Pick Your Own Apples!

Yes! Fall is here!

Haha, I'm such a goober. I recognize that one day doesn't really make a difference from the day before, but I love having an official start to fall every year. It gives me something to celebrate! I love autumn. From here to the end of the year is nothing but fun. We get to go up to the mountains to see the changing aspens, we get to go to a pumpkin patch, we celebrate the kiddos' birthdays, we celebrate Halloween, we celebrate Thanksgiving, we celebrate my birthday, and then we decorate for the holiday season. The air gets cool and crisp, we bake everything with cinnamon, it's chilly enough to let the slow cooker run all day for dinner. It's just the best.

Today is actually our annual Shattuck Kids' Day. We have more adventures planned for this afternoon, but we spent the morning on a farm!

Last year, I searched for an orchard in the Denver area that would let us pick our own apples. I found just one place--Ya Ya Farm and Orchard in Longmont. I contacted them in August to see when apple picking would start for the season. They told me that they have huge waiting lists to get in because sign-up begins in  early spring! I waited until April and contacted them again. They kindly told me my name was added to the list, and I'd find out this summer if we made the cut. I'm serious.

Well, we made it! Last month, I received a confirmation email that we could come on down today. The drive was a solid hour, and I wasn't sure what to expect. They said they limit each party (no groups!) to one bag of apples. So, I worried it would be a waste of a drive. Let me tell you now--it was an awesome experience. Seriously, it was easily the best thing we've ever done with the kids.

Grandma Judy came with. Jo wasn't up for apple picking, but she loved watching everyone else do it. 

Oliver was all about the apples!

He decided the needed a taste test. They passed.

It doesn't get much better than running around the orchard with Grandma and picking apples from the trees.

 Once the apples were in our bag, Jo decided they were pretty OK.

We went to their little barn store to pay for our bag of apples. My mom bought a box of apple cider donuts (out of this world), and even got us a jar of apple blossom honey.

They were setting up for their annual apple festival today. They do a big barbeque and hay rides, but that wasn't until later. We weren't going to hang around for long enough to join in those festivities, but we did decide to spend some time exploring the farm.

Chickens!

The chickens were fat and happy and seriously roamed around clucking, "Bawk, bawk, bawk, bawk." Oliver loved them, and Jo frantically tried to propel herself to the chicken enclosure. Here she is desperately pointing, wanting so badly for Grandma to let her play with the chickens.

Jo got to meet a horse. Well, she didn't get too close obviously. She laughed and laughed at the horse. Then, she asked Daddy for a pony.

We also visited the turkeys.

And we pet the farm cat. Oliver was afraid of the old farm lab, Betty, but he loved the cat.

She's hunting for something!

In addition to a pony, Jo wants a pet kitty.

We went back to the shop and bought a basket of carrots and apples to feed the horses ($1).

Oliver was too afraid to feed the horses himself, but he excitedly told Andrew which horses to feed and what to feed them. Jo gleefully laughed and squealed every time a horse took one of the fruits or vegetables.

We spent a couple hours enjoying the farm. The kids had a blast, and when we finally decided it was time to go, Andrew told me we should come back and do this "a few times a year!" This farm only does apple picking, but I am going to check out a few places closer to our home that let people come to pick their own berries and other produce.

Once we got home, Oliver and I immediately got busy making applesauce. He loves our apple peeler (Thanks, Grandma Colleen!).

Here are our peeled apples. We split our bag with Grandma Judy, and we still ended up with a good amount.

If you've never made your own applesauce before, it's so simple. It's easier than mashed potatoes! Just peel and chop your apples and put them in a pot. Add enough water to just cover the apples, put a lid on your pot, and simmer the apples for about 30 minutes (maybe just 20 minutes at lower altitude). Once the apples are fairly soft, take the lid off and mash them. Cook your applesauce until the water mostly cooks away, and you're done!

Our homemade applesauce:

Apple Chips

I'm a sucker for making things, and I also like to eat. I really try to make mostly healthy things, although it doesn't always work out that way. For example, all week long, my husband has been leaving me hints to bake him a cheesecake (he loves when I make this one), so I finally bought the ingredients yesterday.

Because I'll be indulging in cheesecake this weekend, I've been avoiding all junk food this week. It's not easy. Thankfully, a friend came along and pinned these apple chips:
http://pinterest.com/pin/216383957066324478/

My mother-in-law had given me an apple peeler/corer/slicer because she knows I like to make apple butter in the fall. I actually hadn't used it yet because I thought it would be a big hassle to figure out how to use it and clean it. Yesterday, I decided to dig it out because I had no idea how to go about coring an apple without slicing it lengthwise.

