Applesauce

Yield: 20 servings

It’s hard to go back to store-bought applesauce after tasting this delicious, refreshing dessert. The trick to this great dish is tea bags. Be daring and try a variety of different flavors.

• 10 medium Granny Smith apples, peeled and sliced into eighths
• juice of half a lemon
• dash of salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3-4 flavored tea bags of your choice
• water
• sugar substitute, optional

(For fruit compote: use fruit of choice)

Place apples in a 5-quart pot. Add lemon juice, salt, vanilla, tea bags and water, covering not more than half the apples so that the end result will not be too watery. Bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer until apples are soft. Hand-blend and mash to desired consistency. For additional sweetness, you can add sugar substitute.

Variations:
For a crunchy fruit compote:
Bring ingredients to a boil and cook on high heat for 7 minutes. Turn off heat and cover. Let stand overnight. In the morning, put into a jar and refrigerate. This can be frozen in an airtight container.

For a strawberry-rhubarb apple compote:
Add 11/2 cups of sliced strawberries and 1 cup of sliced rhubarb to the apples. Rhubarb is quite tart, so add sugar substitute according to taste. Blend well and refrigerate.

For cinnamon applesauce:
Add 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon to blended apples. For a beautiful crimson color, as well as additional flavor and fiber, add 1-11/2 cups frozen blueberries.

Nutrition Facts: Serving size (cup) 1/2 (oz) 2⅔ (g) 80 Calories 34 Protein (g) 0.1 Carbs (g) 8 Fat (g) 0.2 Sat. Fat (g) 0 Cholesterol (mg) 0 Sodium (mg) 0 Calcium (mg) 5 Fiber (g) 0 Exchanges: Fruit ¾