I love apple pie. I even have my own favorite recipe for it right here on good ol' Chop Onions, Boil Water! That's the pie I prepare most often. It's made from wholesome ingredients, simple to prepare and damn delicious if I do say so myself! Recently though, Fed Ex delivered a large insulated box containing a fully-baked, frozen apple pie from The Heritage Pie Company in Jasper, Texas. Upon reading the enclosed card we discovered it was a gift from a couple of our friends in Auckland, New Zealand.

Now, a mile high apple pie from Texas via New Zealand is a peculiarity in itself. It was surely not unwelcome, but it did make one think "PIE?". Plus when I read the description inside which noted that it was an award-winning pie, I must admit, I thought it might be a dubious claim. This is America, the land of endless dubious claims, so to say I was skeptical was an understatement. So I did a little research.

I found that The Heritage Pie Company writes that it recreates "down home, old fashioned, handmade pies from scratch", and that the apple pies are "Texas Sized " and "filled to the brim with 12-14 fresh, hand-peeled apples". Also, that each pie stands a whopping 7 inches tall and weighs in at 6 pounds. The Heritage Pie Company also claimed that their apple pies are culinary works of art and that they are hand-made from scratch. That's a lot of tall talk, but coming from Texas, you have to expect it. Their boots aren't tall for nothing you know!

I have eaten some pretty strange things in my life. From my dad's side of the family there was morcella (pig's blood sausage) and all manner of odd things from the ocean including lapas (pronounced "lah-pizsh") which are small limpet-like creatures that adhere to rocks and themselves all over the world. These my father taught me to eat raw, first pulling them off the rock and then digging the animal from its shell with my finger and eating it live and raw. He also taught me how to get and eat mussels, clams, razor clams, periwinkles and conchs. I'm not complaining, they are all pretty tasty, raw or otherwise. So thanks dad those are good, but no thanks for making me eat a dollop of Vick's Vapor Rub when I was 7. What the hell were you thinking? I was only 7 but I could clearly see "for external use only" on the damn jar!

From my mom's side of the family I learned to eat the strangest things. My mom's father was part Native American and grew up on a New England farm during the depression. He was a bar room-brawling, tough-as-nails maniac. In the course of his life out of necessity, he learned to eat anything and he was lucky enough to have married a woman who could cook it all very well.

"Shameless exploitation in pursuit of the Common Good" is the motto of The Newman's Own Organization and I like it, a lot. Newman's Own is a for-profit corporation founded in 1982 by actor Paul Newman and author A. E. Hotchner. All profits after taxes (read: ALL PROFITS) are donated to charitable organizations and since 1982 those profits have been in excess of two hundred and eighty million dollars. It is a hopeful and refreshing contrast to other corporations that operate in a world of shameless greed and wretched excess.

I like Newman's Own a lot.

Newman and Hotchner began their endeavor with a salad dressing that was very popular with their family and friends. The popularity of the salad dressing lead them to produce it commercially. Its success in the marketplace and the money it generated spearheaded a brand that has continued to grow and includes a variety of popular and profitable products that include: pasta sauces, iced tea, lemonade, limeade, fruit cocktail juices, popcorn, pretzels, salsa, cookies, coffee, grape juice and more.

Recently, Newman's Own sent me a variety of products to try, review and create new recipes with*. I was happy to oblige because I am familiar with their products as I have purchased them many times. They are all good products and of the varieties I buy I've always been satisfied and often surprised. It's good stuff and I like it a lot.

Also, all of Newman's Own products have a particular flavor that I rarely find in other brands. It is a profound nuance. Something that transcends the high quality of its ingredients, something special. It's the heart warming flavor of knowing that by purchasing Newman's Own products I am helping people in this world. I am effecting positive change and getting help where it is needed and WE ALL NEED TO DO THAT.

WE ALL NEED TO DO THAT!

Thank you for that Newman's Own, it is certainly a huge selling point!

"Shameless exploitation in pursuit of the Common Good" Yeah, try that on for size mega-corporations, mega-banking interests and others. Do it for a couple of years. Do it for the good it does and not for your own selfish tax benefits. Nike? McDonald's? Coca-Cola? Walmart? Where are you all?

Yeah, Newman's Own - I like it a lot! I love it.

Chop Onions and Boil Water endorses Newman's Own products not only for their superiority, but for the good the company does.

*I get many products to sample and review, you'll only see ones that I sincerely and truly use and enjoy in Chop Onions, Boil Water!

Here in Southeastern New England you just can't get more down-home-swamp-yankee-soul-food than jonnycakes. Their history is long and finds its root in the pre-European-invasion food traditions of the local Wampanoag and Narragansett Indian tribes. Corn cakes were a tribal staple and the Native Americans generously shared their corn, its farming methods and its preparation with early settlers. In the case of Plimouth Plantation, jonnycakes (or something very similar) were in-part, the difference between the life and death of the colony. A error on the tribes' part which the intolerant Pilgrims soon made them regret. The negative aspects of American history aside, the early settlers took a serious liking to jonnycakes and they became synonymous with Southeastern New England farm life and are still available today. Which is something, because the ingredients while simple, take a little effort to produce.

Genuine jonnycakes are made from stone ground white cap flint corn. It's the same variety of corn that was favored by the local Wampanoag and Narragansett Indian tribes before the arrival of the Europeans. Still grown by local farmers, white cap flint corn (or Narragansett Indian Flint Corn) must be grown in areas isolated from other corn crops to avoid hybridization. It is also a low yield crop with stalks producing one to two ears of corn with each ear having only eight rows of kernels. The corn once harvested takes approximately eight months to dry enough to get to the point where it can be milled. Which takes us to the next step.