HOME & LIVING
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2021
THE OBSERVER & BAKER CITY HERALD — B3
Peeling back the truth on apples
By BARBARA QUINN-
INTERMILL
Monterey Herald
Reader RS from Indiana
writes:
“Hi Barb, Being a retired
home economics teacher, I
always enjoy reading your
column. I have always
peeled the skin off of apples
due to my concern about
the chemicals used to spray
the apples. Should I be con-
cerned about this or am I
overly cautious?”
You might be overly
cautious and miss out on
some great health bene-
fi ts. As I mentioned in a
previous column, most of
the healthful ingredients
in fresh apples including
dietary fi ber and antioxi-
dant compounds reside in or
close to the skin of an apple.
According to experts
who recently attended the
PUMPKINS
Continued from Page B1
Bring to a boil, then reduce to a
simmer and cook until tender,
about 15 minutes.
3. Cut top of pumpkin to create
a lid, as you would with jack-o’-
lanterns. Clean out seeds with a
spoon, scraping the insides down
to the pulp. Set aside.
4. While potatoes are cooking,
brown meat in large pan over
medium heat, breaking meat up
with a spoon, until meat is cooked
through, 3 to 5 minutes. Remove
from heat and drain, reserving 2
tablespoons fat.
5. Add reserved fat back to
pan, and heat on medium. Add
onion, mushroom (if using) and
1/4 teaspoon salt, and sauté until
softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in
fl our and tomato paste and cook,
stirring, until fl our is incorporated,
about 1 minute.
6. Whisk in broth, thyme and
Worcestershire sauce into onion
mixture, scraping pan as you go,
and bring to a simmer. Return
meat to pan and cook over
medium-low heat until sauce is
thickened, about 6 to 8 minutes.
Test for fl avor and add salt and
pepper to taste. Add peas and
carrots into mixture, if using.
7. Drain potatoes, return to hot
pot and mash until smooth. Stir in
butter, then half-and-half. Season
with salt and pepper to taste.
Facts, Not Fear farm tour in
the apple producing region
of the Pacifi c Northwest, all
apples — those grown both
organically and convention-
ally — are safe to eat with
the peels. That’s because
improved farming methods
over the past decades have
greatly reduced the use of
many pesticides.
According to the pesti-
cide calculator at Alliance
for Food and Farming (safe-
fruitsandveggies.com), a
woman could eat 850 apples
in one day with no eff ect
of pesticide residue on her
health, even if the apple had
the highest pesticide residue
ever recorded on apples by
the United States Depart-
ment of Agriculture.
Again, just make sure
you wash your hands with
soap and water and your
apples with plain water
before crunching into this
8. Rub the inside of the pump-
kins with salt. Fill pumpkins 2/3
full with meat mixture. Fill pump-
kins to bottom of opening with
mashed potatoes. Replace tops
of pumpkins. Place pumpkins on
prepared baking sheet.
9. Bake in oven for approxi-
mately 90 minutes or until pump-
kin “gives” when you squeeze the
sides. It may take longer than 90
minutes depending on the size of
the pumpkin.
10. If you would like to brown
the mashed potatoes, broil them
for 3 to 5 minutes with the pump-
kin lid removed.
Per serving: 366 calories; 20
g fat; 8 g saturated fat; 68 mg
cholesterol; 19 g protein; 22 g car-
bohydrate; 26 g sugar; 3 g fi ber;
522 mg sodium; 62 mg calcium
— Recipe from prettyprudent.
com
STUFFED
PUMPKIN
DINNER
good-for-you food.
On another topic: I tend
to go bonkers for any-
thing pumpkin this time of
year. So I was intrigued to
receive a sample of a plant-
based, vegan and pumpkin
version of marshmal-
lows. This product is also
non-GMO, certifi ed kosher,
has no artifi cial fl avors or
colors, no corn syrup, no
gelatin and no gluten, and
it’s free of the common
allergens wheat, dairy,
eggs, corn, peanut, and tree
nuts.
Which made me wonder
— what IS in vegan marsh-
mallows? I took a look at
the label: tapioca syrup,
cane sugar, fi ltered water,
tapioca starch, carrageenan
(a seaweed extract), soy
protein, natural fl avors
and annatto (a food col-
oring from the seeds of the
achiote tree).
