Acorn Squash is that botanically classed fruit that’s more often called a vegetable, the one that started out life in Central America thousands of years ago and in this part of the world is a traditional fall vegetable loaded with vitamins, minerals, oxidants, and everything else that’s great for both eye health and heart health.
Cut, with the seeds scooped out and cut or sliced into smaller pieces, it isn’t even necessary to peel, since the cooked skin is soft, and contains even more vitamins so is best to leave on.
Acorn squash, like its cousins in the squash family and sweet potatoes, can be prepared in numerous ways, and has plenty of Vitamin A which hydrates the eyes and nourishes the cornea, in particular. It’s also one of the best vegetables of all for heart health because of all the Vitamin A it contains. And now scientists are finding that the beta carotene in acorn squash, along with some of the minerals associated with it, actually protects the skin from sun damage and cancers.
Try baking this squash, then sprinkling it with sage and feta cheese for a healthy, delicious, easy to make dinner dish.
SPICY ACORN SQUASH WITH FETA
3 Acorn Squash, halved, seeded, and sliced
3 Tsp. olive oil
1 teas. Paprika (smoked paprika is best!)
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
Sage leaves,, chopped fine
4 oz feta cheese
Heat over to 425 degrees. In a small bowl, stir oil, paprika, and pepper. Drizzle over squash in bowl, and stir to be sure all is coated.
Arrange on cookie sheets in a single layer.
Bake at 425 degrees, rotating once or twice during baking. Bake until it’s tender and a golden color, about half an hour.
Even if you thought you don’t like carrots, there are so many different ways you can prepare them that it is likely you’ll find something you really enjoy. Given the facts carrots are available year-round, are one of the least expensive of all vegetables, and are filled with all the beta-carotene, vitamin A, minerals and antioxidants that are so great for eyesight, heart health and general good health, it might even be worth acquiring a taste for them.
With winter and cold weather coming, soups are a great source of vitamins and comfort. Try this recipe for Carrot Cumin Soup.
CARROT CUMIN SOUP
2 Tbls. Olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb. carrots, cut into pieces (about 3 Cups)
3 Cups vegetable broth
½ teas. Cumin
¼ teas. Coriander
¼ teas. Sea salt
Ground pepper
1 teaspoon lemon juice
½ Cup Greek yogurt
2 Tbls cumin seeds, for garnish, if desired.
Heat oil in heavy saucepan sauté onion for 2 minutes, add garlic and sauté another minute. Add carrots, broth, cumin, coriander, salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until carrots are tender, 20 minutes.
Puree the soup in a blender or food processor until smooth. Return to saucepan and whisk in lemon juice and yogurt. Ladle into bowls and sprinkle with cumin seeds. Serve with Italian bread and a salad for an easy and delicious dinner
ADDED TOUCHES:
Since I grow basil and dill indoors in pots, I chop and freeze leaves in ice cube trays and added 3 cubes to this recipe.
Jimmie King, administrator at Care One at Middletown, and Muriel J. Smith, patient advocate for residents for the state of New Jersey, both met with residents of the Route 36 facility to review residents rights, privileges and activities at a luncheon meeting at Care One at Middletown yesterday.
The luncheon is one in a series of events the Center’s Activities Director Karen Cohen holds throughout the year to ensure residents are kept aware of their rights, of why and how the care center treats its residents and to encourage residents to voice any complaints or recommendations in any areas.
Rather than voice complaints or ask questions, residents praised King for his frequent visits to their rooms, his knowledge of each of them by name, and his interest in their personal accomplishments or problems. Residents also praised the high quality of the food and expressed pleasure at the variety of dishes offered. Residents spoke of the friendliness of the staff and their appreciation for included in a broad variety of events.
While King and Smith covered areas including residents’ rights to having visitors, caring for their own funds, traveling outside the care center, privacy, mail receipt and writing supplies, as well as their rights to their own medical records and care, Cohen also reminded residents of the variety of activities in the next two weeks, ranging from painting and puzzles to a visit in rooms by a therapy horse, music, and arts and crafts activities.
