One Final CARE Package

This is a waaaaaaaay backlogged entry...actually part of my efforts to bring 'Taste of Home' to Hubs during his deployment. 

Taking place in perhaps his most liked season of all, my mission was to send thoughts of beautiful colors, sweet smells, and the cooling air.

Identifiers of Fall...

The Sugar Maples' leaves transform into a rainbow of colors and their sweet smell fills the chilled air...

and there is a bountiful supply of Apples. 

Delicious, crisp and freshly picked.
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Hubs a sucker for fresh homemade apple pie and so over the years I have learned that when fall arrives, so must the Apple Pies.

It has taken a few years, but I've now mastered my very own recipe for homemade pie crust.  A combination of recipes from Joy (of Cooking) and an experienced eye.
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As important as the crust is the filling...

My mother swears by Cortlands and my in-laws are fans of Honeycrisps.

 

As for us?  We go with what looks the best and for this year the in-laws pick made it to the kitchen.

However, the memory of my mother's sweet seasonings always wins this annual ritual.  I am not sure that I even use the same combination/ratio of spices-to-sugar-to-apple as her, but the entrancing smell of mixing the apples brings me back to her apple pies.

Sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice...simple I know, but delicious...heck yeah!

The motions of creating dough, rolling dough, mixing the filling and putting it all together for me these days now equals Hubs. 

When I make pies, he is the one who eats them...for breakfast, for dessert, it doesn't matter...He LOVES homemade apple pie.

So what was I to do this year?  I decided I needed to make one, just to embrace the season and keep my skills sharp. 

The intention was that this one would go to my father.

But there was extra pie crust...

so I made this one for Hubs :)

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If I was bringing pie to Dad, I couldn't leave Mom out...so I also made some Pecan Fingers (with some set aside for Hubs of course).

The final touch to the package utilized my own fresh grown jalapeno...

Round II for homemade Beef Jerky!

The Korean Touch (Kalbi inspired marinade)

And a little Mexican spice...jalapeno & beer!

Everything was packaged up...

Using my cool new vacuum sealer.

There was even a bag big enough for this large, mini pie!

Everything made it to Hubs as 'fresh' as could be.  No dryer sheet flavored jerky this time around!

Needless to say he loved it...which was followed by a request to not send anymore food, cause I was going to make him fat haha!!

Love from home...priceless  =o)