Earlier this year we bought a new house. Well, it's not really new. It's 30 years old. But it was new to us, right? We had lived in our previous house for 8 years and had gone from a family of 2 to a family of 4. Not only that, we spent a LOT of time in that house. I homeschooled the children, Charles worked from home. And we were falling all over each other and each other's stuff. Last spring, God opened the doors for us to buy a bigger house. And I do mean bigger. We went from 1200 sq ft of living space to 4000 sq ft! I'll tell you more about the new house in another post.
Because of all the space we have now, we decided to host Thanksgiving with hubby's family and Christmas with my family. Since they all live out of state and will be staying several days, sleeping arrangements had to be taken care of. We finally have enough room to comfortably hold everyone!
I love to cook, so planning meals for a lot of people is fun for me. My father-in-law doesn't care for pumpkin pie, so I'm making apple pie for him. I'm sure he'll share. Here's a recipe for homemade apple pie filling that is delicious and inexpensive. Plus, it makes enough to freeze some for later pies.
Homemade Apple Pie Filling
18 cups sliced apples - I used about 6 lbs of apples, a mix of Gala and Granny Smith
3 TBS lemon juice
Toss the apples with the lemon juice and set aside.
Pour 6 cups of water into a large pot. Add 4 cups of sugar, 1 cup cornstarch, 2 teaspoons of cinnamon and 1 teaspoon of salt. Stir well and bring to a boil. Boil for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. The sauce will thicken up, which is good!
Look at all that cinnamony goodness floating at the top! Don't worry, it will blend in as you stir!Add apples and stir gently to combine. Return to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 6-8 minues or until apples are tender.
See how my pot almost wasn't big enough? Oops! Let the apple filling cool, then ladle into freezer bags or jars. A quart size freezer bag will hold about 4 scoops of filling. This recipe will make enough filling for 5 pies. I froze 4 bags and made a pie right then.
Hubby declared the filling to be delicious. And hopefully his father will think so too!
Now if only the Kitchen Clean-up Fairy will pay me a visit...
For more Thanksgiving recipes, visit Life as Mom
love it! the filling is the best part, right?!
ReplyDeleteThis looks fabulous! Thank you for including freezer instructions, too! :D
ReplyDeletethis sounds yummy--Do you make your own crusts?
ReplyDeleteJohn just got me a pampered chef pie pan that is a stone-have you ever used a stone for pies?
Sometimes I make the crusts from scratch, but I know I'll be pressed for time and am using any little shortcuts I can for Thanksgiving. So I've got some Pillsbury pie crust on hand. I didn't know PC made stoneware for pies! I'd love to hear how well it bakes.
ReplyDeleteLooks so good. I cant wait to try this.Thank you.
ReplyDeleteHow did you defrost the filling.
ReplyDeleteI usually just pop the bag of filling into the fridge the night before I'm baking a pie. If I forget to do that, I set it in the sink in a pan of lukewarm water.
DeleteReally love this recipe. I made 5 apple crumbles and gave them to family they went down a treat. The apple filling is so easy to make too. I normally let the mixture cool down and then let it stand over night in the fridge. The flavours really infuse and the mixture thickens up. Delish!
ReplyDeleteLoved it! Made 2 batches. I did 3 c white and I c brown sugar plus added just a smig of nutmeg. Very yummy☺
ReplyDeletethis was delicious so easy thank you
ReplyDelete