In the kitchen: Apples

Around here, it's apple time! After a couple of trips to the orchard, we've had all the apples needed for our annual apple traditions and the recipes I've been waiting all year to try.

First, our family's annual apple favorites.....cranberry cider and apple pie filling. This year I made the Cranberry Apple Cider with cider from the orchard and it was simply heavenly. Each fall I like to make big batches of pie filling to freeze and we enjoy quick and easy apple pies (Philip's favorite) throughout the year.

But now, on to the apple experiments........

The recipe calls it ""Apple, Kale, and Cranberry Salad" but I don't think they've ever had a four-year old! I called it "Lemonade Salad" and the kids ate it just fine.

"Lemonade Salad"

4 cups chopped kale

1/4 tsp. sea salt

1 Tb. olive oil

Juice from half a lemon

2 TB. dried cranberries

1 small apple, diced

2 Tb. sunflower seeds

Place kale in a bowl and sprinkle with sea salt. Massage the sea salt in to kale for about a minute so each piece is coated. Let sit for 10 minutes until kale has shrunk. Toss with remaining ingredients and enjoy.

Glazed Apples in Caramel Sauce

4 Granny Smith apples, peeled and cored

2/3 cup apple juice

2 Tb. butter, melted

Caramel Sauce (see below)

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2.Cut each apple horizontally into five slices. (I just used an apple peeler, corer, slicer.) Reassemble each apple, and place in baking dish. Combine apple juice and melted butter and pour over apples. Bake uncovered at 375 degrees for 45 minutes, baste apples with juices every 15 minutes.

3. Place an apple stack on each of 4 individual serving plates. Pour 1/4 cup Caramel Sauce into center of each stack, allowing sauce to flow over sides. Serve immediately.

Caramel Sauce

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup water

1 Tb. butter

1/2 cup fat-free evaporated milk

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1. Combine sugar and water in a large skillet. Cook over medium heat 15 minutes or until golden (golden came before 15 minutes for me). Do not stir. Brush crystals from sides of pan with a wet pastry brush, if necessary.

2. Remove pan from heat; let stand 1 minute. Carefully add butter, stirring until butter melts. Gradually add milk, stirring constantly. (Caramel will harden and stick to spoon.) Cook, stirring constantly, over medium heat 2 minutes or until caramel melts and mixture is smooth and slightly thickened. Remove from heat; stir in vanilla.

For apple breakfasts, we had apple muffins (topped with the extra caramel sauce, of course!) and apple turnovers. Dehydrated apples for apple snacks.

On the weeks that Philip took the big kids to church (we've not yet taken Little Matheny-soooo many people all at once), I listened to sermon and worship podcasts while canning Apples in Cinnamon Syrup, Sweet Cider Apple Butter, and Cranapple Butter with my three-year old sidekick. I've loved these special times.

He provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy.

-Acts 14:17