Homemade Applesauce

This homemade applesauce is perfect on a brisk fall day or during a blizzard!  Apples and cinnamon combine to produce an addictive, smooth sauce that rivals apple pie.




Applesauce

Ingredients
13 small apples 
Juice of 1 lemon or about 2 1/2 Tablespoons
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. vanilla
4 Tbs. brown sugar
1/3 cup apple juice


Directions

1) Peel, core and slice the apples.  Toss them into the slow cooker with all the other ingredients.  Give it a stir, then turn the heat to low for four hours.

2) After cooking for four hours, turn the heat up to high and cook for one hour.

3) After the apples had cooked this long, they should look like the above picture.  Use a whisk and whip the mixture until all of the large chunks have disappeared and it looks similar to the picture on the right.

4) Cool and enjoy!

Grilled Vegetables

Last summer I was searching for a grilled vegetable recipe that would complement my steak tips.  When I first tried this recipe I found that I liked the marinade, but not the mixture of vegetables.  The original recipe also calls for eggplant, mushrooms, and pepper, but I use just the zucchini, summer squash, asparagus, and red onion.  This marinade gives a seasoned zest to summer vegetables.

Grilled Vegetables

Marinade:

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon basil
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 clove garlic, minced

Mix together all of the ingredients for the marinade.  There will only be a small amount, but it will cover a large amount of vegetables.

Chop the vegetables.

Mix the vegetables with the marinade.  Allow the vegetables to marinade for several hours if possible.

Wrap the vegetables in aluminum foil and then grill.