HI ARBOR NEWS
an e-newsletter for vegetarians
V.5 No.09
September 15, 2005

www.hiarbor.org
 


CONTENTS:

APPLES: information, websites and recipes

  • APPLE STUFFED MUSHROOMS
  • ACORN SQUASH & APPLE SOUP
  • APPLE PIE CRUMBLE

ONE POT MAC & CHEESE PRIMAVERA
PASTA WITH YELLOW SQUASH AND ASPARAGUS
YELLOW SQUASH BROTH SOUP
 EASY SALSA

Hello, and welcome back to Hi Arbor. I hope you are enjoying the arrival of autumn. It's a time for biting into a crisp, juicy apple or digging into a steaming soup that has apple as an ingredient. There's a great apple soup recipe below, plus two other recipes that celebrate the flavor of apples. If you have any ideas, suggestions or recipes, please send them to hiarbornews@aol.com. The next issue of this newsletter goes out on October 20, 2005.
Take good care.
Roxanne

                           Roxanne


APPLES: Information

Did you know apples are from the rose family?

From Microsoft Encarta '96:
"Apple, common name for certain related trees of the rose family, and for the fruit of the trees. The apple tree, a deciduous plant, grows mainly in the temperate areas of the world. The fruit is a firm, fleshy structure derived from the receptacle of the flower."

A little history:
"The native home of the apple is not definitely known, but the tree originated probably in the area between the Caspian and the Black seas. Charred remains of apples have been found in the prehistoric lake dwellings of Switzerland. Apples were a favorite fruit of the ancient Greeks and Romans. "The apple was introduced to America by early settlers who brought appleseeds with them. Records of the Massachusetts Bay Company indicate that apples were grown in New England as early as 1630. Seeds were carried westward by missionaries, traders, and Native Americans. One man alone, John Chapman (Johnny Appleseed), was responsible for extensive plantings of apple trees in the midwestern United States." "Apple," Microsoft(R) Encarta(R) 96 Encyclopedia. (c) 1993-1995 Microsoft
Corporation. All rights reserved. (c) Funk & Wagnalls Corporation. All rights
reserved.

Here is another short take on the history of the apple:
"The wild apple or crab apple grows throughout Europe and as far as Central Asia, where it seems to have originated. The people of Asia Minor took no notice of it for a long time, but the Greeks had already cultivated it. In Rome at the time of the Emperor Augustus there were no less than 30 different varieties recorded. Today there are more than 1,400 varieties of apples worldwide."
Heinerman's New Encyclopedia of Fruits & Vegetables by John Heinerman,
Parker Publishing Company, (c) 1995, $11.20 new, softbound, Amazon.com

Wikipedia.com has a long article with general information at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apples

And nutrition information on apples at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nutritional_information_about_the_apple


Here is a tasty appetizer from "Take This Veggie And Stuff It", a Hi Arbor
Cookbook that can be purchased at www.hiarbor.org [or P. O. Box 265,
Oceanville NJ 08231] for $12.50, plus #2.50 for shipping and handling.

APPLE STUFFED MUSHROOMS yields 12 caps

12 large mushrooms
1-1/2 Tablespoons safflower oil
3 Tablespoons minced celery
1/2 cup minced Granny Smith apples
2 Tablespoons plain bread crumbs
2 Tablespoons finely chopped walnuts
1 Tablespoon bleu cheese, finely crumbled
2 teaspoon lemon juice
1 Tablespoon chopped, dried cranberries (optional)

Clean mushrooms and remove stems. Mince 1/3 cup stems. Set aside the mushroom caps. Heat oil in a small skillet. Add chopped mushroom stems and celery. Sauté' for 2 minutes, or until celery is tender. Combine celery mixture, apple, and remaining ingredients in a small bowl and stir well. Mound mixture into each reserved mushroom cap. Place on a greased cookie sheet or shallow baking dish and bake for 15 minutes at 350 degrees F. Serve hot as an appetizer.


From Cooks.com here is a warming recipe in anticipation of the chilly
days ahead.

ACORN SQUASH & APPLE SOUP

2 med. acorn squash, seeded & halved
3 c. [vegetable stock]
2 tart green apples (2 c. cored, seeded & chopped)
1/2 c. chopped onion
1 c. unsweetened apple juice
2 tsp. fresh ginger root, peeled & grated
1/2 tsp. salt (omit if using canned stock)
1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
White pepper to taste
Yogurt or sour cream & chives (garnish)

Cook squash, remove pulp. Combine 1/2 cup stock, apples and onion in heavy medium saucepan. Cover and cook over low heat for 10 minutes. Add squash pulp, remaining stock, apple juice, ginger and salt. Cover and simmer until ingredients are very tender, about 20 minutes. Puree soup in batches in blender or processor. Strain through sieve into clean saucepan, pressing puree with back of spoon. Reheat soup gently.  Season with salt and generous amount of pepper. Ladle into bowls. Garnish  with yogurt or sour cream and chives.

Visit Cooks.com Recipe Search for the most recipes! http://www.cooks.com/

Have a comment, question or recipe to share? Join the Cooks.com
Community Forum at http://forum.cooks.com/

The Cooks.com Forum has discussion, recipe swap, and real-time chat
areas. Or join a mail list to be notified automatically of new postings to your
favorite discussion group!

