Crockpot Applesauce

Here I have another apple post, but I was given about 1/2 of a bushel of fresh from the tree apples so I need to use them. I've had this recipe for Crockpot Applesauce bookmarked since last fall when Barbara posted it. This was the perfect time to try this wonderful recipe. Homemade Applesauce is delicious, and I like mine with a bit of tartness to it. The apples given to me were Red Delicious, which are very sweet and I rarely buy them for that reason, but I added some tart Granny Smith apples to the mix, and the applesauce was amazing. If you haven't ever had homemade applesauce, you are missing a great treat. It is so much better tasting than store bought. Here's how it's made.

CROCKPOT APPLESAUCE
adapted from Barbara Bakes

10 Red Delicious apples

6 Granny Smith apples

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

juice of 1 lemon

1/3 cup water or apple juice

Peel and core the apples and cut into large slices. Place apples in crockpot and add the sugar, cinnamon, lemon and apple juice or water. Stir. Cook on low for about 8 hours, or on high for about 5 hours. Stir a couple of times during cooking. When done, you can mash the apples or puree them to the consistency that you like. I use a potato masher on my applesauce because we like it somewhat chunky. My crockpot apparently cooks faster than some, because my applesauce was done in 3 hours. So I mashed it, placed it in a bowl and let it cool, and put it in containers in the refrigerator. I love it served cold the best. The lemon juice adds a freshness to the apples. It is tart, yet lightly sweet, with the wonderful flavor of cinnamon. It's good!

NOTE: Taste the applesauce while it is hot. If it needs more sugar, it will easily be incorporated while the sauce is warm.

French Toast with Blueberry Sauce

I had a craving for French toast this week, and I also had some blueberries that either needed to be used or put in the freezer. This recipe for French Toast came out of one of my Mother's cookbooks and I've used for years. I prefer using French Bread or a similar bread as it has a firmer texture after being cooked than sandwich bread does. This time I used Walmart's french bread since there were no better options from my store. It works very well for this recipe though. Slice the bread on the diagonal, about 1 inch thick, dip it in the egg mixture and turn over and dip other side. This bread soaked up the custard quickly, but a coarser bread may need a bit longer. The egg mixture is easy to increase if you need to make more quickly. I use one egg to 1/3 cup of milk. I doubled that this time and got 8 slices of bread out of it. This will fluctuate, depending on the bread you use and whether or not you let it soak. We enjoyed this treat for breakfast, but of course it's good anytime of day. Here's my method.

BLUEBERRY SAUCE

1 pint of fresh or frozen blueberries (2 cups)

2/3 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup water

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon cornstarch

Add berries, sugar and water to a heavy bottomed sauce pan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer about 10-15 minutes. Mix the cornstarch and lemon and add to the berries, stirring quickly so the cornstarch is incorporated. Cook for 1 minute longer, until sauce is thickened. Remove from heat. Sauce will thicken more as it cools.
NOTE: This sauce is also delicious as a topping on ice cream or served with lemon or pound cake!

FRENCH TOAST

1 inch slices of french bread, or bread of choice

2/3 cup milk

2 large eggs, well beaten

pinch of salt

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon vanilla

Heat oven to low heat and place a baking sheet with a metal cooling rack on it, in the oven. This is needed if you are cooking several batches of French Toast, so that the toast will stay hot and crusty on the outside.
Mix together all ingredients in a bowl.
Heat a large skillet or griddle over medium heat. I use my electric griddle on 325 degrees, or sometimes my cast iron griddle for smaller amounts.. Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in the pan. Take 1 slice of bread and lay it in the egg mixture, turn over on the other side, and hold it up and let the excess drip off. Place soaked bread in the pan. Repeat with more bread, but don't crowd it in your pan. Cook the bread until golden and then turn over. Adjust the temperature of you griddle if necessary. When done, place the cooked french toast in the oven to stay warm, and finish cooking the rest.
To serve, slather with butter and top with Blueberry Sauce, or maple syrup. Mmmmm, this is amazingly good and will put you in a great mood the rest of the day! Enjoy!
Whats your favorite topping for French Toast?

