The apricot doesn't fall far from the tree but it might get some distance if a squirrel chucks it.

There is nothing better than a home grown delight.  The usual issue with whatever homegrown treat is harvested is the fact that it is all ready at once and there is almost always way more than anyone ever knows what to do with.  Have this dilemma?  Give them to me.  It's a great solution.  Ask my parents.  They just gave me 20 pounds of apricots from their apricot tree to keep them from the squirrels.  20 pounds.  That was 4 days ago.  Want to know how many currently remain in raw form? 10 little apricots that fit into a bowl.  

It is a good thing I find cutting therapeutic, because a lot of slicing and dicing needed to happen to utilize that many apricots.  A. Lot. Mucho mucho a lot.  With that pesky pit in the middle that was taunting me and reminding me that I couldn't slide the knife all the way through in one smooth motion.  I had to keep reminding myself that the deliciousness in the end would be worth it.

One colander full of 18 cups of apricots later?  It was time to play.

We began with an apricot stir fry sauce.  I am not linking the recipe because after making it, it was bitter and we had to add so much brown sugar just to make it bearable.  Oh well.  Failure happens sometimes. That's why God invented sugar.  It may look all cute and innocent in the mason jar but don't be fooled and don't repeat. 

Next was a chutney.  This is for the refined palette.  It's a pinkie up kinda thing.  It's also a deeeeelicious kinda thing.  Yum Yum Yum!  Again in a mason jar because there is something about a mason jar that makes whatever you put in it 10 times cooler.  This is true for most things, although I don't think it would work for mullets or people who wear socks with sandals (if there were a mason jar big enough then maybe but not likely). 

Fruit salsa.  To dip with a chip or my preferred method: digging in with a honkin' spoon and hoping your bite has plenty of that habanero pepper.  Love me some spice! 

Of course this ode to apricot would not be complete without an apricot butter.  Not butter with diced apricot mixed in (although there are a million recipes for that) but a sweet and savory slow-cooked mass of apricots with cinnamon that will make you melt.  That, my friends, is apricot butter and that, my friends, you must try. 

Finally? An apricot crisp.  They called it a breakfast apricot crisp and put yogurt on top of it.  I argue it to be dessert still. It was sweet.  Really sweet.  But if they are going to give it that title, I might as well eat it for breakfast.  Can someone please make a breakfast ice cream sundae recipe so I can justify that too?

And so ended my apricot adventure.  Or so I thought until I called my mom and said more apricots had just fallen from the tree... Time to research!  Hmmm what to make next...

"For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and then bread to eat. In the same way, he will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you." 2 Corinthians 9:10