Here are a couple of tasty variations in different colors: Red Lentil Soup With Lemon (NY Times 1/9/08) Time: 45 minutes 3 tablespoons olive oil, more for drizzling 1 large onion, chopped 2 garlic cloves, minced 1 tablespoon tomato paste 1 teaspoon ground cumin 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt, more to taste 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper Pinch of ground chili powder or cayenne, more to taste 1 quart chicken or vegetable broth 1 cup red lentils 1 large carrot, peeled and diced Juice of 1/2 lemon, more to taste 3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro. 1. In a large pot, heat 3 tablespoons oil over high heat until hot and shimmering. Add onion and garlic, and sauté until golden, about 4 minutes. 2. Stir in tomato paste, cumin, salt, black pepper and chili powder or cayenne, and sauté for 2 minutes longer. 3. Add broth, 2 cups water, lentils and carrot. Bring to a simmer, then partially cover pot and turn heat to medium-low. Simmer until lentils are soft, about 30 minutes. Taste and add salt if necessary. 4. Using an immersion or regular blender or a food processor, purée half the soup then add it back to pot. Soup should be somewhat chunky. 5. Reheat soup if necessary, then stir in lemon juice and cilantro. Serve soup drizzled with good olive oil and dusted lightly with chili powder if desired. Yield: 4 servings. ============================================================ Yellow Split Pea and Sweet Potato Soup (www.wholefoods.com) 1 cup yellow split peas 1 quart vegetable broth 1 medium sweet potato, peeled and cut into ½-inch slices 7 whole green cardamom pods 1Â2 tablespoons ghee (clarified butter) or canola oil 1 medium yellow onion, chopped 1 teaspoon garam masala 1/2Â1 teaspoon ground cumin lemon Cayenne pepper sea salt, to taste ground pepper, to taste Soak the peas in water to cover overnight. Drain and rinse. Bring vegetable broth to a boil in a medium pot. Add soaked peas, sweet potato slices and cardamom pods. Reduce heat to a simmer and cover. Simmer for an hour. (N.B. I skipped the soaking and gave the split peas a 15 minute head start and simmered until the peas and potato were falling apart -- less than an hour) Heat ghee in a skillet over medium heat. Add onions, garam masala and cumin and cook for 10 minutes, stirring often. When sweet potatoes and peas are tender, add the spiced onions to the pot. Stir and cook another 5 minutes. Remove cardamom pods and season the soup with lemon, cayenne, salt, and pepper, as desired. Serves 4

Wow, some of these recipes are great! This is my granmother's recipe. we use fresh mielies (corn) as they grow in abundance in the summer. Out of season we use a tin of creamstyle sweetcorn. 125g margarine 1 cup castor sugar 1 cup corn meal 1 cup self raising flour 3 eggs 1 cup milk 2 cups grated fresh mielies or 1 tin cream style sweetcorn Method: Beat sugar and margarine together. Beat eggs and milk together. Sift corn meal and flour together. Gradually add egg mixture to flour mixture. Add mielies and mix properly. You my have to adjust milk depending on what corn you are using. Bake in preheated oven at 180 degrees celsius for 35-40 minutes or until skewer comes out clean.