Easy Caramel Sauce

It has certainly taken me long enough to get this recipe for Caramel Sauce posted. The first batch I made mysteriously disappeared! And then, my pictures were so bad, that I couldn't bear to post such inferior shots! So, just for you all I made another batch of this sinfully rich and delicious sauce. Of course, the Apple Cake is gone, so I poured this amazing caramel over vanilla bean ice cream. It was still hard to get a good picture, but hopefully you can get an idea. Being a food blogger is a hard job; I had to eat this ice cream and Caramel Sauce so that it wouldn't go to waste! hehehe! Here's my recipe, finally. It's adapted from the 1997 Southern Living Cookbook.

EASY CARAMEL SAUCE

1/2 cup butter

1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1/2 cup whipping cream

1 tsp. vanilla

dash of salt

This sauce will rise fairly high when it boils, so it's best to use a large, heavy bottomed saucepan for this recipe. I used a 3 quart pan. Over medium heat, melt the butter and add the brown sugar, and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture come to a rolling boil. Slowly add the cream and whisk and stir constantly until cream is incorporated. Bring to a boil again, still stirring; add vanilla, stir and remove from the heat. Pour into clean glass jars and let cool before putting on a lid. Will keep for about 2 weeks in the fridge, so they say. It gets eaten at our house way before 2 weeks! Makes about 1 1/2 cups of smooth, creamy and addictive Caramel Sauce. It's luscious on cake ,ice cream or anything else that needs a spoonful of caramel! Enjoy!

Cocoa Fudge Sauce

Do you ever make your own chocolate fudge sauce for ice cream? I've made this yummy sauce for years, since my kids were young. My whole family loves this with ice cream and many times I make brownies so we can have brownie sundaes! Or, instead of brownies, make Toll House Pan Cookies. Yum! Cocoa Fudge Sauce is not hard to make-it takes less than 10 minutes and it's made with ingredients you probably have on hand.

Put all the ingredients in a sauce pan, and bring to a boil. Cook for 5-7 minutes. Let cool then use for sundaes with your choice of toppings! It's so rich and decadent and perfect for for summer get-togethers as everyone can build their own sundae! How easy is that!

COCOA FUDGE SAUCE ( from the revised Hershey's 1934 Cookbook)

1/4 cup of cocoa

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

1 T. cornstarch

1/2 cup light corn syrup

1/2 cup milk

2 T. butter

2 tsp.. vanilla

Combine dry ingredients in a large sauce pan. . Add corn syrup and milk and blend well. Bring to a boil and boil for 5-7 minutes and then remove from the heat. Stir in the butter and vanilla. Cool completely and serve over ice cream. Boil for 5 minutes and this sauce will be similar to Hershey's Syrup, so if you would like it a little thicker, boil for about 7 minutes,(I boiled it for 7 min.). Let cool completely and refrigerate, where it will thicken up. In the top photo, I used the sauce straight from the fridge, which made it thick and fudgy! Enjoy!

If you need some ideas to round out your 4th of July celebrations, I may be able to help! Sundaes with the fudge sauce above would be great for dessert, as would my Sour Cream Pound Cake, especially if it's topped with fresh fruit or berries! Or how about my Pineapple Sheet Cake? It feeds quite a few people. Or Red Velvet Cupcakes with some red, white and blue sprinkles on top. For the grill, we have Grilled Ginger Peach Glazed Chicken, California Kabobs or Grilled Spice Rubbed Pork Chops. Need some ideas for side dishes? How about Lynda's Baked Beans, my Red Skinned Potato Salad, or my Quick Pasta Salad. Spring Macaroni Salad with Peas is a real favorite too. Don't forget the Black Bean, Corn and Tomato Salsa, or my Guacamole dip. These are both crowd pleasers! Hope that gives you some ideas! Happy 4th of July everyone!