20 lbs of Apples

So, we came home from the orchard a few weeks ago with twenty pounds of apples.  It took a while, but we’ve finally accomplished everything that we set out to do!

Alex and Mommy spent a Sunday afternoon with the apple peeler/corer/slicer.  My kiddo loves any gadget, and this one fascinated him.  He was also pretty impressed with the long strings of apple peelings…as you can see in the picture below!

On that day, we canned several jars of apple pie filling (minus the yellow food coloring, which is totally unnecessary).  I’d never done this on my own before, but it was actually pretty easy!  A recipe, a couple of big cooking pots, some canning jars, tongs, and basic ingredients…that’s all it took…no fancy canning equipment.  Although, if I did this every year, I’d definitely want a few canning tools!

We enjoyed dipping apple chunks into the leftover pie filling sauce.  Mmm, was that yummy!

Max enjoyed any apple chunks we passed his way, and he also had a great time playing with long strings of apple peels.

Today, we FINALLY finished off the apples and made a crockpot full of homemade applesauce.  No recipe – I never do it the same way twice.  This time, I just put the apples and about one cup of apple cider in the crock and left to cook all afternoon. 

Since we waited so long to make it, we’ve eaten a lot of our apples already.  That means I’ll probably just stick this sauce in the fridge rather than canning or freezing it.  It’s easier this way, but we won’t have a stock of yummy applesauce for this winter.  Oh well.  That’s what I get for being a procrastinator!

Alex “helped” by eating any apple chunks that hadn’t peeled properly. 

Max helped by devouring anything that fell to the floor.  Occasionally, Mommy purposely tossed something his way because we weren’t spilling much!

  

Hopefully it tastes pretty good made with apple cider – we’re having homemade waffles, bacon, and applesauce for dinner tonight.  YUM!