Homemade Applesauce...Yum!

                I enjoy preparing my own food rather than buying things I can make myself. There are a few reasons for this. First, I actually enjoy preparing food. Second, I usually can make a healthier version of common packaged goods. And finally, I can often make the food for a lot cheaper than what it would cost to buy it in a store—though there is the increased cost associated with the time it takes me to make it. But again, usually I am enjoying myself in the kitchen.

                One food that I have been making a lot recently is homemade applesauce. Yes, it does take time to peel a bunch of apples. Yes, it does take time to chop them up. And yes, you have to occasionally mix it while it is simmering to make sure it does not burn. But it comes out so yummy and sweet, and it has no sugar!

                Here is how you do it. This will make a large-ish batch

1. Peel, core, and dice 8 medium or 4 humongous apples.
2. Put the diced apples into a large pot.
3. Add enough water to fill up to half the height of the apples.
4. You can add a cinnamon stick at this point. Then, you will get yummy cinnamon flavor and retain the light color. Or you can skip the cinnamon stick, and it will still taste delicious. 
5. Simmer on a low flame, stirring occasionally until the apples are soft enough that they mush when touched with a spoon and there is barely any water left.
6. Remove from heat and stir well until the apples become applesauce texture.

                One of my favorite ways to eat applesauce is on my oatmeal. It gives it plenty of sweetness without adding extra sugar.

 

you can barely see the oatmeal, but it is under the (homemade) yogurt and applesauce

                

Monkey Bread

                Today I will talk about something wonderful. And that is Monkey Bread. Basically, Monkey Bread is a yeast dough made into small balls that are rolled into a cinnamon-sugar mixture, piled in a pan, and drizzled with oil. When it is done baking, you have a delicious pull-apart, cinnamony yumminess.

                I made it for the first time when I was making challah a few months ago and had too much challah dough. You see, my freezer is quite small, so I do not have room to store the 8 challah that my 7-cup of flour recipe makes. So I turned half of the dough into challah, and the other half had to serve another purpose. I had been reading about Monkey Bread for a long time, and I thought it was time.

                Last night was actually my third attempt at Monkey Bread. I made my challah dough recipe, which is the first recipe in Shira Wiener and Ayelet Yifrach’s The Taste of Challah. It is recipe that produces an incredibly fluffy challah….maybe too fluffy as you will soon see. I left my braided challahs and prepared Monkey Bread on my counter to rise while I went to the supermarket. When I returned, my Monkey Bread was humongous! It had doubled in size, and some of the cinnamon-sugar rolled balls had rolled off of the loaf and onto the counter and floor! Once it was in the oven and rising a bit more from the heat, more cinnamon-sugar balls rolled off and landed on the bottom of the oven. (One of which is still there—it was too stuck to pry off while the oven was hot!) But it baked beautifully, and I have one report that it tastes good. My first hand report is upcoming—I had already brushed my teeth by the time it was ready, and who wants to brush their teeth twice in one evening??

humongous Monkey Bread after rising

you can see the runaway cinnamon-sugar balls on the counter, challah pan, and floor