WOW!  My daughter, Cedi turned FIVE today!  I can’t believe that she’s already FIVE!  Before I get into all saga of all the adventures she had for her birthday I thought we’d take a look back at some photo’s…

Click HERE to read the story of Mercedi Rose’s Birth.Cedi – right before I went to the hospital.November 29th, 5:30pm Mercedi Rose Lapacek was born weighing in at 6lbs 13 oz and measuring 20-inches long.

photo by Friends in Photography

Mercedi Rose – 5 years old (well…almost 5 in this photo…)

Cedi and Me on her 3rd Birthday.    Me and Cedi on her 4th Birthday. Me and Cedi on her 5th birthday.

We are so blessed to have Mercedi.  She is a wonderful little, pistol of a girl.  I’m pretty sure she got her stubbornness from her papa ;).  She’s a smart little girl that likes everything just perfect (and I know she didn’t get that from me!).  I love seeing the excitement when she discovers something new that she can do and the things she imagines up for her and Capri to pretend never cease to amaze me.  She’s an absolute sweet heart to Persimoni and calls her ‘Bibble’.  Monkey bars are no obstacle for this girl.  She came home with bleeding blisters on her hands once she learned she could do them and we had to keep her off for a few days.  As soon as her hands slightly started to heal – she was back up there.  I could go on and on but really – she’s truly a magical little girl.

Now…enough gushing about Cedi – what did we do to celebrate her birthday!?

We did so much for Cedi’s birthday that I’ll just give you some sneak peaks at it tonight and I’ll show more pictures later.  It was lots of fun but I think next year – we’re going to go to a movie and have a quiet birthday.  I may have planned TOO much fun into a few days…

Cedi’s birthday celebration all started on Thanksgiving at my parents.  She had cake and opened some presents from her grandparents and Uncle Brian.  On Sunday night, we headed over to Frank’s parents for a celebration there as well!Yesterday, I took Cedi to get her ears pierced.  She did really good – no tears, no whimpers – just a brave little girl.  We then came home and had cake with some friends and opened her presents from us and her sisters.  It was a very nice night and probably would have been fine to end it there. 

But…I didn’t.Cedi had her first day as a 5 year old 4K-er this morning.I brought her birthday treat in towards the end of the day so the kids could take their caramel apples home with them to enjoy. Then, it was off to Cedi’s (and Capri and Pip’s) first visit to Chuck E Cheese.  They had lots of fun with their daycare friends! Our next stop was at The Glitter Workshop for the Tuesday Make ‘n’ Take Night of decorating Christmas Cookies!Both of the girls (and me) had LOTS of fun with this adventure!  It was great that all the hard work was done for us and we could just have fun with the decorating.

And to end the night we headed to the Melting Pot for some chocolate fondue dessert.  Whew…what a birthday!

Now, I have to remember – a movie and cake will be just fine for Birthday 6! 

My favorite thing I ever read on how to describe the Golden Delicious was, “NOT a Red Delicious.”  I think a lot of people tend to group Golden Delicious with the Red and don’t give them the chance they deserve.  Golden Delicious are sweet, juicy and crisp.  They are great for fresh eating and for pies.  They tend to hold their shape when cooked. 
These are a really good apple and we still have plenty.  Either stop in on Saturday’s from 9 until Noon or give us a call to schedule a pick up time.
I was not disappointed with my Golden Delicious Sauce.  It had a great sweet flavor with just a touch of tart.  They held their shape pretty well – they look pretty mushed down but I cooked them for a good 4 hours in my crock pot so they should be!  Definitely a decent apple for sauce.

Past apple tests:

• McIntosh
  
• Gala
  
• Tolman Sweet
  
• NW Greening
  
• Granny Smith
  
• Jonathan
  
• Baker’s Mix – October
  
• Valstar
  
• Jonagold
  
• Fuji
  
• Fireside

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!  We wanted to wish you all a safe and joyous day with family and friends!

In honor of Thanksgiving this year I went around and asked the family to let me know what they were thankful for this year.  Here’s what I was told:

 

Pip: “Wha”

Capri: “Mommy & Pops, Shaun, play set, friends, sisters, blocks, teeth, hair, and eyes"

Mercedi: “Mommy & Daddy, food & my friends & my kitties & my dogs & my sisters & my new playground & Shaun.”

Jared: “I am thankful for a good apple season, great family and stuff.”

Frank:  “Good health, a successful harvest and gracious customers.”

Diane: “Our wonderful family and the amazing customers who made this another great season.”

Me (Kim):  Wow – when I have to think back about what I’m thankful for this year…my list gets pretty long.

I’m thankful for my amazing husband who is so understanding, loving and supportive in everything I do.

I’m thankful for Mercedi who surprises and amazes me everyday with what she absorbs, learns, remembers, and achieves.

