Not only is this really easy, you can also do it with pears or make a mix of apples and pears. Quantities aren't that crucial - just match to the size of your slow cooker and make sure you put in enough if doing for a long cooking period. We've had so much fruit this autumn. We usually do this just before bed and wake up to yummy apple asuce which we have with our breakfast in some guise. Our apples have very red skins so we get a pink apples sauce! Use a potato masher if there are any lumps left and you don't want them but by morning there usually aren't any.

It's a bit cheeky reviewing a recipe without cooking it but I am British and this is almost our national dish so I've made many a shepherd's pie! This recipe sounds great but, if you are concerned about fat levels, leave out the pie shell and just bake it in a a buttered casserole dish - I've never heard of Shepherd's pie having a pastry shell before, although I'm sure taste-wise this would taste fine. Any depth of casserole dish would do but at least 2 inches is best (it depends on what ratio of meat to mash you like). It also speeds up prep. This is a great dish for using up left-over mashed potato too. Really authentic shepherds pie is made with lambs mince and only root vegetables like carrots as veg (I aways put in things like peppers too though) and beef or veggie filling with a potato crust is called Cottage Pie.

I don't know what I did wrong except naybe adding too much extra water (a cup) during cooking but I thought these were really bland! The method is great and porduces a good consistency which didn't give me that slightly icky tummy feeling that the canned ones do, but I was disapointed by the flavour and had to add quite a lot more flavouring (cumin mostly). I will def do it again but with lots more seqasoning to start wth - maybe even triple the amount.