HOMEMADE APPLESAUCE!

Yesterday was one of my favorite kind of days....it was all drizzly and cold outside and nice and cozy inside! The perfect kind of day to make up my homemade applesauce. I do this every year and freeze a bunch to have throughout the rest of the coming year. We ran up to the mountains on Sunday so I could get the wonderful North Carolina mountain apples.....(plus to stop a few fav shops too...*wink*! ) The drive was so nice and relaxing..just the break I needed with all the prep going on for the holiday season. The leaves are just starting to turn up there and there was just enough color to ohhh and ahhh over. I really don't have time to be hiking to get the apples let alone spending a whole day making it BUT it is a tradition I love and refuse to give it up. Thought you might enjoy how I go about making the sauce...it's easy and the result is delicious! Follow me....... I like to use a combination of apples. You will need a nice firm crisp variety with good texture. This year I used Winesap and Arkansas Black. I always like to choose one variety with a nice red skin as that will give your sauce a great pink color. If you can't get your hands on either of these McIntosh is an all time favorite. I like to cut and quarter them and remove as much of the core and seeds as possible. Whatever you don't get the food mill get later.

Toss them into a tall pot and put about 3 cups of water in. Turn the heat on medium and let them cook down until they become mushy. Mine take about 20-25 minutes but it will depend on how many apples you have used. A smaller batch will take less time.

Let them cool for a bit. Get a ladel and pour some into the food mill. Crank the mill and watch all the wonderful sauce come out! When using the food mill it is very important to crank it until there are nothing but pieces of apple skin left. The color of the sauce somes from the skin, so don't try to go to fast ....it is worth it!

All I add to my sauce is sugar, cinnamon and vanilla. I do all of this "to taste" so I have no measurements. Mix well.As a little "extra" treat ...while the sauce is still warm, fill a little bowl for yourself, add a pat of butter to it and you'll think your in heaven it's sooo good!

And finally you have a wonderful batch of sweet, pink, delicious Homemade Applesauce! At this point I will get out my Ziploc freezer containers and load them up and stack um in the freezer. It is so nice to have this throughout the year and well worth the day it takes to get it done. Hope your sauce turns out great! I am sure you're gonna love it! ENJOY!