I recently started getting weekly fruit & veggie deliveries from www.farmersmarketbaskets.com. I love it, but have found myself overrun with apples! I looked at several online recipes for apple sauce, and ended up using a kind of hybrid, though I’m sure this exact recipe exists somewhere. It’s very easy! What you need:
10 apples, peeled, cored & chopped (use different varieties of apples for different flavors – I used half Fuji, half JonaGold)
1/4 cup of brown sugar (next time I’ll probably use only 1/8 cup – you don’t need the sweetness so much as the flavor)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup of water
Combine all the ingredients in the crock pot and stir them well. Cook on low for 8 hours. Use a stick blender to reach the desired consistency once it’s done. I left mine kind of chunky. You can also experiment with adding different fruits to the mix. Very easy and delicious!
Picture from one of the sites where I got recipe ideas, http://cookincanuck.blogspot.com.
If you were parenting a few years back then you probably remember the lead paint on toys mess. I think a large part of the population has managed to put it out of their minds or pretend it isn’t a real problem, but that’s a blog post for another day. When all the information about lead levels in toys started coming out and I kept hearing things like “exceeds acceptable FDA lead levels,” – So wait – are you saying there are ACCEPTABLE levels of lead?? It made me wonder about the lead levels in things like dishes. So I slowly phased out my Made-in-China china and replaced it with lead-free American made Fiestaware (and that’s only lead free if it was made after 1984).
I was recently made aware of the lead levels in some crock pots. Upon further inspection, these companies say that the levels of lead in the paint on the crock pots meet FDA safety stands. Again I ask “are there really ACCEPTABLE lead levels in anything? Answer: there are “acceptable” lead levels in just about everything. That’s a lot of lead over the course of a life time.
So what’s the big deal about lead anyway? And how does it affect our bodies? Lead is a heavy metal which can build up in the body over time. Lead is also a potential neurotoxin (meaning it acts specifically on the nerves and thus the motor functions of the body). So even the smallest amounts are retained and stored by your body. So again, I ask. are the acceptable levels?
For me and my family, I decided that the acceptable level of lead in my house is no lead. Granted, I don’t have control over things like lead in candy or foods or decorative objects – like my small silver tinsel Christmas tree on which there is a label saying ‘Due to high lead content you must wash your hands after handling this tree” but I will cut it out where I know it exists. Every day is a barrage of various chemicals – and while it seems overwhelming sometimes – and maybe really tempting to just give up – I know that if I can cut back in the ways I know are available to me, by choosing healthier products and supporting the companies that make those products, then I can hope that I’m at least contributing to lifelong health and happiness for my loved ones.
For more information about the lead levels in crock pots, check out these two blog posts. Read and decide for yourself!
http://stanford.wellsphere.com/green-living-article/lead-in-rival-crockpots/171235
http://www.terminalverbosity.com/2009/11/09/the-skinny-on-lead-in-crock-pots-it-may-surprise-you/comment-page-1/
