An Apple a Day Keeps

I went shopping for apples in Watsonville, California. No, not today, I did it on my trip West when I was passing through the area. i bought 2 bags of mixed varieties for Uncle Dan and his clan and a 1/2 box of Pippins for my use. I guess a box is equal to a bushel which is what we always bought when we passed through and it was too much. This time I thought I was safe with 1/2 of the previous order. Gizdich Ranch has some of the freshest apples around and you can pick them yourself. I didn't have time, so I bought some picked that morning and packed in a box. They stayed pretty fresh considering I was still a little more than a week away from home, but you can count on that with Pippins.

My family snacked on the fresh, crisp Pippins until today. I had noticed that they were beginning to turn a lovely yellow from the standard green and a few were getting soft. It was time to cook all that were left. I made an awesome apple pie with crumb crust which was the preferred dessert this evening. GD#1's birthday cake was a second fiddle. The remainder of the apples went into the pan to make applesauce. I was grateful for SIL C's help to peel the mass of remaining apples. I am not sure if he were having fun or if he just felt sorry for me.

I have one of those apple peeler /slicer / corers but I had accidentally dropped it and one part was bent. C fixed it, then tried it out. He thought it was fun at first, but stayed the course and helped get all the apples peeled and sliced. Cooking them up was a cinch once he had done the hard part, but even that was made easy by the apple contraption. There was plenty of apple sauce to share with everyone.

I bought my apple contraption some time ago at the local grocery store for $10.00. I din't expect much for that price, so I was pleasantly surprised that it actually worked...peeled, cored, and sliced the apples. While in Watsonville, I priced one at the apple place and was told it was $29.95. Wow! Mine was a bargain and it works just fine!