1 large pie pumpkin
(5 ½ to 6 pounds)
1 teaspoon salt, divided
1½ pounds ground beef
3/4 cup fi nely chopped onion
1 small green pepper, chopped
1½ cups cooked rice
1 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce
½ cup fi nely chopped fully
Hillary Levin/St. Louis Post-Dispatch-TNS
Pumpkin Stuff ed with Everything Good.
cooked ham or sausage
2 eggs, beaten
1 garlic clove, minced
1 teaspoon dried oregano
½ teaspoon pepper
½ teaspoon cider vinegar
SKILLET SWEET
POTATO HASH
Heat a medium cast-iron pan
over medium heat and add 1
tablespoon or two of olive oil,
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remove and drain well; pat dry.
2. In a large skillet, cook the
beef, onion and green pepper
over medium heat until meat is
no longer pink and vegetables
are tender; drain well. Cool
slightly; place in a large bowl.
Add rice, tomato sauce, ham,
eggs, garlic, oregano, pepper,
vinegar and the remaining ½
teaspoon salt. Stir to combine
thoroughly.
3. Place pumpkin in a shallow,
sturdy baking pan. Firmly pack
beef mixture into pumpkin;
replace top. Bake for 1 hour. Let
stand for 10 minutes. Remove
the top; if desired, use paper
towel to remove excess moisture
Garnish with chopped parsley,
and serve immediately.
Serves 1.
— Mike Sanders
Continued from Page B1
Olive oil, for pan
1 medium sweet potato, peeled
and shredded (about 2 cups)
Salt and freshly ground
black pepper
Butter for pan
2 eggs
2 thick slices smoked ham
Chopped parsley, for garnish
PAN-SEARED
SAUSAGE
WITH APPLES
Fall is apple season, and a fa-
vorite pairing for the fruit is sweet
Italian sausage. This skillet dish
comes together quickly, and is full
of wonderful autumn fl avor. The
choice of apple is key: You need
to use a fi rm variety such as Pink
Lady or Gala that will hold up to
heat well. (Red and Gold Delicious
will get mushy.) Serve with crusty
Italian bread and a glass of chianti.
Gretchen McKay/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette-TNS
Sweet Italian sausage sizzles in the same pan as sliced apple and red
cabbage in this easy skillet recipe.
swirling to coat the pan. Once
sizzling, add shredded sweet
potato in a single layer, season
generously with salt and pepper
and cook, turning every so often
with a spatula, until the potatoes
are soft and nicely browned, and
you can’t make out the individual
shreds. Cover, and keep warm
while you prepare the eggs.
Heat another pan over medium
heat, and then add 1 tablespoon
or so of butter. Reduce heat
What do I think?
Marshmallows are not
really a health food, but
strict vegans who love
marshmallows may enjoy
this special variety. (They
do cost twice as much as
regular marshmallows.) I
think my grandkids would
love either type in their hot
chocolate.
Barbara Quinn-Inter-
mill is a registered dietitian
and certifi ed diabetes edu-
cator affi liated with Com-
munity Hospital of the Mon-
terey Peninsula. She is the
author of “Quinn-Essential
Nutrition” (Westbow Press,
2015). Email her at to bar-
bara@quinnessentialnutri-
tion.com.
from top of meat. Slice pumpkin
into wedges.
Per serving: 281 calories; 5 g fat;
2 g saturated fat; 105 mg choles-
terol; 27 g protein; 34 g carbohy-
drate; 11 g sugar; 3 g fi ber; 377
mg sodium; 92 mg calcium
— Recipe from Taste of Home
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Wash the pumpkins. With a small,
sharp knife, remove the tops as
if for a jack-o’-lantern. Scoop out
the seeds and stringy insides with
a spoon, leaving the fl esh intact.
Rinse, then rub with a pinch of salt
and a few grinds of pepper.
2. Melt the butter in a sauté pan
over medium heat, add the scal-
lions and cook for a few minutes.
Add the garlic and sauté another
minute or so, until fragrant. Add
the kale and cook until it just wilts,
about 3 or 4 minutes. Remove
from heat, stir in the lemon juice
and transfer to a bowl.
3. Add the breadcrumbs,
cheese, pine nuts, nutmeg, red
pepper fl akes, 1/4 teaspoon salt
and 1/8 teaspoon black pepper.
Mix well, then stir in cream.
4. Divide the fi lling into the
pumpkins and replace the tops.
Line a baking dish with parch-
ment paper (or brush with 1
tablespoon olive oil) and arrange
the fi lled pumpkins in the dish.
5. Bake for 1 hour, watching to
make sure the tops don’t brown
too much. Test the pumpkins by
piercing with a fork. If the skin
doesn’t pierce easily, remove the
tops and bake an additional 15 to
20 minutes. Replace the tops and
serve hot.
