Fall's arrival

This is a year we will all remember. Cold, bitter windy winter; late, late wet spring; cool early summer and beautiful August, which changed to a challenging September with frost from the eleventh to the fourteenth. We are definitely wanting warmer weather, it is only 54 out right now and it is only 54 right now.  Half our 230 acres of soybeans had a killing frost. We are trying to be hopeful that they made it as they were starting to turn.  Most people have their wheat off or nearly off. Some farms still have rye grass laying and too wet to take off. We need sun and heat!

I have been busy harvesting the garden. We had twelve potato plants. I know that isn't much but it is plenty for us. We ended up with about a hundred pounds which I am sure pleased with having. Two five gallon pails are also full of butternut squash and we have about half a pail of onions. The tomatoes are as slow as the year is at getting ripe. We did cover them during the night so didn't lose any to Mr. Frost. I would have been very cranky if that would have happened.

Last night I chopped up one of the delicious large tomatoes, quarter of an onion, and a half of a green pepper, added cilantro and added some Jalapeno pepper to it. it was so good with humus, kale, and sour cream on a pita!



Think of the best thing that happened to you today, meditate about it, and put it in your memory bank. Have a great day!
Charleen

Apple Crisp and Large Quanity Apple Pie Mix

Our apple tree is loaded with apples this year. Last year when James was home during the spring (20013) and pruned the tree. He was very disappointed to hear it didn't have many apples on it. Well, that was definitely not the case this year! This is what it looks like this year!

On Thursday, my hubby picked about 3/4 of a 2 1/2 gallon pail of apples. Now these apples are quite small, like crab apples. We have had a dry summer and I only fertilized the tree, did not water it. He loves apple crisp and asked if I would make some. Friday I washed them but did not core or peel them, just sliced them in the food processor. We could not tell the difference in whether the seeds and peeling were in the apple crisp or not, it was delicious!

 So here is the recipe. You can use the apples of your choice, only rely on the sugar according to the sweetness of your apple. The first crisp you make will tell you if it is sweet or sour!

 

Apple Crisp

 

6 Granny Smith or Gala apples

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1/2 cup sugar according to your apples

Pinch salt

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Topping:

1 1/4  cups all purpose flour

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup chopped pecans or pecans

1 cup old fashioned oatmeal

1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutmeg 

1  stick unsalted butter

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350F and grease a 9/13 inch pan.

2. Peel, core and cut the apples into chunks. Place the apples in a bowl and add the lemon juice, sugar, salt, ground cinnamon and ground nutmeg and set aside.

3. For the topping: Combine the flour, sugar, brown sugar, oatmeal and butter in a bowl. Mix well until well combined.

4. Pour the apple mixture in the baking dish. Sprinkle the topping evenly over the apples.

5. Bake until the topping is crisp and golden brown and the apple filling bubbles slowly, about 50 minutes. Serve warm. Great with vanilla ice cream or cheddar cheese.

 

Now if  if you have lots of apples, use the following recipe. It makes many batches of apple pie mix. 

 

Apple Pie/Crisp Mix

4 ½ cups sugar

10 cups water

1 cup corn starch

3 Tbsp lemon juice (Real works)

2 tsp cinnamon, adjust according to how much you like

2 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp salt

Mix together and cook until thick and then cool

2 gallons of apples, peeled and sliced, do not cook the apples. If you use small apples

 just remove the seeds, or don't, slice in a food processor.

Combine the apples and mixture and fill large peanut butter jars or yogurt/cream cheese two cup containers. Use two yogurt/cottage cheese containers for a  9/13 pan or a pie, the next size down makes an 8/8 pan. Be sure to make sure you use the amount of mixture necessary for the apples.

Freeze and thaw as needed.

This is a wonderful recipe!

Bon Appetite!