Yummies in our Tummies

Remember the other day when I was talking about fall and all the yummy, hearty cooking that comes with the season?  Well, today was a rainy, cool, windy day.  When it's like that, you can't do much outside so what did I do?  I baked...kinda.

It all started yesterday.  We went to the apple orchard and picked about 15 lbs of Honey Crisp apples.  The girls had a blast finding the "perfect one" and going from tree to tree.  They each had a little bag that they carried with them (I had a big bag), and they were even able to sample an apple right from the tree.  Mmmmmm

Today after church, we came home and the girls took naps while I listened to the Packers on the radio.  As I listened, I turned this...

Into this:  Applesauce.  I kept the peelings on the apples, since that's where a good chunk of the vitamins are, so that's what gives the sauce the nice, rosy color.  I also then blended the sauce after cooking to chop the peelings and get the applesauce smooth--I have food textures issues.  I kept a good amount out for snacks for the next few days and froze a bunch as well.  I was told by Andy that I could make it more often and a lot of it, too.  I think that means he liked it.  We still have about 8 lbs of apples that we'll either eat or make into apple crisp in the coming days.  No, not pie.  We all know that Candy doesn't like pie.

Since the apples needed to cook for about 30-40 minutes until they were tender, I got busy making this:

Chocolate Chip Cookie dough.  I did make some cookies, maybe 2 dozen, but my main goal was to freeze all of those little dough balls--plus 20 more--for future use.  They are all nestled in my freezer, waiting for me to put them into baggies.  This way, when we want a treat or someone stops by for a visit, we can have fresh-baked cookies without the mess and time of making them.  Yum.

And in non-food news, we have a new member in our family...we think.  This little guy showed up on our back porch Saturday afternoon and hasn't left since.  He's quite young and thin, and we believe he's used to being around people because he's nervous and shy, but comes up to us on his own terms.  Then when we pick him up, he starts to purr like crazy.  And I shouldn't say He, really;  we haven't even checked to see if he's a He or a She.  But because of his raccoon like tail, the girls have named him Coonie.  I must admit, he is awful cute and quite a change from our 5 pure black cats.