Apples,Recipes

   Remember when we were young and dunked for apples at Halloween parties?  Parents filled a wash tub half full of water,  threw in a couple dozen of apples (they floated) and supplied a towel for drying up after you tried to grab an apple with your teeth.  Those were the days!
   Apples have always been important in our culture.  “An Apple For the Teacher; “An Apple A Day Keeps the Dr.  Away.”  Johnny Appleseed helped things along. 
   Oldtimer, A. Houston Goudiss in his vintage treatise on apples had this to say.
   “Under-ripe apples contain a considerable percentage of starch which is not easily converted in the stomach.  Insist on ripe apples.  Cooked under-ripe apples are all right.  Heat converts the starch.”
   “Apples are good for the liver.  They act in stimulating intestinal activity and help in elimination of poisons.”
   My grandparents were strong on applesauce, sweet potatoes and rolled oats.  It helped them live a good life into their 90’s
   There are so many varieties of apples, how do you know which are best for cooking and which are best for eating out of hand.?

 1.   Honeycrisp, the current favorite is juicy and remains crisp until mid-winter.  It is good eaten raw and holds its shape when baked. 
 2 Experienced pie bakers choose a couple of kinds to blend the tart and the sweet and hold their shape in baking. 
 3. Gala has exceptional long storage life.  It is best eaten out of hand or in a salad.
 4 Golden Delicious can be crisp or mealy according to where it is grown.  It is best grown in Appalachian zones and allowed to ripen fully on the tree.  Flavor is excellent, good for eating raw and baking.
5.  Granny Smith is good all-round.  Excellent for cooking, salads and eating out of hand.
 6. Crispin is also good all around and is a good keeper.
 7 Jonathon is good for baking and applesauce, but a poor keeper. (my frozen sliced Jonathons keep great) 
 7 McIntosh is a good sauce apple, short storage life, though.
8 Red Delicious, a previous favorite is good for eating, not for cooking.
 9 Fuji has a tough skin, a long storage life, good raw and for baking and sauce.
 10.  Idared stores well and is good all around.
If you go to the orchard, be aware that apples ripen at different times.  Some are better early and other later. 
  Of course the best sauce apple is the summer Transparent and Lodi.  Nothing better than tart applesauce. 
   Apple salad, (Waldorf Salad) is a delicious way to enjoy apples. 
If you are going to use apples with the skin on, be sure to wash them with soap and water, rinse before using. 
                                   Apple Salad
Combine diced apples, (some peeled, some unpeeled), chopped celery,
chopped walnuts and a few small marshmallows.   Apples should be dipped in lemon juice to preserve color.  Combine with vanilla yogurt.  So good and easy.

   The easiest way to prepare apples is stew them, peeled or unpeeled, cook until tender, add cinnamon.  The right apples, you don’t even have to add sugar. 
     For something special, try apple dumplings.  There are as many recipes for this as there are apple varieties. Some people prefer a pie crust cover, others want a biscuit covering.  The sauces for the topping are special, too.
   Here is an old-time Apple Dumpling Recipe.
2 cups flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons cold butter
Enough milk to make a soft dough.
Combine flour, baking powder and salt. Work in cold butter with your fingers or a pastry blender.   Add just enough milk to make a soft dough..
Turn out of lightly floured  surface.  Knead just a bit. Then roll out to a thin sheet. Cut in 4 squares.  In center of each square of dough place apples, (whole, sliced, or halved, also peeled and cored) Add sugar and cinnamon to the apples.  Bring dough to center, moisten and join sides in center.  Place in oiled baking pan. Combine 2/3 cup boiling water, 1/3 cup sugar, and 2 Tablespoons butter.  Pour over dumplings.  Bake at 370, basting the liquid onto the dumplings,  for 40 minutes. 
                              Sauces for Dumplings
Hard Sauce;  ½ cup soft butter
                      1 ¼ cup P. sugar
                       1 teaspoon  vanilla
DAP, white sauce, 2 cups milk
                               1 cup sugar
                                1 egg
                                2 Tablespoons cornstarch
        1 teaspoon vanilla
Heat milk.  Combine sugar and cornstarch, stir a bit of hot milk into sugar, then add to milk and cook 1 minute.  Lightly beat egg and temper a bit of hot milk into egg.  Then add to milk mixture and cook till thickens. Take off stove and add vanilla. 
Old German Sauce, 2 cups milk,
                                 ½ cup sugar
                                 4 eggs
                                  1 teaspoon vanilla.
Prepare as in previous recipe. 