This is the time of year when all the stories crop up about ghosts, spirits, and sightings of former inhabitants of the White House are retold everywhere.
Some say Dolly Madison, the wife of the fourth President of the United States, is still around, tending to her beloved Rose Garden.
But most of the stories of ghosts involve Abraham Lincoln or one of Lincoln’s relatives, and whether true or not, they’re fascinating.
Grace Coolidge, the First Lady when her husband Calvin was President, was the first to report seeing ghosts … the ghost of Abraham Lincoln. She said she saw his ghost in the yellow Oval room staring out at the Potomac.
The Queen of the Netherlands, Wilhelmina, was on a visit to the White House in 1942 and reported she heard footsteps outside her bedroom and a knock on the door. It is reported she opened the door and saw the ghost of Lincoln standing there in a frock coat and top hat. She fainted.
Both Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Franklin Roosevelt claimed to have seen ghosts … again Lincoln; one of FDR’s valet ran screaming from the White House saying he had seen him.
Eleanor Roosevelt never said she saw Lincoln, but on several occasions said she felt his presence throughout the White House. She also thought Roosevelt’s dog, Fala, barked for no reason and she felt it was because of Lincoln’s presence. Several press secretaries, also said they frequently felt Lincoln’s presence.
Both Margaret Truman and her father President Harry Truman, have said they heard a knock at the door or footsteps outside the room when each slept in the Lincoln bedroom.
There are numerous other stories but the best is when Sir Winston Churchill was visiting the White House. Well known for his love of late night long hot baths, complete with a glass of Scotch and a cigar to relax, it has been reported that Churchill got out of the tub, cigar still in his mouth, and before dressing, walked back into the bedroom. There he saw Lincoln standing by the fireplace, leaning on the mantle. The naked Churchill simply took the cigar out of his mouth, tapped the ashes off, turned to Lincoln and said, “Good Evening, Mr. President. You seem to have me at a disadvantage.”
It’s too early to see the agenda for next Thursday’s meeting of the Atlantic Highlands Mayor and Council, but one wonders whether including Sea Bright in school regionalization will be moved a step further.
Now that both Atlantic Highlands and Highlands residents have approved the Regionalization of their three school districts, it’s the right time to take on Step #2 and let the Council begin its work towards a new referendum to consider the inclusion of Sea Bright in the newly formed district.
This borough’s council members, along with the school superintendent, Sea Bright and Highlands borough Council, have all indicated they would favor such a referendum. Each of the school boards unanimously endorsed such a move, and now with the new Board comprised of these same members who endorsed Sea Bright earlier, it shows the new board is also eager to have a vote to include Sea Bright. The 2nd Step.
All previous feasibility studies have concluded that the inclusion of Sea Bright would offer the best educational benefits for our students and tax savings for our residents.
In State Education Commissioner McMillan’s letter dated last month, just days before the election that approved a regional district, she indicated that a new referendum request can now be submitted requesting Sea Bright’s inclusion. She also said the appeal submitted by Shore Regional and Oceanport opposing this has been rejected. That means there are no hindrances to allowing all the residents to have their own say at the election polls.
The Commissioner went on to say that since so much time has evolved, an update to the prior feasibility study may be required.
Sea Bright has already initiated that process, so eager is that borough to join its two close neighbors for improved education for all and to pour money into this new district. Sea Bright has also requested that Atlantic Highlands and Highlands participate in that update as well.
Highlands did not waste any time in stating they will participate and approve updating the feasibility study as the Commissioner wants. They long ago said they want the people to vote on whether to include Sea Bright; they are not going to do anything that would delay what they feel is important….let the people decide.
So it seems Atlantic Highlands Council will most likely be discussing how they feel about it at their meeting Thursday night, knowing how important it is they, too, approve participating in a study update.
