Apples to applesauce

You know how you'll scan a recipe (or whatever) in a magazine, and you just can't let go of it? It's like an earworm, but...an ideaworm. I am very prone to this. (Awhile back, I read the words "chocolate chip cookies" in a book and Had To Make Them.) Back in the summer, I read about making applesauce in a crock pot, and I haven't been able to let go of the idea since.

And wouldn't you know it? My route home from the race on Saturday had the option of passing not one but two apple orchards. (My friend Sara's eyes might be flaring at this point in the post because we have a standing orchard date for the fall, after our magnificent trip last year. But rest assured, Sara, that I am still ready to collect more apples, because I didn't actually pick my own on this trip.)

Yes, that's right. After the race, I arrived at Aamodt's Apple Farm in Stillwater full of energy and ready to harvest some apples. But as soon as I got out of the car, even with the sweatshirt and my uber-warm pink fleece, I was still bombarded with the inevitable post-race chill. (It's nothing fancy or dramatic. I just get really, really cold.)

Thus I decided to grab a bunch of apples instead from the orchard's store, which was pretty crowded and pretty cute.

And maybe it was a little bit of a cop-out to pick apples from the comfort of a cozy store instead of venturing into the orchard, but it was still exciting to have this as my option instead of the grocery store:

I selected 17 Haralsons, paid for them and headed back toward the car. I might have ended up with a box of freshly-popped hot kettle corn to take home with me. Oh, my.

The next day, I got to business. I used this recipe, which I had randomly chosen via Google because I liked the ingredient list: eight apples, a cinnamon stick, brown sugar, lemon peel and lemon juice.

Start:

Halfway:

Ready for cooking!

Caution: This makes one's home smell like apple pie for the better part of a Sunday afternoon, which makes one actually want apple pie.

The final result? Almost as good as apple pie, especially if your first serving is served hot in a bowl with a little scoop of vanilla bean ice cream on top. (It's also good mixed into oatmeal.)

This is just about the easiest project in the world: I chopped the apples, and you don't even have to do that - even if they were just sliced, the apples just break down into applesauce texture over time in the crock pot. I didn't even have to blend it.

I have the feeling this is going to become a regular Sunday routine around Miles and Laurel.