Frankly, I like it all. For breakfast I like a sweeter corn muffin, with butter and honey or jam, or just by itself. For eating with beans I like a savory cornbread with no sugar better, but I'll use whatever is available.. I don't really care whether it's white or yellow but Elery's sister lives in Tennessee and tells me emphatically that if it's not made with white cornmeal, it is NOT cornbread. I live in Michigan, home of Jiffy Mix, so I just smile. I always bake mine in my cast iron skillet, because the crust gets so nice and crunchy. I think cornmeal has changed, though, or is different depending on brands. The cornbread recipe I used for years suddenly started turning out dry, crumbly, just not right. I've been "playing" with recipes for a while now, adding cheese, bacon, jalapenos, creamed corn, sour cream, whatever suits my fancy. A mildly sweet corn muffin with bacon and jalapenos goes really well with chili, and I'm as likely to sop up pot likker with Jiffy muffins as I am with Elery's white savory cornbread. Lately my favorite has been this recipe from Ellie Krieger's "Comfort Food Fix", although it's a spoon bread, not your typical corn bread. It has all corn, no flour. Corn and Cheddar Spoon Bread 2 cups 1% milk 1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen thawed corn kernels 2/3 cup yellow cornmeal 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup grated extra-sharp cheddar cheese 2 large eggs, yolks and white separated 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar 1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Spray a 2-quart baking dish with cooking spray. 2. In a medium saucepan, combine milk, corn, cornmeal, and salt over medium-high heat and bring to a gentle boil, stirring constantly. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer until the mixture thickens, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the cheese. Allow to cool for 10 minutes. Add the egg yolks to the cornmeal mixture and stir until well combined. 3. In a stand mixer or using a handheld electric mixer, beat the egg whites and cream of tartar until soft peaks are formed, 1 to 2 minutes. Fold the egg whites into the corn mixture until just incorporated and pour into the prepared dish. Bake until browned on top and set but still slightly loose in the center, 40 to 45 minutes. Serves 6 Per Serving (3/4 cup) Calories 180; Total Fat 7 g (Sat Fat 3 g, Mono Fat 2g, Poly Fat 0.8 g); Protein 10 g; Carb 22 g; Fiber 2 g; Cholesterol 85 mg; Sodium 320 mg This is Elery's recipe, handed down from his mother. She always used white cornmeal (self-rising was preferred), bacon grease or lard and always cooked in a hot cast iron skillet. If it stuck at all, it didn't get turned over and it was still fine, but if you turn it over the top gets a bit more crunchy. Corn Bread 2 cups white cornmeal (use yellow if that's what you have on hand) 2/3 cup flour 1-1/2 tablespoons baking powder 1/2 teaspoon baking soda (omit if you use regular milk rather than buttermilk) 1/2 teaspoon salt Dash of black pepper 1 1/2 cups buttermilk (more or less) 3 to 4 tablespoons of bacon drippings, lard or cooking oi Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Placing the bacon drippings in the skillet and place the skillet in the oven while preparing the batter. Combine all the dry ingredients and mix well. Add about 1/2 cup of the buttermilk and stir. Remove skillet from oven and slowly add about 1 or 2 tablespoon of the hot oil (bacon grease) from the skillet into the batter, stirring well. The skillet and bacon grease should be very hot but not smoking. Sprinkle the inside of the skillet with (dry) cornmeal and return to oven. Add rest of buttermilk to batter a bit at a time while stirring. The consistency of the cornbread batter should look like a thick pancake mix. This may require a little more or less of the remaining buttermilk. If the mix is too thick, add more buttermilk. If the mixture is too thin, add more cornmeal. Remove the skillet from oven and pour the batter in the skillet. Return the skillet to the pre-heated oven and bake until the top begins to brown, approximately 25 minutes. Remove the cornbread from the oven and flip the cornbread over in the skillet then continue baking another 5 minutes to brown the top. Annie

Apple Cider Pound Cake....from our local Freecycle food post. Best cake I ever tasted. Apple Cider Pound Cake * 3 cups sugar * 1-1/2 cups butter, softened * 6 eggs * 3 cups all-purpose flour * 1/2 teaspoon salt * 1/2 teaspoon baking powder * 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon * 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice * 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg * 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves * 1 cup apple cider * 1 teaspoon vanilla extract * ICING: * 1/2 cup sugar * 1/4 cup butter, cubed * 1/4 cup buttermilk * 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract * 1/4 teaspoon baking sodaDirections * In a large bowl, cream sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir together all dry ingredients; set aside. Combine cider and vanilla. Add dry ingredients alternately with cider mixture to batter. Mix until well blended. Spoon into a greased 10-in. angel food cake pan or fluted tube pan. * Bake at 325 degrees F for 1 hour 10 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. * Meanwhile, combine icing ingredients in a saucepan. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. While cake is warm, drizzle half of icing over cake. Serve remaining icing over individual cake servings if desired.