WEEK 09: Apples

After my recent revelation about using my crock pot for making batches of food to freeze, I set out to cook some apples. With gift cards received one Christmas, I treated myself to a really large, nice All-Clad Crock Pot. I am more grateful than ever for this purchase. It is a wonderful tool for cooking large amounts of food. Of course, you can use any crock pot or slow cooker for these apples.

FOOD DESCRIPTION
An apple a day keeps the doctor away. I grew up hearing that one (among many, many others). My boys eat applesauce weekly, sometimes mixed with other fruits or with added cinnamon. I had some organic apples that were about to be past their prime and decided it was time to cook them all.

We are also making progress on our "eating with the family" goal. The boys shared another crock pot creation with us for dinner. I made chicken that just tore apart into perfect pieces for their little fingers. It made for a nice dinner together.

Another small addition this week was celery. It wasn't necessarily a new food as they've had it cooked into things before, but never alone.

PROCESS

• Cinnamon Apples I've mentioned before, but my boys love apples, so I thought while cooking in the apples in the crock pot, I would add some extra flavor. I had 7 organic gala apples, so that is what I used. I peeled them and cut them into bite size pieces, and put them in the crock pot. Then, I poured in 1/2 cup of water, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp vanilla. I didn't add any sugar as I don't think they need it, but some brown sugar sure would be tasty. I was in a hurry this day, so I let them cook on high for 2 hours and they were sizzling perfect. We ate a big serving and saved 2 dishes for the freezer as we were heading out of town for the weekend.

• Applesauce Chicken I followed this recipe from on of my favorite sites. I even included the pepper and the boys didn't seem to mind at all. It was an easy recipe in my favorite crock pot.
• Celery I didn't do anything new here...just cut organic celery stalks into bite size pieces and steamed. We stored in the refrigerator and were a nice green addition to the lunch plate this week.

WHAT I LEARNED
This was a great way to use those slightly soft apples that you aren't crazy about biting into, but are still good and flavorful to eat. And, it makes the house smell oh, so good! This also makes for super easy batch food making cleanup.

I will say that my chicken was severely over-cooked and I will probably do full breasts and less time in the pot next time.

REACTION
My boys loved the apples and I did too. I'm excited to see how they do after being frozen.

The chicken was a great hit (even dry and over-cooked) and I think they even liked that they could eat the same thing that was on our plates.

I can't say that the celery was as well received. They ate it and it went ok, but we're still working on it a little further. I must say that my favorite part of celery is the wings that precede it or the ranch that it gets dipped it. So, it's a little hard for me to argue with them not embracing the flavor.

SUMMARY
The crock pot is a great way to make a large batch of fruits or vegetables. It is, of course, great for the family meals as well, but I'm looking forward to cooking more produce to soften for my boys to be able to eat easily and enjoy good, nutritious flavor. I'm also continuing with more family meals to share together.

Please share your thoughts or ideas.
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