Can I hold a Veggie Pocket in one hand and quilt with another? Time will tell.

The note instructs participants to "bring a sandwich for lunch". Tomorrow's my big day: I begin my first official quilting class. I've quilted for years and sat at the feet of some of the greatest quilters who ever sewed a stitch--my mother, my aunts, my grandmother. I adore quilts and have a house full of them, including several I've made.

But I've never had a professional quilter actually sit down and teach me the trade secrets. I feel sure I'm missing some shortcuts and can learn some easier ways to tackle the craft. I've had people tell me that once they took a quilting class, they realized all the ruts they needed to "un-learn" in their own self-taught quilting processes.

So, I've signed up to learn to make a quilt-in-an-afternoon fall table runner. Now that's the class for me--when I return home, I'll have a finished project in hand--fits my lifestyle just fine.

The note from the teacher told the students that lunch would be grabbed on the run between stitches. I wanted something that wouldn't be messy. "Celebrating a Healthy Harvest", my old standby source, helped by providing a recipe for Veggie Pockets--a vegetable sandwich stuffed into a whole-wheat pita half. Cucumbers and shredded carrots, along with the mashed chickpeas, make this just about as healthy (and tasty) as you can get. The pita-bread pocket makes the contents manageable for dining during this quilting circle.

Time will tell whether I bring home a souvenir--a finished table runner--from the class, or whether I'm too pokey slow to finish on time. But one thing's for sure--I have a favorite new recipe that I've gained as part of the process.

Veggie Pockets

1 (15.5-ounce) can chickpeas (garbanzo beams), drained

1/3 cup fat-free Italian dressing

4 whole wheat pita breads, cut in half

2 cucumbers, peeled and sliced

1 cup shredded carrots

1 cup shredded Italian cheese

Process the chickpeas in a food processor until they are almost smooth. Scrape the sides of the container as needed so all is blended. Add the salad dressing and process until smooth. Open the pita pockets and line them with cucumber slices. Fill each pita half with 3-4 tablespoons of the bean mixture; sprinkle shredded carrot and shredded cheese on top. Serve cold or warm briefly in microwave. Makes 8 pockets.

Love this good use for leftover broccoli bunch

Surveying my fridge after our big family weekend I found almost two full heads of broccoli that we hadn't touched while all the company was here. Other than chopping off a handful for a mixed vegetable tossed salad, the broccoli bunch that I purchased was fairly intact. My little grandperson who visited us loves veggies, but her munchings barely had put a dent in the broccoli supply. What to do now with this veggie that makes every list of "super food" any time any expert compiles one?

As it often does, my handy "Celebrating a Healthy Harvest" booklet zoomed in to the rescue with a listing for "Brocco-Corn Swiss Casserole" which called for, conveniently enough, two heads of broccoli, cut to bite-sized pieces. Mixed with corn and brown rice (another super food), this looked as though it would stir into a colorful, healthy dish.

Only problem with this recipe is that the prep, while not complicated, had to be started WAY IN ADVANCE. The brown rice needed to be pre-cooked before it even was dished into the casserole mixture. That meant adding an extra 25 minutes to the already 50 minutes required for the casserole to bake. I always could have subbed minute rice for the far-more-healthy brown rice, but Hubby would shriek, since he hates to waste any opportunity that a healthy ingredient is called for.

In the end, however, the process wasn't too time-consuming (the cook can do something else during the 50 minutes the dish is cooking in the oven. I even could ask Hubby to divide and conquer and himself cook the rice in advance while I prepare the other part). I liked the end result because it produced a healthy broccoli casserole without the usual additives of heavy soups and sauces found in most recipes of this nature.

Best of all, the dish was green and gold--the colors of my university--and the colors of health as well.

