I know you have heard this phrase over and over again. This afternoon, my husband, my husband’s grandmother and I all went to the kitchen to make a peach pie. While all three of us have cooked more years than I would like to admit, we all had different ways to make the peach pie. We needed a camera as I’m sure we would have made “Funniest Home Videos” show. Grandma instructed my husband to put on a pan of boiling water on the stove. Both of them stood there looking at the pan of water waiting for it to boil. They joked and said “watched pot never boils.” They continue to stand there and finally Grandma said, “your water will boil faster if you put a lid on the pan.” So my husband looks for the lid and puts it on the pan. A couple of seconds later, Grandma looks at the water and it is not boiling. Then a few seconds later my husband opens the pot and the water is not boiling. Grandma tells him to stay out of the pot. Haha! My husband said, “don’t we need ice water to put the peaches in after we blanch them?” “No”, Grandma said, “you don’t need ice water, just run some water from the faucet.” My husband says, “the chefs on TV always use ice water.” Grandma says, “they don’t know what they are talking about.” Finally the water is boiling and she handed him the “pinchers” which were the olden day kitchen tongs. He looked at the tongs and then looked at me with this expression on his face like, “what is this?” Grandma said to take the pinchers and put six peaches in the pot. He does this and then she says, oh move them around, don’t let the peaches sit still.” Okay, he says and then Grandma says, “take them out of the water, you’re leaving the peaches in the hot water to long.” So we get the peaches out of the water and my husband starts peeling the peaches. Over at the table I’m measuring the sugar and the corn starch. She says to me, “you have to stir the sugar and corn starch. Okay Grandma, I’m getting the spoon. Then she tells me to “carefully stir the sugar and corn starch in with the peaches. “Carefully? I ask” You don’t want to break the peaches. Then the debate starts as to cook the peach mixture or not. I cook my peach mixture for about five minutes, but Grandma does not cook her peach mixture. So, we go with Grandma’s instructions and I “carefully” pour the peach mixture into the pie crust. Then Grandma says to place wax paper on the table and turn out the second crust on the wax paper. She carefully cuts slits in the pie crust and tells me to lay it on the peaches and pinch the two crusts together. Once the pie is ready to go into the oven I ask her, “do you sprinkle sugar on your top crust?” Grandma says, “sometimes I do.” So I sprinkle the top with sugar. My husband says, “what about melted butter on top the sugar? “Yes, you can melt a pat of butter and drizzle the butter on top. So my husband melts the butter and drizzles the butter on top of the peach pie. Finally the pie is in the oven. I ask Grandma, “How long do you cook your peach pies?” She tells me, “until it is done.” We all laugh and guess who was left to clean up the mess. Our “Grandma, Betty and Doyle Recipe for Fresh Peach Pie: 2 pie crusts 6 to 8 peaches, peeled and sliced ½ cup sugar 2 ½ tsp corn starch Mix sugar and corn starch and pour over peaches. Carefully mix until all peaches are coated. You may need to add a tiny bit of water. Pour peach mixture into one pie crusts. Cut slits in the second pie crust and cover the peaches. Pinch the edges together. Sprinkle lightly with sugar. Melt a pat of butter and drizzle over the sugar on the crusts. Bake at 350 for 1 hour or until knife inserts into pie easily. Let cool and top with vanilla ice cream. Spend time in the kitchen cooking with loved ones. Cooking with your 94-year old Grandma is priceless!

About the Author: Betty Lynch, author of “Back to the Table with My Country Kitchen”  Visit www.mycountrykitchen.com to sign up for My Country Kitchen’s monthly newsletter.

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