Apples, apples, apples...

I love the smell in the air as it starts changing to fall weather. Regrettably, it took awhile for that season to get to us this year, but mornings are finally starting to be crisp. One of my favorite fall activities is apple picking. Two weekends ago, we went apple picking with some friends, and then last weekend we had the opportunity to go apple picking again with Matt's company.
As you can imagine, this resulted in a lot of apples. Almost a bushel of them, to be precise. What on EARTH does one do with a bushel of apples?

Well, first one takes fresh apples for lunch daily. To vary things a bit, sometimes one's fiance cuts the apple slices into anteater shapes.

Next, one makes three and a half apple crisps. One to be enjoyed immediately, half of one (made in individual tins) to pack in lunches, and two to be packaged up and stored in the freezer (we're set if we need to do any surprise entertaining!).

After the apple crisps and fresh apples, you need to start looking further afield for ideas. So, you make a pot of applesauce, eat several bowls of it hot, and take applesauce in your lunch for a week.
After all that, you still have half a bushel of apples. At this point, you really need to get creative. You'll see what we did with the second half-bushel of apples in my next post!