Crock Pot Applesauce

Note to readers: the following recipes are Squirt-tested and Squirt-approved.

Crock Pot Applesauce

12 cups of apples - peeled, cored and chunked

1/2 cup water

1 tsp cinnamon

2 whole cloves

1. Throw everything together in your Crock Pot

2. Cook on low for about 3 hours

3. Pick out the cloves!

4. Mash into smaller chunks with a potato masher or the back of a fork if necessary. (You can also throw it in the blender and process until totally smooth if that's your preference or for younger kiddos.)

Note: you might want to check after about an hour to see how things are coming along. If the apples haven't started to breakdown at all yet, add another 1/2 cup of water.

Note 2: I have used Golden Delicious and Royal Gala apples to make this recipe. If you start with sweeter apples, no sugar is necessary, but you can always do a taste test half way through and add 1/4 cup of white or brown (yummy!) sugar if you want.

Crock Pot Butternut Squash Applesauce

2 lb(ish) butternut squash - peeled, seeded, chunked

3 lbs apples - peeled, cored, chunked

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup water

Steps are the same as in the recipe above, minus the picking out the cloves bit. You could definitely adjust the spices to your liking, I think some pumpkin pie spice would be delish instead of cinnamon and nutmeg. I probably only used 1/8 cup of sugar and mine was plenty sweet. Depends on the sweetness of your apple variety.

Enjoy!

P.S. If you are making this for bambinos, word on the street is that spices should only be introduced after 8 months. I'm pretty sure these would still be yummy sans-spices though.