Fall means pumpkins, apples

In the kitchen with Sling


Bill Slingerland

Bill Slingerland

With Halloween around the corner and fall in full swing, it is time for seasonal flavors such as pumpkin, squash, pears and apples. The stores abound with produce and the seasonings such as cinnamon, rosemary and nutmeg are everywhere.

Pumpkin typifies fall more than any other fruit or vegetable. It is readily available in a can or in the sweet pie pumpkins that are piled up in the store. Pumpkin can be used in cookies, pies or even soup. My favorite way to have pumpkin is in cake. Poke cakes are particularly popular now. These easy, flavorful cakes are named because you poke holes in the cake before you pour on sweetened condensed milk. These cakes also use box cake mix and other ready-touse ingredients. Pumpkin poke cake uses yellow cake mix, sweetened condensed milk, whipped topping and Heath toffee bits.

The second recipe is a salad that uses apples and Snickers bars. These are in the stores right now in the mini sizes due to Halloween. I love Snickers and I confess to pilfering them from my grandchildren’s treat bags on Oct. 31. This recipe also is easy to assemble and utilizes ready-to-use ingredients.

Snickers bars are cut up and mixed with chopped apple, whipped topping and caramel sauce.

Have a happy Halloween and enjoy these recipes!

Pumpkin Poke Cake

1 box yellow cake mix

1 15-oz. can pumpkin puree

1 tsp. pumpkin pie seasoning mix

1 14 -oz. can sweetened condensed milk

1 8-oz. tub whipped topping

1 1/2 c. Heath bits

1 jar caramel sauce

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Combine the cake mix, pumpkin puree and the pumpkin pie seasoning. Pour batterintoagreased9x13pan. Bake for 25 minutes. Remove the cake from the oven and then poke holes all over the cake with the handle end of a wooden spoon. Pour the sweetened condensed milk over the cake and allow to cool.

Top with whipped topping and the Heath bits. Drizzle the caramel sauce over the entire cake. Refrigerate for three or four hours.

Apple and Snickers Salad

1 1/2 c. Snickers bars, chopped

4 Granny Smith, cored and chopped

1 large box vanilla instant pudding

1 16-oz. tub whipped topping

1 jar caramel sauce topping

Mix together pudding mix, milk and whipped topping. Stir in chopped apples and Snickers bars. Place in serving bowl and drizzle with caramel topping. Chill for one hour.

Bill Slingerland, a retired teacher who has a passion for cooking, has won awards for his recipes. Contact him at bill. slingerland@yahoo.com.


Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.