Carolyn's Apple Crisp

YUM!!! How I can remember grandma making this crisp from the apples that she and grandpa grew! This was one of my very favorite things that grandma made! I can remember there being several bushels of apples sitting in the kitchen for grandma to process into jelly, juice, and applesauce. Jars and jars of applesauce would line the pantry shelves, as would opaque jars of jelly from not only apples, but quince and grapes. Grandma never made much apple jelly, but she sure made the applesauce!
She would also make lots of pies from whatever fruit was in season at the time, cherries, peaches, and finally the apples, when they came ripe in late fall.
Grandpa did the pruning, the bug spraying, the picking, and grandma would process the fruits from these trees into many items, including fruit packed in syrup. The apples they grew were Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, Jonathan, McIntosh, and Winesap. Grandma would use one of the latter three, but I prefer Granny Smith's.
Grandma would make apple pie, which was always my favorite pie and still is, but then she would make this crisp which is different from any other crisp I have ever had. Most other crisps are a granola base made with oatmeal, brown sugar, flour, butter, and nuts, but this topping is so very different in taste and texture, with its rich buttery crunchy top and its soft and delicious insides. It is a perfect accompaniment to the apples bedded beneath.
I know grandma got this recipe from a newspaper, too, but when and which one is anyone's guess. How long had she been making this particular crisp I don't know, and perhaps uncle Ed or Jerry will remember (my dad never remembers these things!), but it doesn't matter where it came from or when, I am just glad she found it.

Carolyn's Apple Crisp

About 3 pounds of baking apples, pared, cored, sliced
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup unbleached flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 egg
1 stick melted butter (no spreads!)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Combine apples with brown sugar and cinnamon in a large bowl. Pour into a pie dish or 9" square pan; set aside.
Combine sugar, flour, and baking powder. Add egg and mix well until crumbly. Sprinkle crumb mixture evenly over apples, making sure all apples are covered. Pour melted butter evenly over crumb mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes or until crumb mixture is golden brown.

Grandma's Banana Bread

Okay, so you all knew this would be the very first recipe! Who doesn't have memories of moist, dense, dark banana bread at every family function growing up? Grandma always made banana bread, whether it was at Christmastime or the the 4th of July, and we all looked forward to eating it!
I had asked grandma one time where she had gotten the recipe and she said she couldn't remember exactly, but she knew it came out of the food section of the newspaper. Now, whether that newspaper was the now defunct Columbus Citizen Journal or The Columbus Dispatch is up for debate since she and grandpa always took both papers, and grandma herself couldn't remember which one she found it in, but this doesn't matter; what matters is that she found it, and it has become one of our most loved family food traditions. My kids could not imagine me not making this bread frequently or not having it for the holidays. It is always requested.
I began to make banana bread shortly after I turned fifteen years old, way back in November of 1974. I know I made it at least a few times prior to this, as early as age thirteen, but to actually keep a copy of the recipe and to make it fairly often, this happened after I turned fifteen. In fact, at the same time, this is when I really began to seriously teach myself baking skills in all areas from bread-making to cakes from scratch, candy-making, and everything in-between. I'd made cookies, banana bread, brownies, cobblers, cream pies, and fudge from age eleven up, but became more serious once I was married and out on my own.
But I am off topic, back to the banana bread! Grandma used to make it with nuts and without nuts. I prefer mine without nuts, but some people prefer it with nuts, such as I my husband. I often make three to four loaves at a time when I have a large amount of over-ripe bananas, and I will make at least one loaf with walnuts for Bob.
Daughters Carrie and Lisa sometimes make this banana bread, though Carrie swears she can't make it like I do, which I think is silly as it is the easiest thing in the world to make. I've made it so long that I have it memorized, and I can whip out those three to four loaves in about fifteen minutes or less! Lisa makes it occasionally as she loves this bread, too. I look for the other girls to bake it, too, as they start making their own homes. Gwen will be the exception as she doesn't like bananas. Son-in-law Ken loves this bread, as does his stepdad, Ed.
Even when I make this bread, I often think of grandma and all the good and happy times we had growing up. This bread conjures up more than taste and aroma, it conjures up memories of days gone by.

Grandma's Banana Bread

1 Tbls. butter (No Spreads!)
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 very ripe medium bananas, mashed with fork
1/2 cup milk (original said 8 Tbls.)
1 1/2 cups flour (*half whole wheat can be used)
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cream butter and sugar till well incorporated. Add eggs and beat well. Add bananas, beat; add milk, beat; sift together dry ingredients and add, beat; add nuts, beat. Pour into well-greased 9" x 5" loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool in pan for 10 minutes, turn out onto wire rack to cool completely. When cool, wrap well in plastic wrap and let sit 8-24 hours or overnight before serving. This freezes very well if wrapped tight in foil and placed in freezer for up to 6 months.
*This is not in the original. I have used half white and half wheat flour before with excellent results. The flavor is not affected.

Tips I have learned over the years:
1.I try to always buy unbleached flour so I am not getting flour that is more processed than I want.
2.I place the bananas in a small (but high sided) mixing bowl and use the electric mixer to mash them. This is much easier and less time consuming that mashing with a fork.
3.I eyeball the amount of butter used. You do not have to make this exact, though it can't be less.
4.Absolutely DO NOT use spreads of any kind to make this or you will end up with a dry loaf of bread. Butter has 80% fat. Real margarine (such as Land O'Lakes) has 80% fat and is okay to use (though I avoid margarine for health reasons), and spreads are just junk with anywhere from 35% to 70% fat, depending on the brand. This means they have a high water content to make up the difference. They are also absolutely bad for your heart and vascular health and should be avoided.
5.To freeze for several months, wrap the bread well in plastic wrap and in at least two layers of aluminum foul. Do not allow bread to touch freezer sides or it will most likely end up freezer burned where it touches. This is also true for any other bread product that you freeze, including store-bought bread.