(C) 2005 - The FOURnet Information Network (TM) - All Rights Reserved


Below is my own attempt at a pie crust that fell apart in a useful way.

APPLE PIE CRUMBLE Serves 2-3

Crust:
1 cup unbleached all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
7 Tablespoons oil
1 Tablespoon rice drink

Filling:
3 red delicious apples, peeled, cored and diced
1 Tablespoon flour
1 Tablespoon brown sugar or more to taste
1 teaspoon cinnamon or to taste
butter or vegan margarine, to taste

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Mix flour, salt and sugar in a bowl. Mix 3 tablespoons oil and the rice drink in a cup then add it to the flour. Stir until mixed. Add the rest of the oil one tablespoon at a time, stirring after each addition. I'm new at this but it took 7 tablespoons of oil to get it right, or so I thought. Put the dough on wax paper with another sheet of wax paper on top. Use a rolling pin to flattened the dough. Mine was maybe 12 inches in diameter. Remember, this is for a **crumble** and it doesn't have to fit the pie pan. Pull off the top layer of wax paper carefully. This dough will tend to fall apart. I put the pie pan upside down over the dough then turned everything over right side up. Peel off the second piece of wax paper carefully. Have diced apples ready in the refrigerator. When the crust is ready add sugar and cinnamon to the apples, stir well and pile the apple filling in the middle of the dough. Dot the apples with butter or margarine to taste. Use a butter knife or spatula to fold the dough around the apples as best you can. Expect the dough to fall apart. Bake at 425 degrees F for ten minutes then turned the temperature down to 350 degrees F for an additional 30 minutes. My crust did not brown a lot. For a more refined dessert the apple pie crumble can be divided into dessert dishes and served with ice cream, tofu frozen dessert or whipped topping.


From Kraft "Food & Family" magazine Summer 2005
 www.kraftfoods.com

ONE POT MAC & CHEESE PRIMAVERA
Makes 4 servings, 1 1/2 cups each
Prep: 5 min. Total: 15 min.

1 pkg. (14 oz.) Kraft Deluxe Macaroni & Cheese dinner
1 cup small broccoli florets
1 red pepper, cut into strips
1 cup cut fresh green beans
3 Tbsp. chopped fresh basil, divided

PREPARE Dinner as directed on package, adding vegetables to the pasta cooking water for the last 3 min. of pasta cooking time.
STIR 2 Tbsp. of the basil into prepared Dinner. Sprinkle with remaining basil before serving.

CAL 340; FAT 10g (sat 3.5g); CHOL 15mg; SODIUM 930mg; CARB
50g; FIBER 4g; SUGARS 5g; PROTEIN 14g; VIT A 40%DV; VIT C
70%DV; CALCIUM 20%DV; IRON 15%DV

Note: Here are the ingredients I used:
*Kraft Macaroni & Cheese Dinner [made w/rice drink and regular margarine]
*[the amounts of vegetables and basil to taste]
*frozen chopped broccoli cooked separately in microwave and drained *raw tomato, chopped
*canned cut green beans, warmed in separate pot and drained
*dried basil

I put the basil with the broccoli to rehydrate it. After preparing the macaroni and cheese, I added the broccoli, basil, green beans and raw tomato. The heat of everything else cooked the tomato just enough. It was a tasty one pot meal.


The following are two yellow squash recipes I didn't have ready in time for
the August Hi Arbor News.

PASTA WITH YELLOW SQUASH AND ASPARAGUS Serves 2

1 Tablespoon olive oil
1/2 small onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 medium yellow squash, cubed
1 roma tomato, cubed
canned asparagus, amount to taste
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 teaspoon basil
1/2 cup squash broth, more if needed [see note below]
2 cups pasta, cooked and drained

Heat oil in a frying pan and saute' onion and garlic a few minutes. Add squash and tomato and saute' a few more minutes. Add seasonings and squash broth and simmer about 5 minutes. Add asparagus and pasta and cook until heated through. Note: To make the squash broth, I sliced one squash, boiled it in water then
liquified it in the blender.


A tomato sandwich is good with this soup.

YELLOW SQUASH BROTH SOUP Serves 2

1 Tablespoon oil
1/2 small onion, chopped
1/4 green pepper, chopped
1 carrot, sliced
1 1/2 cups yellow squash broth
1 1/2 cups water
1/4 teaspoon basil
1/4 teaspoon thyme
salt and pepper to taste
bow tie pasta, amount to taste

Sauté' onion, green pepper and carrot in oil for a few minutes then add the broth, water and seasonings. Bring to a boil and simmer until pasta is tender. Note: To make squash broth, cook squash in water then liquify in a blender. Celery, chopped green onion and parsley would be nice additions to this soup.


This recipe is a product of my learning about oil and vinegar.

EASY SALSA (small amount)

1/2 of 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes, drained [I used the kind with garlic,
basil and oregano already in them and used the leftovers in vegetable soup.]
chopped onion
chopped green pepper
chili powder, to taste
cayenne pepper, to taste
salt

I used approximately 1 1/2 TB olive oil and 1/2 TB white vinegar I mixed everything in a glass jar and put salsa in refrigerator to chill overnight and let the flavors mingle.


The End