The apple recipe my kids beg for (it might surprise you)

Plus ALL the apple recipes (because we went apple picking!)

Hello my dears,

We went apple picking with the kids last Sunday and came home with over twenty pounds of Jonagold, Shizuka, Golden Delicious, Empire (and other varieties I can’t remember) apples. In the car we dreamed about all the ways we would use them, but the dish the kids begged and pleaded for was…

My daughter picking apples last Sunday.

Applesauce.

Of all the apple dishes I make (see a full list below, including pie and cake!), my kids go crazy for my slow cooker applesauce, which is featured in my book, Fresh Flavors for the Slow Cooker. Something magical happens when cooking the apples in the slow cooker—they surrender into a luscious, sweet sauce that tastes like apple pie filling, even though there’s no added sugar (the sauce is made with just apples, water, lemon juice, and a cinnamon stick). The only trick is to use a sweet-tart variety of apple (avoid mealy apples). On Monday I made a batch using a mix of the varieties we picked, which we ate warm from the slow cooker after dinner with a sprinkle of granola on top. Nothing could have been cozier, and I agreed with the girls—it tasted like pure comfort and love.

Slow Cooker Applesauce with yogurt and this nutty granola

Today I’m re-sharing my “ode to apples” post from last year, where I feature the slow cooker applesauce recipe as well as a slew of other apple dishes to make this month. Also, don’t forget this Apple Cider Braised Chicken with Fennel, Bacon & Sage from two weeks ago, which technically doesn’t contain apples but does gets simmered with apple cider. Also, stay tuned because I’ll be back next week with a new apple recipe for you, and it’s a sweet one!

Apple Cider Braised Chicken

Live event alert!

I will be live in person with

Abigail Rose Clarke

next Thursday (October 17th) in Cold Spring, NY at Split Rock Bookstore talking about her incredible book, Returning Home to Our Bodies. We’re going to explore what it means to be in a body, how we can create a closer relationship with ourselves and with the world around us, and learn somatic practices that can support us (in the kitchen and out!). Abigail is a somatic educator (and incredible human), and I would so very love to see you there. (Cold Spring is an easy train ride from NYC, and the bookstore is walkable!).  

Hurricane Help

If you’re looking for ways to help those affected by the hurricane devastation in the South (as I write this hurricane Milton is on its way), consider donating to World Central Kitchen, which is providing meals to those hit hardest by the storm.

Christi Flaherty

has some other great suggestions in this newsletter.

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Our apple picking haul.

An ode to apples

The forbidden fruit, temptation, sin, the “fall of man”…  No thank you. These are not the symbols that I choose to associate with apples. To me, apples represent something far more nourishing. They’re the bridge between the light of summer and the darkness of winter. In their raw form they taste of sunshine and crisp skies, and when cooked they remind me of warm fires and soft quilts. Apples sweeten the transition from long days towards even longer nights, from movement towards rest, from life and abundance towards death and release. They remind me that you can’t have new growth without first letting things go. In the brilliant words of Mary Oliver: 

I have dreamed 
of accomplishment. I have fed 

ambition. 
I have traded 
nights of sleep 

for a length of work. 
Lo, and I have discovered 
how soft bloom 

turns to green fruit, 
which turns to sweet fruit. 
Lo, and I have discovered 

all winds blow cold 
at last, 
and the leaves, 

so pretty, so many, 
vanish 
in the great, black 

packet of time, 
in the great, black 
packet of ambition, 

and the ripeness 
of the apple 
is its downfall.

-The Orchard, by Mary Oliver

So here’s to apples. May their sweetness help us bridge the seasons and release what is ready to be shed, trusting in the cycles of rest, decomposition, replenishment and growth.

The Recipe

Slow Cooker Applesauce from Fresh Flavors for the Slow Cooker

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