The Forgotten

Normally, I eat one apple a day --sometimes even two. I buy mine by the boxes because I go through them like a hungry termite on wood. While I was tidying up the kitchen, I moved a box of apples to a corner of the room I rarely visit, with full intention of putting it back into place after I finished scrubbing the tile floor. It didn't take long for me to forget about it as I stacked more boxes of stock foods on top of my beloved apples. That's how it inadvertently became forgotten.
So I was cleaning again recently, and finally took notice of the stack of boxes in that one neglected corner of the kitchen. And there at the bottom of the pyramid was the word "Fuji" printed on that forgotten box. What a splendid surprise it was to discover my neglect, on a week I skipped a trip to the market. I felt like I owed it to these apples to consume them in a specialized manner. With vanilla ice cream in the freezer, I immediately knew how I would reward these patient apples (and myself for finding them).

Warm Apple Crisp

Ingredients:
3 lbs. tart apples
2 tb. lemon juice
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated white sugar
1/3 cup rolled oats
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/3 cup flour
4 tbs. unsalted butter, cold
1/2 cup chopped nuts (I used walnuts)

Directions:
Pre-heat the oven to 375 degress [F]. Peel, core, and slice apples. Toss them in lemon juice to prevent color change. Combine brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and toss mixture with apples. In another bowl, combine flour, white sugar, oats, and butter. Stir in nuts.
Spread apples onto a buttered baking dish (10x10). Sprinkle flour mixture on top of apples liberally. Bake at 375 for 30-45 minutes until apples are tender and topping is lightly browned. Serve with whipped topping or vanilla ice cream.

This post makes me sound like the clean freak I'm actually not. But you gotta do, what you gotta do, when guests are coming over. They'll never know how I really live.