Ham Entree With Apples Tasty Dish

There they were, two little girls with their box of apples. They were my inspiration.

It was about the ninth mile of the Colbert Autumn Classic halfmarathon. After struggling up a hill that went on forever, I came to Cole’s Orchard on Green Bluff. Two little girls, dressed in hats and coats against a blistering wind, stood by the edge of the road with a box of apples.

“Would you like an apple?” they called out to me. “Oh yes,” I replied. I picked out a beautiful apple, blew the girls a kiss, and went back to the task at hand.

With the gift of an apple to fortify me, I went on to finish the 13.1-mile race.

The Colbert Autumn Classic is one of Spokane’s best races - a congenial crowd of runners, beautiful scenery where the only sound in the open spaces is the wind and challenging hills that take your breath away.

Steve and Marie Cole of Cole’s Orchard and their two daughters, Megan, 9, and Molly, 4, shared their box of Spartan apples that day. And finishers of the half-marathon received a Red Delicious apple, courtesy of Walter’s Fruit Ranch. Mark and Arlene Morrell of Walter’s also supplied apple cider for the runners and two boxes of Golden Delicious apples for the male and female winners.

Overall, it was an apple day. And next week? We’ll be back on Green Bluff, not to run races, but to buy our own apples.

Maybe we’ll end up using some of them in this ham entree complemented with apples and mustard.

Apple-Ham Strips

From “Eat Light,” by Susan Brown Deeming (HP Books, 1985).

1 tablespoon plus

1 teaspoons margarine

3/4 cup chopped onion

2 medium Rome Beauty apples or other baking apples (about 2/3 pound)

3 tablespoons Dijon-style mustard or other prepared mustard

1/3 cup unsweetened apple juice

1-1-1/2 pounds lean ham slices

In a medium nonstick skillet, melt margarine over medium-high heat. Add onion; saute until soft.

Meanwhile, core and slice apples. Stir mustard, apple slices and apple juice into sauteed onions. Bring to a boil; reduce heat until mixture barely siimmers. Cover; simmer 6-8 minutes.

Cut ham into strips. Add ham strips to apple mixture. Simmer 5-7 minutes longer. Sauce should be slightenly thickened. If sauce is too thin, remove cover and let mixture boil several minutes.

Yield: 4 servings.

Nutrition information per serving: 248 calories, 10 grams fat (36 percent fat calories), 23 grams protein, 15 grams carbohydrate, 53 milligrams cholesterol, 1,924 milligrams sodium.

, DataTimes MEMO: The goal of Five and Fifteen is to find recipes where you can do the shopping in five minutes and the cooking in 15. Merri Lou Dobler, a registered dietitian and Spokane resident, welcomes ideas from readers. Write to: Five and Fifteen, Features Department, The Spokesman-Review, P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210.

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