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Fall vegetables have their virtues

AUTUMN ARRIVES — Autumn officially was proclaimed a few minutes after 10 a.m. on Sept. 22, and now we can pull out the comfort food recipes and look forward to many football games and hayrides and get ready for Halloween. -- Esther McCoy

The American Institute for Cancer Research brochure that arrives at our home four times a year reports some fall season vegetables that are valuable in three ways. They are delicious, nutritious and cancer-preventive.

The autumn veggies can be served as a side dish or hidden in other foods — you know like you did when your children were little and you added shredded carrots to the mashed potatoes?

Carrots include beta-carotene, a precursor to vitamin A and a potential cancer fighter. This acts as an antioxidant, protecting the body’s cells from damage related to aging and exposure to toxins.

A single carrot provided 2 grams of dietary fiber and crunchy goodness for a mere 30 calories. You can mix diced or pureed carrots into macaroni and cheese, soups, stews and meatloaf. Shredded carrots can go into spaghetti sauce for some healthy flavoring, in potato and pasta salad and in soups.

Beets are an autumn vegetable that are an excellent source of foliate, a B vitamin important in both heart health and DNA repair. They have blood pressure-friendly potassium and supply vitamin C.

A one-half cup of cooked beets has only 37 calories. And how about this? They can be added to chocolate baked goods, (yes, I have come across chocolate cake and cookie recipes with pureed beets) whole-grain pancake or muffin batter to make a beautiful fuchsia color, humus and smoothies.

Sweet potatoes are another fall and winter vegetable. Their deep orange color is a hint that it is rich in beta-carotene, dietary fiber and potassium. If you avoid making a sticky, sweet dish with brown sugar, maple syrup and marshmallows, it becomes a healthy part of the cuisine.

You can combine mashed sweet potatoes and add to pancakes or quick bread batter or thickening soups with it. Roasted sweet potato slices can be added to salads, and sauteed sweet potatoes can be added to black bean chili.

Then we have the pumpkin, acorn and butter nut squash category that deserves a place on the table for their vitamins A and C, dietary fiber, potassium, beta-carotene, lutein and zeaxanthin, that offers protection for the eyes. Any of the three can be pureed and added as a seasoning for a tasty gravy. Canned pumpkin puree also can be stirred into the morning yogurt or smoothie. Or how about a nice pie with lots of spices and just a little sugar?

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Here is a recipe for carrots and orange squash that are baked together with raisins and dried apricot pieces. It can be made and refrigerated for several hours and reheated with an extra 1/3 cup apple juice poured over top when reheated to make it moist.

Carmelized Carrots and Orange Squash

1/4 cup raisins

1/3 cup 100-percent apple juice

1 pound carrots, peeled and sliced diagonal into 1/4-inch pieces

1 small butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes

1 1/2 tablespoons light olive oil

1 tablespoon honey

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Sea salt and coarsely ground black pepper, to taste.

1/4 cup apricot halves, cut into small pieces

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a small bowl, soak raisins in apple juice. Meanwhile in a large baking dish, mix vegetables, oil, honey and cinnamon. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add the vegetables and bake until carrots are just soft. Drain raisins and distribute both raisins and apricots evenly over vegetables. Bake about 10 minutes longer until carrots are soft enough to fork and pierce easily. Serve immediately. Makes five servings of 188 calories each.

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Soups and stews are fall-friendly foods. They can make up a complete meal when served with the right kind of bread and fresh apple slices with caramel sauce, served at the close of the dinner. Italian Minestrone is a good fall dish. It has dried beans, carrots, cabbage, potatoes and celery included, with macaroni to make it an entire meal. It is a recipe from Italy and published in the Betty Crocker Cookbook.

