Cooking and Apple Picking. WHAT?

I am not a good cook. But in my defense, I didn’t have a great role model! Now, I love my mother, and when we were young, she cooked dinner every night for the family, but it wasn’t very good. The funny thing is, we didn’t realize how bad her cooking was this until we were much older and had some great home cooking! (See how bewildered we both look in the picture? And I was only 8 years old there!) And now, since she lives alone, the only cooking she does is maybe pasta or hard boiled eggs. Things that involve water! In fact, her oven is actually a storage area. I’m not even sure it works!

But, the one thing she made that she is still known for today (even if she hasn’t made it in 20 years or so) is her homemade applesauce. I can still taste it now! It was passed down from her mother to her and then to us girls.

So why am I thinking of this now? Because we went apple picking this past weekend, and the only apples available this time of year were Honeycrisp (which are fabulous by the way!) and Jonathon apples. As far as I know, the only thing I know about Jonathon is that they are what Mom used when she made applesauce.

So off I went to my sister’s house to get the recipe and Mom’s old food mill. (Do they still sell these things? It creaks and groans when I turn it!) I haven’t made it yet, so I can’t tell you how it turned out. My sister said it’s easy to make but Mom always made such a big deal about how difficult it was, so who should I believe? (It reminds me of that commercial where the mom was making Rice Krispie Treats and wanted her family to think she went to SO much trouble for them!)

So wish me luck! If it turns out okay and Mom agrees, I’ll share the recipe with you!

Karen