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Serve These Healthy, Easy-to-Make Cabot(R) Cheese Recipes to Your Favorite Ghosts and Goblins and Watch Them Howl with Delight

Just as you can count on Count Dracula showing up on your doorstep on Halloween, you can count on the cooks at Cabot Creamery Cooperative to whip up some fiendishly delicious recipes for the witches and warlocks dancing to “The Monster Mash” at your Halloween party.

“Most people are pretty good at pulling together a fun and scary Halloween party,” says Cabot senior vice president of marketing, Roberta MacDonald. “But you don’t want to frighten your guests with ghoulish recipes,” she added with a laugh. “So our favorite Cabot cook has created some frightfully delicious recipes that are sure to be a big hit with ghosts and goblins of every age. There’s no trick to making these treats, and best of all, they’re easy to make, and good for you, too.”

Cabot’s Reduced Fat Butternut Squash Soup is the perfect Halloween party starter, and Cabot’s delicious Pumpkin and Habanero Cheddar Souffles are sure to add some spice to your dinner menu. Serve both along with a tray of mixed crackers, cut vegetables and individually wrapped 3/4 ounce bars of Cabot’s award-winning cheddar (available in Sharp Cheddar and 50% Reduced Fat Cheddar), and you have a bewitchingly tasty party combo sure to please everyone.

For these and a host of other delicious Cabot recipes, please visit Cabot’s website at: http://www.cabotcheese.com/recipes

Reduced Fat Butternut Squash Soup
Makes 4-6 servings

• 2 pounds butternut squash, peeled and cut into chunks
• 4 cups chicken or vegetable broth
• 1 cup sour cream (low-fat or regular)
• 1/2 cup grated Cabot 50 % Reduced Fat Cheddar
• 2 tablespoons salted butter
• 1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper (cayenne)
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 1 tablespoon sugar (optional)
• Several chives, cut into 1-inch pieces

1. In large saucepan, combine squash and broth. Bring to boil, then reduce heat to medium. Simmer until squash is very tender, about 20 minutes.
2. Remove from heat and let stand until slightly cooled; puree in batches in blender.
3. Return puree to saucepan and place over medium-low heat. Stir in sour cream, cheddar, butter and red pepper. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Stir until heated through (do not allow to boil). Taste soup, adding sugar if squash was not particularly sweet. Serve sprinkled with chives.

Pumpkin and Habanero Cheddar Souffles
Makes 8 servings

• 8 mini pumpkins
• 4 large eggs
• 4 teaspoons all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 3 ounces Cabot Habanero Cheddar, diced
• Salt and ground black pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Place uncut pumpkins in large shallow dish and add 1/4 inch of water; cover tightly with foil and bake for 40 minutes, or until tender. Let cool.
3. Reheat oven to 375 degrees F.
4. With paring knife, remove tops from pumpkins. Remove and discard seeds, then scoop out flesh, leaving 1/4-inch-thick shell.
5. Place four cups of pumpkin flesh in mixing bowl. Separate eggs, stirring yolks into pumpkin flesh and placing whites in separate bowl.
6. Stir flour and baking powder into pumpkin mixture, then stir in cheese. Season with salt and pepper.
7. Whip egg whites into stiff peaks. Fold into pumpkin mixture. Spoon souffle mixture into pumpkin shells.
8. Place on baking sheet and bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until puffed and set.
ABOUT CABOT CHEESE Cabot Creamery Cooperative has been in continuous operation in Vermont since 1919 and is most widely known as makers of “The World’s Best Cheddar and World’s Best Lowfat Cheddar.” Cabot is owned by the dairy farm families of Agri-Mark, the Northeast’s premier dairy cooperative. For additional information on Cabot Creamery, please visit www.cabotcheese.coop.

Source: Cabot Creamery

Filed under : Advice, Chat, Food

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Precautionary Labeling Leaves Food-Allergic Kids Guessing About Ingredients

For the parents of more than 3 million American children with food allergies, the biggest Halloween trick is figuring out which treats are safe. With more than 30 different “may contain”-type messages on ingredient labels, parents are becoming increasingly confused and frustrated.

Parents are advised to avoid products with “may contain” labeling statements, but with so many of these products on the market, food choices are becoming uncomfortably limited. In addition, some products carry labels that are confusing and even unbelievable. A bag of gummy bears states, “May contain peanuts and/or trace amounts of allergens not listed in the ingredients” (how are parents to know what those allergens are?). A package of candy corn states, “May contain peanuts, tree nuts, sunflower seeds, milk, soy, eggs, and wheat” (can all of these ingredients really be in candy corn?).

Lab analyses have shown that some products with “may contain” statements really do contain allergens. So there is a potential risk when ignoring these statements. “The problem consumers are having is that there is no way to determine which labels are truthful,” says Anne Munoz-Furlong, founder and CEO of the Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN). “We look forward to the day when kids can go trick-or-treating and trust the information on the ingredient label.”

Until then, FAAN urges consumers with food allergies not to ignore “may contain” labels. Families managing food allergies can follow these simple steps for a safe Halloween:

1. Read ingredient statements for all candy.
2. Give the treats your child cannot eat to other children.
3. Have safe treats at home, and trade them for candies that can’t be eaten.

For more Halloween information, visit www.foodallergy.org.

Source: Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network

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INGREDIENTS:

Crust:

• 1/3 cup rolled oats
• 6 graham crackers
• 2 tablespoons chopped walnuts
• 1 egg white
• Buttered flavored vegetable cooking spray

Filling:

• 2 cups apple cider
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 5?6 large Granny Smith apples, about 2 1/2 pounds
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch

Topping:

• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup rolled oats
• 2 tablespoons chopped walnuts
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted

COOKING INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Set oven temperature to 350 degrees.
2. In a food processor, process the oats, graham crackers and walnuts until finely ground.
3. Add the egg white and process until blended. The mixture should look crumbly not gooey.
4. Coat a 9?inch pie pan with cooking spray.
5. Press the crumb mixture evenly into the pie pan to make the crust.
6. Lightly coat with cooking spray. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.
7. Remove from oven and set aside until ready to use.
8. Bring the cider to a boil in a large heavy saucepan over high heat.
9. Cook until reduced to 1/2 cup, about 15 minutes.
10. Pour the mixture into a large mixing bowl. Add the sugar, lemon juice, vanilla, and pumpkin pie spice to the bowl.
11. Peel the apples, cut into quarters, remove the core and cut into thin slices.
12. Stir the apples into the cider mixture.
13. Sprinkle the cornstarch over the apples and stir to combine.
14. Arrange the apples in the crust.
15. In a small bowl, mix the brown sugar, oats, walnuts and cinnamon together.
16. Pour the melted butter into the bowl stirring to combine.
17. Sprinkle the topping over the apples, pat down with your hands and bake at 350F for 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes. The center should be soft when pierced with a sharp knife.

Received via e-mail from Luiza. Thanks a lot!

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