A Year of Blogging: September 17, 2011

September 17 was 'National Apple Dumpling Day'. I've never had an apple dumpling. Mom has made blueberry and blackberry dumplings before, but her dumplings are much different than the pictures of apple dumplings that I am finding online. The apple dumpling recipes are basically a whole apple covered in pastry. Mom's dumplings were made with biscuit mix, and were fluffy and cloudlike- similar to the dumplings she makes for chicken and dumplings, only she cooked them with berries. Getting apples are a fall tradition for me. Erich started asking a couple of weeks ago when we were going to get apples. Although, don't be fooled. He wasn't interested in the apples. He was interested in the apple cider donuts we buy at the orchard. Yesterday was the day. I thought it might be too early to get apples, but it's a nice drive out to the orchard so I figured it's fine even if we end up having to go twice this year. I'm glad we went yesterday, even so early in the season they had very few apples. Our weather this summer wasn't very apple friendly, and they had no you-pick apples available. Which is fine. I don't go into the orchard and pick my own any more. I know, I'm missing part of the experience. I haven't gone into the orchard since I was a young girl, when many of the apple orchards at home stopped offering pick your own due to the liability. So for me, 'getting apples' means going to the orchard and choosing some they have already picked. I said I wasn't going to get many this year. And I didn't think I did. I bought a peck and a half of Macintosh for pies (the apples weren't very large, that's why I bought so many). I bought a half peck of Jonathans for sauce, and half a peck of Galas for eating. It didn't seem like a lot of apples, until I got home and am now faced with cutting and peeling all those apples. I will space it out. Today I'm going to make applesauce, and at some point, I will make several pies to put in the freezer. I'm already thinking of ways to incorporate apples into meals for the next couple of weeks. And I have some new recipes I'm eager to try! Even if you don't like apple dumplings, take time today to enjoy some sort of wonderful apple treat. I love apples, but they always taste best in the fall!