Menu Planning for Holiday Dinners? We have collected celebration meal menus that will inspire any cook!

Looking for ideas to get started when you're absolutely stuck as to what's for dinner? Here are some good ideas from our family to yours!

Nouveau Cuisine and Old Fashioned Cooks Embrace All Varieties of Apples and Pears

Apples and pears are versatile ingredients in dishes as distinct as salsas, stuffings, soups and soufflés. We suggest the following recipes for your enjoyment. Whether munched fresh or carefully prepared in one of countless dishes, Washington apples and pears make a great addition to your diet.

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As American as Apple Pie, as Great as Toast and Jam

Every family has a favorite apple recipe, whether it is apple pie, apple crisp, baked or caramel apples, applesauce or apple butter.

If you are a cookbook collector it is doubtless that you have dozens of wonderful apple recipes or pear recipes at your fingertips. But for those of you who have a small kitchen library, we offer the following suggestions.

Cakes, Coffee Cakes, Breads & Breakfast Treats

Applesauce Quick Bread, Apple Quick Bread, Fruit Fritters, Favorite Apple Cake, Applesauce Sourdough Hotcakes and Sourdough Starter, Apple Coffee Cake, Apple Pan Coffee Cake, Apple Muffins, Apple Oat Pancakes, Great Apple Scones, Fresh Apple Bundt Cake, Cheddar Apple Bread, Depression Cake, Fresh Pear Cake - Italian Country Style, Grandma's Applesauce Cake, Fried Apples, Pear Cranberry Muffins, Fruit Smoothies, Pear Spice Cake with Pecan Praline Topping, English Cinnamon Apple Brunchies, The Bum Cakes, Panettone, High Protein Breakfast Cookies, Honey Apple Cake, Yogurt and Fruit Cups, Apple Pudding, Gruyere, Apple and Onion Frittata, Huckleberry Cake & Apple Variation

''In order to make apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe.'' -- Carl Sagan, ''Cosmos''

Pies

Summer Fruit and Berry Pie in Coconut Shell, Everybody's Favorite Apple Pie, Apple-Raspberry Pie, Pear Pie, Pear-Raspberry Pie, Plain Raspberry Pie, Traditional Pie Crust, Schnitz 'n Raisin Pie, Apricot Pie, Marcel Proust's Apple Tart, Little Fried Apple Pies, Fruit and Cream Cheese Pie, Tewksbury Apple Pie, Dutch Apple Raisin Pie, Apple Rhubarb Strawberry Banana Crunch Pie

“The best of all physicians
Is apple pie and cheese!” - Eugene Field, 1850-1895, From: Apple Pie and Cheese

Delicious Apple, Pear and Other Fruit Desserts

Apple Oatmeal Betty, Apple-Stilton Clafouti, Apple Brown Betty, Old-Fashioned Fruit Crisp (Apple, Pear, Peach), Apricot Cobbler, Baked Apples, Fruit Puffs, Toni's Apple Clafouti, Apple Tapioca Pudding, Fruited Tapioca Cream, Apples in Biscuit Crust, Fruit Cobbler, Baked Apple Crumble, Dutch Apple Cake, Butterscotch Apple Pudding, Butterscotch Apples, Apple Pan Dowdy, Dessert Pears, Maxim's Pears, Ozark Pudding, Ozark's Bread Pudding, Pear Flambée, Pears Baked in Ginger Syrup, Quick Fruit Pudding & Sauce, Fruit Kiss Torte, Zabaglione, Pear Flan, Fruit Pizza, Rumtopf, Spiced Caramel Baked Pears, Bird's Nest Pudding, Indian Pudding with Apples, Pear Galette, Danish Apple Pudding, Apples en Casseroles, Roasted Pears, Baked Apple Delight, Bread and Apple Pudding, Buttered Apples

Blessings, Graces & Toasts

Whenever people gather to eat and drink together, it is cause for thanksgiving. Many of us say a grace or blessing before a meal. On formal occasions we drink to the health of guests of honor. Graces, blessings and toasts are part of social history and the traditions of dining and drinking. See FruitFromWashington's little library of Blessings, Graces and Toasts (with a few Curses thrown in for good measure) then make one of the following beverages and raise a glass in toast to the good health and well being of us all. To quote tiny Tim Cratchit, "God bless us, everyone."

