Saturday morning, my friend Lauren and I decided to take all of our children apple picking since their daddies were out at a beer tasting festival for the afternoon.
We decided to follow each other over to Battleview Orchards in Freehold.
About 10 minutes from reaching our destination, Lauren's car broke down and she had to quickly pull over. She called AAA while we loaded her 3 kids and their seats & belongings into my car. Lily, Nora and Lucy were a bit shaken up & confused in the beginning but once I pulled out the Halloween pop-ems & fruit snacks, all was good.
We were able to leave the van & continue on to the orchard. Only to find that minutes later, we were stuck in orchard traffic. Why did we think that we were the only ones with the fabulous idea of picking on a beautiful fall day? Everyone and their mother was there.
First we took a hayride which was the most relaxing part of the day.
All of the kids loved it. Nora almost fell asleep.
We finally got our buckets for picking and started on the hunt for full apple trees.
Problem was...there were not very many full trees. The red delicious were completely picked which I didn't mind...they are not my fave. I really wanted golden delicious. There was NO fruit at the bottom branches. So, I climbed a tree. I had the kids come underneath me and I dropped the apples down to them.
We filled almost two buckets this way.
Finally, we found some trees with small green and red apples on low branches.
The kids had fun picking on their own.
We still don't know what kind of apples they are! We think Braeburn. They are probably not even ripe, looking at their puny size. But that's okay. As long as the kids had fun!
Lily and Nora eating an apple each.
The lines were crazy at check-out. Lauren and I kept shooting each other looks and laughing at just how long everything was taking, and wondering if us moms were having any fun at all. We were trying not to complain.
Ben, Dan and I picked 21 lbs. of apples. Not too bad!
We got back to the car, had a picnic lunch in the car and had to break the news that there would be no candy or caramel apples or cider donuts for dessert. The farm store was way too packed to even attempt to go inside.
We opted for Hoffman's ice cream instead once we got back into Point Pleasant.
Our lesson learned was to apple pick mid-week!
Me and Dan
Sweet Lily
Close up pumpkin & smashed pumpkin photos courtesy of Daniel.
Benjamin
Daniel
On an awesome note, I made the BEST applesauce I've ever had. It's the easiest recipe ever and it's for the crockpot!
16 apples, peeled, cored and quartered
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
some cinnamon to your liking
Place apples in crockpot with water and cook on high for 4 hours. Once soft, let cool a little bit and while still warm, add sugar and cinnamon. Puree in food processor in batches until super smooth. There is not a chunk to be found and that's how I like it. If you like it chunky, you can mash by hand with a potato masher.
This is a most delicious soup that I came across in Vegetarian Times Magazine. I altered the original a bit and this is what I came up with. It was perfectly thick and smooth and yummy (and healthy!). Andrew loved it too.
