Day-cation: Mercier Orchards

Fall is definitely in the air! With Thanksgiving right around the corner, a trip to North Georgia to pick apples is a must. 

My grandmother, mom and I made the two and a half hour trek to Blue Ridge last Friday. We ate lunch at the L&L Beanery Coffee Cafe and shopped around some of the afternoon in the downtown area.

My favorite shop we stopped in was Fezziwigs! I have an obsession affinity to Christmas - especially ornaments. You can ask my husband. I dragged him into EVERY Christmas shop in Disney World when we were on our honeymoon. I came home with two Disney ornaments and a Grinch ornament from Universal Studios. Also, I remind husband at least once a day that Christmas is coming in less than two months and I'm SOOOOO excited! Using superhero-strength will power, I resisted the urge to buy an ornament in Blue Ridge, but thoroughly enjoyed roaming between decorated Christmas trees and advent calendars. 

After seeing all downtown Blue Ridge and Fezziwigs had to offer, we ventured to Mercier Orchards.

We picked two bags stuffed full of Braeburn, Cameo and Pink Lady apples. I had to jump to reach many of the apples. For my mom, there was no hope in getting the higher up apples - she's shorter than I am. 

After victoriously collecting two bags of apples and nabbing a round pumpkin, we explored the orchard's store. We tried a muscadine slushy that I absolutely fell in love with! In the end, the back of our car was loaded down with apples, a pumpkin, two jugs of apple cider and two fried pies (which R.J. and I devoured before bed that night).

After wrapping up at the orchard, we drove over the Smith House in Dahlonega to eat. The Smith House serves Southern cuisine, but not in your typical restaurant-style seating. At the Smith House, you are seated at a large dinner table with other diners to eat. While it is a little bit on the pricey side, the food is good. My grandmother has decided their green beans were the best she's ever eaten. That's saying something because my grandma has had her fair share of green beans!

Now then, I said I was planning on turning my apples from the orchard into an upside-down apple pie. Sadly, I couldn't find the time (or the ingredients for that matter) to make the pie this time around. However, I did manage to whip up some delicious apple sauce! The best part about making apple sauce is 1) takes very ingredients and 2) takes no time to make. 

You ready for my recipe? I combined a few I found on Pinterest and made it my own!

Ingredients:

Six apples

A lemon

1/2 brown sugar

1 tsp. of cinnamon 

1/2 cup of water

Cut your six apples with an apple slicer and then quarter each slice. This is what will take you the longest to do. I didn't peel my apples either. Personally, I love the skin on them so I left them! However, you can certainly peel it off if that's what you'd prefer.

Of course, I had to peel some of the slices for Bentley. He loves apples - not to mention he's a good helper and that must be rewarded!

 

Put your quartered apples into a medium saucepan with the water, juice of a whole lemon, cinnamon and brown sugar. Stir it together to make sure each of the apple quarters are equally covered with lemon, sugar and cinnamon. Then, put your saucepan on low to medium heat and leave it WITH THE COVER ON for 45 minutes. 

Oh! And don't get so excited about making your applesauce that you forget to de-seed the lemon before you squeeze it over the apples. Oppsy!

After 45 minutes or until your apples are tender, mush the apples with a spoon and stir. TA-DA! You've got one good smelling kitchen and some scrumptious apple sauce. 

Now then, I've had some questions about when my post-wedding extravaganza will be gracing the blogosphere. To that, I can't give you a specific date, but I can tell you that I've been working steadily on getting the wedding scrapbook done. Thus, it should be soon! Yay!

See you Friday!

Miranda