I’m thankful for my sweet Capri who has the tenderness heart and kindest smile and amazing imagination.

I’m thankful for my beautiful, healthy, happy new baby Persimoni.  Her joy and beauty brightens my every day.

I’m thankful for all the family and friends who have supported us through a new baby this year AND through another successful apple season.  We could never accomplish what we do without them.

I’m thankful for all the apple lovers out there – if it weren’t for you all, our lives would be completely different.

 

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  I hope you take some time to look back and reflect on all you have to be thankful for this past year.  My list could go on and on…but I need to get to my mom’s to see family and munch on some delicious food!

Baked Buttercup Squash and Apples

Sun Prairie Farmer’s Market

 

1 small buttercup squash, sliced

2 apples, peeled and sliced

1/4 c. butter

1/2 c. brown sugar

1 T. flour

1 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

 

Place squash and apples in flat baking dish.  Blend other ingredients together and sprinkle over apples and squashed.  Cover with foil and bake at 350-degrees for 50 minutes.  Uncover the last few minutes to brown. 

I think this recipe could fall in the ‘dessert’ or ‘appetizer’ category.  Definitely something fun to munch on as we watch the Packer’s kick some butt!

Scalloped Apples

Karma Lapacek

 

6 medium apples

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

1 T. lemon juice

1/4 c. water

3/4 c. brown sugar

1/4 c. flour

1/3 c. butter

Preheat oven to 400-degrees.  Pare, core and slice apples.  Place in buttered shallow casserole dish.  Combine spices, lemon juice and water.  Pour over apples.  Work sugar, flour and butter together until crumb-like consistency.  Sprinkle over apples.  Bake at 400-degrees for 30 minutes.

 

FINAL WEEK HOURS ***EXTENDED***!
Tues, Nov 22nd - Wed, Nov 23rd: Noon to 6pm

Saturdays – 9 to NOON

I'm also going to continue to post great recipe's for your Thanksgiving meal on my blog for the rest of the days leading up to Thanksgiving so be sure to keep an eye on it!

This yummy recipe would be great either as an appetizer OR as an additional dessert!

Quick Apple Dumplings

Kathryn Lapacek

 

2 large apples, peel, core & cut each apple into 8 wedges

2 tubes crescent rolls, divided into 16 crescents

1/2 c. butter

1 c. sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 can Mountain Dew

 

Wrap 1 apple wedge in each crescent, beginning at the narrow end.  Place in a 9 x 13 pan.  Melt butter, add sugar and cinnamon, stir well.   Pour over dumplings in pan.  Pour soda over top.  Bake 45 minutes at 350-degrees.

 

NOTE: Serve warm or cold, with or without whipped cream or ice cream.

 

FINAL WEEK HOURS ***EXTENDED***!
Mon, Nov 21st - Wed, Nov 23rd: Noon to 6pm

Saturdays – 9 to NOON

I'm also going to continue to post great recipe's for your Thanksgiving meal on my blog for the rest of the days leading up to Thanksgiving so be sure to keep an eye on it!

Happy Sunday everyone!   Here are some fabulous recipes you can add to your Thanksgiving menu if you want!  AND I have bolded all the ingredients that you can find at Lapacek's Orchard during our Extended Hours for our last week open of the 2011 Apple Season. 

A Thankgiving Feast using Produce from Lapacek’s Orchard

I’m going to assume you all know how to cook the main portion of your Thankgiving Feast – the Turkey so I’m going to just give you some appetizer, side dish, dessert and drink ideas to help create a meal to remember!   All of these great recipes can be found in our Farm Fresh Recipe Cookbook - stop by the store to get your own copy or you can purchase it from my etsy shop HERE. 

Appetizers
Pumpkin Cheese Ball
Betsy Meeuwsen

1 (8 oz) pkg. cream cheese, softened
½ c. pureed pumpkin
1 (8-oz) can crushed pineapple, well-drained
2 c. shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1 pkg. (2 ½ oz) dried beef, finely chopped
1 T. finely chopped onion
celery leaves
crackers and/or raw veggies
In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, pumpkin and pineapple.  Stir in cheddar cheese, beef and onion.  Shape into a ball; place on a serving platter.  Score sides with a knife to resemble a pumpkin and add celery leaves for as tem.  Serve with crackers and/or raw veggies.

Apple Raisin Loaves
Linda Finn
3 eggs
1 ½ c. vegetable oil
1 ½ c. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
3 ½ c. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. cloves
2/3 c. chopped nuts
2/3 c. raisins
2 c. chopped, un-pared apples
Beat eggs, oil, sugar and vanilla.  Add dry ingredients alternately with nuts, raisins and apples.  Stir until mixed, do not over beat.  Pour batter into greased loaf pans.  Bake at 350-degrees for 55-60 minutes. 

