Rest, it is what I often long for after a day of work. And rest is what we all need, especially for anyone recovering from a leaky gut, an autoimmune disease, or hormonal imbalance.  But instead of entering that desired rest when I arrive home, I normally enter the kitchen…

For anyone following a budget and seeking to adhere to a strict Paleo or AIP diet, last minute easy convenience meals are normally not an option. Preparing real food that actually tastes good takes time. Of course, there are quick and easy meals (ground beef taco salad for instance) – but even those take time and effort after a long day.

Enter: The Slow Cooker.

A few weeks ago I received a very kind early birthday gift from the North American Mission Board. They take good care of us church planting wives.  With their gift I decided to buy this – A Hamilton Beach Programmable Slow Cooker.

And it has changed my life. No joke – I have started going to bed at 9pm because of this thing! What always seemed impossible before… I am even able to get a bit of housework done now on week nights instead of cramming it all into a Saturday. This Slow Cooker has become a huge blessing for me.

I use it around 3 to 4 times a week. Of course – you all know by now that I love to cook, and generally it is a restful task for me, but piled on with everything else, it becomes a burden. So now, when I do need to cook, it is just fun and restful. And it has honestly become easier because I have found little slots of time on the nights I use my slow cooker to do food prep for those cooking nights – like the chopping and preparing meat.

That Slow Cooker is worth way more to me than the $50 I spent on it.  I highly encourage you to invest in one if you do not have one – especially one that you can program.  You can find the one above HERE.

It’s just so pleasant to set my slow cooker when I leave for work at 7:30am, and then come home to a nice warm meal at 5:30pm.

But we all know though that some slow cooker meals can involve massive prep and can get super boring…

So I’ve decided to do a series of posts on the many ways you can put your slow cooker to work for you to provide delicious and easy meals with very little prep.

This Apple Butter post is the kick-off 🙂  It’s not a meal by any means – but it can be used in all kinds of meals.

Apple Butter is my favorite Fall food. I could just sit and each a whole jar of it… It’s just delicious. I also love it on my sandwich bread, on biscuits, in baked goods, AND on poultry.  So for all of you that have put off making Apple Butter due to the prep…. this recipe is for you 🙂

I don’t like peeling apples or chopping them myself – It takes a long time!

So I decided for this apple butter I would do neither of those tasks. I just put this awesome tool to work: Apple Corer and Divider

If you don’t have one, you can easily find them at your grocery store or on Amazon.  Head HERE to find this one – it’s only $10.

Slow Cooker Apple Butter

Prep: 5-10 min          Slow Cook: 3 hours on High, 6 hours on low          Yields: 72 to 76 ounces

Ingredients:

• 16 medium-sized apples – any vareity (I recommend Jonathan Apples if you can get your hands on some!)
• 1 cup water
• 1/4 cup ground Cinnamon
• 2 tsp Allspice
• 1/8 tsp sea salt
• 1 tbsp lemon juice

Directions:

1. Use the Apple Corer and Divider tool on all 16 apples.  Discard the core (or use as compost).
2. Add the apples, cinnamon, allspice, water, and sea salt to your slow cooker. Give it a quick stir.
3. Set to high for 3 hours or low for 6 hours.
4. Once the time has been completed, add the lemon juice to the cooked apples.
5. Now you have several options to turn this into Apple Butter (Careful if you choose to do so while it is hot!):
   1. Add to a blender and by slowly increasing the speed to high blend until smooth.
   2. Use a potato masher to smash the apples into an applesauce-like texture.
   3. Puree in batches in a food processor until smooth.
6. Once your Apple Butter is at your desired consistency, store in clean and airtight jars in the fridge.

*This recipe can easily be halved.

This should last at least 4 weeks in the fridge (thanks to the lemon juice). Of course – this makes more than enough to share with friends 🙂 It also makes a great gift! Enjoy.

This post does contain affiliate links.  If you purchase anything through my Amazon store I receive a small portion of the purchase – which goes to help keep this blog going. Thank you for your readership! 🙂