Texas Applesauce

Fall has finally hit Texas! I absolutely adore this time of year. Don't worry this isn't a post about my love of pumpkin-flavored everything. I don't even like pumpkin. What I love about autumn it is people stop looking at you like you are crazy when you wear sweaters. I SO enjoy leaving all the windows in the house open and the way the crisp air whips through  the curtains.... 

Ok cheesy love of fall aside, what I am enjoying most about the season right now is the spices. This week B bought 40lbs of apples from our local food Co-op. At first I will admit that I was a little overwhelmed. What in the world are two people going to do with 40 POUNDS of apples? I looked up a bunch of recipes involving apples and hope to share them as I make them. Our first recipe was B's suggestion: applesauce.

We have a red 7 quart crockpot and a black 5 quart crockpot. We decided to just chop up as many of the apples as would fit in the two crockpots (it ended up being about half of the apples when it was all said and done) cook them until they are soft. We let them cook for about 4 hours. While they were getting soft, they were also soaking up all the wonderful cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg. 


Then we tossed them in the blender. It turned out to be easiest to ladle to chopped up apples into the blender and then dump the blended apples into a large bowl. That is B helping me contain the mess. He is a MUCH better cook than I am, so I am always happy to have him help me in the kitchen. 

Finally after we blended all the apples we dumped them back into the crockpot and put even more seasonings in. I don't have exact measurements for the spices. We just added until it looked right to us. Then we left the crockpots to cook overnight. The next day we canned and froze 7 quarts of applesauce! 
It was SO much fun.