Applesauce. Pressure cooker stew

Boy, have I been using my kitchen tools. Blender for smoothies. Rice cooker for quinoa. Food processor for shredding and chopping. Immersion blender for applesauce. Pressure cooker for beans and stew. Slow cooker for applesauce. I mean, I don't *need* all these tools, but they make cooking easier for sure!

Monday, I arrived at my desk to find a bag of apples, with a note "Can Frugal Healthy Simple do something with these baking apples?" Why, of course Lori, I can. So that evening, I googled "slow cooker applesauce", and then winged it.



Slow cooker applesauce:
9-10 small to medium apples, unpeeled, diced (I like the peel, it's got fiber): free
1/2 cup water: 0
2 Tbsp brown sugar (didn't need it): 0.05
1 tsp cinnamon: 0.05
pinch nutmeg
juice of 1/2 lemon (which wasn't enough to prevent browning, so it was wasted): 0.10

Total: $0.20 for probably 5 cups of applesauce. And it's tasty. I've been eating it with my morning oatmeal. I will probably freeze some.

Put in slow cooker. Cook overnight or all day on low. Use immersion blender to blend.

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I also found some pork in the freezer, and looked up a recipe in America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook. But I was missing a bunch of stuff. So. I improvised. It was a mid-week meal, which is why I tried out the pressure cooker. Last minute, I realized they recommended serving it with white rice (which I don't buy), so I used quinoa instead. The original recipe called for 3 lbs pork and 1 lb chorizo. I used 1 lb pork, plus chickpeas, plus potatoes. I subbed mild enchilada sauce for diced tomatoes. You see where I am going here. The recipe called for browning the meat, then browning the onions, then...and I wanted a one pot meal. So I changed that too.

Pressure cooker stew:
1 lb pork loin, diced into 1 inch cubes: 1.99
1 T. canola oil: 0.04
2 onions, diced: 0.40
6 cloves garlic, pressed: 0.30
3 Tbsp flour: 0.01
1.5 cups water
1 Tbsp brown sugar: 0.02
2 cups cooked chickpeas: 0.37
1 vegetable bouillon cube: 0.37
1.5 cups mild enchilada sauce: 0.75
3/4 lb potatoes, peeled and diced: 0.38
salt/pepper to taste

Total: $4.63 for 6 servings.
Quinoa: 1 cup dry quinoa, cooked (makes about 3 cups): $0.55
$0.86 per serving, including quinoa

Brown the onion and pork in oil in pressure cooker. Add garlic and cook 1 min.

Add flour and cook, stirring constantly, for a minute.

Add water and bouillon and stir, stirring to get up the brown bits on the bottom. Add the enchilada sauce and brown sugar. Cover, bring to pressure, and reduce heat enough to maintain high pressure. Cook 13 min at high pressure.

Use quick release to lower pressure. Add diced potatoes and chickpeas. Return to heat. Cover, bring to pressure. Cook 8 min at high pressure. Let pressure reduce naturally.

Serve over quinoa.
And I made a salad with some pumpkin seeds that we roasted on top.