Just FYI to report back. I used the oven method of getting the skins off that Lucille mentioned in the "Food Mill" thread. While peeling them I realized that a lot of the flavor and goodies were in the peels or just below it. Then what I had after I chunked up the tomatoes was a watery, chunky tomato sauce basically. So I decided to boil it to thicken it a bit. BTW, the FLAVOR of the yellow romas was WONDERFUL. I recommend them and will be growing more next year. The plants are ugly as sin and bug and disease prone, but they still manage to produce prolifically. I'm gonna freeze this sauce. If I was to do it again, I would use my Roma food mill on about half of it and just cook it down to a sauce. If I want intact tomato bits preserved I will dry them, that's the only method that makes sense. I was worried that cooking a sauce might destroy the healthful compounds in the tomatoes, but then I googled this question and came up with this fascinating Cornell Univ. study that says cooking tomatoes actually INCREASES the lycopene. So next time I'm going to cook the sauce down with the skins and seeds in it, to extract all the nutrition first, and then run it through the food mill. Here is a link that might be useful: Cornell Chronicle,

Oh no DeeMarie! Hi Wildchild, are you ice skating? Hope you soon can but don't rush it. I get the urge to roller skate but the slow wooden floors are gone and replaced by slick surfaces and my youth has been replaced by fear of falling. Tikanas if I get too much acid, I turn into an itchy fool and one orange a day over a week will do it. You can buy cranberry tablets in health food stores if you can't stomach that much juice. I am BOT (back on track) Thank goodness. Eating the overpriced eggs in a carton for breakfast. 1/2 cup has no cholesterol and 60 calories. I put frozen peppers and onions (precook a little) in them and top it with overpriced ff cheese (you gotta pay to play!) Makes a great breakfast with a little salt and cracked pepper on top. Yesterday I made sweet potato chips. Baked in the oven. They weren't Lays but they weren't bad. I don't think they would ever get really crispy until they were burned. The worst part was trying to cut them thin enough. Brought back memories of making regular potato chips when we were kids and wait - we had a chip slicer! Called mom and it was loaned to a cousin (it also sliced cabbage for sauerkraut) so I hope it comes back home. Yesterday I had a tough hungry evening and I was thankful I had made sf jello last night. Well better get something done today - thank goodness there is no more snow to shovel off the driveway. Kathy

I shouldn't be such a whiner when I think of all you have to do Tricia! You're definately in my thoughts and prayers, I know this has been a rough time, I wish you didn't have to go thru this! I can't have chili powder, even mild, right now. Later, as I add things, probably if it doesn't cause a problem. I can eat red bell peppers, (you know, the most expensive ones!), so I may try my hand at roasting some, since the canned ones I usually buy have preservatives which are off limits now. Tonight for dinner I had some soup that was a POOF that was a riff on risi e bisi and Italian wedding--ham, peas, spinach, carrots and celery and caramelized onions (yes, I know but I made it before all this started) with Israeli style cous cous pilaf thrown in for the starch. Mostly OK ingredients. I was still hungry so I had an almond butter and honey sandwich on whitebread toast. I have to get rid of this great sourdough sprouted wheat bread BF brought me, because no sourdough either! I'm finding out all kinds of interesting things. Like a mail order source for tamari without gluten, it's made from rice and adzuki beans. I think I am going to order some of that since I actually might eat it on its own merits. I also discovered that I can use "amchoor" to add tartness, which is a bitter mango powder and I actually had some leftover from when I was on an Indian food kick. BF is kidding me incessantly, "Now you have to eat like me." It's actually the Standard American Diet--meat, mild dairy, starches, plain vegetables, fat, and sugar! The only thing missing is caffinated beverages and soda pop! Yes Beverly, it could be worse because I too think salt would be very hard for me to do without. I have decreased my salt over the years, but I find it difficult to go real low with it. Of course maybe that's coming down the road, lol!

Thanks Hallie for replying. I just noticed this post. I am feeling much better now and seem to have the acid reflux under control with medication. I was on Prevacid for a few weeks but the pills were making me sick. I could take it for 3 days and on the 4th day I would feel ill. They did not work for me. I went back to the Zantac but they stopped working too. Back to the doctor and he gave me samples of Pantoloc. Wonderful, wonderful medicine. This is the one that is working for me. I take one around dinner time and that means I have no more pain at night I have been careful in what I eat and I have lost 25 pounds but I do once in a while splurge on something that might cause me pain, but so far nothing I cannot handle. I can have garlic in very small amounts but onions are out all together. I had a little sphagetti with sauce tonight and I feel a slight twinge so I best stay away from tomato sauces for now. I have had my heart checked to rule out the pain was not my heart. My cholesterol is great, no high blood pressure, passed cardiac stress test with flying colours and had an echocardiogram. The heart palpations I thought I was feeling turned out to be spasms in my esophogus. Any food that goes into my mouth cause a spasm so when I feel it I now know that it is not my heart. I am so happy my doctor suggested the Pantoloc. My doctor was giving me samples of the drug until he ran out so he has ordered more for me. I have had to buy them for this month from the pharmacist. They cost $75.00 for 30 pills which is a little expensive for me to pay for each month but if they work I will have to sacrifice something else to get them. Thanks all for replying to my post and giving me suggestions. I really appreciate all the help I received. Anne