All About Carolyn

Carolyn Agnes Trueax Matheson was born on August 18, 1912, and she died August 13, 1980, of an inoperable tumor between her larnyx and spine. She married Roderick J. Matheson on April 25, 1935. They had four boys, Rod, born March 9, 1936, Ed, born December 30, 1942, Louie, born February 15, 1945, and Jerry, born June 15, 1951.
Grandma was born and raised in London, Ohio. She graduated from the old St. Francis Hospital Nursing School in June 1935, and worked in the ER for almost seven years. She quit nursing in 1942 as grandpa told her to quit since she was pregnant for Ed and he wanted her home with the kids. Grandpa had recently become an electrician and he felt he could adequately support the family. I think grandma had always wanted to go back to nursing as she loved it, but it wasn't meant to be. Instead, she spent her entire life taking care of others, which meant she used her nursing skills in many and numerous ways. She was definitely a caregiver in all ways.
Grandma was also an excellent cook, and she made many delicious meals and desserts for her family and others to enjoy. She was always cooking and/or putting up food.
Grandma also made the very best pies you ever ate. She never measured out anything, not even the pie crust, because as she said, "I could do it in my sleep I've made so many". I used to sit and watch her as she'd get out the old red canister that held sugar, the canister of flour, and a can of Crisco. She's measure out what looked like a fair amount of flour and sift it into a bowl, dump in a mesure of salt she'd pour into her hand, and then take a fork and add enough Crisco until it "looked right". After she mixed all together she'd add enough cold water from the tap to make a ball of dough and then she'd place it on the table where she'd sprinkled a goodly amount of flour. Handling the dough with a light hand, she say things such as this: "That's going to be a perfect pie crust" or she'd say, "I got a bit too much lard in that crust". I'd ask her how she knew and she always replied the same, "I can tell by the feel". Well, to a child of eight or nine, this did not make sense. When I was fifteen and sixteen, I was beginning to see what she meant. And now, I tell my kids I know what the pie dough will be like "by the feel", and so I've come full circle and finally understand what cannot be explained.
The one recipe the entire family wishes we had was grandma's vegetable soup. We can all remember watching her can the base, we can say what she put in it, but so far, no one has been able to replicate it, though we've all tried. And since grandma made this up as she went and it wasn't written down, it is lost forever.
I think everyone who knew her would say she was the kindest, firmest, most wisest person we knew. She was exremely kind as she was always thinking of others. She was firm as she wouldn't out up with any back talk or nonsense. And she was wise as she always knew just what to say and what we needed to do. Grandma was definitely no-nonsense and couldn't abide tears, tantrums, or fits. She also wouldn't put up with anyone being irresponsible or acting ridiculous. Grandma would tell it like it is, and she would not tolerate arguing or sass. I can't tell you how many times I was chased with the broom, but I know I only had to fetch a switch one time before I learned my lesson of how far I could go! Having to cut your own switch from a bush and getting slapped with it made an impression one didn't soon forget!
I have so many memories of grandma, all like a kaleidescope of film clips that run through my head and leave images that are so homey and warm. Most of us have these memories and they are precious and good.
I will post recipes in further posts.

Cry Babies

Beatrice "Bea" Lovella Lowe Matheson was born in 1879 to Joseph Lowe and Mary Cave. She married Roderick Garnet Matheson around 1906-1907, and three children were born of this union: Mabel (Mary) Katherine in 1908, Roderick Joseph in 1910, and Edwin Henry (or vice versa, can't remember the order of his name) in 1912.
I have very vague memories of my great grandma, including vague memories of her funeral, in February of 1966, when I was just a bit past six years old.
Grandpa remembered coming home from school with the scent of these Cry Baby cookies in the air. These had been his favorite cookies as a child.

Cry Baby Cookies

1 cup shortening^
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 cup black strap molasses
1 tsp. baking soda, dissolved in 1 cup boiling water
5 cups flour (unbleached)


*Original version: Mix well. Drop by Tbls. on greased tins and bake in a quick oven.

**My version: Cream shortening with sugar; beat in egg and molasses, blend well. Alternately add soda water and flour, beginning and ending with flour so batter does not curdle. Drop by Tbls. onto greased cookie tins and bake at 400 degrees for 8-10 minutes. Cool on wire racks.

*Tips: These could easily be dressed up by sprinkling sugar over the tops prior to baking. You could also make these a ginger spice cookie by adding a teaspoon of cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon of ginger, and a 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg. These could also be less strong by using a lighter molasses. This recipe can also be easily halved, but use the egg and don't try to halve this.

^To make this more heart healthy replace the shortening with lard or palm oil shortening.

In the beginning.........

I was posting recipes of my own, of my grandma's, my great aunt's, and my brother's on other sites, and I realized that I needed a place to put all of these together so they will be in one place and easily located. This site will be a place where I can compile them all for family to come and find what they wish to have.
My wish for the past 22 years or so has been to make a family cook book, but cost, time, and a dead computer brought this idea to a halt. I had over fifty hours of writing time with hundreds of recipes from family members in a computer that went kablooey on me~and I lost everything. It was so disgusting and discouraging.
I do have recipes of my grandma's, my great aunt Effie's, and my great-great aunt Helen's all typed out on paper that was to be put together in a binder, but then I had no time to get back to this project and it has been collecting dust for about four to five years. The dust won't matter anymore because I will post all of those recipes on here. This is easier and cheaper than making a cook book!
I also have recipes that belong to family members who sent them to me in hopes of seeing a recipe book materialize, but instead, I will post them on here, according to the author of the recipe, and this way it will truly be a family site. I will also post my own recipes.
Okay! Now I just have to get busy and post them all!