Freezer Friday: Apple Sauce and Marinara

This week I made apple sauce and marinara to stash in the freezer.  Our local farm stand has ten pound bags of apples that are "seconds" for $5 this time of year.  For applesauce, this means that I have to be ready to make it within a day or so of getting the apples and I have to cut a few bad spots off.  The final product is delicious applesauce.  I use the Fruit and Vegetable Strainer that goes with my MamaMixer and applesauce is a breeze.

This time I went with the super-time-saver method.  I scrubbed and chopped the apples and cooked them in the microwave (large mixing bowl for 7 minutes) until they were soft and then sent them through the strainer.  I made about 1-1/2 gallons of applesauce in about two hours (with the interruptions that come with life with a 7 month old).  I'm a purist - my apple sauce is just apples.  No added sugar and no additional fruits or juices.  It is so good and it freezes great!

To give you an idea of the efficiency of this method, I started with these apples:



Which made this much apple sauce (3 cup plastic containers and 1-24 oz jar)

and this was all the waste left over - bruises, peels, cores, seeds everything (3- large margarine containers)

I also got a batch of marinara in the freezer - I'll post that recipe tomorrow.  Happy Friday!