Gettin' Sauced: Homemade Cran-Applesauce

After last week's medley of fantastic baking apples, and with the hoard that was growing in my fruit bowl, I knew another batch of homemade applesauce was needed, stat!  In the last Crop Share spoiler e-mail I mentioned I was drooling over the idea of a cranberry applesauce, and tonight I finally had the chance to bring that drool-worthy dream to life.  And oh honey is it goooooooooood!  Next time I may opt to add a generous splash of vanilla, just because, but it doesn't even need it.  Cran-Applesauce, you are perfect...just the way you are.

Homemade Cran-Applesauce

Ingredients:

8-9 apples, peeled, cored and cubed (assorted varieties work best, I had 5 Pink Lady and 4 Rome apples -- which I just learned, originated in my home state of Ohio...O-H-)
1 heaping cup of fresh cranberries
1/2 to 3/4 cup water (mine was more on the 3/4 side as I knew the Rome's weren't going to be overly juicy)
1/4 cup local honey

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a Dutch oven add in cubed apples, cranberries, water, and honey.  Give it a few stirs to evenly coat everything and then cover the pot and place it into the oven at 350 for about an hour.  You'll want to check it a few times and stir it just to make sure the apples and cranberries on the bottom aren't scorching.

After an hour has passed, give it a check and if they're looking nice and saucy, remove from oven and give it a good whisk just to break up some of the larger chunks and make sure that all of the cranberries have burst.  Taste and adjust with additional honey if you need it (mine was the perfect combo of sweet and tart with no addition needed).

Serve warm or allow to cool before placing in an air tight jar for use over the next few days.  My batch made a whole quart plus about 3/4 of a pint.

Feelin' Apple-Saucy!

So if you're like me, you just now polished off the last of the Thanksgiving leftovers.  And now I feel like all I should exist on is lettuce, air and water.  That container of chocolate frosting probably didn't help matters, but hey, it's also my birthday week (in fact, it's my birthday today, the big 3-2!) so it was necessary.  So with the double dip of fruit in this week's share, I think it calls for some sort of homemade applesauce.  We have a great base recipe for Homemade Cinnamon Applesauce that is sweetened with only the natural sweetness of the apples and 1/4 cup of local honey.  No other added sugar and the only other ingredients are water and cinnamon.  Four ingredient magic!  So I'm thinking of doing a little saucy experimentation and using the mixture of baking apples this week for some blended flavor applesauce.  We're also getting tangelos, so maybe I'll throw in some nutmeg, ground clove and some tangelo peel and the juice of 1 (I'll reduce the amount of honey to probably an 1/8 cup) to make a Citrus Spiced Applesauce.  But I keep eyeing the cranberries in the store, so I'm also thinking of tossing a handful to maybe a 1/2 cup of cranberries into the mix, holding the cinnamon and making a Cran-Applesauce!  So many possibilities!

Who's up for the challenge of concocting a fun applesauce blend?  If you come up with your own based off of our original recipe, e-mail your recipe our way to cropshare@nallsproduce.com and we'll feature it here!

Homemade Cinnamon Applesauce

Thanksgiving Favorites: Sriracha Cranberry Chutney

Thanksgiving In Nalls’ Kitchen!

7310 Beulah Street, Franconia, VA 22315

(703) 971-4068 ~ info@nallsproduce.com

Sriracha Cranberry Chutney

Ingredients:

½ cup fresh cranberries

¼ cup orange juice, no pulp

¼ cup water

¼ cup sugar

1 tsp Sriracha (or more if you want a super kick!)

Bring first 4 ingredients to a simmer in a saucepan, stirring continuously.  Once cranberries begin to burst, you can mash them with your spoon.  If you want a thinner chutney, mash all the cranberries, but if not leave enough as chunks.  Reduce heat and simmer and continue cooking for about 10 minutes.  Stir in Sriracha and simmer for an additional minute.

Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly if serving warm, or serve cold by allowing  it to cool to room temperature and then refrigerate for at least 1 hour.  Serve over poultry.

Thanksgiving Favorites: Fresh Cranberry Relish

Thanksgiving In Nalls’ Kitchen!

7310 Beulah Street, Franconia, VA 22315

(703) 971-4068 ~ info@nallsproduce.com

Fresh Cranberry Relish

Ingredients:

1 lb fresh cranberries

1 cup sugar

1 cup water

1 ½  Tbsps vanilla extract

In a saucepan over medium high heat, stir together water, sugar & vanilla until the sugar is completely dissolved.  Stir in cranberries and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat, but still keep at a rolling simmer.  As cranberries begin to split and burst, stir and squish them along the sides to really release all the goodness.

