Washington Apples

Here in Western Washington there are so many fun fall activities. One of my favorite things is going to local farms for incredible deals on fresh produce. If you are a health nut like me, this is probably your favorite thing of the year. UHmazing. And being that we are in Western Washington, apples are the natural favorite around here. When I was in FLORIDA there were selling Washington Apples, I mean come on!

Here is one of my favorite local farms: Terry’s Berries! I have been going to this particular farm for 4 years now! Its amazing! The kids love it! Not only do they have a farm stand in the front, but you can pick your own apples, and pumpkins! They also have farm animals which my kids love watching. If you are in Puyallup, you need to check them out! Terry’s Berries in Puyallup

So what do you do with all those apples when you get home?
I have a couple ideas for you! I made both of these recipes yesterday, and they turned out perfectly!

Apple sauce:
Ingredients:
12 red delicious apples
A few shakes of cinnamon
Drizzle honey on top
Directions:
Peel, core and chop apples into small chunks. Put in crock pot on low. Shake some cinnamon and drizzle some honey on top. Cook on low for 5 hours. Make sure you stir it every once in a while. Once its done you can put it through a food processor if you want it smooth, but I really like it a bit chunkier! Delicious!

Apple’s ready to cook

Homemade Apple Sauce

Homemade Apple sauce recipe

Dried Apples:
Ingredients:
5 red delicious apples
Juice of two lemons
Big bowl of water
Directions:
If you want you can peel the apple, but you don’t have to. Core the apple. Use a mandolin slicer to thinly slice the apples. Let the apples hang out in a lemon bath (it preserves the color). Bake in your oven’s lowest setting (mine is 170 degrees) for as many hours as it takes to your liking. I put mine in for 6 hours and they were crispy. If you want it juicer, I would suggest testing them after 4 hours.

thinly sliced apples in lemon water

ready to go in the oven

Dried apples

After I made the dried apples and tasted how delicious they were, I am considering buying a food dehydrator. Do any of you lovely people have one? I’d love to hear your reviews! Also, if you know of a u-pick farm in Western Washington PLEASE share! I would love to visit some new ones! Do you have some more apple recipes I should try? Comment and tell me about them!

So go forward fellow Washingtonians and collect your apples!!

Taco Salad

This is one of my favorite meals ever! Its also extremely easy to put together, taking literally a few minutes! I often do this meal before church on Saturday evenings or on a weeknight when I have NO time.

This meal starts with prepping the ground beef with homemade taco seasoning. If you’ve ever looked at the package of Taco Seasoning you get from the grocery store, you will find a lot of chemicals mixed in with the seasonings. I am not a big fan of that, so I decided to make my own Taco Seasoning!

Homemade Taco Seasoning

Recipe for Taco Seasoning:
1 Cup Chili Pepper
1/2 Cup Cumin
1/4 Cup Onion Powder
1/4 Cup Oregano
2 Tablespoons Garlic Powder
2 Tablespoons Paprika
2 Tablespoons Crushed Red Pepper Flakes (more if you like the heat)
1 Tablespoon Sea Salt
a few dashes of Cayenne pepper (after all, my kiddos aren’t a big fan of heat)

Put ingredients in a pint canning jar and shake! Easy Peasy! The batch that this recipe produces has lasted me FOREVER!

So onto the Taco Salad! First I’d like to give Fred Meyer’s Grocery Store a huge thumbs up! For the first time in any major chain grocery store I found this beautiful little package.

Grass Fed Organic Ground Beef

Grass Fed Organic Beef!! WOW! Way to go Fred Meyers! You are amazing!! I see organic beef ALL the time, and yes Organic Beef is a little bit better than regular beef, but Grass Fed Beef is the best you can eat! I will reserve this topic for another post because I could talk about this forever. All I will say is it was $7 a pound, which is a little crazy, but I was thankful to see this in stores. HUGE step in the right direction.

TACO SALAD:
Ingredients:
1 pound of Grass Fed Beef
2 tablespoons of taco seasoning mix
1 lettuce head shredded
1 tomato, diced
1 bunch of green onions, sliced
1 can of black olives, sliced
1 small bag of shredded medium cheddar cheese
1 4oz of tomato sauce
2 tablespoons Organic Thousand Island Dressing

Directions:
Brown the beef in the skillet, and add the taco seasoning. Once completely cooked through, put in a container in the fridge to cool it down. While the beef is cooling, get a big bowl out to assemble salad. Put lettuce, tomato, green onions, black olives, and shredded cheese in the big bowl and mix. Empty can of tomato sauce into the salad mixture. Add thousand island and mix again. Once beef is cooled down enough, put it in the salad and mix. Garnish with some Organic Tortillas chips. YUMMMM

Taco Salad

This is JUST enough for my family of 6. Soon I will have to adjust this recipe for a bigger quantity.You can put this salad into a tortilla wrap and eat as a burrito as well. That is what my kids like best. I just like it straight up! I hope you enjoy! Tomorrow I’m making Philly Cheese Steak stuffed Bell Peppers!!