Apple Pineapple Salad -- Babcia’s Autumn Spirit in Every Bite

Halloween in a pandemic. Bay View put up decorations anyway — the twelve-foot skeleton is back, now wearing a mask, which is the most 2020 thing I've seen. I carved a pumpkin. Gave candy to the few trick-or-treaters who braved the cold (it was forty degrees and raining, which in Milwaukee is actually mild for Halloween). Dad is improving daily. He's eating more, walking more, complaining more — the complaints are a good sign, because Tom Kowalski complaining means Tom Kowalski is feeling like himself. He complained about the Packers on Sunday (they lost to the Vikings, a loss so painful that Dad's text was a single period: "."). He complained about the weather. He complained about Mom making him drink green smoothies ("She puts spinach in everything now, Jake. Spinach."). The complaints are music. I've been calling Mom every day, as promised. Brief calls — five minutes, ten minutes. "How's Dad?" "Better." "How are you?" "Fine." The calls are small and they are everything. I will never skip a day. The dough RecipeSpinoff piece is still generating response. A food media company in New York emailed about doing a documentary-style short about me — ten minutes, professionally produced, about the pierogi and the pandemic and the deliveries. I said I'd think about it. Everything is moving fast. Too fast? Maybe. But the momentum exists and the platform is growing and Helen's dream needs all the foundation it can get. Cooked something festive for the season: baked apples stuffed with walnuts, brown sugar, cinnamon, and a drizzle of honey. Babcia made these in autumn — scooped out the cores, filled them with the nut mixture, baked until soft and caramelized. The apartment smelled like apple pie for two days. I brought four to Dad and he ate one and a half, which is more than he's eaten of anything in weeks. Progress. Also started preliminary research on storefronts. Not seriously — I'm not signing any leases during a pandemic — but keeping my eye on available spaces in Bay View. Two new vacancies on Kinnickinnic. One on Howell. The pandemic is emptying storefronts, which is tragic for the businesses that were there and potentially opportunistic for someone who's building toward a dream. I feel guilty thinking about it. But Babcia was practical. She'd say: the space exists, the dream exists, and feeling guilty about timing never cooked a single pierogi.

The baked apples I brought Dad that week got me thinking about apples in a different way — how Babcia always reached for them the moment the air turned cold, as if they were her seasonal instinct. After I dropped off that foil-covered pan on Ogden and watched Dad eat one and a half, I came home and made this Apple Pineapple Salad almost by reflex: sweet, simple, no oven required, just the clean brightness of fruit and honey to carry the feeling forward. It’s not Babcia’s recipe, but it lives in the same spirit — practical, comforting, and finished in under ten minutes, which is exactly the kind of cooking I can manage when the calls and the worry and the slow good news are filling every corner of the day.

Apple Pineapple Salad

Prep Time: 10 min | Cook Time: 0 min | Total Time: 10 min | Servings: 6

Ingredients

• 3 medium apples (Honeycrisp or Fuji), cored and diced into 3/4-inch chunks
• 1 can (20 oz) pineapple chunks, drained, juice reserved
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/3 cup chopped walnuts
• 2 tablespoons reserved pineapple juice
• Fresh mint leaves for garnish (optional)

Instructions

1. Prep the apples. Core and dice the apples into 3/4-inch pieces. Place them immediately into a large mixing bowl and toss with the lemon juice to prevent browning.
2. Add the pineapple. Drain the pineapple chunks, reserving 2 tablespoons of the juice. Add the pineapple to the bowl with the apples and toss gently to combine.
3. Make the dressing. In a small bowl, whisk together the honey, reserved pineapple juice, cinnamon, and ginger until smooth and fully combined.
4. Dress the salad. Pour the dressing over the fruit and toss gently until all the pieces are evenly coated.
5. Add the walnuts. Fold in the chopped walnuts just before serving so they retain their crunch.
6. Serve. Transfer to a serving bowl, garnish with fresh mint if using, and serve immediately at room temperature or lightly chilled.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 128 | Protein: 1g | Fat: 4g | Carbs: 24g | Fiber: 3g | Sodium: 4mg