Fun on the Farm

   Eighteen yeas ago when the hog market hit rock bottom Susann and Phil Wendel , hog farmers,  wondered what to do.  Susann came up with the idea of planting mums, 2000 mums.  It was a success.  The next year they added  a corn maze.  That brought more people to their state line farm. 

  Each year they had new ideas,  a hay ride to a pumpkin patch,  tours for school children with pumpkins to take home.  Gourds and Indian  corn are good sellers. They did that.   

  When children visit a farm there must be animals; chickens, ponies, donkeys, sheep and pigs.  They could do that.  They did better than that. Their farm has peafowl, llamas, alpacas and goats. 
   Then they realized that the large farrowing house that had sat vacant for a few years could be repurposed.  Ag retail sales.  They had a jump on things with the mum sales and the corn maze, so they took the next step.

   It has been a  process of steps for this couple,  give them 5 stars.  . 
   I have never seen a better combination of agriculture, education, fun and sales.  Children of all ages will fall in love with this farm.  A bin to climb into shelled corn and play with buckets and scoops and tractors. 
Pick the potatoes out of the vegetable garden. (Real potatoes).
  Watch Molly the puppet tell how to plant pumpkin seeds.

Pet the pony (I think rides are available).  Pick your own pumpkin and ride the wagon to the patch.   What fun.  And there is lots more.  If I tell you everything you won’t be surprised. 
   It is more than just a children’s venue, it is for everyone who wants a day in the country.  Everyone  who wants to buy mums, or autumn decorations.   The 6 acre corn maze has a different theme each year.  “To The Moon And Back”

is this year’s theme. 
   Eight weeks each autumn you can enjoy the Wendel Farm and its activities.  Entertainment has changed, once  you could  just watch something.  Now children want to be doing and that is what makes this farm special.

   There is much to do and learn.
 

    The color of autumn

Adventure, Soup

   There are adventures in travel, adventures in money, and adventures
in baking.  Have you ever watched the Great British Baking Show? Those
contestants are crazy adventurers.  Very entertaining. 
   They can make mango ice cream, put it on top of a sponge cake, cover it with Italian meringue  (I have no idea what that is), use a blowtorch and have Baked Alaska. 
 Which takes me back 50 years.  When I was young, with 2 small children, and belonged to a card club.  I prepared a Baked Alaska for my refreshment
for the group.  Don’t ask me how I did it.  It is the only one I ever made. 
No practicing, just made it and served it.  Aw, me! I was an adventurous baker. 
   It wasn’t the first time I had been foolish (or the last).  When I was a teenager, mother asked me to bake the dessert for a family pitch-in. 
A picture in a magazine, I suppose, enticed me to make cream puffs. 
   Butter, flour, water and eggs cooked to a glossy mess, then baked in little circles. Cut part, filled with a pudding of sorts, then topped with powdered sugar.
  My family thought they were wonderful.  In fact they were repeated with varying degrees of success.  They ate them without complaining.  I don’t recall doing éclairs, with the chocolate icing on top but I may have. 
   Which reminds me of a story.  Years ago I worked as an activity person in a retirement home.  It meant chatting with the residents who needed some attention.  There was this tiny, grey-haired,  woman who liked to tell stories. 
I think her name was Pearl. When  she was a pre- school child and had been left alone in the house while her mother helped her father in the field, it was well before T.V. to comfort her, she became bored.
   Not knowing what else to do she decided she would bake a cake, .  She always watched as her mother  measured the sugar and flour and mixed them with a spoon.  Then the eggs and the lard, nothing to it. 
   The wood cook stove was a challenge,  Did mother add more sticks to the fire before putting the cake in the oven?
   Eventually the cake came out of the oven.  Forget icing. 
When her parents came in from their labors at noon, what did they see?
Mother couldn’t believe that Pearl had baked a cake by herself. 
   The memory of that adventure delighted Pearl for years. 
   Just as my adventure with Baked Alaska years ago. 
  Older and wiser, now I cook soup.  Enough for days, with some for the freezer.  . Soup can be an adventure.  Let’s see, where is that cookbook?
                                        Cabbage Soup

I have been adventuress, that’s the fun of it.

