The first year we moved into our home, we mapped out our yard and what we wanted to do with it. We knew we wanted fruit trees and one of our friends sells trees. He had a Jonathan apple tree that had not sold yet he and gave it to us for free. It was not a very healthy tree, but it was worth a try to plant it and see how it did! Since Jonathon apples are more of a baking apple than a snacking apple, we planned to buy a different type of apple tree to plant as well in the future.
This tree we originally planted died, but a sapling grew up and we nursed that tree to life! That was fun to see the progress of its growth. Now it is a fully grown, beautiful tree and it produces apples each year. We make apple crisp with them, and here is a great simple recipe.
6 apples, peeled, cored and sliced
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 c sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 nutmeg
1 c all purpose flour
1 c rolled oats
3/4 c packed brown sugar
1/2 c butter, chilled and diced
1/4 tsp salt
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
In a large bowl, combine apples, lemon juice, sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg
Spread mixture evenly in a greased 9×13 inch baking pan
In a separate bowl, combine flour, oats, brown sugar and salt
Add butter to flour mixture and mix until the texture is coarse crumbs
Sprinkle crumb mixture over apples mixture
Bake for 45/50 minutes until golden brown
Serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream!