Wordy Wed: Mom's Apple Pie!

I spent the evening baking a pie. I have just recently found that when time permits I quite enjoy baking! However, I do not currently own any cookbooks with pie recipes in them so I had to call my mother to get hers.

I didn't want just any recipe. I didn't want to google apple pies, or look on the internet to see what came up. No, I wanted her recipe; the one she baked for us as a kid. The tried and true, test of time, things written in the margins that make it just right recipe. That is the recipe I wanted. 

An so I got to thinking (I seem to being doing that a lot lately) what's in a recipe? 

Wordy Wednesday proudly presents: Recipe

rec·i·pe noun \ˈre-sə-(ˌ)pē\

: a set of instructions for making food

: a way of doing something that will produce a particular result

: a set of instructions for making something from various ingredients

: a formula or procedure for doing or attaining something

Often when we think of the word recipe we associate it strictly with the first definition, but I quite like the second and forth definitions. The idea of combining various elements--ideas, actions, goals--in a way so as to create infinite outcomes is inspiring, and creates a deep sense of hope.

Going back to my apple pie I realize there are both good and bad that come with my mother's recipe. The good is I can trust the recipe. I can bake with the knowledge the recipe works, and at times the security of knowing something will work is comforting. On the flip-side, however, is the risk I run of holding so closely to the recipe I fail to make it my own. I run the risk of failing to write in my own margins, to take my own risks, and to make "my" recipe.

In life there are often claims of tried and true recipe's for success: do this, go here, talk to this person, etc. While it is important to take advice from those who have gone before, make sure you are always leaving room to write in the margins of your life, to add a few spices, eliminate some bad eggs, and create your own recipe. After all, someone had to create the first recipe. Think about it!

Mom's Apple Pie (With my own margin adds)

Pie crust for top and bottom. I buy mine. Pie pan no bigger than 9 inch.
7 tart apples. Cut in thin slices. (6 cups)
3/4 cups of sugar unless the apples are really tart, then a whole cup.
2 tablespoons of flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon and a dash of nutmeg ( if you have it). I do! 
2 tablespoons of butter

1/4 teaspoon allspice

1 tablespoon vanilla

Combine sugar, flour, spices. Mix in apples. Put in lined pie pan. Dot with bitter. Put on top crust weave top crust. Seal edges. Put foil around edges so it won't burn. Put several fork holes in top to let out steam. Bake at 400 for 55-60 minutes until pie is done. Test. With fork to see if apples are soft. Eat and enjoy with friends.