Apple Pie Filling

These make great gifts and are nice to have in your pantry for quick crisps, cobblers, or pies all year long. You can double or triple this recipe if you are feeling ambitious.

Ingredients

• 4 1/2 cups white sugar
• 1 cup cornstarch
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 10 cups water
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• 6 pounds apples

Directions

1. in a large pan, mix sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon and nutmeg. Add salt and water and mix well. Bring to a boil and cook until thick and bubbly. Remove from heat and add lemon juice.
2. Sterilize canning jars, lids and rings by boiling them in a large pot of water.
3. Peel, core, and slice apples. Pack the sliced apples into hot canning jars, leaving a 1/2 inch headspace.
4. Fill jars with hot syrup, and gently remove air bubbles with a knife.
5. Put lids on and process in a water bath canner for 20 minutes.

Squash Apple Soup from Barefoot Contessa

Ingredients

nocoupons

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons good olive oil
• 4 cups chopped yellow onions (3 large)
• 2 tablespoons mild curry powder
• 5 pounds butternut squash (2 large)
• 1 1/2 pounds sweet apples, such as McIntosh (4 apples)
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 cups water
• 2 cups good apple cider or juice

Directions

Warm the butter, olive oil, onions, and curry powder in a large stockpot uncovered over low heat for 15 to 20 minutes, until the onions are tender. Stir occasionally, scraping the bottom of the pot.

Peel the squash, cut in half, and remove the seeds. Cut the squash into chunks. Peel, quarter, and core the apples. Cut into chunks.

Add the squash, apples, salt, pepper, and 2 cups of water to the pot. Bring to a boil, cover, and cook over low heat for 30 to 40 minutes, until the squash and apples are very soft. Process the soup through a food mill fitted with a large blade, or puree it coarsely in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade.

Pour the soup back into the pot. Add the apple cider or juice and enough water to make the soup the consistency you like; it should be slightly sweet and quite thick. Check the salt and pepper and serve hot.

Baked Squash with Apples

Ingredients:

1 med. butternut squash
3 med. baking apples
1/2 c. brown sugar*
1/4 c. melted butter*
1 tbsp. flour
1 tsp. cinnamon

Peel, core, and cut apples into chunks/slices. Peel and cut squash into similar sized slices (if anything thinner than the apples). Layer apples and squash in 2 quart casserole. Pour mixture (last four ingredients above) over apples and squash. Cover dish with foil. Bake 50 minutes in 350 degree oven.

*You can get away with less...