“How do you like them apples?”

I went home to visit my mom about a month ago and before I left, we went to her friends house and picked a few bags of fresh, organic apples for the trip home and to share with friends and my church group. I’m used to getting tiny, crab apples, but these were sweet and hefty apples. Shortly after I got home, I told my mom, when she comes to visit us again, to check with her friend to see if she could bring me a lot more apples.

A few weeks later, my mom brought A LOT of apples. More than I was thinking, but to her credit, I did state I wanted a lot. I have a picture of about 1/3 of the amount she brought. I wish I would have taken a picture right after she brought them to us because this picture doesn’t really capture the proper amount she gathered. When she got to my house, she exclaimed that she had a trunk full of apples and thankfully, it was only a half of her trunk full of apples. So, what to do with a half trunk full of apples? You make apple-aide… wait that’s not right… oooooOOoo… but apple-cider! Here are things I did will my bounty of apples and what you can easily do too!

1/3 of the remaining apples

Getting ready to process

Soon to be…

…apple butter!!

Canned apple butter and my remaining fermented apple sauce. Yummy!!

1. Fermented Applesauce – This is definitely one of my favorites so far! You can add nuts/seeds, granola on top or just eat by the spoonful. Just a bit of cinnamon and salt and kefir water and three days later you have some gut-loving delicious treat!
2. No Sugar Added Apple Butter – Smother on pancakes, rice cakes, or bread or add to oatmeal in the morning.
3. AIP Apple Donut Holes – my whole family loves these!! You can either fry them or for a healthier version, bake at 350 for about 25 minutes or until firm. You can coat them with maple sugar like the recipe calls, but we opted not to and they were still amazing.
4. Apple Slaw – I haven’t made this yet, but it looks super yummy!
5. Freezer Apples- I used an apple slicer/corer and then threw them into a BPA freezer baggie that I found at the BreadRoot Co-op, so that I can use these when I’m having a hankering for apple cobbler or pie or apple fritters
6. Crockpot Apple and Pork Tenderloin – this recipe also comes with directions on cauliflower mashed potatoes to serve with. Yum!!

Don’t forget to keep the scraps! You can make your very own Apple Cider Vinegar!

On top of all these amazing and delicious apple concoctions, I have given a bag of apples to my sitter, my reverend, a couple of my friends and a bag to share at church. And we still have 1/3 of the box of apples left. I plan on making more fermented apple sauce since it lasts for up to 2 months in the fridge and I plan on making more apple butter to sell at our Chili- Cookoff on November 5.