLUS 2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon Allspice

Directions:
Combine all ingredients in medium sauce pan.  Stir to combine.  Using medium heat, bring to a boil stirring occasionally for about 10 minutes.

Reduce heat to low and cook another 45 minutes, stirring occasionally and until ingredients are well combined.  Taste and adjust seasonings accordingly.

Cool to room temperature and then refrigerate.

​Enjoy.

Most likely all of you have experienced the type of applesauce that can be bought in the grocery market.  It is so bland, processed, and uninteresting that is basically resembles baby food.  Well, that might be good for the baby but it is not good enough for us adults.  Years ago I started making this recipe/variation of applesauce and I've enjoyed it ever since.  Christmas Day my family is making a pork roast for dinner...and I decided to make this to go with the pork.

3 - 4 pounds of apples...such as Granny Smith or MacIntosh (Macs are my preferred cooking and baking apple)...peeled, cored, and diced into small dice
1 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup orange juice
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1 tablespoon butter (NOT margarine)

Simmer all ingredients 25 - 30 minutes in a large saucepan (uncovered) stirring occasionally.  (My version of cooking this:  Bring to a boil on medium heat, reduce heat to low-medium and simmer partially covered...).

12 - oz. bag of fresh cranberries
1 cup sugar
1 cup orange juice (fresh squeezed is better)
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg or allspice (not both)
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Combine all the ingredients in a 3-qt saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat.  Once boiling, reduce heat to a simmer and continue to cook for another 15 - 20 minutes.  Enjoy.
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