This is Step #2, the next logical step in the careful walk toward a referendum that could finally see the three towns come together and achieve all the benefits identified for both our education system and taxpayers.
You remember when taxpayers and educators got all the facts on the monetary impact of regionalization among the three schools many months ago. Atlantic Highlands and Highlands each stand to save over one million dollars per year through Sea Bright’s inclusion. Those facts still stand and would still happen once Sea Bright is approved by the voters to become part of this new regionalization that officially happened this week.
Now it appears it is all up to the Atlantic Highlands council to continue moving along the right of the people to decide.
It will be remarkably interesting to see if the elected officials will stand true to their word and make the decision to join Highlands and Sea Bright in approving a feasibility update to support the Commissioner’s request. It is worth attending the meeting at 7 pm next Thursday or joining online to see what each of the council members says regarding their support to move forward with Step #2 and giving the people the opportunity to express their opinion.
Recent events have confirmed that even with billions in Federal and state subsidies, the current New Jersey wind projects are not economically viable without additional electric bill or tax handouts, nor are they effective in addressing climate change.
Under the guise of saving the planet from climate change and providing long term economic growth the federal government and the State have been extremely generous to foreign wind energy companies with both money and environment. This includes federal tax credits, increases in electric bills, taxpayer funding of onshore support facilities, additional direct subsidies, a weakening of the environmental impact statement process, and the potential for children to pick up the tab for removing the turbines, substations and cabling in the future.
That is the opinion of representatives of at least three different agencies, including Long Beach Island who are calling for some serious reflection by state legislators.
There are new wind technologies on the horizon and ways to pursue renewable energy that do not ruin the Jersey shore and jeopardize marine mammals, said Bob Sern, Ph.D. president of Save Long Beach Island, Inc., “ Save LBI will keep the public informed on these matters of extreme importance to your pocketbook and our environment, “ he said. For further information, visit their webpage at www.save LBI.org or the Facebook page at SaveLBI Community Group for the latest updates.
Stern, who is president of the LBI, Inc., is joined by Ed O’Donnell, a principal in Whitesgrand Consulting, LLS, and John Deitchman, coordinator for Save LBI Issues and listing numerous reasons why more attention should be paid immediately to funds being spent on wind projects.
All three point out that offshore wind remains the most expensive form of renewable energy generation for the US and high costs have skyrocketed due to supply chain issues, higher interest rates and inflation. Such costs are causing other developers to re-think their cost and schedule commitments, and are doubling down with requests for more handouts.
By threatening to walk away, foreign wind companies convinced six Atlantic coast state governors to plead for more Federal tax credits, a new federal revenue sharing program, and a further acceleration of the review and approval process for offshore wind projects. If demands for new subsidies are approved,” O’Donnell said, “electric power rates statewide could rise at least 30 percent for residential, 40 percent for commercial and 50 percent for industrial customers for the full planned wind program. That means a typical household would pay more than $9,000 extra for wind generated power over the more than 20 years these higher rates are in effect.”
The experts also point out that studies have shown that even much lower across the board increases in electric rates would result in thousands of job losses and hundreds of millions per year in lost wages in the state.
Proponents of offshore wind acknowledge there is a cost involved, but the Atlantic Shores project CEO considers it worth the price because of its “importance to climate change” and “economic and work force development benefits” . However, Stern points out the federal environmental impacts statements (EISs) themselves, e.g. the Vineyard Wind project EIS, say that the offshore wind projects will have “no collective impact on global warming. He added that “ proponents of offshore wind fail to present the true global scope and the time dependent nature of the global warming challenge.
Despite scientist warnings over 50 years ago to world leaders to reduce carbon emissions, they continue to increase. In 2022 alone.” Deitchman pointed out “the touted job and economic benefits are overstated, primarily associated with the construction period. It is unclear how many of the jobs will go to NJ versus foreign workers.”