Brocco-Corn Swiss Casserole

2 heads broccoli, cut to bite-sized pieces

1 (14-ounce) can cream-style corn

1/2 cup pre-cooked brown rice

2 tablespoons onion, diced

1 egg, beaten (I use egg substitute)

3/4 cup grated Swiss cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease casserole dish. Combine first five ingredients and pour into casserole dish. Add grated Swiss cheese on top. Bake uncovered for 50 minutes or until bubbly. Don't overcook, since this can dry out the casserole. Makes 4 servings.

Another winner in the weird-combinations category: Chopped Salad with Pita Croutons

On Sunday we prepared that odd-couple recipe, Tomato Watermelon Salad, that I blogged about some days back, to take to a family gathering. The luncheon was being held just before my cousin Yvonne's 80th birthday party. The family was dining on sandwiches before members left for the church, where the party was about to start. I brought a bowl of the salad and thought this group of loved ones, who were featured in my new cookbook, Way Back in the Country Garden, would be the appropriate bunch to appreciate the unusual concoction featuring tomatoes, watermelon, mint, and pistachios.

Even though garden-fresh food was part and parcel of this family's identity and history, the same quizzical looks crossed the brows of these loved ones as they do whenever I mention this salad combination to just about anyone. "Tomatoes and watermelon? Say what?" Nobody expects these two red fruit to pair up in a salad or in anything for that matter. But they did; the crowd there was complimentary after sampling this delicious oddity.

On the same page in the August 2010 Prevention magazine as the Tomato Watermelon Salad was another tomato recipe just as strange: Chopped Salad with Pita Croutons. It featured chopped tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, parsley, and toasted pita bread. Pita bread? In a salad? You betcha--it's another winner; I fixed it as part of our dinner last night and couldn't get enough.

The crisp, oven-toasted pita provided the salad's crunch, yet the bread cubes soaked up the oil-and-vinegar dressing to enhance the flavor. Tomato and cucumber, of course, made it healthy. I envisioned going beyond the recipe and adding a little chopped avocado or perhaps a little swiss cheese sprinkled on top.

The versatile tomato strikes again--I never imagined it could be combined with such a variety of other food items, especially in salads. And by the way--happy birthday, Yvonne, on this day of your "official" 80th. Nobody makes better salads than you do!

Chopped Salad with Pita Croutons

1 whole wheat pita

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoon red wine vinegar

3/4 teaspoon dried oregano

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

4 chopped tomatoes

1 peeled, seeded, and chopped cucumber

5 sliced green onions

1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley

Toast pita slice in a 350-degree oven for about 10 minutes until the pita is crisp. Tear it into pieces. In a large bowl whisk the olive oil, vinegar, oregano, salt, and pepper. Add chopped tomatoes, cucumber, green onions, and parsley. Toss to combine; add the pita croutons, and toss again. Makes 4 servings.

"Absolutely terrific" still best label for Salmon Salad with Tomatoes and Herbs

Some years back, as my mother's health grew more compromised in her latter days, Hubby and I endeavored to keep her in her own home as long as possible. We knew her independent streak raised its head when we considered outside help, but at least we could share our meals with her so we could be sure she was well-fed.

One day when I seemed out of ideas about what to prepare for her, in desperation I looked in my pantry and found a can of salmon. Flurrying through my recipe files, I turned up instructions for Salmon Salad with Tomatoes and Herbs. I had no experience with salmon being prepared in any way except for salmon croquettes and salmon loaf. I had no idea whether my mother even liked salmon salad (we'd certainly never dined on it in my childhood), but it seemed our only food option for that evening's dinner.

When we presented her with her food tray and she spotted my creation, her face erupted in delight. "Oh, I was just thinking about how much I was hungry for salmon salad!" she exclaimed. Well, I'll be, I thought. Who knew? Seems this dish was a favorite of her young adulthood and early marriage. My desperation ploy to scrounge up a meal actually fit the bill perfectly. My mother was pleased as punch; Hubby and I enjoyed the dish, too.

