Foods associated with Mabon include:

• gleanings of the Second Harvest

• grains, fruit and vegetables predominate, especially corn. Corn bread and cider are traditional fare, as are beans and baked squash

• Others foods include wine, grapes, breads, pomegranates, roots (carrots, onions, potatoes, etc.), nuts and apples

• Plants associated with Mabon are vines, ivy, hazel, cedar, hops and tobacco. Traditional herbs of the Mabon sabbat include acorns, asters, benzoin, ferns, honeysuckle, marigold, milkweed, mums, myrrh, oak leaves, passionflower, pine, roses, sage, Solomon's seal, and thistles.

Chicken Breasts With Apples and Cider Cream Sauce

Serves 6

2 cups filtered cider
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
21/2 cups heavy cream
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

6 boneless chicken breast halves, skinned
3/4 cup flour seasoned with 11/2 teaspoons each salt and pepper
l/2 cup butter (clarified or not)
2 large tart apples, cored and cut into l/4'-thick circles

In a 2-quart saucepan, reduce the cider to l/2 cup. Whisk in the mustard and cream and reduce to about 2 cups over medium-high heat or until thickened like a sauce. Add the seasonings and set aside.

Preheat the oven to 200°. Dredge the chicken in the seasoned flour and shake off the excess. Heat 6 tablespoons of the butter in a large skillet. Add the chicken and saute on one side over medium heat for 5 minutes. Turn the chicken and saute for 5 minutes more or until just done. Remove the chicken from the skillet and keep warm in the oven.

Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter to the pan. Add the apple slices and saute for 3-5 minutes or until just tender. Remove the apples and keep them warm. Pour off any excess butter from the pan. Add the cider cream sauce to the pan and heat through while scraping up any little browned bits from the bottom of the pan. When hot, serve over the chicken breasts and garnish with the apple rings.

Mabon Carrot Cranberry Bake

Simple, but very tasty and perfect for the Mabon season!

3 large carrots, julienned
1 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup apple cider
1 Tbsp butter
nutmeg

Clean and peels the carrots, then julienne them.  If you don't have a way to julienne them easily, you can slice them thinly.  Toss the carrots and dried cranberries together and put them in a baking dish.  Pour over the apple cider and dot with butter, then sprinkle with a little nutmeg.  Cover and bake at 350 until the carrots are soft, about 45 minutes.

Sweet Potato Fries

2 Tbsp thawed orange juice concentrate
1 egg white, whisked gently
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
dash cinnamon
1 lb sweet potatoes, cut into 1/2" sticks

Preheat oven to 450F

Line a cookie sheet with foil and spray with cooking spray. In a medium bowl combine orange juice concentrate, egg white onion powder, salt, cayanne, and a dash of cinnamon. Add potato sticks and turn to coat. Arrange coated potato sticks on the oiled foil in a single layer. Bake 10 min, then turn carefully, bake 10 more minutes or until tender.

Grape Leaves Stuffed with Rice

5 Tbsp chopped onions
1  Tbsp butter
2 cup water
1 cup rice
1 tsp salt
2 tsp dill weed
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp fresh mint
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp allspice
juice of 1 lemon
12 grape leaves

Saute onions in butter until light brown. Add 1 cup water and the rice and salt. Mix well. Cover and cook till the water is absorbed. Remove from heat, cool slightly and add remaining spices. Place 1 generous teaspoon of filling onto each grape leaf. Make one fold up from the base of the leaf, tuck in the sides and roll up tightly. Place in a heavy saucepan and fold down, packing the rolls tightly. Add remaining cup of water & lemon juice. Cook slowly over low heat till almost all the liquid has been absorbed. Serve hot or cold.

From the Vegetarian Times Cookbook

Sweet Mabon Corn Tortillas with Apple and Acorns

1 pound masa flour
4 teaspoons salt
cold water
edible flowers (petals only) - you can use rose petals, marigolds, pansies
chunky apple sauce
chopped acorns

Mix together flour and salt in medium mixing bowl. Slowly add water, as needed, and knead gently until a smooth dry masa is formed. Remove small piece, roll into a ball (about half size of a golf ball). Continue to do so until all masa is used. Next, take a tortilla press and between 2 pieces of plastic, place a masa ball and press half way. Now open, remove plastic from show side of tortilla, lay petals on half-pressed tortilla, recover with plastic, and finish pressing. Remove tortilla and place it between 2 pieces of wax paper. Continue process until all masa is used (you'll end up with about 20 tortillas). On a warm griddle remove 1 piece of wax paper and place raw tortilla on griddle.  Cook on one side until golden brown, about 45 seconds, then turn over and cook for 1 more minute.

Serve with chunky applesauce and chopped acorns to roll up in the fresh tortillas.

Corn and Marigold Fritters

8 oz sweetcorn kernals
4 Tbsp double (heavy) cream
1 Tbsp flour
1/2 tsp baking powder (or soda)
Sea salt
White pepper
1 Tbsp marigold petals
1 Tbsp sunflower oil, or more

*NOTE: Make certain that you use a pot marigold (Calendula) rather than an African marigold (Tagetes).

This is an excellent supper dish, which children will enjoy. Serve the fritters with a hot green vegetable or salad and brown bread and butter. Put the sweetcorn in a bowl and pour over the cream. Sift in the flour and baking powder (soda) and season to taste. Stir in the marigold petals. Set a large, heavy frying pan over high heat and pour in the oil. Drop spoonfuls of the fritter mixture into the oil and fry until golden on both sides, turning once. Press the mixture flat with a spatula to give a lacy effect at the edges.

Cook the fritters in bunches until all the mixture is used up, adding more oil to the pan if necessary. Serve hot.

Source: Cooking with Flowers, by Jenny Leggatt

Covenstead Bread

3/4 cup water
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup finely chopped citron
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons anise seeds
2-1/3 cups flour
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon allspice

Bring the water to a boil in a saucepan. Add honey, citron, sugar, and anise seeds. Stir until the sugar completely dissolves and then remove from heat.

Sift together flour, baking soda, salt, and spices, and fold into the hot honey mixture. Turn the batter into a well-greased 9 X 5 X 3-inch loaf pan and bake in a preheated 350-degree oven for one hour. Turn out on a wire rack to cool. (This recipe yields one loaf of bread.)

Covenstead Bread improves if allowed to stand for a day, and it is an ideal bread to serve during Lammas and Autumn Equinox Sabbats as well as at all coven meetings.

Source: The Wicca Spellbook: A Witch's Collection of Wiccan Spells, Potions and Recipes
by Gerina Dunwich, Carol Publishing Group, 1994.

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