From Apples to Applesauce

Last weekend we went apple picking. It was a first for my kids and they LOVED it! They had lots of fun running through the orchard and picking their apples. The next day my son went to school and it was his library day. I always love to look at the books he picks. Most of the time he gets three and they are always Non-Fiction. For sometime he was bringing home books on Spiders. Just when I thought we had read every book his school library had on spiders, along comes another spider book. It got to a point where I had to tell him to pick another topic. Then it was the Navy. He would bring home a Navy book every week. This week he brought home three books... One was on Space, one was on Halloween, and another was on Apples. He picked the apple book because we had just been to the apple orchard and he saw a recipe in the back of the book for applesauce... So we used the recipe today to make apple sauce and it was GREAT and EASY! A fun recipe to do with kids...
If You click the first picture above you can see the super Easy Recipe... Basically, take four apples (core & peal & cut them). Place them in a half a cup of water and simmer for 15 - 20 minutes. Then add a 1/4 cup of sugar and a pinch of Cinnamon. So easy and so yummy.

It made about four small cups of applesauce. Also the book from Apples to Applesauce is very good... with lots of good facts, vocabulary, and pictures.

Irish Apple Cake

I know it isn't time for that little green guy and most are still waiting for the great pumpkin... but those apples are good for cooking and I wanted to share a fave recipe of mine. Plus I recently made the little bugger and have a picture to share of it! mmmmmmm....


Food historian and cookbook author Theodora FitzGibbon once said, "All Irish people have a very sweet tooth," and if you grew up in an Irish household you know this to be true. In the earliest times, the sweet was a simple concoction of fruit and honey; later, cooks found that fruit and berries were equally delicious baked in pies, puddings, and cakes. Apples are the basis of many traditional and contemporary Irish desserts. Here is a recipe for an Irish Apple cake that my grandmother always made.

2 cups of sugar 4 cups of apples seeded and chopped 3 eggs
1 teaspoon of salt 1 ½ cups of oil 1 teaspoon of baking soda
3 cups flour 1 ½ teaspoons of cinnamon 1 teaspoon of vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Generously grease & flour a bunt pan. In a large bowl, cream the oil, eggs, vanilla, and sugar together until light and fluffy. Sift in the dry ingredients and mix well. Now add the apples to the mix. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake until the cake is lightly browned and a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean, about 70 minutes. Let cool and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Enjoy with a glass of Guinness or milk. Erin Go Bragh!

Them Apples

We made the tiny apples this weekend. My kids enjoyed it for about five minutes and then they started eating their creations and I was left to make the rest of the apples. They had fun and that is what counts. We used dots and green apple flavored sugar to decorate. Even my two year old was really into dipping the apples in the dots or colored sugar. My hubby was all over them apples too!!! I'll be making this for my son's birthday treat at school (somewhat healthy). They are as cute as they look. I think the Christmas baking will be fun this year since both kiddos can participate.

Speaking of apples: Fall is around the corner. A few fall links from my favorite website. :)

Apples Unit

Fall Unit

Fall Index