Apples, apples, apples

I am swimming in the band fruit apples. If any of you work in an office, you’ve been subject to the kid fundraisers. Hell, I’ve brought them in myself. Wrapping paper, cookie dough, pizza kits, magazines … and band fruit.

Normally the band fruit to buy is the oranges. Not a big fan of oranges. Once I bought them and they all went bad. No one would eat them. So instead, I tried one year to buy the apples. A box of apples showed up, with them all separated to keep from getting bruised. Big, enormous apples … with a sticker that said “Red Delicious.” I was stuck with 44 of them.

Personally, I can’t stand a raw Red Delicious apple. I think they are mealy, mushy and not with great flavor. Seemed the best use for Red Delicious apples was to bake the mealiness out of them and then flavor them with spices and a little sugar. And so I baked. Apple bread. Apple muffins. Apple crisps. You name it.

This worked, but now I was awash in carbs. I gave away a lot of bread (Christmas gifts!) but I still had way too much bread lying around for me to be tempted. The next year, I tried apple butter. That worked too, but it only used 8 apples at a time. Fortunately, the family actually began to eat the apples, and so they disappeared in good time.

Now I bought the apples thinking we’d do both, only to have my kid get braces. She can’t eat raw apples now unless they are chopped down. So I made applesauce! Which is very easy to do, if you haven’t done this.

This one is from the Joy of Cooking. Left to pick one cookbook, it would be Joy of Cooking. What an excellent reference book and cookbook. I got this by accident from my book club when I first married 16 years ago and wow, what a wonderful month to forget to submit the card. (For you young ones out there, yes, there used to be book clubs. I joined so I’d quit buying crappy romance novels in the grocery store. I also forgot to submit the card and got David Sedaris one month.)

Applesauce

Apples, fresh, 3 large
Cinnamon stick, 1 serving
Ginger, ground, .5 tsp
Nutmeg, ground, .5 tsp
Apple juice, unsweetened, .5 cup
Lemon juice, 1 tbsp
Granulated sugar, .34 cup

Peel and cut up apples and put them in a pan, along with the fruit juices and the cinnamon stick. Simmer for 20 minutes covered, until apples are tender, not mushy.
Add sugar and spices until sugar has dissolved. Remove from heat and mash with a potato masher.

Nutritional Info: Servings Per Recipe: 8, Calories: 88.6, Total Fat: 0.4 g, Total Carbs: 22.7 g, Dietary Fiber: 2.2 g, Protein: 0.2 g

Family gobbled this one up and having it warm wow, that’s all I can say. The hardest part was peeling the apples. The rest … you pretty much put it on the stove and go do something for 20 minutes.

Now I was ready to make Jane Brody’s Applesauce Oat Bread. If I could have two cookbooks, this would be next to Joy of Cooking. I bought this one when in Chicago waaaaay back in 1988. Ironically on the cover it says “Living the High-Carbohydrate Way” which doesn’t fly too well with the trends today. Still, she was an advocate (may still be) for grains and fruits and veggies and I think that is still a great idea today.

Applesauce Oat Bread

Whole Wheat Flour, 1 cup
Flour, white, 1 cup
Old Fashioned Quaker Oatmeal- Plain 1 cup
Baking Powder, 4 tsp
Cinnamon, ground, .5 tsp
Ginger, ground, .5 tsp
Cloves, ground, .5 tsp
Baking Soda, .25 tsp
Salt, 1 dash
Egg, fresh, 1 large
Applesauce, unsweetened, .34 cup
Brown Sugar, .5 cup not packed
Water, tap, .5 cup (8 fl oz)
Corn Oil, 2 tbsp
Raisins, .34 cup (not packed)

Mix the dry ingredients together. Beat the egg, applesauce, water, oil and brown sugar together. Add the raisins and then the dry ingredients, mixing until the dry ingredients are moist. Bake at 350 for 50 minutes.

Servings Per Recipe: 12, Calories: 163.3, Total Fat: 3.5 g, Total Carbs: 32.8 g, Dietary Fiber: 2.5 g, Protein: 3.9 g

I still have about 22 apples left. Thank God this guy’s daughter is going to college next year and I’m off the hook. But I still have apples left. More applesauce perhaps. Any other ideas?