BlB—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, October 27,1984
Homemakers learn to create vegetable
centerpiece at Holiday Program
BY SUZANNE KEENE
LEBANON Luscious, fresh
food and attractive decorations
help put holiday guests in a festive
mood and make them feel special.
To help Lebanon County
hostesses with their holiday en
tertaining plans, caterer and foods
instructor Carol Seller shared a
few of her creative ideas during
the county’s annual Homemaker’s
The completed vegetable bouquet makes a pretty, edible
centerpiece that will surely be a conversation piece as well.
Charles Benner
John Bittinger
Kenneth Boyer
Bruce Bresee
Charles Brosius
Richard Chamberlain Scott Hummel
Bruce Corsnitz
Holiday Program held last week at
the Prescott Fire Hall.
Soller showed the women how to
prepare an edible centerpiece
using a variety of fresh vegetables
carefully cut and combined to form
colorful, tasty flowers.
To start her bouquet, which
doubles as a centerpiece and hors
d’oeuvres, Soller selected a
hollowed out pumpkin as the base
RE-ELECT ATTORNEY GENERAL
Roy Zimmerman
Nellie Crawford
Malcolm Drake
George R. Gregg
Dennis Grumbine
Walter Heine
Helen Jackson
FARMERS FOR ATTORNEY GENERAL ZIMMERMAN
CO-CHAIRPERSONS
John Cope
Gail McPherson
Paid for by PA AG REPUBLICANS, Dennis Grumbine, president, Nellie Crawford, treasurer.
for her vegetable arrangement.
However, she advised, baskets,
flower pots (only new and very
clean ones), coffee and tea pots,
and other containers can also be
used.
Assembling the proper tools is
essential for success, she noted.
You will need a large knife, a
paring knife, scissors, melon
bailer, lemon zester, a potato or
vegetable peeler and skewers. All
of these items are available at
kitchen supply stores, she said.
Soller selected radishes as the
first vegetable to include in her
bouquet. To make a radish rose,
she cut the top and bottom off a
clean radish, then made small
slices between the pulp and skin to
make petals. When soaked in cold
water for about 45 minutes, the
petals open up or "bloom.”
Using the lemon zester, Soller
made stripes on another radish to
create “something that looks like
a little Christmas candy.”
"I want you to feel you can
tackle this, because you can,” she
assured her intrigued audience.
“You can always eat your
mistakes.”
Seller continued making a
variety of flowers from the
radishes, which she stuck on
wooden skewers and placed in her
pumpkin filled with kale. The
skewers can be cut in half, but
Soller advised using only the
prefinished ends in the vegetables,
since the broken ends can splinter.
Scallion flowers were added to
lend a scent to the bouquet. “This
way it smells good too,” Soller
claimed.
Turnips can also be transformed
Keep Zimmerman in me fight
against crime and corruption!...
Joseph Johns, Jr.
Ronald Kerr
Ron Kopp
Robert Leonard
O. Leto, Sr,
Clifford Levan
John Marchezak
Caterer and foods instructor Carol Soller demonstrates
how to create a flower from a radish at the Lebanon County
Homemakers Holiday Program.
into flowers with a few skillful cuts
by experienced hands. Soller
showed how to make those slices,
but suggested the women practice
before the night of the party. The
turnip flowers can be placed in
food dye for a few minutes to give
the bouquet a little extra color.
For less skilled hostesses, Soller
suggested making thin horizontal
slices of turnip and cutting out
shapes with cookie cutters. Put a
carrot on the skewer, add the
turnip flower cut with the cookie
cutter and top with a cherry
tomato for a colorful flower.
Ernest Miller
Kenneth Mummert RiChardS °" y
John R. Stoner
Ed Nehrig
Ivo V. Otto
John Pitzer
Sterling H. Raber
Clyde S. Robison
Carolyn Rutter
Seller continued to create more
and more flowers to add to her
bouquet, using zuchmm, tomatoes,
cucumbers, and carrots.
She added some green beans and
hot peppers on skewers to add
interest to the bouquet, advising
that plenty of liquid be served with
the hot peppers.
Cucumber cups made by
hollowing out ends of cucumbers
can be filled with ham or chicken
salad or vegetable dip and placed
near the vegetable bouquet.
For a finishing touch, Seller
added a colorful butterfly made
from a turnip and dyed pink.
Annette Schucker
Thomas Styer
George Tallman
Clifford Tinkelpaugh
Donald Unangst
Everett Weiser
Leon Wilkinson