Joy in the Kitchen!

Several years ago at a family reunion auction, we bought a cookbook put together from my husbands grandmother's recipes.  Not all of them, but some she'd collected over the years.  The cousin who made this cookbook made copies of the recipe cards in grandma's own handwriting and assembled them into a cute binder.  Seeing these hand written cards brings back sweet memories of when I joined the family and grandma helped me feel so welcome!   Thank you Jeana! Grandma Evelyn would be 118 years old now if she were still here on earth, and I'm sure this recipe was from the years she was raising her children.  Definitely fits that vintage era!  I would guess the 1940's or 1950's.  There were some delicious recipes then that were very basic homemade food. I already use some of Grandma's recipes on a regular basis but I decided to try some of the others out of this cookbook.  Since we have a few apples on our tree that could be used, I decided to try ...

  The weather is cooling down here. Today was overcast with some drizzling rain.  Finally some beautiful FALL baking weather!  With daytime temperatures in the mid 60's and night-time lows in the low 40's, having the oven on for a bit takes the chill off in here.  Ahhh. There are so many flavors and scents that celebrate fall.  Today I've had a simmer pot going with apple slices, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Oh! and one clove. A perfect scent to enjoy as I looked out the window at the trees changing color and the fields around in various stages of grain and potato harvest.  I almost baked Cinnamon Streusel Apple Muffins , but I had one cup of pureed pumpkin in the freezer leftover from last weeks batch of Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins  (one of our family favorites!), so I decided I'd better use that before I forget it's in there.  Sometimes I just delay throwing food away by putting it in the freezer to age first.  Not particularly thrifty or effic...