Little Chefs : Strawberry Applesauce & Pizza!

I really want to start planning fun things for us to do on the days the kids don't go to MDO. We're pretty good at doing play dates and outings, but I'm trying to compile some structured activities for us to do at home. Today I decided we'd make a fun lunch…

Homemade Strawberry Applesauce and Pizza!

The idea for applesauce came to me from a PIN (of course)… I've never been able to get Knox to eat applesauce, but he loves apples and strawberries so I thought if maybe he saw first hand what it was we'd have more luck. I did end up doing ours quite a bit different from this recipe though. Mainly, because we don't own a chinois.

We went to the store this morning to get a few things we were lacking…

(I really just wanted to include this pic. Ha!) Then we got to work. I promise I was a good blogger and took a pic of the ingredients… Then realized my card was not in the camera. Typical.

• 3lbs apples (I used a bag of organic red delicious & love how it turned out.)
• 1.5 cartons of strawberries
• 1/3 c brown sugar (optional)
• 1-2 c water

{1} Peel, core, and slice the apples.

The pinned recipe does not peel the apples, but Knox is funny about textures so I went ahead and did this. We used all but one apple from the bag. Had to taste test one to see how sweet they were…

They're good!

{2} Hull strawberries and slice in halves.

{3} Place all fruit in a large stock pot. (I used a heavy dutch oven.) I added 1/3c brown sugar here just to prevent any bitterness. Another no-no for Knox…

I loved the way ours tasted but our fruit was so sweet on its own it probably didn't even need the sugar. Especially since most of it dissolved in to the water and I didn't use much of the liquid to make the actual applesauce…

{4} Pour water in to pot. (I used 2 cups, but next time I will only use 1-1.5. I had a lot of liquid leftover after I was finished.)

Bring mixture to a boil. Reduce to medium and let simmer 25 minutes, stirring occasionally. I'm pretty sure I'm a homemade applesauce convert solely for how heavenly it makes the house smell as it simmers. Mmmmm…

Chef Boyardee keeping an eye on it… From a safe distance, of course.

This is what it will look like after 25 minutes.

{6} Once finished. Spoon fruit in to a food processer…

…You see it's mainly fruit, with a little bit of the juices. Puree for 10-20 seconds. Add the reserved liquid from the pot as needed to reach your desired consistency.

I had to do most of the prep work on this, but Knox got a big kick out of running the food processor for me. He's a self-proclaimed "applesauce maker" now ;)

Oh sweet yumminess! Hands down best applesauce ever. We'll be doing this again. I'd like to do blueberry and cinnamon variations… This made 2 full mason jars (1 for the fridge and 1 for the freezer) and then some. And guess what…

KNOX even tried some. And said it was good! Mommy wins :) Hadley had to go down for a nap during all this but I gave her some once she woke up…

Another fan! She gobbled up an entire bowl. (No, I don't always spoon feed her, but I'd just cleaned the floors and really didn't feel like redoing them…)

Now for the pizzas. We put them together while the fruit was simmering, then baked them while we were pureeing the applesauce. Worked out perfectly. This is what we used…

• whole wheat flatbread
• olive oil
• squeezable pizza sauce
• Italian blend cheese
• onion and bell pepper, finely chopped
• pepperoni
• baby roma tomatoes, sliced
• parmesan cheese
• oregano

I set up all ingredients in a little "station" at the table so Knox could have at it.

We brushed the crusts with olive oil…

Then spread on the sauce…

Topped with the Italian cheeses, vegetables, pepperonis, and parmesan cheese…

Then finished off with a sprinkle of oregano.

You can probably tell which ones mommy did and which ones Knox did ;) I may or may not have rearranged a few minor details behind his back… But he really did do a GREAT job.

And had so much fun - just look at that face!

We baked these at 375 for about 15 minutes.

We made 4 so we'd have plenty for lunch today, and leftovers to send as school lunches this week… Another WIN for Mommy!

Paired with our strawberry applesauce it made quite the meal…

…For both of us!

I loved seeing Knox get so in to this. I'm a tad OCD so it takes a lot to give up a little control in the kitchen… Especially to a 3 year old. But I surprisingly had just as much fun with it. Can't wait to make some more applesauce flavors. And the pizzas are sinfully easy, we really should do them more often.