Last weekend I purchased a half peck of Northern Spy apples at the market, first because they're hard to find and second because they're my dad's favorite baking apple. I had limited storage in my refrigerator and needed to do something with these apples quick. Most of them were for pies or apple crisp for the holidays, so at about 7 o'clock that evening, I began the process of peeling and coring all the apples in the basket.

Their scent was so overwhelming it reminded me why they say you should bake an apple pie if you want to sell your house. It's a comforting, welcoming fragrance. It was so enticing that I decided to bake a pie for myself, since - after all -  I was doing all the hard work of peeling and coring- I deserved fresh baked apple pie!

Once my pie was in the oven, I cut up the remaining naked apples into large chunks and tossed with cinnamon and turbinado sugar to freeze for later use. A friend shared a good tip for freezing apples: double bagging them helps avoid leakage when defrosting.  My inventory at the end of the night: 1 large pie baking in the oven for me, 2 quart bags in the freezer for the holidays and about 10 large apples remaining. Wondering what to do with the remaining ten, it hit me: I'd never made applesauce so I decided to give that a try. (I love apple sauce on oatmeal with brown sugar and butter.) Pulling out my great grandmother's tried & true family cookbook I found a simple recipe for applesauce. In a sauce pan take 8-10 cut apples, add approximately ½ cup of water, cook over low heat stirring regularly and adding more water if needed to prevent burning cooking apples until soft. Near the end I added a handfull of sugar for a little sweetness, poured the chunky goodness into sterilized jars that I collected from  pickle and jam purchases opver the summer.

By 9 o'clock when the clean up began, I was disappointed with what remained. I had a brown paper bag filled with apple cores and peels. Then I remembered a tip from Ms. Julie of Ms. Julie's Kitchen that you can juice the cores and peels to use in in smoothies, for baking and salad dressings. I was moved to try a Greek drink I had just read about in Blood, Bones & Butter by Gabrielle Hamilton (a great read, by the way). The drink was made with pureed apple, honey and milk then served over ice. A perfectly refreshing finish to a productive evening!