I told you guys I’d be bringing you all kinds of apple goodness this fall. It started with apple butternut squash muffins and sautéed chicken and apples, and it continues today. To be honest though, apple season never actually ends at our house. It’s not very local or seasonal of me — and usually I’m pretty good with both of those — but I buy apples year-round. I eat an apple pretty much every single day, and my husband does too. My kids love apple slices and they really love applesauce. Especially homemade applesauce. And double especially fruit-flavored applesauce. So today I’m bringing you 5 flavors: peach, blueberry, strawberry, mango, pineapple.
What I’m not bringing you? Actual homemade applesauce. We’re not making the applesauce today. It needs to be ready to go and we’re just adding all the flavors. I’m sorry if that’s absolutely ridiculous. I have two explanations in my defense:
I know, I’m all about homemade everything. But guys, we use a TON of applesauce. My kids eat it plain, eat it flavored, we make squeeze pouches, and I use it a lot in baking. (See my healthy blueberry cake, baby banana cookies, harvest zucchini muffins, pumpkin chocolate chip mini muffins, whole wheat pumpkin applesauce bread and so many more!) I’d have to make applesauce every other day to keep up. So I take this shortcut and get on with life. (Please don’t judge!) That said, I do make sure to buy 1-ingredient unsweetened applesauce. And I buy organic (cause apples are part of the Dirty Dozen for pesticides). There’s just apples in my applesauce. Nothing else. (I buy the Trader Joe’s brand.)
But if you want to make your own, I got you covered. With that other post coming up. Haha! OK, moving on…
You can use frozen fruit, thawed, if you don’t have fresh. I do this during the winter. Want it a bit sweeter? Taste it first because it will depend on the sweetness of your fruit, but then you can add 1-2 teaspoons honey to any or all of these flavors to sweeten them up a bit. You can add fresh spinach or kale to any of these fruit mixes for a veggie boost. It blends right in and doesn’t affect the flavor at all. (And if you’re using a darker fruit, it won’t affect the color either.) Other add-ins: Add a splash of vanilla extract for the strawberry or mango versions. Or add some coconut for the pineapple applesauce. Other fruit flavors to try: pear, plum, cherry, blackberry, mixed berry (I use bags of frozen mixed berries for this). Feel free to mix some of these together, such as peach + pineapple, strawberry + mango, blueberry + peach — any combination you like!
For a portable kid snack, you can make squeeze pouches out of any of these combinations. For more information on how to use the squeeze station, and for a round-up of fruit + veggie combos, see my homemade baby food pouches post.
These fruity applesauce combos also make great baby foods! (See my complete homemade baby food resources for more.) You can freeze batches of this applesauce if you have extra. Just store it in a freezer-safe container, label it and pop it in the freezer. I hope you’ll mix up some of your own so you can control the ingredients and know you’re getting only the good stuff. And you can make your favorite flavors and mix and match your fruits how you want. Whether it’s apple picking, your local farmers market, the supermarket or just a jar of applesauce, grab some apples and get to blending! Enjoy! ~ Kathryn
You can use frozen fruit, thawed, if you don’t have fresh. Want it a bit sweeter? Taste it first because it will depend on the sweetness of your fruit, but then you can add 1-2 teaspoons honey to any or all of these flavors to sweeten them up a bit. Feel free to mix some of these together, such as peach + pineapple, strawberry + mango, blueberry + peach — any combination you like! You can freeze batches of this applesauce if you have extra. Just store it in a freezer-safe container, label it and pop it in the freezer. (For smaller portions for babies, you can freeze the applesauce in ice cube trays.) You can make your own applesauce in the slow cooker, with no added sugar and no peeling required! Check out this post and just omit the spices.