½ large mild onion, chopped
½ cup chopped celery
Some diced garlic (if you have any)
2 quarts beef broth
15 Oz. can of diced tomatoes (or equal amount of tomato juice)
1 quart of shredded cabbage
Chopped fresh herbs for topping, (I used parsley and chives)
1 teaspoon honey
1 teaspoon vinegar
Olive oil

In a heavy pot pour enough olive oil to cover the bottom of the pan.
Add the celery, onion , Cook on low until onion begins to
brown. (Brown, not burn). Add diced garlic and cook 1 minute.   Add remaining ingredients and simmer
until desired consistency.  Dish up and top with fresh herbs.
The original recipe additionally calls for raisins, dill, marjoram and thyme

Food For Thought
“Three things in human life are important.  The first is to be kind.
The second is to be kind.  And the third is to be kind.”
                  Henry James, American writer

Children, Dahlias

     The joys of September

   Children are the joys of life in every month.  How about these children?

Gone Fishin'

Giddi- Up, Swan

Dahlias are a joy of September.  So glad we got acquainted.  But I still have so much to learn about them.  Storing the tubers over during the winter is the big obstacle.  Last year’s crop did not survive, so I bought new ones.

Mary's dahlia

Learning can be so expensive. New information about storing them is: remove loose soil from tubers when you dig them; turn them upside down (to drain moisture from stems) and let them air dry for 2 weeks; store in a large plastic bag at 40 to 45 degrees (That’s the catch, where do I find that for the winter?)
   Getting them ready to plant in the spring is a whole other story.
But they are worth it.  They are the prince and princess of the autumn garden. . 
   Little Creek Valley has a vendor’s stand at the Oxford Farmer’s Market on Saturday morning.They had beautiful dahlias.  .  If you can’t wait to grow your own you can enjoy the blooms  of others.  .  All their flowers were gorgeous.
   If you fancy mums, they were to be found in their splendor at the market, also. 

Stir Fry, Emeril and August

   The months slip by fast, the  evenings and mornings are already cool in Indiana.  So enjoy  the vegetable bounty now, even though you don’t know what to do with one more squash and two more tomatoes.
   I am thankful for friends and family; my refrigerator   has plenty of the season’s goodness.
   When you have had your fill of lettuce salad with tomatoes and maybe zucchini; you’ve had enough bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwiches, here are a few ideas that will help you use up your vegetables.



   Gazpacho, a cold soup, similar to salsa, is one of my favorites.  I gave you
That recipe last year.  I love it, and now is the time to prepare it.
    Fried green
tomatoes are delicious and easy.  . The trick is to peel the tomatoes, Slice about 1/3 inch thick.  Then dip in equal parts flour and yellow cornmeal with seasoning, rest or rack.  Heat oil, about ¼ inch deep in heavy pan to about 350 degrees. Dip tomatoes a second time in flour mixture, then in hot oil.  In about a minute, turn the tomatoes and cook for about another minute.  Perfect 
   For an easy meal, try stir-fry.
                                                       August Stir-Fry

Cook 1/2 cup dry rice and set aside
 
   Remember Emeril Lagasse, the television chef who was so popular some years ago?  He made cooking look easy and fun.  He must have been a good influence to many .  When he was going to cook a dish he had all those glass bowls filled with ingredients.  Someone in the kitchen had prepared them, all ;he had to do was put them together, throw in his special “Essence” and say  BAM.   He was an inspiration, and what listener didn’t learn a little something from him?
    Back to the stir fry. “It’s  a what you do with what you’ve got”  recipe. 1 small zucchini  or ½ large one, peeled and cut in strips
Medium onion, chopped
2 ripe tomatoes, peeled, cored, squeezed to remove seeds and water, then chopped
Small piece of meat. I used a pork cutlet; sliced very thin
A chunk of red or green pepper, chopped
½ cup fresh herbs chopped, (I had parsley and basil)

A little minced garlic, if you like, I didn’t have any
I had some small Brussels sprout, I parboiled them. Carrots, cauliflower or broccoli would do.
   When this is all prepped (Think of Emeril) prepare large heavy skillet, ;cast iron would be good, but there are others, with about ¼ cup vegetable oil, you may add more later if you feel it is needed.
When skillet and oil are hot (sizzles when drop of food is added) quickly brown the strips of meat. Stir as it browns. Remove meat and set aside leaving oil in pan. Turn down heat to medium, add onion and garlic if using. Add salt and pepper and cook briefly.  Remove vegetables and set aside. If needed add more oil to skillet.  With heat on medium add remaining vegetables , cook for about 5 minutes. Return meat and onions to skillet.. Taste to see if it needs salt and pepper. Cook just until everything is hot.  Plate the rice, top with cooked vegetables, top with chopped parsley and basil.  Enjoy.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Pie, Guests, Old Movies

