Earlier in the week, my sister, Mindy, called and asked if I would be interested in getting some apples. She had got a really good deal of 40 lbs of apples for $17! I hadn't ever done anything with apples before... other than eat them, but after talking with her, I decided to go for it and try to make my own apple pie filling. It actually went really well. I waited until the kids were taking their afternoon naps (smart move), and then I started. It was definitely a sticky job, but it went pretty quickly. After peeling and coring (thank goodness for nifty machines that pretty much do it all for you), I added sugar and boiled the apples up. Then I got to add the 'good stuff' - Penzey's Apple Pie Spice. It smelled SO good in the house!!! I think the best part of the entire process is pulling the nice, hot jars out of the water bath and hearing the lovely popping sound as they seal. I will thoroughly enjoy being able to pull out a jar, pop it into a pie shell and having a hot apple pie this winter!
The start...
The finish!