Winter is wearing me out, y’all.
Now I can just see my friends up North in my home state of Maryland rolling their eyes, but I’m being serious! I am done with this cold weather. Part of the reason I escaped Maryland was to live a warmer existence. I am still cold!
Today was an ice day and we found ourselves quarantined in the house. In an effort to avoid anything that I actually should be doing, I decided to cook. If I wasn’t going to physically clean my home then the least I could do was make it smell terrific.
For several months, I’ve been eyeing this Skinnytaste Crockpot Applesauce recipe. It seemed like the perfect combination of sweet and spicy winter goodness to try out on Day One of Ice-a-palooza 2015. My only problem was I didn’t have the exact ingredients so I ended up making an adaptation of Skinnytaste blogger, Gina’s version. A very successful adaptation, I might add! My house was filled to the brim with a heavenly scent coming from the kitchen.
I looked in the fridge and took inventory of my fruit produce. I often buy ripe and/or bruised produce at the grocery store for a very discounted price. Yesterday during my emergency pre-ice storm supermarket run, I scored huge with a variety of apples, pears, and juicy Florida oranges.
Gina’s recipe calls for only apples, but I thought a combination of apples and pears would be perfect. I peeled 3 red pears, 2 Granny Smiths, and 1 Braeburn apple and placed them into my crockpot. Her recipe also called for fresh lemon, but the only citrus I had on hand was an orange. I peeled a sliver of orange peel off and put in my pot and then squeezed the juice of the orange over the apples and pears. I placed one cinnamon stick on top, and sprinkled a few pinches of nutmeg. I used Gina’s measurement for brown sugar and added 5 teaspoons. It already smelled delectable!
I placed the lid on the pot and turned my crockpot on high. Every couple hours, I gently stirred the ingredients until eventually the fruit starting falling apart. After about six hours, I had a beautiful chunky sauce. If I added nuts and raisins, I could have had a killer chutney.
At this point, however, I decided my family would enjoy it more if I blended it into a finer sauce. I poured the sauce into my Vitamix and gave it a few quick pulses. Didn’t take much to get a perfect creamy texture.
This Crockpot Apple Pear Sauce was a real winner at the dinner table. My four year old was begging for seconds, and my 14 month old couldn’t get it to his mouth fast enough. Even my husband loved it with his pork chops, red potatoes, and baby carrots. I felt good about making a healthier homemade version of something we usually get from the grocery store.
Crockpot Apple Pear Sauce
6-8 peeled apples and pears
5 tsp brown sugar
1 sliver of orange peel
Juice of one orange
1 Cinnamon stick
Few pinches of nutmeg (optional)
Cook on high for 6 hours. Stir occasionally, and break up the fruit as you stir. If you prefer a finer texture, pour into your blender and pulse a few times until you achieve your desired texture. Serve and enjoy!
What do you do to get through the dog days of winter?
xo Jaime
therockstarmama 