All three critics further note that the next few months will be a critical period for NJ offshore wind. They say there is seemingly no end to the subsidies being demanded. Prior State decisions on the existing NJ projects should be revisited as to whether they should go forward and at what cost, and Save LBI has asked for a rehearing of the Atlantic Shores 1 project in that regard.”
Decisions on the projects proposed for the next 4000 megawatts should be paused, and no additional electric rate or tax subsidies should be given until a full cost benefit analysis is done on the existing and proposed projects (as recently requested by the NJ Legislature leadership) and an analysis is done of the financial returns being realized by the foreign developers (as requested by the NJ Office of the Rate Counsel), they insist.
Praise to the Public Works Department of Atlantic Highlands as well as the borough administrator, all of whom go above and beyond to ensure residents first of all of the need to flush fire hydrants then to give them advice as to how they can avoid problems during the flushing as well as in the future. Let’s hope everyone reads and heeds the letter that went out to all residents on line:
Dear Residents of Atlantic Highlands,
The Atlantic Highlands Water Department will be flushing fire hydrants within the entire water distribution system, from October 23rd through October 27th, 2023, 10:00 pm to 2:00 am. During this time, you WILL experience LOW WATER PRESSURE and water DISCOLORATION. Therefore, please try not to use the water during Hydrant Flushing Hours. If water use is necessary during the Hydrant Flushing Hours, please use COLD WATER ONLY. If water discoloration persists, run COLD WATER ONLY for a minimum of twenty minutes and the water should clear. Running hot water during Hydrant Flushing Hours will cause sediment to settle in the water heater and the discoloration will continue until the water heater is flushed with clear water.
If you have any problems or difficulties with your water during the Hydrant Flushing Hours, you may contact the Water Department at (732) 291-0027 or (732) 291-1444 ext. 3701.
Hydrant Flushing is advertised twice a year in the Two River Times, the borough’s web-site, and the borough’s Facebook page. Alerts are also sent out on the borough’s reverse 911 system along with a reminder prior to the start of the system flushing. The Water Department recommends that you sign up for the Borough of Atlantic Highlands RAVE Emergency Alerts and Notification System at www.ahnj.com (under the header Emergency Alerts and Notification System, Add/Remove Yourself, and you will be notified).
The Atlantic Highlands Historical Society takes Halloween seriously and that means lots of fun, entertainment, Movies, and a bit of the mysterious is all on tap over the next week.
Tonight, Oct. 20, Young Frankenstein will be on the scene at 7:30 p.m. starring Gene Wilder, Peter Boyle, Madelaine Kahn and Teri Garr in that famed Mel Brooks.
The movie is free and open to all at the Mansion, but a $10 donation is always appreciated to help the Society meet the costs of maintaining the historic home.
Next Friday, Oct. 27, paranormal investigator Greg Caggiano will present an evening full of ghost stories at the Strauss Mansion. Beginning at 7 p.m., for the next 90 minutes, the investigator and historian will tell some tales about the house and its former owners since it was built in 1893. He’ll also talk about some of the many paranormal encounters so many have had during the past century. To back that up, he will even be showing some of the audio and visual evidence of these occurrences.
The $25 tickets for guests at this one night only exciting evening will also have a tour of the 21-rooom mansion as well as a ghost hunting equipment demonstration which could possibly bring up some spirited residents.
Reservations in advance are necessary for this event by contacting the Historical Society since there is limited capacity for a poplar event.
The next night, Saturday, October. 28, the film, “Don’t Go in the House,” a classic cult film filmed in the Mansion some half century ago, will be the feature. Starring Dan Grimaldi, who was also in the Soprano series, the tickets for this event are $10 in advance.
For more information on all three events or to purchase tickets, e-mail ahhistoricalinfo@gmail.com or call 732-291-1861
All nine members of the transitional board of education for the new PreK-12 regional school district have been named and announced by all three boards of Education, business administrator for Henry Hudson and Atlantic Highlands boards announced Thursday.