Side Dish
Maple Roasted Acorn Squash
Kerry Blondheim

6 acorn squash (about 1 lb each)
1/3 c. Hedmark’s maple syrup
2 T. extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp. kosher salt
½ tsp. freshly ground black pepper
Cooking spray
Preheat oven to 425-degrees.  Cut squash in half lengthwise.  Discard seeds and membranes.  Cut each half crosswise into 1-inch slices and peel.  Combine syrup, oil, salt and pepper in a large bowl, stirring well.  Add squash and toss to coat.  Place squash in a 13x9 inch baking dish coated with cooking spray.  Bake 25 minutes or until tender, stirring every 10 minutes.  Yields 9 servings. 

Dessert
Kelly’s Favorite Apple Pie
Kim Lapacek

1/3 c. sugar
3 T. flour
½ tsp. cinnamon
¼ tsp. nutmeg
2 T. brown sugar
¼ tsp. allspice
6 c. apples - sliced (recommend our Baker's Mix)
1 pkg. Pillsbury rolled pie crust
1 pinch sugar
1 pinch cinnamon

Mix sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, brown sugar and allspice together.  Mix in apples until they are evenly covered with dry mixture.  Put the mixture into the Pillsbury crust.  Put second crust on top and pinch sides together.  Cut slits in the top of the pie (I like to make my slits look like a tree).  Sprinkle a pinch of cinnamon and sugar over the top of the crust.  Bake 50 minutes at 425-degrees.  Cover the edges with foil for the last 10 minutes if top browns too quickly.

Hot Drink
Hot Pirate Cider (must be 21 or older to consume)
Jared Lapacek
1 c. Lapacek’s Apple Cider
1 ½ shot Captain Morgan Spiced Rum
1 cinnamon stick
Microwave cider in coffee mug on high for 1 to 2 minutes or until steaming. Add liquor.  Serve with a cinnamon stick.  Enjoy!

FINAL WEEK HOURS ***EXTENDED***!
Sun, Nov 20th - 10am to 5pm
Mon, Nov 21st - Wed, Nov 23rd: Noon to 6pm

I'm also going to continue to post great recipe's for your Thanksgiving meal on my blog for the rest of the days leading up to Thanksgiving so be sure to keep an eye on it!

Hope you all have a wonderful, safe and Happy Thanksgiving if we don't see you at the store before then!

 

Stop by the orchard today or tomorrow and stock up on Holiday goodies at our 5th Annual Handcrafted Hoedown for the Holidays!

Opening at 9am today…

Here’s a sneak peak…

  

I took a picture of the apple shop yesterday before we started our change over to a craft shop (see above)…  And from the same spot I took a picture post craft shop transformation…it’s going to be a fun sale!

Next up to talk about it the Fireside.  Now, the Fireside’s are big apples and are a bit more tricky to get through my peeler, corer, slicer but I still managed! 
The Fireside is a very large fruit with sweet, pleasant flavor and fine-grained flesh good for fresh eating, salad, and baked apples. Good storage life.
I cooked the apples down in the miniature slow cooker for 3 hours.  It was a sweet, chunky sauce.  I did like it better than the Gala as far as flavor goes.  I thought there was a lot of great flavor at first but it died off.  It was decent but I could see that would add a fantastic sweetness if it were mixed with another apple or two.

Past apple tests:

• McIntosh
  
• Gala
  
• Tolman Sweet
  
• NW Greening
  
• Granny Smith
  
• Jonathan
  
• Baker’s Mix – October
  
• Valstar
  
• Jonagold
  
• Fuji

 

Thank you so much for this lovely plant!  We are honored to have been nominated for the CCEDC Business of the Year Award.

We still have some fantastically sweet and crisp, full flavored Fuji’s in the shop so it was time for me to make them into some sauce!

As you can see in the picture the Fuji’s really kept their shape – in fact – this is a photo after I cooked the Fuji for 4 hours instead of the standard 2 or 3.  It was also super watery.  The flavor was a decently sweet flavor but I had a hard time getting over all that ‘watery’ texture.  Fuji’s were definitely not my favorite apple for saucing.

Past apple tests:

• McIntosh
  
• Gala
  
• Tolman Sweet
  
• NW Greening
  
• Granny Smith
  
• Jonathan
  
• Baker’s Mix – October
  
• Valstar
  
• Jonagold
  

well…technically it’s super early on Saturday..but at least I tried!