Recently when we had some baked salmon left over from a meal, I remembered the delight on the face of my mom, who for the past five years has been dining at heaven's Banquet Table, and dug out the Salmon Salad with Tomatoes and Herbs recipe. Fresh tomatoes and onion from the garden, along with fresh herbs (chives and dill), formed the basis for this notation to be made in my recipe binder: "Absolutely terrific salad! Wonderful for company luncheon or summer supper."

We were past the time of "summer supper"s, but an early fall supper was upon us; this recipe was more than fine. Salmon Salad with Tomatoes and Herbs, the dish that I once considered a throw-together meal that I hoped would suffice, now ranked way up there with the food of kings--and once again, it was "absolutely terrific"!

Salmon Salad with Pimento and Herbs

1 (14-ounce) can red salmon, well-drained, bones and skin removed (or 14 ounces baked fresh salmon)

1 cup diced celery

1/4 cup minced white onion

1/2 cup diced tomato

3 tablespoons reduced fat mayonnaise

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

2 tablespoons fresh chives or 2 teaspoons dried

1 teaspoon fresh dill

3/4 teaspoon paprika

freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1 tablespoon green onions, chopped

In medium bowl mix salmon with celery, onion, and tomatoes. In small bowl combine mayonnaise, lemon juice, chives, dill, paprika, if desired, and black pepper; combine with salmon mixture. Top with green onions and serve immediately over dark greens or over whole-wheat pita wedges, if desired. Makes 6 servings.

Recipe links apples and storebought corn muffin mix for ease and flavor

Speaking of apples, which this blog did yesterday and has since before fall "officially" began on Wednesday, a truly incredible recipe from Family Circle magazine a few years back hit the jackpot with this flavor combination.

It uses fresh, chopped apples with a storebought corn muffin mix and adds pumpkin pie spice and chopped nuts. The resulting muffins can go a variety of directions--playing to their "corn-muffin" side, to be used with soups and stews and down-home cooking, or playing to their apple-y, spicy side, to be used as a breakfast accompaniment.

In our family we interpreted them as corn muffins and served them alongside the Easy Vegetable Soup I mentioned a few days back. Truly wonderful! The inclusion of the apple bits made the soup, with its veggies and ground turkey chunks, seem as though it was a complete meal.

Baking Apple-Corn Muffins also makes you feel virtuous because it helps you create a "from-stratch" menu item with the convenience and speed of a mix.

Apple-Corn Muffins

2 boxes (8.5 ounces each) corn muffin mix

2 eggs (I use egg substitute)

1/2 cup milk (I use skim)

2 small sweet apples (such as McIntosh, Empire, or Jonagold), peeled, cored, chopped very fine

3 tablespoons sugar (I use sugar substitute)

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

1/2 cup chopped pecans

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Coat 12 cups of muffin pans with nonstick cooking spray. In a large bowl combine muffin mixes, eggs, milk, finely chopped apple, 2 tablespoons of the sugar, and the pumpkin pie spice. Stir until ingredients are moistened. Then divide evenly between prepared muffin cups (usually a heaping 1/3-cup batter in each cup). Sprinkle tops of muffins with remaining tablespoon sugar and the chopped nuts. Bake at 400 degrees for 18 to 20 minutes until lightly browned around edges. Slide a thin knife between muffin and pan; gently lift muffins from pan. Cool and serve.

OK, fall's officially here now that I've made Sour-Cream Apple Cake Squares

Whatever the calendar says (and yesterday, the calendar truly said it), fall arrives when I've baked my first Sour-Cream Apple Cake Squares of the season.

No fall that I can remember in years ever has arrived in our family without my preparing this fabulous dessert to welcome the autumn. Fresh, crisp apples peeled and chopped fine go into the batter, seasoned with spice, to make this an ideal fall dessert. Company goes nuts over it; so--year after year--do folks around our family dinner.

My friend, Lori Haaland, prepared this dessert one evening when Hubby and I dined with her and her family back in the early 1980s when we all lived in Houston and her husband was on the staff of one of the churches there. I owe Lori a thank-you for many staples in my recipe collection--among them Copper Carrot Pennies (an identical recipe, furnished by my cousin, Yvonne, appears in my new cookbook, Way Back in the Country Garden).

