Apples!!!!

It may not be the most catchy of blog titles but it sure does describe what we did all day long!  Alexander's kindergarten class went on their first field trip this morning.  They went to an apple orchard in Nolensville, Tennessee (about 25 minutes drive for those of you who aren't Nashville peeps).  They got to learn all about apples, cider, and even honey.  You can learn more about their trip on their class blog.

 
After I picked Alexander up from school, we peeled, cored, and sliced all of our apples.  We used my pampered chef tool, the apple peeler corer slicer which is a great piece of machinery!  It can do potatoes too!  Hey, and I don't even sell Pampered Chef stuff!  If you're one of my readers and you are a consultant, let me know and I'll put a link to your site on this page.  As you can tell, there was a lot of action going on during our prep time.  I am so thankful for the use of Sarah's camera but am ready to get mine back (hurry up, Dad!) as it captures action shots a little better.  Also, I'm used to my camera and am still getting used to Sarah's!
After prepping most of our apples, we made a batch of applesauce.  It's so easy, even you could do it if you had a little time!  You cook the apples with a little water, a little cinnamon, and I added a few cloves because I like them.  You wouldn't have to add them but I obviously did.  Cook these until they're fork tender and I mashed them up using my potato masher.  You can put them in a food processor or a food mill if you're so inclined.  You can also add sugar if you think that your sauce needs it.  Mine needed a little body so I added a tiny bit (seriously tiny, like 1/8 cup) of brown sugar.  These apples seemed to be pretty sweet on their own without much sugar.  I like that.  Next, I canned them.

Then, because we still had a huge number of apples left, I made another batch of applesauce which is now in my crock pot turning into apple butter.  I'll share a recipe with you if I can get permission from my friend, Angela.  She sent me the recipe a while back but I don't want to share without her blessing.  There are lots of good recipes out there, just do a search on Google, "How to make apple butter" and you'll probably get thousands of hits.  

And, because we didn't have enough apple stuff going on, I also made an apple pie.  I'm so full of Baja Burrito and miscellaneous apple products that I haven't even tried it.  Maybe for breakfast?

Ok, and last but not least, I had all these peels and cores left over from the apples and I felt like I didn't want to waste them.  Soooooooo.....

I'm making apple peel jelly.  I found this recipe  and am going to test it out.  I have already boiled the peels and cores and they are sitting on the stove now.  I'll work on the rest of the project tomorrow morning while the kids are in school.  Wow, that's exciting to say; both kids are in school tomorrow and I get a little bit of what my friend, Murray, referred to as "Mommy time!"

The end of apples.  For now.  

P.S.  My kids ate their dinners using wooden spoons tonight.  They thought this was hilarious.  I thought it was great that they ate without complaining.  Note to self, buy more wooden spoons.