Apple-Orange-Banana Smoothie

When I grew up, my mom's favorite fruit salad consisted of apples, oranges and bananas. I don't remember her ever dressing the salad, but just cutting up the fruit and tossing the chunks to mix them well. The orange keeps the bananas and apples from turning brown, so it's a salad that is not only healthy, but also looks lovely. After the morning walk with the buddies, I made a smoothie based on my mother's fruit salad combo. It is very tasty and quickly blended.

Apple-Orange-Banana Smoothie

Ingredients:

1 banana

2 apples

2 oranges

8 oz. orange juice (freshly squeezed is particularly nice)

1/2 cup low-fat yogurt

2 Tbsp. freshly ground flax seeds

Preparation:

Wash all fruit well and cut into large chunks. Put all ingredients into a blender and blend on high for about 30 seconds, or until everything is smooth and creamy. The recipe makes about two 16-oz. servings.

Fresh Pumpkin Pie

This fall we joined a CSA (community supported agriculture), a local farm that delivers a bushel box of organically grown produce every other week to a drop-off location nearby. With the last batch of vegetables we also received a so-called "dessert pumpkin." It's a small pumpkin, very cute, about 5 1/2 inches in diameter and weighing approximately three pounds. It has served as a great centerpiece on our kitchen counter, but now it's time to turn it into pumpkin pie.

I have to admit that pumpkin pie has never been my favorite dessert, and I usually pass it up for apple pie on Thanksgiving Day. Also, I've never made pumpkin pie before, not even with the canned variety. So at first I was a little leery. But the good thing about getting produce from a farm and not knowing what's in the box is that you learn to cook with foods you would never think of buying in the supermarket. I honestly have to say that making pumpkin pie from a fresh pumpkin has taken me to new heights in baking. I really like the taste of the pie, too. I guess you could say I had a pumpkin pie conversion experience…

Before being able to use the pumpkin flesh, I had to cook it. I settled on baking it because it is a very simple method.

Baking a Pumpkin

Ingredients:

1 pumpkin, approximately 3 pounds (makes about 2 cups of pumpkin purée)

olive oil (pure olive oil is more stable at higher temperatures, so use that!)

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350˚F. Wash the pumpkin and cut in half lengthwise. Scoop out the seeds and keep them for roasting later. Brush a cookie sheet or roasting pan with oil and place pumpkin halves on it, cut side down. Cover with foil and bake at 350˚F for about 60-90 minutes or until very soft. Scrape the flesh out of the rind and purée in a food processor or food mill.

The next step involves making the actual pumpkin pie:

Pumpkin Pie

Ingredients:

1 cup sugar

1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp. kosher salt

1/4 tsp. ground ginger

1/4 tsp. ground cloves

3 large eggs

2 cups fresh pumpkin purée

1 cup whole milk

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 375˚F. Prepare your favorite crust (home-made or store-bought) and line a pie pan with it. Set aside. Combine sugar and spices, add the eggs and beat until mixture is creamy and light-colored. Add pumpkin purée, then milk, and mix until everything is blended well. Pour this filling into your favorite crust recipe and bake for about 35-45 minutes, until the center of the filling is set, but still quivery when nudged. Let pie cool on a rack. It can be served cold, at room temperature or slightly warm. Serve with whipped cream.

Note: The baking instructions are given for conventional oven baking. I used a convection oven, but it still took my pie 35-45 minutes at 375˚F.