Celebrating Apples in the Midwest

Happy Thursday!
Sorry this didn't get posted yesterday, I've been quite sick the past few days; nonetheless, the show must go on.

September 26, which was actually yesterday, was Johnny Appleseed's birthday. He was born in 1774 in Leominster, Massachusetts, as John Chapman. He worked as an apprentice at an apple orchard in Pennsylvania and began collecting apple seeds. After 1800 he traveled west towards the Ohio River valley, planting seeds along the way. He planted over 1,200 acres of apple trees all across Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. He died in Fort Wayne, Indiana, on March 18, 1845.

The 39th Annual Johnny Appleseed Festival was last weekend in Fort Wayne at the Johnny Appleseed Park and Municipal Campground. There was some commotion this year at the festival from PETA supporters. PETA asked the festival to take all meat products off their menu since Johnny was a vegetarian and reknown lover of all animals. With the festival only a few weeks away there wasn't much that could be changed in such a short amount of time. Bridget Kelly, spokeswoman for the festival, said the board would consider adding vegetarian dishes to the menu for next year; however, meats will stay on the menu.

What do you think of making the festivals go vegetarian?

Even though the Fort Wayne festival is over, here are some other cities with Johnny Appleseed festivals coming up soon:

• Saturday, September 29th 9a.m. - 5p.m.: 19th Annual Johnny Appleseed Festival in Leominster, Massachusetts 
• Saturday, September 29th 9a.m. - 4p.m.: 2012 Johnny Appleseed Festival in Crystal Lake, Illinois

In celebration of Johnny Appleseed's birthday, I decided to make mini apple pies. This is a recipe of my own made up of a few other ones I've found. I took the best from each and created what I think is extemely delicious. This recipe makes 12 little pies. Let me know what you think of it- I'm always looking to improve on my recipes.

Homemade pie crust
-6 tbsp melted butter
-1 whole package of cinnamon graham crackers
-1/4 cup sugar

• Set the oven to 350*. I used a potato smasher and broke up all the graham crackers. Then combine the sugar and butter into the same bowl and mix it all until the graham crackers are pretty
• The place the mixture into a muffin pan, spray if not greased, and push the crust up against the sides with the back of a spoon.

• Put the pie crusts into the oven for about five minutes just to firm them up a bit.

Apple pie filling
-2-3 granny smith apples
-2 cups sugar
-1 tsp vanilla extract
-1-2 cups brown sugar [for topping when finished]

• Cut the apples into small diced pieces and mix it with the vanilla extract and sugar.

• Put the mixture inside the pie crusts.

• Cook for about 12 minutes, or until the apples start carmelizing.
• Sprinkle brown sugar over the pie.

I served mine with vanilla icecream, but it taste just as good without it!