The squares can be crowned with sugar-free whipped topping or even ice cream, if you really want to indulge. When this dessert is baking, the kitchen--and the rest of the house--fills with an intoxicating spicy aroma. Makes you ready for all the other fall icons--hot apple cider, pumpkin pie, turkey and dressing--and, oh yes, (if you live in Texas as we do), the end of our most-unfall-like summer temps!

Sour Cream Apple Cake

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups brown sugar (I use brown-sugar substitute)

1/2 cup (1 stick) margarine

1 cup chopped pecans

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon soda

1/2 teaspoon salt (I use salt substitute)

1 (8-ounce) carton sour cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 egg (I use egg substitute)

2 cups chopped apples (I use Golden Delicious or Granny Smith)

Mix first three ingredients until they are crumbly; stir in pecans. Press 2 3/4 cups of this mixture into 13-by-9-by-2-inch pan. To remaining mixture add the rest of the ingredients and blend well. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-35 minutes. Serve with vanilla ice cream or whipped topping.

Stir-fry veggies add healthy touch to efforts to replicate time-honored baked fish recipe

Recently I mentioned how our route to the downtown hospital in which our grandbaby was born took us past the scene of the old Casa Linda Wyatt's cafeteria, where my parents took me to dine at least once a week as I grew up. I mentioned my affection for carrot salad, which always has seemed like a taste of heaven and which I've never been able to replicate--or even move close to it--in my own kitchen.

Another Wyatt's staple during that era was its baked fish with a piled-high crusty topping of crushed almonds and bread crumbs. Carrot salad, baked fish, Wyatt's inimitable green beans, and a layer chocolate cake--those were my selections in the cafeteria line. Those choices never varied. How I longed now to be able to prepare something akin to that fish entree as well!

A few years back Family Circle magazine helped my cause by printing a recipe for Nut-Crusted Fish Fillets with Stir-Fry. The herbed bread-crumb-and-almond topping absolutely made the flounder underneath it to die for. Just last week I turned to this long-preserved-but-yet-untried recipe in my binder. With the deed accomplished, I thought I was back in the cafeteria line and dining at Wyatt's again in the secure company of my parents, one on either side. Precious memories!

Healthening-up this Family Circle recipe is the inclusion of the stir-fried vegetables ("stir-fry" being surely unheard-of, at least in my family, in my growing-up days). Green beans and matchstick carrots made the dinner complete, not to mention colorful as everything.

Nut-Crusted Fish Fillets

4 slices reduced-calorie wheat bread

1/3 cup sliced almonds, chopped

1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon lemon zest

4 flounder fillets, about 6-ounces each

Stir-Fry:

2 tablespoons olive oil

3 gloves garlic, peeled and smashed

1 pound green beans, trimmed and cut into 2-inch pieces

2 carrots (1/4 pound), peeled and cut into 2-inch matchsticks

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon black pepper

2 large scallions, chopped, for garnish

lemon slices, for garnish

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Coat 13-by-9-by-2-inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside. Place bread in bowl of food processor; whirl until fine crumbs are formed. In a small bowl combine crumbs, chopped almonds, thyme, 1/4 teaspoon of the salt, and 1/8 teaspoon of the pepper. Stir in olive oil, lemon juice, and lemon zest until all ingredients are moistened. Season fish with remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon pepper. Fold fillets in half and place in prepared baking dish. Spoon 1/4 of the bread topping over each fillet. Bake in 400- degree oven for 17 to 19 minutes or until fish flakes easily.

Stir-Fry: While fish is baking, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add green beans and carrots. Season with salt and pepper. Stir-fry for 14 to 16 minutes or until vegetables are crisp-tender. If skillet gets too dry, add a tablespoon or two of water. Serve fish with stir-fry vegetables. Garnish with scallions and lemon slices.