It’s Fall, and few things make me drool harder than homemade applesauce (in case you were wondering what else could possibly trump applesauce on the list see: the cast of Ocean’s 11, dental work, and a good nap).

I digress. Homemade applesauce is surprisingly easy to make and cooks up really fast. It’s a great way to use apples that are starting to get mushy, or a fun way to make use of your haul after a visit to the orchard. Plus, it’s a lot less work than making a pie.

For your consideration, here’s my really simple recipe.

3 Pounds of apples – That’s 6-8 apples for those you without food scales. (Any variety will do but Gala, Red Delicious, Fuji, Macintosh and Honeycrisp work really well.)
¾ - 1 Cup of Sugar
½ Cup of Water
2 Teaspoons of Cinnamon (more to taste if that’s what you’re into)
The juice of half a lemon Read More »

I’m sure I am not the only one who knows how frustrating it is to find the perfect recipe, start making it, and then realize that I am out of a crucial ingredient. (What’s that? You don’t make recipes without double-checking that you have all the ingredients on hand? Well, aren’t you special.)

Because there is nothing more annoying than having to run to the grocery store and leave your raw cookie batter sitting on the counter, I took the liberty of putting together a handy-dandy substitution cheat sheet of things you can use when you find yourself without the genuine article.

For self-rising flour, substitute flour with baking powder and salt. Self-rising flour is really just a fancy name for flour that already has baking powder and salt added, so you can cheat the system by adding those things yourself. For each cup of flour, just throw in 1 ½ tsp baking powder and about ½ tsp salt.

For cream/half-and-half, substitute milk. Keep in mind that this will only work sometimes. Milk is a lot thinner than cream and has a lot less fat (added health bonus), but that also means that it doesn’t behave the same way. For a recipe in which you’re mixing everything together anyway (quiche), it will work fine, but it’s not going to get you anywhere if you pour it in a bowl and try to whip it into real fluffy cream. If you don’t have regular milk, try using buttermilk, yogurt, or sour cream. Read More »