September = Apples

In my mind September equals apples. Something about putting an apple on the teachers desk and the feeling of crisp autumn air. Course, it's still 100+° here, there is a nasty feeling of moderate humidity in the air and school started this week, which of course is still August...

I stand by my feelings though, *ahem*, September = Apples...following me?

Here are a couple of apple recipes. They are great for fall menus. I typically buy Gala, Fuji for cooking and Golden Delicious because my family likes them to eat.

APPLE COBBLER

3 large apples, peeled and sliced

1 cup flour

1 cup sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1 large egg

1/2 cup butter, melted

Put apples in the bottom of a lightly greased 8x8 in. baking dish. Mix flour, sugar, cinnamon and egg until it looks like coarse cornmeal. Sprinkle topping over the apples. Pour melted butter over the entire dish.

Bake at 350° for 30 minutes. Serve with vanilla ice cream.

HOMEMADE APPLESAUCE

12 gala apples, peeled and sliced

1/4 cup granulated sugar

In a large pan, boil apples with about 1 cup of water. Cook about 10 minutes or until soft. Sprinkle sugar over cooked apples. Mix with hand mixer until blended to desired consistency. This will make about 1 quart of well blended applesauce. I keep old applesauce bottles to put it in, or I put in tupperware containers and freeze.

You can sprinkle some cinnamon in with the sugar if you prefer. This is not cheaper than buying it at the store, but my kids love the homemade stuff and it's got all natural ingredients, no preservatives.

PORK CHOPS w/ Sweet potatoes and apples

4 pork chops

1/2 cup chicken bouillon

2 sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped

2 apples, sliced

Place pork chops and bouillon in crock pot and cook on low for 5 to 6 hours. Add apples and sweet potatoes for the last hour.