Sunday, September 22, 2013

applejack festival 2013

so an hour away there's little city called nebraska city with a not so little orchard called kimmel orchards that has the cutest applejack festival at the beginning of every fall. people come all over to pick apples, watch a parade, shop around the local booths and enjoy time with your family in the sun eating bushels of apples. the experience of walking up and and up and down all the rows trying different apple species to find the perfect one to pick seemed almost magical.
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it's quite convenient going with tall men who can pick out the most perfect apples from the tip top of the tree
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it was enchanting to just look out and see trees and trees and trees full of little red dots
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we were fortunate to get to go with some of our very favorite neighbors whom are also in dental school.
fyi- this momma is super mom, literally. she's a mom by day, and a PA at the hospital at night. when does she sleep????? yeah, i don't know, but she never let's the lack of sleep get in the way of making memories, participating in fun, or planning the fun. we love this family so very much!!!
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if you ever go apple picking we recommend bring a pocket knife so everyone can try those yummy apples before loading them in your bag
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we loved all the apple taste testing BUT the grapes kind of stole the show. we happened to walk into a bunch of grape vine rows and went to town. when you popped one of those babies in your mouth, it literally tasted like a burst of grape jelly. but really good natural amazing grape jelly that felt perfect. our little family was overwhelmed by their goodness! especially maximus, he continued to whine for more and more and more!
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not maxson's most photogenic picture...hahaha.
we were laughing so hard at his face
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what's really funny was that the first apple type we tried we all loved.
but we had to spend over an hour walking through the rest of the orchard tasting at least 8 different other kinds to make sure that was our favorite. sure enough, it was!
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maybe better than the apples: the apple cider doughnuts THEY WERE AMAZINGGGGG!
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we now have apples coming out of our ears.
i'm trying to find as many apple recipes as i can without only making apple pie (because making apple pie from scratch scares me).
we shared this candy apple pie with friends and it was spectacular :)

if you have any yummy apple recipes i'd love to hear them!

5 comments:

Christian, Kerri, & The Boys said...

Are you going to make applesauce and can it? This would be fun! So fun and apple cider donuts!! YUM!

Shane and Clara said...

I made and can applesauce every Fall! It is absolutely amazing! So much better than any you can buy at the store. and then you have it for several months when its not apple season.
For fresh applesauce you use very little sugar because the apples are soo sweet already! Sometimes I like to put cinnamon in it. Ummmm good.
And the best part is the applesauce is an awesome baby food!!! Make it smooth or chunkier if you like it that way.
I also substitute applesauce for the oil in a lot of recipes....canned apple sauce comes in so handy. But eating it with a spoon is simply the best and most rewarding after your hardwork to put it all up!!

Cherri said...

Such a FUN post! I wanna go do that.

Scott and Jamie said...

How fun. We've been canning lately... apple sauce, apple butter, and I found a recipe for canned cinnamon apples (not so sweet/syrupy like apple pie filling) that I'll use for French toast topping and apple crisp. Here's the link:
http://canninggranny.blogspot.com/2011/09/canning-apples-in-cinnamon-syrup.html

Bear said...

I love all these pictures. I LOVE the family picture of you guys in the row between trees. What a fun day.