Autumn's Here! Carol's Apple Crisp



Me with Memo - 6 weeks old and Stephen on the shore of
Lake Ontario, NY

After living most of their lives in and about the New York metropolitan area, my dad took a job as Superintendent of Schools in Barker, NY. It is up along the fruit belt of New York south of Lake Ontario and between Buffalo and Rochester.....very cold country! They bought a farm and became part time farmers. They rented the land for cattle grazing. Got fresh milk from the farm down the street. Picked apples, pears, peaches and other fruits from local groves. And created a huge garden they tended to ...so did we if we were around!

Memo was 1 1/2 years old the first time he visited the farm. He loved Popie's tractor and watching the cows. Liz arrived at 5 weeks to visit the farm. We spend one Christmas there and got hit with about 4 ft of snow. The kids first time being in snow!

During that visit, I remember putting our clothes in a drawer in my old dresser upon arrival. One evening I went to grab something out of the drawer and a mouse surprised me!!! I screamed and shut the drawer. My brother, Stephen grabbed the drawer and took it downstairs and out the back door and dumped the contents of the drawer onto the open back porch. The mouse took off and ran around the side of the porch and into a crack under the basement door! That mouse was no dummy! He was not going to be outside in 10* below zero and 4 ft of snow. I put my things back into my suitcase and zipped it up from then on!



The farmhouse in Barker, NY



Carol's Apple Crisp:

Peel 6 apples - preferably Macintosh, Granny's or Braeburn - dice

1 cup flour

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

3/4 tsp salt

1 egg

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 cup butter

1/4 cup sugar & 1 tsp cinnamon

Peel and dice the apples and place in a greased casserole dish. Mix together the flour, brown sugar, salt, egg and cinnamon. Sprinkle the mixture over the apples. Melt the butter and pour over the entire mixture. Then sprinkle with sugar/cinnamon mixture over entire casserole dish.

Bake 350* for 1 hour.

Serve with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream or both!!



Popie on the tractor moving piles of snow!



Stephanie's Zucchini Bread - tis the season!



Memo and Liz - photo taken while living in
N. Tonawanda, NY in 1982. Memo was 9 years
old and Liz was 5 years old.



I lived in Mexico 10 years, 8 years in Mexico City and 2 years in Monterrey, Mexico. After about the third peso/dollar devaluation. We decided we would NEVER be able to buy a home or afford to live the way we wanted to. So Jorge, Memo, Liz, two dogs and I moved to New York. We drove a U-Haul cross country and stayed with my parents for about 5 weeks. Jorge had been offered a job with a business consultant doing the computer installations in school districts and municipalities for his company. He office was in the Buffalo area so rented a large colonial in North Tonawanda, NY. 

Almost immediately, Jorge started traveling when the company won a large contract with Sullivan County and then an even larger one in Bellport School District on Long Island, NY. During the time of his travel, I depended on neighbors for help with the kids. I was substitute teaching at the time. Joan Reilly was the neighbor to our right and had 6 kids!  

Joan was very family oriented and with 6 kids on a tight budget, she cooked a lot! One day she invited me over and offered me a taste of her zucchini bread. It was delicious! I asked her for the recipe and she gave it to me but I have somehow lost it! The difference between her zucchini bread and most others is that she uses crushed pineapple! So after much experimentation, I discover my recipe using zucchini and crushed pineapple that cooks well and taste delicious!!

Zucchini Bread: (This recipe makes 2 loaves to share or freeze one!)

3 cups shredded zucchini - leave the skin on but wash

3 eggs

1 cup vegetable oil

2 cups sugar

1 16oz can of crushed pineapple

3 cups flour

2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp salt

1 tsp ground nutmeg

1 cup raisins

Mix all the wet ingredients together then mix the dry ingredients and slowly hand mix them together adding the dry into the wet. Do not use a mixer as it disintegrates the zucchini, pineapple and raisins.

Grease 2 loaf pans - you could use a large 9" by 13" rectangular cake sheet and cut into squares.

Cook at 350* for 50-60 minutes. For high altitude add 1/4 more flour. For convection oven, cook only about 40-45 minutes.