ahh, apples

I know that I've mentioned apples before. I love them. We're so fortunate to have a local farm, Wallace Bros. in Ireton, that we can go to and either pick our own (which didn't happen this year) or buy a bag that someone else has done the hard work of picking for us. We've gone through about 40 pounds of apples so far (sauce, butter, frozen), and there are about 30 left in the fridge and pantry, waiting to be dealt with. My go-to thing to do with them when I want to whip something up in a hurry is a crisp. It couldn't possibly be easier, quicker, or very much more delicious. And it makes the kitchen smell heavenly.

As usual, I don't have a real recipe, since this is one of those things that I just eyeball. If your eyeballs are like mine, it will be lovely; if not, I'm not sure what you can expect.

Peel and slice a pile of apples (depending on size, maybe 7 or 8) into a 9x13 pan. I try to fill the pan about 2/3 full; the apples cook down beautifully and I like an apple-y crisp. I pour in a bit of water to help the apples along, maybe 1/3 of a cup. Mix together about 2 cups of oats, 1/4 cup flour, a pinch of cinnamon, and maybe 1/2 cup (I probably use a bit less) of brown sugar. Take about 1/3 cup of cold butter cut into chunks, and blend it in with your fingers (this probably came about because I didn't feel like taking the three steps into the pantry to get the pastry blender). You want to leave some little clumps, but have it mostly uniform. Evenly sprinkle that over the apples, and bake at 350 for about 45 minutes, or until the top is golden and the apples are gorgeously mushy.

For epic deliciousness, serve warm with a bit of cream.

**
I hope that you've had a good week and are looking forward to the weekend. Things here finally are starting to feel as though we're settling back into a routine after all of our travelling lately. I will say that I'm feeling a bit out of sorts. Maybe because it somehow is October 15th and my mind is somewhere back in July. The morning after we came home after our last trip, I canned cranberry sauce and apple butter, made bread, unpacked and caught up on laundry. It helped, but I still sort of feel as though my head isn't quite on straight.

So I'm looking forward to a quiet-ish weekend to hopefully get me back to rights. Have a lovely weekend!