Today I wanted to find a use for the apples that I got at the food bank a while ago. I tried eating one raw and found that it was too mushy to really enjoy, and figured it would be good for baking or cooking. I don't know a lot about the varieties of apples, but I just took a guess as to mushiness = bake-ability. I found a basic recipe for applesauce Here. It only uses apples, lemon juice, salt, sugar, and cinnamon, all of which I had on hand already.
First I started by getting the water, sugar, and salt mixed in a pot, then chopped the apples. I didn't have a peeler or apple slicer, so I just used the one knife for everything regarding the apples, first cutting into quarters, then eighths, then peeling the skin off.
After mixing the sugar salt water, I realized that I only had 4 apples (really should have counted them before beginning), so I poured out a little bit of the water mixture to make it closer to the true ratio of the recipe. Next is simply bring to a simmer on medium-high heat, then reduce to medium-low and let sit covered for 15 minutes or so.
Sidebar: does anyone else with a gas stove feel like their stovetops burn too hot? Like I put it at medium-high at first, and it bubbled over so quickly, not even stopping at a simmer. And then when it was supposed to be on medium-low, I had to keep it on fully low heat so that it wouldn't continue to bubble over. It's like with every recipe I have to lower the heat by 2 or 3 numbers on the dial in order to achieve the level of heat that the recipe actually is looking for.
Anyways, after the apples had sat on the stove for a while cooking, I opened the lid to discover that most of the chunks had already broken apart. Thank god, because I don't have a blender or immersion blender like the recipe calls for. I mashed any remaining lumps with a spoon, then stirred in the lemon juice and cinnamon. I don't really believe in measurements for toppings like cinnamon, so I just measured with my heart. I like a lot of cinnamon in my applesauce, so I added a decent amount.