One of the things I learned to do early on in my wellness journey was to cook from scratch. Now mind you I did not grow up where we necessarily did that. My mom worked and my Polish Grandmother did the cooking. Except for a few dishes she was not a good cook. She could make her Pierogi or Polish Babka but other than that her cooking was not good. My mom did not have time to teach us to cook but she would spend time showing us how to bake. Our Christmas cookies were from scratch but other than that we used boxed mixes.

Why I Decided to Cook From Scratch

So when I was dealing with candida overgrowth in my early 20’s, I decided that I wanted to learn how to cook from scratch. Then when my daughter was born ten years later, it really solidified that I would try my best to not use processed foods and would cook from scratch.

Many think it’s a lot of work and so much easier to open a box. There can be some truth to that but truly it’s not that hard to cook from scratch. Here are some reasons why I choose to do this:

1. I know the ingredients going into my food.
2. I can make enough to have left overs.
3. I can use organic ingredients as much as possible
4. It’s fun to cook.
5. I was able to involve my children when they were younger.

So Simple to Make Homemade Applesauce!

One of the simplest things I make from scratch is applesauce. It’s so easy, healthy and delicious that it’s crazy to buy a jar of applesauce. I try to make a lot and put it in the freezer. I LOVE having applesauce with my pork dinners so I’m almost always guaranteed to have some in the freezer. In the fall when it’s apple season, I try to stock up. When the kids were younger and I was home schooling, we would have an applesauce day. We spent the day peeling, cutting, cooking and jarring up applesauce. Great memories!

So here is my step-by-step recipe for cooking applesauce. I’ve even given you pictures.

• Decide on what type of apples you want. Macs are good but so are Braeburn apples. Even doing a mix of apples is great. Whatever your palette desires. I ALWAYS use organic because apples are part of the Dirty Dozen.

 

 

• Wash and peel the apples.
• Core the apples

 

 

 

 

• Slice them and put in a pot.
• Cover with cinnamon (optional). I love cinnamon so I always put it on my applesauce.

 

 

 

• Cover the pot and simmer for an hour … or however long it takes to get them mushy. Be sure you simmer them and cover the pot. If you cook uncovered or cook to high, then the water from the apples will evaporate and it will not be good. Once you have mushy apples, let it cool.

 

 

• Now this next step it totally optional. I like my applesauce to not be chunky so I put it in the food processor. I will add a little more cinnamon to it.
• Blend until I get this creamy texture … yum!
• Final product. So delicious. Completely natural, fresh and with no sugar!

 

 

See how easy this is? You can do that with much more of the foods you eat. Clearly you need to make time to cook this way. But you and your family are worth it. We all need to slow down. Stop having everything come quickly to us (that microwave society we live it) and enjoy life. Cooking this way can be fun … especially if you have little ones. They get to learn how to cook and feel proud of their final product.

Let me know if you try to make your own applesauce and how it comes out.

Best wishes …

Your Spiritual Life and Health Coach … believing in you!