In addition to three Highlands Board of Education trio announced following their meeting Monday evening, Rebecca Kane-Wells, Irene Campbell and Diane Knox, Richard Doust, Donald Krueger and Ulrike Stock were named from the Henry Hudson Regional school Board of Education, and Allyson Jacobs, Karin Masina and Cory Wingerter will be the Atlantic Highlands Board of Education members on the nine member transitional board of education.
All nine transitional board members will also continue to serve on their respective boards until the new school board takes over sometime between now and June 30.
Law enforcement, firefighters, emergency medical service volunteers, the US Coast Guard and National Park Services rangers at Sandy Hook were all honored and praised at the 20th annual Blue Mass at Saint Agnes Church Wednesday evening.
Hundreds of residents from Highlands, Middletown, Sandy Hook and Atlantic Highlands attended the mass offered by the Rev. Jarlath Quinn, pastor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help-Saint Agnes parish.
As from its inception the special evening of prayer and appreciation was organized by John Flynn, with the Rev. Joseph J. Donnelly Council of the Knights of Columbus and the 4th Degree Color Corps of the 2nd New Jersey District of the Knights of Columbus both participating in the mass.
The Blue Mass originated in St. Patrick’s Church in Washington, DC in 1934, when the Rev. Thomas Dade, a priest from Baltimore, MD. initiated the Catholic Police and Fireman’s Society and more than a thousand police and firemen in blue uniforms celebrated the first Blue Mass on Set. 28.
The Saint Agnes mass began with a musical prelude by church music director Courtney Grogan, and a procession of all those being honored from all fields of military, volunteer and paid personnel. The Patrick Trophy Volunteer Pipe Band accompanied the procession and the Middletown Township Fire Explorers posted colors for the national anthem.
CWO Christopher Apple, commanding officer at Coast Guard Station Sandy Hook, led the assembly in the Pledge of Allegiance and the Knights of Columbus led the procession of priests and guest clergy to the altar where Father Quinn welcomed all to the special service.
The pastor chose the reading of the Good Samaritan for the gospel, likening all the honorees to the Biblical Good Samaritan who was the only person, a stranger, to come to the aid of an ill and impoverished man.
He cited the numerous ways in which all of those being honored serve as good Samaritans every day, not only with assistance in any particular need but in restoring dignity and respect. He noted that in spite of some who choose not to appreciate all their efforts, the men and women honored at the Blue Mass and others like them have received a gift to serve others and encouraged them to always turn to God in need. Fr. Quinn also praised the families of the honorees for the assistance their support gives to the work endeavors.
Atlantic Highlands Ptl. Joseph LaBella and Sandy Hook Ranger A.J. Wiemer read two readings during the mass, and Middletown Assistant Fire Chief Daniel Kelly read the intercessions, recalling all the members of the units who have died since the last Blue Mass last year.
Kelly also remembered the late Bernard Sweeny and Jay Strebb of the Shore Casino for their generosity at dinners and festivities at the Shore Casino after every Blue Mass for the past 20 years. Both Sweeney and Strebb died within the past 15 months.
Children of those being honored presented the gifts during the liturgy, Stefanie Hayden was cantor and Ms. Grogan led the parish choir as music director.
Citing more Biblical passages showing another aspect of volunteerism and putting lives on the line for others, the Rev. Martin McGrail, pastor of New Life Christian Church, gave a benediction at the end of mass reminding each of those honored to “leave here, go where you want, go home, love your family” reminding all that every day is important. Quoting from Joshua, McGrail, who has been a police department chaplain for 30 years, called on the celebrants to never be discouraged and know that God is always with them.
He noted that “God honors each one of you every day and “your are in the hands of God.” As strong as they are,” Rev. McGrail said, “always remember you are still God’s child.”
Flynn and all those who participated in planning the mass, also expressed thanks to Kathleen Sweeney, who as owner of the Shore Casino, continues her family tradition for generosity at the Shore Casino for the dinner and festivities following the mass
