FALL FRUITS FESTIVAL - APPLES

APPLE PIE

This is my third pie which was baked (and eaten) for Canadian Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday Oct 11th.

I've been making pies for many years. When I was a stay-at-home Mom, I had a husband and a wonderful Pastor who loved apple pies. As soon as the apples harvests began in mid to late September, I would buy 20 lb bags. (I remember them costing about $6-8!) The kids would have lots to munch on, and Mama would be in the kitchen baking (and freezing pies). As the different varieties of apples came in, I'd buy another large bag and have another pie making day. We had a large chest freezer as well as an upright, and there would be 10-12 apple pies and perhaps a cherry pie or 2 in there amongst the dozen bottles of freezer strawberry jam, 40 bags of blanched green beans, and a couple of loaves of home-made whole wheat bread. Those were the days -- time and energy and lots of hungry & appreciatative mouths to feed!

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Kids are grown, husband is gone and I work full-time. So, I don't do the quantities I used to. But I still do some jams or jellies every summer; and I bake a few pies and some home-made bread several times a year, especially around the holidays. I find baking very therapeutic; when all else in my life is going hay-wire, cooking and baking are things I can rely on to be able to control and turn out as I want it to -- that as well as cleaning!

Give me trouble that I can't handle, and I'll give you a clean house, a well stocked larder, and sore knees from praying!

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Anyway, I digress. My apple pie is basic; I don't do a lot of measuring. (I have a lot of practice!) I peel & core my apples, slice them into a bowl and mix them with the juice of half a lemon to keep them from turning brown. I add about 1.5 cup of sugar and 1 tsp of cinnamon; put this in a shell, top with a few small dabs of butter (secret ingredient), top with another shell and bake -- 450 deg for the first 10 min and 350 deg for the other 50 min or so. It's always good!