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Show Food for thought It II Mary Lee In the last two decades the popularity of convenience foods has spread like the morning dew. There's hardly a home-maker home-maker left who doesn't use heat-and-eat foods or instant products of some variety. Even the spice industry has done its part in simplifying life for homemakers. There are now several dozen spice blends that make seasoning foods a cinch. For example, one that is particularly par-ticularly popular at this time of year is pumpkin pie spice. A judicious mingling of cinnamon, cinna-mon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger, gin-ger, it takes the guess-work out of baking that Thanksgiving Thanks-giving dessert. The spicy blend is equally delightful in cakes, cookies, nut bread, rice and steamed puddings. pud-dings. You also can add it to squash, sweet potatoes, or carrots car-rots for a different flavor. And just try it in eggnog, or in a chocolate cake, too. Incidentally, one of the newest new-est things to happen to a turkey tur-key is a sesame stuffing. All you do is add one cup of toasted sesame seeds to your favorite stuffing or mix (enough for a 12-to-15-pound turkey). It's great in a corn bread stuffing, too. And if you want to give your vegetables a new zest for holiday holi-day entertaining, try some of the following tricks. Add a pinch of mint flakes to pickled beets. Saute mushrooms lightly with a sprinkle of coriander for seasoning. Skake a bit of cinnamon cin-namon on tomatoes, fresh or broiled. Add dill to glazed carrots, car-rots, and fresh ground nutmeg to spinach. Season to taste, of course. Speaking of these spicy things to taste, reminds us that the holiday season is a good time for cleaning out that spice shelf. Throw away all the little stale dabs left in cans or bottles, and start fresh if you want your holiday cooking to be worth every taste. |