I have canning directions from a number of universities, Ball, Kerr, Presto, etc., dating back for over 20 years to the present. There have been many changes to the recommendations given by the various sources over the years. Example: pressure canning tomato juice in "Presto Cooker Canner, Directions and Recipes, 1978" lists no requirement for adding lemon juice or other acidification, and a recommended processing time for both pints and quarts is given as 15 lbs - 0 minutes. We've used that recipe over the years with no problems, but have since changed to other processing methods (processing time, acidification, pounds of pressure). It was only until a few years ago that we could find an "approved" method for preparing and canning vegetable tomato juice (V8?), but we've been canning quarts and 1/2 gallon jars of our own "V8", using our own directions which I've published here a number of years ago, for over 30 years! Jeez, did I get the nasty comments after posting that. And, the person that posted that the large canneries monitor the temperatures of each container in a batch, and conduct lab tests on products from each batch has certainly observed canneries other than the 10 or so I've visited. Getting back to recipes for half gallon jar recipes, I know it would be no big deal for a University that routinely conducts food safety testing and publishes "safe" recipes to conduct tests and provide recommendations for canning at least a limited number of recipes they standardize as to type and amount of each ingredient, etc. Heck, I can't believe that a great number of grad students haven't wanted to do just that!

I'm having trouble using the End Time on my Electrolux oven, too, and wondered if you could help. the problem is that after I enter everything and hit "start," it begins pre-heating the oven immediately, even though I don't want it to star cooking for hours. It's 3:45pm. I want it to cook for 60 minutes at 425 and end at 6:45pm. Here's what I'm doing: 1. Select lower oven 2. Press BAKE 3. Enter 425 (temperature) 4. Press COOK OPTIONS 5. Press COOK TIME 6. Enter 60 for 60 minutes (display says 60 minutes) 7. Press END TIME 8. Enter 6:45 (for 6:45pm. display says 6:45) 9. Press START Oven starts pre-heating immediately, which is not right. It should not start for another two hours (6:45pm - 60 mins = 5:45pm). The display says TIME REMAINING and says 3:00 ??

Bobby, I'm sure you will have a great time with Cathy on Tuesday. Kevin and I are thinking about a trip to Florida ourselves because he has a friend in Tampa he went to graduate school with, and she has been begging us to visit and stay at her house. I think it would be a nice trip, but as Gina noted before, there aren't good flights between L.A. and Tampa, and so we thought we might fly to Orlando, rent a car there, and then drive to Tampa. I have no idea when we will get around to this. I have to say that I am extremely careful about pot placement on my induction cooker, and so it is always centered in place. The PC pots are exactly the right size for this burner, and so I have not been concerned about the control buttons, but I will keep that in mind. I do love the timer, and yesterday I cooked a bunch of potatoes with some onion plus one cup of water. I closed the lid, set the cooker to #10 (highest heat) for two minutes and then turned it down to 250 degrees on the temp scale and set the timer for 10 minutes and let it go. I was waiting for sausages in the smoker, and when they were done, so were the potatoes, and oddly enough, there was no water left. I think it escaped as steam when I opened the steam valve. That was a new experience for me! So we only had potatoes and sausage last night, but we also smoked a large boneless turkey breast that I will use for sandwiches, etc. We also assembled our Big Green Egg (much more of an ordeal than we expected, partly due to insufficient/faulty instructions) and put up lights in the pergola. I can see that we will be spending a lot more time in the pergola, now that it is properly lit. I'm looking forward to cooking more things in the PC! I really like the conbination with the induction cooker, since it will turn off from the timer, and so I can sort of forget about it once it is set. Lars

This thread, which I didn't catch the first time around, made me think. In general, I cook to eat and feed my family. However, I do enjoy baking for special occasions. I think that if I didn't work outside the home I would cook more...and be more adventurous. But, I work and have a long commute so by the time I get home I have to make fast meals with little time for creativity or major prep work. So, we eat a lot of frozen veggies--as is out of the bag, pre-cooked meats warmed up, pasta, soup, occasionally waffles/pancakes/eggs, potatoes, etc. I.e., for the most part things that I can cook fast. One up side to this is that our meals haven't changed that much w/o a kitchen since we do have a MW, Toaster Oven, and hot plate to cook with! One very big downside to this, though, is that my children are not learning to cook like I did from my mom. Back on topic... After finding this site and reading about zones, I realized that one thing that I really wanted was a baking center. So when my kitchen was being designed I had it in the back of my head that whatever we ended up with had to have an area I could designate my "Baking Zone", preferably near the ovens--with room to roll out dough, spread out cookie sheets, and have cookie cutters spread out all at the same time! The other thing I got from this site was our window...having the window down to the counter (OK, not cooking-related, but a very important design element!) Our very first plan that our KD came up with had input from us...but a very naive/ignorant us! (Before GW...BGW!) Then....I found this site.....and the changes began. Actually, I posted that original plan and asked for help (and also asked my KD to start over w/no island) Many, many people here helped me come up with a plan over several weeks (months?). We finally came up with a plan that has changed little since then. Interestingly, when I took away the island "must have", my KD came up with a plan very similar to what we came up with here. The only 3 differences were (1) no mini peninsula, (2) a 36" pantry cabinet rather than a corner pantry, and (3) no separate Message Center cabinets. My KD wasn't completely happy w/our differences, but she, wisely I thought, told me to go home and mock up what I wanted to see how it would work (same advice I got here!) Well, the mock up was great! It proved that I did indeed want the mini peninsula (I liked it so much I left the mock up in place until demo and used it!) When I told her the results, she didn't argue, she accepted it telling me it's my kitchen, so ultimately it's up to me. So in the end, my design was/is based on what I wanted, not what the KD wanted. [If only someone else had measured my kitchen and she was given more authority, I think a lot of subsequent problems would have been avoided.] Our kitchen isn't done yet, but it's close...so I can't yet tell you how it is going to work for us...but we are so...