Apples, Apples Everywhere

So, we went to a PYO orchard last week before my mom arrived and romped around the orchards picking more apples than we'd ever need. And those were just the ones that actually made it into the bags! Our goal was to make our own applesauce or apple butter with my mom. You know, family fun. An experience. We came home with pounds and pounds of Ginger Golds and Paula Reds.

Oh, and Asian pears. An aside about these pears: DP is Chinese and gets a little--um, what's the word?--obnoxious about how the Chinese are superior to mere Anglos like me (last count, depending on whom you ask, I'm English, French, German, Welsh, and Scottish. See why it's just easier to say I'm a Texan?). Anyway, this orchard had Asian pears. These are round, juicy, crisps, actually very superior pears. And the kids loved them more than the apples. Which made her very happy. And obnoxious. It's cute, actually. But I don't know how to make anything with Asian pears except eating them cold out of the fridge, so back to the apples . . .

While my mom was here, we started our applesauce project. The lady at the checkout counter had told us that Ginger Golds made great applesauce. We filled a great big pot with water so the kids could "wash" the apples. They ended up more wet than the apples, as did the cat who was curious about the whole procedure. Grammie and DP peeled and cut the apples while I measured the other ingredients. DS repeatedly swiped whole apples and took several bites, while DD preferred the already cut pieces. Turned out we had about 3 times the number of apples we needed but, since we have a large slow cooker, we just made them all. The kids love applesauce.

We left for church and came home to a house redolent with the smell of fall. Oh, it was amazing. And delicious too. I think the adults ate more than the kids, who were surprised that it didn't look like store-bought jar applesauce. Too dark, too chunky. Even if it was better. They didn't eat much, while we planned pouring cream on bowls of it, or filling pie crusts with it.

Try it yourself, from Jyl Steinback's The Busy Mom's Slow Cooker Cookbook:

3 lbs Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and sliced (we used Ginger Golds)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Spray inside of slow cooker with cooking spray. Combine apples, sugar, and lemon in slow cooker and toss to mix. Cover and cook on high heat for 3-4 hours. Mash apple mixture until smooth (we skipped this part). Sprinkled with cinnamon and mix well. Serve warm or refrigerate and serve cold.

Note: we cooked the cinnamon in with the apples, having misread the recipe, but I don't think it hurt it any. And it smelled so good.