Beverages

Berry Shake, Berry Blaster Smoothie, Apple Punch, Apple Wassail Bowl, Wassail Bowl, Christmas Cheer Punch, Cider Punch, Hot Cider Punch, Mulled Cider, Swedish Glögg, also Herbal and Fruit Blend Teas

Cheeses

Apple Dip, Pear Cheese Melts, Caramel Apple Dip, Baked Blue & Brie with Apple , Quesadilla with Pear, Apple Stilton Clafouti, Port Poached Pears & Ricotta, California White Cheddar with Apples, Caramelized Apple & Toasted Walnut Pie, Fruit & Cream Cheese Pie

Cookies & Candies

Apple Peanut Butter Cookies, Apple Oat Squares, Apple Drop Cookies, Apple-Raisin Cookies, Pear Cookies, Old Fashioned Candied Apples, Candied Gala Apples, Pacific Northwest Apple Confections

Canned Goods & Preserves

Pear Cranberry Jam, Chutney, Instant Microwave Jam, Easy Apple Butter, Apple Jelly, Chow Chow, Sweet Pickled Pears, Pear Pickles, Applesauce--Grandpa's Style, Ginger Pears, Pear Butter, Pear Conserve, Pear Honey, Pear Jam, Pear Relish, Old Time Pear Mincemeat, Apple and Green Tomato Relish, Moma's Pear Preserves

Dried Fruit Snacks

Dried Apples, Dried Pears, Fruit Leather, Fruit Roll-up , Peach Leather

Frozen Desserts

Apple Delight, Cider Ice, Fresh Peach, Apricot or Pear Mousse, Fruit Sundae, General Directions for Electric or Crank Freezers, Homemade Peach Ice Cream, New York Vanilla Ice Cream, Persian Pears, Philadelphia Vanilla Ice Cream, Pear Sorbet, Raspberry Ice, Simple Strawberry Sorbet, Summer Sherbet

Sauces

Caper Sauce, Horseradish Sauce, Mint Sauce

Main & Side Dishes

Simple Baked Beans, Chicken and Pears, Cidered Ham with Apples and Yams,Roasted Squab with Bartlet Pears and Porcini Mushrooms, Apple-Kraut and Bratwurst Skillet, Glazed Pears, Pear Wild Rice Cakes, Pear Quesadilla with Tomatilla Salsa, Harmon's Pure Apple Applesauce, Savory Pears, Honey Baked Pears, Fresh Pear Curry, Acorn Squash with Apple-Raisin Filling, Roast Wild Duck with Apple Stuffing, Traditional Turkey Dressing, Baked Doves with Apple Stuffing, Roast Pheasant with Apple Stuffing, Sherried Quail with Baked Apples, Simple Chicken Curry, Chicken Apple Curry, Hasenpfeffer, Pork Chops and Apples, Sausage Apple Dressing

Recommended Recipes

We just got word of a picante apple salsa recipe--sent in by William Ramsey, Professor Emeritus of Stanford University. It calls for apples, red onion, red bell pepper, jalapeño, currants, cilantro, orange juice and other tasty stuff and can be found in the Food and Wine Cookbook published by American Express Publishing Corporation. Professor Ramsey also informs us, "I'm really getting in to this apple thing...Here is a book which looks really interesting: APPLE GARNISHING by Harvey Rosen with Kevin O'Malley, international Culinary Consultants!"

Great recipes for Rome Beauties, "Baked Rome Apples with Cointreau" and "Pork Chops with Rome Apple and Rosemary Stuffing," can be found in Apples, A Cookbook, by Robert Berkley (A Fireside Book, published by Simon & Schuster, Inc., 1991.)

More information about Northwest Pears and a "Gallery of Great Recipes" is available through the USA Pear Bureau Northwest.

Are you cooking for a horse? Seriously, folks! We have recipes to feed a horse including steamed oat and bran mashes and molasses apple treats! If you are still hungry for more, be sure to take a look at FruitFromWashington.com's Culinary and Cooking Links!

Also see our Special Recipes for Holiday Celebrations!

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Cook's Helpers!

Calorie Look up - quick, flexible way to look up calories contained in the foods we eat!

Search the Fruit From Washington Cooking Database by recipe name or ingredient to find something special that you're looking for! Here's help on how to print out Fruit From Washington recipes!

Use Fruit From Washington's Recipe Adjuster Program to change any recipe to feed a crowd!