Apples, Apples, Apples....

I think I need to start this post by saying all apples are not created equally. Every week we get a set of apples from our produce co-op. Some are lovely ones, perfect for eating (have you had an American Cameo apple?!?!)....others not so good. So, after a couple of weeks we find ourselves with a drawer of the not so good apples.
Tonight I had my drawer pretty full so I went to work. First we made my friend Lori's apple chips. EASY SQUEEZY! I used my handy dandy peeler, corer, slicer (please note it is MY slicer but LEE is always the operator :). I peeled and cored the apples then I boiled them in some white grape juice from last season I had in the freezer (Lori just uses apple juice). I left them in the boiling juice for just a couple minutes until they were tender. Then just spread them out on a cooling rack set over a sheet pan. Her directions said to cook at 250 for 20 minutes until brown and crisp. Mine took 40 minutes, maybe mine were thicker? They also never actually crisped but tasted like a really good dried apple.
*I sprinkled a little cinnamon on before I threw them in the oven.

With the rest of the apples I did a big batch of Apple sauce to throw in the freezer. Last time I did apple sauce it was flavorless and the kids wouldn't eat it (and my kids eat anything). I ended up making it into apple butter. My Mother-in-law suggested adding cinnamon and sugar. I am sure that would work but we are trying to eliminate sugar where we can. This time I sliced, and peeled the apples (Lee again) then boiled them in the white grape juice. I then put them through the food processor with some of the juice. So sweet, so yum! Much better then tree top. I will let it cool then put it in quart ziplocs to freeze ( you can bottle it if you want).