An Apple a Day

One of my favorite fall traditions is apple picking! I would have to say that I am a born again apple picker. It is something my family always used to do when my siblings and I were little but kind of fell by the wayside as we got older and soccer games, dance practices, and outings with friends made scheduling a trip to the orchard nearly impossible. But for the past couple years, I have made apple picking a must do on my fall list.

Last Sunday, Hunter and I met up with my family (sans brother) at Butler's Orchard in Maryland to do some apple picking. We had one strict guideline though- no picking our body weight in apples like we did at Carter Mountain Orchard in Charlottesville a few years ago. Seriously between my family and Hunter and I we each went home with at least 25 pounds of apples!

Once we arrived at the orchard, we realized that picking too many apples was not going to be a problem. The orchard was tiny and many of the apples were either on the ground already or rotten. They did not have a large variety of apples either- actually they only had Golden Delicious and Jonathan. It was not terrible, but I don't think I would recommend apple picking there. However, we were all able to pick enough so that we came back with a small, manageable bag for each household.

(On a side note, Butler's Orchard did have a decent flower garden where you could pick flowers for $.50/stem or fill a quart for $8. We at least enjoyed that part- well the girls did.)



Next comes my favorite part, now that I have all these apples what do I do with them?

Well last night I pulled out a recipe from the Demmitt side of my family. This recipe is a family favorite, so I thought I'd share since it is delicious and simple- not super healthy but hey it has apples, so that counts for something right?! Plus another benefit is that it makes your house smell wonderful!

Grandma Pollard's Apple Crisp

Ingredients:

8-10 apples
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

* I throw in a little extra cinnamon because I have a husband who is a cinnamon fanatic.

Crust:
1 cup flour
1/2 cup butter or margarine, sliced into small pieces
1/2 cup brown sugar

Directions:

Pare the apples, slice thin. Mix apples, sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Place in a shallow pan. Mix crust ingredients and sprinkle over apples. Bake for one hour at 350 degrees.

Serve warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream/frozen yogurt on top!