Pineapple and Celery

Last night I was lying in bed, catching up on a few magazines before shut-eye. The Turkey Day recipes in one of the mags were all shown pictorially, with the recipes to follow several pages later. They looked yummy! What a letdown. The sweet potato casserole and the carrot cake called for pineapple, which I hate. Too sour, same category of foods for me as grapefruit. Yes I realize that pineapple, with its juices, adds good moistness and texture to recipes. Seems like pineapple is in so much when you hate it. LOL. So of course I find a way to substitute applesauce or mashed banana or pureed pear or plain nonfat yogurt or something else with a milder taste.

Celery is a bit of a poser, though. I find the taste of that off-putting too, although I understand its inclusion in so many soups and casseroles -- and those recipes are in full force now too, with the cold weather upon us and Turkey Day stuffings only a month away. The color and crunchiness, plus the fact that it's actually a vegetable with negligible calorie count...yes, delightfully multipurpose. I could get away with substituting onion for some of the celery, but there usually already IS onion in those recipes. Chopped broccoli stalks? If it's a soup, chunks of cauliflower are sometimes useful. Suggestions?

Anyway, I hope you are having fun with your own fall recipes!