Sunny day and apple pie

February is typically our dreariest month, full of sub-zero temperatures and cloudy, gray skies. But not today!

Today was not only sunny it was warm (warm being relative in upstate New York). We hit 42 degrees today and there was virtually no wind. 

It was a perfect day to clean the chicken coop. Wait, what? Not snowshoe, or ski, or goof off? Nope, you gotta grab these opportunities when they appear. I use the deep litter method on my coop so by this time of winter it’s getting pretty deep in there. It’s great to have a chance to pull a few layers out and get them into the compost pile. Fresh wood shavings and hay make the coop much more pleasant for everyone.

Once the coop was cleaned (and I’d had a shower) I spent some pleasant time in the kitchen. Last fall my Dad had given me a few bags of orchard apples and I seasoned and froze some for pies. I had one bag left and decided to experiment a bit. I made a bottom crust, par-baked it, filled it with the raw, thawed apples, and topped it with my Grandma’s apple crisp topping. 

 I gotta admit that turned out to be one fantastic pie. I doubt I’ll go back to double crust apple pie ever again.