Amazing applesauce

So one benefit from TFAM is my increased desire to cook...and a greater tendency toward success in that arena. A friend at work gave me a huge bag of freshly-picked apples so off to the internet I went. Found a terrific recipe for applesauce - it was a piece of cake once the apples were peeled and cored:

Applesauce (from http://www.elise.com/)

Prep time: 45 minutes.

• 3 to 4 lbs of peeled, cored, and quartered apples. Make sure you use a good cooking apple (I just took a chance with whatever Tom gave me, honestly).
• 4 strips of lemon peel - use a vegetable peeler to strip 4 lengths (since I couldn't get my peeler to work right, I just put the rinds in)
• Juice from the lemon
• 3 inches of cinnamon stick
• 1/4 cup of dark brown sugar
• up to 1/2 cup of white sugar
• 1 cup of water
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
  

Put all ingredients into a large pot. Cover. Bring to boil. Lower heat and simmer for 20-30 minutes.

Remove from heat. Remove cinnamon sticks and lemon peels. Mash with potato masher.
Ready to serve, either hot or refrigerated. Delicious with vanilla ice cream or vanilla yogurt.
Freezes easily, lasts up to one year in a cold freezer.

****NOTE: this is a follow-up. If you don't freeze the fresh applesauce, it starts to get a bit tart quickly. I ate some yesterday (10/7) and the taste already wasn't very good. : (