Apple Crisp Showdown!

One of the most hectic times of day for me is the afternoon. After driving to three different schools, picking up four very different children I then bring my brood of chicks home and they cluck-cluck-cluck around me in our kitchen. As I try and figure out what to make for dinner, my children share stories with me of their day, a few pull out homework to work on at the kitchen table while the rest search like a pack of wild dogs for a snack to devour. It was during this time last week that my son David (13) asked me to make him an apple crisp for his class. Being the wonderfully attentive mother that I am…I forgot. My son reminded me by a hand scribbled note taped to my bedroom mirror at 10:30pm that the apple crisp was needed for school TOMORROW. Guess who was up at 6am making apple crisp?

Apparently my son David had a showdown with his friend Luke over whose mom made the best apple crisp. On the way to school yesterday morning I tried to convince my son that there was no way that his friend would ever admit that my apple crisp was better than his own mothers. As he stepped out of the car, with the piping hot dessert in his hands my son said, “Mom, I know that. I don’t expect Luke to tell me that yours is better, he has his pride mom. But there is a way that I will know. If he tells me that yours is almost as good as his moms then what he really means is that yours is better. That is how I will know.”

Everytime our family sits down to dinner, my son David tells me how great my cooking is. He usually says with a mouthful of food, “Thanks mom, this is great!” I am not exaggerating, he tells me this almost every night. I am aware that he is a growing boy and that his taste buds aren’t fully matured. He would compliment a Twinkie and Dr.Pepper as a meal, but my heart swells every time he says it. What a reminder to me of the power of a sweet word, a kind word. The Bible says in Proverbs 12:25 “An anxious heart weighs a man down, but a kind word cheers him up.” My son is such an example of this verse to me.

So today I am including for all of you my famous apple crisp recipe for your Fall pleasure.

Oh, and just in case you're wondering...Luke admitted that my apple crisp was almost as good as his moms'.(David was thrilled.)

Joanne’s Almost As Good As Your Moms'-Apple Crisp
INGREDIENTS
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups rolled oats
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
• 1 1/2 cups butter (I never said it was fat free!)
• 2 quarts peeled, cored and sliced apples (I use two kinds, fuji & Macintosh)

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, oatmeal, cinnamon, nutmeg and brown
sugar. Cut in until mixture is crumbly.

3. Take half of the mixture and pat it into the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking
dish.

4. Cover crumb mixture with apple slices, then sprinkle apple slices with
remaining crumb mixture.

5. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 45 to 50 minutes or until apples
are tender.