October is for Apples

A few weeks ago, we went apple picking with my mother. This was the first time any of us had ever been apple picking. It's one thing when you go to the store and pick up a bag of apples, but quite another when you go to the orchard to pick up a bag of apples. At first we thought we would just pick some and put them into bags. I co-mingled a few of mine so that I could remember what I bought (or so I thought). I picked two shopping bags full of apples and thought that would be good for those types and and I'd pay for them and then go down and pick some Jonamacs for the kids lunches. When we paid it was by weight. $16 for the two bags. I was good with that but then inquired about the bushel price. For $20 we could get a bushel... well that was just a few dollars more I thought.. how do my bags compare against the bushel? We pulled down the bushel box and loaded my apples into it.... it was only 1/2 full. So for a few more dollars I could get twice as many apples! I happily paid my additional $4 and went down to fill my box. I felt like such a good shopper and without any coupons! What to do with so many apples? Well... besides the apple crisp, apple pies and the lunch box apples I found a great apple bread recipe. It is absolutely wonderful!

Apple Bread

Ingredients:

1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup applesauce
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla
4 cups apples, diced
3 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cloves

Directions:

Combine and set aside the oil, applesauce, eggs, sugar, and vanilla. Sift flour, cinnamon, soda, and salt. Add dry ingredients to oil mixture gradually. Add apples and nuts. Bake in 2 regular loaf pans for 1 1/2 hours at 300 degrees. Cool 10 minutes in the pan, sprinkle with sugar, if desired.