Apple Goodness

A few weekends ago, we picked the apples from the tree in our backyard. We've been living in this house for a bit over 4 years now, but this is the first time we have been able to get some apples from our own tree. In previous years, they were completely compromised by some sort of insect that comes out in the spring in our area but, for the first time this year, plenty of them made it through and ripened. Sure, they are not the perfect-looking kind that we find in grocery stores - in fact, they're filled with bumps, bruises and imperfections - but it feels so great to be eating apples from our own garden.

All in all, we had enough to fill the box to the brim, which I thought was pretty good for a tree from which we hadn't picked a single apple before.

The boys - my dad, my brother, and Toby, who mainly helped with eating - were in charge of picking them from the tree, and my mom and I are now busy turning them into pie, sauce, and butter before they go bad.

Video proof of Toby "helping" with picking (read: eating) the apples. He polished off 3 of them, one by one, that he found on the ground underneath the apple tree. The video shows him enjoying his third apple, and I wish that my camera's battery hadn't died before he finished it, but I got such a kick out of seeing him turn and eat it so carefully, almost like a human.

I'd love to know, what are your favourite apple recipes?