Healthy 2-Ingredient Strawberry Applesauce

Strawberries, apples and 45 minutes are all you need for this healthy strawberry applesauce! Naturally vegan, gluten-free, paleo, dairy-free and free of added sugar.

My parents used to take my brother and I to TGI Friday’s pretty often and I ordered the same thing every time – chicken fingers, French fries and strawberry applesauce. Still to this day, if I find chicken fingers on a menu, that’s what I’m getting. Menus with strawberry applesauce are a little less commonplace and not knowing how easy homemade applesauce was to make, I tried different brands of store-bought varieties but they just didn’t measure up (or at least, they didn’t measure up to my memory of what the strawberry applesauce at Friday’s was like!)

I posted another recipe for strawberry applesauce a few years ago but I broke my slow cooker and so I had to find a new way to prepare the applesauce. This recipe is different enough that I figured it warranted another post!

When I posted my first strawberry applesauce recipe, I thought applesauce needed to cook for a long time so I used a slow cooker. That’s totally unnecessary! You seriously just need 30 minutes on the stove top.

It’s so absurdly simple to make. You don’t even need to peel the apples as they break down during cooking and if you use an apple slicer / corer, this is really quick to prepare. Apple slices and hulled strawberries – you just put them in a large pot, cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Cool and puree!

I also left out the apple juice, which I had previously used as sweetener. We went strawberry picking recently and came back with some almost candy-like strawberries. This resulted in strawberry applesauce that was so sweet that I can’t even eat all that much at a time. However, if you’re using some less than stellar off-season strawberries, this applesauce likely won’t be all that delicious.

And make sure to use sweet apples and nothing tart! I honestly just use whatever cheap apples I have around. This isn’t an apple pie or a fruit dessert where you need to worry about the texture so just go with whatever you have – except Red Delicious! Your apples should have at least a little taste to them. ;)

Whenever I find myself with too many strawberries, I make up a big batch of this strawberry applesauce, fully intending to eat it all by myself within 5 days, but then I get nervous and freeze whatever I have left after 4 days. If it sits in there for too long, you’ll know by the smell. If it smells funky, you’ll need to throw it out, which is as sad as it sounds. I recommend measuring out a cup per day or whatever you think you’ll eat over the next 4 days, and immediately freeze the rest. Sometimes it keeps well for a full week, sometimes not, so I just err on the side of caution and stick to 4 days.

If you want to make a different sized batch, the proportions are approximately 1/3 strawberries and 2/3 apples by weight. So 1 pound strawberries and 3 pounds apples. Simmer until soft, puree and enjoy. :)

Healthy 2-Ingredient Strawberry Applesauce (naturally vegan, gluten-free, paleo)

• Prep Time: 15 min
• Cook Time: 30 min
• Ready in: 45 min
• Yield: 6-8 cups

Ingredients

• 3½ pounds (1587 grams or about 7 large apples) unpeeled sweet apples
• 18 ounces (510 grams or about 4 cups) sweet and ripe strawberries, rinsed and hulled

Directions

1. Core each apple (do not peel!) and cut into about 6 pieces. Add the apples and strawberries to a large pot. Add about ½" of water. Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer for about 30 minutes. Check about halfway through to make sure there's a little liquid on the bottom of the pot (to ensure that they don't stick). The apples should be very soft now. If they aren't, simmer in 5-minute increments until they are.
2. Remove from the heat and let cool for about 20 minutes and then use an immersion blender to puree the applesauce. You can also use a blender or food processor but an immersion blender is quickest, easiest and the least messy.
3. Cool completely and refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 4 days. Freeze any remaining applesauce after that.

Enjoy! Comment below what you think! I love to hear your feedback!

Source
http://www.texanerin.com/2015/07/healthy-2-ingredient-strawberry-applesauce.html

Homemade Chocolate Hazelnut Butter

his naturally sweetened chocolate hazelnut butter spread has just four ingredients and only takes minutes to make!

I already have a chocolate peanut butter spread recipe up, but this one is a little different (other than the whole nut type thing). This chocolate hazelnut spreaduses Dutch process cocoa powder for the chocolate flavor and coconut sugar to sweeten. (You know what’s lame? I just realized I threw some chocolate in the background of these pictures. Haha. Yeah. Ignore that! It’s just representative. ;))

The chocolate peanut butter uses a little cocoa powder, but mostly chocolate chips to flavor and sweeten it, meaning this hazelnut butter is technically a little healthier. Sugar is sugar but if you like to naturally sweeten stuff, this is your recipe! It also means that this version is naturally dairy-free and vegan. And like the peanut butter, naturally gluten-free!

I originally wanted to call this “Healthy Homemade Nutella” but Mr. Texanerin, the Nutella fiend that he is, heard of my plans and his response? “NO! Absolutely not!” Apparently this is just chocolate hazelnut butter. I hope you can cope. ;)

To be honest, he’s correct in that this chocolate hazelnut butter doesn’t taste much like Nutella. Or okay – at all. It’s not as smooth and not nearly as sweet, but it is chocolatey. And much more hazelnut-y. Chocolatey using cocoa powder and not that much sugar. I used a range of amounts for both of those ingredients, just because I have quite the sweet tooth and don’t like dark chocolate, so the amount of sugar I use might not (and hopefully won’t be!) what you need.

Chocolate Hazelnut Butter Spread

♥♥♥♥♥

Rated 5.0 by 7 readers

• Prep Time: 5 min
• Cook Time: 15 min
• Ready in: 20 min
• Yield: ~1½ cups

Ingredients

• 18 ounces (500 grams) hazelnuts
• 3 tablespoons – ¼ cup (22 – 29 grams) Dutch process cocoa powder
• ¼ – ½ cup (50 – 100 grams) coconut sugar or granulated sugar
• ⅛ teaspoon salt

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (176°C) and place the hazelnuts on a rimmed baking sheet. There should only be a single layer. Use more baking sheets, if necessary.
2. Roast the nuts for 15 minutes, stirring after every 5 minutes. The hazelnuts will be fragrant when ready and the skins will start to crack. Place the nuts in the center of a spread-out clean kitchen towel. Bundle it up and then rub the nuts together to remove the skin. This should remove about half of the skin and that's enough. The nuts should still be warm but not super hot at this point. If they are hot, wait for a few minutes, until they're just warm, before placing in the food processor. Also be sure not to let the nuts cool down completely – it'll process quicker if the nuts are still warm.
3. Transfer the roasted nuts, being careful to not include the skin, to a food processor and process until it’s very creamy like peanut butter. It’ll depend on your food processor, but it took mine about 3–5 minutes.
4. Add 3 tablespoons of cocoa powder, ¼ cup sugar, and the salt. Add more cocoa powder and sugar to taste.
5. Spoon the butter into a glass jar and refrigerate for up to 2 months.

Let me know what you guys think of this amazingly delicious homemade Nutella! Comment below your thoughts! Use wisely and again DON'T over-indulge. I hope you enjoy this healthier alternative to a sweet snack and keep going on your weight loss journeys'! your doing amazing!

Source
http://www.texanerin.com/2014/05/homemade-chocolate-hazelnut-butter.html