2016 has been an interesting year for this food blogger. I just looked back on my previous post from January that said my New Years goal was to get back into the Forks & Rec game…oops. Well, we are over halfway through 2016, but there’s still time. There is a reason why you haven’t heard much from me the past few months.
At the beginning of March, I travelled to a lake in central Zambia with a group of friends. We had a blast at the lake, but also got lost, got a truck stuck in the mud, and got soaked by thunderstorms during the course of the day. Legend has it that this lake is cursed, and if the preceding list of difficulties didn’t prove it, I did. While we were packing up, I tripped on a rock and fell face-first into another one. I split my chin open and fractured my jaw at the joint right by my ear. That’s right – I broke my face.
There’s few things worse that can happen to a food blogger than a broken jaw. I was on a soft food diet for 6-8 weeks, with two full weeks of almost exclusively soup. I could hardly talk or laugh (two of my other favorite things after eating) and couldn’t eat almost any of my favorite foods. I was not being very creative in the kitchen and was struggling to get enough calories to get by, which didn’t make for any interesting blog posts.
Two things I was having a particularly hard time figuring out how to eat were (1) fruits and (2) snacks. Have you ever noticed that almost all snacks are hard and crunchy? Well, I hadn’t until I realized I couldn’t eat any of them. So, I needed a fruit snack. That’s what brought me to applesauce.
Applesauce is shockingly easy to make. Peeling the apples is the most time-intensive part, but once you get in the groove, it goes quickly.
After that just toss the apples in a pot with the maple syrup, cinnamon, lemon juice, and a splash of water and let it do its thing while you go about your day.
Come back after 25 minutes, smash with a fork for chunky applesauce, or dump it in a blender or food processor for smooth applesauce.
I’m finally at the point when I can eat real apples again…but why would I when I can have this delicious applesauce instead??
- 6 apples
- 2 Tbsp. maple syrup
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
- 1 Tbsp. lemon juice
- 1/2 cup water
- Peel and slice the apples into thin pieces.
- Add apples, maple syrup, cinnamon, lemon juice, and water to a large pot.
- Heat on medium-high heat until the liquids in the bottom begin to boil.
- Reduce heat to low and cover the pot.
- Let simmer for 25 minutes, or until apples are soft and fall apart easily.
- There should be a little liquid in the bottom of the pot when the apples are done. If there is too much liquid, drain some out or remove the lid and let the liquid reduce for the final few minutes of cooking.