Harvest Time Activities

Today was a beautiful and fun filled day in Colorado. It was a cool, Autumny feeling morning and just perfect for apple picking!! The other day I went and helped my friend, Kristi, cut up some apples she had picked. We used my Vita-Mix to turn them into applesauce. (It only took about 1 minute per batch. Can't beat that!) We had a fun time and so went picking again on Thursday afternoon.

Kristi is great about finding free fruit. She looks for trees around the area that are loaded with fruit that doesn't seem to be being used. She then asks the owners if they're going to use them and if not, would they mind if she picks some. As a result, her freezer is full of free peaches, plums, apples and cherries. I am very frugal but never thought of doing this before.

So, anyways, Thursday we went and picked but one of the two trees with apples on it had a large paper-wasp nest in it. Um, not messing with that tree! The other one, someone had already been picking at so we only picked about 1 basketfull of fruit.

Her friend said she had some more trees so we went picking this morning. The apples were very tasty and many were very large. We had such a fun time shaking, dodging and picking up apples. The kids had fun helping and the babies enjoyed tasting the apples.

Next week, we'll be cutting them up and making applesauce, jelly and apple butter. Today we also had some fresh cider made from apples from the same trees we were picking from. I just LOVE this time of year.

Tonight, I remembered that I had a Funnel Cake recipe from our MOPS group that I wanted to try. I made it and Phil loved it. He said, "This is as good as what you can get at Disneyland!" I'll share it at the bottom of this post. It's really fast to make and tastes delicious. Now, I'd love to have a harvest party at my home. How fun would that be? Anyone want to come?

Funnel Cakes

This is a true carnival funnel cake. Light and fluffy. After cooking, dust with powdered sugar and serve hot for a fun and tasty treat. Funnel cake doesn't have to be a once a year event...make it any ight right at home. Make them when you're camping or don't have time to bake. You can pre-mix the dry ingredients and then it is super fast to add the egg and milk for a yummy treat.

Ingredients:

1 egg

2/3 cup milk

2 tbsp. sugar

1 1/4 cup flour

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

Directions:

1. Beat egg and milk. Mix all other ingredients and slowly add to the egg mixture, beating until smooth. (I used my blender and it worked great)

2. Using a funnel (a refillable mustard/ketchup bottle from Wal-Mart works great. Just snip the tip to widen it), squirt batter into hot oil working from center outwards. When the bottom looks golden, use a fork to turn it. Remove from the oil when golden brown and crispy. Drain on plates covered with paper towels.

3. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and eat up!