Day 180 - Weigh In, Apple Sauce and Apple Butter

First, my confessional:  I had a bad week.
I thought I was just self-sabotaging after last weeks amazing milestones.
I ate without tracking on Saturday. First time I've ever done that... and the food I chose to eat and not track? Yeah. Cheetos, meatball parm sub, more Cheetos, tortilla chips, apple butter, apple empanada. Ugh. 
Turns out (sorry gentlemen) I had Aunt Flo visiting. I haven't had a visit from her since last November (no worries, it's normal for me) and I forgot how I get when she's here. I become positively exhausted for the first few days, and have cravings that rule my life at the beginning. Yesterday was much better. I was in control, able to eat the way I have re-taught myself over the last 26 weeks and felt fine about it, with no monstrous cravings. I'm a woman. What can I say? ; )

That said, I did lose 0.4 lbs this week. I may possibly be bloated and I may have a bigger dip in the scale next week, but for how I felt about a few days this week, I simply wanted to stay below 200. So I'm good. Let's get moving again....


And as I promised, my recipes for apple sauce and apple butter. I used this apple butter in the Apple Empanada in yesterday's post.

Home Made Apple Sauce 

I don't use sugar in my apple sauce, I think fresh fall apples
have plenty of natural fructose sugars in them and regular sugar
just corrupts the beautiful  fresh taste. And I feel better
about giving it to my boys without any added sugar.

• 6 cups of peeled, cored and chopped apples
• 1 cup natural apple cider
• 1 whole cinnamon stick
• 2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• water to cover

1. Peel, core and chop your apples into evenly sized pieces, the smaller they are cut, the faster they will cook. But if you're like me and prefer a slightly chunky applesauce, leave 'em bigger. Place the apple chunks into the cooking pot. I use a big Dutch oven, I like the even heat distribution and it's just neat.

2. Add a cinnamon stick, the ground cinnamon and apple cider to the pot. Add enough water to cover the apples.

3. Cover the pot and bring it to a boil over medium high heat. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer. Allow it to simmer covered until the apples have begun to break down and are mushy. Stir periodically.



4. Once the sauce is to the consistency you like, remove the cover and allow to simmer until it has thickened.

5. Remove the cinnamon stick and enjoy a cup full while it's still warm! This is my favorite way to eat home-made apple sauce, still slightly warm from the pot with another dash of ground cinnamon on top : )


But if you want to make apple butter....

Apple Butter

• reserve 2 cups of home made apple sauce
• 1/2 Tbsp. salted butter
• 2 Tbsps. packed light brown sugar

Place all ingredients into a small 1- 1.5 quart sauce pot over medium low heat. Cook to reduce until it is half the volume you started with. Don't stir... It makes a mess, you'll get splattered with molten hot apple sauce and you'll reincorporate the water that you're trying to cook out. Resist the urge! It's important for this reason to keep it at low heat, so you don't scorch the bottom.


Tomorrow: Concord Gin Fizzy. My own creation. And, it's time to find a new mini-goal...