Applesauce

Often, my local Meijer will have a reduced rate fruit and vegetable cart on display around 10 in the morning. I'm happy to spend 33% of what these items would usually cost in return for consuming them quickly.

In the past I have purchased banana's for making banana bread, lettuce for dinner the same night, and even vegetables like pea pods and broccoli that I turned into a stir fry dinner later that evening. With a little bit of creativity and flexibility meals made with fresh ingredients can become much less expensive.

Yesterday I picked up 6 apples and 4 pears... all bruised and pretty ripe. I'm pretty sure that in the state that I brought them home in- that they would not have been consumed...

But after peeling (which was super easy thanks to the fruit being very ripened)and slicing...

And boiling (for 20-30 minutes) the apples and pears with half a cup of brown sugar and 1 teaspoon of vanilla (my secret ingredient)...

Then, just mash with your potato masher and serve either warm or out of the fridge.

Viola! and Yumm-o if I do say so myself!

The near-dozen apples and pears yielded about 9 cups of apple/pear sauce! If you feel like you can't consume this much sauce (ahem, you have yet to take a bite...) than feel free to freeze some for later! I wish that I could have bottled the aroma from the cooking... it was ridiculously yummy!

***An extra special thank you to my Mother in Law, Pam Webber, for introducing me to this yummy treat!