Italian Minestrone

1 cup dried white beans, soaked

6 cups liquid, such as that where the beans were soaked or water

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 clove garlic

1 large onion, chopped

3 sprigs parsley, minced

3 large carrot, finely diced

3 stalks celery, diced with the leaves remaining

1 cup finely shredded cabbage

1 cup diced raw potatoes

1 cup cooked macaroni

2 teaspoons salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1 cup cooked tomatoes

If the beans require soaking, add the 6 cups liquid to the beans and let the mixture stand overnight. The next morning, precede with the recipe. No draining is necessary. Skim the bean liquid if necessary.

In a skillet, add the olive oil, onion, garlic, parsley, carrots, celery, shredded cabbage and raw potatoes. Cover and simmer 30 minutes, stirring often. Add the beans and liquid and bring to a full boil. Add the cooked macaroni, seasonings and cooked tomatoes. Simmer together for 15 minutes. Serve with crusty Italian breadsticks. Makes 10 servings.

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Beets need a bit of extra care in their preparation. Don’t skin or cut the stem close when putting on to cook. Try to have all the same size beets and leave them whole. Leave 1-inch top when cutting off the stem. Boil until tender, drain and run cold water over the vegetable then slip off the skin. Now they are “recipe ready.”

Beets with Orange Sauce

3 cups cooked and sliced beets

2 tablespoons flour

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup orange juice

2 tablespoons melted butter

Put beets in a quart-size casserole, mix the remaining ingredients and pour over the vegetables. Bake in a covered dish for 15 minutes in a 375 degree oven until the sauce is simmering and is thickened. Serves six

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This is a Bavarian-type cabbage dish, and the apples give it a more mellow taste. My grandmother likely would have served this with drop dumplings and a pork roast. I don’t remember her using the gingersnaps though.

Cabbage and Apples Deluxe

12 cups finely shredded red cabbage

1 cup water

3 apples, cut into very thin 1/8-inch slices

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon grated onion

1/2 teaspoon salt

Dash of pepper

1/2 cup mild vinegar, dilute 6 tablespoons with 2 tablespoons water

1/2 cup gingersnap pieces

Put scalded cabbage in a large cooking pot and combine with 1 cup water, apples, brown sugar, butter, onion, salt and pepper. Cover and cook for 7 minutes. Mix in the diluted vinegar and gingersnap pieces and stir over the heat until gingersnaps are dissolved. Serves eight.

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Squash and sweet potatoes can be used in one-shell pies along with pumpkin. Whatever is available can be cooked and put through a blender to make a smooth puree and substituted for pureed pumpkin. The Betty Crocker Cookbook has a recipe for squash pie and sweet potato pie that are exactly alike. One can be interchanged for another.

New England Squash or

Southern Sweet Potato Pie

1 3/4 cups strained and mashed squash or sweet potatoes

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups whole milk or canned milk

2 large eggs, measuring 1/2 cup

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon ginger

1 tablespoon butter, melted

Combine smooth squash or sweet potatoes, salt, milk and eggs and beat with a whip or electric mixer until smooth. Combine sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger and slowly stir this in well. Pour in the melted butter and stir again. Pour into a 9-inch pie plate. For crispness, have bottom pastry just a little thicker than 1/8-inch thick. Bake until a silver knife inserted into the side of the filling comes out clean. The center may still look soft but will set later. Serve slightly warm or cold with whipped cream.

Note: To serve the pie with a fancier style of whipped cream put a large dab of whipped cream or whipped topping on a pie slice. Make a hole on the top of the mound of whipped cream and place a spoonful of honey in each mound.

(McCoy can be contacted at emccoy@heraldstaronline.com.)

AUTUMN ARRIVES -- Autumn officially was proclaimed a few minutes after 10 a.m. on Sept. 22, and now we can pull out the comfort food recipes and look forward to many football games and hayrides and get ready for Halloween. -- Esther McCoy

AUTUMN ARRIVES — Autumn officially was proclaimed a few minutes after 10 a.m. on Sept. 22, and now we can pull out the comfort food recipes and look forward to many football games and hayrides and get ready for Halloween. — Esther McCoy

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