Apples - Apple Pie Filling

One of the best things you can do when you have a bunch of extra apples is to freeze them for later as apple pie filling! I just pulled a bag of frozen apple pie filling out of my freezer yesterday, defrosted, and now tonight I have an apple crumble or apple crisp, whichever you want to call it, cooking in the oven! Prep time today was less than ten minutes! When I froze the apple pie filling months ago, this is what I did: To prep the apple pie filling I cut the apples into the slices. You can dip them into lemon juice and water to preserve color if you want, I usually don't since I immediately prep and freeze.. Next, throw the apples in a bag with about 1 cup of sugar and 1 tblsp of cinnamon or the ratio you like best of sugar to cinnamon. Mix the sugar/cinnamon & apples together well. Last, label the bag, date it, and throw in the freezer! That's it! You can freeze it either flat or upright. When you pull it out later you can either make a pie crust or just add some crumble topping and bake as an apple crisp!

After I have defrosted my apple pie filling, I throw it juice and all into a sprayed glass baking tray (pie plate or casserole dish).

ready to bake! (see above) Apple Crisp Crumble: 1-2 cups slow cooking oatmeal, 2/3 cups brown sugar, 3/4 cup flour and 4 tblsps. OR half a cup(8 tblsps. of butter). Combine the oatmeal, sugar, and flour in a plastic bag and mix until completely combined. Melt the butter and mix with other ingredients in bowl or the bag(if not too hot) last sprinkle over the top of your apple pie filling and bake in a 350 degree oven for 30-45 minutes until bubbly and brown. Cool, add vanilla ice cream as a topping, and enjoy! :)

Cherries - Homemade Canned Cherry Pie Filling

Looking at what was left of my cherries, I decided to try my hand at making canned cherry pie filling. I will be making two jars worth since that is the equivalent of filling for one small pie. I went off the recipe at this site: http://www.mybakingaddiction.com/homemade-cherry-pie-filling-recipe/ Since I was making a smaller batch I reduced the recipe to the following: I used about 3 cups cherries, (halved & pitted) 1 cup water, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, 2 tablespoons cornstarch and 1/2 a teaspoon of vanilla extract instead of almond extract (not ideal but it was all I had on hand!). I followed the directions, mix all together, bring to a boil, immediately reduce heat to low, and stir until all cooked together. Then I poured into my jars and placed in my water bath canner. The type of cherries I am using are the "Royal Ann" variety from Detering Orchards. Sweet with a little bit of tartness.