Kitchen Krafts

Apple Soup with Cheese and Nuts

4 cups peeled, cored, and chopped apples

3 cups chicken broth (not bouillon)

2 1/2 tablespoons butter or margarine

2 1/2 tablespoons flour

1 cup apple juice

1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (5 to 6 ounces/142 to 170 g)

2/3 cup sliced almonds, toasted*

1. Cook the apples in 1 1/2 cups of the broth in a large pan until tender. Let cool fifteen minutes.

2. Pour the apple mixture into a blender and blend until it is a purée; set aside.

3. In the same large pan, cook the butter with the flour, stirring constantly until the mixture is bubbly.

4. Slowly add the remaining broth and the juice, stirring constantly, till it boils.

5. Stir in the puréed mixture and 1 cup of the cheese; bring to a boil.

6. Ladle into individual soup bowls and sprinkle the remaining cheese and the almonds on top.

Apple Sandwich

1 small apple

1 slice cheese, quartered

2 small slices ham and/or turkey

1. Rinse off the apple, slice off the top and bottom and put aside to use later, core the rest of the apple, then cut it horizontally into 5 slices.

2. Place a quarter of the cheese on top of the bottom of the apple, then alternate slices of apple with the meat and cheese, and top with the top of the apple. Serve immediately.

Jack-O’-Lantern Cookies

1/2 cup margarine

1 1/4 cups brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups canned pumpkin

2 1/2 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ginger

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 cup raisins

a few drops red food coloring

lemon-flavored (or other yellow-colored) icing

extra raisins

1. Cream the margarine with the sugar; add the eggs, then the vanilla and the pumpkin, mixing well with each addition.

2. Blend in the next 6 ingredients, then stir in the raisins.

3. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto a lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350° F (175° C) until done (about 15 minutes). Let cool.

4. Blend the food coloring into the icing until it is about the color of a pumpkin, then ice the cookies. Use the extra raisins to create jack-o’-lantern faces.

Jack-O’-Lantern Orange Treat

1 orange

vanilla ice cream or orange sherbet

short cinnamon stick

1. With an older person’s help, cut off the top of the orange, then cut a hole in the top just big enough to put the cinnamon stick in.

2. Scoop out the orange and eat the insides.

3. With an older person’s help, carve a jack-o’-lantern face in the orange, then fill it with the ice cream or sherbet and replace the top with the cinnamon-stick stem.

• To toast the almonds, spread them on a cookie sheet and bake them at 350° F (175° C ), stirring occasionally, till slightly brown (about 10 minutes).

Illustrated by Shauna Mooney Kawasaki