Per serving: 313 calories; 23
g fat; 8 g saturated fat; 32 mg
cholesterol; 10 g protein; 22 g
carbohydrate; 5 g sugar; 4 g fi ber;
290 mg sodium; 221 mg calcium
— Slightly adapted from a
recipe by Kim Sverson in the New
York Times
golden brown, 5-8 minutes. Add
cabbage and continue to cook
until cabbage is wilted, about 4 to
5 minutes.
Prick sausages with a fork,
then add to skillet. Cook, turning
occasionally, until sausage is
browned and cooked through,
10-12 minutes.
Add wine and vinegar to
skillet. Bring to a boil, reduce heat,
and simmer until sauce is thick
enough to coat a spoon, about 4
minutes. Season to taste with salt
and pepper.
Serve with pan juices spooned
over, with some crusty bread for
sopping up sauce.
Serves 4.
— Adapted from bonappetit.
com
Yield: 6 servings
SKILLETS
This easy breakfast dish is a
favorite of Lawrenceville resident
Mike Sanders, who has been col-
lecting vintage Griswold cast-iron
pans for decades. It’s super easy
and super nutritious, and comes
together in minutes.
If a cast-iron pan is properly
seasoned (with a dark, semi-
glossy fi nish and no rust or rough
spots) neither the potatoes nor
the eggs will stick. He adds a
simple garnish of Sriracha sauce
to spice things up, and parsley to
make it pretty.
This recipe uses three pans,
but as Sanders points out, clean
up is pretty easy in a cast-iron pan
— simply wipe interior surface of
the still-warm skillet with paper
towels to remove any excess food
and oil, then rinse under hot water
with a sponge or nonabrasive
scrubber.
Marcin Zdrojewski/Dreamstime-TNS
According to experts who recently attended the Facts, Not Fear farm
tour in the apple producing region of the Pacifi c Northwest, all ap-
ples — those grown both organically and conventionally — are safe
to eat with the peels.
STUFFED BABY
PUMPKINS
1. Preheat oven to 350
degrees. Wash pumpkin and cut
out a 6-inch lid, as you would
with a jack-o’-lantern. Discard
seeds and loose fi bers from
inside. Place pumpkin in a large
Dutch oven. Fill Dutch oven with
boiling water to a depth of 6
inches; add½ teaspoon salt. Cov-
er and simmer for 30 minutes or
until the pumpkin is almost ten-
der but holds its shape. Carefully
Yield: 8 servings
Typical marshmallows
are made with four basic
ingredients, say food scien-
tists — sugar, corn syrup
and gelatin plus some air.
Some makers add nat-
ural and artifi cial fl avors
and color plus tetrasodium
pyrophosphate (TSPP), a
food additive used in other
products such as meat sub-
stitutes and toothpaste.
It’s the gelatin that
makes most marshmal-
lows not vegan, i.e. free of
animal products.
Gelatin is made with the
protein collagen, an animal
byproduct.
Interestingly, there’s not
much diff erence nutrition-
ally between vegan and
regular varieties of marsh-
mallows. They both are pri-
marily sugar (about 6 tea-
spoons) and contain 100
calories per serving of 18
miniature marshmallows.
to low, then break 2 eggs into
pan. Cover with a lid, and cook
until egg white is set, around 3
minutes.
While eggs are cooking, heat
a fl at skillet over medium heat,
then add 2 slices of ham. Pan fry
until brown and crispy, about 2-3
minutes per side.
Spoon sweet potatoes onto a
plate, then top with fried eggs.
Place ham beside hash, and
drizzle Sriracha sauce over top.
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 tart apples, each cored
and cut into 8 slices
½ red small red cabbage,
shredded
4 sweet Italian sausages
(about 1½ pounds)
1/4 cup dry white wine
2 tablespoons white wine or
Champagne vinegar
Kosher salt and freshly
ground black pepper
Heat oil in a large cast-iron
skillet over medium-high heat.
Add apples, cut side down, turn-
ing occasionally, until apples are
6 mini pumpkins, preferably
the white variety
1/4 teaspoon salt, plus
more for the shells
1/8 teaspoon black pepper,
plus more for the shells
2 tablespoons butter
2 scallions (about
1/3 cup), chopped
1 large garlic clover,
fi nely chopped
4 cups baby kale or stemmed
and roughly chopped lacinato
(Tuscan) kale (about 4 ounces)
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
½ cup white breadcrumbs,
lightly toasted
2/3 cup shredded Gruyère cheese
1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon red pepper fl akes
1/4 cup heavy cream
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