One all the cranberries have burst and you’re left with a jam-like consistency, you can either leave it as is, or mix in some additional ingredients such as a half cup of rough chopped pecans with some strips of orange zest.  You can even stir in some cinnamon, nutmeg or allspice, too.  Some folks even toss in some diced jalapeno for a kick!

Remove from heat and transfer to your serving dish.  Allow it to cool completely at room temperature and then place it into the fridge for at least an hour to allow it to fully set up and thicken.

Makes 2 ¼ cups.

See What's New At Nalls!

As you're gearing up for Memorial Day weekend, so are we, with lots of new items in our Produce & Garden Centers to help make your weekend a success.  Whether you'll be relaxing at a picnic or using the long weekend to get all of your planting finished, we'll be here all weekend for whatever you may need.

New in our Produce Center this week is our huge collection of jams, jellies, salsas and pie fillings made especially for Nalls Produce by Troyer Cheese.  We've been waiting with eager anticipation for this shipment for the past two weeks, and when it finally arrived yesterday it was like Christmas at Nalls.  Naturally, some quality control had to be done, I mean we had to make sure these delicious items were indeed delicious.  The first jar we popped open was the Tropical Salsa, and oh my mangos, it is goooooood!!!

Made with mango, papaya, pineapple, tomato and jalepeno, this is a sweeter salsa, almost like a chutney, and you barely get any heat from the jalepeno, just the wonderful flavor.  We may just be putting this on everything, but it would be perfect with grilled fish or chicken.

Another big hit was the ironically named...Traffic Jam!  Hey if you've got to get stuck in a DC area traffic jam, might as well make it a good one.

Peaches, red raspberries, strawberries, cherries and cranberries are all crammed in like rush hour on the Beltway...delicious, delicious rush hour.  Use this in your homemade jelly rolls or tarts, or heat it up to make it melty and drizzle that awesomeness on some pancakes!  Or you know, just eat spoonfulls of it right out of the jar.  What?  No.  Of course, I'd never do something like that.  No, that's not jam on my chin, it's um a rejuvenating face cream.

If you'll excuse me, I should get back to my "beauty regimen."  Now where'd I put my spoon?

Cranberry and Citrus Vodka

Tis the season for holiday cocktails! Make them and pour them into mason jars for beautiful host/hostess gifts. Or keep for yourself, we won't judge :)

Ingredients:
1 Cup fresh cranberries
1/4 Cup sugar
2 Tablespoon water
1 Piece Tangelo Peel (2-By-1-Inch)
3 Cups vodka





To view the rest of this recipe, please visit: http://www.ezrapoundcake.com/archives/10473

Cranberry Sauce

Once you make your own fresh cranberry sauce, you'll never go back to canned! 

Ingredients:

1 cup sugar

1 cup water

4 cups (1 12-oz package) fresh cranberries

METHOD

1 Wash and pick over cranberries. In a saucepan bring to a boil water and sugar, stirring to dissolve sugar. Add cranberries, return to a boil. Reduce heat, simmer for 10 minutes or until cranberries burst.

2 At this point you can add all number of optional ingredients. We typically mix in a half a cup of roughly chopped pecans with or without a few strips of orange zest. You can add a cup of raisins or currants. You can add up to a pint of fresh or frozen blueberries for added sweetness. Spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg or allspice can be added too.

3 Remove from heat. Cool completely at room temperature and then chill in refrigerator. Cranberry sauce will thicken as it cools.

Cranberry sauce base makes 2 1/4 cups.

Thanksgiving Survival Kit

Thanksgiving is only a week away! Can you believe it? I can't wait to to slip into a food-induced coma after all the festivities. We know that you have a lot of running around to do before the holidays. You have relatives to pick up, a mile-long shopping list and dietary restrictions to consider when making dinner. Well, we want to make things just a little bit easier for you. Our Thanksgiving Survival Kit puts everything together for you. We gather quality produce for you along with other great items like butter and dinner rolls and just have you pick up a couple days before Thanksgiving. All you have to do is find the turkey or ham. You can simply print out the form here and bring it in. The deadline is Thursday, November 15th.

Any questions? send us an e-mail at info@nallsproduce.com or call us at 703-971-4068. You can always stop by, we are located on 7310 Beulah St Alexandria, VA 22315 and our hours are 9:00 to 6:00 Monday - Sunday.