Grandma Ruth is Bob's mom, and she has been cooking for this family for over fifty years. She has never used a measuring cup in her life. It's "a handful of this" and "butter until it looks right." So this summer I stood next to her in her kitchen in Cedar Falls with a measuring cup and a notepad and caught everything before it went into the bowl. I typed these up just the way she told them to me. I've made every one of them at home since, and Bob and the kids very bravely volunteered to do all the taste testing.

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Apple Crisp · Sunday Pot Roast · Rhubarb Bars · Scalloped Corn

"This is the one they all ask for at the reunion. Use good tart apples. I like Jonathans from the orchard, but Granny Smiths will do fine if that's what the store has. And don't you skimp on the butter."

For the apples:

• 8 cups peeled, sliced tart apples (about 8 medium apples)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

For the topping:

• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup oatmeal (old-fashioned or quick, not instant)
• 1 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) cold butter, cut in pieces

What you do:

1. Heat the oven to 350°. Butter a 9x13 pan.
2. Peel, core and slice the apples. Put them in a big bowl, sprinkle on the sugar, cinnamon and lemon juice, and toss them with your hands. Spread them in the pan.
3. In another bowl, stir together the flour, oatmeal, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt. Cut in the butter with a pastry blender or two knives until it's all crumbly, like coarse crumbs.
4. Sprinkle the topping all over the apples, clear to the edges.
5. Bake 45 to 50 minutes, until the top is golden brown, the juice is bubbling up around the sides and the apples are tender when you poke them with a fork.
6. Serve it warm with vanilla ice cream, or a little cream poured over the top.

Linda's note: At the reunion in August, three pans of this were gone in twenty minutes. Make two.

"My mother made pot roast every Sunday of her life and so have I. I put the meat in the oven before we leave for church, and when we get home I put in the potatoes and carrots. By the time the table's set, dinner's ready. Use a good heavy pan with a tight lid. Mine is a cast iron Dutch oven that was my mother's."

What you need:

• 1 beef chuck roast, 3 to 4 pounds
• 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 2 tablespoons flour (for dusting the meat)
• 2 tablespoons shortening or cooking oil
• 1 large onion, sliced
• 1 1/2 cups water and 1 beef bouillon cube (or 1 1/2 cups beef broth)
• 6 medium potatoes, peeled and cut in quarters
• 6 carrots, peeled and cut in 2-inch pieces

For the gravy:

• 1/4 cup flour
• 1/2 cup cold water
• salt and pepper

What you do:

1. Heat the oven to 325°.
2. Rub the roast all over with the salt and pepper, then dust it with the 2 tablespoons of flour.
3. Heat the shortening in the Dutch oven on top of the stove over medium-high heat. Brown the roast good on all sides, about 10 minutes in all. Don't rush this part, that brown is where your flavor comes from.
4. Lay the onion slices around the meat and pour in the water with the bouillon cube. Put the lid on tight and put it in the oven for 2 hours.
5. Take it out and tuck the potatoes and carrots in all around the meat. Sprinkle them with a little salt and spoon some of the juice over them. Cover it back up and put it back in the oven for 1 to 1 1/2 hours more, until the meat falls apart with a fork and the vegetables are tender.
6. Lift the meat and vegetables out onto a platter and cover them with foil to keep warm.
7. Gravy: Skim the fat off the top of the juice in the pan. Add water if you need to so you have about 2 cups of juice. Bring it to a boil on top of the stove. Put the 1/4 cup flour and 1/2 cup cold water in a jar with a lid and shake it hard until there are no lumps. Pour it slowly into the boiling juice, stirring the whole time, and keep stirring until it's thick and bubbly, a minute or two. Salt and pepper to taste.

Linda's note: The jar trick for gravy is the best thing Grandma ever taught me. No more lumps!

"Every spring the rhubarb patch out by my garage goes crazy, and I have given away more rhubarb than I can tell you. These bars are the best thing to do with it. Only use the stalks. The leaves are poison, so throw them on the compost pile and keep them away from the dog."

For the crust:

• 2 cups flour
• 3/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

For the filling:

• 4 eggs
• 2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 cups rhubarb, cut in small pieces (about 1/4 inch)

What you do:

1. Heat the oven to 350°.
2. Crust: Mix the flour, powdered sugar and butter with a fork (or your fingers) until it all holds together in crumbs. Pat it evenly into the bottom of an ungreased 9x13 pan. Bake 15 minutes, until it's just starting to turn golden at the edges.
3. Filling: While the crust bakes, beat the eggs in a big bowl. Stir in the sugar, flour and salt until it's smooth, then stir in the rhubarb.
4. Pour the filling right over the hot crust and spread it out even.
5. Bake 40 to 45 minutes, until the middle is set and doesn't jiggle and the top is lightly browned.
6. Let it cool all the way before you cut it into bars, or they'll fall apart on you. Sprinkle a little powdered sugar on top if you like. Keep them in the icebox.

Linda's note: Grandma still says "icebox." If you froze rhubarb back in June, thaw it and drain it really well first, or your bars will be runny.

"You can't have Thanksgiving or Christmas at my house without scalloped corn. This is Iowa, after all!"

What you need:

• 1 can (about 15 oz.) cream-style corn
• 1 can (about 15 oz.) whole kernel corn, drained
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 cup crushed saltine crackers (about 22 crackers), plus 1/4 cup more for the top
• 2 tablespoons onion, chopped fine
• 1/4 cup butter, melted, plus 1 tablespoon more for the top
• 1/2 teaspoon salt and a little pepper

What you do:

1. Heat the oven to 350°. Butter a 1 1/2-quart casserole dish.
2. In a bowl, stir together both cans of corn, the eggs, milk, 1 cup of the cracker crumbs, onion, 1/4 cup melted butter, salt and pepper.
3. Pour it into the casserole. Mix the other 1/4 cup crumbs with the 1 tablespoon of melted butter and sprinkle it over the top.
4. Bake uncovered 50 minutes to 1 hour, until it's golden on top and a knife stuck in the middle comes out clean.

Linda's note: Tyler doesn't eat anything green, but he'll eat three helpings of this.