Crockpot Applesauce Recipe

Tags

applesauce, Autumn, crockpot recipe, fall, orchard

Happy Fall Y’all! While I love Autumn, I never hurry the end of Summer with it’s sunshine and warm days. I relish football and boots and sweaters and hot drinks and leaves and especially Halloween, but I don’t look forward to the cold and snow of Winter. Decorating for Halloween started to get me in the spirit, but last weekend I really got into the spirit of the season.

After visiting The Children’s Museum Guild’s annual haunted house, we braved the misty weather to visit Tuttle Orchard and pick some apples.  Actually, we picked a lot of apples – filling two wagons. I made an apple pie and some apple chips, and EW has been eating apples like they are going out of style, but most of the apples will be turned into applesauce which we will stock our freezer with for the year. I already have lots of blueberries in the freezer; this weekend, I also loaded it with a quarter hog and six large jars of butternut squash soup (my two squashes were so large I had to add a lot of broth and milk). I guess part of Fall is preparing for hibernation.

Crockpot Applesauce

Makes 5-6 jars which can be frozen

1. Peel as many apples as you need to fill your crockpot (or less if you don’t want to make so much)
2. Sprinkle in cinnamon and nutmeg – approximately 1T cinnamon and 1t nutmeg
3. Cook on low for 10-12 hours, depending on how chunky you might want it
4. Enjoy your applesauce warm or jar and freeze. Defrost frozen applesauce in the refrigerator.

Haunted House Decoration Ideas from The Children’s Museum

Tags

Halloween, haunted house, pool noodles

Of course, decorating for Christmas is always special and full of magic and memories, but decorating for Halloween is probably my second favorite. Not everyone wants a skeleton hanging from their chandelier, but I love it! I was pretty excited to find some easy crafts that anyone could use to decorate their own home or a haunted house when previewing The Children’s Museum Guild’s 51st Annual Haunted House: Creepy Carnival. The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis does such a great job decorating for holidays, but many of their fabulous decorations would be difficult to reproduce.

I may have to borrow the idea of hanging a spooky table cloth over lights for my family room. I really like the look of this one, but I like the rough edges on the ones the Museum Guild Witches used. 

What can’t you do with pool noodles? Hang several from the ceiling and you have a disorienting maze to push through.

“Creepy Carnival is the perfect combination of creepy and colorful. We are excited about staying true to an ‘old time’ authentic carnival and offering a thrilling and chilling experience for children of all ages,” said Haunted House Head Witch Kristin Crisp. There are three ways to enjoy the Creep Carnival:

1. IPL’s LIghts-On Hours for children who scare easily
2. Defender Direct’s Frightening Hours with the lights off for children who dare to be scared
3. William’s Comfort Air’s Xtreme Scream late nights for teens, adult, and brave tweens.

Get times and ticket information here. Don’t forget to check out Bat Encounter when visiting the museum. You might want to sign up for the Black Hat Bash or Black Hat Dash too. The Children’s Museum is offering so many ways to get your kids in on the fun and frights of Halloween.

 

My family and I were invited to a free preview of The Children’s Museum Guild’s 51st Annual Haunted House.

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