coming home to apples

We have been back home from our trip to the ocean for over a week, arriving to blazing heat and smoke. What a contrast from balmy sea breezes and the gentle shade of west coast cedars. Leaving behind my sweet friend Kelli and family and so many memories of my own childhood, returning to what we now call home.

It is tempting to think either/or and to get lost in longing for what was, to wrinkle my nose at what is. I realized, though, the vast grace of allowing myself to think and. I can love this and that, river and ocean, these friends and those friends, life now and life then. And even more, more that I haven't even considered. I can love all of it. I don't have to choose or long for or think less than. Trusting that where I am is enough.

So we settle back into this. As the temperatures release themselves a little, taking the edge off the smokiness in the air, I remember this is my very favorite time of year. Oh the bounty...

We tried out these recipes and loved them. The mincemeat one is delicious, pretty much a meal in each slice. I'm always looking for ways to use up green tomatoes since this short growing season ensures an abundance of them. If you try these recipes out, let me know what you think. Enjoy!

Apple Pie with Orange
8 cups peeled thinly sliced apples

1 tbsp orange juice

1/2 cup sugar

2 tbsp flour

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp freshly grated orange peel

Toss all ingredients together in bowl. Place in baked pie shell and cover with pie dough. Bake at 375 for 1 hour or so.

 

 

Green Tomato Mincemeat Pie

1 cup water

1 tsp salt

2.5 cups chopped green tomatoes

2.5 cups peeled and chopped apples

2 tbsp fresh lemon juice

1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

1 cup raisins

3/4 cup  turbinado sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon 

1/tsp ground cloves

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1 tbsp molasses

1/4 cup flour

In small saucepan, bring water and salt to rolling boil and add tomatoes. Blanch for 3 minutes. Drain tomatoes and place in large bowl, adding in lemon juice, walnuts, raisins, sugar, spices and lemon peel. Drizzle molasses over the filling and stir. Sprinkle flour over ingredients and toss gently until uniformly coated. 

Roll out pie dough larger than size of pan. Place in pan and add filling then gently fold edges of dough over filling to give it a homemade harvest-y look. Bake for 45-55 minutes at 375 until crust is golden and filling bubbles. Cool and enjoy.

Both recipes adapted from Moosewood Restaurant Book of Desserts.

Comments

[kris laroche]

hi krista! i had no realization of that connection and LOVE that you saw it and said something. yep...apples and oranges can go together. that is just so giggley to me. love that perspective and how we are not meant to compare. comparing anything leads to such suffering it seems. thank you sweet one. i am glad for your presence here.

[kris laroche]

hello dear martha. yes... home is where we are. and then to bring my attention back, over and over again, to the here that is before me, rather than wandering lustfully after some there i am making up in my imagination and missing out on. turning away from the allure of sadness is a powerful choice. sending you love.

[Martha]

welcome home kris. i can relate to that pull to compare and wist for what isn't-- or what was. life changes. life unfolds. it's amazing and hard and rich to have numerous attachments to different worlds. i have to remind myself that it's been a gift, and it is, to have lived and loved many places and times of life in those places. not to take it for granted. and home? home is where you are, i like to say to amos. your recipes look delicious. you seem to make the best of every time of season-- even this one, when summer first loses its edge. alas! alas.

[Krista]

Isn't it funny, your post started with what sounded like your struggles (and then making peace) with comparing this and that, then and now, here and there... and then finished with a pie recipe using "apples and oranges" - which as we all know, we're not meant to compare because they both hold their own sweet and delicious value in such different ways. And you've managed to use them together in a pie! Not sure if you caught that but it made me giggle. Welcome back. Life is sounding grand just where you are.