Food For Thought - Strawberry Applesauce

My favourite television cook and the biggest celebrity crush I have ever had (James Marsden is close second, by the way) was and is Dave Lieberman, who is no longer cooking for a living. That's the bummer. When his show was on the Food Network, we taped every episode. I've made so many of his recipes that one year my entire Thanksgiving dinner was made up of his food.

In one episode, he made all recipes that he got from his grandmother. I took this FANTASTIC recipe and changed it to suit my own needs. You see, he put refined sugar in it - and that, I cannot have. The rest, though, is very simple and really healthy and so delicious.

Get some McIntosh apples (I buy a bag), a large container of ripe strawberries and a lemon. Peel and core the apples (then dice them into nice size pieces), wash, hull and chop the berries and toss them all into a big saucepan with a little water. Light a medium flame and just cook it down to a sauce. Juice the lemon and put that in, too. Let it cook til it gets the consistency you like. I like a few chunks of apple in mine. Now here's the thing -- if the fruit is ripe and the natural sugars are high, you won't need any additional sweetener (this is where Dave and his Bubbi put in the sugar) however, if you let it cool a little and taste it and find that it needs some additional sweetening, I use a drizzle or two of honey. Sweeten to taste. It is SOOOO good.

I made this several times during December and January and Pat and I enjoyed it (it's good warm, by the way, as well as cold) and I gave some to Hunter and to Jason (Hunter loved it so much I gave him a big jar full whenever I made it). Even Brady liked it, though when I asked him to taste it, he said "I don't like applesauce.."; but he ate it! (in small doses... the rest of us used the big cereal bowls.

Give it a try... even if you don't like applesauce, you might surprise yourself!

(that, by the way, is a photo of Dave Lieberman that I found online ... ain't he dreamy? I met him once. Totes straight, dammit).

(and ps... sorry for the wonky camera work -- I am usually not the person doing the filming and I was unsure of what I was doing...)

Enjoy!