     My guests called and said they were enjoying the miles long or something yard sale in Tennessee.  They wouldn’t be arriving today but tomorrow. 
    There was nothing to do but watch Turner Classic Movies. I recognized the leading lady as Myrna Loy, but for the life of me I couldn’t remember the lead male actor’s name. 
   My dad didn’t go in for romantic comedy when he  took mother and us  children to the movies.  He liked Gary Cooper and Gene Autry.  But I couldn’t place that fellow.  Was his name Douglas, or something.   It was a completely absurd movie, but that happens now-a-days, too.  I continued watching.  Myrna was so thin, did she eat anything?  I liked her hair style, just like what was popular in the 40’s.. Yes, I know what was popular in the 40’s. 
   Was it Bryon Douglas?, That was it.   Not an actor to remember.  But he was funny, in a subtle way.
   I relaxed, no more thinking of what I was preparing for dinner, laughed a little. 

  Then the movie was over and the credits rolled on.  Yes, Myrna Loy, but Melvin  Douglas?  Yes, Melvin Douglas   I can’t recall a movie I ever saw him in.  He’s no Cary Grant. 
   The afternoon was gone, the peanut butter-chocolate pie I had prepared for guests will hold until tomorrow and I had a few laughs.  It is a good day.

                                          Peanut Butter Chocolate Pie
Crust
3 Tbsp.  sugar
7 Tbsp. butter melted
10 sheets of graham crackers
Crush g. crackers and combine with sugar and butter.  Press in 9 inch pie
Pan and bake for 8-10 minutes at 350.  Cool.
Filling
2 Tbsp. butter
½ cup ;heavy whipping cream, divided
3 oz. cream cheese, room temp.
1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup plus 2 Tbs. B. sugar
Combine in pan 1//3 cup B. sugar, 1/4 cup cream, 2 Tbsp. butter. Stir and cook until sugar is dissolved and butter melted. Cool.
  In a bowl combine cooked mixture with ½ cup peanut butter, cream cheese and vanilla. Blend well, Cool.
Whip 1/4 cup cream and 2 Tbsp. B. sugar. Gently fold cream  into peanut butter mixture.  . Pour mixture into cooled crust.  Chill.
Chocolate Ganache Topping
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate pieces
½ cup heavy whipping cream. 
Microwave for 30 seconds in heavy bowl.  Stir. Microwave 30 seconds, remove and stir until combined. 
When ganache is at room temp and pie is well set, spread chocolate on top of pie.  May top with a few g. cracker crumbs

Quilt Gardens,Indiana

   Short outings can be a lot of fun.  That is what Linda Rosenberger and girl friends found out last summer when they took a trip to northern Indiana Amish country.  The focus of the trip was to see the quilt gardens.  They were delighted with what they saw.

  So much so, in fact , that Linda wanted to grow her own quilt garden.  This spring she pursued that endeavor by checking with the fellows at ColorWorks Greenhouse east of Brookville.  They were accommodating; Her 10 x 10 ft. square plot  became  a challenge;, the right plants, the right colors and of course, Mother’s Nature’s participation. 
   With the help of a computer they were able to determine how many plants and what kind of plants were most suitable for the project.  Linda worked with the fellows at Colorworks.   Planted in May, it took several weeks for the plot to fill out but the results indicate it was worth the effort.  Thirteen flats of assorted begonias, marigolds, ageratum  and petunias were needed.

  Upkeep means,. pinching back, very little watering and weeding.  Preen and mulch were used at planting time.     Linda is pleased at the success of her quilt garden, especially since this is her first attempt.  Perhaps she will inspire others to have a go at it.
    The quilt gardens of northern Indiana are an annual event. More information about them can be found on the internet by going to Indiana Quilt Gardens, or Elkhart County Quilt Gardens.  This year eighteen gardens and 21 hand painted, quilt themed, super sized murals can be visited on tours of the area around, Goshen, Elkhart and Middlebury.
   I have enjoyed the area several times, there is much to see, especially if you are interested in food. 

Picture taken from a drone