I just love everything about fall! The weather, the food, the activities. Last Monday the kids had off for Columbus Day from school and we decided to go to the Center Grove Orchard in Cambridge, Iowa, which is about 30 minutes from Des Moines. I always look forward to the "no school day" in October so that we can take full advantage of discount weekday pricing at the pumpkin patches/ apple orchards. Yeah I know I'm cheap but with a family of 6, it's totally worth it. Plus this year I found a coupon online for even further discount pricing. MOM WIN!
Since we typically only make it to one apple orchard/ pumpkin patch each year, we tend to switch up each year since they all have different things to offer. This year since we were able to go during the week, it wasn't as busy so we were able to take in all that the orchard had to offer.
Of course the corn pool is always a favorite. We had to get the annual picture of the kids in the corn pool!
Cyril running at me to "splash" me with corn!
No waiting for the tractors was a nice surprise!
Paxton loved the new slide!
After we took the tractor ride to ride their train, and go through the corn maze we headed back to eat, jump on their jumping pillow, play on the spider ropes, feed the goats, and race ducks.
After 4 hours of being at the orchard playing we decided to stop at my sister house and pick apples in her backyard at her apple tree. We've never really taken advantage of her wonderful apple tree in the past years but this was the third time we had been there this year. I guess I am baking more and with Finley eating a lot of purees I just felt like this is the year to take advantage of it more than usual. Apple picking is so much fun when you get to use the apple picker and since the kids are finally big enough to use it, it's always more fun to pick your own apples.
Even Finley got an apple to suck on! No teeth yet, so it was more of a toy, but I guess edible toys are the best toys.
Now that we had a lot of apples we can move onto the crockpot applesauce recipe. First I washed the sink and then washed all the apples to get the grime off them. I just fill the sink with water, add 1 c. of vinegar, add in the apples and then let it soak for about 45 minutes.
After all the apples were washed I set up my work station. I ended up putting an additional step in that I typically haven't done in the past but I decided to dredge the cut apples in lemon/ water mixture. I now realize after doing it that this is a not need step, but wanted to let you know since the red bowl is in most of the pictures and not in the final recipe.
First step is to peel all the apples. Now if you are fortunate enough to have an apple peeler this is a fun step that takes no time at all. Since I do not have one of those, I peel all the apples with a pairing knife.
Cut the apples into fourths, and cut out the core and seeds.
After all the apples were cut I threw them in my crockpot
adding in the water, sugar, cinnamon, and lemon juice and mixed.
Cook it on high for 4 hours
and viola cooked apples!
We don't know the types of apple tree that my sister has but we know it's a baking apple so all I had to do with the apples was stir it with a spoon or whisk and it was pureed enough for our family.
Oh man I wish you could smell this picture because the smell of fresh hot applesauce is just AMAZING! The kids and I ended up having a bowl for an after school snack before dividing it and freezing a lot of it for later use.
** Recipe note: I used about 20-25 small apples, but if you buy some at the store use about half as much (10-12) as the recipe calls for since they tend to be a larger than one's you get from an orchard or tree.
I hope you all try this recipe as it's way better than any applesauce you can buy in the store. Don't let the peeling the apples discourage you either as it only took me 30 minutes to peel them all.
Enjoy!
Crockpot Applesauce
Makes about 7 cups
3/4 c. water
1/2 c. granulated sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
Peel all apples, cut the core out of the middle and cut into quarters. Throw all the apples in a medium to large crockpot. Add in the water, sugar, cinnamon, and lemon juice and mix around. Cook on low for 4 hours. Stir or mash and serve or cool for later use.
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