Baby Apple Sauce

Baby apple sauce with my secret ingredient..... dates!  Not just any dates, these are called "Sukkari" which literally mean sugar dates, and they in fact taste exactly like sugar! I had a bunch leftover from Ramadan and usually take one with my cup of black tea to avoid having to sweeten it with sugar. 

When making a healthy apple sauce for baby you want to also avoid the white refined (and even brown) sugars, in fact it's better to avoid most sweet all together I think to not get them hooked on it. Sugar is just as addictive as drugs. 

After giving birth I became quite addicted to it, now that I'm almost a year past I'm getting back to my normal self but because I never had much of a sweet tooth to begin with, even as a child I felt very strange all of a sudden craving all these sweets, in such an uncontrollable way, I would eat anything in my way, donuts, ice cream, chocolate on a daily basis, it was the only thing that really got me through my day and I looked forward to it. Whether I was addicted from starting a habit or it was hormonal due to post partum hormones or breastfeeding I'll never know but I'm glad I'm now away from it and it helps that I'm just not craving it any more and going back to my old self otherwise I would have had to put myself on some kind of diet to slowly stop. 

So back to the apple sauce, a super healthy treat for your baby and all home made. The easier thing to make as long as you don't burn it, like me. I'm always walking away from fruit on the stove and burning it so learn from my mistakes and stay close by. Its better to add more water than less because the sugars in the fruit tend to caramelize quickly once the water evaporates. 

I'm using ginger golds, home grown in Ontario here, they are slightly tart which is what I want. My secret ingredient, dates add just enough sweetness and I only throw in one or two upon removing the seed. 

Baby Apple Sauce 

Ingredients:

2 apples, peeled and cored, chopped into bite size pieces of slices for easy stewing

1-2 sukkari dates (of if you can't find 'em use Medjool) pits removed.

water, enough to cover. 

Directions:
Add all to the sauce pan and bring to a boil then simmer on low until fruit is soft. If there is too much water leftover allow the liquid to evaporate by removing the lid and staying close by to keep an eye on it and avoid burning the fruit. 

Once removed from heat and cooled add to blender and blend smooth. If you need to run it through a sieve to remove any date skins you can. 

Double the batch and freeze any extras for later if desired.