Homemade Applesauce

Making your own applesauce is a cinch. If you are lucky enough to have your own apple tree or have someone give you some, you really should try making it yourself.
If you have enough, you can can it or even freeze it. Or just make small amounts and store it in the refrigerator.

You will need a dutch oven or large saucepan.
If you are making a large batch get some canning jars and flats with rings or freezer containers ready.
If canning, get out your water bath canner or pressure canner.
You will also need a food processor, hand held blender, or potato masher.

Ingredients:

Apples- 3 pounds will make just over 1 quart of sauce

water or bottled apple juice-1 to 2 cups, depending on how many apples you have

Sugar to taste- optional


Peel, core, and chop the apples.
Put in the cooking pan.
Add enough water or juice to the apples so that the apples won't burn.
Cover the pan and turn on the heat.
Stir frequently.
When the liquid and apples come to a boil, turn down the heat and let simmer for about 45 minutes to an hour.
The apples will be very soft.
Stir frequently.

Now, you can get out your potato masher and mash them into sauce by hand. If the apples are soft enough, this is very simple.
You can also use a hand held blender or puree them in a food processor.
When all the apples are sauced, put them back into the pan.
Now, taste them and add some sugar to your liking. Just add a few tablespoons at a time and cook the sugar in.
Taste and if needed add a little more sugar.
When it is as sweet as you want, bring back to a simmer and cook to desired consistency.
Remove from heat and put in jar to can, freezer containers to freeze, or store in the refrigerator.

If canning, process in a water bath canner for 20 minutes- both for pints and quarts.
You can also pressure can it for 15 minutes under 5 pounds pressure.

Going Bananas!

Bananas are great for baking.

They make everything really moist.

Most times when you buy bananas, they are either under-ripe or overripe.

When, they are just right, they are good for eating fresh and for making banana cream pie.

When they are overripe is when they are perfect for baking things like banana cookies, banana bread, and banana cake.

I love buying them when they sell big bags of overripe bananas really cheap. I can also get them free from my town grocery when they are pretty brown.

If there are too many to use at one time, stick some in the freezer.

Put the unpeeled bananas in a bag and freeze them for later baking.

When you need some, just take out what you want, thaw and mash for your favorite recipes.

Just snip off the end of the banana and squish out the banana.

The thawed bananas mash easier than fresh bananas.

Some tips on mashing bananas.

If you have an old potato masher, that is great. It works so much better than trying to use a fork.

Another option is to stick them in a blender or food processor.

If bananas are not mashed really well, hunks of banana can settle to the bottom of whatever you are baking and it doesn't really bake right.

It will test done, but when you slice it you will have a rim of banana along the bottom crust.