Apple Butter~Apple Sauce....

[hawk]

After looking at Beaucephalus' thread about visiting an apple orchard (great pictures!) I thought to share my dilema and ask for your suggestions.

Every year we (wife, daughters and I) go to a local orchard and pick about 3 grocery bags full. We give them away and eat way too many with carmel dip hmmmm!! I usually make tons of apple sauce and apple butter as well as apple crisp by the truck load. In years past we've also dried some...

I am wondering if anyone has simple additions to our list of 'stuff to do with too many apples"? Due to time/schedule it seems only I am doing things with the apples this year and my time is short too. Any ideas?? :sunflower:

 

[sbarkhouser]

Hmmm....make a friend some apple butter?? :whistling:

I'll make a trade of some of my kousa marmalade for some of your apple butter when you're here in January. :sunflower:

Sorry I'm of no help...just making me hungry thinking of all the desserts we could make...and share over a latte... :beer:

 

[hawk]

Well before I agree to a trade ya gotta tell me what kousa is...
Yep it is EGGNOG latte season

 

[sbarkhouser]

Kousa is a type of dogwood tree...Chinese I believe. It produces a really interesting red spiky fruit. We have a very large beautiful kousa tree just outside our front door. The chipmunks and bees always enjoy the fruit...and we've munched on them a bit raw. The children and I have been wondering if we could make something with them for a couple of years now. We harvested several baskets full last month and made marmalade. Mmmmm.

And I believe you've already had too many lattes my dear...cause you certainly spelled it wrong. :kiss: :devil:

 

[hawk]

Ahhh kousa dogwood~yes I know the tree. when in "bloom" it has lot's of beautiful white bract's ~so much so that it looks like it glow's on a full moon night. different than our domestic dogwoods.

What do you mean I spelled it wrong??? Egglog natte is the correct way to spell it. Look at the original spelling~see it's right :whistling: :coffeedrink:

 

[Newfs Forever]

Hawk,

You may just want to mush some apples for the dogs. I give Sammie unsweetened apple sauce all the time. Great fiber and and only natural sugar for him.

Just a thought.

I would also imagine you can freeze smaller portions and thaw when needed.

 

[Pipelineozzy]

My dogs steal them out of the grocery bags and eat them. We never have spare apples lol. When I make my veggie mix for the dogs...apples are included in that.

 

[hawk]

My dogs steal them out of the grocery bags and eat them. We never have spare apples lol. When I make my veggie mix for the dogs...apples are included in that.

What veggies do you add to the mix? Odin jara used to love veggies but now he carefully removes them from his food and spits them on the floor. Maybe some apple would change the taste...

 

[Pipelineozzy]

K,..lol..are you ready for this? Every couple of weeks..I take out a HUGE meat grinder, and I put through:
one big bag of celery
one 4 lb bag of carrots
one cabbage
one bag of apples
3 big bunches of parsley
one or two bags of frozen green beans (or fresh if you have them)
a big bunch of bananas
sometimes..a couple of sweet potatoes or other seasonal veggies...lettuce, things like that.
and about 3 whole bulbs of garlic
Mix well..and I put in plastic peanut butter jars and freeze it..and only take out a couple days worth and keep it in the fridge. Dogs dont digest whole pieces of veggies well..because they don't "chew" the way we do, they don't break them down enough to digest them..they don't have the same kind of molars that we do where they actually crush things down...hence..the grinder.
Sometimes..in the summer..I will also add dandelion leaves to the mix too. They each get about...1/3 of a cup or so (guessing, cuz I don't measure) of this with their night feed. I think somewhere on here, Capri has a list of what she puts in her veggie mash too. I avoid starch veggies like corn and peas.

 

[Bucephalus]

We made German Apple Pancakes with ours:

Pancake:
3 eggs
3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tbsp. butter
1/2 cup thin-sliced apples (optional- we never do this, but it's the more traditional way)

Filling:
1 lb. tart apples (like Pippin)
1/4 cup melted butter
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg

Topping:
2 tbsp. melted butter (we usually skip this since there's already plenty of butter)
sprinkle powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 450. Combine pancake ingredients - except butter. Melt butter in a 12-inch cast iron skillet. Pour in batter and put skillet in oven. After 15 min., lower temperature to 350 and continue baking for 10 min. Pancake should puff - you can burst bubbles or leave them (we leave them). Saute apples in 1/4 cup of butter and sugar near the end of the baking time. Apples should be tender - not soft! Add filling to pancake and serve.

 

[new_2_newf]

sulley LOVES apples. whole apples. they are the tastiest toys EVER.

 

[KodysGrandma]

Got stables nearby with something to offer in trade for apples, horses usually love them.

 

[mareserinitatis]

If you have a dehydrator would dry a bunch and save them for future cooking. You can throw them into muffins and breads, make toppings, etc. And pancakes...my kids will eat pancakes with just about anything in them, although I've never tried spinach. ;-)

Or maybe you can can them. I've never done that myself.

 

[drulzelot]

Do you have a juicer? I make apple cider with mine. We also love apple pies, you can peel, slice, and put them in a zipper bag with flour, sugar and cinnamon, and toss it in the freezer so you can have pie whenever you want. They are great dehydrated, too, either with a dehydrator or if your oven can go low enough (115*).

They're great chopped and tossed on oatmeal, or you can make an apple crisp by chopping them small, adding 1/2 c. sugar, 3 Tablespoons flour and a pinch of cinnamon. Put that mixture in a square baking dish and top with a mixture of 1/2 c. oats, 1/2 c. flour, 1/2 c. brown sugar, and 1/4 c. butter (mix it so it's crumbly). Bake at 350 for 40 minutes.

(PS: I give the pulp from the juicer when I make cider to the dogs, I add it to their breakfast).