Crockpot Applesauce and "Mexican" Rice Skillet

We have lots of these:

So I was very excited to come across several recipes for applesauce over the past few weeks. I decided to try the crock pot applesauce, both for the ease of preparation and the yummy smell I imagined would permeate the house. I was not disappointed on either count!

I started out following this recipe, which I found in several locations, one of which was Amy's notebook.

The recipe goes like this:
4 large apples, skinned ,cored, and cut in quarters
juice from 1 lemon
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
1 T brown sugar
1/4 cup H20

I made a double batch last Thursday, and when I came home from work, the house smelled divine. The apples mashed up like they were butter, and they were delicious, though I thought they had a bit too much lemon and cinnamon for my taste.

Easy enough to fix, I made another batch! This time, just apples and water, and then I combined the two batches together. For me, that was perfect!

So my slightly modified version of this recipe goes like this:
16 medium to large apples, cored and quartered
1 cup water
1T brown sugar
1t vanilla
1/2t cinnamon
juice of one lemon

As a side note, one of the recipes I saw called for leaving the peels on to achieve a beautiful pink color, then running the apples through a food mill. I love the pink color, but like the ease of just mashing with a potato masher or a fork. In the future, I think I will cut some pieces very small and leave the skins on to see if I can get the best of both worlds, applesaucily speaking.

Here is a close up of the deliciousness.



As an added bonus, I promised if my Mexican Rice Skillet turned out well, I'd share the recipe. I thought it was great, so here it is!

"Mexican" Rice Skillet
1 pound ground meat (I used my favorite frugal ground turkey from Cub Foods)
1 can black beans, drained
1 can corn, drained
1 12oz can of diced tomatoes – not drained (could substitute salsa, which was my original intention before I realized my huge stash had run out)
1 ½ cups of instant rice
1 cup water
1 package taco seasoning (I used the low sodium version)
4 slices of Velveeta cheese

Brown your ground meat, and if necessary, drain off the grease. Blend in the taco seasoning and 1 cup water. Add the tomatoes along with the juice from the can and the rice. Cover and cook until the rice is done. Add in the corn and beans. Mix well, and top with the Velveeta slices.
It will look something like this:


Recover and allow the Velveeta to start to melt, then mix well to incorporate the cheese. Sit back in awe of how great this looks, and how easy it was!