It was a breeze! I stuck my apples onto the end of the pokey, and I let Oliver crank it. It cored and sliced the apples for me (I chose to keep the peel on). OK, so I messed up one apple while trying to figure it out, but then we cored and sliced five apples in less than 5 minutes.

Here's the aftermath:

Clean-up actually wasn't too difficult because I opted to spray it down full-force with my kitchen sprayer, and then I set it out to dry.

I didn't have any parchment paper on hand, so I baked the apple slices directly on the cookie sheets. Some stuck a little, but it wasn't bad. I sprinkled cinnamon on the slices and baked them at 275 for 45 minutes. I flipped them, sprinkled a bit more cinnamon, and rotated the cookie sheets in the oven because the back ones were cooking faster than the front ones. After another 45 minutes, I had to pull them out because some were burning. Most still weren't done and were very chewy. Only a small handful had any crispiness to them. In spite of the texture thing, they were so good. I couldn't eat just one and ended up eating like half of them. Plus, they made the whole house smell great. Here's how they looked:


I'm definitely (definitely) making these again, but I'm going to work at the recipe to try to get them more dehydrated. I think they would have turned out even better in a 200 or 225 degree oven, even if that means they would need to cook a lot longer.

Apple chips. You should make these. I hope you have fun playing with this recipe!

Cider Days

Our town of Lakewood has an annual festival called Cider Days, and, apparently, it's a big deal. It's a two day event where kids can see animals at the petting zoo, people can bring or buy their own apples to press into cider, and everyone can relax and watch a tractor pull. To get in, it costs $6.

We went on Saturday. Although we had a lot of fun, I thought that was a little pricey considering 1) we didn't bring or buy the expensive apples to press into cider, 2) Oliver was too young to really do the petting zoo (although I let him get an up close look at the yak), and 3) the tractor pull had no shade, so we couldn't stay there for longer than a few minutes.

The rest of the festival consists of booths selling fair food and goods. It felt like we paid money to get the opportunity to, well, spend more money. I guess that's typical of fairs here, though. I bought a spiced cider, and Andrew got a funnel cake.

We met our good friends Dom and Corinne there. They brought their pup, Zoe, whom Oliver loved to watch. She was a really good dog. As a puppy, of course, she has a lot of energy and jumps, so we couldn't just plop Oliver down next to her or anything, but she's a very sweet dog, and Oliver could pet her with close supervision.

Two hours at the fair was enough, and the day in the sun left me in need of a nap!

Apple Butter

I had a great idea for party favors for Oliver's fall-themed birthday party--homemade apple butter!

I based the recipe off of one from allrecipes.com:
http://http//allrecipes.com/Recipe/All-Day-Apple-Butter/Detail.aspx

The only changes I made from that recipe are that I quadrupled the recipe, halved the sugar per batch, and blended it using an immersion blender after it was done cooking to make it smooth. Other than the peeling and dicing of about 55 apples, making apple butter was very easy. Basically, it just sits in the crockpot all night.

It was also my first time canning. Canning isn't so terrible--once you get past dealing with all the boiling water! To start, you put water in your clean jars and put them in a pan of water. Boil it for at least ten minutes to get them hot and sterile (apparently, the glass jars will break if they're not hot enough when you add your hot apple butter). Put the tips of your tongs, your ladle, and your canning funnel (if you're using one) in the water, too, so they're sterile as well. Meanwhile, put the lids (not the rings) in hot (but not boiling) water. Once your jars are hot and sanitized, you carefully remove them one at a time from the pan (I used the tongs and my Ove'-Glove), fill them with your butter, and then use a clean towel to dry/clean the top of the jar. Fit a lid on it, and then tighten the ring over the lid until it's just finger tip tight. Put it back in the pan of boiling water and continue until all your jars are filled. At our high altitude, we had to boil the filled, sealed jars for 10 minutes. After ten minutes, we carefully removed them from the pan and set them on some towels on the counter. We didn't touch them for 12 hours (the directions said to wait 12 - 24 hours). Within the first hour, we could hear the pop!pop! of the lids sealing air tight. Voila!


Pictured: Oliver enjoyed playing with the canning funnel. I took a few snapshots of the apple butter at almost every stage of the recipe. Finally, Andrew and his mom, Colleen, helped me can all the butter.