I know you've never heard anyone brag about applesauce so...

I know that it's a weird thing to brag about. In fact, when Geoff reads this he is going to laugh because he had never heard someone describe their applesauce as 'badass' but... guess what... mine is, was, and always will be.

So my recipe didn't come out of thin air or the depths of my creative mind. For that kind of stuff- read a chef's blog. I am the wife of a chef and by definition "a wannabe." That's right, I can't let him have anything of his own. 

My vegetarianism has taken me to browse through some interesting cookbooks and occasionally into a vegan cookbook. In fact, Vegan with a Vengeance  is one of my absolute favorites. She had a great recipe for applesauce that I mixed up a bit and I am hooked. 

So here it goes:

Please note, I do not like to measure things. I believe in the power to put as much salt, pepper, cinnamon, garlic, etc. as your heart desires. So feel it, add it... that is my motto. I actually learned this one from Chef Geoff so it can't be wrong, right?

3 pounds of apples- I did a mixture of everything that was on sale cause that's the kind of girl I am

Juice of 1 Lemon

2 tablespoons of canola oil

1/4 cup of organic raw blue agave (she uses maple syrup which I'm sure is great but I'm having an affair with agave at this moment in my life) 

2 tablespoons of sugar- I always choose brown sugar if I feel I have the option  

Cinnamon. That's right, take out the whole bottle. Get crazy. If you're having a cinnamon kind of day keep it going

Lemon zest- Zest half of a lemon straight into the mixture. I have never accurately measure lemon zest :-)

Nutmeg. Yeah take out this bottle too and give it a good shake into the mixture.

Salt. What does your inner salt lover tell you? Obviously if you put too much it will be salty, not enough, it will be bland.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Peel, core and slice apples into one inch chunks. Combine all of the ingredients above, toss in the apples and coat. Roast the apples for 15-20 minutes and mixup, put back in the oven for 10 more minutes. They will be very tender when you take them out. 

Now, you can puree or mash them up even more or if you're feeling chunky applesauce, just leave it. 

If you wanted to have the sensation of apple pie without all of the work, leave your apples a little thicker and put ice cream on them as them come out of the oven!  

This only makes about 4-5 cups and to be honest, I ate all of that myself (well I did save just a bit so I could brag to others about it and then prove it to them if they looked unimpressed).