Happy Harvest Time

Our soldier girl, Sarah, surprised us Tuesday night by coming to visit. Mom is definitely happy! So, on Wednesday, I took her and Ed up to Bayfield and made my usual circuit to my favorite orchards. I bought apple cider, two bushels of Wealthy apples, 10# of pears, and 3# of Chestnut crabapples. Of course, we had to get some apple doughnuts, apple blintzes, and good cream soda to wash them down for the trip home. :) The weather was great, and it was a lovely drive.

Guess what I did on Wednesday AFTER Special Olympics . . .





I didn't finish till 12:30 a.m. My feet were killing me, but I even got the pan of requested apple slices done. I'll share with you my mother-in-law's recipe, and it's a good one!

Apple Slices

(You will need a 9" x 13" pan)

Crust: 2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup cold water
2/3 cup cold butter
2 egg yolks

Filling: 3 lbs. apples (about 12 medium apples), cored, peeled, sliced thinly
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 Tbs. flour

Frosting: 1 cup powdered sugar
2 Tbs. soft butter
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 Tbs. milk

Mix crust ingredients. Form into dough. Divide dough into two parts. Roll one part on floured surface and place in pan. Layer apple slices on top of crust in pan. Mix flour, sugar, and cinnamon, and sprinkle over apple slices. Roll out other crust and cover apples. Tuck in crust around pan edges. Prick top crust with fork. Bake in 400F oven for 50 minutes or till top crust is nicely browned. Mix frosting and while pan is still warm, frost top crust.

I'd post a picture, but it's already been inhaled, err, devoured.

Tom wandered into the kitchen while I was waiting for the apple slices to finish baking and his only comment was, "No apple dumplings?" ! So after I came back from the field today from picking all the green tomatoes



to ripen in the basement, I made apple dumplings for supper. (I topped mine off with vanilla ice cream and a drizzle of chocolate syrup.)

Tomorrow I'll do the laundry and make Spiced Crabapples. I kept one bag of apples to make caramel apples for Lara and Ed as we get closer to Halloween.

Here are some of the fall color pictures I promised you:

Our house and front yard --




Out in the field, just before sun down --





Before I leave you tonight, I want to send a huge THANK YOU to the folks who sent me the suggestion on fixing my egg refrigerator. You know, I called four places today trying to get someone out here to look at it without success (we live in one of those "in between" places that no one wants to travel to, and I was really bummed out that I couldn't get anyone to come), so when I opened my e-mail tonight and read your suggestion, it really made my day! Thanks again.