I’m excited to be back after several months of “lockdown.”   I’m not exactly sure why I wasn’t able to bring myself to blog during this period.  I wasn’t able to focus on much of anything other than the tragic and very frightening matter at hand.  Food was no longer enjoyable to me.  Just like you, I was spending all my time procuring food in as safe a manner as possible.  This wasn’t easy, and still isn’t for some of us.

Looking back now, I treasure the trips to friends’ houses, sharing food.  We either bought too much of something or couldn’t find something that we “desperately” needed.  A food drop-off at a friend’s might mean you brought them some sweet potatoes and onions, and you returned home with a packet of yeast, some flour and a roll of toilet paper.  I love how we shared.  And of course, I love how we shared recipes.  “What am I going to do with all these cucumbers?” I’d ask, and before I knew it, someone sent me a recipe for cucumber soup or cucumber salad.   “What are you making for dinner tonight?” we’d question, waiting to hear some exotic recipe that you now had to make.    And the baking!!!  Well we couldn’t let those apples go bad…..or the bananas….or all those chocolate chips we bought!!  And now that we had flour and yeast, we had to bake some bread!

Food brought us together.  Where to get it?  How to cook it?  I loved the SOS phone calls from friends who never cook, now desperate to learn.  Listening to their worries about how they would feed their families 7 nights a week was heartwarming.  Food heals, and food would heal their families.   Of this they were determined.  We would keep our loved ones safe through lovingly making meals night after night.  (Okay, some nights not so lovingly).

All this is so very endearing to me now.  It conjured up memories of my childhood, and the neighborly way my mom and her friends had the time to talk about food in this manner.  The childhood aroma of something always baking in the oven came back to me now, as I used up those apples and bananas, and we needed the comfort of some home baked bread.

I know we certainly aren’t out of the woods just yet, and life will be different for a while, but I’m now finding some comfort within these memories.  I’m hoping we hold on to the bonds we’ve formed and tightened from this experience for a long time.  There is something beautiful to be found amidst all this.  I hope I’ll continue to drive 25 minutes to pick up some blueberries and a recipe from my daughter and stay for a chat…….because we have the time……..

Here is a recipe she shared with me when we were both overcome with too many blueberries and our apples were starting to go bad.

RECIPE

1   Pillsbury frozen pie crust, defrosted as direct….or certainly your own homemade crust.

FILLING:

4 cups sliced peeled apples (approx. 4 medium apples)

2 cups fresh blueberried

3/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 TBSP lemon juice

TOPPING:

1 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

1/3 cup butter, softened

1.  Place sheet of foil on rack below middle oven rack to catch drips (essential!).  Heat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Place pie crust in 9 inch glass pie pan.
3. In a large bowl, mix filling ingredients and set aside.
4. In a medium bowl, mix fruit topping ingredients with fork until crumbly.
5. Spoon fruit into crust-lined pan,  Spoon topping evenly over fruit.  It may appear to be piled high, but it falls as it bakes.
6. Place pie on middle oven rack over the foil.
7. After 20 minutes, cover the entire pie loosely with aluminum foil to prevent excessive  browning.  Bake another 40 to 50 minutes.  Apples should be tender and filling bubbling a bit around the edges.
8. Cool 2 hours.  It’s delicious warm or cold!