Next up on the Sauce-Sational Analysis – the Jonagold.  Jonagold is our apple that people tend to go to once the Honeycrisp sell out.  The Jonagold is firm, crackling, juicy, slightly tart, flesh. Superb, rich, full flavor. Finest dessert and eating quality. Good cooking properties. I did not make the ‘over cooking’ mistake with the Jonagold’s.  I left them in the slow cooker for 2 hours and it made this nice chunky/smooth sauce.  Of all the apples so far I think, singularly – this one is the best.  It had a great tart flavor at first that got sweeter.  It seemed like I was eating a sauce that had a mixture of apples.  The only thing I could say is the tart part was slightly too tart for me…but it was a good sauce.

Past apple tests:

• McIntosh
  
• Gala
  
• Tolman Sweet
  
• NW Greening
  
• Granny Smith
  
• Jonathan
  
• Baker’s Mix – October
  
• Valstar
  

Sorry I haven’t been posting as frequently as I had been.  I was in a beautiful wedding this weekend and it took up a lot of time – and then of course there is catching up on sleep post-wedding as well.
Back to some sauce-analysis.  We’ll move on today to the Valstar. 
The Valstar is one of our newer varieties.  When we plant a new variety we try not to go too overboard in case no one really likes them.  We did not have to worry about that with the Valstar – these have definitely been a customer favorite. 
The Valstar is crisp with a lively flavor that's sweet, yet tangy. Perfect in fruit trays, for snacking and also makes great applesauce.
Like normal, I peeled, cored and sliced up my apples and stuck them into the crock pot.  I cooked these for about about 3 hours and I should have probably cooked them for a little less time.  They had a really good aroma as they could. The sauce would have been chunkier had I not left it in the pot so long.  The sauce starts out with a little sweet flavor but leaves a tart taste in my mouth.  It wasn’t my favorite but I could see that with a little cinnamon or other seasonings added (or other apple varieties) that the Valstar would be a delicious sauce. 

Photo by Friends in Photography

I do have to say that Pip just sucked the Valstar sauce down though.  I have to admit – I don’t think she’s too particular about flavor when she decides what she’ll eat or not.  She pretty much will eat anything we put in her mouth right now.

Past apple tests:

• McIntosh
  
• Gala
  
• Tolman Sweet
  
• NW Greening
  
• Granny Smith
  
• Jonathan
  
• Baker’s Mix - October
  

Inevitably, if you walk into our apple store or stop by our table at a Farmer’s Market and ask us, “What apples make the best sauce,” – we’ll answer ‘Baker’s Mix, of course.’  With all this sauce testing I’ve been doing I decided I probably should try out a baker’s mix to have a true comparison.  I wanted to be sure that our recommendation is truly what I feel makes the best sauce.
So, I grabbed some MacIntosh, Cortland, and Idared apples (which is our current Baker’s Mix – don’t forget this changes throughout the season and even on any given day…you may get more of a variety…it’s whatever we have that’s good for baking!) and brought them to my kitchen to put it to the test.
I peeled, cored, and sliced the apples with my apple machine and turned the crock pot on. You can see in this photo some of the apples mushed – other’s didn’t.  I personally like my sauce with a little texture so this was definitely a thumb’s up for me.
When I tasted this sauce – it made me smile.
It had a fantastic flavor – the perfect blend of sweet and tart.  It was nice to see that our recommendation of Baker’s Mix was spot on. 
Because of this experiment I am finding out what other apples do work in their singular form, but at least so far…nothing has beat the Baker’s Mix.

Past apple tests:

• McIntosh
  
• Gala
  
• Tolman Sweet
  
• NW Greening
  
• Granny Smith
  
• Jonathan
  

On Deck – Valstar, Jonagold, Fireside, Golden Delicious, Fuji, Silken, Honeycrisp

 

Seriously…this looks AMAZING!

We had many disappointed customers when our Jonathan’s sold out extremely fast this year.  There just weren’t many on the trees…not exactly sure why.  But I can tell you – we are planting more Jonathan trees and after making applesauce with them I will definitely keep encouraging Jared to keep the stock up. 
When the guys came in with 10 ‘found’ Jonathan I immediately snatched them up for my applesauce experiment.  I peeled, cored, and sliced five of the apples and cooked them down like normal.It did not take long for them to cook down to a nice, smooth sauce that was wonderful tasting.  I would describe it as a true apple taste – tart, but not too tart.  A really rich applesauce – especially for one with just a single apple in it.

One thing that customers have always told me about Jonathan’s is that if you leave the skins on they make a beautiful pink sauce.
So I took the other five apples and chopped them up – just removing the core and cooked them up.   Again, it wasn’t long before I had this gorgeous pink sauce – seriously – what a rich, beautiful color!  AND, the skins seemed to sweeten the sauce up making it a truly delicious sauce.  Now, if I were to feed this to my baby I would have put it through a food mill, but since we adults munched on it, I just left the skins right in there.  They really weren’t too noticeable.

Past apple tests:

• McIntosh
  
• Gala
  
• Tolman Sweet
  
• NW Greening
  
• Granny Smith